You are asked to critically evaluate management development activity in you organisation. What are its main strengths and weaknesses? What ONE proposal would you make to improve its effectiveness? Justify your answer.
Introduction
Organisations are increasingly realizing that investing in management development is necessary to remain competitive in a dynamic work setting. Over the past decade, organisations and their management have witnessed significant changes in the workplace, including rapid technical advancements, more internationalization, shifting organizational structures, and significant shifts in career dynamics. When it comes to management development initiatives, organizations have a number of options ranging from informal to formal, as well as from organization-directed to those that are self-directed.
Critically evaluation of the Work Rotation Program
Our organisation has been acknowledged as one of the firms in the United Kingdom that has implemented work rotation as a training program. This strategy was established as a result of the organization’s risk assessment, which revealed a lack of sufficient talent to grow and dominate the industry while also achieving world-class productivity levels. As a result, they implemented a legally mandated job rotation policy to empower employees to further their careers and explore their diverse interests.
Using a rotation policy has proven to be effective as it brings every member of the work force together on the same platform, which include board members and senior management, who have also invested a lot of time in strategic approach, machine intelligence, and machine learning programs, where they have picked up new skills such as language and algorithms programming, and most importantly, have gained an understanding of how these skills can be developed internally. This policy illustrates the employers’ value for their employees as it acknowledges the direct correlation between the employees’ well-being and success to the organization’s competitive edge. The policy has served a crucial role in the development of a comprehensive wellness strategy that fosters a self-leadership approach in which employees are empowered to take control of their own well-being with the assistance of peers, line managers, and senior executives.
By taking charge of their own state of well-being, Management also encourage their employees to maximize their potential that would enable them to flourish, stay relevant and be productive in career and personal lifestyle. This job rotation strategy has proven to be effective in assisting the organization in identifying individual KSAs (knowledge, skills and attitude). Additionally, this strategy has resulted in employees increasing their knowledge, abilities, and qualifications through supplemental training and general education. These developments have enhanced performance in their roles, hence boosting job security (Dwianto et al., 2020).
Strengths of the Work Rotation Program
The job rotation does help in increasing the employees’ motivation. The introduction of the Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) within the organisation have create flexible conditions that will enable the firm to balance their objectives of achieving a highly productive, harmonious work environment that is responsive to the changing professional and personal needs of today’s workforce.
Moreover, by exposing employees to a range of job specialties and roles, the policy promotes employee engagement while decreasing attrition. This enhances their level of satisfaction while decreasing boredom from having to execute the same duty on a daily basis. As a result, the competencies and aligned with requirements where resources are directed where and when they are required. For example, it is used to examine employees’ potential and appoints them to a position where their abilities, competencies, and qualities are utilized to the greatest extent possible in the organization.
Additionally, work rotation enables individuals to explore their career interests. Throughout the integration of these rotation policy it is evident that; employees are unaware of their desired careers of choice until they are assigned to a specific position. For an example, job rotation or exposure to other activities will allow them to determine what they are strong at and what they prefer doing, as well as the opportunity to discover underlying interests and capabilities. In addition, it also aids in inspiring employees to cope with new obstacles. When employees are introduced to new occupations or allocated new duties, they will undoubtedly deal with new challenges successfully and be motivated to perform better, hence culturing a spirit of healthy competition within the organisation. In general, this strategy has helped to boost employee engagement by assuring them of job security despite current rapid technological advancement (Lee et al, 2020)
Weaknesses of Work Rotation Program
The job rotation program is often costly and time-consuming. Moving an employee to a new position requires a learning curve that depletes the organization’s resources and time. Most probably, the employees will need a level of training before they can commence their new position. Additionally, some employees may be uncomfortable with the rotation program as employees currently perfect with their job feel they may mess up with their progress. Furthermore, the rotation program does not guarantee an increase in employee engagement. The majority of employees may be excellent in their daily job routines but are uncomfortable with learning new skills (Shiffer et al., 2018).
A proposal to improve the work rotation program
Depending on the business and the time spent in each job, rotation programs will vary in size and formality. Our company should consider developing a job rotation program and invest in a systematic job rotation program. The program is critical because it increases the potential for improved product quality by allowing employees to explore various career options and reducing stagnation and boredom in the workplace. The organization should develop clear lines for who will be qualifies for the program and whether workers will be bounded to certain job classifications or will be able to work in any position. Workers in non-exempt positions, and those in managerial and professional positions, should rotate jobs. Furthermore, it is critical to have an explicit knowledge of which abilities will be developed by putting an employee through the job-rotation process and involving the employee and supervisors in designing specific work rotations so that mutual expectations are apparent. Understanding why a work rotation program is being implemented in the first place is necessary for its successful execution. On the other hand, work rotation program can increase workload and reduce productivity for the rotating worker and other workers who must pick up the slack.
Reference
Shiffer, D., Minonzio, M., Dipaola, F., Bertola, M., Zamuner, A.R., Dalla Vecchia, L.A., Solbiati, M., Costantino, G., Furlan, R. and Barbic, F., 2018. Effects of clockwise and counterclockwise job shift work rotation on sleep and work-life balance on hospital nurses. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(9), p.2038.
Lee, E.A.L., Black, M.H., Falkmer, M., Tan, T., Sheehy, L., Bölte, S. and Girdler, S., 2020. “We can see a bright future”: Parents’ perceptions of the outcomes of participating in a strengths-based program for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 50(9), pp.3179-3194.
Dwianto, A.S., Madhakomala, M.P. and Hamidah, M., 2020, October. The Influence of Work Experience on Job Rotation (Case Study on Post Office Manager in Regional IV Jakarta). In Brawijaya International Conference on Multidisciplinary Sciences and Technology (BICMST 2020) (pp. 37-40). Atlantis Press.
