Human Resource Management Assignment

The organization I am most familiar with is that of which I am currently employed, Farmhouse Studios is a small company consisting of seven people: The Director/Owner, two managers of equal rank, two designers, a sound engineer, a technician and a secretary. My position is that of one of the managers, my job is to generate new business and oversee day to day production. Farmhouse studios is in the compact disk duplication market, we provide a turnkey service in which company profiles may be set up on CD-Rom for promotional purposes, we also provide audio CD's along with use of our fully equipped state of the art music studio.

The two areas I felt would be applied best to this organization are training and development, and motivation. Before discussing either of the two one must first really understand what training and development really consist of. This assignment entails of me to compare what I have learnt in this module with my practice at work, however by doing so certain aspects must be simplified due to the size of the company. Large organizations would constantly analyze performance and would probably have a training department. In our company's case training usually follows an introduction of new hardware or software. Technology is one of the most important factors at Farmhouse Studios, being an I.T based company, new technology is always being introduced. Just before the beginning of 2005 new printers were brought in and our technician was sent overseas to attend a course. Our designers attend courses regularly so as to keep informed regarding the constantly progressing world of I.T and graphic design. Training results in better utilization of high tech equipment, the efficiency of staff increases dramatically. Once a workforce is professionally educated regarding the field they deal with everyday the response is very positive, one may see a change in performance almost immediately.

When discussing training and development we must keep in mind that this process is vital yet it is usually very costly in many different ways. Firstly there is the actual cost of training an individual; there is the time it takes for an individual to be trained. Assessing whether training is needed requires analysis. Companies must look at training as an investment, investments are carried out with ample thought and so should training a workforce. Productivity, quality control, cost and customer satisfaction are all areas in which problems arise within a company, this is when it is crucial to identify the problem to see if it was a result of insufficient training. If so a company must implement the right training so as to solve this problem, the training may involve lectures or lessons, an ad-hoc arrangement or even on the job coaching. Methods of training vary depending on what the company requires of its workforce. Very Large companies would have training departments so that current employees and new employees may be trained in house, smaller organizations such as ourselves utilize training schools or private courses.

The other factor we discussed in our lectures that I would like to relate to Farmhouse studios is that of motivation. Before discussing this one must first discuss the meaning of motivation in the workplace, so as to truly understand motivation and techniques to motivate. Ask any person who is successful in whatever he or she is doing what motivates him/her, and very likely the answer will be "goals". Goal Setting is extremely important to motivation and success. So what motivates a person? Why are you working? If you are only working for money, you may find it difficult to motivate yourself. Sure, it's possible to succeed with financial goals providing the motivation for you. But motivation that comes from within really makes the difference.

Certainly, you need some intelligence, knowledge base, work skills, and time management skills, but if you don't have motivation, you won't get far. Think about this analogy. You have a car with a full tank of gas, a well-tuned engine, a new set of tires, CD system, and a sleek, polished exterior. There it sits. This car has incredible potential. However, until a driver sits behind the wheel, puts the key in the ignition, and cranks it up, the car doesn't function; the key is Motivation. Interest is an important motivator. So is a desire to work and learn. When you link these two things together, you create success. Often success in an endeavor that leads to more interest and a greater desire to work and excel, creating an upward spiral of motivation toward a goal you have established. How can one develop the internal motivation that really counts? When it comes to motivation, Knowing is not as important as Doing.

No longer can leaders hire workers and expect to get motivated individuals. Learning how to motivate is now one of the most relevant and essential skills leaders can

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