Reference no: EM132668936 , Length: word count:1400

BUHRM1501 Introduction to Human Resource Management - Federation University

Human Resource Management is a critical organisational function underlying organisational effectiveness. With the current pandemic, the nature of Human Resource Management has been altered significantly. Using the above statement as a backdrop, write a reflective piece on any five of the following topic areas:

• Human Resource Planning
• HRIMS
• Job Analysis and Job Design
• Recruitment and Selection
• Appraising and Managing Performance
• Human Resource Development
• Career Planning and Development
• Employee Motivation
• Remuneration and Benefits
• Industrial Relations
• Managing Change and Negotiation
• Employee Health and Safety
• Managing Diversity Values

Requirements
• As this assessment replaces the exam, no referencing is required.
• You MUST add a cover page (all student details, course code and title of assessment).
• Write three quarter of a page, per topic. Use size 11 font, 1.15 line spacing and Arial font.
• This reflection does not require a format. Instead, simply choose your topic and create a heading for each, then number each to clearly identify the topic..

Guidelines
Reflective thinking involves looking back on your thinking process and evaluating it. It is a powerful aid in learning and it plays a vital role in identifying and solving problems and unlocking new directions and perspectives. Reflective thinking involves awareness, and in particular self-awareness. This is one of the very important distinctions between reflective thinking and other types of thinking you will be required to demonstrate - it is consciously subjective. Reflective thinking involves the uncovering of the process that takes place as we engage with new knowledge. It explores directly what you think or feel about a topic and asks you to explicitly state the factors that underpin your logic or approach towards a topic.
Reflective thinking may include the following:

• Personal observation of experiences, situations, events or information
• Consideration of the ‘processing' phase, when thinking and learning took place
There is no right or wrong way to reflect. Only you can respond to your own perspective and reveal the changes that are occurring as you examine past knowledge or 2 experience, and speculate on the future.
Some common factors involved in thinking reflectively:
• Perceptions (thoughts + senses) these include how something felt and how you experienced it;
• Connections between your new learning and your prior knowledge and experience
• Prior assumptions, opinions and experiences and a consideration of why you thought this way;
• What you have found challenging and inspiring and why;
• Speculations, possibilities, solutions, conclusions and how you reached a point of understanding;
• Alternative interpretations and different perspectives;
• Implications for your future thoughts and actions.

How do I demonstrate reflection in my writing? Reflective writing involves self-awareness about your prior knowledge and your new learning, and an ability to explore these while also integrating, analysing and critiquing theory and practice. From a learning perspective, it can help you to clarify your personal learning outcomes. This assists you in planning for the future as you modify approaches based on your new understanding.

A common frame for reflective writing incorporates the following questions (Driscoll, 2000): 1. What happened? (A brief description). 2. So what? (Why is it important? A brief interpretation). 3. What if? (How could you have managed it differently? An evaluation). 4.
Now what? (How will you address it? A further evaluation). 5. What is next? (What will you do differently next time? Recommendations).
An example of reflective writing ICT has presented managers with the chance to increase teamwork within their organisation. This is in keeping with view that it is part of the

manager's role to facilitate strategic communication and provide employees with the opportunity to collaborate (Robbins et al. 2014; Samson & Daft, 2015). I can relate to these strategies based on my experience of a group work assignment, which required me to team up with fellow students to analyse and complete a set task. The lecturer provided an online wiki space for each group where we could log our progress and discussions. This practice reflects horizontal communication, which is indicated by Samson and Daft (2015) to result in intradepartmental problem solving and coordination in the workplace through effective internal communication. In my view, the online wiki facilitated communication for all members pf our team, regardless of time or location, and enabled us to efficiently complete the task. However, it is important to also acknowledge other contributing factors such as personal motivation and the clear clarifying of expectations as well as the assigning of team roles. Providing professional development to staff in both ICT and effective group dynamics will be an important aspect of a manager's role with the increasing reliance on ICT.

Looked at from a different perspective, the implementation of these improved communication channels raises some concerns e.g. employee privacy. ICT has been found to provide managers with the ability to observe their employees' online and digital activities to ensure that they are 93 fulfilling their responsibilities (Halpern et al., 2008; Robbins et al., 2014). This means that managers now have the ability to check which websites employees are visiting; to examine which programs have been used; and even to read employees' emails. I believe that this kind of surveillance could have detrimental impacts on the relationship between 3 employees and managers. In my experience in my current workplace, it is important that as a staff member I feel trusted. If I were aware of strict surveillance of my performance, I would feel quite stressed and less inclined to respect my manager. These factors are similarly reflected in studies on this topic indicating negative effects on employee productivity (Halpern et al., 2008; O'Rourke et al., 2011; Van Gramberg et al., 2014).This is an issue that I had not considered previously as I was not aware of the ability to monitor my online and digital activities. While I am careful of what information I publish on my social media profiles, this kind of organisational observation is an important issue to note in my future workplaces where I may need to act appropriately and establish boundaries between my personal and professional online and digital activities. In considering how this might impact me as a future manager, I believe that I would need to establish transparent and explicit guidelines for all parties, so that trust could be established and maintained between the manager and employees. A broader social debate about the rights of individuals to privacy in the workplace may also be called for.

Commentary on the writing

What? Note how in both paragraphs, the writer establishes a clear topic sentence and links the topic to personal experience.
So what? In each paragraph, the writer situates the topic within the context of the literature and then provides relevant professional examples of why this topic is important and worthy of investigation.

What if? In each paragraph, the writer speculates on what might happen if this situation were different. For example, in paragraph 1 the writer thinks about what other factors might influence teamwork online. In paragraph 2 the writer speculates on how his or her behaviour might change as a result of this new information.

Now what and what is next. The writer evaluates his or her own learning and considers what behaviour may change. The writer also considers how this knowledge or practice may

change the way managers work in the future, i.e. what might need to happen as a result of this new information?
Worth considering. Expression. The writer uses both passive forms (e.g. these factors are reflected; a broader social debate may be called for) as well as active voice in the first person (I can relate; I believe that).
Speculation. Notice how the writer hypothesises about what might have happened or what might happen in the future by using could, would, may, might and will forms.

Tone. Notice how the writing is still professional in tone, even though the personal (I) is used. Some final tips for reflective thinking and writing
• Incorporate and value thinking time. Focus on particular events, activities, and experiences. Think deeply.
• Take special note of your feelings and perceptions.
• Phrase negative experiences in terms of what you have learnt and how you will act next time. Situate comments within a learning context.