Management and Career Development

Questions: 1. Feedback notes and development plan? 2. Reflective evaluation of the experience as an assessor and participant in the assessment activity? Answers: 1. Feedback notes and development plan: Going through the assessment activities it is clear that they are framed with sufficient thoughts for assessing the competencies of the participants. The survival activity is an efficient one to assess the persuading ability of the candidates. The candidate assessed shows a high level of communicative ability that assisted her in persuading the team members to take five items as per her suggestion. As asserted by Purce (2014), communicative efficiency facilitates the convincing power of an individual. The candidate here thus depicts a high level of convincing ability. However, the candidate failed in the second activity of solving the logic puzzle miserably. She was unable to solve the puzzle within the stipulated time and came second last of all the students. It highlights the inability of the candidate to analyse the information available, identify the exact problem, and thereby come up with a logical solution. As opined by Okun and Kantrowitz (2014), the ability to solve a problem need the efficiency of recognition, gathering, analyzing and then putting them into use. In this case, the candidate has shown the ability to put the information and resources to optimum use formerly in the earlier activity but she lacks the recognition and analytical skills. Strengths and weaknesses of the participants performance- Strengths Communication skill, presentation skill, team handling skill Weaknesses Analytical skill, decision-making skill, problem-solving skill Suggestions for performance enhancement- Development plan: Areas to improve Strategy Time Review and expected outcome Analytical skill Joining a psychometric performance improvement class 3-6 months Psychometric test Ability to solve analytical problems within minimum time Decision-making skill Handling small projects under experienced supervision with exposure to decision-making situations 4-7 months Critical project submission test Able to complete and submit the project within time Problem solving skill Attending a class and learning the 6-step process of problem solving (DIUGAC). It stands for Defining, Identifying, Understanding, Generating solutions, Analysing and Choosing the correct solution 3-5 months Solving critical problems as puzzles and projects which are obstructed due to some problem Ability to solve the problems faced and complete the assignments Table 1: Development plan (Source: Author) The candidate can go through the mentioned development plan to improve and enhance her areas of weaknesses. Since she lacks the analytical skill majorly, so the maximum time is allocated for the development of her analytical skills, which is vital in a Human Resource profession. The psychometric class can help her to develop this skill aptly within six months (Luke and Hogan, 2013). To develop the decision-making and problem solving skills of the student she needs to follow a strict practice and learning routine. As stated by Ycenur and Demirel (2012), the 6-step problem solving method is very useful to drive the individual towards an appropriate way of solving a problem systematically. Since, the candidate here is efficient in communication she can use this skill to identify the problem. However, her analyzing skill can be improved with more and more experience through exposure to problem-associated projects. 2. Reflective evaluation of the experience as an assessor and participant in the assessment activity: Considering the assessment activity from the view of an assessor, it is clear that the two main activities of survival and logical puzzle are framed to assess the major competencies needed for the job of HR (Human Resource) profession. However, some of the students seem to solve the puzzle and execute the survival activity too easily within much less expected time. The risk assessment of the activities clearly identifies the issue of underdevelopment status. It is probably due to the time limitations in framing them. Bartlett and Ghoshal (2013) conveyed that an HR business partner need to have a sound knowledge of the organization as well as the market. The ability to recognise the talent of the individual (interviewee) and applying relevant tests to assess the candidates skills is of vital significance. At the same time, the capability of solving problems logically and with precision is highly essential to ensure a smooth running of the business processes (Quinn and Strategy, 2013). The current activities are efficient in assessing the convincing ability of the candidate. From the viewpoint of a candidate, it can be said that problem solving capability is not completely assessed through the logical puzzle. There are times when critical situations relating to cultural, ethical and organizational goal achievement comes up that the HR partner needs to resolve (Glover and Butler, 2012). For this, the assessment of the candidates knowledge about culture, ethics and legalities are important. The assessment needs to have one such activity that identifies the level of knowledge that the individual possess regarding these aspects. The designing of the assessment activities in the concerned case seems to consider the overall capabilities avoiding the in-depth skills and talents. According to Ulrich et al. (2012), assessing the in-depth skills and knowledge of a candidate is necessary before recruiting her/him to an influential position. The HR partner is a significant pos ition that deals with the most important resource of an organization, the people. Therefore, a good and efficient knowledge of the legal, socio-cultural and ethical aspects is vital for the HR. The assessment activity needs to assess these qualities in the individual. The participants are seen to score average in the logical puzzle activity while a considerable number of students seem to perform well in the survival activity. Therefore, it is evident that the problem solving, and reasoning ability is lacking among the candidates. As asserted by Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola (2012), the intervention of segmenting the candidates to small groups and assigning them individual projects with artificial problems can prove helpful to develop their potentiality of solving problems. Providing a qualified and experienced trainer or supervisor to guide them through the first 2 projects and then observe their performance in the following projects can assess and evaluate the efficiencies and competency of the candidates in terms of problem solving. It will not only enable them to develop the skill but also help in gaining experience and valuable insights from the trainers. References Aarikka-Stenroos, L., and Jaakkola, E. (2012). Value co-creation in knowledge intensive business services: A dyadic perspective on the joint problem solving process.Industrial Marketing Management,41(1), 15-26. Bartlett, C., and Ghoshal, S. (2013). Building competitive advantage through people.Sloan Mgmt. Rev,43(2). Glover, L., and Butler, P. (2012). Highà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ performance work systems, partnership and the working lives of HR professionals.Human Resource Management Journal,22(2), 199-215. Luke, A., and Hogan, D. (2013). 11 Redesigning what counts as evidence in educational policy.World Yearbook of Education 2006: Education, Research and Policy: Steering the Knowledge-Based Economy, 170. Okun, B., and Kantrowitz, R. (2014).Effective helping: Interviewing and counseling techniques. Cengage Learning. Purce, J. (2014). The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management.New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67. Quinn, J. B., and Strategy, E. S. (2013). Strategic outsourcing: leveraging knowledge capabilities.Image,34. Ulrich, D., Younger, J., Brockbank, W., and Ulrich, M. (2012). HR talent and the new HR competencies.Strategic HR Review,11(4), 217-222. Ycenur, G. N., and Demirel, N. . (2012). Group decision making process for insurance company selection problem with extended VIKOR method under fuzzy environment.Expert Systems with Applications,39(3), 3702-3707.