Kim Woods Only (613 3.1 Disc)

Post #1

The United States Navy’s Airspeed program was established to garner future climates of valuable human capital, by eliminating excessive man-hours for project completion while increasing product quality and productivity methods.  The workforce was evaluated in specific departments and cognizant organizations within the navy’s aviation community.  The result of this evaluation would ultimately increase the skills and knowledge for aircraft and aircraft component maintainers by providing a focus on appropriate workloads, task assignments, cost, timing, and capability.  Plainly, decades ago the navy approached the problem of its aging aircraft, compounded by longer lead-times for repair and upkeep, and the high turnaround time of skilled technicians transferring or retiring from resident commands.

 This process was gradually successful.  The years-long cultural transformation of the navy’s approach to maintaining the required skillset in human capital and in addressing the facilitation of prolonging the maintenance of older aircraft while incorporating new models increased output and reduced waste.  The employees were evaluated and assessed in the pursuit of continuous process improvement as daily functions were recorded over a long-term period.  The employees were re-aligned to fit the organizational goals as assessors identified waste in resources, misuse of worker time management, and parts delivery and availability.  Assessment teams were comprised of external consultants leading groups of internal members to instruct and re-calibrate organizational processes.

 The expectation of success impacted the navy’s operations fleet-wide (global scale) in the end-result.  The success impacted the human resource strategies of assigning roles for technicians and management-level personnel for all employees to understand the new processes.  For example, team members provided project-specific support for the transformation as management personnel directed the vision and led the change integration.

 http://www.navair.navy.mil/osbp/atc/presentation/moore_sbatc.pdf

Post #2

Human Resource strategies are a critical part of the success of any organization. The County of San Bernardino’s Human Resources Department observe some basic tactics to hire the right people and to keep them by empowering them and also by investing in them. “Strong companies know the kinds of people they want and hire those who fit the mold” (Bolman and Deal, 2013. p. 141). HR main focus is to provide effective internal and external customer service as stated in their mission statement: “The Human Resources Department is committed to providing effective customer service to all departments, employees, and constituents of San Bernardino County through the timely delivery of innovative, quality human resources systems, programs, and services”. HR administers County’s personnel management, programs and activities. This includes Classification, Commuter Services, EMACS, Employee Relations, Employee Benefits and Services, Employment, and Equal Employment Opportunity. The Human Resources Department also supports and provides oversight to the Equal Opportunity Commission and the Civil Service Commission. HR has a very innovative hiring process that includes recruiting, testing, and certifying County applicants for employment. HR accomplishes that by conducting comprehensive recruitment planning, application processing, testing, placing candidates on certification lists, and ensuring legal and Merit System requirements. HR keeps County employees by providing an excellent benefits package that includes Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance, Protected Leaves and Disability, Commuter Services, Retirement Options, Salary Savings Plans, Tax Savings Plans, and Life Insurance. HR invests in employee’s development by offering diverse classes to all regular status employees at no cost through the Performance Education Resource Center and National University. The county also offers different mentor programs to empower employees such as Leaders in Action (LIA) and Management Leadership Academy (MLA). HR has a career opportunities page that is updated every week with new positions and promotional opportunities, as the county promotes from within. “Progressive organizations implement a variety of high involvement strategies for improving human resource management. Some approaches strengthen the bond between individual and organization by paying well, offering job security, promoting from within, training the workforce, and sharing the fruits of organizational success” (Bolman and Deal, 2013. p. 160).  In summary, the strategies of HR in the County of San Bernardino, do align with the organization’s mission and goals. HR also has had a great impact in the success of the organization and its employees because while other counties have faced layoffs, I have not seen any in the 17 years I have been with the County of San Bernardino.

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2013). Reframing organizations artistry, choice and leadership. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass.

HR Home. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2018, from http://cms.sbcounty.gov/hr/Home.aspx

Post #3

Human resource management has become more critical to an organization with current changes in the business environment.  Human Resource Management is the function within an organization that focuses on the recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in an organization (The Balance, 2017).  The Integrated Personnel and Pay System, Army combines a couple of the human resource management strategies, notably amongst them are hiring the right people and empower employees.  The leadership “hand pick” personnel from a pool after screening hundreds of records of Soldiers and civilian that meet the requirements to work in the organization.  The selection of the right personnel for the job ties directly into the second strategy, empowering employees.  Having selected the best personnel for the jobs, management empowers the employees to make decision on their behalf.  The have the trust and believe that the employees have the ability and capability to make the right decisions in the interest of the organization.  Empowerment includes keeping employees informed, but it does not stop there.  It also involves encouraging autonomy and participation, redesigning work, fostering teams and infusing work with meaning (Bolman & Deal, 2013).

At IPPS-A, the leaderships keeps all the employees informed, the senior leaders of the organization holds weekly briefs to informed the entire organization of where the state of the organization is and what needs to be done to progress towards its’ destination.  The Commanders Update brief is a daily brief of the leadership of the daily happenings in the organization and if there are any “blockers” hindering progress.  Just as information flows from the command team down it is reciprocated with information moving from the bottom up.

 

References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2013). Reframing organizations artistry, choice, and leadership. San Francisco, CA. Jossey-Bass

Heathfield, S. M. (n.d.). Beyond Hiring and Firing: What is HR Management? Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-human-resource-management-1918143