Review of Theory of Human Capital, Theory Based on Resources (RBT), Theory of Reinforcement
and Theory of Social Learning
Schultz (1961) first put forth the idea of human capital theory, which Becker (1964) expanded upon and
classed as an investment rather than a consumption. Knowledge, skills, attitudes, aptitudes, and other
acquired attributes that support productivity are together referred to as human capital. According to the
human capital theory, education and training increase a worker's productivity by supplying them with
practical knowledge and skills, which enhances their future income by increasing their lifetime wages
(Becker, 1964).
According to Becker, one can invest in human capital (via education and training), and one's outputs are
partially influenced by the rate of return on the human capital one owns. This is comparable to "physical
means of production," such as factories and equipment.
Therefore, human capital serves as a mode of production, in which increased investment results in increased
output. While not transportable like land, labor, or permanent capital, human capital is interchangeable.
Theory of Reinforcement
The reinforcement theory, one of the first theories of motivation, was developed by behaviorist B.F. Skinner
to explain behavior and the reasons behind our actions. Operant conditioning, which is still widely taught in
psychology today, is another name for the idea. According to the thesis, "a person's action is a function of its
effects" (Management Study Guide, 2013). As some scholars were frustrated with the introspective methods
of humanism and psychoanalysis due to the dearth of directly visible phenomena that could be studied and
experimented with, behaviorism emerged. They believed it would elevate psychology to the level of the
traditional sciences and make it more "scientific." These scholars limited their investigation to the behaviors
that could be quantified and observed, separate from the enigmatic processes of the mind (Funder, 2010).
Those who adhere to Skinner's theories might not accept the psychology that is frequently linked with the
modern period. Skinner changed course because psychology has been repeatedly linked to the development
of cognitive awareness and the human mind. Industries like business, government, education, prisons, and
mental institutions can get a deeper understanding of human behavior by implementing his ideas on changing
motivation through different stimuli. Skinner stated, "Skinner saw no room for concentrating on a person's
intentions or ambitions in explaining why any creature behaves in the manner it does" (Banaji, 2011).
Theory of Social Learning
To explain and forecast how people learn from observation, the social learning theory was created.
According to Bandura (1977), mechanisms of attention, memory, and replication govern observational
learning. Several guidelines for the best training environments can be deduced from the social learning
theory. Give the learner a verbal model of the task when modeling it to help them accomplish it, for instance.
The finest verbal models will include guidelines for task responses, but they will be as straightforward and
simple to remember as feasible. If the trainee begins to believe that the work he is doing is crucial to himself
and the firm, and that he has a large amount of control over the work results, he is more likely to learn to
reward himself for high performance. Through training techniques, the social learning theory has been
applied to various industries.
Theory Based on Resources (RBT)
Barney's created the Resource-Based Theory (RBT) (1991). According to the principle, a business needs
valuable, uncommon, unique, and non-substitutable resources to have a sustainable future. competitive
advantage, and that everything within the company counts as one of these resources. All of the resources—
assets, skills, organizational procedures, company characteristics, data, knowledge, etc.—were identified by
Barney (1986). This theory's application to human resource management exemplifies the part that people
play in creating a company's competitive edge.
Wright and McMahan (2011) cited the following four characteristics that people, as resources, must possess
for the firm to be competitive in order to demonstrate how this theory may be used to HRM. They must first
add value to the company's manufacturing processes, which calls for a high level of individual performance.
Second, the company's desired abilities must be uncommon. They believe that because human resources are
allocated equally, they should all meet these two requirements.
Theoretical Framework
Job rotation, job shifting, job rotation policy, coaching, feedback-focused training, mentoring programs, and
peer mentoring Acting appointments, acting capacity appointments, and acting appointments policy
Unrelated factors contingent variable Conceptual Framework Figure 1 Job Rotation
As a method of improving employee abilities inside a company, job rotation and transfers (McCourt &
Eldridge, 2013) entail the movement of personnel from one formal obligation to another, for instance.
assuming higher-ranking positions within the business and moving from one branch to another.Employees
may be transferred from one country to another, as in the case of transfers. Employees can learn about the
various operations inside the company as well as the variations that exist in the many nations where the
company conducts business thanks to these rotations and transfers. The organization will benefit from the
knowledge the chosen personnel gain because it could boost the organization's competitive advantage
(Ortega, 2015).
By allowing them to work in several departments, this often seeks to offer aspiring managers a sense of the
company. If the training is to be effective, it must be made so that the trainees don't feel like they are wasting
their time, and the individuals in the various departments where they are temporarily employed must feel a
sense of dedication and involvement. Sadly, trainees are not frequently accepted. Another type of training
that gained popularity in the 1970s to assist combat boredom and ultimately boost shop floor workers'
productivity was job rotation. It is a management strategy used to move employees from one position to
another, from one department to another, or from one facility to another in various geographic locations
(Cheraskin & Stevens, 2014).
Coaching
Coaching is the process by which one person assists another in performing, learning, and achieving;
increasing awareness of factors that affect performance; increasing sense of self-responsibility and ownership
of one's performance; learning to self-coach; and identifying and removing internal obstacles to achievement.
"Coaching is centered around specific performance difficulties or goals," says MacLennan (2017). Experts in
their fields, such as those who have learned a new computer program, are coaches. The majority of coaching
is brief; it rarely lasts longer than a year.
Employee coaching is ideal when it is incorporated into the company's ongoing performance management
system, which may also include appraisals, formal and informal feedback, goal-setting, and development
opportunities (Gregory & Levy, 2014). A working partnership between a manager and an employee,
coaching is centered on the performance and growth of the individual. Coaching is a continuous
collaborative process rather than a single, one-way engagement. Before successful coaching to take place,
there must be a strong supervisor-subordinate connection.
Mentoring
Mentoring is the process of making a senior person available to a junior in order to establish an unspecified
developmental relationship, seek information from, regard as a role model, guide the performer, offer
feedback and evaluation, and teach all the information necessary for the individual to function successfully in
an organization (MacLennan, 2017). Mentoring is an ongoing, relationship-based activity with a number of
focused yet all-encompassing objectives. The mentor is a facilitator who works closely over an extended
period of time with either a person or a group of people. The schedule is flexible and will likely keep
changing in the long run. The goal of mentoring is to develop wisdom—the capacity to adapt one's
knowledge, abilities, and experiences to novel circumstances and procedures.
When the substantive post holder in the higher grade is on authorized leave or when the position is vacant
while being filled permanently, an officer who is deemed capable of carrying out the full duties and
assuming the full responsibilities of the vacant position is given the assignment of an acting appointment
(Abashidze & Selimashvili, 2015). If an acting-up arrangement is to be used for permanent vacancies, there
must be a plan to fill the position.
Before requesting clearance for acting-up arrangements, managers are obligated to carefully evaluate all
other available options for filling open positions. The employee chosen for acting-up must possess all the
skills, credentials, experience, and, if applicable, the necessary registration, in order to effectively perform
the acting-up role.
Employee Rotation
Lynch (2015) referred to the influx and outflow of human resources as employee turnover. It is typically
straightforward to measure labor turnover by keeping track of employees leaving the company under the
premise that new hires cover positions left open by typical labor wastage (Brown, 2015).
The simplest measurement includes figuring up the ratio of workers to leavers during a given time period,
which is often a year. The separation rate or crude wastage rate is what is meant by this. The intention to stay
and devotion to one's job and organization were used to gauge staff turnover for the study's purposes.
Organizations suffer damaging effects from employee churn. According to Flowers and Hughes (2013),
turnover's detrimental effects on performance are the most evident and important issue it creates.
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