FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT $1[100$ MARKS$]$

Read the case study below and then answer ALL four questions.

Human Resource Development at Peak Finance

The senior managers of Peak Finance, a large financial institution, recognise the importance of training and development

for their staff. They have a clear policy that not only should staff be trained and developed to meet the CPD $($continuing

professional development$)$ and legislative requirements that apply to their area of business, but that staff should also be

encouraged and enabled to engage in other appropriate development activities. The middle managers, who largely look

after staff performance and development, all welcome this policy. They have made it clear to all of their staff that

development opportunities are available and can be applied for at any time. Many individual managers have therefore put

together a list of courses that they think might be of interest to their staff, and make these available to staff so that individual

members of staff can $$pick$-$and$-$mix$$ the courses that they feel they would like to attend. There is no restriction on the

number of courses that are allowed for each staff member, and it is up to each middle manager whether to allow attendance.

Common practice is that staff just mention to their manager what they would like to do$,$ and then an administrator books

the place. The staff member then receives the letter from the training provider inviting him or her to the event, which he or

she then attends when the due date arrives.

The performance management system at Peak Finance is good in that the process described in organisational policy and

procedure is good practice, but in reality it does not happen, because managers do not have time and have not been

properly trained. When a performance appraisal interview does take place, it is usually short, and development needs tend

to be addressed at the appraisal interview with the question $$What do you want to do this year?$,$ and then arrangements

are made after listing the responses. Costs have never been a barrier because money is said to be freely available for

developmental purposes.

When staff are to attend a course, they are supposed to let their line manager know about their impending absence$,$ but

this does not always happen. Neither does the manager hold any pre$-$ or post$-$attendance discussions, nor does the

organisation have any mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of any course $($or$,$ for that matter, any mechanism for

checking that the member of staff actually attended$).$ Some courses are held in$-$house for those areas of specialism where

there is plenty of expertise, but these do not seem to be very effective. One employee recently missed half a day of a

twoday course $$ and no one even noticed.

Some courses are particularly important to the organisation, especially those CPD $($continuing professional development$)$

courses that re$-$license staff to enable them to operate in their specific financial area. However, staff are responsible for

their own updates and CPD $$ the organisation does not keep records of when events are due or attended for any except

the most essential staff. Rumour has it that many update courses are boring and inessential, so that it is not actually clear

whether staff are or are not attending, and therefore may or may not be fully up to date.

Following a merger with a similar but slightly smaller organisation, WealthBuild, new staff are now to be incorporated into

the wider organisation. In the smaller firm, training and development was of a very focused nature and a very high standard,

as it had to be to keep the small firm competitive. Peak Finance is now faced with some pressing issues. The recently

arrived staff appear to be expecting detailed development discussions prior to training course attendance, and a debrief of

what was learned following the course. They are also complaining about the performance management system that

appears to be blocking what they call proper discussion about their future, and the development needs that they have in

order to position themselves to be ready when promotion opportunities arise. They have noted that training appears only

to be courses, and are questioning this approach.

In the meantime, Peak Finance$$s shareholders have begun to ask questions about the size of the training budget when

compared to the size of the dividend budget that was recently set. Managers in the wider organisation, feeling suddenly

under the spotlight, are now said to be unhappy with what they see as challenges to their way of doing things by both these newcomers and the shareholders.

QUESTION $1(25$ Marks$)$

$$Organisations have used human resource development $($HRD$)$ to stimulate positive behaviour in employees and impact

their knowledge, skills, and attitudes in order to enable the organisations to increase their productivity and perfor

Critically discuss human resource development at Peak Finance and make recommendations for its improvement.