Instructions:

For this part, you will compare your interview reflections within groups and see if there are any common ideas. Are there any dissimilarities? Why do you think that might be? How does your data support the literature review? In what ways your data is different from your literature review? What are some of the underlying reasons? What are your concluding thoughts?

*Insert reflections here with names above*

Interview 1

Interviewing a professional human resource manager/ director was a great experience for me. Having the ability to see the daily life of an HR manager was interesting and she has shown a great understanding regarding the operations of the hotel. Furthermore, the participant displayed professional knowledge about work relations and the responsibilities that were assigned in her position. The HR manager I interviewed was dressed professionally, wearing business clothes with the company pin on her right collar. It was intimidating at first interviewing a well-qualified HR director. I felt out of place and that I was too young to ask some of the questions. The participating HR manager did have follow-up questions about the interview questions I asked. For example, in the metaphor question, she did not really understand what I was asking and she questioned how this relates to HR managers and what we do here. In other words, she asked for classification. I then rephrased the question and asked her again, which resulted in an answer that aligned with the original question to the best of the participants ability. The participant was extremely nice throughout the whole interview and I was grateful I had the chance to interview her during a busy work week. Ive learned many things during the interview including, the participants background (education, experienceetc), how the HR office functions (from the computing system they use daily to the people she interacts with), and what the future holds for the position she is currently in. I believe interviewing different HR managers and comparing the findings would result in an interesting outcome as different HR professionals work in unique situations and possess unique opinions regarding the short-term and long-term future of their roles. Having a large sample size of HR managers opinions can create a broader angle to what the future is going to look like for their role. This is why forming back into groups for the next stage of this assignment is so important; because we will all have different HR managers opinions and can see how the questions vary. Cross-reference I suppose. Overall, Interviewing an HR manager with a prepared, well-scripted, and detailed interview guide; made the interview flow in a professional and timely manner. Probing the participant in order to generate more detail to the questions was also proven helpful. In the future, I hope that many of the aspects within the interview align with the details provided by the HR participant. Again, I am extremely grateful to be able to interview someone with such high qualifications and experience in the field of human resource management.

The HR professional I interviewed went back to school to do her post grad in human resources, so that she could do her placement at Alectra, which is an electricity utility and distributor in Hamilton. Currently, she works at Thrive Group, a non profit organization that provides services for long term care homes and community programs. Her role is leaves management associate, which is responsible for disability case management, on all leaves of absence and work injuries and incidents. Because of the pandemic, I found that she got busier, as there was a shortage in nurses and personal support workers, so the recruitment strategy had to change. Employees were leaving on absences and their children were in school so the biggest impact of the pandemic was definitely the hiring crisis and maintaining staffing levels. To adjust to covid, employees were able to work at home and still able to connect through virtual meetings. I found that its their customers that had to adjust more, since they were so used to meeting healthcare providers at their home and now they have to learn how to do zoom and team meetings, which was especially challenging for the older population. Productivity was actually found to be increased because of working from home and hybrid scheduling since it was more convenient to work and thats one of the things that would partially stay in the future. For the future of her current role, she felt that it was pretty stable because theres always staff needed for the healthcare industry. The role of human resources is definitely evolving and gradually becoming more important of an asset. The role of HR is really exemplified through the pandemic in terms of just how much is asked from them. I found that it was important for her to undergo those changes during the pandemic because of her perspective that with anything in life, the ability to adapt to different situations is key and there comes times where people need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Adapting to change is necessary in order for businesses to grow. The processes of change did not change the meaning of work the HR professional did but it gave her more recognition for how important her work is. The comfortability of her transition was pretty high overall as she was a very adaptable person. Teaching the older population to use technology was a bit of a struggle but overall there wasnt that big of a challenge. I found that she enjoys what she does because she loves helping people and that its very rewarding. She sees many different avenues for her to learn and grow by being an HR professional such as labour relations, employee relations, and recruitment. There are many rewarding opportunities for career development and thats the most rewarding aspect of her job as an HR professional. From my interview, Id say the most important thing I learned was that the HR professional found her role to be rewarding for her development both career wise and as a person. Adapting to covid was certainly different, but it increased productivity because of the increased need and importance of HR. As an HR professional in the healthcare industry there will continue to be a big need for their line of work and even despite the shortage in nurses and personal support workers, they continue to adjust and adapt to the situation, which is the key to their success. I have huge respect for HR professionals because of their responsibility for all sorts of managerial aspects in their organization and the importance of their work to an organization.

Interview 2:

I spoke with a Skylon Tower HR representative. Prior to the interview, I had a broad concept of what a human resources professional performs and what their responsibilities are. I got a better understanding of what they do after the interview. I had no idea they were the ones that enforced the laws for the workplace to keep their people safe, especially in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic. In all companies, the proliferation of COVID-19 causes disruption, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Any organization's most asset is its people, who help it realize its objectives. As a result, the organizational strategy review is an acceptable reply for managing human resources sustainably. The COVID-19 pandemic had several negative impacts, including economic shock, worldwide health crises, social behavior changes, and problems for businesses to maintain operations. As they adjust to social distancing tactics and a new work environment that they may not have envisaged, the coronavirus epidemic has disturbed organizations and caused human resources managers to think differently about their job. I learned most workplaces have shifted to a remote work style at a velocity and scale never seen before to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. HR managers must conduct challenging job under difficult circumstances as face-to-face communication is displaced by e-mail and videoconferencing.

When speaking on the post pandemic workplace she knew that most employers were eager to return to work, she said as more regions get vaccinated against COVID-19, forward-thinking businesses are putting plans in place to prepare for the future of work. As the government is easing on COVID-19 guidelines, all eyes are on HR executives, who have been tasked with reimagining what the workforce will look like in the aftermath of the pandemic. The most important thing that HR is putting forward is the mask mandate will still be in place for the time being to keep their workplace safe for visitors and for their staff. She also stated that Employers are increasingly taking an active part in their employees' financial, physical, and mental well-being because of the pandemic. Enhanced sick leave, financial aid, and altered hours of operation, are all examples of support.

If you ask any employee what an HR department is, they'll tell you it deals with the most unpleasant aspects of the job: HR infractions, layoffs, and termination. Human resources, on the other hand, exist to support employees. It's a human resource in every sense of the word. After the interview I learned that some of the daily responsibilities that your HR department is working on, such as Candidate recruitment, Employing the best people possible, payroll processing, organizing disciplinary procedures, Policies should be updated, and to keep track of employee information and do benefit analyses.

I've discovered that the human resources department has a significant influence on a company's culture. The culture will be one of openness and growth if HR truly cares about the well-being of employees.

I also requested her permission to write down her responses so that I could give a transcript.

Interview 3:

For the interview reflection, I interviewed Max Tran, who is working in the HR department of Priestly Demolition Inc. as a Jr. Talent Acquisition Specialist. Mr. Tran graduated from Seneca College and now he is working in the HR department of the X organization. Before meeting Tran, I went to the company where I work part-time to see if I could interview someone from the HR department about their job and how it relates to the HR area. First, I was talking to a colleague about interviewing someone and she introduced me to Tran. Ive had the opportunity to interview a few individuals in previous classes, and while I'm typically anxious talking to strangers, I was looking forward to getting to know Tran and understanding his profession this time. I assume this is because the other two interviews were conducted over the phone and this one was conducted in reality, which sounds plausible because I work efficiently when chatting with others face-to-face.

When I did meet Tran and sat down with him, I asked him what his position was at the organization and what was involved. Tran graduated in human resource management in Vietnam and Canada, so I believe he has an overview of the HR industry around the world, not just in Canada. It seems his work has not been affected much by the current COVID-19 crisis. It can be seen that the biggest impact of Covid-19 on an HR manager like Tran is the working environment. According to Tran, the work environment and lack of interaction among colleagues affect his work efficiency. On the contrary, he thinks that the daily work of an HR manager is not affected much when working from home. The work of a human resource manager is not too difficult when working from home because there are electronic devices to support and help. As someone who has been experiencing working and studying life from home, it's interesting to know that the job of a human resource manager can also be easily worked from home without the hassles. After hearing about his experiences of working from home as an HR management, another thing I find is that the work-from-home experience also has similarities with online learning from home. According to Tran, many people prefer to work from home and find it more productive, more comfortable, while others feel like missing out on the office atmosphere. I completely agree with this point of view because I am a person who prefers online learning to face-to-face learning and I believe that there will be students who cannot study effectively when learning online. After hearing about his short-term and long-term plans, I feel that he is a forward-thinking person and sets out clear goals for himself. Thereby, I find that to be a good human resource manager, I must be someone who knows what I want and what I have to do at work. Although I have known for a long time that I need to have a job that allows me not only to sit in a certain position but also to advance to higher positions. But after listening to Tran talk about his goals and plans, I feel that advancing to a higher position in the HR field requires you to be a witness and have a strong mentality. It is interesting when he compares that being a professional is like being the manager of a club and being a director of human resources is like being the owner of the club. In my opinion, a good human resource manager is a person who has a broad vision and knows how to seize opportunities.

After the interview, I felt that everything went very smoothly and I appreciated meeting Tran and understanding his job position. I enjoy hearing Tran's enthusiasm for his future aspirations, and I want to see the same energy in myself in the future. Thanks to the interview with Tran, I have a better understanding of the world of work in general and the field of human resource management in particular.