Management Essay Example on Meadowvale Dairy

Meadowvale Dairy is a dairy mix plant that focuses all its resources on producing high-quality cheeses using Grade A and non-GMO milk. The firm has its headquarters in Iowa and pride in having 25 years of service. It has an employee pool of 160 workers, mainly, 120 in Iowa, 25 in Arizona, and 15 in California. The organization has three key strategies and objectives. First, the company seeks to increase its market share by producing high-quality products. Second, it aims at raising overall productivity by retaining best dairy commodities to attain the best results for its consumers while increasing profits. Third, the entity seeks to encourage innovation by incorporating the latest technology and implementing continuous professional training to deliver better service and goods.

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Meadowvale Dairys philosophy aims to place honesty, integrity and quality before its profitability while retaining relationships first in every aspect of life. Indeed, it recognizes that employees are an essential resource for any organization that seeks to gain a competitive edge in the industry. Therefore, the company has set up a human resources department that strives to create an efficient workforce through the identification of competency gaps, the development of a talent development strategy and the implementation of a training program based on the workers training needs.

Competency gaps

Each organization seeks to have a competent, consistent and committed workforce. Competency refers to the ability to perform tasks efficiently (Carpenter & Qualls, 2015). When employees skill levels are low, then their productivity is poor. Consequently, the organizations performance also declines. Therefore, it is essential for the human resource department to identify competency gaps among workers and train them accordingly. Moreover, training is a continuous process since these deficiencies keep arising. Meadowvale Dairy has 160 employees who vary in competency levels.

Based on the organizations goal of attaining innovation through the implementation of the latest technology and professional training, Meadowvale Dairy recognizes that there exist competency gaps among current employees. The human resources department identifies these gaps at different times, for example, during recruitment, orientation and performance reviews. During recruitment, the interviewer discusses with the job applicants on areas they feel they are competent and those they need developing against their job description. Besides, the department can identify more competency gaps through reference checks of new staff. Similarly, during orientation, employees fill a skills assessment checklist that provides paramount information on areas new hires need development.

Additionally, the human resource department uses performance reviews on current staff to find out where employees feel they require more training and development. It is essential to note that Management by Objectives (MBOs) plays a significant role in facilitating performance reviews since employees identify areas they have not achieved the set standards as those requiring training. Besides, the occurrence of mistakes and occupational accidents avail crucial information on staff training needs. Based on this information, the human resource department creates a training program that facilitates continuous development of employees.

The human resource department seeks to create a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for recruiting and terminating workers while handling staff welfare concerning discrimination, law compliance, training, and benefits. Notably, this strategy aims at reducing turnover and increasing both employee and organizational productivity. Consequently, when Meadowvale Dairys performance is high, it gains the ability to meet its business strategy, which is to make profits. Indeed, the company integrates both the strategies to ensure it gains a competitive edge in the dairy industry.

Talent Development Strategy

This strategy outlines the employees skills, knowledge and abilities required, and how the company can develop them to ensure sustainability of a successful entity. Recent research emphasizes the importance of aligning strategic human resource management to the overall business strategy (Phillips & Gully, 2013). A key facet of an organizations talent development strategy targets the long-term development of employees, who are crucial to the long-term business success. Meadowvale Dairy incorporates professional training under the innovation strategy. However, this strategy is not apparent to employees, as the enterprise does not include it in the employee handbook.

Each employee has goals he or she seeks to achieve by working for an organization. Among the most common employee goals are career development, personal growth, and financial stability. Moreover, each worker seeks to attain self-actualization, the highest level in Maslows hierarchy of needs. At this level, an employee is motivated, which increases his or her performance (Garavan, Carbery & Rock, 2012). Therefore, it is essential for any organization to set strategies that seek to develop its staff to create a talented and productive workforce. Meadowvale Dairy recognizes this important aspect by aligning its talent development strategy to its employees goals. Through professional training, employees learn additional skills and knowledge that develop their careers in the dairy industry. Furthermore, incorporation of the latest technology in production requires that employees acquire continuous on-the-job training to keep up with changes in technology. Additionally, this strategy aligns with the goal of financial stability by enabling employees to complete the introductory period satisfactorily to become regular employees. A regular Meadowvale Dairys employee enjoys continuous allowance and benefits.

Similarly, this strategy aligns with organizational goals, which include increasing its market share producing high-quality dairy products, offering best services and commodities to the market and growing profits. The overall goal is to gain and maintain a competitive edge in the dairy industry. Training and developing employees ensure that the company achieves these goals efficiently. Equipping staff with unique skills, knowledge, and abilities enables the company to produce high-quality products. Additionally, training the workforce on good customer relations ensures that they serve clients efficiently, which results in customer satisfaction. Consequently, through client referrals, the organizations consumer base grows increasing its sales and profits (Allen, 2015). Furthermore, customer referral is a competitive marketing strategy for the entity, which lowers on advertising costs.

Training

Meadowvale Dairy has special training and employee development needs. These requirements range from most basic requirements of new staff, through to current employees and management. Training and development of new hires in the company is inevitable. Typical training needs among new employees include learning procedures of performing their different tasks, understanding policies and practices, and learning safety procedures critical while working in the company premises. Training new hires on these needs ensures they perform their activities competently and safely. Similarly, current employees also have training requirements, for instance, after an introduction of new machinery useful in production. Additionally, the human resource management department needs to keep up to date with the major developments in people management systems.

The human resource department in Meadowvale Dairy speculates on these training requirements; thus, it incorporates them into a training and development program. Particularly, it is essential for all new employees to undergo induction and orientation before commencing their tasks. The program outlines that all new employees familiarize with the key companys departments, their activities and connection to other functional areas in the organization. Besides, this process enlightens new staff on how each department contributes towards the overall organizational productivity. Similarly, the human resource department develops a well-informed training program solely dependent on the competency gaps it identifies among the workers.

Conclusion

Any organization that desires to gain a competitive edge in the industry must recognize that the workforce is the most significant resource. Therefore, the entity should implement strong human resource strategies that align with the business strategy. Particularly, identifying competency gaps among staff, implementing a talent development strategy and training employees plays a crucial role in increasing both employees and organizational productivity. A productive entity has the ability to meet its main goal of making profits. Meadowvale Dairy recognizes this and it has a hardworking human resource department that seeks to continuously train and develop its employees to attain the set business strategies.

References

Allen, M. (2015). Strategic communication for sustainable organizations: Theory and practice.

Carpenter, H., & Qualls, T. W. (2015). The talent development platform: Putting people first in social change organizations.

Garavan, T. N., Carbery, R., & Rock, A. (2012). Mapping talent development: definition, scope and architecture. European Journal of Training and Development, 36(1), 5-24.

Phillips, J. M., & Gully, S. M. (2013). Human resource management. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Centage Learning.