Week Two Learning Log - Sections Five and Six: Tie-in to Manager’s work with HR and Learning Lessons

Section Five:  How the information encountered this week could be important as a manager tasked with working with HR. 

As a manager tasked with working with HR, I feel ensuring that taking the time to ensure that an employee is the right fit from from qualifications to culture will encourage a long-term mutually beneficial relationship.  I also have discovered that will prevent the grave costs of poor hiring decisions, from employee morale and having to repeat training of another candidate.  If a company doesn't have a good job description that explains the functions of the job as well as the qualifications, knowledge, skills and behavior, needed to be successful in fulfilling the functional requirements of the job,they risk not having qualified team members who complement each other (Scott, 2012).  As a manager, I would ensure the job description for who they were hiring for my team was specific and duties well-described.

Scott, S. (2012, Jul 05). The huge cost of bad hiring decisions. Telegraph - Herald Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1023465245?accountid=33575 




Section Six:  Evaluation of most valuable information discovered throughout this week’s assignments, discussions, readings, or research.

One of the most valuable activities of this week was the readings on the Capability Audit and the conducting of it.  I found myself really analyzing how my department worked and pinpointing its strengths and weaknesses.  I found it particularly interesting how managers do not expect a department to be rated a "5" in all areas.  Each set of team members have a different dynamic and will sport its own set of strengths.   I thought thoroughly about events, duties, responsiveness to customers and thinks we can improve upon.  

Another concept I learned from the reading was regarding the risk of confusing capabilities with activities.  I have worked in a place where a variety of 'training' was offered without any real application or follow-up to how well the training aligned with what the employee was actually tasked with doing.  Instead of focusing on how many hours of training one requires, it would be best suited to asked what capabilities the training created (Ulrich Brockbank, Younger & Ulrich, 2012).  Activities and training that fill time or check a box off that it was done but have no job application or real effectiveness wastes time for both the employee time and employer resources. 


Ulrich, D., Brockbank, W., Younger, J., & Ulrich, M. (2012). HR from the Outside in: Six Competencies for the Future of Human Resources. The McGraw-Hill Company.