Question
Question 2
You have been asked to advise your senior management team (SMT) about how your organisation can support the use of technology in the workplace in ways which will enhance employees’ experiences of working life. What THREE distinct points would you make? Justify your answer.
Question 6
In what ways and to what extent does government policy in the field of education affect HR and L&D practice in organisations? Illustrate your answer with THREE current examples.
Question 11
To what extent do you agree with the view that employers rather than employees are the main winners from flexible working initiatives? Justify your answer.
Question 13
In what ways can the HR and L&D functions in organisations make a direct and significant contribution to the achievement of high standards in the field of business ethics? Illustrate your answer with examples.
Solution
Question 2: Support of use of Technology in Workplace for Enhancing Employees’ Experiences of Working Life
The latest technologies revolution on the scope of organisations value creation and way people professionals operate span in various industries, economies and society. This view is supported by CIPD (2020) report that identify emergence of big data, an increase in digitisation and improvements of Artificial Intelligence (AI) identify new technologies as assisting with more complex tasks, augmenting roles and potentially changing the nature of work. This is the situation in my current XXX organisation where by embrace of new technologies, they have improved their projects and are able to increase their business performance by improving quality and cost savings. Nevertheless, XXX still need to put more efforts in improving workplace technologies on people professionals roles and lives of working prioritised, specifically since this would increase in future as technologies play substantial function in their modernised work functions. Hence, for the senior management team (SMT) in XXX organisation, the scope of support for using technology in the workplace for enhancing employees experiences of working life would include;
High Quality E-Learning Interventions
One of the strategy which can be adopted by XXX is high-quality interventions assisting people in upskilling and enhancing their career prospects in a manner traditional face-to-face or on-the-job training would not. This is affirmed in CIPD (2020a) research in 2020 which concluded that 54% of more than 1000 surveyed staff use digital and online learning in the time of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown with 80% planning for increasing this in the next 12 months. Hence, since XXX is currently being impacted by COVID-19 pandemic, through the e-learning interventions, appropriate training opportunities would be offered for continual professional development. This is with their furloughed employees being provided with online opportunities for learning and support socially. The outcome of this would be achievement of what Marchington et al. (2020) identify as aligning HRM with organisational strategy and integrating various HRM components. These components include employees job security, health and wellbeing, work-life balance and motivation.
Artificial Intelligence or enhanced robotics
As evidenced in CIPD (2017), for the HR professionals, in modern business environment, there has been an increased adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) which include the machine learning and cognitive computing, robotics which include service robots, robot assisted procedures and robotic process automation and automation technologies. In the case of XXX organisation, by successfully integrating the AI and enhanced robotics, the employees would have an enhanced human contribution while being facilitated with a significant role expansion. For instance, in MNGHA which has recently implemented an automated dispensing system (ADS) as part of their operations, they have over the years evidenced a broad positive implication for their in-house pharmacists. This is through the reduction of the time they stayed in the dispensary and facilitating them to become more active on their patients. Nevertheless, the Marchington et al. (2020) recommendations on the role of HRM on business performance and the set of knowledge and skills essential for business practice would have to be put into account in the implementation of Artificial intelligence and enhanced robotics. For instance, XXXX SMT would need to encourage critical thinking which allows the HR teams in coming up with innovative strategies and solving complex issues logically and with reason. This is particularly the case as Cope et al. (2020) identify 80% of all the process-oriented tasks in future would be implemented by AI systems. This is with upto 50% of the quantitative reasoning tasks being implemented by humans with 50% machine with the humans continuing to do more than 80% of the cross-functional reasoning tasks. Further, PR Newswire (2019) report had similarly noted in USA, 41% of American businesses had adopted the robotics and advanced automation in the past 5 years which is 8% increase from 2018. In a similar report, 26% of studied technology managers had argued their organisations as having increased job opportunities in their organisations. Similarly, in XXX, by successfully implementing AI and automatic robotics, they would benefit from making their jobs less mundane, an increased engagement while enabling high-level quality of work satisfaction by gaining an increase in experience.
Technologies facilitating Remote/Flexible Working
According to Marchington et al. (2020)…………….
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