Appraising the Role of a People Professional
The professional has high indicators of professional activity and professional and social status. This person is a dynamically developing system of personal and activity normative regulation, constantly aimed at professional self-development and high professional achievements (Brooks & Dunn, 2020). Moreover, being professional means concentrating on the essentials and controlling only what is within one’s power, discarding all the secondary but gradually mastering new skills (Brooks & Dunn, 2020).
Notably, the professions develop behavior characterized by attentiveness, formality, and focus. These people are also excellent communicators because misunderstanding means a loss of productivity in the professional world, which is why it is crucial to express thoughts when interacting with other people clearly (Czuba et al., 2019). Simultaneously, being a professional also includes following the rules of work ethics. Furthermore, being a people professional means complying with the rules of continuous development. Thus, it is essential to respect and adhere to ethical standards in professional activity to be a professional.
The Evolving Role of People Professionals and Its Impact on Professional Development
In the past, the role of people professionals was significantly smaller than today. The reason is that in the past, their role was transactional, but in modern work environments, their role has become one of the leading ones in organizations because it is aligned with business goals (Vondracek et al., 2019). Nowadays, these professionals are involved in recruitment and hiring and support various strategies to stimulate talent development. Hence, the main change in the role of these professionals is explained by the fact that they do not focus exclusively on managing employees but rather on motivating workers to perform effectively and ensuring that the company’s goals are fulfilled.
Accordingly, people professionals are now developing and following the next priorities. First is communication skills, which means they learn to communicate effectively with their subordinates to ensure a positive workplace climate (Santana et al., 2018). Furthermore, in order to ensure continuous professional development, they encourage diversity and inclusion in the work environment. This is crucial in today’s fast-changing environment, where professionals need to adapt to different conditions and requirements. Furthermore, building relationships with employees is also a priority for continuous professional development. Professionals often have to deal with difficult situations and maintain productivity (Santana et al., 2018). Accordingly, only understanding the internal climate in the environment where workers operate will allow them to achieve this.
Training and development are the next priority for continuous professional development. They provide employees with the opportunity to improve their specific abilities for better productivity and company success (Santana et al., 2018). Therefore, the changing role of a people professional prioritizes competitiveness among the workforce, rapid adaptation to new conditions, and learning and mastering new trends in the industry.
Applying Personal and Ethical Values in People Practice
Ethical values are the foundations on which people guide their behavior. They guide behavior that is socially accepted and help people discern what is right. Therefore, people have certain ethical principles and act in a certain way based on them. Moreover, in professional activities, ethical values are essential for effective teamwork (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2021). Personal and business ethics are important for forming behavioral patterns in employees, which affect their organizational activity and decision-making style. Furthermore, the concept of ethical values is influenced by a particular person’s characteristics and beliefs (MelĂ©, 2019). Consequently, ethical values should be understood as a fundamental set of rules of behavior and internal values of people formed by internal beliefs and the external environment.
It is worth noting that I also have a set of personal ethical values that influence my behavior in the workplace. My primary ethical values include honesty, responsibility, initiative, and accountability. Therefore, honesty is a value that helps me to follow moral and ethical rules. As a people professional, I try to work efficiently and provide truthful information about my activities. Nevertheless, as a people professional, I am responsible for my decisions and actions, regardless of the consequences they create. That is, I understand that it is essential to recognize my mistakes and correct them promptly. In addition, proactivity in the workplace is one of my strengths as a people professional, as it encourages me to work in a team and initiate new projects. I also communicate with managers to present my work results and answer questions. Thus, accountability facilitates feedback, which enables me to get the support I need from the leadership.
As a people professional, I work honestly, and people trust me, which helps me organize teamwork. Responsibility and initiative allow me, as a professional, to set assignments for my subordinates and provide recommendations for their fulfillment. Additionally, accountability is a method of communicating not only with subordinates but also with management (MelĂ©, 2019). It is required that the executive team be informed about the team’s achievements and explain what additional resources need to be attracted.
The Importance of Clear and Confident Communication in Influencing Others
People professionals should engage in dialogues with supervisors and subordinates to advocate for their beliefs. Furthermore, human resources professionals must be confident in discussions to influence and persuade others (Peng, 2022). This skill is required because it allows them to demonstrate that they are not afraid of their own beliefs and are willing to engage in discussion.
In order to substantiate their opinions and oppositions, people professionals need to present themselves as informed participants in the discussion (Peng, 2022). This needs to be achieved on the basis of the rationality of the information presented to convince the interlocutor to consider these ideas. Consequently, the professionalism of people professionals regarding all the appeals of the topic is important for conducting discussions.
Moreover, for subordinates to understand the goals and objectives set for them, professionals need to clearly distinguish their thoughts. Accordingly, it is imperative to provide a clear and concise overview of the problems and listen to the main proposals to identify clear implementation points. Conciseness in conversations with subordinates is a trait of professionals because long conversations without specific points do not allow finding the necessary solution. Hence, professionals should conduct precise and summarized discussions to save time and effort for employees (Griffin, 2021).
It is critical to emphasize that engagement in discussions is essential to their effectiveness. When professionals demonstrate and explain information, they need to reinforce it with facts and find ways to present it to the audience better. For example, a visual presentation will enhance listeners’ engagement and stimulate their ideas (Griffin, 2021). Therefore, discussions are a way for professionals to communicate with their subordinates and superiors, and to be effective, they need to be constructed in a constructive, clear, and engaging manner.
Recognizing When and How to Address Ethical Conflicts or Legal Issues
In the process of operating, many organizations face problems when organizational policies or leadership approaches conflict with ethical values or legislation. Some examples of such cases are situations where employees steal from the workplace, falsify figures in documents, or violate the basic rules of leadership in organizations (Aryati et al., 2019). In order to raise an accusation, a professional needs to obtain evidence that a particular employee is committing acts that violate ethical or legal rules; however, these accusations may only be substantiated with sufficient evidence, which will lead to an atmosphere of distrust in the team (Aryati et al., 2019). Accordingly, human resources professionals should gather sufficient information and verify it to avoid creating chaos in the team, which may lead to the inability of workers to work together.
People professionals should follow the protocols that exist in the organization to express concerns correctly. That is, if there is credible evidence of a violation of ethical standards during the implementation of the leadership approach, the professional should review it. It is also important to assure the confidentiality of employees who report violations by other employees (Driskill, 2018). After that, it is crucial to examine the evidence and have a personal conversation with the accused person to determine if they have been warned.
In case of violation of the law, it is necessary to appeal to legislative acts in order to argue that the offender’s actions are not legal. Thus, after the evidence has been gathered and the warning issued, attention should be paid to the activities of the offending individuals (Driskill, 2018). If they have not corrected their behavior, they should raise the issue of their dismissal with their management.
The Human and Business Benefits of Inclusion, Value, and Fairness in the Workplace
It is critical to note that workers in the workplace want to feel like an important part of the team. Accordingly, only by ensuring that they are treated fairly and ethically is there a way to demonstrate their value in the team. Employees’ motivation, satisfaction, productivity, and loyalty are thus all dependent on how they are treated in the workplace (Lindsay et al., 2018). As a result, when employees are always supported and understood in their workplace, they are more inclined to work hard and contribute to the company’s success.
Additionally, recognizing their efforts in the form of tangible and intangible incentives is an important element in motivating employees to do better (Lindsay et al., 2018). This way, it demonstrates to employees their value in the organization and that they are fairly rewarded for their efforts. The main benefits for people are a sense of value and belonging, which improves their emotional state. In business, expressing the value of employees is important to motivate them. This is because it leads to their better performance and the organization’s success.
Furthermore, the ethical behavior of people, which has business benefits, is also supported by academic theory. For instance, Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation provides a clear list of characteristics necessary to ensure employee motivation (Graves & Sarkis, 2018). According to the theory, these characteristics are motivators and hygiene, which promote employee commitment to the organization. The category of motivators includes such elements as challenging employees’ work and offering them career growth and improvement. As a result, staff members consider themselves an important part of the organization and understand that management values them.
Moreover, equity means that all workers should be treated fairly, regardless of tenure, diversity, or beliefs. It is critical to evaluate individuals only based on their qualifications and the results of their work for the organization’s well-being (Graves & Sarkis, 2018). Thus, such an attitude towards the employees indicates ethical behavior in the company and employee motivation. As a result, it leads to better outcomes, which are essential for the economic and social growth of the business.
Designing and Ensuring Inclusive People Practices
In order to be effective, a company needs to create policies that satisfy the needs of all employees, and that can be used to deal with difficult situations. For example, a company has decided to change its organizational policy. The performance appraisal indicators showed employees were stressed and experiencing workplace burnout (Grant, 2021). This leads to a deterioration in their efficiency and an overall decrease in profits for the company. Accordingly, management decided to introduce the principle of flexibility into organizational policies and ensure that work-life balance is promoted.
The development of inclusive initiatives requires the following steps. First, the needs of workers from various departments and positions should be assessed. For this goal, it is possible to use questionnaires or interviews with each employee and to form the opinions and expectations of most staff (Hickman & Silva, 2018).
Moreover, to ensure inclusiveness, involving different employees in developing the new policy is crucial. This will guarantee that employees’ representatives from different social classes and their needs are considered. This step can be accomplished by forming working groups that include people with different demographics (Bougie & Sekaran, 2019). Within these groups, open discussions should be maintained to adapt to the wishes and needs of all employees.
Furthermore, when developing an innovation, it is important to confirm that the needs of all employees are considered. That is, people with special needs and abilities are not discriminated against, and their opinions are taken into account. In other words, additional equipment or interpreters may need to be brought in to enable everyone’s opinions to be expressed (Bougie & Sekaran, 2019). In this way, policy changes will consider the characteristics and desires of various categories of staff regarding work-life balance.
Moreover, a pilot test must be conducted before introducing any new innovations. A sample of employees with a strong commitment to inclusiveness should be involved in testing the new organization policy for a certain period. While working under the new rules, they should be surveyed about their impressions and assessment of the proposed changes (Bougie & Sekaran, 2019).
Based on the results, it may turn out that the policy is ready for general implementation in the organization or needs to be revised. In addition, even after introducing changes related to work-life balance, it is necessary to check the relevance of the policy (Bougie & Sekaran, 2019). As the needs of workers change over time, they may become more or less inclusive, and the policy needs to be adjusted to meet the needs of the people.
However, training programs and familiarization of employees with the new changes are ways to implement them successfully. Therefore, for positive results, it is recommended to summarize the presentation of the new inclusive changes and explain how to understand the policy on work-life balance (Bougie & Sekaran, 2019). Accordingly, if the organization implements these strategies and methods of verification, it will create conditions for a favorable working climate in the team and continuous development of the work environment.
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