Functions of HR management

(* screenshot from nestle.com)

Career development:

Nestle’s approach is unique in many ways: 

• It reflects the company's decentralized nature. Whichever country you are working in, you will be given the knowledge and tools you need to respond to local needs
• It encourages you to broaden your horizons, by working with people from many different countries and cultures in the course of your career
• It gives you the chance to develop skills that will enable you to move to different areas of the business
• It promotes a common set of values that engender a Nestlé culture and spirit you will experience wherever you work for us
• It is based on 'on the job' training given by Nestlé people, not solely professional trainers. That means our managers must be both mentors and teachers, communicating knowledge as part of their daily routine

 

Training Programs at Nestlé

The willingness to learn is therefore an essential condition to be employed by Nestlé. First and foremost, training is done on-the-job. Guiding and coaching is part of the responsibility of each manager and is crucial to make each one progress in his/her position. Formal training programs are generally purpose-oriented and designed to improve relevant skills and competencies. Therefore they are proposed in the framework of individual development programs and not as a reward. 

Literacy Training

Most of Nestlé’s people development programs assume a good basic education on the part of employees. However, in a number of countries, we have decided to offer employees the opportunity to upgrade their essential literacy skills. A number of Nestlé companies have therefore set up special programs for those who, for one reason or another, missed a large part of their elementary schooling. 

These programs are especially important as they introduce increasingly sophisticated production techniques into each country where they operate. As the level of technology in Nestlé factories has steadily risen, the need for training has increased at all levels. Much of this is on-the-job training to develop the specific skills to operate more advanced equipment. But it’s not only new technical abilities that are required.  It’s sometimes new working practices. For example, more flexibility and more independence among work teams are sometimes needed if equipment is to operate at maximum efficiency. “Sometimes we have debates in class and we are afraid to stand up. But our facilitators tell us to stand up because one day we might be in the parliament!” (Maria Modiba, Production line worker, Babelegi factory, Nestlé South Africa). 

Nestlé  Apprenticeship Program

Apprenticeship programs have been an essential part of Nestlé training where the young trainees spent three days a week at work and two at school. Positive results observed but some of these soon ran into a problem. At the end of training, many students were hired away by other companies which provided no training of their own. “My two elder brothers worked here before me. Like them, for me the Nestlé Apprenticeship Program in Nigeria will not be the end of my training but it will provide me with the right base for further advancement. We should have more apprentices here as we are trained so well!” (John Edobor Eghoghon, Apprentice Mechanic, Agbara Factory, Nestlé Nigeria) “It’s not only a matter of learning bakery; we also learn about microbiology, finance, budgeting, costs, sales, how to treat the customer, and so on. That is the reason I think that this is really something that is going to give meaning to my life. It will be very useful for everything.” (Jair Andrés Santa, Apprentice Baker, La Rosa Factory Dosquebradas, Nestlé Columbia). 

Local Training

Two-thirds of all Nestlé  employees work in factories, most of which organize continuous training to meet their specific needs. In addition, a number of Nestlé  operating companies run their own residential training centers. The result is that local training is the largest component of Nestlé’s people development activities worldwide and a substantial majority of the company’s 240000 employees receive training every year. Ensuring appropriate and continuous training is an official part of every manager’s responsibilities and, in many cases; the manager is personally involved in the teaching. For this reason, part of the training structure in every company is focused on developing managers’ own coaching skills. Additional courses are held outside the factory when required, generally in connection with the operation of new technology. 

The variety of programs is very extensive. They start with continuation training for ex-apprentices who have the potential to become supervisors or section leaders, and continue through several levels of technical, electrical and maintenance engineering as well as IT management. The degree to which factories develop “home-grown” specialists varies considerably, reflecting the availability of trained people on the job market in each country. On-the-job training is also a key element of career development in commercial and administrative positions. Here too, most courses are delivered in-house by Nestlé trainers but, as the level rises, collaboration with external institutes increases. “As part of the Young Managers’  Training Program I was sent to a different part of the country and began by selling small portions of our Maggi bouillon cubes to the street stalls, the ‘sari sari’ stores, in my country. Even though most of my main key accounts are now supermarkets, this early exposure were an invaluable learning experience and will help me all my life.”  (Diane Jennifer Zabala, Key Account Specialist, Sales, Nestle Philippines). “Through its education and training program, Nestlé manifests its belief that people are the most important asset. In my case, I was fortunate to participate in Nestlé’s Young Managers Program at the start of my Nestlé career, in 1967. This foundation has sustained me all these years up to my present position of CEO of one of the top 12 Nestlé companies in the world.” (Juan Santos, CEO, Nestlé  Philippines) 

Virtually every national Nestlé  company organizes management-training courses for new employees with High school or university qualifications. But their approaches vary considerably. In Japan, for example, they consist of a series of short courses typically lasting three days each. Subjects include human assessment skills, leadership and strategy as well as courses for new supervisors and new key staff. In Mexico, Nestlé set up a national training center in 1965. In addition to those following regular training programs, some 100 people follow programs for young managers there every year. These are based on a series of modules that allows tailored courses to be offered to each participant. Nestlé Pakistan runs 12-month programs for management trainees in sales and marketing, finance and human resources, as well as in milk collection and agricultural services. These involve periods of fieldwork, not only to develop a broad range of skills but also to introduce new employees to company organization and systems. The scope of local training is expanding. The growing familiarity with information technology has enabled “distance learning”  to become a valuable resource, and many Nestlé companies have appointed corporate training assistants in this area. It has the great advantage of allowing students to select courses that meet their individual needs and do the work at their own pace, at convenient times. In Singapore, to quote just one example, staff is given financial help to take evening courses in job-related subjects. Fees and expenses are reimbursed for successfully following courses leading to a trade certificate, a high school diploma, university entrance qualifications, and a bachelor’s degree. 

International Training

Nestlé’s success in growing local companies in each country has been highly influenced by the functioning of its international Training Centre, located near our company’s corporate headquarters in Switzerland. For over 30 years, the Rive-Reine International Training Centre has brought together managers from around the world to learn from senior Nestlé managers and from each other.Country managers decide who attends which course, although there is central screening for qualifications, and classes are carefully composed to include people with a range of geographic and functional backgrounds. Typically a class contains 15–20 nationalities. The Centre delivers some 70 courses, attended by about 1700 managers each year from over 80 countries. All course leaders are Nestlé managers with many years of experience in a range of countries. Only 25% of the teaching is done by outside professionals, as the primary faculty is the Nestlé  senior management. The programs can be broadly divided into two groups: 

Management courses: these account for about 66% of all courses at Rive-Reine. The participants have typically been with the company for four to five years. The intention is to develop a real appreciation of Nestlé values and business approaches. These courses focus on internal activities. 

Executive courses: these classes often contain people who have attended a management course five to ten years earlier. The focus is on developing the ability to represent Nestlé  externally and to work with outsiders. It emphasizes industry analysis, often asking: “What would you do if you were a competitor?” 

Employee Relations in Nestle:

Nestle provides a very healthy working environment which is one of the reasons why Nestlé’s employees state their commitment level to be very high.

• Employee turnover is less than 5%., which is considered to be very low for a multinational corporation.

• Nestle has an open culture & upward communication especially in case of grievance redresser is encouraged.

• Work/Life balance is given importance, as illustrated in the Nestle Human Resource Policy document.

• Nestle Family’ annual events are organized by their HR department whereby employees along with their families are invited.

• Emphasis is laid on safety of employees (Nestle Policy on Health and Safety at Work) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CHAPTER 3. RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE METHODS OF HR MANEGEMENT

3.1 Improving teambuilding process 

No doubt the “Nestle”  company has invested many resources in trainings. I offer a variety of these trainings: trainings for teambuilding. It may be in forms of corporate days, family days and etc. Also “Nestle” must add the number of programs in order to increase the sense of loyalty to the company. 
 

Team Building

Team building programmes and days can take several formats and sometimes more than one day is needed. Teamwork, interaction and trust are the essence to many trials, with members working in pairs or groups. Teams battle it out in some challenges. A group activity combining strategy, teamwork and a sense of adventure increases interest. Outdoor team building is a perfect way to encourage and develop inter-team co-operation in a entertaining and enjoyable way. Improving your team's relationship between members will have a advantageous benefit on their work output as they will be more relaxed with each other having overcome obstacles together. 

Reasons for team building:

• Improving communication
• Making the workplace more enjoyable
• Motivating a team
• Getting to know each other
• Getting everyone "onto the same page", including goal setting
• Teaching the team self-regulation strategies
• Helping participants to learn more about themselves (strengths and weaknesses)
• Identifying and utilizing the strengths of team members
• Improving team productivity
• Practicing effective collaboration with team members

 

Corporate Days

Corporate activity days can transform a fatigued team into a motivated workforce. Live life in the fast lane with a demanding and exhilarating motorized activity, challenge your mind and body with an innovative corporate and team building event, or simply relax with a country pursuits day. Team building activities can also be added to your activity day to add a problem solving component to the event. Corporate team building makes inspirational team-building activities to test initiative, leadership, practical ability and team-working skills with serious challenges held in an entertaining and competitive atmosphere. If you are organizing a group activity, whether it's for a hen/stag event, a social outing amongst friends, entertaining corporate clients or a birthday/family celebration there are a range of experiences from adventure days and tank driving to cookery classes, all specially aimed at group bookings with several off the shelf packages to make your life easier. 

Corporate activity days are perfect if you want to say thank you to your customers or to your employees. Why not treat them to an activity day and enrich your business relationship. If your business is looking to have a corporate activity day then try and choose an event that the majority of participants will enjoy, but will also extend their boundaries as this is the main idea behind activity days. 

Activities 

An enjoyable activity day out is just what the doctor ordered. Whether it's for a birthday, company day out, stag or hen party there's nothing like a multi activity day to bond everyone in the troop together. Whether you want to go clay shooting, quad biking, sailing, power boating or treasure hunting followed by a spa experience, the multi activity combinations are plentiful. Always enjoyable fun and with so many multi activity day options there's plenty of options available. You don't always have to do a complete activity day, sometimes a morning or afternoon can provide a good start to a weekend or a break from a meeting. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CONCLUSION 

The HRM Function in the organization plays the role of the unit taking care of the human capital. The HRM Function is responsible for the processes, which allow the organization to stay competitive on the external market and internally efficient. 

Human Resources Management main functions are:

    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

REFERENCES

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resources

2) Kelly D, 2001, Dual Perceptions of HRD: Issues for Policy: SME’s, Other Constituencies, and the Contested Definitions of Human Resource Development

3) McLean, G. N., Osman-Gani, A. M.,& Cho, E. (Eds.). Human resource development as national policy. Advances in Developing Human Resources, August (2004). 6 (3).

4) http://nestle.com

5) http://nestle.ru

6) Elwood F. Holton II, James W. Trott, Jr., 1996, Trends Toward a Closer Integration of Vocational Education and Human Resources Development, Journal of Vocational and Technical Education, Vol. 12, No. 2, p7