Critical Thinking Assignment: Acquisition of New Employee Skills

Critical Thinking Assignment Option #1: Acquisition of New Employee Skills
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Critical Thinking Assignment Option #1: Acquisition of New Employee Skills
Question 1
The Ford Motor Company is an American automaker founded on June 16, 1903, by Henry Ford. It is the second-largest automaker company in the United States behind general motors. Globally, it ranks as the fifth-largest behind Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai-Kia, and General Motors. The leadership in Ford understands that human capital is an essential asset for a large company. Under the leadership of former CEO Jim Hackett, Ford could prosper and cultivate a unique culture. He was renowned for his fondness of technology, which he used in his leadership style to inspire creativity and a culture of learning. Therefore, my expectations for its working environment were already high with such a humongous reputation even before I was hired. My expectation of an effective HR department is management that focuses on getting the best out of its employees professionally while simultaneously managing personal, social, and medical wellbeing.
The automotive industry is rapidly changing; therefore, companies need to keep up or fall down the pecking order. Ford understands this and always strives to incorporate its rich history with the new, consequently focusing on employee training and performance management CITATION Jab08 \l 1033 (Jabbour & Santos, 2008). To this effect, the company seeks sustainability through its world-class IT system that leverages development in Automation Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. It uses AI and augmented reality to train its employees on the latest hardware and software engineering skills. In the past decade, the automotive world has made significant advancements in manufacturing electronic vehicles with frontrunners such as Tesla. Ford is not left behind, and it has invested a lot of resources to train its manufacturing technicians in electrified vehicle diagnostics. It implements collaborative learning practices such as cohort programs. The programs prioritize community learning with branches such as the global leadership summit, executive leadership summit, experienced leader program, and salaried supervisor institute. Consequently, employees are encouraged to share their expertise with others in technical and non-technical departments.
Its human resource department is one of the fundamental pillars of this strategic plan. In 2016, it released HRRev, a program that transforms HR products and services catering to a better employee experience. It also has "People First" service centers that act as a support platform for its global workforce. Ford attributes its success to diversity and inclusion in its hiring process. Over the years, the company has looked to bring onboard people from different backgrounds that offer diverse opinions and experiences. It is also very strict with implementing its anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies along with a collaborative environment. Ford is committed to ensuring the safety of its employees. The safe environment cultivated in Ford encourages the employees to report safety hazards, accidents, and recommendations to the management CITATION Sun19 \...