Assignment 6: Portfolio
Due Week 11 and worth 130 points

Your position as the consultant is ending and it is time to submit your complete report. In this assignment, you will make final changes for Assignments 2 through 5 and put the sections into one document.
In addition to what you have already completed and compiled for this portfolio, you should write a two to three (2-3) page conclusion in which you:

1. Describe your final three to five (3-5) observations about the success of the agency, highlighting the value of the agency to U.S. citizens, its success at meeting its goals, and areas where it can improve.
2. Recommend two or three (2-3) strategies for improvement, providing sound justification for each.
3. Describe your experience in researching the agency and interviewing representatives, highlighting the value the project has to your career, the positive elements, and the challenges you faced during the process.
4. Include the required sections with appropriate titles in the portfolio.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include the following sections in the portfolio:
  • Title Page (Cover Page)
    • The cover page must contain the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date.
  • Table of Contents
  • Assignments 2-5 with specific headers / titles
  • Conclusion
  • Reference Page
  • Appendices

    Running Head: DEPT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 1 1

    DEPT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 8

    Evaluation of Agency’s Human Resources Management

    Lauren Riley

    Professor Andre Lee

    Public Administration Capstone

    December 13, 2019

    Human Resource Processes

    The Human Resources System of the Department of Veterans Affairs consists of transforming the roles of human resources to guarantee that Veteran Affairs individuals are allocated different jobs according to their qualification, with the desired competence and capabilities, with a genuine sense of individual worth, and commitment to ensuring quality service delivery to all people. The partnership between human resources and administration offices with the human resource community to formulate a strategic plan is the trigger for the process of transformation (Kersten, 2018). The initial procedure in the process is to enhance the establishments, execution, and valuation of HR policies and protocols across the entire department. This compromise transforms the direction and requirements of the developed president, leadership at VA, and the office of personnel management.

    According to Pittman (2010), the step that follows the strategic process is to make sure the human capital plans and strategies of the VA are executed to address the goals, mission, and objectives, in addition to being within the budget of the department. This involves maintaining a coherent communication channel, carrying out efficient planning processes between the administration employees and HR and skilled HR staffing across VA and adopting a single VA approach when it comes to staffing. In addition, the VA Performance plan includes their objectives and missions that would assist in retaining staff, establish and retain a skilled, committed, and diverse group of employees that offers a high-quality service delivery to veterans and their families. It will automate, standardize and integrate processes via an improved information system framework. Moreover, the VA will enhance the quality of design for the organization and position management in addition to improving the uniformity and consistency of classification decisions within the department. Also, creating a web-based HR resource center, guarantees an accessible online tool that managers in VACO and HR experts can utilize to guarantee with the guidelines of VA and operation management (Pittman, 2010). This will result in improved consistency with decision making during position classification, availability of PDs to rapidly and efficiently hire individuals for open job positions, and to minimize incidences of classification appeals. The VA must provide support programs to hire, recruit and retain their most competent and qualified staff to drive its mission. The VA must stay competitive with non-profit and private industries when it comes to recruiting employees to realize its strategic goals.

    Implications of Human Resource Workforce

    The workforce is the labor pool in employment. Skala (2017) states that it implies the processes an organization undertakes to ensure it has current and futures access to human labor required to effectively run operations. A company achieves this by recognizing existing and future employees it requires and venturing into the most effective and cost-efficient technique to hire and maintain personnel. An organization should also be capable of reading trends in population. The American workforce will progressively enlarge in size, however at a relatively slower scale, unlike in the past. The VA Department has a vision and mission for its personnel, which is grounded on four standards of service. These include practicing professionalism, kindness, organizational brilliance and safety. In addition, the VA department has a site established to enhance the process of recruiting new employees by automating the paperwork process to the position and the individual has chosen.

    According to Coffey (2016), the diversity index of Veterans gauges the convergence of an institution’s collective workforce ethnicity, race, and gender representation to civil labor forces. An analysis was conducted by ODI to evaluate if the diversity, inclusion, and commitment of an employee are associated with the performance results for FY2015. The analysis established that inclusion, diversity, and commitment of an employee are directly linked to the overall performance of the organization. These are essential requirements for quality, productivity and customer satisfaction in addition to employee gratification. Aside from the indices mention above, regularly ODI gives an array of analyses of workforce diversity. At the end of FY 2016, the workforce of VA summed up to 369741 personnel, a figure which is comprised of a whopping 18352 non-permanent staff.

    Succession Planning for Human Resource Management

    According to Kersten (2018), succession planning guarantees that an organization recruits highly competent personnel in all departments for the current and future perspectives of the organization. Succession planning entails comprehending both short-term and long-term objectives and goals of an organization, the ability to recognize the gaps in employee developmental requirements, and evaluating the trends and prediction of a workforce. The professional and managerial skills used by the VA to enhance the workforce of the agency are essential. Transformational leaders can enhance the competency of the workforce. Managers have the duty of organizing employees and workloads, and ensuring balance is maintained. Kersten (2018) states that a leader with transformational leadership skills allow others to work effectively through delegation of duties. This implies that a transformational leader must show sensitivity to the abilities of junior staff, are aware of the employee training needs, and precisely and coherently communicate duties. Through this, the productivity of an organization will start showing signs of improvement. Giving appraisal to employees by managers may require them to conduct frequent mentorship sessions, which demands managers to engage in round table sessions with employees. Providing other people with an opportunity to show their work prowess implies establishing a work setting where employees feel free to engage with managers on various issues such as voicing the challenges experienced or acknowledging shortcomings, without the sense of being judged. Furthermore, employees will be free to allow their performance to be evaluated with the desire to improve instead of censure.

    According to Kersten (2018), the performance of an employee must be properly managed by the supervisor if administrators of an organization have the desire to realize their mission and objectives. The most important component of a team leader or supervisor is performance management. For the VA to improve, it can launch programs such as performance management of personnel, planning work, setting targets, supervising and gauging performance, and establishing capacities for employees to perform. To carry out efficient performance management, specific proficiency competencies are required. Establishing and upholding efficient communication channels between the management and employees requires good written and oral communication skills in addition to the capacity to create better working relationships.

    Wronka-Pospiech (2016) argues that organizations will benefit in several ways if they focus more attention on instilling performance management skills in their team leaders and supervisors. The skills should be the basis of training and development to warrant that the federal state can achieve its mission in the 21st century. In the next few years, approximately 60% of all federal employees will be eligible for retirement. The vacuum created by these retiring individuals lies in upper and middle management, with the supervision of areas that demand a high level of professionalism. In the VA, these vacant positions are challenging to fill; the learning curve would be considered for those who do not have the experience. The second-ranked proficiency is the capacity to establish business plans and assess their standard deviation of feasibility. An organization’s management must have the ability to convert the mission of the organization into achievable objectives, recognize the scale social enterprise activities and consider the mission, goals, and resources of the agency in addition to the tautness between economic and social requirements.

    Job Analysis and Design

    Job Title: Veterans Consultant

    Having in mind this is a fulltime work occupation, a primary specification for this job is to provide specialized help, to not only veterans, but also their families in line with the benefits provided by America’s Department of Veterans Affairs. It also requires planning, coordinating and directing HR activities of an institution to increase the strategic implementation of HR and uphold responsibilities such as recruitment of personnel, compensation of employees, employee policies, and regulatory conformity. The job also requires analysis of compensation laws, government control and existing salary rates to establish an efficient compensation strategy. Performance evaluation entails evaluating data against a set of standards and attesting to the information being accurate. The VA department requires a consultant who has energy, shows compassion, and is committed to serving individuals who have proudly represented our country. Despite the title a person holds, every positing within the VA department provides a person with an opportunity to make a substantial and individual contribution to the lives of veterans.

    Appendix

    Interview Forms

    Name of Student		Division
    Agency	HR	HR Department	VA
    Name of Interviewed Person(s)
    Interviewee’s Title		Dates of Interview

    Subject	Question Topics
    HR Management	The HR and Administration office will supervise a centralized HR governance strategy to oversee the execution of the plan.
    Employee welfare	The VA Department is dedicated to providing equal opportunities to all employees, encouraging diversity at works, inclusion at the workplace, and comprehensively any emerging conflict to ensure a smooth operation of the organization. Besides, the VA does not accept any form of sexual harassment.
    Imminent Plans	To offer proficient customer service, it is essential for Veteran Affairs to comprehend the needs of veterans, and their families.
    Recommendations	VA needs to focus more on improving employee management performance.

    Reference

    Coffey, G. (2016). Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan for 2017-2020. United States Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Human Resources and Administration. Six Outreach events

    Skala, T. l. (2017). Bay Pines VA Healthcare System Onboarding Process for New Employees VA. http://www.va.gov

    Kersten, A. (2018). Predicting Employee Engagement: The importance of Mindfulness, Transformational Leadership.

    Pittman, R.A. (2010). Transforming VA’s Human Resource Message from the Assistant Secretary. www.VA.Gov.org

    Wronka-Pospiech, M. (2016). The Identification of Skills and Competencies for Effective Management in Social Enterprises. A Managerial Perspective. Management (1429-9321), 20(1), 40-57. https://dpo/prg10.1515/manment-2015-0023