HRD RESEARCH: FROM CONCEPT TO PRACTICE

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People and Skill Development in PWC and GreenCape

Introduction

The way organizations carry out their activities has changed; processes are more inclined towards meeting specific goals in the market. To accommodate this change, human resources play a central role in scanning and delivering customized operations to a specific target customer base. One of the main reasons associated with variation in how businesses conduct their affairs is due to increased competition. Organizations that do not match the global effectiveness are likely to lose customers, leading to closure. Additionally, the use of information technology has necessitated companies to be equally robust in automating operation; however, to do this, human resources must be equally equipped with contemporary knowledge borrowed from organizations that are best in practice as well from those that are market leaders. These collective changes bring about the need for people development in an organization. This report aims to compare how people and skill development play out in practice between PWC and GreenCape organizations.

Background of the Selected Organizations and they Apply the Concept

Price Waterhouse Cooper has one of its subsidiaries in Cape Town, and its main objective is to “deliver high-quality services to its clients and provide a great place for people to work" (About PwC, n.d.). The company motto also consider responsibility to the society and the environment. PwC operates in 30 African countries with one location in Cape Town. In South African alone, the company has 4229 employees in its 19 offices. PwC has a turnover of $29.2 billion. In 2011 alone, the PwC company offered its service to 419 companies that appeared in Fortune Global 500 and a further 443 companies that featured in FT Global 500 (About PwC n.d.). Over the last 10 years, the company's market share has grown with a 21% index rate. With its extensive understanding of the market, the PwC continually develop its employees through role-playing, hands-on strategy, and through coaching and monitoring.

The second company, GreenCape, envisions to promote a thriving, prosperous Africa through the use of green economy (About GreenCape, n.d.). Being a non-profit organization, GreenCape relies on government and donor funding to unlock investment and employment opportunities. The organization was established in 2010 and has hence helps thousands of businesses and people by interlinking them with market, financing, and training on large scale market uptake (About GreenCape, n.d.). The organization also uses the GreenCape's model to bring service closer to people for green economic prosperity. Owing to its close interaction with its customers, GreenCape trains its staff on areas such as social-cultural beliefs related to banking and economic prowess, the language of Cape Town target market, and green financial solutions. Training in GreenCape is fructified through simulated learning, role-playing, and the use of case studies.

The Concept of People and Skill Development

Choi and Ruona (2011) indicate that staff preparedness is critical in accomplishing the mission of an organization, where readiness implies continuous training and modeling to make a staff suitable even...