An investigation into the impact of training on the staff Performance in Saudi Arabian Airlines - Dissertation Example

?An investigation into the impact of training on the staff Performance in Saudi Arabian Airlines. Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Rationale: 3 Company Profile: 3 Aim: 4 Objectives: 5 Literature Review: 5 Research Methodology: 8 Scope: 10 Main Tasks: 10 Time Scale (Gantt chart): 11 Provisional Title: An investigation into the impact of training on the staff Performance in Saudi Arabian Airlines. Rationale: Implementing new procedures in an organisation requires proper planning. Training the staff regarding the new compliances requires a thoroughly chalked out schedule focusing on the training and development of the staff members. The human resource of an organisation is the backbone of the organisation. Training and development of employees have direct implication on the productivity of the employees. The better trained the employees are the more efficient they become in their work. Planning the Training and development of the employees is a key function of management and has many aspects that must be taken into consideration. Saudi Arabian Airline is an established airline and is looking for business expansion in global scale. To operate in global scale the employees of Saudi Arabian Airlines need to be trained in many areas, to enable them in dealing with customers from all across the globe. Company Profile: Saudi Arabian Airlines was established in the year 1945. The Airline started the operation with a single twin engine DC-3(Dakota), presented to King Abdul Aziz as a token by U.S. President Franklin D Roosevelt. Saudi Arabian Airlines in today’s date has 139 aircrafts, which have the latest in-built technology. The Saudi Arabian Airline currently has operations ranging from 26 domestic and 54 international flights. The Saudi Arabian Airlines have recently restructured their flight operations to optimize the use of the latest technology. The geographical spread of the Saudi Arabian Airlines demands excellent training to extract maximum efficiency from all their employees. To place themselves in a global platform the Saudi Arabian Airline management places sufficient importance on adequate training of their employees. The Saudi Aerospace Engineering Industries, which is sister concern of Saudi Arabian Airlines has signed an agreement with Human Resource Development Fund regarding the training of around 100 Saudi employees to work in the aviation industry. Saudi Arabian Airlines recognizes the importance of training their staff and has several staff training programs like- -Crew Leadership training. -Training Technical Services staff. - Training program for Finance. -Passenger Sales and Services training. -Training of new recruits. Aim: To understand the impact of training and development on the efficiency of the employees in Saudi Arabian Airlines. Objectives: 1. To investigate the current efficiency level of the employees in Saudi Arabian Airlines. 2. To investigate the roadblocks faced by the employees in performing their jobs in Saudi Arabian Airlines. 3. To investigate the nature of training and development required by the employees of Saudi Arabian Airlines to perform efficiently in Global scale. 4. To investigate the procedure and schedule required to be implemented to train the employees. Literature Review: Training and development of staff requires proper planning by human resource management. There are three methods of training that are basically followed by most organisations. The basic three types of training followed are Cognitive, behavioural methods and management development. In cognitive method the employees are mostly trained regarding the theoretical concepts applicable at work (Hall & Hughes, 1989, p.209). This type of training places more importance on theoretical knowledge required by the employees in order to function properly in their jobs. Knowledge about the company policies, laws related to the functioning of the organization (Martin, 2006, p.15). Knowledge regarding procedures followed by the organisations. Technical knowledge required for carrying out work in the organisation (Giri, 2003, p.1-75). Cognitive training includes lectures by professionals having expertise in certain areas. Video- demonstrations, discussions and computer based training (CBT). CBT includes Intelligent Tutorial System, Programmed Instructions (PI), and Virtual Reality (Fine & Kotkin, 2003, p.429). Behavioural training is more related to the practical training of the employees. The various methods applied in behavioural methods are more related to the skill development of the employee. In behavioural training the employees are trained more regarding the attitude and etiquettes required to perform efficiently. The management development method focuses on training the employees in such a way that they acquire education and training to make them better performer. The management development method is more focused on grooming the employees in a certain way so that they are able to contribute to the growth of the company. The employees can be trained by two ways, On the job training and Off the job training (Singla, 2010, p.43). On the job training exposes the trainee towards the challenges and knowledge required for the job while they are posted on the job. The trainees are assigned under a mentor, who is responsible of guiding the trainees to understand the job demands (Levin, 1997, p.5). On the job training is beneficial in many ways as the trainee gets a firsthand practical experience of the profile and is able to assess the requirements to perform better in the profile (Wilson, 2005, p.65). Following are few on the job training applied by many organisations- Coaching This is one of the most frequently used training methods applied by the companies. These coaching programmes have specialised trainers who have expertise in certain areas are able to guide professionals in managerial level. The CEO and the higher management often get stuck in certain areas and require to be updated regarding the incorporation of new technologies in their field. These trainers help employees at the management level to understand their present situation in a better way and function accordingly. Mostly theses coachings have one to one interaction. These coaching classes can be scheduled at the convenience of the employees (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2004, p.14). Mentoring Mentoring is a relationship built up between a senior and a junior employee. The senior is entrusted with responsibility to groom the junior in such a way that the junior is able to easily comprehend the job responsibilities and the organisational functioning (Lawson, 1997, p.4). Job Rotation Job rotation is another method applied by the organisations to extract better performance. Under this method the employees are rotated in all the operational teams of the organisation for short period. This gives the employee a better idea regarding the operations of the organisation as a whole. The employee can understand operations of all the teams and can choose the operations that the employee can contribute to (Jacobs, 2003, p.97). Job Instruction Technique Under this method the trainee is trained for factual as well as procedural skills and attitudes to perform the job in a better fashion (Giroud, 2003, p.236). Off the job training focuses on training taken by the employee off the job. These are courses or seminars attended by the employees to acquire extra knowledge to perform better in their organisations. Many organisations keep frequent training for their employees to keep them updated regarding the latest in the business world related to their technology. This gives employees a better understanding of how to apply the latest technology to their current problems. Often latest technology is not accepted easily by the old employees and training helps them to grasp the technology in a better way (Hale, 2006, p.26). Seminars conducted by experts help the employees to understand the current market scenario. Off the job training is mainly used to enhance the knowledge of the employees to keep them abreast with the current essential market information (Clark, Skinner &Mabey, 1998, p.97). Research Methodology: To assess the implication of training on the performance of the employees in Saudi Arabian Airlines, a primary research will have to be conducted. Employees who are having problem in functioning at par with the expected performance have to be selected (Purposive sampling). This selected population will act as the sample of our study. A questionnaire pertaining questions regarding the difficulty faced by the sample unit will be given to the employees. The questionnaire will contain mixed questions, open ended and closed questions. The questionnaire will have provisions for the employees to express their view regarding the nature of training they think will benefit them. The employees will be given the assurance that none of the information divulged by them will be made public. If the employees want to fill the questionnaire anonymously and drop it in a box, it will be allowed to attain insight regarding the expectations of employees from training and development. After the data from the questionnaire is recorded an analysis will be done to understand the kind of training required by the employees to perform better. A training program which is according to the requirement of the employees of the Saudi Arabian Airlines will be designed. The training will be arranged in such a way that no added pressure is place on the shoulders of the employees. The employees will be requested to attend the training for a month. The same set of employees will be then observed to assess any improvement in their performance. The trained employees will be again assessed by the help of a questionnaire which will have questions pertaining to the advantages the employees perceived from the training. The seniours of the selected employees will be asked to conduct a performance appraisal on the employees to measure the improvement if any of the employees. This will help in facilitating the actual output of the training and a proper assessment of the impact of the training on the performance of the staff can be concluded. Limitations: The main limitation of this research will be the timeline. The assessment requires ample time to understand the impact of training on the performance of the staff. The staffs have to be surveyed before the training and then after the training, this will entail significant time. Another major limitation of this research can be the non corporation of the staff members. The staff members might not be very forthright in admitting their short comings on the job. Scope: This research will throw sufficient light on the methods that can be implied by the Saudi Arabian Airlines to achieve better performance from their employees. This research will help the Saudi Arabian Airlines to curtail training and development according to the need of their employees. The result of this research will throw insight on the nature of training that is required by the employees to perform better in their job. The Human resource department will become better equipped in understanding the difficulties faced by the employees. Employees will also feel comfortable in informing the HR department regarding their problems. The trainers will also understand the kind of approach they should have to maximise the benefits reaped by the employees from the training and development. Main Tasks: The main tasks that must be executed in order to complete the research on time are the following: 1. Obtain records from the Saudi Arabian Airlines regarding the performance of the employees. Selecting employees having below average performance (selecting the sample). 2. Conducting a thorough research on training methodologies applicable in the Saudi Arabian Airlines. Formulating a questionnaire after thorough literature review to assess the roadblocks faced by the employees to perform efficiently in their job. 3. Circulating the questionnaire via e-mails or in-person to the selected employees. Recovering the filled questionnaire and checking them for any irregularity. Analysing the data acquired by questionnaire. 4. Formulating a training and development course for employees based on the information derived from the data analysed. Assessing the impact of the training on the employees, by requesting the employees to fill the feedback questionnaire. 5. Assessing the performance appraisal conducted by the seniours on the juniours after the training and development attended by the juniours. 6. Analysing the data regarding the performance of the employees after training to assess the impact of training on the performance of the employees. Time Scale (Gantt chart): Fig; Chart Indicating the timeline set for the main tasks. References Clark . Timothy . Skinner .D & Mabey . C . ( 1998). Experiencing human resource management. SAGE Fine . A . H & Kotkin . R . A . ( 2003). Therapist's guide to learning and attention disorders. Academic Press. Giroud . A. (2003). Transnational corporations, technology, and economic development: backward linkages and knowledge transfer in South-East Asia. Edward Elgar Publishing. Giri. Y. L.(2003). Human Resoure Management: Managing People at Work. Nirali Prakashan. Hall . R . J & Hughes J. N . ( 1989). Cognitive-behavioral psychology in the schools: a comprehensive handbook. Guilford Press. Hale. J. A. ( 2006). Outsourcing training and development: factors for success. John Wiley and Sons. Jacobs. R . L . ( 2003). Structured on-the-job training: unleashing employee expertise in the workplace. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Levine . C . I .( 1997). On-The-Job Training. American Society for Training and Development. Lawson . K . ( 1997). Improving on-the-job training and coaching. 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