Training Professionals Increasing the Chance for Innovation and Change - Essay Example

Training Professionals Have A Leading Role In Innovation And Change The companies that aim at remaining competitive in the market and want to attractthe best staffs in their organization and thus, retain them within the organization need to make sure that they take the training and development issue quite seriously in the organization. The companies investing in proper development of the people can avail the benefits of remaining competitive in the market place and thus can excel in whatever they do. The significant feature of managing the people is at assisting the employees to become quite effectual at their jobs and thus enabling them to adjust with the work environment as they mature with time. A proper coordination between the training as well as the personnel roles is required such as recruitment and selection, employee relation, reward system and performance appraisal (Center of Excellence, 2004). It is through training that the quality of the labor can be enhanced since the employees are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge. Innovation can be of numerous forms that can assist the management at the organization to stimulate the capital services and thus enhance the efficiency of the processes of production. The main objective of the essay is to discover the role played by training professionals in innovation and change in an organization. Therefore, the essay further tries to explore the views of three different writers regarding the role played by training professionals in today’s business in order to deliver innovation. Furthermore, the essay will try to identify the ways through which the training professionals tend to approach the design as well as delivery of the training and development programs. It will try to identify the two different Australian organizations that have developed innovation in their training and development programs. The essay will also try to compare and contrast the approaches of training of the two organizations. According to Scott Brum, it has been identified that training is one of the significant aspects for the companies that want to gain competitive advantage. Professionals as well as the scholars have debated regarding the affect that training has in relation to the employees and also upon the objectives of the organisation. While one school of thought has mentioned that the training is the prime reason for increased turnover rates, the other school of thought perceives that training may lead to high retention of the employees in an organization. Irrespective of the fact that where one professional or scholar falls in this debate, it has been agreed by the professionals that the most multifarious human resource practice impacting the success of a company has been the employees training (Brum, 2007). According to the views of San Jose, in today’s business environment it is quite significant to have profitable natural growth in order to achieve success and for the purpose of survival of the firms. Furthermore, the author recognizes the fact that in order to maintain the competitive advantage of the firms, it becomes vital to embrace changes and introduce new goods and services and thus enter into the new markets with the existing products and services. When the companies bring their focus upon the innovation along with the new business development, it becomes vital for the organizations to create work environment and foster culture that endorse knowledge sharing, risk-taking and exploration. Thus, it is the role of the training professionals to identify the significance of training during such times so that the innovation can be encouraged at the organization (Jose, 2010). It has been identified that the trainers in an organization need to perform numerous roles so that they can take their correct place in the human resource development. There are five key roles played by the trainer in an organization. They are trainer, provider, consultant, innovator and manager. It is the trainer who actually conducts the training at the organization. They may make use of several training methods such as one-to-one instruction to project work. The role of the provider is to design, update, maintain and thus deliver the training programmes. As a provider, the trainer is supposed to identify the training needs of the organization, prepare the objectives of the training and thus provide coaching to the trainers so that they can deliver training. The role of the consultant has been to evaluate the problems faced by the organizations and thus suggest for solutions regarding whether there is any requirement of training. As an innovator, the trainer is supposed to endorse and thus assist the organization in introducing changes and to solve the performance problems. The trainer’s role as the manager is generally concerned with planning, developing, organizing and controlling the overall functions of the training. However, the authors Buckley and Caple state that the role of the trainer in the modern day context may include more of the elements from one that has been mentioned above (Buckley & Caple, 2009). It is worthy of mentioning that the provision of the staff training and development is generally considered as an investment and hence such investments need to be approached by the HR professionals in an effective way. It is therefore in this regard, the decisions regarding the selection along with the proper design or the delivery of the training approach needs to be made taking into consideration well written objectives. It must identify the questions such as the main purpose of the training, relation of the training purpose with the objectives of the organization and the things that can be expected from the training. The most significant aspects that need to be kept into account are to memorize and to identify the fact that it is the objectives along with the learning outcomes of the training programme that must be utilized for evaluating the training program. The training professionals often believe that after having identified the content of the training, the delivery of the training program is quite straight forward. However, it is to be remembered that even though the program seems to be quite simple and thus tends to meet the requirements of the individual learners, it is significant to consider the broader features that is collaborated with the design of the training programmes. Furthermore, it is significant for the training professional or the decision maker to identify the differences that lie among the individuals in ways the information is provided, processed, comprehended and used and other factors as well that is associated with the training and development program. The particular design and selection of the training that seems to be quite effective might not be an easier task. The training professionals need to focus upon four main parts in designing the training programmes such as the trainees, the outcomes as well as the objectives, the evaluation programs and program structure as well as delivery (Zeal Solutions, 2011). The two companies that have been chosen for the study are Metcash and Wesfarmers Limited from Australia. Wesfarmers Limited was established in the year 1914 and has diverse business operations such as supermarkets, departmental stores, and industrial and safety products among others. Metcash is one of the pioneers in the marketing as well as distribution field that tends to involve itself into grocery, hardware wholesale industries as well as liquor. It has been noted that the main drivers of the success of the Wesfarmers has been the endured development of the team members by means of continuous training. The company’s training program also tends to emphasize upon the health, safety as well as environmental aspects. The training for the environmental awareness is delivered to the employees by means of all-inclusive internal programme taking into account the riskier goods, storage of the hazardous substances as well as the usage and disposal of the wastages. The new team members are provided this training during their induction program and are supposed to report to the store management teams. In the stores, the team members are capable of accessing the training by means of intranet. It has been found that the store management is provided training at risk assessment techniques (Wesfarmers Limited, 2002). On the other hand, it has been identified that Metcash believes at providing its customers high service levels. It believes in the philisophy that if its customers are not satisfied then the company itself is also not successful. The company focuses upon greater team work and provides its employees with appropriate training programs that can benefit the employees, the stakeholders as well as the customers. At Metcash, the managers receive continuous recruitment as well as selection training so that the recruitment of the staff is conducted in a consistent way. There are core level programs that have been developed for the employees. The employees are also provided with accredited vocational as well as tertiary education by means of Metcash Employee Vocation Education Sponsorship program (Metcash, 2011). Training and development play a vital role in enhancing the productivity of the organizations. It can be mentioned that the training professionals play a significant role in designing and delivering of the training programs at the organizations. In the modern day context, the trainer is supposed to play numerous roles as a trainer in order to ensure that the training program is successfully implemented and the goals are achieved successfully. It can be concluded that with the pace of time and with the changes taking place in the business environment, the roles of the training professionals will undergo changes and therefore it presents a challenge for the training professionals to mould with the changes in order to introduce innovation in the organization. References Brum, S 2007, What impact does training have on employee commitment and employee turnover?, viewed 13, September 2011, http://www.uri.edu/research/lrc/research/papers/Brum-Commitment.pdf Buckley, R & Caple, J 2009. The theory and practice of training, Kogan Page Publishers, United Kingdom. Center of Excellence 2004, Training and development - it’s role in achieving organisational success, viewed 13, September 2011, http://www.centreofexcellence.ie/Sectors/sfa/SFANCEDocLib.nsf/441763b04b0320b68025722e003fb55a/bc12f53469df45728025722e003f060f/$FILE/Training%20and%20Development.pdf Jose, S 2010. Working group - hrs role in business innovation, viewed 13, September 2011, http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/cahrs/events/060810-HR-Innovation-Working-Group.html Metcash 2011. Metcash annual report 2011, viewed 13, September 2011, http://www.metcash.com/files/dmfile/AnnualReport2011pg22-27CorporateSocialResponsibility.pdf Wesfarmers Limited 2002. Report 2002, viewed 13, September 2011, http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MzM4OTgzfENoaWxkSUQ9MzI0MTQzfFR5cGU9MQ==&t=1 Zeal Solutions 2011. Training design and delivery, viewed 13, September 2011, http://www.zealsolutions.co.uk/uploaddocuments/FACTSHEET_TRAINING_DESIGN_DELIVERY.pdf Read More