Training Program Related with the Safety and Security in the GM Manufacturing Process - Book Report/Review Example

Training Program Introduction Safety and security is one of the most important factors for any automobile organization. Being a global automobile giant, General Motors also requires significant focus towards the safety and security in their manufacturing process. The purpose of this report is to develop a training program related with the safety and security in the GM manufacturing process. This study will help the organization to make its employees more aware about the operational safety. The study will be start by a brief overview of the whole training program. Then the study will describe and analyze the Assessment stage of the training program. Then the designed stage of the training program will be described and analyzed. After designing the training program implementation stage will be discussed and analyzed. Evaluation of the training implementation program will be analyzed and described in the course of this paper. At the end of this study a suitable conclusion will be drawn. Overview of the focal training program The focal training program is based on focusing on certain aspects of the training design in order to attain specific objectives of the training module. The training program that is to be designed in this case is regarding the safety of the employees in the manufacturing facilities of an automobile manufacturing company, General Motors. The training program would be designed by focusing on the most relevant and urgent requirements of safety and security within the case organization so that the safety breaches can be minimized and suitable measures and awareness for safety assurance can be maintained in the company. The name of the selected training program is Safety and Security Training Program 2014. The safety and security of the employees has become a major concern among all the domestic as well as multinational corporations across the world. The training program would be decided on the basis of the safety and security requirements in the manufacturing facilities of the company. The case company chosen for the study is General Motors. General Motors is a giant automobile manufacturing multinational. The company has its manufacturing facilities set up in a number of locations across the world. Since, General Motors is a manufacturing company with many factories and manufacturing plants, the organization has to give much consideration to the safety and security of the employees working in the manufacturing locations. The interviewee selected for the study is the trainer who is already conducting different kinds of training programs for the improvement of the employees. The trainer is a part of the internal human resources team of the company. He is conducting training in many aspects of the organization, including the foray of safety and security. Therefore, the trainer is interviewed with the help of a questionnaire to gain knowledge regarding the existing safety and security training programs in the company. The trainer is interviewed about various dimensions of the safety and security training activities so that the experience and knowledge of the trainer can be integrated in the new training program that is to be developed in the company. C. The Assessment stage of the training program a. The assessment stage of any training program involves the identification of the requirements among the employees regarding the training. The company is already employing a number of training programs for improving the skills of the employees and guiding them effectively in conducting the business processes. However, the assessment stage involves the selection of a main area of the training according to the requirements of the employees. It is identified that the safety and security needs among the employees of an automobile manufacturing company are extremely high. Since, the manufacturing processes in the automobile manufacturing companies like General Motor are much complex, therefore, the chances of accidents and damages to the workers are also high. As such, the need for an in depth training and development program for safety and security awareness creation is mandatory for keeping up the ethical and sustainable image of the company. b. The need assessment stage is the first stage in the development of a training program. The assessment phase includes the identification of a specific need or a number of related needs among the employees of the organization. These specific needs can be identified in different ways. Most commonly, the needs of training can be identified through an analysis of the gaps between the current practices of the organization and the requirements of the organization. These gaps may include differences or discrepancies between what is actually happening in the organization and what the organization expects to happen, between the desired job performance levels and the existing job performance levels, between the existing skills and competencies and the desired skills and competencies of the employees (Torrington, Hall and Taylor, 2004). The main documents considered for the assessment part of this focal training program includes the injury and accident records of the employees of the company, near miss and incident reports, safety meeting records, reports of previous training programs, feedbacks from the employees and trainers as well as the line managers and work supervisors. Figure 1: Steps of assessing training needs. (Source: Rosemary, 2005, p.90). c. The best practices of training need assessment should be used to identify the exact requirements of the employees for training. The activities would be mainly focused on identifying the problem areas existing in the manufacturing plants, the skills and tasks that would be sufficient to ensure safety and security among the workers and the identification of the employees who specifically need safety training (Desimone and Werner, 2012). The need assessment for the training program related to safety and security in the factories of General Motors would be done through the process of interviewing a selected supervisor or trainer of the organization who is currently conducting some training programs in the company. Relevant information would be collected from the selected interviewee through the use of a suitably developed questionnaire (Appendix A). The questionnaire is designed with both open ended and closed ended questions so as to gather in depth information about the existing training processes in the company. The data collected from the questionnaires is used to design and develop a safety and security training program that would replace the existing training program in the company as an improved and new version of safety training schedule. The interview of the trainer regarding the existing safety training program in General Motors would act as the basic guideline for developing and designing the new safety training program that would help to resolve the prevailing as well as the potential safety concerns of the employees in the organization. D. The Design stage of the training program In the first day of training program employees of the organization were provided different theoretical knowledge related with the safety and security. In the second day of the training program the employees were given practical training. On the final day of training employees were exposed in front of the real time safety concerns and employees are supposed to overcome those safety issues with the help of given training. The training program was a three days long training program. This brief period of training program has helped the employees of the organization to learn many things related with the safety and security within short period of time. Various practices involved in the training program have helped the employees to become more aware about the safety and security needs of the manufacturing process. The training design is absolutely suitable for the employees of the organization. It saves lots of time for the employees. Due to this short period of training employees of the organization can focuses towards their basic works. The training has been designed by the combination of both theoretical and practical approaches. It has increased the importance of the designed training. This kind of training design has made the design stage more appropriate. The design stage has included a real time problem solving session. This session helps the employees to get the feel of reality check as far as the safety crisis is concerned. This design stage of training has reduced safety related fear from the minds of the employees. All the above discussions and arguments are clearly articulating that, the designing stage of the training program is definitely suitable under present context. Designing stage of the training program has been rightly divided into three days (Appendix B). Safety and security has significant importance. To address this serious issue, it is definitely required to have a proper training design stage which is present in the current study. The design stage is highly cost effective and saves lots of time for the employees. E. The implementation stage of the training program The implementation of the training program would be done after the development of a suitable training design. As discussed earlier, a three day training program would be designed which would be implemented in the company through the use of a number of Human Resource Development training tools and instruments. Also, a wide range of materials would be used to support the training process. The training materials would include various presentations, datasheets, guidelines and other supplementary training materials. Apart from these, the implementation of the training program would be done by creating a general interest among the employees towards the new training program. The trainers would highlight the necessity and the benefits of the training program for the employees so that all the employees are motivated to actively participate in the safety and security training program. This would help the trainer to implement the training program in an effective and result bearing manner. It has been identified from the need assessment stage that there is a general lack of participation noted in the existing safety and security training programs conducted in General Motors. Therefore, the implementation of the new training program should start with the consideration of the ways in which the employees may be communicated and made aware rearguing the benefits and the necessity of attending the safety training programs. The employees should also be guided as to how the safety training program would not only improve their skills but also prepare them for any accident and make them more proficient in their jobs. Followed by this, the training program should be implemented on the basis of finding out the best ways in which the employees would be given a real time exposure to the techniques that they should use in their daily work life in order to minimize the chances of accidents and injuries. F. The Evaluation stage of the training program Training evaluation is necessary for assessing the extent to which the training program has been able to achieve the pre decided objectives and goals of the program. Also, the training evaluation process will help to ensure that the strengths and resources of the training program are adequately and correctly used in the training process. The evaluation of any training and development program is necessary to understand the degree to which the training program is adding value to the organization as well as to the employee groups. The safety and security training program in General Motors would be carefully evaluated on the basis of the expectations from the best practices of training and development design and implementation. The effectiveness of the safety and security training program of General Motors will be studied on the basis of the number of accidents and injuries reported before and after the training program have been conducted. Also, psychometric tests, feedbacks and reviews would be useful to measure the degree to which the employees of General Motors have benefited through the safety and security training and development schedule. G. Conclusion All the different stages of the development of a training program are significant for the creation of a strategically beneficial and value adding training program. Therefore, the trainer would consider the need assessment stage, design stage, implementation stage as well as the evaluation stage to create and implement a safety and security training program in General Motors that would add value to the operability and ethicality of the organization through the creation of added awareness among the employees regarding the use of the tools, techniques and processes of manufacturing the vehicles as well as regarding the overall safety and security measures and concerns in their workplaces. References Desimone, R. L. & Werner, J. M. (2012). Human resource development, 6th edition. London: Thomson Learning. Rosemary, H. (2005). Learning and development. London: CIPD Publishing.  Torrington, D., Hall, L. & Taylor, S. (2004). Human resource management. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Appendix A: Questionnaire Name: Age: Gender: Designation: 1. Who do you think is ultimately responsible for safety and security in the workplace? Workers Supervisors The organization All of the above 2. Which are the security related factors that can be controlled by the employees? 3. What, according to you are the casualties related to safety and security in the workplace? 4. Is the current safety and security training program effective in terms of reducing injury and accident reports? 5. How can the current safety training programs be improved? 6. What are the ways in which the safety and security breaches can be minimized? 7. What are the most impactful training implementation processes for the employees of the organization? Appendix B: Three-day training program   Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Design stage Theoretical training Practical Training Problem exposure training Read More