Training Program - Learning Objectives Based on the Training Requirements - Research Paper Example

THE TRAINING PROGRAM As modern companies find it difficult to achieve a competitive advantage within the recent global economy, they search for other ways for growing. Employees are here a valuable asset which can bring companies the desired results. Hence, there is a need to put in workforce through training and development in order to enhance knowledge and skills as well as retain employees to better affect organizational performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine and analyze the training program made for a small company of Fabrics, Inc. This work will critique an organizational analysis conducted for Fabrics, Inc. It will develop learning objectives based on the training requirements; describe additional training modules that could be developed based on the training objectives; represent an evaluation of evaluation instruments used in the Fabrics, Inc. case. Background of Fabrics, Inc. Fabrics, Inc. is a fast growing company which within the two years has increased the number of its employees from forty to two hundred. However, there occurred problems within the organizational environment connected with the retention of employees and the incorrect work of supervisors which do not treat staff well. Besides, there were obtained complaints from customers about the inappropriate behavior of supervisors. Such behavior could be partially explained by the absence of any formal training that was provided to those nine supervisors promoted from within. Despite knowing the work of employees and how to solve daily problems, supervisors do not help them and what is more important they get into arguments which are not helping in the working situations. The owner considers that despite the size of an organization, there is no need to yell at employees, hence, supervisors need to be trained in effective ways to deal with the staff. Needs analysis The assessment of needs is the primary step in designing and development of training program in the organization. However, to understand what training is required, a need assessment should be conducted. According to Dahiya and Jha (2011), the undertaking needs assessment will enable organization to determine the nature of performance issues and thus to identify the reason for training. Milner and Osinski (2002) consider that need assessment is utilized to help with the performance of work teams, solve problems and productivity issues within an organization and to prepare for the future changes in job execution and duties. According to Chang, Chiang and Kun yi (2012), there is a need to conduct a training need analysis prior the development of the particular training program, as by means of conversation with manager, supervisors and bottom line employees it is possible to understand the current situation, decide which resources and methods would be appropriate to use when developing a training program and further achievement of organizational goals. Thus, the owner of Fabrics, Inc. was offered to conduct the training needs analysis in order to examine the current situation within the company and develop a training program that would best suit its needs. During the primary interview with the owner of Fabrics, Inc. there were identified gaps in terms of absence of mission as well as inability of the owner to represent company’s objectives and goals. These are the important components of organizational structure that help its people to understand what the focus of their job should be and aware employees in the ways that provide better quality, quantity and service. Besides, the management style of each supervisor is similar to the owner’s which can cause difficulties managing others. In terms of appraisal systems, Fabrics, Inc. does not motivate its employees with any promotion or bonuses as its owner does not find such HR activities important and worth wasting time. However, inability to show how staff is valued is one of the reasons for employees’ retention. There is also no formal feedback as an important component of operational performance; hence, the supervisors are only knowledgeable about how to do their tasks from time to time without regular recommendations. One of the most important shortcomings is that the owner is not aware about supervisors’ consideration about training others. Thus, during the interview the owner stated that as supervisors were not provided training themselves, they are happy to teach others. However, during the interview with supervisors there were the opposite statements and training was considered as the informal process during which the person in trouble would be given “tricks of the trade”. Besides, some supervisors did not do any training at all, as it is faster to do the job by oneself or delegate it to the knowing person. In addition, while working under pressure for production, supervisors have no time for training. There are also no policies and procedures within Fabrics, Inc., which would help supervisors to understand their tasks and duties. Thus, many consider paperwork as inappropriate work for supervisors. However, whether such duty would be indicated in the policy, there will be no additional problem. In addition to the questions in the interview, such questions to supervisors can be prepared: Q: How do you understand company’s mission, goals and objectives? Q: What would motivate you to be more productive? What encourage you? What about rewards or additional training? Q: Do you have conduct regular meetings with teams and how do you encourage them? Questions to the owner: Q: Do you find it useful for an organization to receive criticism and suggestions from others? Q: Do you offer others opportunities for constant learning? Q: How do you encourage collaboration among employees and supervisors? Training design The phase of training design follows the training needs analysis and is based on the findings from meetings with employees, supervisors and management. After studying routine reports and performance review, such as interviews with Fabrics, Inc. owner and supervisors, the second step is to define the learning objectives for each trainee (Designing and implementing training programs, 2012). The phase of training design responds the questions connecting with what the learner or trainee will be able to do as the result of training program; what methods one will use to reach the desired level of performance; what sources used to deliver a training program. In addition, there is a need to determine what learning strategies will be most effective and practical within the training context, such as detailed explanations, conversations, small group exercises, simulations, games etc. (Designing a training session, 2014). In the design phase of Fabrics, Inc. the learning objectives for Communication improvement are as follows: - The trainee will present in writing the communication problems that relate to the misunderstanding with subordinates, outline barriers to communication, explain basic verbal and non-verbal principles of communication; propose three-four ways communication skills that will encourage subordinates for positive working environment - During the practical session, a trainee will explain ways of how better communicate with the employees. The trainee will be given comments on these communication skills and be expected to respond them accurately. Without the help of others, a trainee will display how to overcome barriers to effective communication showing positive attitude toward treating and helping employees. - The trainee applies communication skills to facilitate understanding with subordinates during the simulation game of the situation taken from real practice; the trainee obtains a feedback on one’s actions. - After the training, a trainee will be checked and tested on the obtained qualities such as knowledge and skills. To successfully design the training program for training, there should be considered all the requirements for the trainee to understand how to improve communication and master communication skills within the team. The most complex task for supervisors of Fabrics, Inc. is to understand communication problems which exist and what creates barriers to effective communication with the subordinates. Here attention should be paid to such verbal and non-verbal principles of communication as it impacts employees’ attitude toward their boss and one’s behavior. While at Fabrics, Inc. supervisors are not inclined to explain the work tasks to their employees, staff behaves distantly and without understanding, expressing know-it-alls individuals and those who do not will to listen to others. Thus, during the training, supervisors should be aware of the importance of nonverbal principles of communication as well as of verbal. Their personal attitude toward the employees and willingness to help and explain debatable working tasks should be directed toward positive solution. The objective of applying communication skills during the simulation game cannot be met in the real life, despite the case which is taken from the working situations. Inability of supervisors to react accordingly speaks about the immaturity of communication skills and thus need to be checked and given feedback from the subordinates and the owner of Fabrics, Inc. as well. Development and implementation The phase of training program development influences trainees’ ability to follow their training objectives and impacts the entire training. During the implementation phase trainees, which have passed training should understand change in their learning levels and show the transfer of their obtained skills into the real job situations (Devi & Shaik, 2012). Within the Fabrics, Inc. and based on its training objectives, there is a need to develop such training module that would enable supervisors to obtain necessary for their work communication skills and then implement them successfully into the working process. Thus, training should be conducted on the job and within the actual work environment in the form of lecture where the trainer will represent the theoretical component of the training and how to transfer knowledge and skills into practice. As indicated in the objectives, the most illustrative example of how to work out communication skills is to use simulations as training devices that duplicate the real working situations. Though these will be the artificial situations, however, they will let the trainees’ awareness in how to react in the similar occasions in the future. Another useful tool in development of communication skills can be apprenticeship as a model during the training session, where knowledge transfer will give trainees idea of how quickly and effectively give advice to subordinates without wasting too much time for explanation and teaching process. Another objective can be reached if such training module as discussions of issues is used. Open discussion will not only let all the parties ability to get to know and understand the source of the problem, but will also diminish barriers to effective communication. Once the development phase of training is done, it is time to implement the program. The trainer or the consultant within the Fabrics, Inc. is ready to implement the plan into operation. This phase should cover all the supervisors of the company through training brochures where the description of the program will be presented. It will also contain the calendar of training session and information about the training plan. Evaluation of training Training evaluation is aimed to gather data in order to identify effectiveness of training and should include procedures to ensure alignment of training program with the organization‘s goals and objectives. The training program is evaluated through the process and outcome for the trainees in Fabrics, Inc. Thus, as indicated by the objective, a supervisor in the form of paper and pencil test indicates the communication issues, barriers to effective communication and the use of verbal and non-verbal principles used regarding subordinates. This will give opportunity to understand what is known before the training and then compere obtained knowledge with what was missed at the beginning. In the form of real simulation game a trainee indicated what would be the reactions to possible questions. The role of consultant within such work is to give trainee possibility to see if the questions were reacted in the right way and if such will help during the real working situation. As the final step in evaluating the training results, it is important so that a trainee was checked and tested on the obtained qualities in communication skills. Conclusion Effective employees are the main drivers that are able to attract new customers, meet their needs and expectations, obtain their satisfaction and retain loyal consumers by delivering best products and quality of service. However, without the concerted efforts and teamwork this can hardly happen. Moreover, being one team does not mean not to have working issues, such as misunderstanding with other employees and supervisors. Here numerous training programs are aimed to enhance human assets of firms and that is why training and development are considered as important function in any organization. Moreover, obtaining new skills and improvement of the existing abilities increase behaviors and performance and enable employees to focus on the current assignments without having negative impact on the company’s productivity. The above paper, in particular, examined and analyzed the training program made for Fabrics, Inc. The learning objectives for training were presented and additional training modules were developed based on the company’s training needs and objectives. References Chang, J., Chiang, T. and Kun yi, C., (2012). The Systematic Construction and Influential Factors of Training Needs Assessment, International Journal of Business and Social Science, Vol. 3 No. 24 Dahiya, S. and Jha, A., (2011). Training need assessment: a critical study. International Journal of Information Technology and Knowledge Management, Volume 4, No. 1, pp. 263-267, Retrieved from http://csjournals.com/IJITKM/PDF%204-1/51.pdf Designing a training session, (2014). The Community Tool Box, Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/training-and-technical-assistance/design-training-session/main Designing and implementing training programs, (2012). Management sciences for health, Retrieved from http://projects.msh.org/resource-center/publications/upload/MDS3-Ch52-Training-Mar2012.pdf Devi, R. and Shaik, N., (2012). Evaluating training and development effectiveness- a measurement model, Asian Journal of Management Research, Vol.2, Is.1, Retrieved from http://www.ipublishing.co.in/ajmrvol1no1/voltwo/EIJMRS2062.pdf Hamza, M., (n.d.). Developing Training Material Guide, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, Retrieved from https://www.msb.se/RibData/Filer/pdf/26433.pdf Milner, J. and Osinski, D., (2002). Training needs assessment, International society for performance improvement, Retrieved from http://www.ispi.org/pdf/suggestedReading/Miller_Osinski.pdf Read More