Assessment and Selection in Organisations - Literature review Example

Management Issues - Training Submitted by: XXXXX XXXXXX Number: XXXXXXX of XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXX Code: XXXXXXXX Date of Submission: XX - XX - 2009 Table of Contents Management Issues - Training 1 Submitted by: XXXXX XXXXXX 1 Student Number: XXXXXXX 1 University of XXXXXX 1 Tutor's Name: XXXXXX 1 Subject: XXXXXXX 1 Subject Code: XXXXXXXX 1 Date of Submission: XX - XX - 2009 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction: 3 Importance of Work Place Training: 3 Issues/ Problem of Focus: 5 Root Cause Analysis of Issue and Assumptions: 8 Recommended Course of Action: 10 Conclusions: 12 Works Cited 13 Introduction: With the growing business needs each day, the number of issues and problems within organisations has also increased to a great extent. With the current situation and the low economic conditions of the markets, the businesses are not only being pressured by the internal affairs of the company but also the external affairs. This paper aims at highlighting an issue or problem that is being faced by the management and to conduct a research to analyse the possible root cause for the issues. Also an attempt has been made to provide recommendations to the managers to assist them deal with the situation. The issue or problem that has been focused is self learning versus the trainers in work places. An attempt has been made to bring out the main root cause of issue. The paper will firstly begin with discussing the issues /problem that is being faced further which the assumptions made will be discussed. The later sections will deal with a detailed root cause analysis of the issue based on which the recommendations to the managers have been drawn out. Importance of Work Place Training: With the increasing needs and competitive nature of the economy, along with the high levels of change in the demographics, occupational and workplace changes, there is now a high growth in the need of work place training. Training and development of the human resources is a very important aspect of every business. The HR management devises the training methodologies and strategies, after careful consideration of the job specifications and the way in which the new employee will contribute towards the strategic goal of the organization. It is the HR management's responsibility to "ensure the integration of personal and organizational development for employees" (Scribner and Sachs). Keeping the employees motivated is a crucial element to ensure the success of the organization. The HR management acts as the medium giving many opportunities for the employees to develop themselves by acquiring new skills and engage themselves in the continuous learning process. The hard skills that will be necessary for the training will include the product and process training. Once a candidate has complete this successfully, they will also receive other trainings including selling techniques, managing people, customer communication, marketing skills and self confidence. As said very rightly by Dulewicz (1989), "' a basic human tendency to make judgements about those one is working with, as well as about oneself". It is noted that appraisals are inevitable and is universal. People evaluate how well a job is done to set performance standards. To ensure better performance standards, it is essential to understand that education and training do not only form a part of the realm of educational institutions. It is now becoming a wider and broader system which involves workplaces, educational institutions, individuals and also numerous other government and community organisations. As mentioned earlier, the need to perform is now one of the most essential aspects in any job or business. The skill levels of employees require to be improved every single day to be able to stay in the race and to compete in the current highly competitive environments. Every organisation requires different set of skills and the skills set have been noted to have a constant change across the organisations as well. The most important trainings and requirements by most organisations in the current time is the demand for generic skills, like communication, problem solving and quantitative skills (Harris, Bone and Simons). According to Johnston et.al, 2002, the need for workplace learning in terms of both formal and informal is not becoming increasingly important role in the education and training of the workforces. The training in the workplaces is not much accredited however the extent and diversity of workplaces learning is relatively quite vast. Issues/ Problem of Focus: Before moving into the issues and problems that is being faced, i.e. the self training versus trainers in the work place, it is essential to gain a systematic view of workplace training and learning. The figure below shows ideal workplace learning and training situation and this involves a systematic approach involving networking and partnerships. Figure 1: A systematic view of workplace learning (NCVER, 2009) The major issue that is being currently faced by companies is the employees desire to learn on the job rather than to be trained by a professional trainer. "Ridoutt et al. (2002) also found that workplace change was a major driver of training in enterprises. However, in contrast to previous research, they found that it was the nature of training, rather than the volume, that varied by enterprise size. In particular they found that smaller enterprises engaged in more informal training than did larger enterprises. As such, their model takes into account both the volume and nature of training in enterprises" (NCVER, 2009). It has been studied in recent times that people, i.e. employees tend to prefer the self learning systems rather than the training systems. There are several benefits of the self learning systems, however this is still considered to be a major management issue. When employees tend to move towards a self learning mode of training, the amount of absenteeism in the training sessions developed by the company is very high. The main issue here is that there are several things and skills that employees can learn via self learning or online courses; however there are several courses that need to be attended in person with a professional trainer going through the entire model. With employees showing resistance to the courses, the company losses out financially as well as in terms of operations as the training leaves a few of the employees trained while others completely unaware of the training. This leaves a mismatch among the team and can have a strong impact on the performance of the teams. The training programs that are developed by the organisations generally include, all kinds of short term and medium term vocational training decided and implemented by the organisation in favour of its employees. These programs are mainly developed to promote the internal labour flexibility (Johnston and Hawke). Root Cause Analysis of Issue and Assumptions: There are several causes for the employees to resist the training sessions provided by the company. Before moving on to the causes it is essential to gain a perspective of what has been stated in literature as the main factors that affect the companies approach to investing in training. One of the main causes for the employees preferring a self learning process is the easy availability of information and courses that allow them to learn at their own convenience. In the current economic condition, it has been noted that the employees are faced with longer working hours and higher amounts of work. This leaves the employees tired and worn out to participate or undertake anything new to learn. It has been noted that employees are being overloaded with work due to the cost cutting activities by the company and this does not permit people to undertake any form of training even if they wish too. Training is a commitment that needs to be made and with working hours being so tight with schedules and responsibilities the commitment cannot be met up with. However in other cases it has been noted that companies do not prefer to provide certain training programs which might be of interest to the employees and this leads the employees to prefer taking up the course by self learning. "Coopers and Lybrand (1994) noted that the tendency for small business to train employees increased as the number of employees and the annual turn over of the business increased. They also highlighted the fact that training was often not seen by employers as a solution to their problems. They tended to label training as "too theoretical" and "not immediately applicable" and hence not worth the investment" (Harris, Bone, & Simons, 1998). Scribner and Sachs (1990) describes the learning process as one of "assimilation", where the learner /worker is gradually brought into on-going work practices and "normal events" of the workplace in a manner that ensures that the job gets done. It is essential to understand that not all employees have the same structure of learning and the same requirements for learning. As explained in the research conducted by Harris, Bone and Simons (1998), "A recent study examining the role of workers as supporters of apprentices' learning in the construction industry lends some weight to this assertion (Harris et al 1998.). This study found that the apprentices desired different skills from their workplace trainers than they were able or willing in most cases, to provide. The workplace trainer, often a small business operator (who might fit the description contained in the category one workplace trainer standards), facilitated the learning of the apprentices in a manner which was far removed from that which might be inferred from these standards. The apprentices, reflecting on their experiences of learning, recommended that training be offered to their workplace mentors and that this training should enable them to learn a wide range of skills including communication and conflict resolution. They also needed to develop competencies which would enable them to deal sensitively and productively with contingencies and difficulties (Harris et al. 1998:201)". The root cause analysis of this issue thereby brings out the fact that leaders and managers have a strong impact on the performance of an employee including the training program and willingness to work and participate in the organisation based training. Also the managers can be major deciders in terms of employees taking up self - training programs and to assessing the effectiveness of the trainings as well. The next section will provide the recommendations to managers to help assist the employees recognise their needs in terms of training and to develop their skills using the right form of training, either the organisation proved training or even self learning. Recommended Course of Action: For managers to ensure that employees undertake training provided by the companies, it is essential for the managers to understand the needs of the employees and the factors that restrict the employee for undertaking the training. Managers being the first point of contact for all the team members need to not only be good at managing the work, but also require bringing out other managerial qualities like understanding the employees and their requirements. It is essential to also note that every individual is different and have different methods that they adopt for the learning process. Forcing people in a team to take on a training program can be less motivating and more of a resistance builder among the employees. Apart from the methodological issues, it is also essential to make note of the usefulness of the training to the individual. It is possible that the one main factor for the resistance of training is due to the non use of standards and the lack of relevance to the person's actual working environment. Managers have the ability to choose the course and the training programs that need to be taken on by the employees and the team members. In a very strong way, the managers have a chance to either understand the employees or to force them into working on something which is neither of their interest nor of any form of relevance to the work environment. Hence the recommended course of action is for the managers to be better leaders and to provide the employees with a chance to bring out their needs and requirements rather than forcing training and professional trainers on them. Managers can use the old tested and tried methods that have been recommended by the authors and literature in the past (Goleman, Boyatziz and McKee). One of the most important and useful in this issue or problem is as discussed below. Daniel Goleman's approach consists of six major styles of leadership. In his book Primal Leadership, he has highlighted that good leaders are effective because they create resonance. Based on this he explained resonance can be done in six ways, which in turn lead to the leadership styles. These styles included visionary leadership, coaching leadership, affiliative leadership, democratic leadership, pacesetting leadership and commanding leadership. According to Goleman, all leaders' categories into these styles of leadership, and the most useful type of leadership among these the visionary leadership style. Here the leaders inspire the employees and believes in own vision, along with being empathetic and also highlights how the efforts from all contribute to the 'dream' (Goleman and Cherniss). This type of leadership style has proved to be the most beneficial for companies where change is required and a new vision is required. The other styles that he has discussed within his book are the coaching style, which falls in the second best style of leadership for companies. This method is where the leaders are listeners and helps people identify their strengths and weaknesses, and in a number of aspects act as counselors, encouragers and delegates. This has proved to be the second best method of leadership and is most effective to help competent and motivated employees to improve their performance. This is mainly done by building long - term capabilities (Dulewicz). The other four styles as expressed by Goleman have not proved to be very useful t companies and these are mainly to help motivate employees during stressful times, build a support for employees, get higher results from employees like in the case of sales and finally in cases of severe crisis. Conclusions: Hence based on the above discussion and with a clear view of the literature that has been provided over the years it is clear that leadership has a strong impact on the issue and the resolution of the issue. Leadership plays a very essential role in every organization. Leaders act as change agents within organizations. They motivate as well as build the trust and confidence of the people within the organization. Based on the research and a better understanding of the subject, the importance of choosing the right leadership style has been clearly understood. Leadership styles as been expressed by most authors and scholars, is one of the biggest and most essential part of any change process (Northouse, 2006). Works Cited Coopers and Lybrand. Small Business Training practices and Preferences. New South Wales: TAFE , 1994. Dulewicz, V. "Performance Appraisal and Counselling." Assessment and Selection in Organisations: methods and practices for recruitment and appraisal (1989): John Wiley and Sons. Goleman, D and C Cherniss. The emotionally Intellegent Workplace. Jossey - Bass, 2001. Goleman, D., R.E Boyatziz and A. McKee. Primal Leadership: Learning to lead with emotional Intelligence. Harvard Business School Press, 2004. Harris, R, et al. "Learning the Job: Juggling the messages in on - and - off - job training." National Centre for Volcational Education Research (1998). Harris, Roger, John Bone and Michele Simons. "A Study Of Workplace Pedagogies The Role Of The Workplace Trainer In Business Environments." 1st December 1998. AARE.edu. 10 October 2009 . Johnston, R and G Hawke. Case Studies of Organisations with Established Learning Cultures. Adelaide: NCVER, 2002. Johnston, R, et al. "Changing Models for Changing times: Learning and Assessment Practice in the workplace." RCVETWorking Paper, RP 112 02- 02. www.rcvet.uts.edu.au, 2002. NCVER. What makes for good worplace Learning. 2009. 9 October 2009 . Northouse, P.G. Leadership: Theory and Practice, 4th Edition. Sage Publications, 2006. Scribner, S and S Sachs. A study of on - the - job training. New York: Columbia Univeristy, 1990. Read More