Design a One-Day Training Event at an Organization of AXA - Essay Example

?Management, Essay Table of Contents SECTION 3 Executive Summary 3 Background 3 Company Overview 4 Significance of this Training Intervention 5 Harrison Training Cycle 5 Training Event 10 SECTION 2 11 Executive Summary 11 Comparative Study between Formal Training with Informal Training 11 References 14 Bibliography 16 Appendices 17 SECTION 1 Executive Summary The first section in this study aims at evaluating the Harrison Training cycles in order to depict a one day training schedule in AXA arranged for their managers to cope with rising level of stress in the organization due to recession and economic slowdown. The study begins with the description of the concepts on training programs and their significance. Further a brief overview of the company AXA is given to explain its mission, objectives, and business strategies. The significance of the training intervention is also precisely explained so as to reveal how the training program streamlines with the business strategies of AXA. A training time table in Appendix 1 is designed to plan and develop a training event. Background In the competitive global environment, those companies who want to increase their productivity and improve their margins look out for ways to boost their employee’s effectiveness and performance. Training programs and skill developments are the causes for budget cuts but they indeed assist organizations achieve the strategic objectives and also augment their overall business culture. Organisations have to manage four most important resources, namely equipments, information, money and people. The meta-analysis of the effects of managerial training revealed that it is effective in organisation. It was also suggested that an evaluation of about 83 studies from the year 1982 to 2001 showed that even fairly successful training programs have significant effect on the employees (Blanchard, and Thacker, 2007, p. 5-8). Mathieu and Leonard (1987) depicted that a training program was conducted for the 65 supervisors of a bank and the cost incurred for such a research was $50,000, but the bank earned $34,600 in the first year, $108,600 in the third and more than $148,000 in the third year. This was just an example cited to validate the effectiveness of training in organisation. The rationale for training programs is to mainly enhance the skill and improve the knowledge of the employees. This assist the management to get back the returns from the investments they made on the employee in form of revenue. This is the reason why the training programs should be designed to cater to the needs and requirements of the organisation and it should be streamlined to fulfil the strategic goals and objectives of the company (Simmonds, 2003, p. 29-31). Company Overview AXA is a French company which deals in financial services. It was founded in 1817. The company mainly offers health, life and investment insurance plans and portfolios for its individual as well as corporate customers. AXA has expanded its business through joint ventures and tie-ups in many countries like Canada, UK, Mexico, and in Asia pacific regions. AXA has specific department called AXA ICAS which offers stress management programs and training to its employees of different organisation. This signifies that AXA believes that training programs can help employees to cope with the stress. The mission of AXA is to build a culture of achievement and trust that would empower and employ their workforce to become customer-centric and also optimize the business values to accelerate higher growth for the company. The aim of AXA is to promote stronger and safer growth in the long run. This study would focus on a one day training program which would be conducted for the employees of AXA, UK. The training would be on Managing pressure at work place or stress management. Since AXA already has a stress management training segment which offers training services to the employees in different organisation, so it would be easier to plan the training program with their assistance. It was estimated by AXA ICAS that in UK about ?601 per employee were wasted because of absenteeism due to stress. They also put forward that the major causes of stress were the frequent changes in organisation and workload. Significance of this Training Intervention The significance of this stress management training intervention is planned keeping in mind the core business strategies of AXA. AXA is into providing insurance and other financial services to customers. It provides risk management advices and also guarantees best product at reasonable price. The core attitude of the company comprise of attentive, available and value. However, based on the present economic environment and increasing unemployment rate especially in the financial sector, the employees are getting highly stressed out and demotivated. This is also affecting their service quality, which would in turn affect the profitability of the company. In this backdrop it can be said that a stress management and stress reduction training would be highly recommended and would certain reap good results. Harrison Training Cycle The Harrison training cycle would be followed here in this study to explain the training cycle in AXA in a systematic manner. Though informal training brings about significant change in the organizational culture, but here a formal approach is found more suitable. In order to establish the suitability of the formal stress management training at AXA for the employees, the key options would be diagnosed for understanding the leading needs of the organization and accordingly the training event would be designed. In this regards the Harrison training cycle would be helpful. As stated in Figure 1, Harrison training cycle presents 6 stages or steps of conducting formal training. Stage 1: The organizations those are not capable of motivating their employees and developing them with the special ability to handle uncertainty and make successful decisions, they would not be able to meet the expectations of the customers and compete in the market (Jennings, 2007, p. 13-15). So the first step involves establishing partnership with the human resource head of the company, learning and development department of AXA, also known as AXA ICAS, senior level management and CEO of the company. Everyone has to agree on the training need for the learning and development of the employees and the organization. AXA ICAS is one of UK’s leading employee training providers, so it would be appropriate to utilize their knowledge and experience to provide formal training session to employees, so that they can management the risk of getting over stressed at the workplace. Figure 1 Source: (Harrison, 2009, p. 117) Stage 2: The human resource or the training and development cannot plan training schedules just to utilize the yearly funds and resources on training. The requirement for the type of training for the employee can be identified through training need analysis (TNA). TNA is a formal system of identifying the need or requirement of trainings based on the training gaps. In AXA the measure that was taken during recession was pay cuts, freezing increments, voluntary retirement schemes, and even job cuts in some cases. These measures of the company have affected the financial and mental condition of the employees. The rate of suicides has increased at a considerable rate in UK (Roche, Teague, Coughlan, and Fahy, n. d., p. 338). These are the gaps that need to be filled through formal trainings. This is because just through informal classes of stress management, the employee would take the learning from the training as an advice, if formal training session is organized, then they would treat the leanings as a therapy, which would be highly helpful for them to cope with stressful situations. Stage 3: Training can only lead to development when proper evaluation models are considered and techniques of evaluating the training are applied. The purpose of the organisation differs, as some are goal-oriented, some are process oriented and others are outcome oriented, but evaluating the whole training or learning session right from its initiation is important because it involves the usage of valuable resources of the company, funds and the hard-work of the human resource. According to Hamblin (1974), the evaluation process of training and development is an effort to gain information on the training process and the results of training on the employees. This is done to estimate the value that the training process has generated for the employer as well as for the employees. An outcome based evaluation process would be appropriate for the training at AXA. This would be fruitful because through this the result derived from the training can be assessed. A feedback form would be distributed among employees taking the training which would also have some psychometric questions, so as to understand their mental health and way of thinking after the training. Stage 4: The fourth stage is to study the learning and development approaches and apply those which can be streamlined with the business strategies of the company. The motto is to provide an on-job training, not to incorporate any strong idea, but with just the intention of imparting knowledge and expertise regarding handling work pressure and stress in an outside organization. Based on the available learning theories, Reinforcement learning theory would assist the employees in AXA use their experiences and their environment to choose the actions or avoid certain circumstances or actions, so that they can reduce their stress or pressure during their duty hours (Izquierdo, and Izquierdo, n. d., p. 199). The actions which had given satisfaction or motivation to win should be followed as self motivation at workplace (Shipton, Helen and Shou, Qin, 2008, p. 160). On the other hand the expectancy theory states that the employees would act or behave according to the situation or type of motivation they receive. It is more of a mental process which depends on the motivation theory as stated by Vroom (Capstone, 2007, p. 163). The social cognitive theory as stated by Bandura, (1997) is based on the emotional, cognitive aspects of behaviour. It provides psychological insights and understandings (Bandura, 2001, p. 1-5). Stage 5: Designing the event by understanding the organizational goals and business strategies would be the next stage. In this stage the learning and development department AXA ICAS and human resource management team of AXA would plan the training schedule together. The training would also include the assistance of the top level management in order to boost the morale of the trainees. The supervisors would ensure that the outcome based evaluation model is followed for training and the theories drawn and found to be appropriate for AXA is utilized to design the training. Stage 6: Training evaluation is a systematic process of analyzing and collecting the information regarding the programmes in training. This is utilized by the human resource and training managers to plan and take decision regarding the effectiveness, relevance and the impact of the various components of training (Raab, Swanson, Wentling, and Dark, 1991). The evaluation approach after training the AXA employees would be an outcome based one as discussed in stage 2. So a feedback form after the training is distributed among the trainee. It contains approximately ten to fifteen questions, in which majority are personal questions and also on their perceptions regarding work pressure in the organization. Few psychometric questions would be also included to assess the level of improvement through training and understand further requirements of similar trainings (Anderson, 2007, p. 3). The employees would be asked not to mention their names or identification, so that they can openly mention their feedbacks in the remarks column. Training Event The training event would be a one day training session of 8 hours, which would consist of 20 managers. This would be a formal training session which is suitable for the employees at all level, but since it is not possible to include all the employees, so the managers are considered for the training. The managers can further motivate the subordinates by utilizing their learning from the training session and assist them in handling stress and work pressure. The purpose of the training is to enable the individuals at AXA to manage their work proactively and also pressure more efficiently. This would decrease the likelihood of their pressure getting converted to stress. The objective of the training would be: • To explain the managers at AXA regarding the process through which pressure gets converted to stress. • To assist the managers to identify the major grounds of stress. • To help them to understand the symptoms and signs of stress within them and their behaviour. • To learn and evaluate positive ways of coping with stress and managing pressure. The training schedule is mentioned in details along with the time schedule, contents of the training, along with the intervals in the time table stated in Appendix 1. SECTION 2 Executive Summary Section two depicts the significance of formal training over informal training. The fact is that both the forms of training are relevant in different situation. However, in the scenario presented in section one, where the managers of AXA would be given one day training for coping with stress and press, formal training is essential. So in this context the advantage of formal training over the informal training is explained. Apart from this the disadvantage of the formal training process in this case is also discussed to reveal that none of the systems are perfect, but the appropriateness depends on the situation. Comparative Study between Formal Training with Informal Training In section 1, a formal training session was organized for the employees, mainly the managers of AXA. The training was on management of stress and pressure related to work load in the organization. However, stress among the employees was not only due to the work load but also due to job cuts and pay deductions in the organization. This was the effect of global economic slowdown which most of the companies were facing, but the financial companies were facing more than the other industries. The stress among the employees are increasing which is affecting their work and in return affecting the productivity of the company. It can be questioned that in order to reduce stress an informal training session would have better than a formal one, but still the suggestion would be on the side of formal training in this scenario because informal training can only act as a healing agent and reduce the stress level of the employee for some time, but it’s not a effective solution. Formal training creates obligation for the employee to understand and think on the matter seriously. It would act like a catalyst in change their views and outlook. Formal training programs are based on training cycles, which includes certain stages of planning, designing, conducting, and evaluating the training process. The training cycle assist the human resource depart and the trainers to evaluate each steps or stages of the training program. Learning theories are analyzed and tested to evaluate the viability of the theories with respect to the business strategies. Then these approaches are considered as the basis and the training design is prepared (Sloman, 2007, p. 93-95). A step by step approach is undertaken in case of formal trainings. One of the biggest advantages of formal training is that, since it is planned and delivered in such a premeditated and systematic manner, so in most cases success is guaranteed, evaluation becomes easier, and the trainer gets a clear assumption of the gap between the achieved and unachieved objectives. Similarly the training of AXA was also designed in section 1 by referring to the Harrison 6 stage training cycle, which offers a step by step method to plan and deliver a formal training session. In case of formal training TNA is necessary because unless and until the training gap is evaluated, the objectives and the contents of the training program cannot be formulated (Clardy, 2007, p. 240-243). Now shifting the focus to the informal training, it can be said that informal training is helpful in reaping significant results in few cases. However, informal training is generally not preferred in most of the cases because of its vagueness. In case of AXA if the trainers were asked to conduct an informal training session, then they would be confused regarding the way or basis on which the training would be designed, and in this process the significant areas of discussion (Shipton, 2006, p. 233-236). In case of informal training, the stages or criteria are not clearly mentioned or decided before conducting the training, so specific areas that would be covered in the training and the evaluation method to be followed to assess the outcome is not only unknown to the employee, but also to the trainer because the training is conducted as a casual discussion and decisions regarding the subject matter of discussion and ways to explain them to the trainees are decided based on the attitude of the trainees (Littlejohn, Milligan, and Margaryan, 2012, p. 226-228). A major problem that can be usually seen in case of informal training is that, since the trainer has not pre-planned the training, so the training goes on in a haphazard manner. It just acts as an eye wash but does not serve the purpose. The issues like stress management are grave and serious, so a casual approach of dealing with this problem should be avoided. In case of informal training, TNA is not required because the training session is not planned or designed following the existing learning theories and approaches (Brunch, 2007, p. 142-144). However, formal training too has certain disadvantage. First among them would be that formal training session does not have a personal feel to it. It is based on scientific methods of training and evaluation. So many psychological and emotional aspects related to the managers, undertaking the training session cannot be uncovered through formal training sessions. Secondly, pre determined training contents and areas might not include those areas which are required to be discussed with the trainees. Many times it has been noticed that the employees have some different issues and the trainers develop a framework on the basis of their evaluation and research, so a gap in the expectation of the trainees and the framework developed by the trainer can be seen. There are pros and cons for both the forms of trainings, but in the case of AXA a formal training session is recommended because at this situation the employees do not need empathy through informal training, but require a strong therapy which can actually help to cope with the increasing level of stress due to recession. This is only possible through a properly designed formal training method. References Anderson, V., 2007. The Value of Learning: A New Model of Value and Evaluation. Change Agenda. London: CIPD. Bandura, A., 1997. Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control. New York: Freeman. Bandura, A., 2001. Social Cognitive Theory: An Agentive Perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, pp. 1-26. Blanchard, P. N., and Thacker, J. W., 2007. Effective Training. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Brunch, K. J., 2007. Training Failure as a Consequence of Organizational Culture. Human Resource Development Review, 6 (2), pp. 142- 63. Capstone, 2007. The Capstone Encyclopaedia of Business. 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Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, pp. 291- 302. Orpen, C., 1999. The Influence of the Training Environment on Trainee Motivation and Perceived Training Quality. International Journal of Training and Development, 3, pp. 34- 43. Roberts, P.B., 2006. Analysis: The Defining Phase of Systematic Training. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 8 (4), pp. 476- 491. Rossett, A., and Nguyen, F., 2012. The Yin and Yang of Formal and Informal Learning. Training and Development, 66(1), pp. 46-51. Stewart, J. and Rigg, C., 2011. Learning and Talent Development. London: CIPD. Appendices Appendix 1: Time Table Read More