Training the Workforce

1. Training the Workforce

2. In This Section… • Talk about how training and development are linked to competitive advantage • Recognize the difference between training and development • Understand the Training Process • Determine when employees need training and the best type of training given a company’s circumstances • Recognize the characteristics that make training programs successful • Understand how to socialize new employees effectively

3. Training and Competitive Advantage • Training and development contributes to competitive advantage by: • Enhancing recruitment • Increasing worker competence (new and current)

4. Training and Competitive Advantage (Cont.) • Training and development contribute to competitive advantage by: 3. Reducing the likelihood of unwanted turnover: • Building employee job skills, improving job performance • Improving supervisors' capabilities for managing “underperforming” workers • Reeducating people whose skills have become obsolete, allowing the organization to assign them to new job responsibilities • Strengthening employee loyalty

5. Key Training Issues • How can training keep pace with a changing organizational environment? • Should training take place in a classroom setting or on the job? • How can training be effectively delivered worldwide? • How can training be delivered so that trainees are motivated to learn?

6. Training vs. Development • Training • The process of providing employees with specific skills or helping them correct deficiencies in their performance. • Current Job • Individual Employees • Immediate • Fix current skill deficit • May be seen as negative • Development • An effort to provide employees with the abilities the organization will need in the future • Current and future job • Work group and organization • Long term • Prepare for future work demands

7. Challenges in Training • Is training the solution to the problem? • Are the goals of training clear and realistic? • Is training a good investment? • Will the training work?

8. Managing the Training Process

9. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Phase 1 - Needs Assessment • Identifying the problems or needs that training must address and provide the information required to design the training program • Levels of needs assessment: • Organizational • Task • Person

10. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Four Steps to Conducting a Needs Assessment: • Step 1. Perform a "Gap" Analysis. • Current situation vs. Desired or necessary situation • The difference the "gap" between the current and the necessary will identify our needs, purposes, and objectives • Problems or deficits • Impending change • Opportunities • Strengths • New directions • Mandated training

11. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Four Steps to Conducting a Needs Assessment: • Step 2. Identify Priorities and Importance • Examine each in view of their importance to your organizational goals, realities, and constraints • Cost-effectiveness • Legal mandates • Executive pressure • Population • Customers

12. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Four Steps to Conducting a Needs Assessment: • Step 3. Identify Causes Of Performance Problems and/or Opportunities. • Are our people doing their jobs effectively? • Do they know how to do their jobs?

13. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Four Steps to Conducting a Needs Assessment: • Step 4. Identify Possible Solutions and Growth Opportunities • Training may be the solution, IF there is a knowledge problem • Organization Development Activities may provide solutions when the problem is not based on a lack of knowledge and is associated with systematic change • strategic planning • organization restructuring • performance management • effective team building

14. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Phase 2 – Development and Conduct of Training Phase • The training program that results from the needs assessment should be a direct response to an organizational problem or need • Approaches vary by: • Location • Presentation • Type

15. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Phase 2 – Development and Conduct of Training Phase • Location Options – On the Job (OJT) • Job rotation • Apprenticeships • Internships • Advantages • Relevant to job • Can be inexpensive to implement • Immediate feedback • Disadvantages • Can be costly in customer satisfaction • Wide variation in quality and content of teaching

16. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Phase 2 – Development and Conduct of Training Phase • Location Options – Off- the-Job Training • Advantages • Gives employees uninterrupted time • More conducive to learning/less distractions • Disadvantages • Learning may not transfer back to job • Employees may view training as an opportunity to enjoy time away from work

17. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Phase 2 – Development and Conduct of Training Phase • Presentation Options • Slides and Videotapes • Teletraining • Computers • Simulations • Replicate job demands at off-site facility • Virtual Reality (VR) • The use of a number of technologies to replicate the entire real-life working environment in real time • Classroom Instruction and Role-plays

18. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Phase 2 – Development and Conduct of Training Phase • Types of Training • Skills Training • job aids • External sources of information that provide job related information • Retraining • Cross-functional Training • Team Training

19. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Phase 2 – Development and Conduct of Training Phase • Types of Training (cont.) • Creativity Training – brainstorming • Literacy Training • Diversity Training • Crisis Training • Customer Service Training • Ethics Training

20. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Phase 3 – The Evaluation Phase • Monetary Assessment • ROI (return on investment) of training • ROI = (Training Benefits – Training Costs)/(Training Costs) x 100 = (Net Training Benefits)/(Training Costs) x 100

21. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Phase 3 – The Evaluation Phase (Non-Monetary) • Level 1: Reaction • Were the participants pleased? • What do they plan to do with what they learned? • Level 2: Learning • What skills, knowledge, or attitudes have changed? • By how much? • Level 3: Behavior • Did the participants change their behavior based on what was learned in the program? • Level 4: Results • Did the change in behavior positively affect the organization?

22. Managing the Training Process (Cont.) Phase 3 – The Evaluation Phase • Legal Issues in Training • The major requirement here is that employees must have access to training and development programs in a nondiscriminatory fashion

23. Employee Orientation and Socialization • Employee orientation • Process of informing new employees about what is expected of them in the job and helping them cope with the stresses of transition • Orientation content • Information on employee benefits • Personnel policies • The daily routine • Company organization and operations • Safety measures and regulations • Facilities tour

24. Employee Orientation and Socialization • A successful orientation should accomplish four things for new employees: • Make them feel welcome and at ease. • Help them understand the organization in a broad sense. • Provide a Realistic Job Preview (RJP) • Make clear to them what is expected in terms of work and behavior. • Help them begin the process of becoming socialized into the firm’s ways of acting and doing things.