General Management Training at Meadowlea Daries

• Initial Training for Job Role

Initial Training should be designed to ensure that the employee has all the knowledge, skills and abilities required in order to carry out his day to day duties.

        This would include organisation, budgeting, management and leadership skills.

4. Effectiveness of the current training scheme

The following four criteria will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training scheme; Reaction Criteria, Learning Criteria, Behavioural Criteria, Results Criteria.

        In this case General Managers have complained of boredom during the training period. They have also indicated that they were not adequately prepared for the job. Thus the effectiveness of the training scheme is low, as it fails under reactive criteria.

The cases study also states that training has “not been successful”. Assuming that this is the view of the company, then I can only suppose that the effectiveness of the training scheme is also low due to its failure under results criteria, that is to say that General Managers are not producing the desired results upon starting their employment.

5. Criticisms of the process

My first criticism of the training is that it takes a year to complete. A candidate who has been recruited and selected for a general management position should not need a full year of training before they can start their role (A sales manager within Coca Cola Enterprises receives little more than a couple of weeks training).

Secondly, the training gives the trainee very little experience of their actual job role. Only six weeks are allocated to shadowing a general manager.

The rest of the year is allocated to spending time learning the role of each department in intricate detail. A general manager does not need to be aware of each job role in such detail, it would be more appropriate to understand the role of each department, the ways in which they interact, issues that arise and, most importantly, how to manage the departments.

6. Suggestions for Improvement

Having looked at the current training scheme and its inadequacies, it is time to re think the whole induction and training scheme for the General Management position. There are a number of steps in order to do this. Firstly the job itself must be examined and a specification of the skills and knowledge that is required by a general manager developed. The training needs of new starters should be assessed, objectives set for the training sessions and methods and materials of training developed.

After this scheme has been implemented I will carry out another training analysis to measure its success.

The general manager will most likely have been recruited from within the group. He will therefore have some knowledge of the business and the functions and departments within it. He must have the skills involved in managing a team of people and managing the operations within the factory.

Plan of Action

1. Assess training needs

The first training need is an induction. This must cover the following areas: -

• Company Mission and Goals
• Company Structure
• Company Procedures and Policies (holidays, absence etc.)
• Health and Safety

This will be of particular importance to a General Manager recruited from outside of the company, however an overview is important to all General Managers as they must a full knowledge and understanding of the above in order to lead their dairy successfully.

This induction could also be used for other management new starters, as it is generic in its subject matter. This will make the design of the course more cost-effective as more people will use it.

        I suggest that the induction should be one week long. It should, where possible, be organised so that a number of new starters go through the induction together as this will both reduce the cost of the training course and will also develop a sense of belonging to the company.

The second training need is an overview of the operations, based upon the current system. The General Manager, as previously stated, does not need to know the ins and outs of each job role, rather the importance of the that job role to the business, any important issues within the department and how the department interacts with other departments.

The third training need is in leadership skills and management of both people and the organisation.

2. Establish training objectives (Refer to Section 2)

Objectives should be smart. The objectives of the training for the trainee are: -

• To gain a full understanding of the company, how it works and how the employee will work within it. (Within the initial induction week.)
• To gain basic management skills (By the end of the initial training period)
• To gain a working knowledge of the operations of the dairy (By the end of the training period)

The objectives of the training for the company are: -

• To enable the trainee to integrate into the working environment (By the end of the induction)
• To enable the trainee to manage his team of managers effectively (from the start of his employment)
• To enable the trainee to effectively run the operation (from the beginning of his employment)

3. Develop and test training materials/methods

The above structure is suggested for the induction/training plan. Changes to the existing plan have been made in relation to the criticisms cited earlier in this report.

• The induction is now a week in its own right
• The head of department should give the organisational training, an overview of the way in which it relates to other departments and key areas identified to the trainee. 1 Week in each department plus one week for and overview with human resources allowed in this time period.
• The human resource department should give leadership training. This could take place alongside the organisational training (i.e. one week in the organisation, one week in the training room). Individual training needs must first be determined, and the trainee must accept the value of their training. Possible training areas could include diagnostic skills, that is how to assess the situation and the leadership style most suited to it. Other training areas could include task orientation, or relationship orientation styles of management.
• Shadowing a General Manager has been retained from the old scheme. Four weeks have been allocated so that the trainee can experience a month in the business.
• A mentor (Another General Manager) will then be allocated who will be on hand to answer any queries and identify further training needs for the new general manager.

The whole induction/training process has been reduced from one year to six months.

4. Implement

The new induction week can be implemented as soon as one or a number of new employees join the company.

The initial GM training scheme will be implemented for each manager that joins.

5. Evaluate

• The success of the induction scheme can begin to be measured as soon as it takes place with employee questionnaires assessing Reaction criteria.

        The success of the initial GM training scheme would be measured in an evaluative report like this one following the successful training of one or more general managers. As with this report the evaluation of the effectiveness of the training would take place based on reactive, learning, behavioural, and result criteria.

7. Conclusions

In summary, the current training system for general manager is ineffective. A plan of action has been drawn up to change the induction and initial training process, and this will be implemented for new starters and its success measured and evaluated.

This should help the organisation give their new managers the best start into their new role, working effectively for the company from the start of their employment.

8. Bibliography

Books

Riggio, (2000), Introduction to Industrial/Organisational Psychology, Third Edition, New Jersey, Prentice Hall Ltd.

McKenna, E. (1994), Business Psychology and Organisational Behaviour, Psychology Press Ltd.

Gallagher, McClelland, Swales, (1998), Business Skills – An Active Approach, Oxford, Uk, Blackwell Business.

Other

Study Guide

9. Appendix

6. Criteria for Measuring Effectiveness of Training.

• Reaction Criteria

Reaction criteria measure the impressions of trainees including their assessment of: -

• the value of training
• the learning they gained
• enjoyment

This is typically measured in a questionnaire at the end of the training period.

• Learning Criteria

Learning criteria measure the amount of learning received in training. This is typically measured by tests.

• Behavioural Criteria

Behavioural criteria measure the amount of skills retained by the trainee when they begin their employment. This is typically measured by observation.

• Results Criteria

Results Criteria measure the outcomes that are important to the company. This would enable a cost-benefit analysis of the value of the raining to the employee and the company to be carried out. This is the most important aspect of success of a training scheme.