In addition, many writers summarise reasons of absence and failure on training and suggest how to maximize the value of training. Kryprianou and Kasket (1998) mention a case study of ‘the poor British industry’ to analyse the results of ignorance on training and development. The ‘Training in Britain Survey’ found that no more than 48 percent of the workforce was covered by training in British firms. It is proved that this number is less than other developed countries. Furthermore, the writers indicate why British organizations do not regard training as a significant element. According to a multitude of secondary material, they conclude into three reasons: cost of training, the less meaning of training to organization and the external pressure from competitors, government and legislation. Additionally, Stevens (1999) points out that employers’ willingness on training workforce with transferable skills in labour market is critical.
Lambert (1985) discusses different reasons that most training programs fail and provides recommendations for the control of training. It is analysed that the most common objections include the lack of sufficient funding, the difficulty of evaluating the results, and problems of finding qualified staff. As he suggested, effective training must firstly be a link between the change agent and the change group. Through this link, valid information exchanges in both directions and is utilised in decision-making at each end.
Anderson (2008) demonstrates that valid and reliable training demands agreement to invest in the time required learning as well as funding support. Exploring both in psychology and human resources aspects, Mcdowall and Saunders (2010) concludes that success in job-related skills training is perceived, while the outcome of development is harder to be evaluated. Therefore, training and development will be more effective and valuable when combined.
The literature review suggests that the advantages of training can be perceived but there is a widespread under-evaluation of training programs. However, there is a lack of academic work to clarify the extent to which the effectiveness planning and implementation of training and development influence the value. In this report, by accessing two cases we will give an insight of the impact of training and development to business organisations and in what way the value of training can been influenced.
Case Study
Case 1
British Steel had experienced great benefits from the change of training and development. Considering the risk, environment problems and legislation, the training plans are well organized and controlled. The company holds a positive attitude in continuous training development because of the nature of business, customers’ requirement and new laws. The application of teamwork, high technology, clear objectives and the centres of excellence all contributed in its training success.
The training activity of using Lackenby Universal Beam Mill has been proved to be successful, due to the well-organized training process. Analysis of the training situation and objectives would be held before actions are taken. Firstly, in order to train individual employees, the process called Investors in People is introduced. An agreement will be signed by the trainees before training. The performance of each employee will be recorded by supervisor or training owner for more than one year on computers. Secondly, if the training is related to the new equipment, further consideration would be done during analysis in order to make appropriate performance in practice after training. Thirdly, in aspect of changing behaviour of employees in team working, psychological factors should be taken into account. The whole process is monitored and well controlled by the training committee. The results will be measured through a strict system.
Additionally, the centre of excellence uses certain numbers of methods to ensure the training. In 1994, the program aiming at quicker roll build-up times is achieved by improving team working, individual training and enhancing the skills of the team leaders. The organization experienced better qualified workers and changes in team culture. The continuous development of training is the requirement of advanced technology and changing situation in the industry.
Through the high efficiency training system, significant financial benefits are gained by selling the knowledge and techniques. Moreover, the training activities held by British Steel received the National Training Awards.
Future training objectives require the continuous development of the computer training system for employees to learn both at home and at work. And the team leaders’ ability is essential to ensure the training outcomes of teamwork.
Case 2
Frank’s Drug was a regional supermarket-style drug chains in the United States in 1970. At that time, most of the chain growth had been focused on some large metropolitan centres; however, due to the competitive pattern in the drug business, there was an important change in the company’s strategy for future growth, which was invested more heavily into suburban areas, small cities and even rural areas. Regarded to the fast expansion, some problems would appear. One of them was the large demand for providing new managers. In that case, company’s training program was launched.
At the beginning, the company decided to use common training method for managerial manpower which was widespread used in many food, drug, and retail chains. The total training period would last from 30 weeks to almost a full year. The fundamental training was to learn by doing and to explore a whole picture of store operations. For instance, trainees would practise in four to six main departments as a clerk or helper. However, this round of training failed, by the end of 1971, the required 50 new managerial candidates were likely to fall short, and solely ten people met the requirement. In addition, the cost was as high as 6000 pounds per person, which was unacceptable by the company.
Afterwards the company took out a new training program which was operated by the vice president of personnel, Rick Baron, who consequently assumed central responsibility for company training. With Rick’s managerial experience at Frank’s Drug, blended with his research on training literature, a new training program was built. Concluded by Burack (1978), the new program contained four elements: “programmed instruction materials and approaches to permit self-paced study; less ‘doing’ by trainees and more control over their own efforts in the store; identification of performance objectives that all managers must demonstrate; identification of performance activities that all managers must be able to perform in their store in order to permit more flexible autonomous operation in the new stores.” In this new program, managerial performance objectives, which were drawn up based on the performance coping with store operation, were clearly stated rather than some general statement or vague term. Instead, the objectives indicated what managers should do in stores. Moreover, the training techniques were changed, by summarising the company’s earlier efforts and other companies’ programs. Rick’s new program focused on, for example, distinguishing with the earlier training program, trainees would better learn a total process by only seeking out what is needed to satisfy a particular problem or question rather than just being a helper. Finally, Rick provided each trainee an orientation booklet, which was the guideline of store training. The guideline explained the philosophy of training and self-directed nature of the program.
The new program had been a great success, Rick’s assessment on the program in 1975 said, 25 men passed the process at the first year and 50 men moved through the program in the past year. The cost was reduced from 6000 pounds per person on average to about 2000 pounds. Furthermore, the training period was shorter, with about 16 weeks rather than almost a year under the older approach. Finally, Rick also pointed out that most of the trainees are really producing, and most of them had been receiving good performance rating by their supervisors.
Independent Analysis
Case 1 Analysis
British Steel’s action on creating a learning organization indicates that it treats human resource as an important approach and the training to be a continuous process. It is proved to be successful by receiving the National Training Award.
It is commonly believed that the training as a formal and systemic adjustment of the behaviour of employees through the methods of learning (Durai, 2010). In terms of British Steel’s training plan, it is well designed, organized, controlled and monitored. The plan is carefully analysed to fit different situations and clear objectives should be set. The activities of monitoring and controlling are held by the l training committee. The evaluation of the outcomes is carried out rigorously.
Meanwhile, development should be a continuous process to meet the changing situation of technology and business development (Waldt, 2007). British Steel is convinced of this and makes constant effort to keep up with the latest technology and make good use of computer. In its future plan, the development of computer packages for employees’ individual learning is vital. Technology of engineering needs to be constantly evolved and trainings will avoid the skill shortage.
Through the training activities in British Steel and its future plan, it affects the organization culture gradually. It keeps the good atmosphere of learning in both direct and indirect ways just as Roger Buckley (1990) described.
In Mincer’s (1962) research, it viewed trainings as an investment for the company in terms of human capital. British Steel encourages employees to take training and further education. It is proved to be effective and valuable because of the significant financial benefits. After training, the more skilful workers will gain more productivity. Moreover, the selling of techniques and knowledge will create additional value.
However, the potential loss from the absence of experienced employees to train the new is often ignored by companies as Mincer pointed out in his research. The future plan of British Steel demonstrates on the maintaining of skill level and further improvement. As a consequence, the new team leaders have to be trained in order to be the coaches for their new team. During such time, they seem not able to work and create countable value. This should be considered carefully before analyzing the training plan.
Case 2 Analysis
The common training process steps are to define the organizational objectives, make assessment of training needs, establish training goals, devise training programme and then implement the programme, finally, evaluate the training results. “Without a well-designed systematic approach to training, what is learned may not be what is best for the organization” (Kyprianou & Kasket, 1998). In previous literature review, Mincer stated that the return on training would be less than what have been invested in. In Frank’s Drug case, the firm adopted the commonly used training method at the beginning but got very disappointing result. The time and cost spent on training is unaffordable. However, significant improvements are achieved by taking out the new well-designed training programme. Lambert (1985) has mentioned that a good training program requires administrators making decisions carefully, concerned with the purpose of training, the scope of the program and the relationship between the program and other aspects of administration. To conduct an effective training programme, training needs should be accessed specifically; targets should be made on what to be learned and who to be trained. It is not wise to implement companywide training without clear goals and targets, and the scarce business resources should be allocated to the component where they are mostly needed.
Frank’s Drug gives identification of performance objectives that managers must demonstrate and performance activities that managers need to perform in the stores as well. In this sense, managerial performances are drawn up on a companywide basis coping with store operation stated. But they are not general statement or indistinct term; trainees are given flexibility in training process. Trainees learn a total process by focusing on satisfying a particular problem rather than being a helper. Self-paced learning can be accessed by providing programmed instruction materials and approaches. Great success had been achieved by the new training programme. The cost had been reduced, the period became shorter, and personnel were more productive. The time and money efficiency new programme proves that well-organised training and development benefit business organisation by adding values and controlling training period and cost at minimised level. Likewise, Kryprianou and Kasket‘s finding implies that recruitment costs can be reduced from a long-term perspective.
Comparison between two cases
Comparing these two cases, differences can be found in many aspects. Firstly, characteristics of the two industries indicate different emphasis on training resources allocation. British Steel is a high-tech company, which requires consistent investment in training to generate most up-to date techniques and skills. By contract, the training of Frank’s Drug, which is a drug chain, requires huge initial investment at the beginning stage and relatively lower future cost. Secondly, British Steel’s return on investment includes both tangible and intangible benefits. After decades of consistent training, a learning organization is built, and corporate culture is active. Frank’s Drug solely got financial rewards in terms of time and cost. However, they do have some similarities. First, both of the cases prove that training can significantly contribute to business performance. Secondly, the two businesses are using systematic training methods, which emphasis on planning process and monitoring the outcome.
To conclude, this essay has reviewed the subject of training and development’s value to business organization. By researching many academic papers, the agreement of the character of training and development is not achieved. This paper has illustrated both positive and negative aspects of training. By introducing two cases, evidences are found that different organizations would differentiate in aspects of training. The two companies discussed apply similar training process, both of which are systematic. It emphasise the importance of planning appropriate methods to the whole training program, which means that planning is an crucial element to the success of training. Both companies had gained advantages from their training program, either tangible or intangible. To what extent, it is rational to believe that training do provide value to organizations, nevertheless, only the well-organized training approach would add value to the business. The business organizations which fail to conduct effective training program should initially exam if they are using the proper method rather than just referring training as useless. It is suggested that companies should concern more on training and development as a substantial development.
Reference
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