Workplace Training - Essay Example

Business Training Report Business Training Report Cover Letter It could probably mean very little to business managements of several companies. However, workplace training of the business’ stakeholders, especially the internal stakeholders goes a long way in improving the face of the business’ performance in the presence of its competitors. This form of training shall ensure that even companies or businesses unable to acquire super quality staffs also get the opportunity to work with highly competent, skilled and customer-focused staffs. In the end, this training would also serve to boost stakeholders’ confidence and morale in the operations of the business. This is a recognition that shall come owing to obvious improved levels of services by the internal stakeholders to the external stakeholders. Therefore, business’ top management should consider embracing and adopting this policy. They should thereafter reinforce the policy into the company’s overall management policies pending periodical revision. Table of Contents Sub Topic Page Number Cover letter ………………………………………………………… 2 Table of contents ………………………………………………………… 3 Abstract …………………………………………………………. 4 Introduction …..................................................................................... 5 Rationale for training ………………………………………………………… 5 Requirement and target group for training…………………………………………… 6 Stakeholders for training ………………………………………………………… 7 Challenges in training ………………………………………………………… 8 Recommended Solutions ………………………………………………………… 9 Conclusion ………………………………………………………… 10 References ………………………………………………………… 11 Abstract This report seeks to establish a corporate description of the term workplace training while highlighting its scope in attempt to improve its implementation in business organizations. The report presents policy and decision makers with accurate and comprehensive information related to the scope of workplace training. It presents a critical analysis of training as a vital workplace issue with reference to its stakeholders, requirements, challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for its ultimate success during its implementation. Presentation of the report is in a plain form, encompassing subsections of utmost interest to both the business and its prospective trainees. The ease of access may act as preliminary awareness creation tool to the prospective trainees thereby easing further likely technicalities in convincing readers to adopt positive attitude in the implementation of training. In the introduction, the report describes the meaning and scope of workplace training. It explores the importance of implementing the intervention in the second part. It also highlights the basic requirement that must precede workplace training process, the target audience and the stakeholders to the training itself. The stakeholders are those whose opinions and views must inform decision making since they have direct influence on the operations of the business. Finally, the report highlights the likely challenges that would limit or inhibit implementation of the training while also exploring and recommending possible mitigative solutions for the same. Introduction The ever-changing and dynamic business environment demands that there be effective work place training. Training is a critical prerequisite for occupational competence and excellence at the business environment. Conduct of the training requires input from relevant professionals and or senior members of the business who may work as trainers. It involves providing technical and practical inputs necessary for staffs and other stakeholders to a business. Planned and executed by and for different actors, business or workplace training takes different dimensions and perspectives. However, whatever dimension adopted to deliver the required inputs, training has a sole objective must be ultimately achieved. In an attempt to implement the training process, businesses face multidimensional constraints or threats, opportunities, weaknesses and strength associated with the intervention. In essence, workplace training in a business environment is vulnerable to both negative and positive constraints with different dimensions. In the contemporary business sphere, training is a necessary input that any business must adhere to maintain business and marketing competence. Rationale for Training Work place training has varied significance to any business. Training enables business stakeholders acquire relevant skills and competence necessary for engaging in business in a dynamic environment. The global business sphere continues to exhibit complexities and uncertainties thanks to stiff competition made worse by frequent recessions. As such, it is imperative that any business initiate and implement its own coping strategies to counter economic and market uncertainties. Business-related training is one of the most important prerequisites that any organization seeking to maintain relevance with other competitors must adopt. Workplace training assists businesses mitigate possible scenarios of unnecessary losses attributed to incompetence and lack of relevant technical and or practical skills in business. The staffs would be well equipped and technically endowed to tackle issues relevant to business growth and development (Jacobs, 2003). Training either substitutes or complements individuals’ work experience. Competence and relevant technical skills that result from effectively initiated and implemented workplace training help to reinstate an organization’s public image through enhanced positive reputation. The way an organization’s staffs respond to external stakeholders’ needs shall have a direct link to the workplace training that they receive. Training also enhances work efficiency and reliability in the business environment. Training is not only single-line specific. It is multi-dimensional and cross-sectoral in nature, crisscrossing departments and sectors within the business. It implies that staffs gain efficiency and reliability in their daily duties by being able to perform tasks across departments as requested by customers and other external stakeholders. Additionally, training can act as a gauge for performance appraisal indexing. From the training, the management can gauge the actual capability of each staff (Mitchell & American Society for Training and Development, 2008). Requirement and Target Group for Training Workplace training is not like a daily routine pursued by a staff, it requires carefully crafted design, incorporating all necessary aspects under one strategy. Training is one of the many interventions that would determine a business’ long-term direction. Therefore, it calls upon a comprehensive and all-inclusive planning and decision-making that brings on board, different players and or stakeholders. The intervention must be well crafted and formalized in the form of a guiding policy where the stakeholders would make stipulations regarding how to implement the exercise including its key actors, expected results and how the results would bring changes to the business operations of the concerned company. The top management must begin by identifying and actualizing the need for training its staffs. At this stage of the process, the management determines the extent of necessity with a view to creating a tentative form of training design for the staffs. Even though a team of stakeholders shall come together to strategize, formulate, plan and implement training policy, they must also seek opinion and views from other key stakeholders such as junior employees (Jacobs, 2003). This training shall target all stakeholders – both primary and secondary, and with special emphasis on the primary stakeholders who represent the internal face of the business. Stakeholders’ role diversity shall call upon different training designs depending on the target audience such that there would be no professional conflict among the prospective trainees. Stakeholders for Training Stakeholders involved in the workplace training exercise are either internal or external. Internal stakeholders include those operating from within the business and usually include the business staffs and management. They determine how the business’ internal image would appear to the public, and the relationship between the external stakeholders and the business. Their actions have direct impacts on the affairs of the external stakeholders such as decision to dump hazardous wastes on riverbanks and abuse of community rights. On the other hand, external stakeholders are those who affect the operations of the business from outside. They are part of the supply chain that links the consumers (customers) to the business. They determine the business’ line of operation, including products and services. A business’ reputation influences the external stakeholder links. They include suppliers, retailers, consumers, and the local community. In designing the training tools, all these stakeholders’ views should have adequate consideration. Their opinions must have stake in the planning and decision-making. Challenges in Training Like almost any other intervention at workplace, implementation of business and or workplace training meets obstacles, some of which may threaten to derail process. Inadequate coordination of stakeholders’ consultation and training design may fail to uphold the spirit of implementation. Poor coordination hinders likelihood for effective link between the internal and external stakeholders and prevents collection of stakeholders’ opinion on the design and implementation of the training program (Baron, 2011). Therefore, this training program requires full commitment and attention of the management who should operate as coordinators and or facilitators. Absence of preceding policies poses similar constraints to implementation of workplace training policy. For young businesses that have not had any previous policies in place or for senior businesses that had not had any relevant policies or interventions in place, it particularly becomes a challenge to design and develop such a policy. In such scenario, lengthy consultations would have to take place before producing final draft of the training design. Stakeholders’ attitude also determines success or failure of the intervention. A negative attitude would result to an outright failure of the process since the process may not receive adequate technical support. To start of the process, it is required that stakeholders be given adequate information and dully enlightened on what to expect out of the training plus the likely benefits at both individual and corporate level. Attitude shall also determine rate of attendance to the trainings while also determining rates of job turn over thereafter. Inadequate financial capacity coupled with poorly established human resource base could put a major challenge to the implementation of the training (Jacobs, 2003). All forms of policy implementation require adequate fiscal allocation as well as adherence to available human resources. For businesses with inadequacy of such inputs, there comes a challenge in implanting various interventions. Recommended Solutions To ensure successful training for its relevant stakeholders, businesses should put in place adequate financial and or budgetary allocation for the same interventions in every schedule of its fiscal planning. This shall ensure that financial resources are adequate for implementation of the process. Furthermore, the business should emphasize on developing a strong human resource base of highly competent personnel, thereby compelling them to train the staffs under whatever circumstance (Baron, 2011). Capacity building, lobbying and awareness creation should precede the entire process of work place training of the organization’s staff. This would prevent likely situations of negative attitudes formation among the targeted stakeholders. This will call upon the management to conduct specific baseline survey to determine the likely attitude of the stakeholders towards the training in advance. In the absence of any relevant preceding policy, the business must seek the assistance of other external professionals as well as intensively consulting its stakeholders for their views on the same intervention to awaiting implementation. A clear framework for an informed planning and decision make shall arise from the preliminary strategies. This framework is what the stakeholders shall use as point of reference at the stakeholders’ consultation meeting. The management, in consultation with the stakeholders, must establish a team of coordinators to oversee the process of stakeholder inclusion and success of the training process for long-term purposes. The team must have a broad representation from the stakeholders to the business. This is because the training shall be of benefit to not only the management and the internal stakeholders but also the external stakeholders (Baron, 2011). Conclusion Workplace training is not a proven failure in business strategy. This gives the concept a clear cutting edge concerning its use as a strategy to keep pace of relevance in the market amid ever-stiffening competition and occasional global recession. It would be relatively expensive to initiate or implement the intervention. However, long-term benefits accruing to the business from the implementation far outweigh its short-term expenses. One key input that features prominently in the report is the need for multi-stakeholder coordination, consultation and participation in the implementation of the policy. Therefore, businesses should undertake to embrace this report’s technical recommendations for workplace betterment and maintained reputation. References Baron, S. (2011). Workplace Learning: Subjective Motives and Supervisor Support Matter. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag: Sozialwissenschaften. Jacobs, R. L. (2003). Structured On-The-Job Training: Unleashing Employee Expertise In The Workplace. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Mitchell, J. K., & American Society for Training and Development. (2008). Train the Trainer Guide. Alexandria, VA: ASTD. Read More