Business Training Program - Report Example

Business Training Program Terms of Reference This report is split into five sections of which the first outlines the terms of reference and the assumptions that have been made regarding the situation of the company. The second section introduces the training program which is to be used for the needs of the organisation while the third section presents the rationale for the training program. This section also includes relevant information concerning the duration, the costs, the location, the system of delivery and assessment for the training program. Thereafter, the fourth section outlines the content and methodology which will be used in the training program while the fifth and final section gives the means through which the company can evaluate the impact of the training. There are some assumptions that have been made regarding the company which need to be kept in mind with respect to this report. The first is that all persons going into the training program are recent management graduates who have joined the company and the company wishes to earmark them for leadership positions which need to be filled soon. This training program therefore has the explicit purpose of creating future leaders for the company. Additionally, the company has taken 15 people into its first formal training program but none of them have had high leadership positions in the fast and are mostly mid level employees. After knowing these assumptions, it is now possible to introduce the training program. Introduction The training program is based on the needs analysis of the firm as recommended by Daivs (1972). It has been noted that the company needs training for leadership positions since it has recruited recent management graduates. As discussed by Welch (2005) any organisation needs to have managers who have leadership skills since they guide the values of the company and can give it a competitive advantage that is not available to others. Additionally, the importance of training becomes clear when we note that a company often recruits individuals based on the training that they have received in the past. While every company seeks competent individuals when it recruits, the additions to the skills of an individual through the training provided by the company means that the company can strategically create individuals which are an ideal fit (Boxall and Purcell, 2003). Moreover, the company gains several advantages by increasing its total knowledge base through training the employees. This collection of knowledge can be explicit in terms of technical procedures, laws or regulations which are commonly known to all members or they can be implicit for example management skills or leadership styles that help the growth of the company. Rationale The primary rationale for the training is a business reason and that comes from the need of the company to be a learning organisation. It is not easy to define our company as a learning organisation since we do not have a formal training system. However, this training program should be the first step in getting us to the state of being a learning organisation which can improve the skills of our employees (Campbell, 2005). Senge (1999) and Dixon (1994) further suggest that a learning organisation would make considerable investments in improving the knowledge base of their employees since that increased knowledge will help the business processes and internal procedures of the same company with time. Furthermore, not providing training may cause some of our newest employees to leave the company if they do not see opportunities for learning and development through training and education (Frauenheim, 2006). This idea is also supported by Trumble and Overstreet (2006) who consider training to be one of the ways in which employees can be rewarded other than money. In Fact, the rationale for the training program goes deeper since it can let the company adapt to the coming changes through the learning given to the employees which can be applied quickly to real world situations (Pedler et. al., 1991). To get to this position, our company can become a learning organisation only when the management of the company as well as the workers are willing to cooperate with each other as they seek to bring about positive changes in all areas of business. The program for leadership training described in this report contains three different sections of which the rationale for the first section is to provide a theoretical grounding for our trainees. While they have degrees in management, they may not be fully aware of the latest developments and real world business applications of leadership skills which can be given to them by business gurus that can motivate and educate them with regard to leadership. The expected outcome in this case is cognitive since the trainees would have an understanding of leadership and how leaders have given companies the competitive advantages they need (Cornelius, 2000). The rationale for the second part where trainees are coupled with internal executives in leadership positions is that the trainees will gain cognitive and skills based benefits by seeing how leaders within the company operate and how they communicate. More over, an implicit benefit of this step for the company would be to bring these young members of the organisation closer to the upper echelons and will also allow the top executives of the firm to judge these individuals on a personal level. For the third part, the training which is provided by a real life educator will give our trainees the chance to apply the skills they have learnt in role-play situations and business case studies which will not only reaffirm all that they have learnt but will also allow the trainers to evaluate the individuals who are being trained. The benefits of this part of the training are both skills based since the case studies will allow the students to apply their understanding of leadership as well as cognitive since they will understand how other companies have used leadership as a part of doing business. The duration of the program is set at three weeks since it is based on 12 class sessions. However, there is flexibility in this because the number of classes can be increased if the company thinks it is feasible to do so. Since we do not have a lot of time to create leaders for the company, we need people who can start performing as leaders within a month and three weeks is a perfectly rational solution to our time constraints. A level II leadership training program may be used for those individuals who show a high level of promise and merit quick promotions to the higher levels of management. The location of the training is the company itself and this can be rationally justified because the environment where the students learn about leadership will be the environment where they will have to use the same skills. Moreover, the cost of training will be significantly reduced by locating the training process in house rather than taking the additional expense of arranging for a separate location and allowing for travel time to and back from that location. Additionally, the presentations which are to be given to the trainees can easily be conducted in our well-equipped conference room since they require no special equipment or tools for teaching leadership. With regard to our methods of assessment, Kerr (1996) shows that peer evaluations are one of the best methods for evaluating individuals and the appreciation of one’s peers is often more valued than the appreciation of the bosses. Therefore, a program like the QuickThanks! system could be quite useful for evaluating the impact which the training provided to our trainees has had on their personal leadership skills. Details of the Course The course is structured with 12 class sessions that discuss and engage the students in leadership training. Of these the first four classes are based on the theories of leadership with a focus on case studies and informational sessions. The next four classes connect them with existing leaders within the company who act as mentors to them in order to groom their leadership skills. Finally the last four classes are based on discussions, role playing situations and case analysis based learning which can allow the students to come up with their own solutions to problems they can face as leaders within the company as they rise within the ranks. Content Each class or session will have a length of one and an half hour and will take place before lunch every day from 11:30AM to 1:00PM. For the four sessions where the student will be paired with an existing leader in the company, the student should take the opportunity to have lunch with the executive to continue the learning process in a less formal environment. The venue for the classes will be the main office of the company in the conference room since it has the equipment required for presentations and discussion sessions. The last four classes have an assessment element built into them as a short quiz or personal presentation based on a case study material which the student can share with others in the class. For the first four sessions where the students are to receive basic information and background about leadership, local colleges and educational institutes will be contacted for professors and teachers who specialise in leadership topics. One or more such educators can be used to handle the four sessions and we can eve ask them to provide an outline for the content which they can cover for us and make amendments to their content to bring it more inline with our requirements if it is needed. At the same time, the company can also seek executives within the company who have a lot of experience with leadership in theoretical or practical terms to guide the students through the four early classes. However, for the last four sessions where case studies are to be discussed and evaluations are to be made, the services of a professional who can teach leadership skills and can guide the students regarding the material they have studied may become necessary. In this case, an educator would be the best option for the company since s/he could also give an evaluation as to which candidates are likely to become the best leaders of the company and which candidates have performed the best with reference to the training that has been provided to them. Learning Outcomes DePree (1989) describes leadership is an art and as discussed by Welch (2005), leaders are supposed to have several abilities which make them become better at what they do. Welch lists eight such abilities which are used to create some of the learning outcomes that the company expects the trainees to get from the training program. The professional who is hired to educate the students will have to judge if the learning outcomes that are given by the company have been met and to what degree they have been successfully learnt. The expected learning outcomes include: 1. Understanding the various theories of leadership 2. Having a positive vision of leadership and passing it on to others 3. Creating good leadership roles which allow the trainees to act as mentors and coaches for others while improving the abilities of their teams 4. Becoming more positive about their own self and optimistic about the firm 5. Understanding that ethics and integrity are vital elements for leaders 6. Having the courage to make unpopular decisions 7. Getting a drive for results, answers and motivating employees to action 8. The ability to learn from their own and other’s mistakes and the ability to celebrate victories Location, Duration and Costs Since there are 12 classes, each week there will be four class sessions Monday through Thursday between 11:30AM to 1:00PM with a break on Friday so that the recruits can engage in any other business activity which has to be scheduled during this particular timeslot on a weekday. In this manner, the entire course can be completed in a matter of three weeks after which the company can expect to have several budding leaders amongst the trainees. The location of the class sessions as well as the mentoring given to the students will be in-house. The cost of the training program can be substantial depending on what approach is taken by the management to handle the program. For example, a top management guru may ask for thousands of dollars for a single speaking engagement while 15 employees taken out for 1.5 hours per week would cost the company 90 work hours per week. Additionally, the time of the top executives within the company who are engaged for the training program may also be taken as a cost while the educator/evaluator who comes in to grade the leadership abilities of the students would also be a cost for the company. However, since the time of the executives and the time of the students for the leadership class is internalised, it can be ignored for our purposes and the external cost estimates are given below. Item Expected Cost per unit Total Units Cost Regional Management Guru Engaged for 4 classes $400 4 $1600 Regional Quality Educator Engaged for 4 classes $500 4 $2000 Report on the individuals taking the class from the educator $500 1 $500 Total Cost of the Training Program $4100 Assessment Methods The assessments of the individuals taking the class are to be conducted by the educator that has been recruited and while the educator is likely to have his/her own criteria and comments about the individuals in the class, we would also ask the educator to evaluate each individual based on the learning outcomes that we have created for the class. The educator can evaluate the individual to give him/her a letter grade or a score from one to ten on each leadership aspect. In this manner we would have a basis for comparing people who have taken the class and see which have the best chances of becoming good leaders for the future. Undoubtedly, this would entail the creation of a ranking system but it is nothing that should be avoided but as discussed by Welch (2005) and Grote (2002), it is something that should be encouraged. Evaluating the Program The evaluation of the entire program and the impact it has on the company should be based on peer evaluations that have been used by many top companies of the world. Kerr (1996) describes the peer recognition system called QuickThanks! to show appreciation of the work done by one member of the company to another. We can certainly tailor and adopt this system to see how the leadership skills of these individuals have improved with regard to the number of QuickThanks! rewards received by them. As noted by Kerr (1996), this system allows employees to nominate other employees across the company with a gift certificate for certain stores and restaurants and these gifts are given in appreciation of their work. For our purposes, instead of appreciating the work of these 15 employees, the certificates should be given when they have shown exemplary leadership skills at work. It must be noted that peers are not often free with their recognition since they may have stricter personal criteria for giving these certificates. However, increases in the number of certificates given to trainees who completed this course will certainly show us that their peers have noted improved leadership abilities while a static number would show that the program has had no effect on their leadership skills. As described by Gardner (1995), leadership is about affecting the minds of the people around the person and the system outlined above will certainly show us if the minds of the trainees’ peers have been affected positively by the trainees. Word Count: 2,618 Works Cited Boxall P. and Purcell J. 2003, Strategy and Human Resource Management, Palgrave & Macmillan: New York Campbell, M. 2005, ‘Skills? What skills?’, Credit Management, vol. 11, no. 1, pp16-17. Cornelius, N. 2000, Human Resource Management: A Managerial Perspective, Thomson Business Press. DePree, M. 1989, Leadership Is an Art. Doubleday. Dixon, N. 1994, The Organizational Learning Cycle, McGraw-Hill. Frauenheim, E. 2006. ‘Studies: More workers look to switch jobs’, Workforce Management, vol. 85 no. 3, pp 12-13. Gardner, H. 1995, Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership. Basic. Grote, D. 2002, Forced Ranking: Behind the Scenes, Across the Board, vol. 39, no. 6, pp. 40-46. Kerr, S. 1996, Risky business: The new pay game. Fortune, vol. 134, no. 2, pp. 94-97. Pedler, M. et. al. 1991, The Learning Company: a Strategy for Sustainable Development, McGraw-Hill. Senge, P. 1994, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization, McGraw-Hill. Trumble, R. and Overstreet, S. 2006. ‘Effectively motivating and retaining employees: Options other than money’, Journal of Compensation & Benefits, vol. 22, no. 1, pp 12-19. Welch, J. 2005. Winning. HarperCollins. Read More