Advantages and Importance of the Advanced Training Program - Case Study Example

Supervalu, Inc. Supervalu, Inc. Case Background Supervalu, Inc. is considered one of the largest and most successful food distribution and retailing company reporting gross annual sales of $17 billion. By mid 1998, a Professional Development Program (PDP) had been designed with the objective of recruiting and training highly talented and motivated individuals who are interested to pursue a career and gain holistic experience in the retailing and distribution industry. The PDP is structured as a rotation based program delving in distribution, retail and corporate functions within a two-year training period. By mid 1999, the General Director of the Leadership Development and Organizational Effectiveness, Paul Cimmerer, was faced with an evaluation of the PDP given that the new season for recruiting newly graduates is upcoming. The Corporate Executive Vice President for Human Resources, Ronald Tortelli, required an increase in new hires from the initial 5 hires who participated in the first round of training, to 24 – a doubling of the 12 requests generated for the program launch. In this regard, the case aims to proffer an evaluation of the PDP by addressing the following concerns: 1. If you were considering Supervalu, Inc. as an employer, what would you find appealing/unappealing about their Professional Development Program (PDP)? If I were considering Supervalu, Inc. as an employer and have been given the chance to review their PDP, the following features are deemed to be unappealing: (1) too lengthy; (2) the training program is too long at two years; (3) the rotation basis is inappropriate for graduates of specialized fields; (4) the modules are structured in a way that trainees are expected to manage their own training plan; (5) the people responsible for training (coach, business advisor, program sponsor, and the PDP coordinator) do not seem to be the most qualified and competent people to train; and (6) there are no indications of any benefits accorded to trainees during the PDP. The appealing features of the PDP are as follows: (1) the plan gives special preference to newly graduates even without prior experience with Supervalu, Inc.; and (2) the positions open after the training are already managerial in nature. 2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the PDP? The following strengths are eminent in Supervalu, Inc.’s PDP: (1) comprehensively prepared by a task team composed of senior officers from Supervalu; (2) the modules were designed to familiarize the trainees into major functions of managing the operations, human resources, internal and external relationships, and risks; and (3) trainees are expected to be holistically honed to administer a wide range of functions and responsibilities due to the rotation basis incorporated in the PDP. On the other hand, the following weaknesses are observed: (1) PDP is too long at two year’s time; (2) the structure of the training is focused on what the trainee should do to manage his or her own training – including portions of self-evaluation; (3) only the coach is identified to evaluate the trainee’s performance (rather than including the other people responsible for training); (4) it is only offered to new graduates and not within personnel of Supervalu, Inc. who could be more qualified due to the experiences gained in the organization; (5) the underlying administrative guidelines and the job of developing training requirements were turned over to the consultant, Laurie Schmidt, who lacks extensive knowledge about the company and its operations; and (5) the rotation basis is not applicable to all trainees as each graduated with his or her own field of specialization, i.e., in business, or human resources, or accounting, as required. 3. Will the PDP appeal to college recruits? Why or why not? New graduates form college are mostly looking for jobs which are enticing and which would not require them to be tied to the company in two years at entry level – unless the field of endeavor is within their field of specialization. In addition, the PDP failed to mention any benefits that trainees are entitled to within the span of training. Unless properly and attractively compensated, the PDP would not appeal to college recruits. College graduates have tendencies to be testing the waters at entry level. They would like to be given the chance to determine if the job is indeed challenging and rewarding for them. They would like to be given the chance to be trained at shorter periods and determine at the time, if indeed, the position is attractive, fun, and worth investing their time for a long term career. 4. What would you have done differently when creating the PDP, and why? If I were creating the PDP, I would include people in the organization who are most authoritative in the fields of Distribution, Retail, Category Management, and Corporate to design the training program. In addition, the trainees must be recruited depending on their fields of expertise. For example, trainees for Corporate should have backgrounds in accounting and human resources – therefore someone with a Business Administration Degree is most qualified to be trained for the position. For Category Management, someone with a Marketing Degree or someone from the company with marketing experience can be trained for the position. Likewise, trainees for the program should not be confined to new graduates. The 50,000 full time and part time employees should be given the opportunity to qualify as trainees due to the experience and performance on their respective tasks. Further, the people responsible for training should be the respective supervisors of each function – as they are the ones most qualified to train due to knowledge of the tasks and the experience gained in the organization. Finally, I would shorten the training period to say, 6 months. The first three months would focus on theoretical applications and orientation of responsibilities. The next three months should extensively evaluate the performance of the trainees in terms of competency, professionalism, team working, and adherence to policies, procedures, standards and compliance with codes of discipline, among others. 5. What challenges might require future attention with respect to professional development? Future challenges would cover the need to train and develop even managers in the higher hierarchy of the organization. Likewise, not only new recruits should be the focus of the PDP. All personnel need to be trained with career paths reviewed for advancement. Supervalu should also provide counseling as a professional guide for personnel who present job related problems. Accordingly, a professional development program must “assist all staff to meet their personal, academic or professional needs in ways that are consistent with the objectives and with the known and anticipated needs” of the organization (University of Adelaide, 2010, par. 2). Conclusion A professional development program is management’s commitment to register, trace, and insure individual progress through continued job proficiency, career growth, and individual guidance. The PDP should actually cover three programs: training, career planning, and counseling. Training should not be the only development program and not to be offered only to new graduates or recruits. To gain the support even of supervisors and other managers in the organizations, they, too must be included in the PDP through career planning and management development programs. Human resources should grow in worth so that their utilization reaches maximum strength and power. Any funds used for their growth and development should be considered an investment instead of an expense. References Aguilar, F.J., Winston-Dadzie, E., & Settle, S. (1999). Supervalu, Inc. Management Education Alliance, Harvard Business School. University of Adelaide. (2010). Professional Development Policy. Retrieved 20 May 2010. < http://www.adelaide.edu.au/hr/policies/polbrowse/dev_training/profdev.html> Read More