Training and Development: Training Budgets - Essay Example

The paper "Training and Development: Training Budgets" is an excellent example of an essay on business. Any modern organization should effectively manage its training programs in order to evaluate its success and failures. In this regard, a training budget becomes an important instrument in the determination of the return on investment (ROI) that the training process offers to the organization. Most importantly, a training budget offers the organization the opportunity to plan for the expenses and accurately document all the resources needed for the training program (Craig, 2004). In most cases, the expenses incurred by organizations on training have direct impacts on the performance of the organization. This arises out of the need to constantly retrain and develop the manpower of the organization. Employees have to be constantly inundated with all the relevant issues happening in the dynamic business environment. 

Having a proper training budget enables the organization to monitor its training expenses throughout the period and evaluate the whole process. More importantly, it ensures that the expenses incurred in the process remain within the budget. This reduces cases of overspending on unnecessary issues. In order to institute a proper training budget, it is important to carry out a background analysis into the organization in terms of needs for development and the number of employees in question. All this information is then weighed against the resources that the organization can manage to raise with respect to its training purposes (Gordon, 2005). In order to enhance the success of the whole process, it is important to realize that the importance of the training program in the organization is basically to improve the performance of the employees in order to improve the overall performance of the organization.
A training budget has to be approved by the relevant parties in the organization which include the management, human resource, and finance departments. Having such a budget means that the organization can manage its training costs throughout the period budgeted for (Green, 2002). The training budget should also include the cost of developing a training program. In such a case, the organization is given the financial stability which is normally important in the highly dynamic and unpredictable business environment. In order to evaluate the success of a training budget and the overall program, it is important to show a direct link between the employees’ training and the earnings of the organization. The telecommunications company Verizon has one of the best training programs facilitated by an effective budget. In this regard, the organization has managed to develop a team of good employees for the growth and success of the organization. In the same way, Mohawk Industries and McDonald’s have also demonstrated an effective training budget which puts them at the top.
The initial step normally involves outlining the cost of the program and assessing the benefits of this program to the organization. More importantly, the training program to be funded must be in line with the requirements and needs of the organization. A training program goes ahead to define the implementation plan of the program in order to limit any instances that might affect the realization of the objectives. The overall guideline in the process is to use the most cost-effective methods in developing and delivering the training program.
Some organizations have always been successful in their training programs and have shown much success in terms of employee training and development. It should, however, be realized that different organizations operate under different environmental and situations. It might, therefore, become irrelevant to copy a training program for another organization and hope to succeed out of it. Every organization should develop its own training program and budget which takes into account the number of employees, the need for training and the available resources in the organization (Currie, 2009). While challenges will always e part and parcel of the whole process, an effective training budget can bring a lot of success to the organization. Read More