Improving Training and Development at Mersey NHS - Essay Example

Improving Training and Development at Mersey NHS Management Proposal November 5, 2006 2 Introduction 3 Purpose of Management Report 3 Motivation Management 4 Growth and Improvement 5 Choice of Topic 5 Topic Theory 6 Research Approach 7 Report Schedule 9 References 12 Introduction There is a need to asses the types of training and development that will essentially improve Mersey NHS employees for the greater benefit of the organisation. This involves exploring internal training and development plans and the manner in which these are conducted so that the process can better harmonise procedures that gauge measurements, and specifically to initiate a management strategy that leans towards continuous improvement and life-long learning initiatives. Purpose of Management Report Jack and Suzi Welch 2006 iterate the importance of a good system of measurement to engage employees "It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energised employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it" (pp. 2). Training is the foremost method used for adjustment, achievement and measurement for an organisation. To that effect, if an employee does not understand the measurements, then the employee will not trust the organisation goals and in turn will not strive towards improvement. There are at least five defined characteristics that could alter employees development and training comprehension as shown by Dr. Richard B. Waina (2002 pp 2): I.  Motive –   What are the critical businesses issues driving process improvement? II. Model – Which reference model best maps to the organisation practices? III. Method – How can you quickly and effectively identifies improvement opportunities? IV. Managing Change – What factors impact the effectiveness of introduced changes? V.  Measures – What are critical factors in setting up a measurement program? The purpose of this management report is to primarily examine the employee relationship with Mersey NHS goals in training and development with the ultimate goal to find quality and sustainable metrics for effectively promoting life-long learning and incorporating continuous improvement into the facility. Motivation Management E. Wayne Hart, Ph D from the Center for Creative Leadership, in his ASTD presentation Developing a Coaching Culture (2006) believes that motivation and relationship management are strongly tied into coaching capabilities, stating that the goals of training as coaching are to "motivating development and improved performance; cost savings over using external coaches; self and others focused," (p 5) in a manner that is "assessing, challenging and supporting" (p 16 2006). A plan for training and development and implementation will have two focuses, the first towards enhancing motivation in the workplace, and the second to increase relationships in the team dynamics. A good program can effectively empower employees by delivering both goals and a support system. This will empower employees to build relationships with one another and to build relationships with managerial staff. Growth and Improvement According to David Beswick of the University of Melbourne: ”Mangers generally, and anyone formally or informally responsible for oversight of others who are engaged in work or learning tasks, will be aware that some people are participating more out of interest in the task than others are” (www.beswick.info 2004) It becomes important to continue to build upon the strong personal and motivational tactics that are currently being used, and with that Mersey NHS must find greater motivational strategies to further intrinsic rewards that are not compensatory (extrinsic). It is also recommended that leadership members within management begin to offer greater amounts of positive motivators within their teams due to the negative responses in leadership and compensatory motivations. The impact to employees is the changes in communication and expectations. The “growth perspective enables corporations to exploit their scope to create enterprise-level value from activities related to human capital development and to knowledge management” (Kaplan 2002). The foundation of using training and development to initiate a ‘growth perspective’ is that "human development as a part of economic development puts people back at center stage, after decades in which a maze of technical concepts has obscured this fundamental vision” (Streeten p 84 1994). Choice of Topic The choice of topic for the management report is “Improving Training and Development at Mersey NHS.” This is done with the implications that by improving and empowering employees with training, development, rewards and recognition, the employees will improve the organisation. Engaged employees receive training for necessary skills and are "on board" with the organisation’s goals (Zemke 1993). Employees will be unable to perform if they lack the skills needed for their roles, so organisations need to identify employees with gaps in their training. Managers should be trained to identify performance weaknesses as well as how to effectively tie performance to recognition and rewards. Rewards often focus on the physical benefit, usually financial or towards career development. However "self-esteem, respect, intrinsic motivation and dignity are not guaranteed by a competitive salary,” and are also important aspects of rewards (Glasscock and Gram 1995). Topic Theory The theories underlying the topic of “Improving Training and Development…” are heavily related to the McClelland theory, employee motivation and behaviour. This is presented to better understand why the topic choice is important to employees and the organisation, not only as technical training, but as a life-long way of improving leadership behaviours and providing a positive impact on Mersey NHS. The McClelland theory (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, p. 15) encourages managers to learn how to identify the presence of nAch - need for achievement, nAff - need for affiliation, and nPower - need for power in themselves and in others to be able to create work environments that are responsive to respective need profiles. Need for achievement (nAch) is characterised by “individual responsibilities, challenging goals, and performance feedback, a high-need affiliator is drawn to interpersonal relationships and opportunities for communication. The high-need-for-power type seeks influence over others and likes attention and recognition” (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, p. 15). The need for affiliation (nAff) is “the desire to establish and maintain friendly and warm relations with others.” Therefore, to adequately engage an employee in customer service, the organisation must meet the employees hierarchy of needs through adequate incentives that meet the hierarchy of needs. According to Dr.Mohammed S. Chowdhury of Monroe College, Bronx, New York and Mohammed Nurul Amin of the West Virginia University of Technology: Employee values, attitudes, and leadership behaviour play a very important role in enhancing employee work motivation and performance. Employee work values, attitudes and leadership behaviour can carefully be adjusted to produce a strong impact on employee work motivation (www.sba.muohio.edu). When employees recognise that the organisation is focused on their well-being, they in turn will become engaged and reciprocate by trying to meet the organisation’s goals, values and missions. A successful research would develop an increase in value rating per employee per category. In essence, the purpose is to develop employee engagement in conjunction with the benchmarks and defined constructs according to the majority values of tenured employees. Research Approach McDonough and McDonough (1997, 44-45) note that descriptive research aims to describe the significant events within the context itself (i.e. it provides a ‘rich account’ of the whole situation rather than minimising it) and that interventionist research intervenes by manipulating variables that can be identified and attempting to isolate the influence of one or more on the process. The descriptive research method is to gather information through natural observations, surveys and interviews. This approach is designed to assemble quantitative data that answers questions regarding a population status and hypotheses testing. Descriptive research is used when the research question is understood (Ghauri and GrØnhaug 2002). The outcome of the research, therefore, is dependent on the measurement procedures used in the collection of the data, and this in turn is dependent on the types of data collection (Ghauri and GrØnhaug p 47 2002). The inductive approach is used to build the theory from the data gathered to explore possible conclusions. The inductive approach will be used to make recommendations based on what is currently being used, and the deductive approach will be used to define implementation strategies in the final recommendation. Inductive research uses theory, but is not bound to arrive at any particular theoretical location, while deductive research is driven by theory. These are two main approaches to political science; it is important to be aware of both and attempt to use them in concert where possible. Maxwell (1996) notes that the strengths of qualitative research derive from its inductive approach; it focuses on specific situations or people and its emphasis on words rather than numbers. He argues that the strategy starts from the research context and develops as the event unfolds. The study helps the investigator to understand the meaning of the situation the investigator is studying. The investigator allows the people he is studying to attach meaning to their situation through their own story (Creswell 2003). Saunders et al (2003) recommends the ‘phenomenology approach’ when studying the social components for each processed used when analysing the data collected from interviews. Phenomenology is a psychosocial theoretical approach to disseminating information. In its simplest form, phenomenology is the study of phenomena: their nature and meanings. The focus is on the way things appear to participants through experience or in the consciousness. The phenomenological researcher aims to provide a rich textured description of lived experience. The aim of phenomenological research is to describe the everyday world as it is immediately experienced (Giorgi and Giorgi, 2003). Report Schedule (PLEASE INSERT YOUR REPORT SCHEDULE HERE) Action Plan This action plan details the dissertation management research for “Improving Training and Development in Mersey NHS Organisations.” The action plan may change as secondary research may show various employee training, development and engagement strategies that are not introduced in the preceding proposal. 1) Secondary Literature Research a) Implications of Training and Development b) Types of Training and Development c) Importance of Training and Development i) For the Employees as empowerment, retention, and for employee growth ii) For the Organisation as goals and values, improving service paradigms, improving organisation in the eyes of the community, to recruit and retain better employees 2) Research Strategy a) Based on the identifiable characteristics found in the literature review b) Focus on employee-management relationships c) Focus on employee perceptions of current training and development 3) Research Method a) Structured Interviews with management staff (possibly 3 members?) b) Structured, anonymous surveys of employees (at least 25, prefer 50) 4) Data Analysis a) Correlation and common themes i) Relationships between management and employee thoughts b) Variances, percentages and viability 5) Conclusion and Recommendations a) Summary of findings i) In relationship to secondary research b) Forward-looking statements i) What needs to be improved c) Why is it important for training and development 6) Strategy Recommendations a) Goals b) Time frames c) Types of training and development that would best improve the organisation 7) Future research a) What can be improved in this research? b) What should Mersey look towards in the future? References Beswick, David (2004) Lecture University of Melbourne. Online Accessed November 5, 2006 [www.beswick.info] Chowdhury Mohammed S. and Mohammed, Nurul Amin (2005) Relative Importance of Employee Values, Attitudes and Leadership Behaviors in Employee Motivation. Online Accessed November 5, 2006 [www.sba.muohio.edu] Creswell, J.W. (2003). Research design. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Ghauri, Pervez N., Grønhaug, Kjell (2002). Research Methods in Business Studies: A Practical Guide. Pearson: London Giorgi, A and Giorgi, B (2003) Phenomenology. In J A Smith (ed.) Qualitative psychology: a practical guide to research methods. London: Sage. Glasscock and Gram (1995) Secrets of a Successful Employee Recognition System. BT Bastford. LTD. Hart, Wayne (2002) Choosing an Executive Coach and Using Your Executive Coach. Center for Creative Leadership. Online Accessed November 5, 2006 [http://www.ccl.org/leadership/coaching/index.aspx?pageId=203] Kaplan, Jack (2003) Patterns of Entrepreneurship, 1e. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc NY NY. Maxwell, J. A. Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1996. McDonough, J. and McDonough, S. (1997), Research methods for English language teachers, London: Arnold Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, D. (2003), Research Methods for Business Students, 3rd Edition, London: FT Prentice Hall. Schermerhorn, J. R., & Hunt, J. G., & Osborn, R. N. (2002). Organizational Behavior New York: Wiley. Streeten, P. (1994) Human Development: Means and Ends, American Economic Review, 84(2), pp. 232-237. Waina, Dr. Richard B. (2002) Five Critical Questions in Process Improvement. Online Accessed November 5, 2006 from www.chips.navy.mil Welch, Jack and Welch, Suzi (2006) How Healthy Is Your Company? Business Week; 5/8/2006 Issue 3983, p126-126. Retrieved May 10, 2006 from EBSCO Host Database Zemke, R. & Woods, J.A. (1998). Best practices in customer service. HRD Press: New Read More