Training Process of Employees - Essay Example

TRAINING PROCEDURE Any organized human activity, which is done in-group, will be most times constituted into structure called organization. So, organizations are ‘structures’, with a ‘collage’ of humans doing their allocated work under the supervision of a leader, for the benefit of the organization as well as them. The workers only form the crucial ‘cog’ in the running of the organization. Only, if these workers or crucial stakeholders are aptly recruited, trained and imbibed with a common and optimal organizational culture, through an effective recruitment and training process, the organization can achieve optimum success. In any organization, the recruitment and training function will most times be a continuous process due to certain needs, and so the leader or the manager particularly the Human Resource Manager should perform the staffing function at all times. In an organization, all the employees or individuals will not be able to perform at their optimal best, as few may need some of form of training to reach the expected levels. That is, as the organization recruits news staffs, majority of them will have the necessary skills and the capability to do the job, but few of them have to trained or coached or mentored. So, the few or more new recruits have to be ‘equipped’ to do the job. Also, sometimes the existing staffs may also fall short in certain aspects, and in that case also, they have to coached and mentored All organisations are committed to a certain standard and not all employees have the potential to achieve that requirement. So, training procedures are followed in an organisation to meet the required standard. A proper training approach requires a thorough knowledge of the current practices in the environment and based on that suitable actions are taken. The training procedure to be implemented in Pickfords is discussed here. After having completely assessed the current training programme and development needs at Pickfords hereby I suggest a systematic training procedure for the betterment of the individual as well as the organisation. Following training cycle is a simple model of the proposed training approach. Stage one: Assessing the training need and a statement of training policy Pickfords clearly recognises that its employees are its important asset. By providing maximum opportunities, working environment and support, Pickfords can equip the employees’ skill level and knowledge level, so they can assist it optimally to meet the set targets. To assess the training needs in Pickfords, first the required level of employee competence to meet our standard is to be worked out. Then the current level of the employee is identified through various means discussed below. After knowing these two, the gap between them can be bridged through proper training methods. This gap is the required training need of the individual. A training needs analysis is to be carried out inside Pickfords to accomplish this task. One to one meetings are held between line managers and their staffs. In the meeting the organisational objectives and the employee’s job condition were all to be discussed. In the course of this meeting, the current skill of the employee and the knowledge required to meet the objective of the Pickfords are all identified. The questionnaire session identified the knowledge of the employees into any one of the following four categories. little or no competence some competence although below the required level for the role competence at the required level for the role competence exceeds required level for the role The results are tabulated and the employees whose levels fall under first two categories are given the sufficient training as required to meet the standards. Along with these group of employees, the employees who deal with the customers has to be trained as a compulsory routine. As those employees will be new to the Pickfords work environment, it would be wise to give them training about it, so they can positively interact with the customers. On the customer’s side, training can be given in all the aspects. That is, an extensive induction programme will make sure that the recruited employees will be equipped enough to make an early contribution towards the work of the Pickfords Stage two: Training Plan The training requirements at Pickfords are identified from the training needs analysis. The data obtained from the analysis is used to formulate a training plan for the development needs of the Pickfords. The analysis gives a report on mode of training required, who requires it and the count of people requiring training. Based on this, the details such as training method, procedure and a way to provide it are all determined. The training needs are different for different individuals. So, various methods of training are adopted by Pickfords, to meet the best quality standard. The various training methods provided by Pickfords include internal and external workshops, external courses, in-house trainings and externally accredited qualifications. This proves advantageous because the various needs of the staffs are fulfilled by the different methods available. So, each one inside Pickfords is more or less satisfied with the training procedure adopted. Before analyzing the various aspects of the training procedure, it is better to get an idea about the estimated financial costs of the training program. A summary of the financial costs are as: Management Training £13,200 Directors training and development, including MDP £34,650 All other training £37,165 Training costs for all staff £85,015 Average training cost per member of staff £297.26 When training is carried out for the Pickfords on the whole, there is a chance to mix groups of staffs together, which in turn reduces the financial costs by having separate training sessions only regionally. It does not stop with this. It provides an opportunity for the staffs to mix with people of other departments so that there is a greater sharing of knowledge between them. This leads to a more transparent and united Pickfords. In the case of training required regarding customer service and conduct, same training is to be provided for all staffs. So, this can be used to have a day where all can interact with each other, technically based on their team building issues and non-technically regarding the customer services, customer satisfaction etc. The latter one can be provided in an informal manner, so as to make the employee feel he/she is part of Pickfords and is going to be benefited as a result of the training given to them. Mentoring and shadowing is another training technique adopted in organisations. The training needs analysis gives a detailed account of the knowledge level of each employee. The Pickfords employee whose level is above than required is identified and ‘train the trainer’ approach is carried out, to provide a mentor support to other employees. The other employees can work in the shadow of these mentors. More training needs can cause a downfall to Pickfords whereas lack of training causes a lot of problems. These problems have to be identified at the earlier stages and reported to the Pickfords’ management. Regular appraisals, supervision, day to day management are carried out to have an eye on the training procedures and to make note of improvements in each individual as well as the organisation. Poor performance is not always due to lack of training but may be due to insufficient managerial support also. So, management NVQ (Non Vocational Qualifications) opportunities are provided for one manager in one department. This provides a platform to test the benefits of this programme and consider the opportunities of providing many such NVQ programmes to more departments in future. Manager should take part in Management NVQ level 2 in leadership. Here practical skills are given more importance than knowledge or training and this should be periodically monitored and developed. As there was a separate training needs analysis procedure for the Directors, a Management Development Programme is suggested for them. This programme would be costly but it enables the Directors to effectively manage and lead the Manager who in turn manages the line managers and they in turn can manage their staffs. HR and financial needs of the Directors are given through internal workshops provided by experienced Directors inside Pickfords. Stage three: Carry out the training This stage is to effectively carry out the training as per the plan. The trainees at Pickfords should be informed long before about the nature of the training and its effects. The trainer must also be prepared before hand to clear any doubts, raised by an employee, and should be in a position to answer any queries posted by them. When a large number of staffs are attending a particular training session, care should be taken that their duties are not affected for that period of time. Some alternatives have to be made by the Pickfords management to cover their duties. Stage four: Evaluate the training and thereby judge its effectiveness Evaluation of training is very useful to monitor the effectiveness of the training. It gives a clear picture, if the objectives have been met or not. This evaluation will help Pickfords in developing the future training programmes. The effect of training is monitored practically in the workshop after a few weeks. Overall organisational improvement inside Pickfords is evaluated after the training process. Even while recruiting new staffs, Organizations including Pickfords should not fire the old staffs, instead they should also be given adequate training and can be absorbed into the various processes. That is, when the existing or old employees of the organization fall short in their performance, mainly due to any lack of skill and knowledge about the process, they can be trained and equipped with the necessary skill and knowledge. In this competitive environment, every organization will keep on upgrading its product and services, and for that, the employees have to be upgraded first. Likewise, before the ‘greenhorns’ are placed in highly responsible positions in Pickfords, they need to be given necessary training. Pickfords by using the services of existing experienced employees can train the under-skilled existing workers and also the newly recruited groups of workers. An wholesome training will do a world of good for the employees, as they will become equipped skill wise and knowledge wise, and will be able to undertake theirs allocated work with renewed confidence. So, by recruiting skilled employees and by training the existing and new employees optimally, Pickfords would have actualized a new company structure and can go with its plan of in-house manufacturing. To actualize the opportunities in hand, all the parts of the organizations have put in maximum effort. Among the many departments, which constitute an organization, the HRD department’s role is omnipresent and crucial. HRD by using various options including the important component of training will only boost an organization. In an organization, after a target is set, the management has to apportion the existing employees to appropriate positions or even recruit new employees, to fully aid in the actualization of the target. As Schein (2004, p.261) said, “... best way to build an organization was to hire very smart, articulate, tough, independent people and then give them lots of responsibility and autonomy”. With this ‘living’ group only, an organization can try to achieve its targets. When the existing employees of Pickfords fall short in their performance, mainly due to lack of skill and knowledge, they can be trained to get equipped. That is, as mentioned above, every organization including Pickfords will keep on upgrading its product and services, and for that employees have to be upgraded first. And if the employees show the intent to improve themselves, they should be provided an opportunity. That is, they should be given appropriate training. Bibliography FT Pretence Hall (4th Edition) Introducing Human Resource Management, Margaret Foot, Caroline Hook PP Professional Education, Human Resource Management: Specialist Units 21-24 Schein, E. H. (2004). Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd. ed. Jossey-Bass. Read More