Employee Training and Development as Essential for a Successful Organization - Essay Example

Training and development Introduction Employee training and development is essential for any successful organization. It is a key performance improvement tool. Any organization must first identify the training needs based on the strategic objectives of the organization. Employee training and development objectives can be classified in to individual objectives, organizational objectives, functional objectives and societal objectives. Question one A training program designed to teach employees good customer service can be translated in to different outcomes. Good customer service entails maintaining communications with both internal customers and attracting external customers. Good customer service will improve customer retention and loyalty to the organizational products and services. Good customer service will improve the sales revenues and profitability of the organization through repeat sales. Good customer service will ensure market share retention thus the organization will reduce the advertising and promotional costs that are incurred in attracting new customers. Good customer service will also reduce the number of customer complains thus improving the reputation and corporate image in the society. Some of the essential customer service skills that employees should be trained include building customer trust, customer courtesy, maintaining positive relationships, controlling customer conversations, calming upset customers, business etiquette, problem solving skills, customer service attitude, listening skills, managing customer expectations and dealing with difficult customers. Other customer service skills that need training include the customer service charter, handling customer complains and customer follow-ups in order to create future selling opportunities. Question two Competency modeling has some similarities and differences with traditional needs assessment technique. Competency modeling entails determining the specific competencies that will lead to high performance and success in an organization. Competencies include the knowledge, skills and behaviors and also some attributes that are required for successful performance of a particular job. Other competencies include the personality, traits, social roles and motives that are essential for the job. On the other hand, traditional needs assessment consists of organizational analysis, task analysis and individual analysis in order to identify the skills gap in the organization. The organizational needs analysis will consider the impacts of changes in technology and changes in the workforce which can impact on the attainment of organizational objectives. Traditional needs assessment will consider the current skills and knowledge of the employees. Competency modeling and traditional needs assessment have certain similarities since the two training needs assessment techniques aim at identifying the skills which are essential in attaining successful work performance. The two methods aim at meeting the staffing needs of the organization through identifying the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are needed in each job position. The two methods aim at motivating employees through new skills training and developing than improving the overall organizational performance. One of the significant differences between competency modeling and traditional needs assessment is that competency modeling extends beyond the boundaries of the job to include organizational vision, mission and strategic objectives in formulating the training needs. Competency modeling utilizes more organizational resources since the models must be validated and the targeted training population is usually large enough to justify the resource expenditure. Competency modeling takes in to account successful exemplars in the job position and competencies that they displayed in the job unlike training needs analysis which focuses on the skills needed to successfully perform the job. Traditional needs assessment objectives are usually short term and not strategic to overall attainment of the vision and mission of the organization, unlike competency modeling training objectives which considers the long-term skills needs of the organization. Traditional needs assessment utilizes secondary data that is available in financial reports, past performance evaluations, and past attitude surveys unlike competency modeling which relies on primary data from interviews, questionnaires and ongoing work efficiency. Question three Allowing a trainer to make errors in raining can be useful during employee training. Errors during training facilitate the learning process since they enable the employee realize the importance of the training. Errors act as a unique learning opportunity since employees can realize the negative effects of the error on job performance. Making the intentional error during train will enable the employees memorize and adequately understand the new skills and how to avoid such job errors in the future. Making the error will enable the trainer assess the creativity of the trainees and assess whether the learning objectives have been met especially if the error is intentionally made at the end of the training session. Such errors can create an atmosphere of trust whereby trainees feel free to ask for more clarifications and provide their own opinions on the learning process. Question four Human capital refers to the knowledge, skills and experiences of employees that are acquired through training and which increase the employee’s value in the marketplace. It includes the health, motivation level, skills and attainments of employees that lead to job satisfaction and fulfillment to the employees. It is all the intellectual capital of human resources as demonstrated by their competencies, creativity and innovativeness and ability to respond to organizational changes in order to facilitate the attainment of organizational strategic objectives. Human capital is influencing the changing role of training from skill and knowledge acquisition to creating and sharing knowledge. Human capital currently facilitates innovation through research and development activities that aim at identifying new processes, systems and technology that can improve work efficiency. Human capitals enable employees in the same organization share knowledge and collaborate with each other through working as a team. Human capital has facilitated role playing and simulation facilitate knowledge sharing by using realistic decision making situations that might occur in the organization. The experienced employee will enable the subordinate understand how he can make a certain decision in real world experiences through role playing and simulation. Audiovisual materials such as films, televisions and computer programmed learning have enabled knowledge transfer to subordinate employees. Coaching is another element of human capital that has enabled knowledge creation and transfer whereby subordinates are coached on how to perform different tasks in their job efficiently. Through mentoring, an ongoing relationship between senior and subordinate employees ensures that guidance is provided on how the organization can achieve its mission and vision through effective training. Case studies and business games also facilitate knowledge creation and sharing in the organization since the trainees will be guided on how to solve numerous problems and attain certain objectives in their work through solving a case study. Question five There are several factors that influence employee performance and learning in the organization. Some of the most important factors include the level of motivation, skills and knowledge, performance feedback, individual job expectations, working environment and management leadership styles. Employees need to be motivated in order to increase their efforts at work. Employees also require the appropriate knowledge and skills in order to meet the set performance targets. Performance appraisals and feedbacks acts as a motivator since employees can understand their work progress. Employees’ learning is also influenced by individual job expectations since employee desire career growth and development through job rotations, more challenging tasks and promotions. The working environment should ensure the healthy and safety of all employees through provision of appropriate working tools and equipment. The management and leadership styles in the organization should support individual employee creativity and innovativeness in order to facilitate individual satisfactory work performance. Some of the least important factors that influence work performance and learning include the financial rewards, rules and procedures in the organization. Financial rewards such as high salaries and wages will not motivate employees to increase their performance since non-monetary rewards such as appreciations are main motivating factors. Implementation of strict rules and procedures in the organization may not increase performance since this may hinder communication and faster decision making among the subordinate employees. Conclusion Employee training and development will motivate employees in attaining the organizational goals. The management should identify the skills gap and develop strategies of training employees on new skills in line with the overall strategic objectives of the organization. Works cited: Noe, Raymond. Employee training and development. London. McGraw-Hill. 2002. Read More