The Value and Importance of Training - Essay Example

?The Value and Importance of Training Wal-Mart, started in 1962 as a family-owned discount store, has transformed the retail industry. It is the largest retailer in the world and its sales is larger than the combined sales of three retailers – Carrefour, Home Depot and Metro. As of January 2012, Wal-Mart has a total of 447 stores which includes supercenters, discount stores and supermarkets (Wal-Mart, 2012). Wal-Mart serves customers more than 200 million times per week through 10,000 retail units spread globally in 27 different countries. They employ 2.2 million associates worldwide. With their ‘Every Day Low Cost’ strategy Wal-Mart has been able to become leaders in the retail sector. The company recognizes the contribution of its associates (Wal-Mart refers to its employees as associates) in the success of the company. The company since beginning believed in ‘bringing people up through the ranks’ (MMR, 2012). Associates that were keen to further their careers at Wal-Mart are regarded as potential management trainees. To support this, Wal-Mart had a well-established management training program and in the 1980s an increasing number of associated enrolled for the accelerated store management candidate program. Growth of Wal-Mart was so rapid that they had to go in for college recruitments in addition to its internal management identification and training program. Wal-Mart also has a reputation of high turnover of staff, which suggests that they need to motivate the staff to reduce attrition. However, associates need to have the knowledge and skills to serve, support and sell within their division (Wal-Mart, 2007). It is thus essential that associate learning is aligned to the business strategy of Wal-Mart. Training, for associates at Wal-Mart has to be specific to their area of responsibility. At the same time it must also prepare them for growth within the organization. Wal-Mart continually updates training and development programs and they adopted computer-based learning. However this has not been sufficient to motivate the associate to grow within the company. Wal-Mart needs to employ more effective training programs that could motivate and enhance performance of their associates. Training is fundamental in transforming the workforce but the training must start from the top and cascade down to the lower levels (Vermeulen & Crous, 2000). The best results are obtained when managers train their own people. However, for training to be effective it must be planned in a systematic manner. Training has to be ongoing not merely to meet the changes in technology but it also has to be relevant to the business environment in which the organization operates. In addition, training must be able to meet the future needs of the organization and should be organization-specific. Today it is no more sufficient to align training with the business strategy, especially as organizations employ young graduates. They need to fulfill graduate expectations as well (Connor & Shaw, 2008). Therefore, there has to be a shift from computer-based coaching. The efficacy of structured class-room coaching is debatable even if it is computer-based. Technology provides for alternate solutions including long-distance and e-learning approaches. The traditional programs curb creativity and do not encourage risk-taking (Cron et al, 2005). While technology is increasingly being adopted in training and development programs, it is necessary that such training is ongoing (Byers, 2005). Constant change in technology requires life-long learning. Change is inevitable in any business environment. Online training offers the flexibility and capacity to update the training instantly. This is not only a necessity as rapid change takes place in the business environment but it also adds to learner satisfaction. This enables the mature learners to avail of the training sessions at their convenience. Coaching activity in companies is declining which indicates that expected business benefits have not been achieved through coaching of staff (Premberton, 2007). Informal training has been found to be more powerful than formal training events. In informal training, managers have a significant role to play. People learn best with and through others, according to Premberton (2007). Informal training includes on-the-job training and mentoring. If line managers are asked to mentor their subordinates, learning and commitment of staff is enhanced. When the subordinates receive personal attention, they feel motivated to give their best which results in enhanced performance. The retail sector requires team work as each business function comprises of teams at all levels. A team comprises of two or more individuals who work towards a common goal and are dependent on each other (Cannon-Bowers & Salas, 1998). Cross-training is an essential part of team training in which team members rotate position which helps them develop an understanding of different functions within the organization. It also enables the team members to understand how each team member’s role is important. Cross-trained teams perform better than teams without such training. Cross-trained teams develop efficient communication strategies. Thus, to fit the new paradigm trainers are faced with challenges as they can choose from technology-based training, on-the-job training, mentoring and cross-training. All of these are essential in the retail sector which has seen exponential growth. The retail sector has an image of high staff turnover, employs a large number of part-time workers, and has a poor image as a career destination for talented staff (Hart, Stachow, Farrell and Reed 2007). Wal-Mart too has a negative image because of the high labor turnover. However, Wal-Mart has always been an early adopter of technology in all its operations. To sustain competition, Wal-Mart has to focus on the development of new employee skills. The youth are attracted to organizations that offer them career growth. Therefore, the first step is to identify the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) gap. This has to be followed by trainee analysis because the training would depend on user’s comfort level with technology, his job role, his vocabulary level and preferences (Byers, 2005). If the trainees are not comfortable with e-learning, some pre-training interventions may be necessary to make him feel comfortable. The role of the supervisor is essential here as he can observe trainee resistance, if any and help overcome the resistance. Training needs have also to be identified at the organization level as it should match the organizational objectives (Leat & Lovell, 1997). Changes required in performance standards would reveal the changes necessary in training. Wal-Mart should assign mentors and change their strategy from classroom coaching to ‘on the job’ learning. Thus, when the associates are allotted mentors the learning would also enhance performance. This can be called individual coaching and this serves to motivate the employees, which in turn helps in retaining them within the organization. However, since training has to start at the top level, it is first essential to train the managers or the executives that would be assigned the role of a mentor. This is necessary because it has been found that those designated for the training roles have not been sufficiently supported to perform the role effectively (Pemberton, 2007). Employees are unable to achieve the desired level of performance when they are not motivated enough to give their best at work. The youth in this generation come with certain expectations, want definite job roles and like to work in teams. Employee recognition has a positive and immediate impact on employee morale leading to enhanced performance. The role of a mentor would thus serve to enhance employee morale through improved communication. On-going training is essential because training should build on what is already known. Existing strengths have to be developed to improve the quality of their work. This not only enhances performance, it also motivates the trainee when he knows he has been able to make a positive contribution to the organization. The youth like to work in teams and hence cross-training would help Wal-Mart to enhance performance. In the retail sector absenteeism is high due to high level of stress. In such circumstances cross-training would enable other members of the team to perform the function. Cross-training has other advantages as the employee receives wide-ranging job experience which not only provides greater flexibility but also enhances career opportunities (Gomez, Lorente & Cabrera, 2004). Employee commitment towards the organization is enhanced and when he is motivated, performance improves. It also contributes to knowledge retention within the organization. Thus, while Wal-Mart is ahead of its competitors in adoption of technology, they need to modify their training strategy. It is essential to align the training strategy with business objectives but the situation now demands that the trainee needs to have to be identified. Wal-Mart mostly employs the youth and the youth come with certain expectations of their job roles as well as of their career growth. The training program at Wal-Mart should be technology-based and devised keeping in mind the organizational objectives as well as the employee objectives and needs. However, to achieve the best results, training programs should start at the top level because unless the managers or mentors are trained, the subordinates cannot be trained effectively. Cross-training in the retail environment is another strategy that enhances employee motivation. All these types of training together would enhance employee commitment and thereby performance. Wal-Mart has to think beyond class-room and formal coaching methods and employ such strategies that would appeal to the youth. References Byers, C. (2005). Multi-level alignment model: transforming face-to-face into e-instructional programs. The Journal of Workplace Learning, 17 (5/6), 346-358 Cannon-Bowers, J. A., & Salas, E., (1998). Team performance and training in Complex Environments: Recent findings from Applied Research, American Psychological Society, 7, 83-88 Connor, H., & Shaw, S. (2008). Graduate training and development: current trends and issues. Education + Training, 50 (5), 357-365 Cron, W.L., Marshall, G.W., Singh, J., Spiro, R.L., & Sujan, H. (2005). SALESPERSON SELECTION, TRAINING, AND DEVELOPMENT: TRENDS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 25 (2), 123-136 Gomez, P. L., Lorente, J. J., C., & Cabrera, R. V. (2004). Training practices and organisational learning capability. Journal of European Industrial Training, 28 (2/3/4), 234-256 Hart, C., Stachow, G.B., Farrell, A.M., & Reed, G. (2007). Employer perceptions of skills gaps in retail: issues and implications for UK retailers. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 35 (4), 271-288 Leat, M. J., & Lovell, M. J. (1997). Training needs analysis: weaknesses in the conventional approach. Journal of European Industrial Training, 21 (4), 143–153 MMR. (July 23, 2012). Workforce Embraces Retailer's Objectives. 29 (11), 75-75 Pemberton, C. (2007). Maintaining coaching activity means increasing coaching capability. Latest trends in learning, training and development, Retrieved November 2, 2012, from http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B9EF8122-5072-453F-9CCE-85498E3F6313/0/lattrnlrndevr.pdf Wal-Mart. (2012). Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Data Sheet - Worldwide Unit Details January 2012. Retrieved from: http://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2012/02/22/wal-mart-stores- inc-data-sheet-worldwide-unit-details-january-2012 Wal-Mart. (2007). Training and Development. Retrieved from: http://www.walmartstores.com/sites/sustainabilityreport/2007/associatesTraining.html Vermeulen, W., & Crous, M.J. (2000). Training and education for TQM in the commercial banking industry. Managing Service Quality, 10 (1), 61-67 Read More