Assessment for Konica Minolta Business Solutions - Coursework Example

Konica Minolta business solutions service training plan Needs assessment for Konica Minolta Business Solutions The contemporary work environment requires workers to be skilled in performing multifaceted tasks in a competent, safe and cost-effective approach. As a performance enhancement tool, training is necessary when employees are not performing as per the expected standards. Discrepancy between the actual level of performance and the expected level connotes the need for training. Apparently, it is counter-productive to offer the wrong kind of training or to offer it to persons who do not need it. Apparently, such a discrepancy is evident in Konica Minolta Business Solutions and the assessment of the training needs can be determined through analysis of the organization goals and objectives. The assessment will help in; Determining problematic areas/departments within Konica Minolta Business Solutions Obtain support from the management Develop data for evaluation Organizational analysis examines the areas where training is required and the explicit conditions under which the training will be conducted (Altschuld & Kumar, 2010). It will identify abilities, skills, and knowledge that employees will need for the future in order to meet the organization’s goal of providing substantial services to its loyal customers while helping health care, legal, and educational customers to embrace rapid information movement, reduce costs, improve quality, and enhance security. HR data will be analyzed to indicate areas where introduction of training will boost performance. Tagged among these are departments with high absenteeism rates, high turnover, and poor performance (Noe, 2010). Changes in automation, technology or equipment will also need to be identified. After a thorough analysis, appropriate training will be developed. Moreover, the management will need to offer the required financial support in order to ensure the success of the assessment. Moreover, customer complaints and employee grievances will also be considered in order to effectively cover the needs of the organization. Factors to be considered include labor pool, future skills need, and alterations in laws and conventions (Hawthorne, 2007). Individual analysis will target the employees of Konica Minolta Business Solutions and how they perform. Employees will be reviewed to reveal any deficiencies that will aid in the formulation of an effective and efficient training plan. Additionally, employees will also be interviewed (both casual and casual), surveyed, or tested to ascertain their training needs. Employees will be at liberty to indicate the various problems that they have and recommend possible solutions to the problems. Task study will begin with a comparison of employees’ knowledge and skills to the job descriptions in an effort to establish training needs (Noe, 2010). An examination of job specifications and descriptions will provide information required to ascertain their performance and the skills that they require to accomplish their duties/tasks. Any gap between job descriptions and performance will imply a need for task training. Moreover, the best skills required to perform the tasks will be identified and employees advised on how and/or where to obtain them. Employee participation and involvement is a key factor that must be embraced (Altschuld & Kumar, 2010). Results of assessment: Working with the management, the training manager will prioritize the training needs based on the resources available, the number of employees that needs to be trained, and the urgency of the problem. For instance, the assessment identified that; 1. Employees perform dismally due to a mismatch between the job descriptions and their skills, knowledge, and experience. 2. Most employees perform tasks that are overly demanding as they strive to meet the goals and objectives of the organization. 3. Employees are not updated with the latest trends and emerging issues in the field of marketing and business management. For instance, they are ethically flabby to meet the needs and expectations of the customers (Lawrence & Weber, 2013). The 3 levels of analysis interrelated and the collected data is critical to a thorough and effective assessment. The training manager will, therefore, be best informed to develop the instructional objectives for training. Training strategy and design Formulation and implementation of an effective training program is a major step towards resolving the employee issues faced by Konica Minolta Business Solutions. To eliminate the gap between job descriptions and the skills and experience possessed by employees a 6 months training program will be implemented. The employees will be placed into different categories depending on their deficiencies and/or strengths. Importantly, the selected programs will have to fit the specific needs, goals and objectives of Konica Minolta Business Solutions. Job shadowing: The initial stage of the program will be to instruct all the newly employed personnel (with less than one month in the company) follow the other employees in order to learn all aspects of their job (Hawthorne, 2007). This is a painless and cost-effective way of covering the gap as it can simply be taken as part of the induction process. The employees will also be given guidance on how to strategize in the job and improve performance. Mentoring: It involves the unceremonious transition of understanding and social capital with physical meetings embolden by telephone communications and emails. An external mentor from well-established organizations that specialize on consultancy services will be hired to help in the process (Lawrence & Weber, 2013). Moreover, senior employees who are critical for the success of the organization will be encouraged to mentor the young and/or less experienced employees. The mentee will be at a better position to discuss with the mentor (since they will be more free with them) the various problems they are facing in the job as well as the required changes. Conferences and workshops: Imperatively, the professional trainers will be hired to guide the employees through the 6 months training programs. In the conferences and workshops, the employees will improve the knowledge and understanding of their jobs, gain a proper comprehension of the contemporary customers, and become updated with current issues and emerging trends in the world of service delivery (Noe, 2010). They will also be acquainted with the goals and objectives of the organization as well as learn on how to align their personal goals and objectives to be in line with those of Konica Minolta Business Solutions. Rewards: Konica Minolta Business Solutions will strive to offer fringe benefits to employees who exhibit exemplary performance. Such rewards include promotions and regular leaves. In so doing, the employees who had some deficiencies will strive to acquire the necessary skills on their own thus saving the organization the cost of training. Cost-benefit analysis (ROI) Return on investment is an evaluation on the return of the training service on investment. The return on investment will be calculated as follows: The service training cost for the period was $ 20000 The cost of training staff and other facilities was $ 4000 in total The opportunity cost during the training was 20% (20/100*20000 = 4000 The sales increased from $ 1400000 to $1500000 this is an increase of $100000 From the analysis, the gains at each financial year is $300000 (long plan gains) The return on investment is calculated as long-term gains / cost Total cost= $ (20000+4000+2000) Long-term gains= 300000 ROI = (3500/28000)* 100 = 12.5% this shows how effective the training program will have to return on investment (Phillips, 2013). Evaluation of the training plan Behavior application: This the method use to seek a change in the skills and expertise applied to the servicing the customers. The organization will tell if the trainees apply their new knowledge in serving the customers. The organization will also record the sales made before training, record them, and compare with the sales after training. If there will be an increase then the training will have been successful. The satisfaction and participation reactions of the trainees: this is a vital method of evaluating the successfulness of training service. The trainer is required to carry out an assessment at the end of the service to know whether the trainees got the training right. The satisfaction level one should look at would be: Did the trainees enjoy the training? Did the trainees like the trainers? How they would wish to recommend to the training service. Do the trainees felt that the training was relevant to their course work? Would trainees want the training back? If yes then how soon? If the above questions are answered according to the predetermined expectations, then the training will be successfully be completed. The general measurable business service improvement: the main goal of each training service is to have a positive impact on the business, for instance, an increase in then total sales of the business, to have a good customer relationship, to offer quality services and to maximize the profits of the business. The organization is, therefore, expected to keenly look at the fundamental aspects of the business (Hawthorne, 2007). The organization should monitor the following. The increase in total sales revenue: This will be determined by calculating the sales revenue prior to training and sales revenue after the training service. A decrease in the cancellation of appointments in the organization: This is due to increase in relevant knowledge in the service delivery. If the cancellation number reduces, it will indicate an effective training. Acquisition of knowledge by the trainees: this the method of evaluation of the knowledge acquired by the trainees. The organization will have to provide the some exam questions to know whether the trainees gained the knowledge and skills or not (Baker, 2007). This will tell the content gained by trainees too. The exams will tell what specific knowledge the trainees develop. A quality service examination for instance, asks questions like: What specific skills and knowledge does one require to qualify to be a customer service provider? What is the main objective of providing a quality service to customers? What makes a customer be loyal to an organizations products and services? The organization trainers will mark the questions and grade their responses. If the results meet the organization threshold, that is average and above, then the training will be successful. References Altschuld, J., & Kumar, D. (2010). Needs Assessment: An Overview. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications. Baker, H. (2007). Employee Training. Chandni Chowk, Delhi: Global Media. Hawthorne, E. (2007). Evaluating Employee Training Programs: A Research-Based Guide for Human Resources Managers. New York: Quorum Books. Lawrence, A., & Weber, J. (2013). Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Noe, R. (2010). Employee Training and Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Phillips, J. (2003). Return on Investment in Training and Performance Improvement Programs. Amsterdam [u.a.: Butterworth-Heinemann. Read More