Identifying and Assessing Training Needs, Designing Learning and Development Program - Coursework Example

Learning and Development Name: Course: College: Tutor: Date: Introduction Many of the business organizations nowadays carry out employees’ training programs in order to maintain or even enhance their competitiveness in the market. Business environment keep changing thus training of employees is inevitable for a business organization to maintain its competitive advantage. Training of sales employees is one of the learning and development need which need to be carried out often to boost sales volume of an organization. Sales representatives or employees of an organization play a major role in ensuring that the sales target are met. Identifying and assessing the training need within an organization is one of the major challenges for managers. Moreover, the managers of an organization are required to design learning and development programs in order to make the training process effective. In order to ensure that the training program is successful, some of the critical factors such as availability of resources need to be considered. However, there are other training programs such as e-learning which can be utilized to make the sales training program successful. Learning and developing within an organization is appropriate method for organizations to maintain or enhance their competitiveness. Identifying and Assessing Training Needs Identifying and assessing the need for sales training is one of the fundamental aspects in ensuring that organization remains competitive. Identifying the training needs of sales employees is sometimes a simple while in other time it can be more involving thus taking a lot of time to identify training needs. Assessing the performance of sales employees within a certain period of time enables managers to identify training needs for sales employees. If the sales employees are not performing to the expected standard, the management team needs to analyze the task and skills needed to determine whether training is necessary. The managers or training coordinators need to identify suitable training which would effectively close the gap between the prevailing skills level and the skills needed to attain standard needed (Training and Assessing). Managers of an organization can rely on various signals to identify and assess training needs for the sales employees. One of the signals which can enable managers to identify the need for training of sales personnel is the decrease of quality of services provided by the sales employees. If the company receives many complaints from customers concerning sales employees, it is evident that the quality of services provided by sales employees has declined and need to be enhanced through establishment and implementation of an effective training program. Failure to meet sales target is another signal indicating need for training of sales employees (Tuomo 282). Customers will usually shun from purchasing products of companies whose sales employees do not provide effective services. Comparison of the sales volume budgeted and sales volume attained will indicate the need for sales employees training. However, other environmental factors such as competition, economic, socio-cultural among others need to be considered while comparing the budgeted sales volume and actual sales volume within a certain period of time (Training and Assessing). Rate of complaints from members of staffs concerning sales employees can also be used to identify need for training. Sales employees need to relate with other employees in the most effective manner to avoid inter-departmental conflicts. Increase in inter-departmental conflicts is an indication that effective training is needed for sales employees so as to maintain or even maintains the productivity of the organization in question. In a business organization, all departments are interrelated thus they need to work together to boost the performance of the organization as a whole. Departments within an organization should not compete with one another but they need to work together to attain the common organizational goal. As a result, failure to inform sales employees concerning this fact may lead to conflicts among departments thus deteriorating the production of an organization. Besides, increased conflicts among sales employees is an indication that effective training program need to be established and implemented. Sales employees need to be trained on how to interact with their fellow employees in order to prevent conflicts within the department. Moreover, the employees need to be trained concerning effective ways of solving conflicts (Training and Assessing). Designing Learning and Development Program Designing a learning and development program is usually undertaken effectively when a precise training objective has been established. The training objective indicates the goals to be achieved by the organization at the end of the training program. The training objectives shows what the trainees are expected to do after the end of the training program and its impact on the performance or reputation of the business organization. In other words, training objectives play a major role in learning and development program design (Tuomo 282). First of all, in order to come up with effective learning and development program, the trainer and the trainee must be identified. In this case, the trainees are sales employees. The management of the company must ensure that the trainer has the necessary qualifications regarding technical, judgmental and interpersonal skills to carry out the training process effectively (Compare Infobase). Moreover, for good training learning and development program design to be attained, close scrutiny of the trainees and their profiles need to be carried out. Factors which affect training design such as experience, age and needs of trainees need to be put into consideration in order to come up with the most effective learning and development design. Besides, the training climate needs to be made suitable during the designing process. An effective training climate involves tone, feelings and positive perception for the learning and development program. In this regard, the management team of an organization needs to ensure that the environment is conducive for training program. The trainees as well as the trainers need to be informed and their consent attained before implementing the training program. Moreover, all facilities required for the training program need to be provided before commencement of the learning and development program (Compare Infobase). The trainer is also required to translate the training program objective into specific training modules and areas. The trainer is expected to prepare the list of all aspects which must be included in the learning and development program. The trainer or managers in charge are required to classify all topics and modules into knowledge, information, attitude and skills. Training tactics are then identified by the trainers or managers. However, the training tactics depends on various factors such as time allocated, training background, style preferences of trainer and availability of training facilities and resources among others. In this case, classroom training is the major tactic of learning and development. Besides, it is upon the trainers in collaboration with managers to provide training support facilities such as printed, audio, or visual information. For instance in classroom training program, facilities such as flip charts, white boards and markers a re required. Besides, the managers or trainers need to come up with effective strategies to address constraints which may prevent the success of learning and development program. Some of these constraints include time, accommodation and financial resources (Compare Infobase). Successful Implementation of Training Program By continuously training and developing sales employees, an organization is in a position to acquire the core competencies required for flexibility and competitive advantage. However, for effective learning and development program for sales employees to be effective, various factors need to be considered. To start with, the training program needs to be strategy driven. In other words, the training program must be aligned with the organizational goals. The training and development program should yield good business results for it to be effective. As a result, only issues or aspects which add value to the organization should be focused on during the training session. Moreover, the training group or managers need to develop an effective training plan for the sales employees which should be deployed after CEO approval. The training plan should consider factors such as time, cost and employees’ preferences for it to be effective (Mala). Besides, effective methodology needs to be selected for the training program in order for the implementation of the training program to be successful. There are various training programs which can be used to enhance the capability of sales employees. These methodologies include e-learning, computer based training, classroom based training, mobile learning and continuous education programs in reputed institutions. However, in this case classroom based training program is the methodology used in training sales employees. Though classroom based training is the oldest method, it is one of the best method for training sales employees (Tom 12). Classroom based training allows the trainees to interact freely with the trainers thus enhancing the speed and effectiveness of learning process. In addition, for the classroom based training to be effective, sales employees should be motivated to identify their own needs to establish individual learning plans and to search for learning opportunities. This will enhance the motivation of employees during training process (Mala). Effective communication of the training program is of great importance since all individuals involved should be psychologically, physically and financially prepared. For instance, top management team need to be communicated effectively concerning the resources required for the program to be successful. Moreover, sales employees need to be informed effectively so as to plan their duties in the most effective manner. Moreover, effective budgeting of the whole program should be carried out to avoid disruption of the program due to lack of funds or adequate time. The chief financial officer needs to be involved in planning process of the program in order to guide the planners in cost minimization. Moreover, the chief financial officer should assure the planning committee concerning the availability of adequate funds to carry out the training program effectively (Mala). Effective Evaluation of Learning and Development Program It is important to evaluate the performance of the learning and development program after a certain period of time in order to identify its effectiveness as well as weaknesses prevailing. In this regard, the organization is in a position to identify and close loopholes on the training program thus making it effective in the long-run. There are various methods for evaluating the performance of learning and development program. However, Donald Kirkpatrick established a four-level model of evaluating learning and development programs within an organization. These levels include reaction, learning, behavior and results (Mulvie). In reaction level, the thought of trainees concerning classroom based training method should be assessed in order to know the effectiveness of the learning and development program. In this case, a questionnaire is usually used to collect the opinions of the trainees. Moreover, face to face interviews can also be utilized to gather the information needed. In level two, the learning principles, skills, facts and attitudes are measured. These actual elements are compared with specified training objectives and any negative variances noted for correction purposes. In the third level, behavior, this involves measuring aspects of task performance which are related to the objectives of the training. For instance, the training program needs to improve the motivation of employees. Moreover, conflicts between individuals and departments need to be minimized after the training program. Failure to meet the objectives is an indication of failure of the training program which needs to be revised. Lastly, results of the training program can be utilized to evaluate the performance of the learning and developing program for the sales employees. Increase in sales volume is an indication that the program was effective and vice versa. Besides, decrease on the number of customers’ complaints is an indication of an effective training program and vice versa (Mulvie). Merits of Using Non-Classroom Based Program There are various learning and development methods which can be utilized by an organization to attain its goals of adding value to the organization. E-learning is one of the training methods which can be utilized by the organization to impact knowledge and skills to its sales employees. It is evident that e-learning has some advantages over classroom based trained thus it is some times preferable. To start with, e-learning allows employees of an organization to attain high quality training at a lower or reasonable cost. This can be supported by the fact that trainers of the highest caliber can be in a position to share their knowledge within a large region even across borders thus enabling trainees to attend courses across political, physical and economic boundaries. In this regard, the sales employees are likely to acquire quality training which will boost their output (Forman 78). Besides, e-learning is advantageous due to its convenience and flexibility to trainees. Bearing in mind that e-learning is self spaced and learning session are available all the time, trainees are in a position to program effectively. In this regard, normal task of sales employees will not be disrupted by the training sessions (Greg 36). In addition, e-learning reduces environmental impact thus posing high merit to the organization and the society as a whole. It minimizes the traveling of trainees thus reducing carbon output. Besides, e-learning takes place in a virtual environment it reduces paper usage thus saving trees. In this regard, e-learning is environment friendly as compared to classroom based training program (Forman 81). Cost Benefit Analysis Various studies have shown that the cost of e-learning program is much higher than classroom based training program. However, this is usually most applicable in a small scale business organization with few employees. Where a company wants to reach many employees, the cost per person is relatively in e-learning as compared to classroom based program. However, in this case where the company intends to train sales employees only classroom based training method will be less costly. Nevertheless, e-learning posses various benefits such as increased quality of training, minimization of travel cost, minimizing time away from work among others. However, it is evident that e-learning will posse benefits than costs when an organization intends to train a large number of employees. In this case, the organization intends to train only its sales employees to boost sales volume. As a result, classroom based training program remains to be the less costly and more beneficial training method (Robinson, Dana & James Robinson 102). Works Cited Compare Infobase. Training Design. 2007. 1 May 2009. . Fiedler, Felix. A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967. Forman, David. “An ROI Model for Multimedia Programs”.Multimedia Today 2.3(1994): 15-49 Greg, David. “Portfolio: A Learning and Development”. Chief Learning Officer 8.5(2009): 34-39. Mala. Effective Learning and Development Programs-Best Practices. 1997. 11 May 2009. . Mulvie, Angela. The Evaluation of Learning and Development. 2007. 11 May 2009. . Robinson, Dana & James Robinson. Training for Impact. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1989. . Tom, Jones. “The Learning Curve-Implementing Training in the Workplace.” Business Journal Serving Fresno 322.91(2000): 11-13. Training and Assessing Workbook. 20 January 2009. 11 May 2009. . Tuomo, Alasoini. “The New Finnish Workplace Development Programme as an Approach to Innovation.” Concepts & Transformation 9.3(2004): 279-295. Read More