International Training and Development - Coursework Example

Running Header: International Training and Development Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction World over, discussions about the relative importance of human resource to the organization has been raging. Perhaps this because of the position it holds in the organizational development and overall performance. It’s generally accepted by many scholars and researchers that proper utilization of human resources in an organization, can greatly help enhance the company’s competitive advantage at market place. In particular, organizational success is as a result of the company’s capability to work with speed, agility and capacity to learn as well as employee competence in their areas of work. However, according to some of the researchers such as Armstrong and Mitchell (2008), Chand and Katou (2007) and Tobin and Pettingell (2008), the way to achieve organizational capabilities is what has remained a big challenge. Many of the researchers are of the view that as long as organizations continue to follow traditional methods of training, especially in the global market, will not help them achieve much in terms of competition and overall performance. The challenge in enhancing organizational capability is also likely to be more complex with the new world economy where technology has come into and that workforce is expected to have special skills that are compatible with the new era of doing business (Sparrow 2012, pp. 2404). Provided such background, ‘new-born’ human resource as may be regarded, training and development theories and practices have put forward with the aim of offering solution to the underlying human resource challenges. In brief, this article is interested in providing a critical evaluation of the concept, ‘international training and development,’ and further try to establish the existing gaps between different theories and practices in human resources. Definition of terms Training: From a managerial context training is used to refer to the learning experience one undergoes that helps bring about relatively permanent change in the way one perceives and does different activities. This is particularly important when one wants to create change in the way employees do their work. Training involves change of skills, knowledge enhancement, change of attitudes and social behaviors. Further, training from the human resource perspective, is used to change what the employees think, know and they way they work as well as the way they interact among themselves and with their seniors. According to Gary Dessler (2009), training refers to the process of providing new or existing staff skills that are needed in carrying their functions. On the other hand, Terry Leap and Crino (2001), see training as a process of creating a new environment where employees acquire, learn or develop job related behaviors, enhance their knowledge and skills as well as attitudes towards their work. Development: Unlike training, development is more of future oriented and is more concerned with employee education rather than training. The objective of employee development is to enable one to become a better performer in his work. Through education, the human resource management will be seeking to instill those activities that will allow for sound reasoning in order to enhance their capabilities in understanding and interpreting knowledge. Development therefore is more focused on personal growth. According to Jhonson and Sorcher (2008), in a systematic manner, development focuses on building knowledge base, basic skills and interpersonal skills as well as technical skills in readiness for managerial tasks. On the other hand, Budhiraja (2009), development refers to any other activity that is designed to improve the performance of the existing managers and it helps in providing a continuous growth for all managers in readiness for future organizational requirements (Andy 2007, pp 9). Training and development: In general terms, training and development refers to the process of imparting new skills, knowledge and abilities to an employee. Training and development can therefore be described as any attempt by an organization to improve either the current or future capabilities in performing certain skills through the process of learning. Usually, training and development helps change employees’ attitudes and at the same enhance their skills and level of knowledge. In an organizational context, training and development, is the process of transforming information and knowledge to the company workers which can be translated into the overall performance of the company growth as well as productivity and quality and enhancement (Andy 2007, pp 1). Human Resource Development is seen is seen as a bundle of theories that were originally developed as part of the human resource strategy to make good use of the available capabilities and skills to realize the company objectives. Comparing the traditional training methods with the current human resource development (HRD), its evident that the current methods of training and development integrates the company mission and goals, the support from the top management, commitment and involvement of line managers, existence of supplementary HRM activities, culture recognition, and emphasis on evaluation of performance. Training and development in the global arena is increasingly become more important because of the complexity of environment that organizations get subjected into (Arthur and Boyles 2007, pp. 77). For instance, competition and emergence of new technology supported with modern methods of communication and interaction has necessitated for the need for training and development of employees. The literature that has been developed by different researchers has sought to determine some of the important reasons that have necessitated for training and development of employees especially in those organizations that have global outlook. Even though different scholars have embarked on studying this concept in detail, a number of similarities and differences have been exhibited. First and foremost, many of the scholars concur that training and development is a very important human resource strategy that can help an organization achieve a competitive advantage in the global market according to Holland (2007, pp. 2347). On the other hand, research has not been done across the globe to study the overall impact of organizational training and development. This has made it difficult to single out the very specific factors that trigger training and development. The literature and research that has been done pay attention for example to single companies either from one region or country and therefore do not reflect the whole picture of employee training and developments. This is perhaps studies are sponsored by specific organizations to study into specific elements of training and development and therefore much of the conclusion is based on the assumptions that training and development of employees applies across the board irrespective of the industry or region. However, as matter of fact, it looks like that organizations operating in the hospitality industry have taken training and development more seriously as opposed to their counterparts in other industries. This is perhaps because of the complexity of doing business in the industry, the nature of the business itself, the existing competition and the ever changing demands of the customers (Hodgkinson et al 2009, pp. 277). The research that has been carried out on employee training and development so far has failed to provide empirical evidence on the relative importance of training and development from the organizational context. Further research has failed to provide concrete and supported evidence on how training and development programs can fully be implemented. This has raised the concern on the need to carry out more research to support and monitor training and development activities. Extensive research has been done on training and development of employees both in local and international and across almost all industries. However, more research has been done in the hospitality industry. For instance, research on the hospitality industry in China has been fertile ground for attention. This follows the ‘Open Door’ policy of 1978 which has seen the tourism and hospitality industry in china experience stead and remarkable changes. As a matter of fact the Chinese hospitality and hotel industry has been receiving massive investment from the government. This to help the both hospitality and hotel industry develop and reach the international standards. These were the findings of Yu Wang study in 2006 in the state of training and development of employees in the hospitality and hotel industry in China. According to Nolan (2002), is of the view that a very well-trained and highly motivated workforce is very critical in the hospitality industry and any service industry. However, this is disputed if the service industry continues to remain labour-intensive. In the contemporary global economy, training and developed of employees and more especially in the service sector has been encouraged following the need to have highly qualified and experienced workforce in providing standard services to the customers. I believe that given the turbulence in the global economy and market environments, development of human resource has been very critical as many organizations seek to achieve competitive advantage. According to the study on the Chinese hotel and hospitality industry, the government is totally aware of uplifting the industry by investing more funds to the sector as demonstrated by Godard (2004, pp. 341). The government is especially interested in developing the hotels in order to meet the international standards. This follows the government‘s awareness that tourism is directly related to the service sector and the hotel industry and the way business is handled greatly influence the country’s overall performance of the economy. Given the government of China’s interest in the hospitality industry, it’s evident enough to demonstrate how training and development of employees is perceived. It’s seen as a strategy to improving service delivery by many institutions. It is factual that since the government of china had taken this bold step, has managed to record a remarkable growth in its economy and the general performance of the tourism industry in the last three decades. Based on the China’s trend I think that many organizations have come to dislodge some of the beliefs that training and development of employees is a very expensive move for the organization and now appreciate the fact that management should be market-oriented rather than remaining on the old traditions where everything is viewed from the cost perspective rather than the customer (Fleetwood and Hesketh 2008, pp. 237). This will greatly help deal with threats that arise as a result of competition and existence of new technology. For instance the Marriott Hotels has come with an extensive program that ensures that everybody is competitive in his area of operation. At Marriot, training and development starts with the orientation program which is used to take the new staff through different aspects of the company as a start point and as one way of ensuring that is able fit into the company context as soon as possible. Further, at Marriot, ‘international hourly training’, allows for 15 minutes of training of employees each day on matters related to international service delivery (Fleetwood and Hesketh 2008, pp. 237). More emphasis is put on essential skills and knowledge related to culinary, management of rooms and buying. These are considered very critical in providing quality services to the customer. In addition, the gateway training program is hourly non-management training is planned in providing certain skills in certain positions. The teams allowed to participate in this kind of training include: HR, finance, sales, IT and loss prevention teams. In general, it has been found out that training at Marriot is very elaborate and it covers all areas, all departments and all employees (HMA Administrator 2010). The objective of this training is to continue making positive impact in the industry and at the same time sustain its competitive advantage. Training at Marriot is aimed at finding new solutions to customer service delivery and at the same time help in understanding and strategizing in employee development. Further, research has shown that there are some countries which have not taken employee training and development and more seriously. One such good example is Australia. There is very strong belief that Australia is not a good performer and more especially when it comes into international standards. Perhaps this is because, the policy has failed to enact polices that adequately address the issue of employee training and development. Following lack of government initiatives, the country’s investors are not investing enough in training and development. It’s argued that under training and development of employees is likely to compromise the country’s image in the global market in terms of its ability to offer quality and standard goods and services. The base for this argument is founded on the successful studies that have been carried out in the country about employee training and develop and some international comparative data. This argument has also been supported by the findings of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABC) report of 2001 which had revealed under-budgeting for training and development for many companies. However, because of the global competition, training and development is now seen by the federal government as something inevitable. In response therefore, the government has continued to encourage the countries’ companies and organizations to take training and development more seriously as a step to attaining competitive advantage in the global market. Workplace change is seen as the key driver for training and development of employees. According to Richter et al (2011, pp. 2749), there is very strong connection between employee training and organizational training. I think this is because; training gives opportunity to the workforce to nurture and sharpen their skills which are deemed appropriate in bringing about the desired change in an organization. However, research has shown that employee training is more of personal initiative than an organization’s. This move has prompted the institutions and organizations to change their approach to modern training after realizing that employees do enroll for similar training courses and thus denying the companies the opportunity to access to a variety of skills. When training and development of employees is an initiative by the employer, it’s always easy to diversify the available skills and capabilities which are suitable for the overall growth and development of the organization. However, research has revealed worrying trends whereby the employers tend to influence the training needs of the employees based on the company requirements. This has continued to cause a lot of concern on the best strategy for implementing training and development in organizations. This is because conflict as seen as something inevitable as employees have totally different training from those of their employers (Boudreau and Ramstad 2007, pp. 50). Even though training and development share a multitude of similarities some differences are very eminent in the two organizational concepts. Development is seen as a long-term process aimed at eliciting total change in the company. Development takes very long time to implement and its results are not immediate. On the other hand, training is relatively short-term and its focus is on an individual (Sheehan and Sparrow 2012, pp. 2398). This is to mean that training is used to generate immediate returns to the investment. While training is seen as a function of organizational development, training alone cannot be a final outcome. Otherwise training is perceived by men as an organizational development intervention to cause change. Research has also shown that the other fundamental difference that exists between training and development is based on their structures. While development being a process that involves all aspects of the organisation’s life-cycle, its growth and its general decline, training concept is just one subset on which the company relies on in executing organizational development as illustrated by Chung et al 2012, pp. 2333). Even though extensive research has been done training and development there are several underlying challenges on the validity and credibility of the findings. First and foremost, the process of study has not provided empirical evidences to support the findings and how training of employees help bring about the desired organizational change (Boudreau and Ramstad 2007, pp. 47). Much of the existing theories about training and development are all based on existing data from government records or company sources which their credibility cannot be ascertained. In the process of carrying out research, it’s always possible to find eras of judgment. With this regard therefore, the research has not satisfactorily convinced the readers on the best ways in which training programs can be developed and implemented. Even though the purpose of research on this topic is to inform the management of various organizations on the various parameters of training and development, the research has failed to substantiate relative importance of training and development by providing a case where the performance of an organization has improved because of the training programs enacted (Sheehan and Sparrow 2012, pp. 2393). The other weakness associated with this literature is based on assumption that the prevailing demands for training and development are all the same across the board and in all industries even we have seen in that training and development is taken more seriously in the hospitality and the hotel industry than any other sector. However, this research has opened up the route to further research on the two organizational concepts. This is particularly important future researchers who wish to establish more underlying issues of training and development. Conclusion The purpose of this article was to take a critical evaluation of international training and development based on the available literatures. From the review, it has been established that training and development are two closely interrelated concepts. This is because they both seek to address the problem of competition and provision of quality and standard services to the public. Based on the changing in the global economic and market trends, many organizations are shifting from the traditional approaches to training where employees initiated their own training needs to a new approach where the employers decide on what kind of training is appropriate for their employees. Even though extensive research has been done on training and development the conclusions are based on one general assumption that underlying issues of training and development are the same for all organization despite seeing that it’s more common in the hospitality and the hotel industry. However, the research has provided ground on future research to address on more critical issues such as the determinants for training and development and the process of implementation. This follows the revelation that even though many organizations have managed to recognized the relative importance of training and development they have failed to implement the necessary programs because they do not know how to go about it. In general terms, training and development has helped many organizations especially those that have global outlook to have a competitive advantage in the era of stiff competition and high cost of doing business. References Andy, S. (2007). The emergence of learning and development in Australian enterprise. Journal of training and development, Vol. 2, No. 6, pp. 1-15. Armstrong, S. & Mitchell, B. (2008). The Essential HR Handbook: A Quick and Handy Resource for Any Manager or HR Professional. Franklin Lakes, NJ: The Career Press, Inc. Arthur, J. B. & Boyles, T. (2007). Validating the human resource system structure: A levels-based strategic HRM approach. Human Resource Management Review, Vol.17, No. 1, pp. 77- 92. Boudreau, J. & Ramstad, P. (2007). Beyond HR: The New Science of Human Capital. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. Chand, M. & Katou, A. ( 2007) The impact of HRM practices on organisational performance in the Indian hotel industry. Employee Relations, 29(6), pp. 576-594. Chung, C., Bozkurt, O and Sparrow, P. (2012). Managing the duality of IHRM: unraveling the strategy and perceptions of key actors in South Korean MNCs. International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 23, No. 11, pp. 2333-2353. Godard, J. (2004). A critical assessment of the high-performance paradigm. British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 42, No.2, pp. 340–378. Fleetwood, S. & Hesketh, A. (2008). Theorising Under-theorisation in Research on the HRM – Performance Link, Personnel Review, Vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 237-319. HMA Administrator. (2010). 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Globalising the international mobility function: the role of emerging markets, flexibility and strategic delivery models. International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 23, No. 12, pp. 2404-2427. Tobin, D. & Pettingell, M. (2008). The AMA Guide to Management Development. New York, NY: American Management Association. Read More