Impact of Training and Development on Employee Satisfaction and Organizational Performance - Research Proposal Example

Name: Tutor: Title: The impact of training and development on employee satisfaction and organizational performance Course: Date: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 1.0 Introduction 4 1.1 Significance of the research topic 5 1.2 The Main Aim of the Research 5 1.3 Specific Objectives 6 2.0 Literature Review 6 2.1 Introduction 6 2.2 The responsibility for employee training and development 7 2.3 The Cost-effective Approaches to Employee Training and Development 8 2.3 The impact of training and development on ensuring that an organization becomes ethically and socially responsible to societal needs and challenges 9 3.0 Methodology 10 3.1 Research Philosophy 10 3.2 Data collection Techniques 11 3.2.1 Use of Questionnaire 11 3.2.1 Focus Group 11 4.0 Possible Conclusions 12 5.0 Bibliography 13 6.0 Appendices 17 Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HOTEL EMPLOYEES 17 Appendix 2: Work Plan 19 Summary Initially, a number of organizations have not recognized the importance of employee training and development yet jobs are accomplished through people. In this regard, the study aims to investigate why training and development policies are implemented and the behaviour of organizations towards their employees. The specific objectives will be to identify the common training and development strategies of employees in the UK hospitality industry, to determine the extent to which training and development programs have been successfully implemented in the UK hospitality industry to enhance employee and organizational productivity and to assess the impact of training and development on ensuring that an organization becomes ethically and socially responsible to different societal needs and challenges. A literature review of other scholars’ perception on the subject has been evaluated to determine who should be responsible for employee training and development, to discuss the Cost-effective Approaches to Employee Training and Development and to assess the impact of ethics training and corporate-responsibility on employee satisfaction. A methodology for this research has been provided where questionnaires and focus group will be used as the main techniques of data collection. Secondary sources, in particular qualitative sources such as books, web-based sources, journals and articles will as well be considered for this study. The data collected through questionnaires and focus group will be analyzed using the SPSS software to determine whether objectives have been achieved or not as the findings for the final report. 1.0 Introduction Organizations rely on people for their businesses. Therefore, it becomes quite clear that expansion and development of business can be realized only if training and development of people has been effectively implemented (Work Force 2006). Training and development of employees is a critical part of human resource management because it changes attitudes, the working approach as well as knowledge and skills of employees (Sahinidis & Bouris 2008). Employee training is a human resource management role where then expert works with employees as learners so as to transfer to them key knowledge and skills to enhance their current jobs (Steve & Kozlowski 2009). On the other hand, development is the on-going and multifaceted training activities required to change individual or organizational performance to a different threshold of performance to prepare for future roles in the job (MacNamara 2008). The study aims to investigate why training and development policies are implemented and the behaviour of organizations towards their employees. Other scholars’ perception on the subject of employee training and development has been evaluated to determine who should be responsible for employee training and development, to discuss the Cost-effective Approaches to Employee Training and Development and to assess the impact of ethics training and corporate-responsibility on employee satisfaction. A methodology has been provided to achieve objective one and two where questionnaires and focus group will be used to collect data on the attitude of employees on training and development. However, secondary sources, in particular qualitative sources such as books, web-based sources, journals and articles will as well be considered under literature review for this study. Possible conclusions will be drawn based on the critical analysis of the existing literature and data collected from specific hotels in the UK. 1.1 Significance of the research topic Although the subject of training and development seems to be broad and important in any organization, employees are considered as the main assets. Therefore, organizations focus on training employees so as to enable them attains their goals. Basically, training and development of employees helps to increase their productivity and team spirit, foster organizational culture as well as quality and safe environment. The main reason for choosing subject of training and development is that it involves enhancing the skills and knowledge of employees for overall organizational performance. 1.2 The Main Aim of the Research The main concern of the research will be to determine why training and development policies are implemented and the behaviour of organizations towards their employees. 1.3 Specific Objectives 1. To identify the common training and development strategies of employees in the UK hospitality industry. This will involve evaluating the kind of strategies used by leading hotels in the UK. 2. To determine to what extent the training and development programs have been successfully implemented in the UK hospitality industry and to assess whether if it is enhancing employee and organizational productivity. In order to achieve this, primary data will be gathered from a sample of employees in at least two hotels with a strong brand name through use of a questionnaire and a focus group. 3. To assess the impact of training and development on ensuring that an organization becomes ethically and socially responsible to different societal needs and challenges. This will involve a critical analysis of the existing literature, and thus it will be examined under the Literature Review. 2.0 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction Investments in training and development of employees are a crucial approach to human resource management (Noe 2002). This is because it enables employees to become more effective and product in their jobs, hence directly contributing to the overall performance of their organizations (Rao 2009). This implies that training and management programs are used to enhance the employee and organizational capabilities. It is arguable that organizations which invest in promoting the knowledge and skills of their employees produce more competent and effective employees. The underlying question is whether training and development programs should be focused on either individual performance or the team performance? According to Watad and Ospina (1999) creating and implementing the training and management of employee development programs should take into consideration the needs highlighted in a training needs analysis. As a result, the time and costs incurred on training and employee training management would be effectively linked to the core business as well as the missions of the organization. However, it should be noted that for training and development programs to be effective, employees must be viewed as adult learners (Forrest & Peterson 2006). This provides the view that adult learners are self-directed people in the organization who work collaboratively to bring the work-related experiences in a clearly learning situation. Therefore, effective training and development can be maximized through constant assessment of the current training and development needs of the employees so as to prepare them for future positions (Brown 2002). It is important for the organizations to recognize that diverse employees will always have varied needs, and thus their needs change over time whilst workers progress in their careers (Noe 1996). 2.2 The responsibility for employee training and development The most fundamental task of this research will be to determine who should be responsible for the employee training and development in an organization. However, it is important to point out that employ training should be regarded as the responsibility of the organization, while employee development should be approached as a shared responsibility of both the management and individual employee (Adeniyi 1995). This provides the view that the management is tasked with the responsibility of providing the needed resources as well as creating an environment that encourages the growth and development needs of each and every employee. Studies indicate that for successful implementation of employee training and development, the management should ensure that a well-crafted job description is provided (Brooks, et.al 2006)). This can be considered as the platform through which employee training and development programs are built to enhance performance. In addition, training needs required by employees should be offered so as to meet the key competencies for the jobs (Brown 2002). In this case, it is relevant to argue that employee development process should be made clear in order to encourage staff develop their respective development plans. This calls for the need to establish a good understanding of capabilities, skills and knowledge which the organization may need in its future performance (Forrest & Peterson 2006). For example, the human resource management should consider the long-term goals of their organization as well as their implications for employee development. Therefore, successful employee development can be achieved only if individual employee makes an effort to search for the learning opportunities in his or her day-to-day activities (Chiaburu & Teklab 2005). Added to this, is the ability of individual employee to identify developmental goals and activities so as to prepare for specific development plan (Schneider, et.al 2003). 2.3 The Cost-effective Approaches to Employee Training and Development Employee training and development needs should match the organization’s context and job descriptions as well as involve collective agreements (Young 2008). This means that when the human resource managers are selecting the methods to be used for employee training and development, it is critical for them to consider the learning process. The learning process can be offered to employees through a number of ways which include the on-the-job experience through committees, important incident notes, field trips, conferences and forums, Job rotation and shadowing, peer-assisted learning as well as special projects (Cartwright 2003). In addition, relationships and feedback can be used in form of coaching, mentoring, performance appraisal (Pulakos 2004). However, off-the-job learning also plays a critical role and can be implemented by sponsoring employees to take courses offered in higher institutions of learning, encourage self study and professional association programs in the organization (Ilgen & Pulakos 1999). 2.3 The impact of training and development on ensuring that an organization becomes ethically and socially responsible to societal needs and challenges The study investigates how ethics training affects employee satisfaction. In addition, the role of corporate-responsibility practices is evaluated in regard to ethics training and employees’ satisfaction. Scholars have argued that ethics training has a positive influence on corporate-responsibility practices which in turn create a positive influence on employee satisfaction (Campbell & Kuncel 2001). According to Ferrell and Fraedrich (2006), ethical training is critical in enhancing and communicating the required code of conduct (Osborne 1996). It is not quite clear, however, that empirical evidences exists which can be used to argue for the relationship between ethical training and the overall organizational performance. In order to improve employee work satisfaction, it is important that organizations should ensure that their working environment is highly ethical by maintaining corporate-responsibility practices implemented through ethics training (Sekerka 2009). This implies that the more corporate-responsibility practices are implemented for employees, the higher levels of protecting employees’ basic rights, hence, improved employee satisfaction (Kaptein & Schwartz 2008). 3.0 Methodology The research methodology chapter explains the techniques that will be used to collect data for the training and development study. The two main research philosophies that will be used in this project include, interpretive and Realism, while data collection method will involve use of questionnaire and focus group as the two main primary sources and secondary sources will be focused on qualitative sources such as books, web-based sources, journals and articles to obtain relevant information concerning the experiences and behaviors of individuals or employees who may have been offered with training and development programs. On the subject of data analysis, quantitative data will be considered where different charting and statistical tools such as SPSS will be used to analyze the answers of the questionnaire so as to provide categorical and numerical data. 3.1 Research Philosophy McAuley et al (2007) examined that interpretative approach is basically used by researchers to enable them comprehend the nature of the subject as well as seek for reasons. Therefore, it is quite clear to argue that an interpretive approach provides the view that reality should be interpreted in order to establish clear explanations for human behavior. On the other hand, realism demands more than simply understanding how the human behaviors are influenced. According to Lindgreen (2008, p.21), the ontology of realism suggests that there is no existence of a single objective reality. Since realism requires different elementary philosophies to analyze complex subjects, the fact that various employee training and development strategies are used by different organization worldwide leads also to need for interpretative approach. This is because such strategies cannot be easily measured, a clear indication that they can only be interpreted. 3.2 Data collection Techniques 3.2.1 Use of Questionnaire A questionnaire can be defined as a written form an interview that collects information in a verbal way. Its advantages are that it can be used on a widely spread population, easy to analyze, it is cost-effective and less time consuming (Wood & Kerr, 2010). 3.2.1 Focus Group This is a technique where a targeted group of people are gathered in a single location to seek their opinions, beliefs as well as attitude perception on a given subject. A case for this project, opinions and attitudes towards the impact of training and development on employee satisfaction will be gathered from a group of employees in at least two major hotels in the UK that will be used for critical analysis in regard to the subject of training and development of employees and organizational performance. It has been argued that use a focus group is a method that provides a cascading effect in terms of own memories, ideas and experiences generated when listening to the verbalized experiences of other people (Stewart et al. 2007). Basically, the two data collection methods will be used to achieve the first and second objectives previously stated under the introduction section. In order to increase the response rates purposely for this study, a self-administered questionnaire will be considered the most appropriate because it will enable the researcher to guide the respondents through the subject in question face-to-face. The focus group will be used to draw out ideas, attitudes and experiences relevant to the subject of employee training and development in a spontaneous and semi-structured way (Horner 2006). Therefore, it is planned to interview at least five employees from two different hotels in the group. However, the method is expected to provide creative and honest insights into the subject of employee training and development so as to understand the strategies commonly used by the hospitality industry and the feelings of employees about these programs. In addition to the above mentioned primary sources, qualitative sources in the form focus group will be used as secondary sources. Qualitative sources such as books, web-based sources, journals and articles will as well be considered for this study. Research indicates that although qualitative data is difficult to analyze or compare, it is offers accurate information concerning the experiences and behaviors of people (Krueger & Casey 2000). 4.0 Possible Conclusions Organizations recognize employees as their assets that must be trained to enable them attain their goals. Generally, employee training and development increases their productivity, promotes team spirit, help to develop organizational culture, quality as well as health and safe working environment. The growth and development of business can be realized only if training and development of people has been effectively implemented. It is quite clear that training and development of employees is a critical role played by the human resource management because it changes attitudes, the working approach, knowledge and skills of employees. Formulation and implementation of the training and management of employee development policies should take into consideration the needs highlighted in a training needs analysis. Effective training and development can be maintained through constant assessment of the current training and development needs of the employees with the objective to prepare them for future positions. Organizations should recognize that diverse employees will always have different needs, and thus their needs change over time as workers progress in their careers. For successful implementation of employee training and development, the human resource management should ensure that a well-crafted job description is provided. 5.0 Bibliography Adeniyi, O.I., 1995, ‘Employee training and development’ in Ejiogu, A.I. Asika (eds). Brown, J., 2002, ‘Training Needs Assessment, an important approach for developing an effective training program’, Journal of Public Personnel Management, 31(4), 569-578. Brooks, et.al, 2006, Focusing on employee and customer perspectives to improve organizational performance, Research and best practices (pp. 52 – 82), San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Cartwright, R., 2003, Implementing a Training and Development Strategy, John Wiley & Sons. Campbell J. P & Kuncel N. R., 2001, Individual and team training based on Handbook of industrial, work and organizational psychology (pp. 278-312). London, SAGE. Chiaburu D. S & Teklab A. G., 2005, ‘Individual and background influences on various dimensions of training effectiveness’, Journal of European Industrial Training, 20, 282-290. Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L., 2006, Ethical Decision Making and Cases(7 edition). (7 ed.). Mason, South-Western Cengage Learning. Forrest, S. P. & Peterson, T. O., 2006, ‘The andragogy, Management Learning & Education’, 5(1), 113-122. Horner, C., 2006, ‘Training for the better’, Journal of Training & Development Methods, 20(4), 535-539. Ilgen, D. R., & Pulakos, E. D. (Eds.). 1999, How performance changes: Implications for staffing, motivation, and development. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers. Kaptein, M., & Schwartz, M. S., 2008, ‘The effectiveness of business codes’, Journal of Business Ethics, 77, 111-127. Krueger, R. & Casey, M., 2000, Focus groups: a practical guide for applied research. 3rd edition. London: Sage. Lindgreen, A., 2008, The methodological and empirical insights into managing market relationships, Surrey, Gower Publishing. McNamara, C., 2008, The importance of Employee Training and Development, New York: Authenticity Consulting. MCAULEY, J., et al., 2007, Organization theory based on the challenges and performance perspectives, Harlow, Pearson Education. Noe, R. A., 1996, How career management is linked to employee development and performance? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17(2), 119-133. Noe, R. A., 2002, Employee Training and Development. (2nd ed.). Columbus, OH: McGraw Hill, Available online at: [http://www.zeromillion.com/business/personnel/employee-training.html] Noe, R. A., 2002, Employee training and development, 2nd Ed, McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Osborne, D., 1996, Employee Training and Assessment, Cassel Publishers, London. Pulakos, E. D., 2004, Performance management: A tool used to develop, implement as well evaluate organization’s performance management systems, Alexandria, SHRM Foundation. Rao, P.L., 2009, Enhancing Human Capital through fostering the employee Training and Development programs, Excel Books. Sahinidis A. G & Bouris J., 2008, ‘The perception of employee training effectiveness relationship to their attitudes’, Journal of European Industrial Training, 32, 63-76. Sekerka, L. E., 2009, ‘Organizational Ethics Education and Training’, International Journal of Training and Development, 13(2), 77 95. Schneider, B., et.al. 2003, Is it employee attitudes or organizational financial and market performance that comes first? Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 836-851. Steve, W.J & Kozlowski, E., 2009, Learning, Training, and Development within the Organizations. Taylor & Francis. Stewart, D. W. et al., 2007, Focus groups: theory and practice. 2nd edition. London: Sage. Watad, M & Ospina, S., 1999, ‘Integrated Managerial Training’, Review of Public Personnel Management, 28(2), 185-195. Wood, M. J. & Kerr, J.C., 2010, Basic Steps in Planning Nursing Research: From Question to Proposal. 7th edition. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Work Force, 2006, Training and Development, available at Young, C., 2008, Five ways of improving employee training and development during a recession or economic downturn, to maximize possibility blog. 6.0 Appendices Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HOTEL EMPLOYEES General information of the employee 1. Sex: Female [ ] Male [ ] 2. Age……….. 3. Marital Status: Single[ ] divorced[ ] widowed[ ] married[ ] 4. Position……………… 5. Educational information Masters [ ] Bachelors [ ] Diploma [ ] other specify…….. Background information of employee training and development 6. Does your hotel offer training and development programs to employees? Yes [ ] No [ ] 7. If yes, what training and development medium is commonly used to communicate to employees? Seminars [ ] during recruitment process [ ] induction [ ] others specify……… 8. Please rate the quality of training programmes you have so far participated in this organization. Excellent [ ] Good [ ] very good [ ] poor [ ] very poor [ ] average [ ] The effect of training and development on employee job satisfaction 9. Have the trainings improved your skills and knowledge on you current job performance? Yes [ ] No [ ] 10. If yes, how effective have the training equipped with skills and know the organization expected from you? Very effective [ ] Effective [ ] Not able to tell [ ] Not important [ ] 11. Do you find employee training and development important in enhancing organizational performance? Yes [ ] No [ ] 12. If yes, explain……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 13. Suggest ways through which employee training and development can be improved in your organization. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you. Appendix 2: Work Plan Tasks: Idea generation Time allocated Thinking of the research topic and analyzing relevant literature 2days Define the main aim and objectives of the study 1 day Writing the Proposal Introduce the topic and write a literature review 2 days Develop a methodology to achieve the stated aim and objectives 2 days Document a questionnaire and edit the proposal 2 days Hand in the proposal for approval 1 day Final project Visit the targeted areas and administer the questionnaire to employees and have a short interview with a focus group 10 days Transfer the data collected into SPSS software for analysis and evaluate the research findings 5 days Write the final report and edit 5 days Hand in the final report of the project 1 day Total days=31days Read More