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Chapter- 4(Four) Determining Training Strategy

Effective Training: Strategies, Systems and Practices, 3rd EditionP. Nick Blanchard and James W. Thacker

Employee Training and Development,4th EditionRaymond A Noe

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After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Discuss how business strategy influences the type and amount of training in a company.

2. Explain how the role of training has changed.3. Describe how changes in work roles

influence training.4. Discuss how a company’s staffing and human

resource planning strategies influence training.

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After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

5. Explain the training needs created by concentration, internal growth, external growth, and disinvestment business strategies.

6. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of organizing the training function according to the faculty, customer, matrix, and corporate university models.

7. Discuss the characteristics of the virtual training organization and how it can contribute to the company’s business strategy.

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What is a Business Strategy?

• A plan that integrates the company’s goals, policies, and actions.

• The strategy influences how the company uses:– physical capital (plants, technology, and equipment)– financial capital (assets and cash reserves)– human capital (employees)

• The business strategy helps direct the company’s activities to reach specific goals.

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What is a Business Strategy?

• The goals are what the company hopes to achieve in the medium and long-term future. Most companies goals include financial goals, such as to maximize shareholder wealth. But companies have other goals related to employee satisfaction, industry position, and community service.

• There is both a direct and indirect link between training and business strategy and goals. Training can help employees develop skills needed to perform their jobs, which directly affects the business. Giving employee opportunities to learn and develop creates a positive work environment, which supports the business strategy by attracting talented employee as well as motivating and retaining current employees.

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Strategy impacts training with a strong influence on determining:

• The amount of training devoted to current or future job skills.

• The extent to which training is customized for the particular needs of an employee or developed based on the needs of a team, unit, or division.

• Whether training is restricted to specific groups of employees or open to all employees.

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Strategy impact on training (continued)

• Whether training is:– planned and systematically administered, or– provided only when problems occur, or– spontaneously as a reaction to what competitors

are doing• The importance placed on training compared to

other human resource management practices such as selection and compensation.

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The Roles and Duties of Managers in Companies That Use High-Performance Work Practices

• Managing Alignment– Clarify team goals and company goals.– Help employees manage their objectives.– Scan organization environment for useful information for

the team.

• Encouraging Continuous Learning– Help team identify training needs.– Help team become effective at on-the-job training.– Create environment that encourages learning.

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The Roles and Duties of Managers in Companies That Use High-Performance Work Practices (con’td)

• Coordinating Activities– Ensure that team is meeting internal and external

customer needs.– Ensure that team meets its quantity and quality objectives.– Help team resolve problems with other teams.– Ensure uniformity in interpretation of policies and

procedures.• Facilitating Decision-Making Process

– Facilitate team decision making.– Help team use effective decision-making processes.

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The Roles and Duties of Managers in Companies That Use High-Performance Work Practices (con’td)

• Creating and Maintaining Trust– Ensure that each team member is responsible for his or

her work load and customers.– Treat all team members with respect.– Listen and respond honestly to team ideas

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Organizational Characteristics That Influence Training

Integration of Business Units

Global Presence

Business Conditions

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Organizational Characteristics That Influence Training

Integration of Business Units

The degree to which a company’s units or businesses are integrated affects the kind of training that takes place. In a highly integrated business, employees need to understand other units, services and products in the company. Training likely includes rotating employees between jobs in different businesses so they can gain an understanding of the whole business.

Global Presence

The development of global product and service markets is an important challenge for companies. For companies with global operations, training is used to prepare employees for temporary or long-term overseas assignments. Also, because employees are geographically dispersed outside the country, companies need to determine.

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Organizational Characteristics That Influence Training

whether training will be conducted and coordinated from a central U. S facility or will be the responsibility of satellite installations located near overseas facilities.

Business Conditions When unemployment is low and businesses are growing at a

high rate and need more employees, companies often find it difficult to attract new employees, find employees with necessary skill, and retain current employees. Training activities under these conditions focus on ensuring that employees are available to fill the positions vacated by retirement or turnover. Training also involves helping employees avoid skill obsolescence.

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• Centralized training - training and development programs, resources, and professionals are primarily housed in one location and decisions about training investment, programs, and delivery methods are made from that department.

• It helps companies better integrate programs for developing leaders and managing talent with training and learning during times of change.

Models of Organizing the Training Department

Models of Organizing the Training Department

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Faculty Model

Customer Model

Matrix Model

Corporate University Model

Virtual Model

The Faculty Model

S afe tyT ra in ing

Q ua li tyT ra in ing

T ech no lo gya nd

C o m p ute rS ys te m s

L ea de rsh ipD e ve lop m e nt

S a lesT ra in ing

D ire cto r o f T ra in ing

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Training Specialty Areas

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– Look a lot like the structure of a college.– Training staff are experts in the areas in which

they train.– The training department's plans are easily

determined by staff expertise.– The training function may not meet the needs of

the organization.– Trainers may be unaware of business problems or

unwilling to adapt materials to fit a business need.

Faculty model

The Customer Model

In fo rm ationS ys te m s

M arke ting P rodu c tiona nd

O p era tio ns

F in an ce

D ire cto r o f T ra in ing

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Business Functions

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– Responsible for the training needs of one division or function of the company.

– Training programs are developed more in line with the particular needs of a business group.

– Trainers are expected to be aware of business needs and to update courses and content to reflect them.

– Involves considerable time, programs may vary greatly in effectiveness, and design may be poor.

Customer model

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– The trainer has the responsibility of being both a training expert and a functional expert.

– It helps ensure that training is linked to the needs of the business.

– Trainer gains expertise in understanding a specific business function.

– Trainers will have more time demands and conflicts because they report to two managers.

Matrix model

The Corporate University Model

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Training Advantages

Dissemination of Best Practices

Align Training with Business Needs

Integrate Training Initiatives

Effectively Utilize New Training Methods and Technology

Historical Training Problems

Excess Costs

Poor Delivery and Focus

Inconsistent Use of Common Training Practices

Best Training Practices Not Shared

Training Not Integrated or Coordinated

Leadership Development Programs

New Employee Programs

Product Developmen

t

Operations

Sales and Marketing

Human Resources

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The Corporate University Model

The corporate university model differs from the other models in that the client group includes not only employee and manager but also stakeholders outside the company including community colleges, universities, high schools, and grade schools. Training functions organized by the university model tend to offer a wider range of programs and courses than functions organized by the other model.

Virtual model

• Virtual training organizations operate according to three principles:– Employees (not the company) have primary

responsibility for learning– The most effective learning takes place on the job,

not in the classroom– For training to translate into improved job

performance, the manager-employee relationship (not employee-trainer relationship) is critical.

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Virtual model(continued)

• A virtual training organization is customer focused• Takes more responsibility for learning and

evaluating training effectiveness• Provides customized training solutions based on

customer needs• Determines when and how to deliver training

based on customer needs• Leverages resources from many areas• Involves line managers in direction and content

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Thank YouFor

Attending This Session