managing human capital assignment
TRANSCRIPT
Managing Human Capital Assignment
A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirement for the Course
201010-MBA1-MHC-Managing Human Capital
ByPhung Phuong Linh
(ID: L0063NDND0210)Dec 15, 2010
To
Teacher: David HallTeacher: Rajendra Kumar
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Contents
PART I: Overview of the Topic
I. Introduction
A. Concepts of Training
B. Purpose of Training
II. Types of Training
A. On-the-job Training
B. Off-the-job Training
C. Benefits of Traning
PART II: Training and Development methods in Actual Organization
I. Introduction
II. Methods of Training
III. Effectiveness of Training
A. Advantages
B. Disadvantages
IV. Recommendation
V. Conclusion
PART III: Preferences
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PART I: Overview of the topic
I. Introduction
In today business, when market becomes very competitive. Therefore, change in
management is necessary and crucial task for any organziation. Those people who
work in Human Resouces field are now facing more and more complex factors than
in the past. Training and development is one of the recent obstacles as it emerged as
an important management stratey in every organization. Chris Landauer used to say
“Training is something we hope to integrate into every manager’s mind set” (Dessler
2002, p.316). Why did he say it? Human Resouces Management now has to
understand the concepts of training and apply them corectly in actual organization.
However, understanding and applying in reality is two things completely difference.
Not many management succeed with that. Statistic showed “85 percent of training
department heads have never read a copy of their own company’s strategic plan or
annual report” (Donahue 2007, p.1). Isn’t it surprising? It does not make sense to say
that these managements did not understand the role of training in their organizations.
This assignment will exploit in more detail the concepts of training how it applies in
actual organization.
D. Concepts of Training
There are several definitions about training that we can look through books, internet
and other sources. According to Dessler “Training is a process whereby people
acquire capabilities to aid in achivement of organization goals” (Dessler 2002, p.317).
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In my understanding, training is to organize progames, instruction or activities in
which organization aimed to transfer information needed in order to gain employees’
knowledge and skills in their fields.
E. Purpose of Training in Organization
Reading books or just simly click the mouse on Human Resouces Management
topics, we can easily see the term training and development always exist together.
That must be a reason. There is no doubt that the main purpose of training is to
develop the organization, but that’s not all. Training also help to “improve employee
performance and skills, avoiding managerial obsolescence, preparing for promotion
and managerial succesion and satisfying personal growth needs” (Introduction to
Human Resource Management 2010).
In order to keep the company growing and surviving in this competiveness market,
Human Resouces Management has to determine programes base on the organization’s
and employee’s needs. Each program should be conducted suitable for difference
group of employees such as: old staffs, new-coming staffs, account or technichian…
etc.
II. Types of Training
“In This Business, You Are What You Know! Keeping your skills and abilities up to
date in today’s on demand environment is a critical component to your success. IBM
now makes it easy for you to enjoy the technical training you need to maintain that
edge” (IBM email, August 2005). The message above is one example of several types
of training methods exist in recent days. There are a lot of way to characterize the
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training methods, but in the simplest way to classify those methods is to devide those
methods into two groups are: On-the-job-training and Off-the-job-training.
A. On-the-Job Training
This group of training methods include: job instruction training, apprenticeship,
coaching, job rotation, internships and orientation; which are applied when the
employees are actually doing their jobs. This can also be seen as the cheapest way
of training as the employees can gain their knowledge and skills by not losing
their working time and it would be the best advantage for these types of methods.
(Introduction to Human Resource Management 2010).
Job Instruction training: this method is using by most of organization, especially
in small business because it is the cheapest way to train. In additional, it is crucial
for new person to know the process of his or her jobs and how the company runs
daily work.
Apprenticeship: this method requires long period of training to guarantee that
trainees attain a proficiency in work. Trainees are usually under instruction of
supervisors or expert in the company, it would help them to learn theory and gain
knowledge during actual work time.
Job rotation: with this kind of method, employees are rotated to different
department within the company in order to gain expericences in broanden aspect.
But the most important thing is to let the employees how work in each department
work and interact with each other, so that they can improve to cooperate with
their colleagues in future.
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Internship: Employees in certain field which require skills such as: technicians,
surgeon…etc; because they need to have a chance to apply what they had learn in
theory into practices (Type of Training, p1)
B. Off-the-Job Training
Off-the-Job training refers to those methods which require employees away from
their daily works for training such as: classroom lecture or seminar, case study,
observation assignment, experiential exercises, role play and programmed
instruction. With these methods, the cost for training is quite high, so it seems
very difficult for small business to afford it.However, the knowledge from outside
sources is very useful for any organization, but off-the-job are usually conducted
for supervisors or managers and executive position. These people are very
important in a company as their effect directly on the company’s profits and
reputation. However, letting these people to join the training programs sometimes
do not receive effective results as expected because some of them may have
limited knowledge about the products/services. Beside that, they don’t really
know about the real situations happening in market such as: competitors,
customer expectation and needs…etc.
Classroom lecture and Seminar: is happening very frequently in today business.
One of the examples for this method is HSBC as its training programs are often
conducted as classroom based which bring people together to learn and to
network. Through these events, attenders have opportunities to update
information on what is going on with business. They also can meet and learn
experiences from other people who come from difference organization, or they
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can raise issues that need support from other to solve those problems. (Training
and Development)
Case Study/Observation Assignment: These two methods allow people taking
their time to exploit and to seek for depth information of one actual issue. During
studying period, they may learn how to respect other’s opinions and gain more
knowledge about that topic. Last but not least, they will learn how to cooperative
with others and be responsible in works in order to achieve a good results.
Role play: Group members are assigned to a case of solving problem which
requires them to find a solution or behave like in a real situation. This method
make these employees get use the real situation in work and become sensitive in
solving problems (Training and Development, p.1)
Computer based training: involved all the use of computer such as CD-Rom,
DVD, e-learning. This is a trendy method in today business because of its
benefits, for example, transferring information to employees quickly, provides
flexible learning schedules for employees…etc.
C. Benefits of Training
Training has made significant contribution in all aspect of the business. Training
actually is win-win solution and because it will let the management transfer all
needed information which they think valuabble to improve the employees’ skills,
performance and knowledge in order to acquire an organization goals. In reverse,
the knowledge that employees has received from training is valuable for their
career development in future or at least helping them to perform better in their
role.
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PART II: Training and Development methods in Actual Organization
I. Introduction
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a global technology and
innovation company headquartered in Armonk, New York which is the world's fourth
largest technology company and the second most valuable global brand .The
company has more than 400,000 employees in 170 countries and it currently offers a
wide range of infrastructure, hosting and consulting services; a broad portfolio of
middleware for collaboration, predictive analytics, software development and systems
management; and the world's most advanced servers and supercomputers. IBM has
pioneered the corporate operating model for the 21st century, changing from a classic
“multinational” to a global integrated company with a highly skilled global workforce
managed by a common set of value (IBM, p1). “Since its inception, IBM had been
focusing on human resources development: The company concentrated on the
education and training of its employees as an integral part of their development. In
2002, IBM was ranked fourth by the Training magazine on it’s “The 2002 Training
Top 100”. The magazine ranked companies based on their commitment towards
workforce development and training imparted to employees even during periods of
financial uncertainty”. (IBM, p1)
II. Methods of Training: From the beginning, IBM’s top management followed the
company’s norm which was respecting every employee because each employee’s
contribution is important for the organization. According to the father of modern IBM
- Sir Thomas Watson-, “by the simple belief that if we respected our people and
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helped them respect themselves, the company would certainly profit.” (Case study of
IBM, p1). Based on that belief, IBM created an employee-friendly in where
employees received well compensated, and no layoffs policy. In additional, IBM was
always focusing on training its employees; therefore the first IBM school-house was
introduced in 1933- after 15 years of its inception. From the beginning until now,
IBM has applied and practiced many methods of training in order to enhance
effectiveness of employees today and prepare them for future such as classroom
lecture, seminar and the most recent method is e-learning. IBM saw the effectiveness
of e-learing as the new method of traing for its employees and other organization’s
employees as well. Bear that in mind, IBM started offering e-learing products to other
companies this new training tools. For exaple: in 2002, American Airlines (AA)
started to use IBM e-learning package to train its attendants. These attendants can
learn “safety and security training” at anytime and anywhere. By November 2002,
AA has completely trained 240.000 flight attendants through this method.
However, IBM is currently applying blended methods by taking 75 percent of
training online and the remaining 25 percent is in the classroom.
Classroom lecture: Managers were sent for educational in programs to Harvard, the
London School of Economics, MIT and Stanford in order to gain their knowledge and
widen their perspectives. Anyone who got an excellent result from this program
would have an opportunity to join the Advanced Managers Schools offered in about
forty colleges including Harvard, Columbia, Virginia, Georgia and Indiana…etc.
Seminar: People who are the highest-ranking executives will be sent to executive
seminars which organized in Brookings Institutions. The purpose of this particular
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program is to cover a broad range of subjects including: international and domestic
business, political and economic affairs. Beside that, IBM executives were exposed to
topical events to update many current affairs which are related with the company’s
issues.
Online training: This is currently main method of training of IBM. The company
decided to use e-Learning to train its employees and this decision saved millions of
dollars per year for the company. IBM is divided online training into 2 categories are
Basic Blue Management and Sale Compass.
Basic Blue Management: In 1999, IBM started to use Basic Blue
management training program based on a ’4- Tier’. It was designed to support the
company’s manager training program as the task became too complex to use
traditional methods of training. The principle of Basic Blue was ‘learning is an
extended process, not a one-time event”, and it was based on a “4- Tier”.
4-TIER BLENDED LEARNING MODEL
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Sale Compass: As the market become more and more competitive, IBM
could not afford to keep its sales team away from work for a week. However, the first
practice of Sale Compass in 1997 was not success because there was lack of
coordination in the large scale. But with the success of Basic Blue, Sales Compass
had further steps to develop. By using a web browser, the sales personnel of IBM
from around the world could get the same information in order to help sales personnel
broaden their knowledge on various industries, gain selling skills IBM was introduced
this programme to 20,000 sales representatives, client relationship representatives,
territory representatives, sales specialists, and service professionals from around the
world. (Case study of IBM, p1)
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Tier 1 Provided access to a lot of information including a database of questions, answers and sample scenarios called Manager QuickViews
Tier 2 The managers were provided with simThe principle of Basic Blue war ‘learning is an extended process, not a one-time event”, and it was based on a ’4- Tier’ulated situations. Senior managers trained the managers online
Tier 3 The members of the group started interacting with each other online
Tier 4 Learning Lab
THE CONTENT OF THE NEW SALES COMPASS
III. Advantages and Disadvantages of Training
A. Advantages
Traditional methods such as classroom lecture and seminar still bring a lot of
advantages to manager level, no matter e-training has emerged as one of the best way
of training is chosen by many organization. Managers need to meet up with other
people to update all current affairs within their industry and exchange their
experiences on business field with people from difference orgainzation as we are
living in globalization world. Mr Rick Horton-general manager of learning services at
IBM said “The classroom is still the best in a high-technology environment, which
requires hands-on laboratories and teaming, or a situation where it .is important for
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SOLUTIONS
13 Courses
INDUSTRIES
23 Courses
PERSONAL SKILLS
2 Courses
SELLING SKILLS
11 Courses
TOOL and JOB AID
4 Aids
the group to be together to take advantage of the equipment.”. (Case study of IBM,
p1)
On the other hand, the advantages of e-training are so obvious for everybody to
regconize. This new learning environment saves huge costs for organization,
especially to those global companies.
IBM’s cost savings through E-Learning
Program Saving in 2000 (in US $million)
Basic Blue 16.0Going global 0.6Coaching simulators 0.8Manager Quick-Views
6.6
Customer-Room 0.5Sales Compass 21.0
In 2002, IBM had emerged as the company with the largest number of employee’s
who have actually taking e-Learning courses. According to Andrew Sadler – director
of IBM Mindspan Solutions said “all measures of effectiveness went up. It’s saving
money and delivering more effective training, while at the same time providing five
times more content than before.” (Case study of IBM, p1). In additonal, e-learing
provides flexible schedule which allows employees to learn whenever is convenience
for them. They also can take part of training at their own space at home
B. Disadvantages
There are many disadvantages of classroom lectures and seminars are time,
money and one time event. By the year 1990s, IBM had reportedly spent $1 billion
dollars for training. That is a huge amount of money for any organization to invest.
Small businees seem hardly to afford for taking these methods. In additional, IBM
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have thousands of employees needed to be train.Let makes a simple calculation, one
person takes five days off for joining training lecture, and then we sum up all the
days- off of employees, the number coming out will be incredible. Last but not least,
time is also great issue. It takes long time to complete training thousands of
employees from difference location. And the turning out results may not insufficient
in some places.
In reverse, there is still difference opinon about benefits of e-training. There is no
doubt that e-learning brings many advantages to organization, but it does have some
inherent drawbacks. Cone and Robinson remarked ““Technology alone can’t produce
outstanding performance. The same is true of technology used in the training and
development profession”. (Cone and Robinson 2001, p. 32). E-training does need
employee’s commitment to take learning seriously in order to success. However, one
of the main reasons makes e-training less effective because people tend to behave
irresponsibility in e-program training because of lack of interaction between
employees and instructors. Employees may feel discouraged whenever they need the
immediate feedbacks. (Cone and Robinson 2001, p. 32)
IV. Recommendations
IBM is very succes by using e-training as mass strategy for all of its employees
around the world. E-learning brings both financial and economic benefit to the
company. This fact has nothing discuss. However, I think e-learning does not suitable
for everybody because it requires self-discipline. Beside that, people tend to learn
different way. Many employees may learn best in classroom where they can socialize
with peers, rather than seat in front of the screen by themselves. Therefore, I believe
that IBM should conduct multiple training programs which suitable for each group of
employees’ interest, that would make the contain inputs easily trasnfer to employees.
And it obviously increases the effectiveness of training at the end. (Jack Zenger and
Curt Uehlein 2001, p55)
V. Conclusion
I think training is critical part for any organizations that want to develelop. The
fundamental of training is to gain employees knowledge and skill in order to increase
their performance and prepare resources for future which help organization to achieve
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its goals. HR department in each organization has duty to conduct and design
methods of training that suitable with type, size and budget of that organization in
order to enhance the effectiveness of trainign programs. IBM is very successful in its
training methods because it willing to take risks. Based on reality situation of the
company, IBM came up with e-training solution which suitable with the company
situation and it currently not only provides many benefits for IBM, and other
organizations.
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