Training & Development

Training and development is a key aspect for both individuals and organisations in order to expand operations, personal development and to improve performance. According to Mullins (2008) The purpose of training is to improve knowledge and skills and to change attitudes. Training and development is beneficial in many ways as it employees motivation as they feel better equipped to do their jobs, increases the level or performance, adopts new technologies and methods and reduces employee turnover (McNamara 2010).

An effective way to grasp an understanding of what is required to create a successful training and development program is by having a go at constructing your own mock example of a training schedule. In this case, we have been asked to plan and design a one week induction program for new graduate entrants for a retail chain. It is anticipated that these graduates will be store managers by the end of their two year training programme. A number of issues must be addressed and considered before the programme begins such as; what will the induction week include? Where should the training take place? How to evaluate its effectiveness?

All graduate entrants should have a clear and thorough understanding of what is expected of them in their journey to becoming store managers. It is vital for them to become familiar and comfortable with their working environment from the very beginning as well as building solid and professional relationships within their departments and with colleagues. Also it is important that they grasp the organisational culture of the company as they must live and breathe what they represent for as long as they work there.

I feel that the most suitable way to begin an induction week for graduate entrants is with an inspirational and informative speech from the management team as I feel that this is an effective way of motivating employees at an early stage. It is also important for the graduates to get to know their managers from the get go as it enables them to develop a comfortable and stable communication. Therefore I feel that a question and answer session should also be included within this opening speech to clear up any doubts, concerns or queries.

I also believe that an induction week should include elements of fun which can be combined with constructive activities to make the learning process more enjoyable. For example games which can be used to get to know co-workers and other staff and establish relationships. As the graduates are likely to have little or no experience in the jobs they’re entering, it would be a wise decision to get them to shadow someone who already has the knowhow. By doing this, they will begin to grasp an understanding of the way things should be done. Once they gain this brief understanding of their jobs it is in both the companies and the trainee’s interest that they attend an extensively thorough and professional training programme which prepares them before entering their job or area of expertise, this section of their training should include a variety of activities. It is also extremely important that the graduates feel comfortable and confident which is why I feel that this induction week should encourage them to ask as many questions as they can and they should be reminded of this as much as possible.

It is also vital that the success of the training is evaluated. One way this can be achieved is through response questionnaires which are designed to evaluate and assess the whether or not the training fulfilled its goals and was successful. Another way this can be achieved is through one to one appraisals which discuss each individuals feelings on the training they receive. These appraisals should encourage graduates to be honest and provide managers with the necessary feedback to improve and make adjustments to their future programmes. As well as appraisals, managers can evaluate the success or failure of their training and development programmes by assessing and managing performance levels. For example analysing the productivity of an individual or department and trying to understand how this may have been influenced by the training they received. The evaluation stage is absolutely crucial as it encourage management to constantly improve its efforts and techniques of developing its staff.

Conclusion

Training is essential for every business in order to stand a chance in surviving. The reason it is so important is that it provides organisations with competitiveness. Without training its staff, a business would simply be obliterated by its competition as those who train their staff and focus on personal development have a far more significant, capable and effective workforce.

References

1) Business Balls (2010), Training and Learning Development [Online]. Available from http://www.businessballs.com/traindev.htm [Accessed 17 April 2010]

2) CIPD (2010), Learning, training and development: highlighted resources [online]. Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/lrnanddev/ [Accessed 17 April 2010]

3) McNamara, C. (2010). Employee Training and Development: Reasons and Benefits [online]. Available from: http://managementhelp.org/trng_dev/basics/reasons.htm [Accessed 17 April 2010].