Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company

Assignment Submission Front Page

Course Title and Batch

Higher National Diploma Program

Unit No. and Title

Human Resource Development

Assignment Due Date

Student Name

2

th

24 November 2010

Juzer Ali Haider

Assignment Submission date

8th December 2010

Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company

Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company Q1. What do you think of Apex’s training process? Could it help to explain why employees “do things their way” and if so how? Answer: After reading the case study, the Apex Training Process is very haphazard. As from the case we can know the facts. It says the company doesn’t have a training manual as well as out of date job descriptions for the employees who are supposed to be trained. Well yes employees are been used to working the way they wish to work and according to their working styles it is due to organizational structure and culture. It consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims. Organizational structure affects organizational action in two big ways. First, it provides the foundation on which standard operating procedures and routines rest. Second, it determines which individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes, and thus to what extent their views shape the organization’s actions and is made up of all of the life experiences each employee brings to the organization. Culture is especially influenced by the organization’s founder, executives, and other managerial staff because of their role in decision making and strategic direction. Well describing all this it shows that how the culture affects in the organizational working style. The Apex Door Company has many flaws in delegating work and it also shows lack of interest to work from the employees. This is due to the incomplete and unorganized job description as well as the training lacks standardization and non equipped resources. This has happened due to the haphazard system of working. In the case it lists the facts of working that is the training process. It shows that every employee is trained equally in all departments and is not trained according to the job profile. This is the main defect which shows the lay back attitude of employees and resistance to change. As Jim Delaney delegates work to the employees they do things their way which is because of the system of working. As explained before due to the flaws in working. An organization’s culture is made up of all of the life experiences each employee brings to the organization. Culture is especially influenced by the organization’s founder, executives, and other managerial staff because of their role in decision making and strategic direction. Well describing all this it shows that is not properly maintained. Q2. In your view, how could training contribute to achieve organizational goals? 11

Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company

Answer:An important part of every manager's job is that of continuing the development of the people who work under his/her direction to ensure a productive workforce and the on-going ability to meet changing job requirements. There is a clear strategic value in continuously training and developing employees in order to enhance the organization's ability to meet its mission and to increase the ability of employees to achieve rewarding careers within the organization.

As a manager, we may have several responsibilities in this area: analyzing organizational needs and identifying specific training requirements, developing training plans for the overall organization and individual employees within it, obtaining and allocating resources effectively to accomplish training needs and produce desired gains in organizational efficiency, and evaluating the impact of training efforts and making necessary adjustments to ensure maximum results. By conducting an effective training, it will help Jim Delaney to solve all his major issues pertaining to his/her employees. It will benefit in effective customer perspective, internal-business processes, learning the growth of the company and the financial structure, to monitor progress toward organization's strategic goal. It focuses on collection and management of critical knowledge for the organization to increase its capacity for achieving results. Knowledge management includes extensive use of computer technology. It will guide the employees in the door design department and they will benefit from it. As the computer will randomly show what materials is suited best for the production, color, size, shape, dimensions, and product specifications. They will know which material is suited for different climatic conditions, durability, flexibility, span life of the product, and an overall comprehensive process assured to improve performance. Its effectiveness is toward reaching overall results for the organization depending on how well the enhanced, critical knowledge is applied in the organization. Coming to the process department, it will help in controlling and maintaining the different client needs. It will generate a detailed list of orders, written in a specific manner making it simple to use rather to use a multipage order form. The computer automatically classifies clients as “industrial” or “commercial” depending on the data which is detected by the order form. And it will automatically create training manual for the products the company produces. Reasons for emphasizing the growth and development of personnel includes creating a pool of readily available and adequate replacements for personnel who may leave or move up in the organization. It enhances the company's ability to adopt and use advances in technology because of a sufficiently knowledgeable staff. Building a more efficient, effective and highly motivated team, which enhances the company's competitive position and improves employee morale. It ensures adequate human resources for expansion into new programs. Research has shown specific benefits that a small 11

Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company

business receives from training and developing its workers including increased productivity, reduced employee turnover, increased efficiency resulting in financial gains, decreased need for supervision. Employees frequently develop a greater sense of self-worth, dignity and well-being as they become more valuable to the firm and to society. Generally they will receive a greater share of the material gains that result from their increased productivity. These factors give them a sense of satisfaction through the achievement of personal and company goals. Training contributes to achievement of Organizational goals such as employing people, developing their capacities, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirement. Not just to equip them with latest tools our company has implemented, there is a lot more to it. I have sorted down them in a list. • Due to rapid technological innovations impacting the workplace have made it necessary for people to consistently update their knowledge and skills • People have to work in multidimensional areas, which usually demand far more from their area of specialization. • Change in the style of management. • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Due to non-practical college education. Lack of proper and scientific selection procedure. For career advancement. For higher motivation and productivity. To make the job challenging and interesting For self and development For employee motivation and retention To improve organizational climate Prevention of obsolescence To help an organization to fulfill its future manpower needs. To keep in pace with times To bridge gap between skills requirement and skills availability For survival and growth of organization and nation

The role of an employers' organization in training has to be viewed from different perspectives. First and foremost it must be viewed from an "internal" point of view i.e. the training and development of the staff. This is essential to the effectiveness of the organization's training services as well as the other services as it provides the members fall within the following: • Influencing the legal and policy environment needed for business growth and development • Direct services to members. This requires that the staff be trained in the areas of the organization's services and core competencies which may include areas such as: 11

Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company       

Industrial relations Human resource management Occupational safety and health Information analysis and research for Influencing the policy environment Transferring knowledge to members Undertaking wage and other surveys

Q3. Explain in detail what you would do to improve the training process at Apex. Make sure to provide specific suggestions. Answer:We should start our training effort by carefully thinking about the organization's strategic goals and objectives, our unit's goals and objectives, what work is to be performed, and the strengths and weaknesses of our staff by thinking carefully about the knowledge and skills needed to do the job. Knowing what a job requires and how well we want it done will give us data to make training decisions. We should also look at broad performance issues and opportunities needed to change or improve the organization and the individual employee's strength and growth opportunities.

An individual "needs assessment" focuses on the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities required of each employee. Individual needs should be viewed within the context of strategic goals of the organization in order to ensure professional growth and development of employees within established career paths. Our servicing human resources office can direct us to resources to help us assess the individual training needs of the employees. Q4. Describe a systematic approach to Apex’s training and development and explain the factors that you would take into consideration. Answer:Training and development is the field concerned with organizational activity aimed at bettering the performance of individuals and groups in organizational setting. Training and development encompasses three main activities i.e. training, education, and development. The activity is both focused upon, and evaluated against, the job that an individual currently holds. It focuses upon the activities that the organization employing the individual, or that the individual is part of, may partake in the future, and is almost impossible to evaluate. Here at Apex a systematic Approach can be carried out by Training employees by several steps: 11

Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company

Begin by assessing the current status of the company how it does what it does best and the abilities of their employees to do these tasks. This analysis will provide some benchmarks against which the effectiveness of a training program can be evaluated. Apex should know where it wants to be in five years from its long-range strategic plan. What they need is a training program to take their firm from here to there. Second, consider whether the organization is financially committed to supporting the training efforts. If not, any attempt to develop a solid training program will fail. Next, determine exactly where training is needed. It is foolish to implement a companywide training effort without concentrating resources where they are needed the most. An internal audit will help point out areas that may benefit from training. Also, a skills inventory can help determine the skills possessed by the employees in general. This inventory will help the organization determine what skills are available now and what skills are needed for future development. In summary, the analysis should focus on the total organization and should tell them that where training is needed and where it will work within the organization. Once they have determined where training is needed, concentrate on the content of the program. Analyze the characteristics of the job based on its description, the written narrative of what the employee actually does. Training based on job descriptions should go into detail about how the job is performed on a task-by-task basis. Actually doing the job will enable them to get a better feel for what is done. Individual employees can be evaluated by comparing their current skill levels or performance to the organization's performance standards or anticipated needs. Any discrepancy between actual and anticipated skill levels identifies a training need. Once they have decided what training is necessary and where it is needed, the next decision is who should be trained? For a small business, this question is crucial. Training an employee is expensive, especially when he or she leaves their firm for a better job. Therefore, it is important to carefully select who will be trained. Training programs will be designed to consider the ability of the employee to learn the material and to use it effectively, and to make the most efficient use of resources possible. It is also important that employees be motivated by the training experience. Employee failure in the program is not only damaging to the employee but a waste of money as well. Selecting the right trainees is important to the success of the program. Training Goals The goals of the training program should relate directly to the needs determined by the assessment process outlined above. Course objectives should clearly state what behavior or skill will be changed as a result of the training and should relate to the mission and strategic plan of the company. Goals should include milestones to help take the employee from where he or she is today to where the firm wants 11

Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company

him or her in the future. Setting goals helps to evaluate the training program and to motivate the employees by allowing employees to participate in setting goals increases the probability of success. Training Methods There are two broad types of training available to small businesses: on-the-job and off-the-job techniques. Individual circumstances and the "who," "what" and "why" training program should determine which method to use. On-the-job training is delivered to employees while they perform their regular jobs. In this way, they do not lose time while they are learning. After a plan is developed for what should be taught, employees should be informed of the details. A timetable should be established with periodic evaluations to inform employees about their progress. On-the-job techniques include orientations, job instruction training, apprenticeships, internships and assistantships, job rotation and coaching. Off-the-job techniques include lectures, special study, films, television conferences or discussions, case studies, role playing, simulation, programmed instruction and laboratory training. Most of these techniques can be used by small businesses although, some may be too costly. Orientations are for new employees. The first several days on the job are crucial in the success of new employees. This point is illustrated by the fact that 60 percent of all employees who quit do so in the first ten days. Orientation training should emphasize the following topics: • The company's history and mission. • The key members in the organization. • The key members in the department, and how the department helps fulfill the mission of the company. • Personnel rules and regulations. Lectures present training material verbally and are used when the goal is to present a great deal of material to many people. It is more cost effective to lecture to a group than to train people individually. Lecturing is one-way communication and as such may not be the most effective way to train. Also, it is hard to ensure that the entire audience understands a topic on the same level; by targeting the average attendee they may under train some and lose others. Despite these drawbacks, lecturing is the most cost-effective way of reaching large audiences. Role playing and simulation are training techniques that attempt to bring realistic decision making situations to the trainee. Likely problems and alternative solutions are presented for discussion. The adage there is no better trainer than experience is exemplified with this type of training. Experienced employees can describe real world experiences, and can help in and learn from developing the 11

Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company

solutions to these simulations. This method is cost effective and is used in marketing and management training. Job rotation involves moving an employee through a series of jobs so he or she can get a good feel for the tasks that are associated with different jobs. It is usually used in training for supervisory positions. The employee learns a little about everything. This is a good strategy for small businesses because of the many jobs an employee may be asked to do. Apprenticeships develop employees who can do many different tasks. They usually involve several related groups of skills that allow the apprentice to practice a particular trade, and they take place over a long period of time in which the apprentice works for, and with, the senior skilled worker. Apprenticeships are especially appropriate for jobs requiring production skills. Internships and assistantships are usually a combination of classroom and onthe-job training. They are often used to train prospective managers or marketing personnel. Programmed learning, computer-aided instruction and interactive video all have one thing in common: they allow the trainee to learn at his or her own pace. Also, they allow material already learned to be bypassed in favor of material with which a trainee is having difficulty. After the introductory period, the instructor need not be present, and the trainee can learn as his or her time allows. These methods sound good, but may be beyond the resources of some small businesses. These are the procedures I would like the Apex to follow in carrying out training. The above stated shows the suggestions and practices which I would prefer to be adopted by Apex. Q5. Describe how you would go about evaluating that training program. Prepare a training feedback form and explain the importance of evaluation in the entire training process. Answer:Evaluation of the training program can be done by evaluation on the person being evaluated. Feedback is essential for people to know how they are progressing, and also, evaluation is crucial to the learner's confidence too. And since people's commitment to learning relies so heavily on confidence and a belief that the learning is achievable, the way that tests and assessments are designed and managed, and results presented back to the learners, is a very important part of the learning and development process. People can be switched off the whole idea of learning and development very quickly if they receive negative critical test results and feedback. Always look for positives in negative results. Encourage and support - don't criticize without adding

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Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company

some positives, and certainly never focus on failure, or that's just what you'll produce. There have been many surveys on the use of evaluation in training and development. For effective training and learning evaluation, the principal questions I would ask my employees are: •To what extent were the identified training needs objectives achieved by the programme? •To what extent were the learners' objectives achieved? •What specifically did the learners learn or be usefully reminded of? •What commitment have the learners made about the learning they are going to implement on their return to work? •How successful were the trainees in implementing their action plans? •To what extent were they supported in this by their line managers? •To what extent has the action listed above achieved a Return on Investment (ROI) for the organization, either in terms of identified objectives satisfaction or, where possible, a monetary assessment. Then I would go by evaluating the training program with these steps which are listed below: •Planning, design and preparation of the training programmes against the objectives •Pre-course identification of people with needs and completion of the preparation required by the training programme. •Provision of the agreed training programmes •Pre-course briefing meeting between learner and line manager •Pre-course or start of programme identification of learners' existing knowledge, skills and attitudes, The Feedback Form Of Apex The importance of evaluation in the training process: • • • • •

Helps employees to monitor their own improvement. Builds morale, by demonstrating an interest in staff development. To maximize the training ROI (return on investment). Helps to determine the form of future training programs. Assists with identifying the effectiveness of different forms of teaching (such as classroom based or web based).

• Organizations that train but do not evaluate that training cannot be certain of its value, either to themselves or their employees. Q6. Indicate how you would evaluate whether the training you designed accomplished the objectives. Answer:11

Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company

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Individual –needs must be considered seriously rather than group – needs. Study material must be given quite in advance before training programme, so that the participant makes him aware with the study material and contents for training programme. Motive for training should not be as: “If one participant among forty or fifty, acquires knowledge then training is useful” Instead, it should be as: “All the participants have to acquire knowledge as much as it is possible in the best trainings” A Counseling – cum – Revision session may be organized in post training session. External faculty should be called again only after assessing the results of post training evaluation. Suggestion may be invited from employees on training matters. Mangers and above may be awarded of the future benefits of training. They should make to be realized that training is not wastage of manpower. It’s an important issue because investment in human resources is the best investment if company really wants to upraise itself. In post- training evaluation period, questionnaire may be forwarded to the concerned D.Os. Participants must be awarded or benefited after the assessment of post-training results. Case work method can be adopted in counseling, if group work method becomes unsuccessful. The feedback forms, which are filled just after which are filled just after training, should not contain the name of trainee. Then he will reveal the facts exactly, related in the absence of faculty. Training should be given only after making up the trainee for it. It may be done by motivating by the Trainees and should be prepared for training and then they will learn more and better during the training.

Limitations: It is a brief conducted during short span of time. In order to know the depth one requires a lot of information, money and involvement of manpower. As is the case with every research effort, this study also leaves a lot of room for further improvements. Conclusion: At present, there is no systematic standardization of the different training programmes. Each organization has developed its own methods of training for both the workers and supervision. However management must consider a systematic training programme to improve the efficiency and morale of employees. A

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Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company

systematic training programme will help the management to standardize the job performance as well as in selection and placement programme. Since training is a continuous process and not a onetime affair, and since it consumes time and entails much expenditure, it is necessary that a training programme or policy should be prepared with great thought and care, for it would serve the purpose of the establishment as well as the needs for employees. Moreover, it must guard against over- training use of poor instruction, too much training in skills which are unnecessary for a particular job, imitation for other company’s training programmes, misuse of testing techniques, inadequate tools and equipment, and over – reliance on one single technique. A successful training programme presumes that sufficient care has been taken to discover areas in which it is needed most and to create the necessary environment for its conduct. The selected trainer should understand clearly his job and has professional experience, has an aptitude and ability for reaching possesses a pleasing personality and a capacity for leadership, is well versed in the principles and methods of training and is able to appreciate the value of training in relation to an enterprise. Participants tend to be more responsive to training programmes when they feel the need to learn, I e. the trainee will be more eager to learn if training promises answers to problems or needs he has. The individual who perceives training as the solution to problems will be more willing to enter into a training programme than the individual who is satisfied with his present performance abilities. References 1) HND Textbook - Business Essentials – ‘Human Resource Management ‘Published By ‘BPP Learning’.

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