Case -Training and Development

Abe worksfor a nationwide corporation in one of their local offices. The corporation has 900 such offices in 38 states. Every office performs the same function and every office is staffed in the same way. The universal staffing of the office includes the following full time positions:

Center Manager
Center Assistance Manager - Fills in for the Center Manager.
From three to ten Client Account Specialists - These people actually form the profit center of
the location.
Data Entry Clerk - Uses the company's software packages plus some off-the-shelf software to
carry out administrative functions for clients and employees.
Receptionist - Answers phones, sets appointments, keeps the office running.

When Abe started working hewas struck by the fact that the only training available was word of mouth from other employees plus a 98 page manual that goes through the functions carried out by a Client Account Specialist. In trying to learn his job, Abe telephoned colleagues at other locations only to find that they were doing things differently from the way he had been told. Abe mentioned this to one of his co-workers, she responded that he will not find a lot of consistency in the way things are done and that "corporate" seems to value independent thought and resourcefulness. This gave Abe no solace, since he was sure that the lack of uniformity in some of the processes was hurting efficiency of his office and quite possibly the entire organization.

Abe decided to suggest that the corporation might benefit from a little more standardization but he was not certain how to present his thoughts. Abe thinks it will have a lot to do with training but in truth, he really has no idea where to begin.

What is the model?

How would you proceed?