In preparation for the Week Three assignment, look ahead in the course syllabus and post a draft topic and objectives for your training and development plan.
Respond to at least two of your classmates' posts. Offer a peer critique of their draft topic and objectives. Include suggestions for improvement, questions you may have, ideas for sources, and so forth. The critique should be 200 to 250 words and include citations and references for the text and at least one scholarly source.
Topic Elaboration
Strategic Choices
The Organization must decide if it wants employees who conform to the organization or who are creative and show innovation.
The issue is not if the firm should have any conformity, but rather to what degree does it expect conformity. Conformity reduces uncertainty and variation. However, when there is too much uncertainty and variation, creativity and innovation are stifled. This makes it hard for organizations to come up with new ideas and approaches.
Make or buy?
Should the organization develop its own human resources (grow its own) or focus on hiring employees who are already developed (buy its own)? Some firms expend a great deal of time, effort, and money to train employees in the company's specific way. IBM and Proctor & Gamble are two examples. Size is a factor in that larger firms can afford to spend money on extensive training. Hiring untrained and inexperienced people lowers wage costs and aids in trainability.
Coach or Terminate?
Should the organization try to improve poor performers or simply replace them? Several issues must be considered: the probability of improving performance, the cost of improving performance, legal considerations, replacement costs, and top management philosophy.
How well does the organization's development strategy match the organization's overall strategy?
An organization's strategy and its culture are closely related. Both concepts affect the other.
The Training Process
Training and Strategy-Training needs flow ideally from the employer's strategic plans. Research has found that establishing a linkage between learning and organizational performance is the number- one issue facing training professionals.
Watch the following video: Training Needs Analysis or TNA (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
The Training and Development Process-1) needs analysis, 2) instructional design, 3) validation, 4) implement the program, and 5) evaluation and follow-up.
Watch the following video: Employee Training Process (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
Current Trends in Training
Compliance training has become a norm in most organizations. The goal of compliance training is to evaluate whether employees understand how regulations apply to their jobs. The majority of organizations are using training methods that enhance both learning and transfer of training-such as e-learning, and role playing-to ensure that employees not only understand regulations but can also apply them.
AMA Enterprise identifies the following trends that will have an impact on the industry in 2013:
Transparency- organizations are being pressured to be more open about internal practices and policies.
Demand for basic skills training- "a renewed demand for training programs designed to build communications skills, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity, all of which are needed to improve employee productivity" (SHRM Online Staff, 2012).
Training as a method to increase loyalty- with high attrition and job jumping being prevalent, companies will use training as a method to build relationships with high-performing employees.
Mobility of learning- not only continued e-learning, but also learning on mobile devices will increase.
Globalization- leadership training initiatives will be focused on the global marketplace (SHRM Online Staff, 2012).