Linking Training to Strategy

Think of situations from the work environment when you need to make decisions and strategize key tasks. For example, if you need to turn in a report well before its deadline, how do you plan to complete the report? You strategize and prioritize your tasks in order to complete your report ahead of time.

Just as you strategize to successfully complete important assignments, organizations strategize to define their development and growth plans. Training models must successfully align with those plans. For this Discussion, choose a topic from the assigned chapters and then reflect on situations from your work or personal life that relate to training models and/or how they aligned with organizational strategies.

Based on your reading for this week:

Prepare a substantive response describing a real-world situation-either from your own experience or from an item in the news that addresses some of the primary concepts covered in that topic. For example: How does the training area you have identified ensure the training meets strategic goals? What tools are used to determine the appropriate training model? Is there is a situation where the training did not align with strategy and yielded unsuccessful results? Identify specific human resources development (HRD) strategic choices.

Post by Day 3 a substantive response of approximately 200-250 words that is an explanation of your chosen real-world situation. Your explanation should include the following:

Identify the chosen training and strategy topic, including specific references to the course text.

Describe the illustrative real-world situation, including background and relevant context to the chosen topic.

Explain how the real-world situation clarifies or exemplifies the concepts in your selected topic, providing supportive examples and credible evidence as needed.

Explain how training and strategy can align with organizational objectives.

Use the Week 1 Discussion Template (located in this week's Learning Resources) to develop a draft of your response. Then, post your finalized statement to the Discussion Thread.

Read a selection of your colleagues' postings.

Respond by Day 6 with at least 75 words each to two or more of your colleagues' postings in one or more of the following ways:

Ask a probing question.

Share an insight from having read your colleague's posting.

Offer and support an opinion.

Make a suggestion.

Expand on your colleague's posting.

Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what insights you gained as a result of the comments your colleagues made.

Be sure to support your work with specific citations from the Learning Resources and any additional sources.

Required Resources

Readings

Blanchard, P. N., & Thacker, J. W. (2013). Effective training: Systems, strategies, and practices(5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall.

Chapter 1, "Training in Organizations" (pp. 1-23)

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the importance of training in an organization and the integral relation of training with the human resources development (HRD) function. The chapter also discusses the opportunities and challenges that HRD managers face when trying to align the training facilities of their organization with its business strategies.

Focus on the primary concepts taught in the following three sections of this chapter: "Overview of Training," "Trends in Training," and "Important Concepts and Meanings." Together, these three sections describe the relevance of training and how it becomes an integral part of the HRD function in an organization.

Chapter 2, "Aligning Training With Strategy" (pp. 24-55)

Chapter 2 outlines the intertwined relationship between HRD and an organization's strategic development plans. This chapter also illustrates the effectiveness of the strategic growth of an organization when organizational strategies are aligned with HRD policies and when they are not. In addition, the chapter describes various strategies that HRD managers define to accomplish the comprehensive organizational developmental plans.

Focus on HRD strategies that help consolidate the internal and external (competitive) environments in order to meet the overall organizational development plans.