rewriting work

Human Resources Development (HRD) plays a vital role in the success of an organization's strategic business objectives. Development of key strategies should involve HRD to develop detailed planning on how to best support the employees to gain the necessary knowledge to achieve the organization’s objectives. We will discuss the phases of the training process model along with the functions of training as an open system. Also, we will discuss the definition and categories of learning along with a description of HR development and how it aligns with a company’s strategic planning.

Training Process Model

The ADDIE model is the acronym used to describe the steps of the training process model. ADDIE stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (Blanchard & Thacker, 2013). The training process begins with an event that triggers the need for evaluation because actual organizational performance (AOP) is not aligning with expected organizational performance (EOP) (Blanchard & Thacker, 2013).

Analysis, also known as training needs analysis, helps determine the organizational performance gap and whether there is a current or future performance gap to be addressed. This analysis tries to discover the cause of the gap which could be a training gap affecting the employees’ knowledge, skills, or attitude (KSA), or a nontraining gap such as lack of motivation or failing equipment. Once the gap is determined, the design phase begins. Training objectives, including what and how training will occur and required results, are determined during the design phase. During the design phase, it is important that areas of constraint and support are identified as the factors that will be needed within the training program to ease learning and how employees will use the training when they go back to work are vital outcomes from this phase (Blanchard & Thacker, 2013).

The development phase is the next step in the training process and involves design phase outputs as guidelines to create an instructional strategy that will achieve the needs determined by gap analysis. During this phase, all of the materials needed to implement the training will be developed including training materials, program manuals, training content, and instructional methods will be determined. Next is the implementation phase where all of the outputs from the previous processes come together to deliver the training. Blanchard & Thacker (2013) recommend running a pilot program before the actual training sessions to gather information on what is working and what can be removed, before formally launching the training.

The last step in the training process is the evaluation phase. While this is described as the last step, it begins during the design phase when the training objectives were being determined, and during the development phase, the measures to be used for evaluation were determined. Organizational constraints, money, time, and staff can affect the outcome of training evaluations. There are two types of evaluation used for reviewing outputs of the training process; process evaluation and outcome evaluation. Process evaluation looks at the outcomes of the training process, as it relates to delivery, and how it met its objectives where outcome evaluation is used after the training is complete and its results on the employee, job performance, and other determined deliverables (Blanchard & Thacker, 2013).

Training as an Open System

Training as an open system describes how training is interconnected with the organization and the environment it operates in. The open system receives input from the environment and uses these inputs to generate output to supports the organization. Similar to how an organization responds to inputs from internal and external environments, training as an open system also responds to inputs from the environment and will adjust accordingly. In an open system, there are multiple layers where inputs are received, called subsystems. Training, as part of the human resources function, would be considered a subsystem for human resources, which is a subsystem for another level. Organizational needs, employee needs, budgets, resources, and employees would all be considered inputs into the training subsystem. Through the training process, these inputs would be developed into outputs that meet the needs of the organization. Outputs from the training subsystem would include job performance, and improved knowledge, skills, motivation, and attitudes (Blanchard & Thacker, 2013).

Categories of Learning

Learning, as defined by Blanchard & Thacker (2013), is a “relatively permanent change in cognition that results from experience and that directly effects behavior." What an individual learns, the learning outcomes, are interrelated but can be broken up into different categories; knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Knowledge can be described as information gathered over time that includes facts, procedures, information, and principles. This type of learning is placed into our memory as fact (declarative), and then we learn when and how to use the information (procedural) at the right moments in time strategic. The "what" and "when" to use knowledge are required before someone can learn the skills of "how" to do something. Skills are the ability to use knowledge following training or experience. Lastly, attitudes are garnered from an employee’s opinion and their beliefs that will stop or support required behavior. An employee’s beliefs can directly impact how the employee learns new training and how they apply their new skills once back on the job (Blanchard & Thacker, 2013).

HR Development and Strategic Planning

HRD is a set of planned and systematic activities designed to help a company meet their future training and development needs to reach their strategic objectives (Bobinski, 2004). Completing assessments of current employee strengths and weaknesses will affect a company’s ability to achieve their goals. It would be costly, if not detrimental, for a company to move forward with a business strategy without consulting with the HRD team. HRD needs to align itself with the organization and support, through development, the company’s ability to achieve their strategy. Through the development of training processes that will close the talent gap will ensure that training is delivered to the right people at the right time (Blanchard & Thacker, 2013).

Conclusion

The training process is triggered when an organization sees a gap between actual and expected organizational performance. This gap leads to analysis, design, development, implementation, and, finally, evaluation of required training. Training as an open system allows the constant evolution of the training program to improve delivery outputs. Lastly, HRD contributes to the successful achievement of corporate strategies by aligning with the strategic goals of an organization and developing the appropriate training to minimize training gaps that could derail a company from reaching its goals.

References

Blanchard, P. N., & Thacker, J. (2013). Effective Training: Systems, Strategies, and Practices (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Bobinski, D. (2004). Management Issues. Retrieved from http://www.management-issues.com/opinion/1137/the-role-of-hr-in-strategic-planning/