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Training And Development Proposal

Katrina A. Kinlow

Dr. T.A. Swinney

335 – Training and Development

February 1, 2015

Training and Development Proposal

Introduction

Computer Aided Design Solutions is a small business that has been started to provide solutions to design problems. The scope of the business ranges from design of machinery and structures like buildings to household vessels. The design program has to be taught to individuals to enable them to inductively participate competently in the market of design solutions. I always get invited to offer consulting services in this field. I will draw heavily from my experience when I provide training and development services to this business. There are numerous challenges to be overcome for one to be successful as I will show herein.

Training Methods to Be Used

Good learning and development initiatives in the Design field always feature a combination of many methods that, blended together, produce one effective training program. Below are some of the ways of delivering training and development activities for the consulting services.

Orientation

Orientation will familiarize the new trainees with the field of Computer Aided Design. It will be conducted through training manuals, a one-on-one meeting with a consultant who will give a lecture. Newcomers will receive information on our company's history and strategic position, the key people in authority at the business, the structure of departments and how they contribute to the overall mission of the enterprise, and the employment policies, rules, and regulations.

Lectures

Lecturers are a verbal method of presenting information; lectures are mainly useful in situations when the goal is to impart the same information to a large number of people at one time.

Case Study

The Case study method of training is a non-directed method of study where trainees are given practical case reports with similar situations and facts as the current situation to analyze. The case report includes a thorough description of a simulated or real-life situation.

Role Playing

Students assume a role outside of their current role and responsibilities and play out that role within a group. A facilitator creates a scenario that is to be acted out by the participants under the guidance of the facilitator. While the situation might be contrived, the interpersonal relations are genuine. In addition, participants receive immediate feedback from the facilitator and the scenario itself, allowing better understanding of their behavior.

Computer-Based Training

This method of training will involve the use of computers and computer-based instructional materials as the primary medium of instruction. Computer-based training programs will be useful to structure and present instructional materials, as well as facilitate the learning process for the trainee.

Elements of Training and Development in Computer Design Lessons

Training is a function aimed at producing change and to upgrading a person’s skills to bring about the desired change. Training itself can’t motivate the workforce but it will play an integral part in the accomplishment long term goals of the Computer Design business (Clardy, 2012) (McNamara, 2003).

In the comprehensive training plan for the design business described above, the first part covers administration, training and management of the training. The second section defines roles and responsibilities and describes the training needs analysis processes. The third section of the plan covers the requirement for the ongoing development and maintenance of training courses. The steps involved in the training needs analysis process are detailed below.

Step 1: The making of a business case

Plans made for the launch of any new initiative fail if the mistake of not preparing the business case is made. New programs and expenditure need to be considered in the context of the overall value of the initiative to the company, as well as on the strategic impact to the processes and activities of the enterprise. Conducting a cost-benefit analysis and developing a formal business case to determine the financial benefit of doing training will be a must.

Step 2: Developing objectives and learning outcomes

The establishment of the aim of the training will be made with a post-training carried out. What the learners need to know will be clearly defined at this step. The learning outcomes will establish the described criteria by which the training will be judged a success. The training objectives and learning outcomes will be aligned with an employee’s position competency profile and, at the top-most level, with the organization’s business goals and mission.

Step 3: Developing content and instructional design

We will be using the most effective education and training methods for the situation. Additionally, on-the-job training that employs an element of training and coaching and optimal instructional delivery that ensures relevance to the current situation will be deployed.

Step 4: Accessing internal 
and external resources

Delivery of the training will be provided through in-house resources or an external consultant depending on the suitability of each alternative. In-house training is the least expensive option as the salaries of in-house instructors will be lesser than the remuneration paid to external trainers. Using an external resource may create enough separation between the issue at hand and the instructor to keep the conversation in the classroom at an objective level.

Step 5: Developing education and training materials

Education materials to be developed for the course will be meticulously aligned with the objectives and expected outcomes of learning. The learning activities will pass on to the learners an opportunity to apply the principles that they will learn in the training to real-life situations. The instructors are expected to demonstrate a clear understanding of the audience well, the company culture and the training needs and objectives.

Step 6: Transferring knowledge, skills and abilities

The trainees will be given an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they have received in the workplace during the training and demonstrate new abilities. Barriers that may prevent prompt and practical application must be identified and eliminated if the program is to be a success.

Step 7: Evaluating the effectiveness of training

Assessing the effectiveness of the education and training will be a critical issue. Evaluation will validate the business case that was made in support of the training. The key parameter that will be used to measure the effectiveness of the training will be the output of the trained individuals. It will be ascertained whether their productivity increased as a result of the training and education. In as much as the quantifiable costs of the training will be easy to measure, it will be significant to take into consideration other factors such as uptake and participant satisfaction.

Step 8: Undertaking
continuous improvement

In the spirit of Kaizen, continuous improvements will be carried. They will include regulating and updating the education and exercise materials, adjusting the time due to classroom theory and work site practical training, and even tweaking the instructor delivery and messaging.

The Importance of Training

Firstly, training will assist in improving trainee’s performance in the business, as well as developing the group and team skills needed to achieve organizational goals thus giving trainees the skills and knowledge necessary to complete assigned jobs, duties and tasks. Secondly, training will motivate the trainees to meet high standards, and this will increase overall efficiency. Additionally, training will improve customer service that will lead to increased customer satisfaction and retention. Training will prepare trainees for promotional opportunities and decrease employee turnover. Downtime will be reduced as a consequence of training and development. Training will lead to enhanced trainee morale, motivation, and creativity thus enabling trainees to reach unit goals and objectives as well as give trainees the tools needed to analyze and mitigate against the interpersonal and situational factors that create obstacles to the achievement of high performance.

Theories Associated With Training and Development

Self-determination theory and work motivation

Cognitive evaluation theory, explains the effects of extrinsic motivators on intrinsic motivation. However, skewed dichotomy between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation made the theory difficult to apply work settings. The theory differentiates extrinsic motivation to two categories that differ according to the degree of autonomy. It gave rise to the self-determination theory, which has gained widespread attention in the education, sports domains, and health care; it is a theory of work motivation and lends relevance to theories of organizational behavior.

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

This theory suggests that external factors like tangible rewards, deadlines and evaluations tend to reduce feelings of autonomy, resulting in a change in perceived causality focus from internal to external factors and roots out extrinsic motivation (Smith, 1975). On the contrary, some external factors like provision of choice about aspects of task engagement enhance feelings of autonomy, prompt a shift from external to internal, and increase intrinsic motivation (Zuckerman et al., 1978).

Challenges Faced in Computer Aided Design Business

Hiring employees that can truly assist in the long-run growth of the business is a key challenge. My business finds it challenging to pose competition for top talent in the field with the bigger companies in the same industry for I have limited funds. Getting new clients is another major challenge. However, this can only be solved by creating a system for getting and keeping customers through enticement provisions, discounts and other friendly acts which I have to give to maintain higher client acquisition and retention rates. The difficulty to build up credit and give financials worthy of securing the business loans and lines of credit needed for growth hamper expansion efforts. The irregular timing of cash flow is another challenge hinders proper planning. Ultimately, the primary solution for operational liquidity and financial challenges is to go for credit that will give an appropriate return on capital (Blanchard, 1999).

Uncertainty poses another major challenge specifically to management and business, in general. The unpredictable nature of potential changes to the current legislation generates market instability. Last but not least, I encounter challenges as I make efforts aimed at increasing customer collections while keeping overheads intact. I have found out that the best way to do this is by paying attention to what my customer is saying and asking for; I always ask how I can do better or what can be added, and put better bundles together so the ticket price is higher and value is added, while not a whole lot of increase in overhead happens (Blanchard, 1999).

Effects of Detecting Organizational Gap in My Business

A gap analysis will show what is barring my business from actualizing its full potential. It will be done for the whole company as well as on a departmental and section basis. In either case, it will signal to me the areas of underperformance, whether the problems are related to internal inefficiencies or external challenges. Gap analysis in my business will be an attempt at bridging the divide between the current state of the business and my company’s vision. Comparisons will be done alongside stated goals, industry standards, and any regulatory requirements. I will analyze the current state and get current operational data, and if necessary interview a representative sample of my employees. I may hire an outside group to conduct gap analysis in an effort to guard against bias from influencing the results.

Internal Gaps

After identification of the gaps, I will look at their root causes. Internal gaps occur as a result of internal inefficiencies. These may include delays due to failure to complete tasks in time, inadequate skills of my employees rendering them incompetent against better trained rivals or poor communication between departments in my organization which lead to lack of proper coordination.

External Gaps

External gaps tend to bar me from serving a segment of the market effectively. They are as a result of external environment. They include governmental policy that forbid me from selling my products in certain places, for instance, multistoried buildings designs, being in tough markets, or my visions of international success aren’t reflected on the balance sheet.

Proposed Training Strategy to Improve This Business

Improvements will be made in the sales and marketing departments to align the activities in these functional areas congruent with the short-term and long-term goals and objectives of the business. The root causes of hindrances to growth of business in aspects of competitiveness in the market will be analyzed and solutions proposed. Gaining visibility into the real cost of ineffective customer communication by conducting assessments such as a Sales/Channel Time Usage Study, Collateral and Sales Tools Gap Analysis, and targeted customer surveys will greatly lead to improvement of business performance. Conversely, to minimize chances of an erroneous business model for allocating sales and marketing resources being deployed, channel readiness work will be undertaken to enable the channel-field sales, inside sales, customer service, and channel partners to successfully sell the value of the company’s products and services. Resources essential for successful completion of the channel readiness work will be allocated appropriately, and funded sufficiently. Studies show that 15-20% of the channel readiness work is completed by the channel, one rep at a time and one deal at a time, as the high-level descriptive messaging will be translated into persuasive conversations. From a business-model perspective, it will be effective to have the marketing department do more of this work and then leverage it over the entire channel organization. The marketing team will be tasked with to do more of the channel readiness work. A study that was undertaken revealed that the majority of marketing organizations are already resource-constrained and incapable of fulfilling many of their commitments. The business model restricts the reallocation and reprioritization of sales and marketing resources needed to increase performance (Chase, 2007).

Gaining a clear understanding of how much time and effort my channel invests into re-creating messaging and collateral — and why they do it — and calculate the value of the work is one of the best strategies that will be employed to improve this business performance. Channel readiness model that defines customer communication (content and messaging) will support the buying cycle, from lead generation to retention, and indicate which stakeholder will be responsible for what deliverable. Communication is the fuel on which my marketing and sales engines will run. I will also reprioritize and renegotiate deliverables with stakeholders so that I have the resources and time needed to yield more persuasive messaging and more influential content (Chase, 2007).

References

Blanchard, P., & Thacker, J. (1999). Effective training. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

Chase, R., Jacobs, F., & Aquilano, N. (2007). Operations Management for Competitive Advantage. Beijing: Ji Xie Gong Ye Chu Ban She.

Clardy, A. (2012). The Management Training Tool Kit. New York: AMACOM.

McNamara, C. (2003). Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision for Nonprofit Staff. Minneapolis, Minn.: Authenticity Consulting.