Designing Employee Learning and Development - Coursework Example

Running Header: Designing Employee Learning and Development Customer Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name 09, 03, 2011 Introduction There are a number of consecutive steps to be followed while implementing the training process. These steps vary with the management and the organization in question. The steps presented in this paper are some of the fundamental steps that can vary with organization and management in question. The steps explained are as follows; Making the learning process right through proper structure, making learning work through engagement, Making the learning process to connect through a game plan, Making the learning process to stick through consolidation and Checking learning success through evaluation. Step 1-Making the learning process right through proper structure The organizations manager must have a clear objective of what they want from their employees before they commence the training process. There ought to be a total consistency on the reason for training and the importance of managing human resource in the organization. The manager must also clearly outline the principles, practise required when acting in their capacity. This must also act in consistence vigilance and the implications of excellence and also poor performance. This initial step will also act as a reminder of what is required or needed of the employees in the organization. This means that all the employees should understand the reason for people management, they responsibility in the organization and the implications of their actions which cover the possible rewards for performance and the consequences of under performance in their task (Ijose, 2010). Making the employees understand this is critical before the beginning of the training process. In order to ensure that the training process is successful, the company’s manager ought to establish the current performance of the company and what need to be emphasised in order to foster the development or the progress of the company with respect to its visions and missions. Since the human resource is the main source of competitive advantage, analysis of its performance is a critical factor. As an example, the development of information and technology sometimes necessitates the need to have new systems in place which foster the development of the organization. Such systems require training before usage and the organization ought to plan on how to integrate such systems into the organization. The current performance of the company’s employees is a reason to develop a learning and development process which seeks to strengthen their areas of weaknesses. The training will also be useful in increasing their efficiency; this can only be done by initially explaining the need of performance in the organization (Stewart & Brown, 2009). Rewards, motivation and appraisal are necessary when undertaking the training process considering that the company and the employees will gain as a result of a successful training process. Step 2-Making learning work through engagement After the identification of the learning objectives, this step marks the beginning of the learning process. This is thus the beginning of the acquisition of competence and behaviours to be practised. The learning process in this stage begins by introduction of the objectives of the training process, which essentially defines the target concepts and general behaviours expects and the need of the training process (Lloyd, 2005). Group discussions and feedbacks are also encouraged at this stage in order to ensure that the learning process is going as planned. Based on the situation of the given company, unacceptable performance and conduct allows for the introduction of the development skills which essentially deals with conflict, discipline and negotiation. The process begins by identifying a team member with a mixture of excellence and underperformance. Evidence and documentation is then prepared and completed as per the member’s key expectation areas. After the completion of this process, time is then taken to review the process in order to ensure that it is conducted in a free and fair way. This process will help in the identification of the weak points of every employee and how they will be addressed. Personal and group engagement will also be used in this stage to ensure that the learning process is done in a manner that is all involving through the participations of every group member. Exchange of ideas and feelings about a particular subject of discussion is also encouraged at this stage; this will help in the development of the learning process through focusing on the major objectives of the learning and development process. Step 3-Making the learning process to connect through a game plan At this stage, the integrity and the quality of the learning process is put to the test. In essence, the learning process is put to the test and the trainer prepares a formal review where competence and behaviour that has been acquired is now used. At this stage, the trainer ought to understand how to gather evidence, complete documentation, plan the process and rehearse the process. Gathering of evidence can be sometimes challenging since the trainers must consult with each other in order to ensure that they gather the right evidence. The trainers should also ensure that they seek the management guidance at this stage given the importance of evidence gathered (Kaplan & Hurd, 2002). Completing the documentation process presents fewer challenges to the trainers. This is mainly because of the already focused evidence; the scales to be used in this process ought to be precise and clear. This is because of the importance of a clear and easy to complete scale that is based on the evidence collected. Planning and rehearsing the process is a critical stage because of the possible reactions from the team members and also the perceptions of the likely reactions. The trainer at this stage needs to be supportive in order to maintain the learning process. Each trainer should thus be provided with the necessary quality control sheet that sets out the process of planning and setting review. The management should be supportive in terms of providing the necessary resources for the training process to continue successfully. Finalizing this stage requires practise of the skills acquired and hence the need to put the learning experience to the test within the organization in order to ensure that the process sticks. Step 4-Making the learning process to stick through consolidation This stage involves learning, practise and preparation of formal feedback conduct with the employees. The trainer conducts a benchmark review but no final judgements are made based on new evidence. This is because all the new evidences had been collected in the third stage. This stage thus involves acknowledgement of excellent performance from the employee. Based on experience, many excellent performers are unaware because of the fact that most organization lack a feedback system that informs them when they are wrong or right (Ashton & Sung, 2006). The company often ignores such feedback or lacks a system that performs such task. The review in this stage usually focuses on the following elements. Where the employee is now, where the employee ought to be in six months, what plan is required to improve and develop an employee, implementation of the improvement and development plan, monitoring of the improvement plan in the workplace. The trainer then plans the evaluation progress with the following elements considered. Ensuring that the plan is implemented, status of employee progress, targets of any difficulties, provision of support, encouragement and feedback, organization of the following feedback session and continuation of the coaching process. As stated by Huslid (2003) some of the challenges at this stage include benchmark review especially when a workers union official is present at the time of the review process; such situation may get out of hand and lead to a conflict especially when the employee already has pre-conceived ideas. Step 5-Checking learning success through evaluation The learning success of the training process can be evaluated using a number of parameters. The most basic testing process is the current behaviour and performance of employees. The amount of change (positive) determines the percentage of the training process success. The cumulative change in terms of the company’s performance also reveals the extent to which the process was successful. It is expected that after the learning process is complete, the employees will learn how to work with a new system introduced into the organization or how to handle their behaviours in order to promote the objectives of the organization constructively (Cascio, 1998). The evaluation process thus involves checking of all the requirements and determining if they are compliant with all the activities. The management should also develop a cost continuous improvement to determine the progress. The report sell and implementation of continuous improvement will also determine the success of the training process. The secret of the evaluation process however lies on its consistence and the continuity of the check and balances. Conclusion This analysis proposed the first step as creation of fundamental structure that will aid in the training process. It defines the objectives of the learning and makes necessary preparations. The next step is enhancing learning process through engagement with the employees. This will foster the learning process and ensure that the objectives of the step are achieved before proceeding to the next step. Designing a game plan for the learning process is another step that should be followed after the initial step is completed. Making the learning process stick through consolidation is the fourth step that this analysis presented before reviewing the learning process through an effective evaluation process. These steps are the basics and they may change with organizations. References Ashton, D., & Sung, J. (2006). How competitive strategy matters? Understanding the drivers of training, learning and performance at the firm level.(Research Paper No. 66). Oxford, England: Oxford and Warwick Universities Centre for Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance. Cascio, W. (1998). Analyzing work and planning for people, In Chapter 4, Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of work life, profits. (5/e). McGraw Hill Education. Huslid, M. (2003). “Special Issue on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: A Call for more Research,” Human Resource Management”, 42(4), 297-98. Ijose, O. (2010). Strategic human resource management, small and medium sized enterprises and strategic partnership capability, Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 12(2), 1-14. Kaplan, N.J., & J. Hurd. (2002). “Realizing the Promise of Partnerships,” Journal of Business Strategy, 23(3), 38-42. Lloyd, C. (2005). Competitive strategy and skills: working out the fit in the fitness industry. Human Resource Management Journal, 15(2): 15-34. Stewart, G., & Brown, K. (2009). Training for improved performance. In Human resource management: Linking strategy to practice. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons.320-328. Read More