The Goal of Training Is for Employees to Master the Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviors Emphasized

Thank you for taking the time to go over this proposal for recommendations on establishing training and development departments in businesses large and small and improving existing training and development departments. Companies may feel that they are able to hire experienced employees through the candidate pool that is currently available and that having a specialized department for this purpose will be too expensive, but training and development provide benefits to the company and employees alike. According to Noe (2009):

The goal of training is for employees to master the knowledge, skills, and behaviors

emphasized in training programs and to apply them to their day-to-day activities. For a

company to gain a competitive advantage, its training has to involve more than just basic

skill development. (p. 4)

Training and development will help to ensure that employees are able to handle their duties efficiently for the company, and will prepare employees to be able to take over other duties in case of promotions in the future. Small companies may not consider themselves big enough to be able to have their own training or development department, but that may not necessarily be true. A human resources department can help to facilitate the training and development at a smaller company utilizing these recommendations.

One of the first steps in establishing a training and development department is creating a philosophy that will cover the companies need for the training and development. According to

Landale (1999), “The training philosophy is a statement of a company or organization’s attitude towards training. It has to define clearly the importance that is attached to training. It has to be communicated, with conviction, to every employee” (p. 91). Small and large companies alike can gain a more competitive edge by focusing on what training and development can improve within their own company. This philosophy should be one that determines how this new department or improved department will be able to support the existing business strategy that the company has in place. The philosophy can be based upon being able to align the skills and competencies of employees by identifying those competencies that are best suited to strategic needs, such as improving customer service and improving the efficiency of the service that is provided.

The recommendations for establishing a training and development department requires several steps to be taken. The first step after creating a philosophy towards the needs that a company has for training and development is to create the parameters for the department itself.

Will it run separately from the human resources department or will it be built into the existing human resources department? It may be necessary to hire an individual that has experience with implementing training and development projects within a company. Having a structure for the department will make sure that there is no confusion on how training and development programs will be provided to employees.

After the department has been created, the next steps after this will be determining what types of training and development the company will use, such as using traditional training methods of lectures, hands-on training, group building, e-classes, distance education, blended learning or other methods available. Small companies may find using e-classes or blended learning will allow for employees to be able to attend the training and development classes on their own time when their position is not as busy as it normally would be or when other employees are available to provide coverage for the duties that they may be neglecting during training. The type of training and development programs needed for a company will depend on the needs that they currently have within their staff, and suggestions can be gained through talking with employees, supervisors and management on which skills may need brushed up on in the future.

Also, small businesses can take advantage of classes and materials that are prepared by outside companies that focus on improving the training and development of other companies.

This will take some of the responsibilities off of the training and development staff as preparing training materials can be time consuming, especially if that staff is part of the human resources department with other duties beyond training and development purposes. Instructor materials will help them to familiarize themselves with the materials enough to be able to teach classes or assist employees with problems they are having through e-classes.

After the department has been put into place, and classes have been started with the employees of the company, the job is not yet done. It is important to constantly evaluate the program that is in place to ensure that it is continuing to support the philosophy that was originally created for the department. For instance, once all the employees have been through a customer service class in learning how to better handles tricky customer service complaints, it would be beneficial to have other classes that either focus on other aspects of customer service or focus on a competency that will support the strategic plan of the company, such as cross-training employees to handle other tasks in case of sickness, vacation, or termination. The training and development department should always be looking for ways to improve the services that they provide to the company. Part of the evaluation process can include employee questionnaires where they give information on how well the materials correlate with their position, if they understood the training, and suggestions on other training and development topics.

Trying to justify the cost and time of training and development within small and medium companies can be hard as they may not have as much discretionary budget as much larger corporations, but there are many benefits that can come from having this type of department on- site. According to Jackson and Schuler (2011), “Training and development activities can also be a means for employers to address employees’ needs. By offering training and development opportunities, employers help employees develop their own personal competitive advantage and ensure their long-term employability” (p. 270). This benefit may be seen more as a benefit for employees because it can help them to improve their resume and make it easier for them to apply for a bigger and better position at a different company, but in the long-run it is benefiting the company, as well. The company is not only improving their employee-base by training and developing their own in-house talent, but they are also showing to prospective employees that they are interested in growing them as a person. This can be a big draw for employees that are weighing their career options, and can be considered part of the benefit package of joining a company.

Another way to justify the money and time that a training and development department can have a company is that they are working to improve upon the current employee base that already exists within the company. This improved pool of employees will be better trained to step up into promotion positions when openings occur because they are already familiar with the company, the organizational culture, and the business processes already in place in comparison to hiring someone outside of the company. The training and development department will be able to not only improve the chances of an existing employee being able to take over for a higher position opening, but they will also be able to better advise which employees that they have worked with will have the best potential for filling that particular position.

This recommendation is not only just towards companies that do not currently have a training and development department as those that currently have one should be constantly evaluating and revising the programs that the department has in place. According to Saks,

Haccoun, and Belcourt (2011), “Training evaluation is a process designed to assess the value – the worthiness – of training programs to employees and to organizations” (p. 321). A training and development department is only viable and valuable to a company when it is accomplishing the goal of improving the company’s workforce. Not checking on an existing program because it seems to be working is doing the company a huge disservice and is basically throwing money away on a department and programming that is not helping the employees become better employees.

In conclusion, there are many reasons on why to approve this recommendation. The first is that the business environment that we currently live in is very competitive, and a department that focuses on training and development would be beneficial to companies of all sizes to improve on the services that they provide to consumers. The company benefits by attracting great talent that knows the company is interested as growing them as a person, and by improving the employee base that they have in place. Smaller companies may think that they are unable to keep up with the larger corporations, but by hiring great employees that benefit from high quality training and development projects will help to give them an edge that consumers are looking for when trying to find a company to work with for their needs. A training and development department does not have to be expensive, but it can be time consuming and have costs associated with that must be justified in order for the company to keep the classes and programs in process. The justification behind spending this time and money is an engaged and productive work force that is efficiently able to support the company’s business strategy. References

Jackson, S. E., & Schuler, R. S. (2011). Managing human resources (11th ed.). Mason, OH:

South Western/Cengage Learning.

Landale, A. (1999). Gower handbook of training and development (3rd ed.). Brookfield, VT:

Gower.

Noe, R. A. (2009). Employee training and development (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-

Hill/Irwin.

Saks, A. M., Haccoun, R. R., & Belcourt, M. (2011). Managing performance through training

and development (5th ed.). Toronto: Nelson Education.