QS 1

Training is a vital investment in the future for high performance organizations. It should never be considered merely as a cost. Discuss this statement, making reference to models of training needs assessment and training evaluation. Answer: Employee training is vital to a companys success; however, it does come with a cost. If the cost of training exceeds the benefits realized, then employee-training costs are not worth the investment; it is a simple matter of numbers. Training can be approached as a cost or as an investment in human resources. When the employees leave the organization after getting training and the training system is not aligned with competitive strategy, training is viewed as a cost. Training is viewed as an investment when it provides various benefits such as improves skill, reduces cost, and generates more sales. The benefits of training are difficult to quantify and predict. Training costs can include a variety of expenses, however typically they can be grouped as follows: Development cost (salaries and benefits of personnel and equipment Implementation costs ( training materials, technology, travel, facilities) Participant compensation Indirect implementation ( administrative and overhead) Lost productivity (covering trainer and trainee positions) Employee training costs also include the cost of losing top performers because those top performers need to be replaced and then trained. Employee departure costs include exit interviews, administrative functions connected to the termination, severance pay and packages, and possible increase in unemployment compensation. Additional costs could include adding on temporary employees to cover the workload, or increased overtime for current employees covering the open position. However it should be viewed as an investment in both the short and longer terms as there are a number of key benefits of formally training yourself and your staff, some are more measurable than others. Here are four important advantages of training: Improved skills Reduced costs associated with errors. Reduced liability by never giving promise of a guaranteed return rate on any type of investment. More sales because employees influence customers during the sales process, teaching them successful sales techniques will help your employees close more sales and bring more money in for your business. It can also help you to eliminate negative habits that have cost your company sales in the past.

Training evaluation If an organization invests in new equipment, it is expected that the equipment will pay for itself in

faster production, less waste, lower maintenance costs, and so forth. But if an organization invests in improving the knowledge and skills of its employees, there should be some benefit to the organization. How should the organization measure the effect? The traditional approach to training effectiveness measures four criteria for assessing training effectiveness: affective reactions or responses to training, knowledge acquisition and retention, changes in job related behavior, and improvements in organizational results. By considering these variables prior to the investment of training expenditures, the cost versus the expected benefits of training in terms of increased efficiency and effectiveness can more carefully be assessed and better training decisions can be justified for organizational performance goals. As measures of training program success, Kirkpatrick (1959) suggested using four criteria: 1. Reaction: what the trainees thought of the particular program; 2. Learning: what principles, facts, and techniques trainees learned; 3. Behavior: an assessment of changes in trainee job performance; and 4. Results: the impact of the training program on organizational objectives, such as turnover, absence, and costs.

Computing the ROI of training at Level 5 involves six main steps: (1,2) Identify and collect the information; (3) isolate the effects of training; (4) convert these effects into monetary / fiscal values; (5) tabulate the costs of the training; (6) calculating the ROI, which is the value of the effects to the incurred costs.

QS 2 Discuss the dynamics of a managerial career, role of managers in career management system and indicate how individuals cope with the barriers to advancement that most careerists experience. Discuss the managerial strategies that could be implemented in a business to cope with organizational change. List the reasons why managers might resist involvement in career management.

The dynamics of a managerial career

Role of managers in career management system The managers roles in a career management system include self-assessment, reality check, goal setting, and action planning. In self-assessment managers provide assessment information to identify strengths, weaknesses, interests, and values. In the reality check role, managers communicate performance evaluation to show where employee fits into long range plans of the company. In the goal setting role, managers ensure that the goal is specific, challenging, and attainable as well as committing to help the employees reach the goal. In the action-planning role, managers identify resources employees need to reach goal including courses, work experience, and relationships. The most difficult role is the reality check role because here managers have to communicate with their employees about their performance and evaluations. This may be very hard for some managers because not many are comfortable with commenting on employees progress because they dont want to create conflict, may not be as knowledgeable as the employee being evaluated, and the manager may feel that the employee will take it as criticism and become defensive. The easiest role for managers is the goal setting role because almost every manager has an idea on what the goals for the company are to be and in this role they have to make those goals clear and attainable to the employee.

Managerial strategies that could be implemented in a business to cope with organisational change Organizational change occurs when a company makes a transition from its current state to some desired future state. Managing organizational change is the process of planning and implementing change in organizations in such a way as to minimize employee resistance and cost to the organization while simultaneously maximizing the effectiveness of the change effort. Change is brought about by internal and external factors. The desired change in any

organization cannot be brought about without implementing organizational change strategies. The whole process requires evaluating, planning, implementing, benchmarking and monitoring the goals and objectives of the organization. To bring about the desired changes a strong, confident and motivated leader is required. In this fast paced world where each and every company struggles to survive and grow amidst cut throat competition, the leader must be able to extend vision and unify the organization. Adapting to new competitive and market demands is an important mechanism for both organizational and personal survival. To bring about desired change in the organization requires the careful formulation of organization change strategy to address the key variables that affect the change outcome. Some considerations for organizational change strategies follows: Motivation is necessary: The worker should be made aware of the various benefits attached to the change. This helps to mobilize support and minimize resistance. The top leaders should be selected according to how well they can unify team members. They are the change agents responsible for spreading the change like a positive virus. After the development of realistic goals, the upper management should create objectives, missions and goals pertaining to the separate departments. Cultural and procedural organization change strategies need to be implemented using tools like negotiation, persuasion and learning. A user friendly approach is required for persuasion. This helps the employees to vent their complaints and express their feelings without harboring resentment. Negative attitudes can be countered appropriately and education extended to improve awareness levels and garner support. Managers should have an encouraging demeanor. These managers should be effective communicators and be well respected within the workplace. This helps to win broad support and leaders who are respected can heavily influence change process initiatives. Reward success: This involves recognizing internal champions from among the individuals who assist with achieving company goals and objectives. It also motivates others to do better and shows that good performance is rewarded. Promote changes with the help of workshops. Team building and education increases confidence and reduces fear and anxiety conventionally associated with change. Launch the change management program with a social initiative. Research indicates people respond more positively to changes initiated in social situations. Alignment is essential: Ensure that the slogans and words which are used have the same meaning across all levels.

Challenges that Manager may face McKinsey & Co (2006), Shaffer & Thomson (1998), and Corporate Leadership Council (CLC, 2001) site studies of hundreds of companies that entered significant change programs. Their research indicates that 60% -70% of significant and complex change management programs grind to a halt because of their failure to produce the hoped-for results. The research identified that failure isnt necessarily due to poor technical solutions; it was the result of poor project planning and change management. Generally speaking, organisations face strong resistance to change. People are afraid of the unknown, many think things are fine the way they are and dont understand the need for change. Recognising the need to change, and acting on it, can be difficult decisions for leaders and

managers to make. Managers are taught to manage processes and resources effectively. Change however requires the management of peoples anxiety and confusion, or conversely their excitement and engagement. These are emotions that most managers find difficult to deal with or address. Managing the change process and transition emotions is fundamental to the success of a change oriented project. Many people are inherently cynical about change, many doubt there are effective means to accomplish major organisational change. Often there are conflicting goals within the organisation, for example, increasing resources to accomplish goals yet cutting costs to remain viable. Organisational change often goes against the very values held dear by people, that is, the change may go against how they believe things should be done or diminish ownership of how we do things around here. Resistance is a natural defence mechanism for those losing something. The closer we are to something or someone, the greater the grief or loss. Reasons for resisting change are varied. The reasons could include perceived loss of security, money, pride or satisfaction, friends, freedom, responsibility, authority, good working conditions, status, lack of respect, objectionable manner, negative attitude, personal criticism, not having had input, bad timing, challenge to authority or second hand information.

What should organization should do

The reasons why managers might resist involvement in career management Managers may resist involvement in the management career program because they may not feel comfortable with such a structured program. Many managers are not comfortable in being involved in all the steps.

QS 3
Identify and discuss the problems one would expect to find in an organization where jobs have been designed for maximum efficiency without any consideration of employee needs. Which is important Job analysis or Job design? Problems one would expect to find in an organization where jobs have been designed for maximum efficiency without any consideration of employee needs Two basic approaches to job analysis exist - a job (or task) oriented approach and an employee (or behaviour) oriented approach. A job oriented approach is concerned with what gets done the tasks, duties and responsibilities of the job (job content). The job oriented approach usually designs jobs for maximum efficiency. In contrast, the employee oriented approach focus is on the human behaviour required (ie. how a job is done) to do the job (job requirement). This approach has greater consideration for human needs. Job requirements (knowledge skills and abilities) can be determined from a description of the job content. A description of knowledge, skills and

abilities however, does not permit an identification of tasks, duties and responsibilities. Some of the problems that one would expect in an organisation where jobs are designed for maximum efficiency without any consideration of human needs are low levels of job enrichment poor Quality of Work Life (QWL) dissatisfaction with work staff turnover low motivation Job analysis or Job design, which is important? The job design and job analysis have different purposes. The job design is about designing or re-designing a new job profile and setting the correct organizational structure. The job design is about using several theoretical approaches to bring the balance between creative and routine part of the job. The job design uses several techniques and they are quite known to the HR Professionals: 1. Exploration of tasks and the tasks are sorted, evaluated and optimized. 2. Based on tasks, the right set of responsibilities is defined for the job as the employee can perform the job smoothly and the organization can still keep the control over the employee. 3. Based on the analysis of the tasks, the right order of the jobs is determined and the employees are asked to follow the right procedure as the organization runs at the minimum possible costs. 4. The job design is always accompanied but the job enlargement and job enrichment as the employees are not bored by the job and they have a chance to bring new ideas and innovations into their daily tasks. The job design is done as the organization needs to keep the number of employees at the affordable level and the result of the job design can result in many savings in FTEs and costs. The correct job design can bring the elimination of many process steps and it can help the organization to react quicker to the requests of the customers. The job analysis is about the analysis of the current jobs and it is can be used as the input to the job design. The job analysis is about sorting the jobs of the current employees and looking for the synergies. The job analysis is used for the evaluation of the jobs, not for designing new job profiles. The job analysis can help to compare the jobs of employees and to bring a new systematic approach to the structure of the jobs in the organization. Job analysis is normally conducted after the job has been designed, the worker has been trained and the work has been performed. It is a snapshot of the job that exists at that time, not what it should be.