Executive Summary
This study seeks to evaluate the organizational training program in order to identify the various weaknesses that should be eliminated in line with the achievement of the institutional objectives. It reviews relevant literature concerning the leadership and management orientations when training employees. In addition, the research explores the needs of the employees and in order to propose solution to the impediments identified in the organizational training programs. Importantly, it identifies the effects of team building when it comes to the training of leadership. In this regard, the paper finds the unifying factor created by team building and the consequent lack of coordination if the aspect is not inculcated.
Introduction
Training employees in an organization is a fundamentally crucial undertaking for all companies. In this regard, training enables the company to develop the necessary skills among its workers which are in line with the needs and the objectives of the organization. It also helps to instill the core values and ideologies underpinning the operations and service of the entire organization. Additionally, the training of employees is crucial when it comes to the quality of products and services provided to the customers. During the process of training, the workers are taught on how to produce and develop valuable goods and offer diligent services. This report, therefore, will discuss some of the most critical challenges facing the present training system and then come up with realistic recommendations on how to solve the challenges.
Problem Statement
The organization has a comprehensive training program that has been in operation for several years. However, there are various issues that impede the effectiveness of the program in accordance to the objectives of the organization. In addition, these problems have been found to infringe on some of the growing ideologies of managing organization such as leadership and team building. Currently, the training program focuses on improving managerial skills and disregards leadership.
As a result, the organization concentrates on improving skills of developing policies and implementing them. Accordingly, the employees are subjected to a training program that focuses on giving orders, stipulating rules, and following regulations among others managerial aspects. They are trained in a manner that transforms them to direct subjects of the managers and the executive. In that regard, they become completely dependent of the managers’ decisions and view. This implies that, in accordance to the present program, the employees are not trained on how to develop an independent mind.
This scenario, which disregards the independency of the employees reasoning, is critically flawed because it can be considered as an impediment to innovation. Understandably, innovation requires employees to come up with new ideas about the organizational processes, products, and services in order to improve them for improved profitability as well as customer’s loyalty. If leadership was considered as the core ideology and the governing principal that informs the training program, it would instill the independency and offer the necessary inspiration for this purpose. As a result, it is crucial to study and comprehend the effects, problems, and possible solutions.
In addition to managerial approach in training, the program uses a purely formal approach when conducting the training. In essence, formality is viewed as a professional way of training the employees (Wu, 2013). However, it cannot be disputed that the approach is fundamentally flawed because it does not allow the employees to embrace skills willingly. A formal approach is essentially forceful since it does not allow the trainers to resonate with the employees, but merely concentrates on stating bare facts and policies without creating an emotional connection (Nevaer, 2010).
This condition implies that the current training system, though substantially effective, suffers some underlying shortcomings that the management should address. In fact, the idea of formal and bare facts that are essentially is a great impediment to the success of the institution’s program. This is caused by disregarding the ideologies of leadership which allows more contribution from the followers. In essence, a training program is more oriented to the trainees rather than the trainers.
Having evaluated the training program of this organization closely, it has been established that it does not instill team spirit during the entire undertaking. In the organization, there are many departments that are required and expected to work in coordination with each other. As such, team building becomes a crucial requirement to the organizational management and its overall success.
As such, it can be implied resolutely, that the current program requires a thorough review and evaluation in an attempt to change it in a manner that allows the inclusion team building. Additionally, it cannot be disputed that the inclusion of team building in the organizational training program is a crucial tool when it comes to the creation of solidarity and unity among the employees.
In essence, it instills the idea of oneness among the workers such that they view themselves as parts of one family. They are unified by a common organizational objective, and they also work together to in an attempt to fulfill those objectives. In accordance to the inherent importance of team building, it is this clear that the current system has a fundamental flaw that should be corrected by the management. Indeed, failure to contain this situation will lead to a scenario where the organizational departments cannot work in coordination with each other.
Purpose Statement
Whereas this research concentrates on a single aspect of employees’ training, it embraces and focuses on a wide scope of research. According to the issues that have been raised in the previous paragraph, it is evident that the research sought to focus and identify some of the fundamental flaws in the current training system of the organization in an attempt to determine the inherent impediments. In addition, it was conducted to identify some of the trainees’ expectation during the sessions. This evaluation is meant to identify whether the organization has considered the employees’ needs and requirements in order to ensure effective performance and improvements.
As such, this is a self-standing objective of the research because the evaluation of the employees’ needs and requirements must be used as a basis of assessing the effectiveness of the entire training program. Additionally, the research study sets out to identify some of the opinions of the employees towards the effectiveness of this training program. In this regard, it is important to collect those opinions and consider them for the purpose of initiating inclusive evaluation and transformation of the program.
Further the research seeks to determine why the management chose to adopt the current system of training despite its biased approach that concentrates on management and ignores leadership. This will be reinforced by the identification of how the program instills team building in the organization and among the employees. As such, the overall purpose will be the identification of realistic solutions to the problems identified during the research study.
Literature Review
Leadership and Management in Training
Kelly (2008) suggested that there are various differences between leadership and management. First, he argued that managers focus on managing the work of the organizational employees in order to achieve the objectives that have been stipulated. On the other hand, the leaders concentrate on leading the employees in a manner that enables them to achieve the stipulated objectives. In that regard, he argued that leadership seeks to transform employees into followers while the management makes the employees subordinates.
As such, the followers are inspired and motivated by the leaders, through words and actions, to perform the duties of the organization in the right ways and improve performance. Further, it means that the subordinates seek to follow the stipulated rules since there might be penalties which are imposed in case of infringement of those rules. Marcus (2003) also stated a similar position whereby he reiterated that leadership is a concept that uses charisma to instill values and convince people about the ideologies of the organization. Furthermore, the authors stated that management, on the other hand, allows the executive and supervisors to assert authority among the employees. In the authors’ view, the leadership style gives the followers a room to exercise independence of the mind.
Also, he observed that the combination of inspiration and independent thinking are crucial values of leadership that might inculcate innovation of new products, services, and operational processes among other things. Navaer (2010) conducted a similar study, but he contextualized the different effects that management and training have on the training program as well as its effectiveness. As such, the authors suggested that leadership development in training is a better method of instilling skills that the use of management style. In this case, it was noted that management-oriented style of training instructs the trainees about what they should do only.
In essence, it does not allow the trainees to come up with suggestions on how the particular undertakings and roles should be conducted. As such, the author established that the style lacks an emotional connection between the employees and trainers. Accordingly, the trainees are not inspired by the words and the actions of the trainers. On the other hand, leadership style assumes a motivational approach when training the employees.
In fact, Kelly (2008) stated that the use of leadership-oriented training does not only focus on the welfare of the organization, but also the personal development of the employees. Through this personal development, the organization is capable of making critical improvements in coordination and quality assurance in the organization. In addition to this, Marquis (2009) identified another issue conjoined to the two types of training. In this case, he stated that management-oriented training is related to the idea of working for money.
In this regard, the employees attain a mentality that the improvement of skills is meant to gain promotions and hence increase returns through allowances and salaries. On the other hand, leadership-oriented training is meant to instill the idea of developing passion for work. As a result, the workers commit their time because they have an ingrained passion for their work, but not because of the payments and compensation that accrue from the undertakings. As such, it becomes easy to transform the employees and shape them in a manner that prompts them to work for the best interest of the organization rather than personal gains.
Fundamentals Requirements of Training
Wu (2013) stated that one of the most crucial requirements of training is the use of inclusive approach. In this regard, he proceeded to explain that the inclusion of all the relevant stakeholders, such as employees, trainers, and executive, is necessary. In perspective, he argued that a successful training can be developed if the developers of the program consider the requirements of each group of players in the organization.
He noted that most institutions disregard the employees when developing the training programs. As a result, the employees are trained in accordance to the will of the executive and the knowledge of the trainers. However, the crucial factor of successful training is whether the employees’ needs are satisfied in line with the organizational objective. In addition, the critical issue is the question of whether their skills are evaluated, the possible deficiencies identified, and improved in accordance with the aim of the organization.
In essence, this is reinforced by a similar sentiment that was stated by Navaer (2010) who established that the trainees form the core concern of a training program. In this case, he stated that a training program should consider the trainees as the primary determining factor when it comes to the issues that are handles during the session. These considerations include the level of skills and their general needs.
Importance of Team Building in Organizational Training
Employees Expectations in Training
There are various aspects that trainees expect to meet during their study. Essentially, these involve the introduction to a management system that is interactive and coherent with a determination to bring the essence of innovation within its strategies. In consideration of the fact that employees engineer the smooth functioning of an organization, in then applies that they understand the problems and gaps that require filling in an organization. They expect knowledge of various forms to be instilled into their mind. The form of knowledge requirement expected in this process has been discussed below.
Declarative Knowledge
Declarative knowledge can be evaluated and taught through the speaking. There are no important notes to be taken inquiring on declarative knowledge of any participant in the training. An example is when a trainee is asked the number of cars they saw on a road, but not the type of cars seen. It is measured by asking questions verbally to trainees to measure and instill the essence of accuracy in their mind (Wu, 2013). Employees would expect their trainers to provide such skills and counsel.
Procedural Knowledge
This type of knowledge is evaluated by checking if one has an idea on how processes are to be carried out. The trainees can be asked specific questions on functionality of random things. An example is classifying animals into vertebrates and invertebrates (Navaer, 2010). Another example is predicting whether a solid will float on water or not. This type of knowledge is examined critically in its measurement.
General Knowledge
General knowledge is measured by asking the trainees common questions that ought to be answered with ease. An example of such a question is asking a participant to state the number of continents in the world or the number of presidents in the United States of America. This type of knowledge can easily be assessed by the trainer without a lot of research from the training (Marquis, 2009).
Effective Working
Management development training in an organization helps in making effective work in the management. The rapport created between the managers under training ensures that they engage each other in decision making and sharing of ideas (Marquis, 2009). This will make their duties be done the right way and effectively.
Support
Management development training brings together many intelligent brains with different ideas that when put in one room may come up with great ideas (Kelly, 2008). Some of the ideas are improved while others are invented. The training helps a lot in the management of the business. The support created between the managers is important to the company.
Organization Improvement and Change
The focus on management development is important for the organization improvement and change. The training for the managers improves their management skills as they exchange a lot of ideas and structures that enhance better and more qualified ways of management.
Technical Knowledge and Skills
Technical knowledge is the full understanding of anything that can be used or applied in various forms for any duties at work or home. On the other hand, a technical skill is when someone can do a duty skillfully whilst applying their knowledge. The growth for the need of technical skills is at a high rate, as the world technological advancement is increasing rapidly (Marcus, 2003). The networking system of many organizations relies on the technical knowledge and skills of these individuals.
Interpersonal Knowledge and Skills
Interpersonal knowledge is a good communication skill that an individual has attained and the ability to use it. On the other hand, the interpersonal skill is the daily use of life proficiencies to engage in a useful and important communication between people. In the market, most employees seek to employ or hire staff members with high interpersonal skills. Examples of interpersonal skills include verbal and non-verbal communication, listening skills, negotiation skills, problem solving, decision-making skills, and assertiveness.
Recommendation’s Formulation
In accordance to this research, there are various recommendations that can help to solve the underlying challenges.
- The management should update the training program to include ideologies of leadership and management in order to improve skills holistically.
- The trainers should adopt an experience-based training that enables employees to learn from their mistakes and achievements.
- The program should include instances of motivation and fun to foster willingness.
- Team building should be a core training item in order to help the employees to gain interpersonal skills and coordinate in the required way.
- The training programs should also embrace some level of informality in order to ensure that the employees feel free and adopt the lessons willingly rather than forcefully.
Application of Recommendations
First, the trainers should convene an organizational congregation to deliberate on the issues related to the training program. This assemblage should be inclusive in the sense that all the relevant players are included. Since the organizational members are essentially many, they should select a committee comprising of each of segmentations that include the executive, departmental heads, trainers, and the employees who represent the trainees. The committee will be mandated to develop a comprehensive plan for the transformation of the current program to include leadership orientation, team building and employees requirement in relation to the level of skills.
Conclusion
It is evident that the training program adopted by the organization is flawed because it is oriented to formality and regulations. However, this should be solved by allowing the inclusion of leadership ideologies and orientations in the program. In addition, it is crucial to include team building when undertaking the training programs in order to develop and improve the coordination of the entire organization and foster unity. Lastly, the research has established that the implementation of this process should be undertaken by a selected committee with inclusive representation.
References
Kelly, P. (2008). Nursing leadership & management (2nd ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.
Marcus, B. (2003). Motivating people to be physically active. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics.
Marquis, B. (2009). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: theory and application (6th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Nevaer, L. (2010). Managing Hispanic and Latino employees a guide to hiring, training, motivating, supervising, and supporting the fastest growing workforce group. San Francisco, Calif.: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Wu, B. (2013). New theory on leadership management science. Oxford: Chartridge Books Oxford.