Page 20 - DMGT518_TRAINING_AND_DEVELOPMENT_SYSTEM

Unit 2: Strategic Training

Lack of trust and openness: Many managers prefer to keep information to themselves. By doing Notes
so, they keep information from subordinates and others who could be useful in the training and
development process.
Skepticism as to the value of the training: Some small business owners believe the future cannot
be predicted or controlled and their efforts, therefore, are best centered on current activities i.e.,
making money today.
A well-conceived training programme can help your firm succeed. A programme structured
with the company’s strategy and objectives in mind has a high probability of improving
productivity and other goals that are set in the training mission.

Notes For any business, formulating a training strategy requires addressing a series of
questions which are:
 Who are your customers? Why do they buy from you?
 Who are your competitors? How do they serve the market? What competitive
advantages do they enjoy? What parts of the market have they ignored?
 What strengths does the company have? What are its weaknesses?
 What social trends are emerging that will affect the firm?
The purpose of formulating a training strategy is to answer two relatively simple but vitally
important questions: (1) What is our business? and (2) What should our business be? Armed with
the answers to these questions and a clear vision of its mission, strategy and objectives, a
company can identify its training needs.

Identifying Training Needs

Training needs can be assessed by analysing three major human resource areas: the organization
as a whole, the job characteristics and the needs of the individuals. This analysis will provide
answers to the following questions:
 Where is training needed?

 What specifically must an employee learn in order to be more productive?
 Who needs to be trained?
Begin by assessing the current status of the company how it does what it does best and the
abilities of your employees to do these tasks. This analysis will provide some benchmarks
against which the effectiveness of a training programme can be evaluated. Your firm should
know where it wants to be in five years from its long-range strategic plan. What you need is a
training programme to take your firm from here to there.
Second, consider whether the organization is financially committed to supporting the training
efforts. If not, any attempt to develop a solid training programme will fail.
Next, determine exactly where training is needed. It is foolish to implement a companywide
training effort without concentrating resources where they are needed most. An internal audit
will help point out areas that may benefit from training. Also, a skills inventory can help
determine the skills possessed by the employees in general. This inventory will help the
organization determine what skills are available now and what skills are needed for future
development.

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