Table of Content

1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................42 Setting Objectives.............................................................................................................53 Performance Management................................................................................................74 Importance of training and development..........................................................................95 Approach to training and development...........................................................................106 Training requirements under different business strategies.............................................157 Conclusion......................................................................................................................178 Recommendations...........................................................................................................189 List of References...........................................................................................................1910 Bibliography.................................................................................................................21

Executive Summary

This essay is based on the problems presented in the case relating to the organization Jet

Red. Jet Red’s competitors are leading them in terms of customer satisfaction, innovation

and level of management sophistication and the management of Jet Red is concerned here

and have asked the new Human Resource manager Linda Church to take corrective

actions. Linda feels that the training the employees are given is not bringing in tangible

results. This leads to Linda falling in differences with Mike Burdell who is the employee

trainer at Jet Red. Linda feels Mike’s training is not adding value or increasing

employees’ performance where as Mike believes the other way. Mike feels that the

employee evaluations are satisfactory which proves he is doing his job correctly. At the

same time Linda also terminates Janice Almira who is the training manager at Jet Red.

Janice being a PhD in social sciences believes highly in people skills and so hired

expensive trainers for ‘people training’.

This essay identifies the problem in the approaches taken by Linda, Janice, Mike and the

management of Jet Red. It first explains how Linda should have and handled the overall

situation by first introducing proper objectives for the employees including Mike and

Janice. Next a performance management model is put forward which would help

eliminate the differences between Linda’s and Mike’s performance expectations. Janice’s

approach to training was also very haphazard which eventually lead to her termination. A

better systematic approach to training is given along with the importance of training and

management to the organization. Lastly a model suggesting the importance of different

business strategies and their training implications is explained that can be quite helpful

for the organization. The underlying problem with Jet Red in the case hints that there was

no integration between the organization goals, the HR department, the employees and the

training strategies.

1 Introduction

The objective of this essay is to identify the problems related to the organization Jet Red

presented in the case and propose different strategies which may solve the problems. The

case suggests that Jet Red has lost its position in the marketplace. According to the

market research conducted by their consultant, Jet Red is lagging behind its competitors

in terms of customer satisfaction, innovation and level of management sophistication. Jet

Red’s new HR manager Linda Church is concerned about the problem and feels that the

Jet Red’s training manager Janice Almira and trainer Mike Burdell are not doing their job

properly. Linda terminates Janice because as a trainer manager Janice lacked the required

approach. Janice was hiring expensive trainers to train the employees only on ‘people

skills’. Her approach lacked the necessary assessment of training needs and the training

outcomes. Linda also fell in differences with Mike when she informs him that his training

is not adding any value to the employees’ skills. Mike differs here with Linda as Mike

feels his evaluations from the employees he train advocates that he is doing the right job.

This essay identifies the main problems at Jet Red and provides solutions to these

problem adopting different models and theories which may be applicable. It starts by

highlighting how Linda should have evaluated Mike’s performance and how she would

have handled the situation, overall. Next the differences between Linda and Mike’s

performance expectations are given along with suggested solutions to avoid these

differences. The importance of training and the training approach that should have been

taken by Janice are specified next. The last part discusses the very important

responsibility of the management that should have been taken in the situation.

2 Setting Objectives

The case suggests that there are differences between how Linda sees Mike performs and

how Mike assesses his own performance. Mike being an old companion in the company,

almost 20 years old, has never been criticized upon his performance. Linda being the new

HR manager is aware of the company’s declining performance and feels Mike’s

performance is not bringing the required results and his training is not adding value to the

skills of the employees trained. Janice the training manager of Jet Red is also terminated

because her work was not bringing any results. Linda took the decision of terminating

Janice and also threatening Mike of losing his job. The harsh decisions that Linda took

and handled the situation overall looks premature keeping in mind her new arrival in the

organization and also her failure to set proper objectives and appraisal systems for the

employees. Before taking her decisions Linda should have set proper objectives for Mike

and Janice and all other employees in the organization.

Based on Catt and Miller (1991) setting objectives requires knowing exactly what is to be

accomplished. It includes assigning responsibilities, specifying a time period and

determining a method of evaluation. Figure1 shows a process of setting objectives. The

process includes four factors which have a relationship with the objective. The first

amongst these factors determines what is to be accomplished. This is a statement of

objective which clearly defines what the goal is. The statement of objective should be

very specific and narrowed. The next factor is of assigning responsibility. A

responsibility should be given to the person and it should be made sure that it is

communicated well so that the person knows that he will be accountable for the results.

The third step of the process is about setting deadlines and including a time frame in

which the targets have to be achieved. The last step is about measuring the results.

Evaluation is necessary so that one can find out what went wrong if the actual results

differ from the expectations. The employees given the task to achieve the objective

should also know through a feed back about how well they conducted their task.

Figure.1 The process of setting objectives

Source: Catt and Miller 1991

TheObjective

What isto be

accomplished?

When is itto be

Accomplished?

Who isresponsible?

How willresults bemeasured?

3 Performance Management

There is a difference between Linda’s and Mike’s performance expectations. Mike thinks

that the evaluation from the employees he trains is satisfactory while Linda thinks there

are no tangible results. The problem is here that there is no proper way of performance

management or appraisal.

Based on (Mabey, Salaman &Storey 1998) a systematic model of performance

management is proposed which may have solved the above differences. The base of this

model is the performance management cycle shown in Figure 2. The figure shows five

main areas which should be taken step by step in order to measure performance. The first

main area is setting performance objectives or goals. This is the expectation of the

management from the employee and employee is expected to achieve particular targets.

Next is the measurement of outcomes. How far the employee has been able to achieve the

objectives is found at this stage. In the third area of feedback of results the employee is

informed how well he did with his tasks to achieve the objectives and in which areas his

performance lacked. Based on the outcomes the employer is rewarded on his job. The last

stage is about making amendments in objectives and activities and this cycle continues.

This cycle shows a systematic approach to performance management or an appraisal

system so that employees are aware of their objectives and their performance through

feedback. The case between Linda and Mike shows that there was not a proper evaluation

or appraisal system in place which could have helped them achieve specific goals.

Figure.2 Performance Management cycle

Source: Mabey, Salaman & Storey 1998

Measurement of performance

Feedback of results

Rewards (based on outcomes)

Amendments of objectives and activities

Setting objectives

4 Importance of training and development

The goal of training and development of all organizations is to maintain or improve the

performance of individuals. The HR professionals in many organizations now realize that

to stay competitive training along with other HR activities have to work together in order

to support and strengthen corporate strategy. Training according to (Anthony, Kacmar

&Perrewe 2002) refer to providing instructions to develop skills that can be used

immediately on the job whereas development has a much broader focus and it involves

developing skills and knowledge that may be used immediately or sometime in future.

The need for training and development in organizations usually arises when the

competition is rising and enhancement in technical and managerial skills is needed to

keep up with rapid growth (Reigeluth 2004). Companies than strive to become learning

organizations that are capable of adapting quickly to market changes.

5 Approach to training and development

Janice the training manager of Jet Red was given freedom by the management to choose

on her own the kind of training the employees need and also the trainers that will coach

the employees. Janice thus hired expensive trainers to do the job and they were only

training the employees in improving the interpersonal or people skills. The idea of people

oriented training may not be wrong, but this was not be the only area where the

employees needed to be trained. Looking at this aspect it seems that both the

management and Janice did not have specific goals set for the training program and

neither the training seemed to support any of the corporate goals (Ivancevich & Hoon,

2002). Moreover there was no method of evaluation of employees after training. The

approach taken by Janice was a haphazard approach (Nankervis, Compton &Baird 2002).

A better approach pursued by Janice here would have been a systematic approach

(Anthony, Kacmar &Perrewe 2002) to training which has three main stages. The three

main stages are assessment, training and evaluation stage.

Assessment stage: Before any training program is carried out the need for it is first

determined. This is referred to as the assessment stage. In this stage the training needs of

the organization, the particular job, individuals, training objectives and criteria for

training evaluation are examined (Anthony, Kacmar &Perrewe 2002). The assessment of

organization needs helps examine the purpose of training with respect to the

organization’s goals, objectives and strategies. Things to consider here are whether the

goals of the training programs align with the goals and objectives of the organization.

The goals of the organization may be short term which may be a period of less than one

year or they can be long term such as five or ten years. The proposed training program

should ensure that the employees develop the necessary skills and abilities in order to

meet the organizations needs at the right time (Reigeluth 2005).

The assessment of the particular job or task needs help in order to discover what

qualifications are necessary to do the job and also to find out any qualification and skill

deficiencies. One of the tools used in job design which is job description is helpful in

determining the training needs for the job. Job specification describes employee

qualifications, such as experience, knowledge, skills or abilities that are required to

perform a particular job.

The third part of the assessment stage determines the individual or the employee needs.

Here it is determined whether a gap exists between the requirement of a job and skills of

the employee who perform it. This is a very important part of assessment because here it

is finally decided what particular kind of training the employee should be given in order

to work on his job.

The fourth part of this stage is the development of training objectives. Before the training

begins the objectives should be identified and these objectives should include what the

outcome of training is expected to be so that there is a way to measure how far the

objectives have been met (Ivancevich & Hoon 2002).

The last part is the development of criteria for training evaluation. To determine whether

the training has achieved objectives a criteria against which to measure the result must be

developed. The criteria can include different methods such as testing the employees with

an exam, monitoring the reaction of employees and the changes in behavior of the

trainees.

Based on Linda and Hennessey (2003), Hershey’s food which is one of largest consumer

packaged goods (CPG) company in America, developed a very good process of

connecting training with the company’s strategies and goals. Hershey’s developed a new

promotional strategy which was called the blue chip strategy. The training program had a

clear goal. The goal was to help Hershey’s sales professionals develop the skills, plans

and confidence necessary to implement the new blue chip strategy with its North

American customers. The job needs were also determined where it was found out that

that Customer Service Executives were required to conduct marketing due intelligence

and negotiate with the customers in order to increase the sales. Employee’s assessment

was also made in order to find out the skill gap and then training programs were proposed

tailored to the specific need of each Customer Service Executive selling to different kinds

of customers.

Training stage: The training stage is used to design and select training procedures that

the employees will be offered. The training procedures fall under two main categories.

They are On-the-job training and Off-the-job training.

On-the-job training: One of the most commonly used methods is the On-the-job training

method. This method is usually adopted in order to provide the employee with the skills

to do a minimum level at the job. Most frequently used techniques include expansion of

job duties, assignments and responsibilities both horizontally and vertically in the

organization. Methods of job rotation are also used in order to expose the employee to

different tasks in different departments in the organization (Nankervis, Compton &Baird

2002). Sometimes individuals are also placed as assistants to higher level jobs so that

they are acquainted with these jobs and it becomes easier for the organization in

succession planning. The other method used which was also carried by the Jet Red is in-

company training done by company trainers as well as outside consultants.

Off-the-job training: The methods used in the off-the-job training procedures vary from

one organization to another and also upon the level of skill required by the employees.

Off-the-job training can be in the form of short courses and seminars conducted by

educational institutions or professional training firms, college degree and certificate

programs, outside meetings and conferences, computer assisted instructions and others.

Evaluation Stage: There are a number of approaches available for evaluating the

training programs. Based on (Anthony, Kacmar &Perrewe 2002) there are four different

levels of evaluation developed by Donald Kirkpatrick. These levels are:

Reaction: The reaction of the participants or the employees in the training program is the

first form of evaluation. Here the information is gathered about what the employees

thought about the program, the performance of the trainers and the content of the

program (Klein & Richey 2005). Information can be gathered through a questionnaire

distributed to the employees.

Learning: Here the goal is to find out the degree of learning the employees have taken

after the training. Different forms of tests are conducted to find out the nature and quality

of skills the employees have adopted after the training.

Behavior: This level of evaluation examines whether participants display behavior

changes in their jobs. The data and information gathered here usually comes from

supervisors or colleagues who work closely with the employee trained.

Results: This level is the final level and this concerns the effect of training on the

organization. Evaluation at this level should directly relate to the goals of the

organization determined at the assessment stage. Data collected to evaluate this level

might be increase in productivity, increase in sales, cost savings lower labor turnover and

return on investment (ROI). The method of evaluating ROI is discussed later in the essay.

Looking at Janice’s approach to training and development it is very clear that her

approach was not systematic. This can be justified through many of her actions. First of

all due to her firm belief that every employee and every manager should be ‘people-

oriented’ led to training employees only on people skills. This shows that her training

approach lacked any assessment of the organization, job and employee needs prior to

exposing employees to training. Had Janice properly judged and assess the employee

skill gap and the organization’s strategies she would have proposed different training

programs to different employees which would have been more specific and tailor made to

each one (Caudron 1998). The other area where her approach was lacking was the area of

evaluation. Janice hired expensive training consultants but did not evaluate the results in

terms of the return on investment in training.

Based on Rowden (2005) there are two common formulas used to calculate the return on

investment on training. They are cost/benefit ratio (CBR) and return on investment

(ROI). To find the CBR and ROI the cost and benefits of the training program should be

known in monetary terms. To find the CBR you divide the total benefits from the total

cost. In the ROI the costs are subtracted from the total benefits to produce net benefits

which are than divided by the total costs. An illustration is provided with assumed

numerical figures to show the results.

Total cost of training: $10,000

Total benefits from the training: $ 25,000

CBR= Total benefits/Total cost

CBR= 25,000/10,000

CBR= 2.5

This means that for every $1 invested $2.5 in benefits are returned.

ROI=> Total benefits – Total cost= Net benefits/Total cost= ROI

=>25,000-10,000=15,000=Net benefits.

ROI= 15000/10000= 1.5= 150%.

This shows that for every $1 invested there was a return of $1.5 in net benefits.

6 Training requirements under different business strategies

When an organization spends an amount on hiring expensive trainers it must make sure

that the training program is such that it adds value to the employees existing skills

which are needed by them in order to achieve and implement organizational strategies.

Management of the organization has a role to play here and it should take responsibility

to make sure that the training practices are aligned properly with the business strategy

(Noe 2001). Table 1 shows four business strategies which are concentration, internal

growth, external growth and disinvestment and highlights the implication of each for

training practices. The four strategies are:

Concentration strategy: A concentration strategy focuses on reducing costs, increasing

market share and maintaining a market niche for products. For such a strategy an

organization will have to spend on the development of its employees and provide

training specific to their needs which will help them carry this strategy.

Internal growth strategy: This strategy focuses on new market and product

development, innovation and joint ventures. The organization here will probably create

new jobs and the new employees will need cultural training and most importantly

technical training for innovation and product development.

External growth strategy: This strategy emphasizes on acquisition of other firms with

similar or different businesses in order to expand into new markets and even buying

vendors and supplier businesses. Here the skills and capabilities of employees of the

acquired firm are to be determined and then the training needs.

Disinvestment: This strategy is adopted when the company is declining and it is selling

out most of its business. The employees here need to be trained to be more efficient so

that the company starts generating more profits and also increase its revenues.

The management of Jet Red should support its training programs with its business

strategies in order to make sure that its training courses add value.

Table 1 Implications of Business strategy for Training

Strategy Emphasis How achieved Key issues Training implications

Concentration

Increase market

share

Reduce operating

cost

Improve product

quality

Improve

productivity

Development of

existing work

force

Team building

Specialized programs

Interpersonal skills

On-the-job training

Internal growth

Market

development

Innovation

Joint ventures

Create new

products

Add distribution

channels

Expand globally

Create new jobs

and tasks

Innovation

Technical competence in job

Cultural training

Development of culture that

values creative thinking

Conflict negotiation skills

External growth

(Acquisition)

Horizontal

integration

Vertical

integration

Concentric

diversification

Acquire firms

delivering similar

or different

products

Acquire firms

that supply

products

Integration

Redundancy

Restructuring

Determining capabilities of

employees in acquired firms

Integrating training systems

Methods and procedures of

combined firms

Disinvestment

Retrenchment

Liquidation

Divestiture

Reduce cost

Reduce assets

Generate revenue

Redefine goals

Efficiency Motivation, goal setting

Leadership training

Interpersonal communication

Outplacement assistance

Source: Noe 2001

7 Conclusion

Jet Red is going through problems and it has lost its position in the market place. The

HR manager Linda is asked by the management to take corrective actions and she feels

the training manager Janice and trainer Mike is responsible for this. The findings in the

essay indicate that Janice and Mike are the not the only people who should be

responsible for Jet Red’s poor performance or to be more particular the poor training of

the employees. The case clearly hints that the management was also responsible as

there was no proper alignment of company’s strategy with the training program Linda

also got a little ahead in making her decisions by terminating Janice and also making

her differences with Mike. For both Mike and Janice Linda should have first set proper

objectives and goals to achieve and then should measured their performance through a

proper appraisal system as advised above in the essay. However Janice’s approach

seemed far more influenced from her qualifications than the actual needs of the

company. She should have taken a more systematic approach to training as explained

above. The underlying problem in Jet Red is the improper communication of goals and

strategies from the top management to the HR department and from the HR department

to employees.

8 RecommendationsFollowing are some of the recommendations and a list of actions based on the case that

Jet Red should adopt and apply to answer their problems.

A proper communication of specified goals and strategies should take place

between the organization and the HR department to that there is an alignment in

the HR policies and the company’s goals. Similarly the organization should first

find out its business strategy and then consider the training implications with

HR manager. The training manager of Jet Red as well as the trainers should also

take part in deciding the types of training program and its implications.

The training approach taken by the training manager should be a systematic one.

The training manager should first do all the necessary assessments relating

organization, job and individual needs and then choose the training program

which may or may not be specific to individual needs. In the end a proper

evaluation of training should take place and most importantly the returns on

training should be measured in terms of financial costs through ROI.

Linda should formulate a proper procedure of setting objectives in the

organization for the employees. Employees should be assigned a task, explained

and be clearly specified that they are responsible for the task and they will be

answerable to the results. The employees should also be given proper feedback

on their work so they keep improving themselves.

The last important action should be to construct a proper performance appraisal

system. A proper management or appraisal system will help reduce the

differences in performance expectations that resulted between Linda and Mike.

9 List of References

Anthony, P, Kacmar, K & Perrewe, P 2002, ‘Human Resource Management: A strategic

approach’, 4th edn, South-Western, Ohio, USA, pp. 326-340

Catt, S & Miller, D 1991, ‘Supervision: Working with people’, 2nd edn, Richard D. Irwin,

USA, pp. 83-85

Caudron, S 1998, ‘Integrate HR and training: Working together toward shared goals’,

Workforce, vol. 77, no. 5, pp. 88-92, retrieved from ProQuest database.

Ivancevich, M & Hoon, Lee 2002, Human Resource Management in Asia, McGraw-Hill

Education, Singapore, pp. 145-147

Klein, J & Richey, R 2005, ‘Improving individual and organizational’: Performance

Improvement, vol. 44, no. 10, pp. 9 -16, retrieved from ProQuest database.

Linda, S & Hennessey, P 2003, ‘Training sweetens Hershey’s core strategy’, Training

and Development, vol. 57, no. 5, pp. 84-94, retrieved from ProQuest database.

Mabey, C, Salaman, G & Storey, J 1998, ‘Human Resource Management: A Strategic

Introduction’, 2nd edn, Black Well publishers Ltd, Oxford, UK, pp.127-128

Nankervis, A, Compton, R & Baird, M 2002, ‘Strategic Human Resource Management’,

4th edn, Nelson Australia Pvt. Ltd, Australia, pp. 318-320

Noe, R 2002, ‘Employee Training and Development’, 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill companies,

NY, USA, pp. 51-52.

Reigeluth, C 2005, ‘A study of organizational learning at small-town hospital’,

Performance Improvement, vol. 44, no. 10, pp. 34-41, retrieved from ProQuest database.

Rowden, R 2005, ‘Exploring methods to evaluate the Return-on-Investment from

training’, Business Forum, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 31-37, retrieved from ProQuest database.

10 Bibliography

Anthony, P, Kacmar, K & Perrewe, P 2002, ‘Human Resource Management: A strategic

approach’, 4th edn, South-Western, Ohio, USA, pp. 326-340

Catt, S & Miller, D 1991, ‘Supervision: Working with people’, 2nd edn, Richard D. Irwin,

USA, pp. 83-85

Caudron, S 1998, ‘Integrate HR and training: Working together toward shared goals’,

Workforce, vol. 77, no. 5, pp. 88-92, retrieved from ProQuest database.

Clark, R & Kwinn, A 2005, ‘Aligning training to business results’, Business Acumen,

viewed at 27th November 2005,

<http://www.shrm.org/login.asp?clickth=http://www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/articles/

1205/1205tyler.asp>

Ivancevich, M & Hoon, Lee 2002, Human Resource Management in Asia, McGraw-Hill

Education, Singapore, pp. 145-147

Joiner, T, Bartram, T & Garreffa, T, ’The effects of mentoring on perceived career

Success, Commitment and turnover’, Journal of American Academy of Business,

Cambridge, vol. 5, no. ½, pp. 164-171, retrieved from ProQuest database.

Klein, J & Richey, R 2005, ‘Improving individual and organizational’: Performance

Improvement, vol. 44, no. 10, pp. 9 -16, retrieved from ProQuest database.

Linda, S & Hennessey, P 2003, ‘Training sweetens Hershey’s core strategy’, Training

and Development, vol. 57, no. 5, pp. 84-94, retrieved from ProQuest database.

Mabey, C, Salaman, G & Storey, J 1998, ‘Human Resource Management: A Strategic

Introduction’, 2nd edn, Black Well publishers Ltd, Oxford, UK, pp.127-128

Nankervis, A, Compton, R & Baird, M 2002, ‘Strategic Human Resource Management’,

4th edn, Nelson Australia Pvt. Ltd, Australia, pp. 318-320

Noe, R 2002, ‘Employee Training and Development’, 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill companies,

NY, USA, pp. 51-52.

Reigeluth, C 2005, ‘A study of organizational learning at small-town hospital’,

Performance Improvement, vol. 44, no. 10, pp. 34-41, retrieved from ProQuest database.

Rowden, R 2005, ‘Exploring methods to evaluate the Return-on-Investment from

training’, Business Forum, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 31-37, retrieved from ProQuest database.