Organisational Development Essay

Training and development is an important part of knowledge management in any given organization. For the training of staff to be effective the right instructional design model must be used. Instructional system design is a model of training, which utilizes a systematic approach to training with an aim of achieving competence through utilisation of resources available. It must be noted that in any given organization money is always a constraint and when it comes to employee training the best training model must be adapted. Instructional system design is favored over many other models in that it links training to organizational goals and as a result, it is cost effective. The workplace is increasingly becoming a place where business organizations can nurture, improve and encourage the potential and capabilities of employees. One of the most common ways in which organizations nurture these talents is by introduction of training programs which aim at preparing employees to better meet the challenges of today’s workplace. However, unless training programs are carefully constructed, such programs are unlikely to meet the demands of the market as well as individual needs of the employees and the needs of the organization. This paper discusses the important considerations worthy considering while designing training programs. Background information BBC as a company has it core values as; to inform, to educate, as well as to entertain. The vision of BBC, which entails being the most creative as well as trusted organization in the world. It is in line with the vision that a training and development strategy has been put in place. To be creative, it takes well trained staff, men and women who can forecast and remain focused in their duties. However, as (Tjepkema, 2002. 100- 130) notes, for management to perform their duties satisfactorily, they should posses the capability and means. Tjepkema, (2002. 90-94) notes that it is not the talent of employees that is important, it is how employees are helped to bring out as well as discover their talents that matters. Training and development should be geared towards making employees realize their full potential. The much experience BBC has on journalism is a positive for BBC and should be used to put the organization on a class of its own. The fact that training and development as it exists in BBC aims at offering practical education in the journalism industry is worthy mentioning. All training at BBC focuses on knowledge and skills imparting. BBC training and development has been using generally for the purpose of training operational staff. Training is also tailored to meet the ever changing needs at BBC. BBC has embraced the need for computer based programs something which is always at the centre of all training needs. There been efforts geared to meeting the fast changing needs in terms of infrastructure which can cope with today’s broadcasting practices and technology. Research and facts collection is a good step in catering for training needs and that’s evident even from the way BBC chooses its sound training facilities from electronic devices to desks. BBC ensures that all its courses lay emphasis on learning styles and flexibility. While designing the training program, it is important to bear in mind the fact that, the programs lead to the acquisition of new knowledge, change in knowledge especially in cases whereby the nature of the training is based on new skills necessary for the production functions which may require the use of new machines or different technology which the employees do not possess (Nilson, 2003. 34-35). Justification Training and learning is very relevant to today’s organizations. It helps organizations deal with talent development in the organization. As Tjepkema, et al (2002. 100- 120) notes the employees are an organization’s best asset and should be fully developed so that every single employee gives out his or her best. This is made possible by thoroughly training and employee development programs. Journalism is a fast changing business in terms of the high needs for customer satisfaction, competition as well as keeping in line with the ever-changing needs for entertainment, education as well as information. The above is challenging and any organization worthy its salt must prepare its employees for the challenge. In preparing and designing training and development practices BBC is taking the right direction. Learning in the work place has its special challenges and any good programs must factor in factors such as change in the organization and requires a combination of values, cultures and a considerable budget (Tjepkema, et al,2002. 105- 110). According to CIPD survey (2006) different organizations attach variety of importance to talent development but a big percentage (67%) believe that it leads to development of individuals who posses high potential. The report further notes that training is crucial for preparation of individuals who would take management roles in future. This is very much in line with BBC training goals which aim at developing staff into individuals who can carry out duties and responsibilities leading to customer satisfaction. In house training has been noted as the most effective method of training and development in the CIPD report of 2006. In most cases, the training targets specific groups in an organization, depending on the specific needs of every category of workers such as top company executives, middle level managers, professionals and the bottom level employees. All the above categories have very varied training needs and therefore the training programs must take into consideration such factors as; what each category of employees need. For instance, in an engineering firm, the top management may consist of administrators who are not necessarily engineering professionals, the chief executive officer who again may not be a professional as well as some managers such as the production and quality assurance managers, all of whom have different training needs. Therefore, the design of the training program must take care of each category’s special needs. The program should be designed in such a way as to match the roles and responsibilities of each employee and ensure that the training material, activities and content meet the needs, which exist for the given positions. The training should also be designed in a way in which it will take care for the employee’s past knowledge and skills. BBC has adopted in- house training strategy which is supported by yet another training and development expert (Tjepkema, et al, 2002. 100- 130) as an effective training method. However the adoption of external secondment as is evident in the BBC strategy has been criticized for being an ineffective method of training and development and it is an area where BBC should look into and perhaps change more effective practices such as coaching. The fact that BBC has identified as important, talent management is a step worthy praising. Talent management as practiced by BBC is responsible for the success of the organization as well as its position of a market leader in world’s journalism, a status which the organization enjoys as a result of being keen at staff training and development. The methods of learning are very important in the design of the training program and they should take into consideration that, employees are adults and there are some effective instructional methods, which are of preference to them. The learning process should include reinforcement of positive behaviour so as to make the learning process an effective one. In an engineering firm, most staff would need accretion, and fine-tuning of already learnt procedures (Nilson, 2003. 102). A good training program must be detailed enough to meet the goals and objectives of the organization with clear specifications of the purpose, goals and objectives of the training program. For instance, training at the bottom level of the organization is aimed at transferring new skills. This is because new technologies keep on coming especially in this age of information technology. Therefore employees need to update themselves in using the technology and especially in regard to applying the technology to speed-up production. Any effective training program must have specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound objectives in which a clear definition of the goals is given (Nilson, 2003). The employees’ needs are determined in the context of the nature of work. It is also very important for the management to define the goals of the training program in order to make sure that; the training program is aligned to the organizational values. The content of the training program as well as the learner activity, which is central to the communication of the course content, is very necessary and should be determined prior to the onset of the course. The success of a training program is not entirely dependent on organization and the content of training, but rather, on the execution and subsequent follow up after the training. This is where evaluation of the success of the training program comes in. It is imperative that management gets a feedback for the training from the participants who are usually the employees. In line with the best training and development practice BBC has invested in coaching activities and that is something to be encouraged. According to Stewart and Tansley, (2001. 18- 40) coaching activity has become one of the most favored training methods by employees due to its practicability as well as the fact that organisations can expect to see results in a short time. In addition, instructional system design is easy to apply and does not require a lot of expertise something, which means that organizations can rely on their in-house trainers to carry on training programmes within the organization. Therefore, instructional system design creates an enabling environment for continuous training which implies that organizations which settle on the instructional system design are assured of continuous business improvement without worrying about incurring costs commonly associated with other training models. Training Methods can be categorized as being either `on the job’, `off the job’ or `technology-based’. ‘On the job’ training is also referred to as ‘on the site’ training. This is the training method whereby instead of trainees moving from their workplaces to a different destination for training, the trainer comes to the workplace to train from there. Once in the workplace, the trainer together with the management can choose to train under short sessions such as during staff meetings or choose to dedicate full day to training or even choose to dedicate multiple days for the training. The exact method of delivery during the ‘on the job’ training depends on the wishes of the organization. ‘On the job’ training is associated with higher chances of success because attendance is usually higher than the other two training methods for a number of reasons. First of all, trainees do not have to incur extra costs in terms of travelling to training sites this means that ‘on the job’ training is cost-effective. Another key advantage of ‘on the job’ training is the fact that the simulation process becomes easier as trainees can easily link theoretical issues to practical issues. Suggestions BBC has not done enough to ensure talent management is handled with the standards it deserves. Although, Prince, and Stewart, (2002. 55- 72) cited in-house training as the most reliable and popular training, it should be integrated with other methods such as succession planning in order to achieve maximum effects. There is a need for planners to be aware of the effect of in house training if overused and especially in the case of BBC where in house programs have been in use for several years. Over reliance on one approach of training is likely to have reduced impact as employees are more likely to start viewing it as a boring method, something which is very likely to affect effectiveness of the training programs. Instead of over depending on one type of method, this report is of the opinion that training programs such as mentoring and buddying (Dearden, (2002. 11- 32), cross-functional approach, project assignments as well as graduate development courses would yield better results for BBC organizational training needs. However, it should be borne in mind that the more programs BBC adopts, the higher the cost of investments are likely to go up. This situation calls again for constant and regular evaluation so as to make sure the organization does not invest in ineffective programs which may end up costing the organization for nothing. According to Clatterbuck, and Meggnison, (2005. 81- 106) hybrid or integrated approaches are more effective in achieving training goals than single approaches. BBC should experiment with the now popular 360- degree feedback method in order to ensure that its training and development programs remain effective. As noted by, Clatterbuck, and Meggnison, (2005. 81- 106), it is always better if an organization could involve outside help in training. This serves two purposes; one to break the monotony of having same coaches training same trainees who become used to them used to, secondly, an organisation should aim at encouraging diversity. It is evident in (CIPD,2005. 2-39), that external secondments play critical roles in ensuring that employees interests is maintained in all training programs as well as giving employees an opportunity to learn from outside the organization. However this report would like to note the observation by (CIPD, 2005. 28- 100) that not all programs will always achieve the objectives they are designed for. Therefore there are always chances that training efforts may fail to achieve their goals. This report also commends BBC for making talent management a priority as evidenced in the budget allocation awarded to the training and development programmes. However there is a need for BBC to move from the level of policy statements to action since no matter how well intended training programmes are, all that matters in the end is how far they go in assisting the organisation achieve its training goals. This report will be incomplete without highlighting some of the barriers associated with not having an effective training and development programme. The first barrier identified in BBC is that employees have a negative attitude about training and development efforts being made by the organisation. There is considerable evidence that some employees of BBC feel that they are not being involved in designing of training programmes. Dissatisfaction is also arising concerning the criterion followed by the management when deciding which employees enroll for what courses. Dissatisfaction is also seen as emanating from the perception by some employees that they do not benefit even after training in that they never get promotions or salary increments. Therefore the report challenges the management of BBC to act very fast to stamp out this emerging dissatisfaction. Positive attitude is necessary amongst the employees of the organisation. No matter how well intended, how well funded or organized the training programmes are, if the attitude amongst the beneficiaries is negative, the training is likely to be ineffective and even counter productive. It is suggested here that BBC should move fast to include all staff members in the designing and planning of the training and development. This will in turn result into a positive attitude from the employees pertaining to training and development initiatives in BBC. Conclusion To keep a business organization on the top of the market needs well-trained employees. However the training programs cost companies a lot of money and therefore should be aligned and designed so as to make them effective and efficient. A good training program is only made possible by conducting a careful organizational analysis, determination of training needs as well as the execution of the training process and the follow up to the training. The follow up is necessary as a measure aimed at sustaining the gains made by the training programs.