Training and Development
Name
Institution
Training and Development
The proposal will be analyzing the central training and development factors that are put in place to propel a small business towards quality and performance improvement. For the proposal to achieve that, it will have to identify the challenges or problems business owners and managers encounter while addressing the small businesses’ performance. The proposal will seek to justify why the spotting organizational gaps effects in the small business. The last phase of the proposal will develop competitive strategies to be recommended to the small business to improve its position in the market. This proposal’s strategies will include a training activity plan, the rationale for the strategies used, and how the return on investment will be achieved from the proposed strategies.
South Bat Retailer
The South Bat is among the classy retail store in the U.S. the retail store has it head store in New York and several other stores around the major cities in the U.S. The store deals with classy and modern furniture housewares. The method South Bat retailer use in conducting business is through displaying the merchandise such as sofas, table, beds, among others for the customers to see. The display is done in both the main store and all the others across the country. Apart from the display, the stores also have an online platform where they can view all the products available and place their orders. All the stores across the country have approximately 4000 employees. The business can rate 9 in employee satisfaction due to how the management ensures they are paid well. The business also ensures the employees’ health benefits and bonuses are available.
Additionally, the franchise has a limited chance of vacancies due to employee loyalty and long-term tenures. The venture’s customer services are superb, considering the customers get deliveries for their orders regardless of the location with no extra costs. Due to the loyalty of the employees, the business provides them with referral programs incorporated as a culture in the venture. The referral program works in a manner where employees are given a chance to refer their friends and relatives for positions that arise in the organization. The high customer service levels and product delivery present in South Bat ensure the business rates are high in performance and have become a favorite for the customers.
Key Elements of Training and Development
South Bat, despite its rating in performance, has several elements it can implement to ensure productivity improvement. The productivity of the South Bat store can only be increased through training and development. First training and development will ensure that that the venture has a workforce of qualified personnel (Blanchard & Thacker, 2012, p 35). The benefit of qualified personnel is that they are associated with improved productivity. The other advantage associated with qualified personnel is that the venture will always have employees to promote greater responsibilities and provide the business with human resources necessary for growth and expansion.
Secondly, training and development are essential to a venture like South Bat since it can make technological advancements to enable it to match the ever-changing environment. Employees need to be equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to enable the franchise to diversify and use more complex information technology systems. Considering the market competition, the business may be forced to install new technologies that will work perfectly with trained employees.
Lastly, training and development are essential for employees’ personal growth. Training and development bring efficiency and motivation to the employees. The results are job satisfaction for the employees and increased and improved productivity for the company or business.
The benefits associated with training and development for small businesses like South Bat is there will be reduced turnover, increased effectiveness, and efficiency, employee motivation will be high and reduced supervision. All these benefits are essential to the financial health of a small business.
Challenges When Addressing Organizational Performance
When managers or owners of small businesses are planning to improve organizational performance, they could encounter several challenges. Among the problem is hesitancy, cost, trainers, personalizing training and development, automation of training.
Most managers will hesitate to train their employees due to the fear that they may become better and leave the company. As much as training is essential for managers and owners since it results in improved performance, there is fear that when employees become good, they might leave the company. That notion has been created by previous employees who were trained and end up abandoning their companies to seek more lucrative opportunities elsewhere.
Cost is another problem managers and owners of organizations will face. Training is not cheap; they will incur the business more money to train the employees. Managers and owners have to face the challenge and make the right decision. They are faced with two options that are not training the employees to retain the normal performance and decrease the morale of the employees or incur the cost to train them and improve organizational performance.
Managers and owners are also faced with the challenge of who to train the employees (Wengroff, 2019). They face options that include heads of departments training the employees or inviting a consultant to train the employees. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages. Consultants have more knowledge to impact while heads of departments have the required skills and experience to be passed down to the employees. Choosing between the two options is a challenge manager and owners will have to face to improve the organization’s performance.
Personalized training is another problem managers, and owners of businesses face (Wengroff, 2019). Employees seek job experiences, and that can only be achieved through training and development. As a result of training and development, the performance of the organization improves. Employees do not only seek training but personalized training that fits their experience. That will pose a problem to the managers considering the number of employees in the company. That is, a challenge managers and owners have to address when seeking to address organizational performance.
The manager may opt to automate the training to handle all the employees of the company (Wengroff, 2019). That will not yield the purpose of training and development. Employees in different departments require a specific set of skills to handle their duties. Automation of the training will not have the required impact on the performance of the company. Managers have to seek a way to address employees’ training and not automation to manage a large number of employees.
Effect of Detecting Organizational Gaps
Organizational gaps are the business’s loophole that makes it not reach its full potential (Berman, 2020). Detecting these gaps is essential for small businesses since they can direct the resources and efforts to solve the problem. Analyzing the gaps is essential since it brings the owner or manager the owner or manager whether the business is being affected internally or externally.
For example, a business may realize that the gap preventing it from achieving its full potential is the employees. Employees may lack the required motivation or skills to handle the trending changes in the environment, realizing that training and development should be conducted to address the motivation issue and organizational performance.
Competitive Training Strategy
The best training strategy addresses the issue of the business and how it can maintain or improve its position in the market. The strategy should include training activities, instructional strategies, and how the business will gain a return on investment from the strategy. When coming up with a competitive training strategy, the following areas should be addressed: conduct a need assessment, compare with other businesses, define training needs, and training delivery.
Training needs assessment to ascertain what is working and what is not working for the business (Leonard, 2019). Managers will have ideas about what employees need to perfect their jobs. Ascertaining the needs for training can be done through employees’ feedback from surveys conducted by the managers. Once the feedback is analyzed, the managers and owners will know where to concentrate on.
For a business to develop a competitive training strategy, it is essential to benchmark or compares what the business is doing differently from the other successful businesses in the same industry (Leonard, 2019). Compare the strategies the other business employs that makes it so successful and adopt them for the business. Such information may prove essential since it may turn the tide in favor of your business. The business can learn about how employees are treated or trained and enforce the same business to create a successful business.
Defining training needs is ascertaining the type of training needed in the business and the frequency it should be conducted (Leonard, 2019). For example, the sales department should have regular training, considering the rapid change in the world. They should be up-to-date with the current market trends to ensure customers are pleased with the services offered. Defining training needs is not enough; the management should also know the best way to train them. The reason being people grasp content in different ways. Some prefer classes, while others prefer online platforms. Therefore, it is the management’s role to ascertain the best way to disseminate the training to the employees. Business owners should also consider bringing consultants from outside for the employees to feel the training is different.
Training delivery is based on the resource the company has. Training can be costly, but the managers and owners should not provide unstandardized training because of the budget (Leonard, 2019). How the training is delivered is crucial since it determines whether the business owner will get a return on investment. Communicating with the employees about the resources is available so that they do not feel left out. Training can be done in phases to ensure the right content is grasped and delivered. That way, the company’s performance will improve, and the owner will get a return on the investment made.
Finally, it is essential to note training and development is essential to all small businesses. First, it improves the morale of the employees, who, in turn, work efficiently. Secondly, when the employees’ morale is high, and their performance is efficient, it means the company’s performance will improve. Owners and managers should develop the appropriate training strategies that will ensure the training goals are achieved in the company.
References
Berman, C. (2020). Organizational gap analysis. Small Business – Chron.com. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/organizational-gap-analysis-70281.html
Blanchard, N. P., & Thacker, J. (2012). Effective training: Systems, strategies, and practices. Pearson Higher Ed.
Leonard, K. (2019). How to develop an effective training strategy. Small Business – Chron.com. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/develop-effective-training-strategy-17943.html
Wengroff, J. (2019, December 3). Top 10 learning and development challenges for 2020. Synapse. https://getsynapse.com/blog/top-10-learning-and-development-challenges-for-2020/
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