The Development of an Intergrated Organizational Training Strategy

The Organizational Perspective

Building an organization depends on the talent that is implementing procedures, rules, and processes required to realize the organization's mission. Oftentimes, training literature begins with assessing a person's skills and characteristics which may qualify them for a particular position within the organization. Although this is true, it does not begin with training but rather in defining a position that a prospective employee will assume or a task they will be expected to perform. Furthermore, after a training program or orientation is complete, the organization should provide employees with adequate resources ensuring that they have the opportunity to continue learning without being sponsored by the HR department. Training should be seen as an integrated approach to talent development rather than just a series of sessions which only confer technical knowledge of the job but then leave the employees to face an uncertain evaluation based on their own awareness of how their actions will comply with the organization’s expectations.

The Structure of Job Definition

Given a succinct job description and clearly defined tasks, training programs are often unnecessary. Employees with previous experience or perceived ability are able to learn on the job. Training may come from coworkers or an orientation manual. A manager may act as a mentor who slowly releases the employee into the job as they develop their ability to achieve a minimal standard of acceptable performance. Employees with career resiliency inherent in their skill base may require no training, coaching, or mentoring because they have become experts.

Employees making structured decisions are following protocols, rules, and best practice procedures which have already been developed or compiled by the employer. Identifying the role that the employee will assume in the organization is essential in order to also determine the level of decision-making flexibility involved. In order for a training program to be effectively implemented, a job must be clearly defined in terms of responsibilities and any production methods or service delivery processes which will be consistent with the job duties.

Middle level employees are often found in a transitional stage between unstructured management or executive level decision-making and routine procedures. These levels of employment are often reached after a successful apprenticeship or working in an organization long enough to understand the fundamental business processes through experience. Experience is often transferable from one organization to the next giving more experienced employees or experts greater career mobility as well as earning potential in the labor market.

Typically, decision-making becomes less structured as one reaches professional or expert levels of performance. This is due to the combination of variables affecting performance which cannot be easily defined due to the abstract or conceptual aspects of job requirements. In this case, orientation replaces training as it is necessary for the professional to understand how they will be able to adapt their skills to a dynamic application environment rather than identify with structured procedures designed for specific areas within the organization.

Nevertheless, executive level managers often face learning requirements which force them into formal training programs to adapt or develop their expertise in an area that may lead to promotion or higher performance within an organization. It could be said that top executives in an organization are under the most pressure to learn as they are not always rewarded by what they know but certainly can fail for lack of knowledge. No one ever completely understands the organization they work for especially since the organization also operates in an uncertain external environment where threats cannot always be adequately assessed.

Organization Wide Training

Since training generally involves structured tasks and procedures, it sometimes requires formal sessions. Some organizations have training departments. Some large corporations have their own universities where education can be customized to suit the specific needs of the organization. Every organization requires training at each level of its hierarchy or across functional units as in a matrix type organization. To just implement a training process is insufficient. Learning must be instilled and perpetuated within an organization.

Furthermore, as employees leave an organization a procedure should be in place to capture their knowledge in order to retain their expertise within the company. A high performance level should not be associated with just one person, unless of course the performance level is achieved through personal attributes such as diligence or creativity. Ultimately an organization can develop into a learning organization where knowledge is constantly assimilated and distributed in real time.

Automation

Once rules, policies, and procedures are in place for the structured lowered strata of an organization it becomes necessary to automate the training and development of employees. This reduces time spent training and the strain put on the HR department. Automating training involves assessing the needs of trainees by testing. Once standard testing reveals their weaknesses automated and customized training programs can be put in place. Some training is mass-produced such as safety procedures while other task specific training programs may only target one worker. As workers move through the organization, various automated testing methods can track their progress as well as be used during evaluation periods.

As high performance workers leave the organization through attrition their knowledge is captured through knowledge management and delivered by training methods with an expert system. This is the forerunner of AI as a central element in a developed organization. Although automation replaces people it also empowers them to increase productivity which ultimately reduces costs and creates benefits for society.

Conclusion

Retaining and developing talent is the essence of organizational training. Developing employees is an investment that does not have to come at the expense of organizational revenue but rather should be seen as a primary driver of it. An efficiently managed and highly automated training system which retains knowledge and recycles it throughout the organization results in a learning organization able to adapt in dynamic markets while providing employees the opportunity to advance their status as well as facilitate their career mobility. An investment in employees does not have to be an expense but on the contrary is a profitable investment of time and knowledge management which leads to more motivated employees and higher productivity in the long run.

Photos Courtesy of ZL Studio