Summary of Chapter 2 ( Strategic Training ) :

The chapter "Strategic Training" discusses the evolution of training, organizational

characteristics influencing it, and various models for organizing the training department.
It emphasizes the importance of linking training to the company's strategy, focusing on
employee roles, global operations, and business conditions. The chapter also discusses
trends in training's role and the implications of business strategies like concentration
and divestment. It presents major models of training function organization.

A business strategy is a plan that integrates the company's goals, policies, and
actions. The goals are what the company hopes to achieve in the medium and
long-term future. There are both direct and indirect links between training and business
strategy and goals. Training that helps employees develop the skills needed to perform
their jobs directly. affects the business.

Business strategy significantly influences training type, amount, and resource allocation,
as well as the type, level, and mix of skills required within a company.

The role of training in companies is evolving from an event to learning, involving

training, development, informal learning, and knowledge management. Employees are
responsible for applying their training on the job, and training events will continue to be
tied to performance improvement, requiring top management support.

A learning organization is a company that fosters learning, adaptation, and change

through training as part of a system to create human capital. Successful
experimentation requires genuine uncertainty, small costs, understanding of risks,
failure as important information, defined success, and significant opportunities. A single
training event doesn't provide a competitive advantage.

Learning is crucial for human capital development, as it improves employee

performance and helps companies achieve business goals. In the unpredictable
business environment, informal learning through mentoring, chat rooms, and job
experiences is essential. Managers must understand employees' interests and career
goals to provide suitable development activities for success in other positions or job
expansion.

The strategic training and development process involves four steps: 1.Identifying
the organization's business strategy.
2.Determining strategic training initiatives that align with this strategy. 3.Translating
initiatives into concrete learning activities.
4.Identify metrics to determine whether training has contributed to goals related to the
business strategy.

Business strategy formulation and identification

There are Five major components of developing a new business strategy or changing
an existing.The first component is the company mission, which is a statement of the
company’s reason for existing. Company missions vary, but they typically include
information on the customers served.The mission statement is often accompanied by a
statement of the company’s vision or values.The second component is the company
goals, which are what the company hopes to achieve in the medium to long term; they
reflect how the mission will be carried out. The third and fourth components, external
and internal analysis, are combined to form ASTD Press.what is called a SWOT
analysis. A SWOT analysis consists of an internal analysis of strengths and
weaknesses and an external analysis of opportunities and threats to the company that
currently exist or are anticipated.The last component is strategic choice. It represents
the strategy believed to be the best alternative to achieve the company goals.

Some Possible Business Goals Influenced by Training:

1. Productivity
2. Reduced scrap and rework
3. Increased customer satisfaction
4. Reduced operational risks and accidents due to employee carelessness
5. Increased employee satisfaction and retention
6. Increased time and value-producing goods, such as increase in billable project
time hours
7. Better management decisions
8. Increased development of human capital
9. Succession planning needed for competitive advantage and growth.
There are some decisions a Company Must Make About How to Compete to Reach Its
Goals:

1. Where to compete?
In what markets (industries, products, etc.) will we compete?

2. How to compete?
On what outcome or differentiating characteristic will we compete? Cost?
Quality? Reliability? Delivery? IInnovativeness?

3. With what will we compete?

What resources will allow us to beat the competition? How will we acquire,
develop, and deploy those resources to compete?

Identify Strategic Training and Development Initiatives That Support the Strategy

Strategic training and development initiatives are learning-related actions that a

company should take to help it achieve its business strategy.14 The strategic training
and development initiatives vary by company depending on a company’s industry,
goals, resources, and capabilities.

Strategic Training and Development Initiatives and Their Implications:

1. Diversify the Learning Portfolio:

● Use technology, such as the Internet, for training
● Facilitate informal learning
● Provide more personalized learning opportunities

2. Expand Who Is Trained:

● Train customers, suppliers, and employees
● Offer more learning opportunities to nonmanagerial employees
● Quickly identify needs and provide a high-quality learning solution

3. Accelerate the Pace of Employee Learning:

● Reduce the time to develop training programs
 ● Facilitate access to learning resources on an as-needed basis

4. Improve Customer Service:

● Ensure that employees have product and service knowledge
● Ensure that employees have skills needed to interact with customers
● Ensure that employees understand their roles and decision-making authority

5. Provide Development Opportunities and Communicate with Employees :

● Ensure that employees have opportunities to develop
● Ensure that employees understand career opportunities and personal growth
opportunities
● Ensure that training and development addresses employees’ needs in current
job as well as growth opportunities

6. Capture and Share Knowledge:

● Capture insight and information from knowledgeable employees
● Organize and store information logically
● Provide methods to make information available (e.g., resource guides, websites)

7. Align Training and Development with the Company’s Direction Ensure that the Work
Environment Supports Learning and Transfer of Training :
● Identify needed knowledge, skills, abilities, or competencies
● Ensure that current training and development programs support the company’s
strategic needs Ensure that the Work Environment Supports Learning and
Transfer of Training
● Remove constraints to learning, such as lack of time, resources, and equipment
● Dedicate physical space to encourage teamwork, collaboration, creativity, and
knowledge sharing
● Ensure that employees understand the importance of learning
● Ensure that managers and peers are supportive of training, development, and
learning.

Provide Training and Development Activities Linked to Strategic Training and

Development Initiatives:

After a company chooses its strategic training and development initiatives related to its business
strategy, it then identifies specific training and development activities that will enable these
initiatives to be achieved.

Identify and Collect Metrics to Show Training Success:

How does a company determine whether training and development activities actually contribute
to the business strategy and goals? This determination involves identifying and collecting
metrics, business-level outcomes chosen to measure the overall value of training or learning
initiatives. Examples of metrics include measures of employee retention, employee
engagement, customer service, productivity, and quality.

The balanced scorecard is a means of performance measurement that provides managers

with a chance to look at the overall company performance or the performance of departments or
functions (such as training) from the perspective of internal and external customers, employees,
and shareholders.
The balanced scorecard considers four different perspectives: customer, internal, innovation
and learning, and financial

The four perspectives and examples of metrics used to measure them include:
● Customer (time, quality, performance, service, cost)
● Internal (processes that influence customer satisfaction)
● Innovation and learning (operating efficiency, employee satisfaction, continuous
improvement)
● Financial (profitability, growth, shareholder value)

Organization characteristics that influence training

The amount and type of training, as well as the organization of the training function in a
company, are influenced by:
1. Employee and manager roles : Traditionally, employees followed managers'
directions, but with the shift towards high-performance teams, employees now take on
additional roles such as hiring, scheduling, and customer interaction. This necessitates
greater expertise and cross-training. Managers, on the other hand, have complex roles
including managing performance, developing employees, resource allocation,
coordinating teams, facilitating decision-making, maintaining trust, and representing
their work group.
2. Top management support for training: top management's support for training and
learning is crucial and can take various forms:
- Setting a clear direction for learning initiatives.
- Providing encouragement and resources for employee development.
- Actively participating in governing learning processes.
- Developing or teaching new training programs.
- Demonstrating a willingness to learn and serving as a role model.
- Promoting learning through various communication channels.

3. The company's degree of integration of business units: in a highly integrated

business, employees need to understand all parts of the company, and training must
address those needs.

4. Its global presence: the expansion of global markets poses a significant challenge for
U.S. companies, necessitating comprehensive training for employees deployed
overseas. These companies must decide whether to centralize training from the U.S. or
delegate it to satellite installations near foreign facilities. A crucial aspect is ensuring
that training is effective for all employees, irrespective of language or cultural
differences.

5.Its business conditions: in periods of low unemployment and high business growth,
companies struggle to attract, retain, and train skilled employees. Conversely, in
unstable or recessionary environments marked by mergers or layoffs, training may be
sidelined or focused on short-term skill correction rather than career development.
However, during growth phases, employees may find numerous opportunities for lateral
moves or promotions. In flat-earning periods or downsizing scenarios, training aims to
ensure workforce readiness for filling vacant positions due to turnover or retirement.

6.Other HRM practices (staffing strategies and human resource planning) : This excerpt
outlines different staffing strategies adopted by companies and their implications on
HRM practices and business performance:

· Fortress Approach (External, Group Focus): These companies have limited training
resources and prefer to recruit externally. They often focus on group performance rather
than individual achievements.
· Baseball Team Approach (External, Individual Focus): These companies prioritize
innovation and creativity, often seeking individuals with specialized skills from other
companies or fresh graduates.

· Club Approach (Internal, Group Focus): Typically found in regulated industries,

these companies focus on developing talent internally and emphasize group
performance.

· Academy Approach (Internal, Individual Focus): Companies in need of specialized

skills invest in developing their existing employees on an individual level.

These staffing strategies impact various HRM practices such as training, selection,
performance management, and compensation, ultimately influencing the attraction,
motivation, and retention of human capital. Companies that align these practices with
their business strategy tend to demonstrate higher performance levels compared to
those that do not.
7. The company's extent of unionization: this excerpt highlights the importance of union
involvement in training and productivity improvement programs within companies. It
emphasizes that joint union-management programs are crucial for success, as they
ensure that all parties understand the development goals and are committed to
necessary changes. Without union involvement, such efforts are likely to fail, as unions
may perceive them as attempts to increase employee workload without sharing
productivity gains. Joint programs foster cooperation between unions, management,
and employees, aiming to benefit both the company's profitability and employees' job
security and share in increased profits.

8.Strategic value of jobs and employee uniqueness: this excerpt discusses the strategic
value of jobs and employee uniqueness, highlighting how these dimensions intersect to
characterize different types of employees:

· Knowledge-based Workers (High Value and Uniqueness): These employees are

rare and specialized, requiring extensive training due to their strategic importance in
improving company effectiveness and efficiency.

· Job-based Employees (High Value and Low Uniqueness): While still valuable to the
company, these employees are more readily available in the labor market and thus
require less training compared to knowledge-based workers.

· Contract Employees (Low Value and Low Uniqueness): These employees have
limited strategic value and are not particularly unique, necessitating minimal training.
· Alliance/Partnerships (High Uniqueness and Low Value): Training for these
employees focuses on sharing expertise and team training, as they possess specialized
skills but may have lower overall value to the company.

Human resource planning plays a crucial role in anticipating and managing the
movement of human resources within the company, including turnover, transfers,
retirements, or promotions. By identifying where specific skill sets are needed, training
can prepare employees for various career advancements, lateral moves, or even
demotions predicted by the human resource plan.

9. The extent of involvement in training and development by managers, employees, and

human resource staff.: This excerpt emphasizes the importance of managerial
involvement in training and development to ensure alignment with business needs and
facilitate the transfer of training. It suggests that managers become more engaged when
rewarded for their participation. Additionally, there is a trend towards empowering
employees to initiate their own training process, with the company providing support for
their development initiatives.

Training needs in different strategies

There are 4 business strategies that differ based on the goal of the business.

1. Concentration strategy: focuses on increasing market share, reducing costs, or

creating and maintaining a market niche for products and services.

2. Internal growth strategy focuses on new market and product development,

innovation, joint ventures.

3. External growth strategy focuses on acquiring vendors and suppliers or buying

businesses that allow the company to expand into new markets.

4. Disinvestment strategy: focuses on liquidation and divestiture of businesses.

(look at table 2.7 for more details).

Learning, Training, and Development from a Change Model Perspective

Businesses adjust to emerging technologies, workforce competencies, and international
market penetration. Change is fueled by the interaction of four organizational
components: the task, workforce, formal structure, and informal organization.
Employees must be supported by organizational structures, have the requisite abilities,
and understand the rationale for changes. It is imperative to tackle difficulties associated
to change, such as task redefinition, power imbalances, loss of control, and resistance
to change. As more people gain access to knowledge, managers' power may wane and
employees' control over resources may decrease.

Marketing Training and Creating A Brand

For managers and employees to be more open to training and learning, internal
marketing is essential. Including the target audience, describing the program's
application, providing examples of effective training, selecting a champion, advertising
across several media, designating an account representative, comprehending financial
information, and effectively communicating are some strategies. Acknowledging
achievements and distributing customized messaging to various workforce segments
are also crucial. A top-notch training brand is necessary to keep customers coming
back.

Outsourcing Training

When a business partners with an outside organization to handle all aspects of training
management and control including administration, design, delivery, and development
this is known as outsourcing training. This can be carried out for access to best
practices, rule compliance, financial savings, or time savings. However, if suppliers are
unable to meet their needs or retain control, corporations are not permitted to outsource
training. Training may have some external components, but these must still fit in with the
aims and goals of the company.

End of the chapter summary .