Plan and Develop a Training Program Within an Organization Essay

Training

The purpose of this discussion is to provide a Plan and develop a training program within the organization known as AT&T. Human Resource Development The part of human resource management that specifically deals with training and development of the employees. Human resource development includes training an individual after he/she is first hired, providing opportunities to learn new skills, distributing resources that are beneficial for the employee's tasks, and any other developmental activities (Human Resource Development)."

AT&T is one of the oldest companies in the world. Its inception began in 1876, when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Since this time the company has grown tremendously. The mission of the company is to "connect people with their world, everywhere they live and work, and do it better than anyone else (Company Information)." At the current time AT & T. is a leading provider of IP-based communications. The company also has the fastest mobile broadband network in the world. At&T also has the largest WiFi network in the United States. AT&T is also "making huge advances in the entertainment and communications industry. For example, we've expanded our video offerings to include television services such as AT&T U-verse® TV and AT&T|DIRECTV. It's part of our "three-screen" integration strategy to deliver services across the three screens people rely on most -- the mobile device, the PC and the TV (Company Information)."

Business Strategy and Organizational Culture

The company's business strategy is consistent with the mission of the company which is the connect people throughout the world and do so better than any other company. To this end AT&T has developed a business strategy over the years, which has aggressively sought some of the most innovative products and services. AT&T has also been active in acquiring other companies which is one of the reasons it has such a large network.

Organizational culture or corporate culture is defined as an "organization-specific system of widely shared assumptions and values that give rise to typical behavior patterns. These systems of cognition and behavior patterns are transmitted to organizational entrants in formal (e.g., mission statements) and informal ways (e.g., modes of speech) (Gordon, 1991)." Organizational culture at AT&T is often seen a being profit-focused instead of customer focused (Yellin, 2009). That is the company places a great deal of its energy into making a profit and the ways in which they can be profitable, as opposed to focusing on needs and desires or consumers. One of the reasons for the current culture at AT&T is the company's past when it had a monopoly on the industry (Weiser, 2009). During this time the way that customers were treated might not have been as important to the company because there was no competition. However in today's environment AT&T does have competition and the way customers are treated has an impact upon the company. AT&T has tried in the past to change the corporate culture ("A Brief History: The New AT&T") and it has changed to some extent, however there is a lasting residue of a profit-driven organizational culture that needs to be addressed.

Overview of the Human Resource Development Process

Training need analysis- skills, knowledge, attitude.

Conducting a training needs analysis is vitally important because doing so guarantees that the training that is implemented is consistent with the needs of AT&T. The training need analysis should be conducted by an outside consultant. Doing so will allow for an unbiased assessment of the needs of the company. There following are the four main areas of the assessment that need to take place

1. Skills- assessing skills is essential because the purpose of it is to alter the behavior of employees or trainees. This is achieved by receiving instructions concerning the new skills to be acquired. Once these skills are taught they must be practiced and then the new skill set must be evaluated.

2. Knowledge-training should be concerned with improving the knowledge of trainees concerning the particular area of need. This knowledge will be needed if the training is to be successful.

3. Attitude -- the attitudes of employees must also be changed so that they are consistent with the changes that AT&T wants to adopt. Changing attitudes can be difficult particularly if the organizational culture encourages attitudes that are inconsistent with the changes that the company is attempting to make. Additionally the attitudes of long time employees may be extremely difficult to alter.

4. Behavior -- the employees will be challenged to practice new behaviors and replace their old behaviors. This is essential to having successful training. Behavior is the element that ensures that the company will address the needs as presented by the needs analysis.Planning and design of training

The training for AT&T should be focused on improving customer service and customer satisfactions. This area of training is needed because AT&T is consistently ranked amongst the worst companies for customer service. The training will be design to assist employees who have direct contact with customers, in changing some of their behaviors to be more reflective of the needs of customers. To this end the design of the training will include seminars and workshops that will show and instruct trainees on the techniques that can be utilized to ensure the delivery of excellent customer service and customer satisfaction.

Delivery of training

Training will be delivered over a 12-month period in three stages. The first stage will be explaining to employees the training need related to customer service and satisfaction. This stage is important because of the complications that can come about as a result of change management. That is, when a change occurs in an organization there are problems that can arise as a result because employees are fearful or anxious about the changes.

The second stage will be the actual training that will take place over a three-month period during which employees will have mandatory training during the workweek and there will also be some weekend training sessions. These sessions will be designed to show employees the way in which there interactions with customers can create a negative perception of the company and lead to customers who are not satisfied with the service and care that they receive.

The third stage will involve the actual implementation of what the employees having learned as a result of the training received. This is an important stage because it will determine if the training was effective in changing the attitudes and behaviors of employees. This will also determine whether or not the training was effective in changing how customers perceive the way they were treated.

Evaluation of training

To evaluate the training the four levels of Kirkpatrick's evaluation model were utilized to assess the training (Bates, 2004). This model of evaluation was chosen because "The Kirkpatrick model has served as the primary organizing design for training evaluations in for-profit organizations for over thirty years (Bates 2004, 396)." Kirkpatrick's evaluation model is as follows

Reaction of employees -- The AT&T employees that participated in the training will nbe asked about their thoughts and feelings concerning the training. This will be done via a survey that will be presented to the employees following the training.

Learning - Their will also be an evaluation of what type of knowledge the employees gained from the training. It is also necessary to know if the knowledge gained assisted the employees in feeling more capable as it pertains to performing their job tasks. This aspect of the evaluation is important because it not only confirms what the employees learned, but influences other training exercises.

Behavior -- this aspect of the evaluation will focus on the ways in which training impacted behavior. The aim is to see improvement in behavior and capability as a result of the training. The impact of the training should be clear in the behavior of the trainees.

Results -- Finally the evaluation will focus on the result of the training. This behavior will be evaluated through customer feedback because the training is focused on improving customer service and customer satisfaction.

Key models necessary for the training in an organization

Performance Appraisal

At the current time AT&T's business strategy and organizational culture could benefit from some improvement. While the company's business strategy has succeeded in making it one of the largest companies in the world, the strategy has failed to take into consideration the impact of its size on its ability or inability to provide adequate customer service and satisfaction. That is the company's business strategy has been so focused on growth and profitability that there was little attention paid to whether or not the company had good customer service. The organizational culture supports this business strategy and as such there must be a concerted effort to change the organizational culture in a way that is lasting. At the current time the business strategy and organizational culture is impacting the performance of employees in a negative way as it pertains to customer service and satisfaction.

Mentoring and coaching ( Analyse against company's HR strategy….....