CHAPTER 2

Strategic
Business Training and Metrics that
Training and
Strategy Development show Value
Developmen
Activities of Training
t Initiatives

*DIVERSIFY the *USE Web -Based *LEARNING

Learning Portfolio Training *PERFORMANCE
*IMPROVE Customer *MAKE Development Improvement
Service Planning Mandatory *REDUCE
Customer
*ACCELERATE the *DEVELOP Web Sites Complaints
Pace of Employee for Knowledge Sharing *REDUCE
Turnover
Learning *INCREASE Amount *EMPLOYEE
*CAPTURE and Share of Customer Service Engagement
Knowledge Training
Figure 2.1 shows a model of the strategic
training and development process with
examples of strategic initiatives , training
activities, and metrics.
Formulating the Business Strategy
Mission- Statement of the company’s reason for existing
Vision- Is the picture of the future the company wants to
achieve, while values are what the company stands for.
Goals- Which what are the company hopes to achieve in the
medium to long term; they reflect how the mission will be
carried out.
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.
External Analysis- Involves examining the operating
environment to identify opportunities and threats.
Internal Analysis- Attempts to identify the company’s strength
and weaknesses. It focuses on examining the available
quantity and quality of financial, physical, and human capital.
Strategic Choice- represents the strategy believed to be the
best alternative to achieve the company goals.
• Productivity
• Reduced scrap and rework
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Reduced operational risks and accidents due to
employee carelessness
• Increase employee satisfaction and retention
• Increase time and value-producing goods, such as
increase in billable project time hours
• Better management decisions
• Increased development of human capital
• Succession planning needed for competitive
advantage and growth
1. Where to compete
In what markets(industries,products,etc.) will we
compete?
2. How to compete?
On what outcome or differentiating characteristics will
we compute? Cost? Quality? Reliability? Delivery?
Innovativeness?
3. With what will we compute?
What resources will allow us to beat the competition?
How will we acquire, develop, and deploy those
resources to compete?
• Strategic training and development initiatives-
are learning-related actions that a company
should take to help it achieve its business
strategy.
• There is a tendency to have a disconnect
between the strategy and execution of the
strategy.
• To contribute to a company’s business
strategy, it is important that the training
function understand and support it and provide
value to its customers.
Strategic Training and Implications
Development Initiative
Diversify the Learning • Use technology, such as the
Portfolio internet, for training
• Facilitate informal learning
• Provide more personalized
learning opportunities
Expand Who is Trained • Train customers, suppliers, and
employees
• Offer more learning
opportunities to nonmanagerial
employees
Accelerate the • Quickly identifies needs and
Pace of provide a high-quality learning
Employee solution
Learning • Reduce the time to develop
training programs
• Facilitate access to learning
resources on an as-needed
basis
Improve Customer • Ensure that employees have
Service product and service knowledge
• Ensure that employees have
the skills needed to interact with
customers
• Ensure that employees
understand their roles and
decision-making authority
Provide Development • Ensure that employees have
Opportunities and opportunities to develop
Communicate with • Ensure that employees
Employees understand career opportunities
and personal growth
opportunities
• Ensure that training and
development addresses
employees’ needs in job as well
Capture and Share as growth opportunities
Knowledge • Capture insight and information
from knowledgeable employees
• Organize and store information
logically
• Provide methods to make
information available(e.g.,
resource guides, websites)
Align Training and • Identify needed knowledge,
Development with the skills, abilities, or competencies
Company’s direction • Ensure that current training and
development programs support
the company’s strategic needs
Ensure that the Work • Remove constraints to learning,
Environment such as lack of time, resources,
Supports Learning and equipment
and Transfer of • Dedicate physical space to
Training encourage team work,
collaboration, creativity and
knowledge sharing
• Ensure that employees
understand the importance of
learning
• Ensure that managers and
peers are supporting of training,
development and learning
Diversify the Learning Portfolio -means that companies
may need to provide more learning opportunities than
just traditional training program.
Expand Who is Trained -refers to the recognition that
because employees are often the customer’s primary
point of contact, they need as much if not more training
than managers do.
Accelerate the Pace of Employee Learning -To be
successful, companies have to be able to deal with
changes in technology, customer needs, and global
markets. Training needs have to be identified quickly and
effective training provided.
Improve Customer Service -Customers now have access
to databases and websites and have a greater
awareness of high-quality customer service, they are
more knowledgeable, are better prepared, and have
higher service expectations than ever before.
Provide Development Opportunities and Communicate with
Employees- Is important to ensure that employees believe that
they have opportunities to grow and learn new skills. Such
opportunities are important for attracting and retaining talented
employees.
Capture and Share Knowledge- Ensure that important knowledge
about customers, products, or processes is not lost if employees
leave the company.
Align Training and Development with the Company’s direction-Is
important to ensure that training contributes to business needs.
Ensure that the Work Environment Supports Learning and Transfer
of Training- Is necessary for the employees to be motivated to
participate in training and learning activities, use what they learn
on the job, and share their knowledge with others.
These activities include developing
initiatives related to the use of new
technology in training, increasing access to
training programs for certain groups of
employees, reducing development time,
and developing new or expanded course
offerings.
• How does a company determine whether training and
development activities actually contribute to the business
strategy and goals?
• It is important to recognize the difference between training
program outcomes and business metrics.
• Cognizant evaluates its learning efforts using four outcomes
or criteria: business impact, employee satisfaction, business
stakeholder satisfaction, and solution effectiveness.
• The business-related outcomes should be directly linked to
the business strategy and goals.
• Balance scorecard is a performance measurement that
provides managers with a chance to look at the overall
company performance or the performance of departments
from the perspective of internal and external customers,
employees, and shareholders.
4 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)
Metrics that might be used to assess training’s
contribution to the balanced scorecard include
employees training costs, and training costs per
hour.
Examples of the Strategic Training
and Development Process
 - is a leader in the pasta business worldwide, in the pasta sauce business in continental
Europe, in the bakery product business in Italy, and in the crisp bread business in Scandinavia.
Barilla’s business strategy and goals are captured in its “Where to play” and “How to Win”
statements.
- Barilla wants to be the leading and most reputable company in the global Italian meal
experience and bakery product business by growing volumes and shares in pasta, sauces, and
ready meals, developing leadership in its core bakery markets, and customizing products and
services to serve shoppers wherever they buy. To do this, Barilla strives to be the brand and
product choice for customers, win in the marketplace, drive continuous improvement, do
business in an ethical manner, and ensure that employees are proud to work for the company.
- Barilla’s performance-based culture stresses competitiveness, engagement, and
leadership. Barilla has 15,000 employees worldwide, including pasta-producing plant in Ames,
Iowa, and Avon, New York.
- Training and development is necessary to drive continuous improvement.
• Vision
“We help people live better by bringing well-being and the joy of eating into their
everyday lives.”
• Mission
- since 1877, Barilla is the Italian Family Company that believes food is a joyful
convivial experience, is taste is a form of sharing and caring.
- Barilla offers delightful and safe products at a great value.
- Barilla believes in the Italian nutritional model that puts together superior-quality
ingredients and simple recipes creating unique-senses experiences.
- Sense of belonging, courage, and intellectual curiosity inspire our behaviours and
characterize our people.
- Barilla has always linked its development to people’s well-being and to the
communities in which it operates.
• Values
- passion, trust, intellectual curiosity, integrity, courage.
- based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a privately owned-chain of car washes
with forty-one locations in Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. Opened in 1948,
the first Mike’s was called “Mike’s Minit Man Carwash,” named after the
type of equipment originally used Mike’s reorganized into two different
companies Crew Carwash and Mike’s Carwash as part of the family’s
succession plan.
- Mike’s mission is to create lifetime customers by delivering a clean, fast,
friendly experience through engaged and valued team members. Mike’s
strategy supports its mission: consistent and speedy service, return customers,
and growing the business each year.

- Customer satisfaction is very important to Mike’s, with the emphasis placed on

repeat business by serving customers so they will come back again. The
biggest challenge that Mike’s faces is providing a consistently enjoyable
customer experience.

- Mike’s believes that the only way to provide a consistent customer experience
is not only through finding great employees, but through training and
development of those employees.
Employee and manager roles
Top management – support for training
Company’s degree of integration of business units
Global presence
Business condition
Other HRM practices – includes staffing strategies and human resource
planning.
Company’s extent of Unionization
Extent of involvement in training and development by managers,
employees, and human resource staff.
- The roles that employees and managers have in a company influence the
focus of training, development, and learning activity. Traditionally,
employees’ roles were to perform their jobs according to the managers’
directions.

- If companies are using teams to manufacture goods and provide services,

team members need training in interpersonal probleem solving and team
skills.
• Manage individual and team performance - motivate employees to change
performance feedback, and monitor training activities. Clarify individual and team
goals and ensure alignment with company goals.
• Develop employees and encourage continuous learning – explain work assignments
and provide technical expertise. Create environment that encourages learning.
• Plan and allocate resources – translate strategic plans into work assignments and
establish target dates for projects.
• Coordinate activities and interdependent teams- persuade other units to provide
products or resources needed by the work group, and understand the goals and plans
of other units. Ensure that team is meeting internal and external customer needs.
- Setting a clear direction for learning.
- Encouragement, resources, and commitment for strategic learning
- Taking an active role in governing learning, including reviewing goals and
objectives and providing insight on how to measure training effectiveness
- Developing new programs for the company
- Teaching programs or providing resources online
- Serving as a role model for learning for the entire company and
demonstrating a willingness to learn constantly
- Promoting the company’s commitment to learning by advocating it in
speeches, annual reports, interviews, and other public relation tools
 - refers to the company’s decisions regarding where to find
employees, how to select them, and the desired mix of employee
skills and statuses (temporary, full-time etc.)

2 aspects of a company’s staffing strategy

1. Assignment Flow – criteria used to make promotion and
assignment decisions.
2. Supply Flow – the places where the company prefers to obtain
the human resources to fill open positions.
 Because many companies are
recognizing training’s critical role in
contributing to the business strategy,
there is an increasing trend for the
training function, especially in
companies that separate business units,
to be organized by a blend of the BE
model with centralized training that
often includes a corporate university.
 At General Mills, innovation is a
core company value. As a result,
learning and development is aligned
with the business strategy and its
internal customers. Each of the
company’s functional teams develops
short- and long- term strategies.
 For training and development programs
and learning initiatives to contribute to the
business strategy, they must be successfully
implemented, accepted, and used by
customers (including managers, executives
and employees).
Four Conditions are necessary for change to
occur:

1. Employees must understand the reasons for change

and agree with those reasons;
2. Employees must have the skills needed to
implement the change;
3. Employees must see that managers and other
employees in powerful positions support to
change; and
4. Organizational structures, such as compensation
and performance management system, must
support the change.
Four components of the organization:
• Task
• Employees
• Formal organizational arrangements (structures,
processes, and systems)
• Informal organization (communication patterns,
values, and norms)
The four change-related problems that need
to be addressed before implementation of any
new training practice are:

• Resistance to change
• Loss of control
• Power imbalance
• Task redefinition
• Resistance to Change refers to
managers’ and employees’ unwillingness
to change.

• Control relates change to managers’ and

employees’ ability to obtain and
distribute valuable resources such as
data, information, or money.
• Power refers to the ability to influence
others.

• Wed-based training methods, such as

Task redefinition, create changes in
managers’ and emloyees’roles and job
responsibilities.
 Marketing is also important for the successful
adoption of new training programs by helping to
overcome resistance to change, especially
misconceptions about the value of training. Here are
some successful internal marketing tactics:

• Involve the target audience in developing the

training or learning efforts.
• Demonstrates how a training and
development programs can be used to solve
specific business needs.
• Showcase an example of how training has been
used within the company to solve specific business
needs.
• Identify a “champion” (e.g., a top-level manager)
who actively supports training.
• Listen and act on feedback received from clients,
managers, and employees.
• Advertise on e-mail, on company websites, and in
employee break areas.
• Designate someone in the training function as an
account representative who will interact between
the training designer or team and the business unit,
which is the customer.
• Speak in terms that employees and managers
understand. Don’t use jargon.
1. Clarify the request for change
2. Make the vision clear
3. Design the solution
4. Communicate and market for buy-in
5. Choose and announce the action as
soon as possible
6. Execute and create short-term wins
7. Follow up, reevaluate, and modify
• Ask current “customers” of training, including managers who
purchase or ask for training and employees who participate in
training what their perceptions are of the brand.
• Define how you want to be perceived by current and future
customers.
• Identify factors that influence your customers’ perception s of
the training function.
• Review each of the factors to determine if it is supporting and
communicating the brand to your customers in a way that you
intended.
• Make changes so that each factor is supporting the brand.
• Get customers feedback at each step of this process (define the
brand, identify factors, suggest changes, etc.).
• When interacting with customers, create an experience that
supports and identifies the brand.
 Outsourcing refers to the use of an outside company
(an external services firm) that takes complete
responsibility and control of some training or development
activities or that takes over all or most of company’s
training, including administration, design, delivery, and
development.
Business process outsourcing refers to the
outsourcing of any business process, such as HRM,
production, or training. Survey results suggest that slightly
more than half of all companies outsource instructions.
Two reasons that companies do not
outsource their training are

1. The inability of outsourcing providers to meet

company needs and
2. Companies’ desire to maintain control over all
aspects of training and development.
 For training to help a company gain a competitive
advantage, it must help the company reach business goals
and objectives. This chapter emphasized how changes in
work roles, organizational factors, and the role of training
influence the amount and type of training, as well as the
organization of the training functions. The process of
strategic training and development was discussed. The
chapter explained how different strategies (such as
concentration, internal growth, external growth, and
disinvestment) influence the goals of the business and
create different training needs.