Interviewer: Thanks very much for agreeing to describe the role training and development play in this Company.
Training manager: you are welcome.
Interviewer: kindly explain who conducts the training and how often is it delivered?
Training manager: the training in this company is conducted by senior managers. These managers are first taken to different training programs and after completing their studies they are supposed to train the rest of the staff. They do these through on job training and through lectures. The training is offered after three months. The department of research and development holds its training and development after two months.
Interviewer: Who receives the training in the organization and what are the topics?
Training manager: in this company everyone receives the training. This is because the company believes that there is always room for improvement in every section of the company. The topics covered depend on the sections in the organization’s needs. In the marketing and sales department for instance they cover topics such as customer satisfaction approach, marketing mix among others. It is the company policy that all employees must undergo safety training.
Interviewer: What are the typical steps in the training process in your organization?
Training manager: the company follows different steps in its training process. These steps are conducting the needs assessment whereby the training department identifies the content to be covered in any training to meet the intended training objectives. After this step, the next step is the design phase whereby training is based on the employee’s needs. This is important to gain support from the staff as this makes training to be efficient.
The next step involves finding the training materials. These materials may be movies, case studies, information packs, and other visual aids. These materials are put in a way that the trainers and students will not have difficulties in accessing them. The next step is the implementation of the training program. This is the step that involves actual training. The classroom rules are spelled out to students and trainers start teaching the staff. The last step is about training evaluation. In this step training goals are evaluated and students are requested to forward feedback to the training section.
Interviewer: How are your training efforts evaluated for effectiveness and efficiency?
Training manager: for the company to determine how effective and efficient the training had been the company carries out the test of its performance objectives. The company compares the goals and objectives which had been set before the training whether they had been achieved. The effectiveness of the training is evaluated by asking the participants to rate the whole training process and the trainers. This is important to ensure employees’ training feedback is analyzed; this ensures the next training becomes better than the first one.
The training team carries out a labor savings survey to detect whether the training has led to a reduction in the effort required to accomplish a certain task. In the marketing section, the company evaluates the number of sales improvements after the training. In the research and development section, the training effectiveness and efficiency get determined by evaluating the new products they bring in the market, and the quality of the products.
The company also evaluates how long it takes for the company to obtain the amount it used for the training. If the return on investment used to carry out the training is high then the training is considered to be a failure and vice versa.