BMA 318: Determine the Need of Training and make Necessary Arrangements - Human Resource Management Assessment Answers

HRM Assignment Help

Introduction

Training is a vital part of an organisation and it is important for HRD personnel to determine the need of training and make necessary arrangements for it (Adeyemo & Sehoole 2014). Training plan is an important activity undertaken by HRD department so as to develop the skills of employees in a structured manner. The present report aims to design a training plan for the waiters on an Indian restaurant.

Alignment of Training needs

An efficient training plan consists of many aspects such as learning characteristics, the context of organisation, objectives of training, learning material useful for training, time of conducting training sessions and finally the evaluation of the training provided to the learners. In this manner a training plan is also designed here for a restaurant with an aim to improve the table set up skills of the waiters. The training plan also includes all the essential elements of learning and all the important aspects such as adult learning and theories related to that, characteristics of diverse trainees, principles of effective training design and measures to evaluate the training programme in a significant manner (Yao & Fan 2015).

Training plan development

Following is a description on the development of training plan for the restaurant. The training plan is developed using relevant readings from the literature on the development of training plan.

Learners who will receive the training and their learning characteristics

The learners who will receive training are the waiters working in the restaurant. All the waiters working in the restaurant are adults and this is why their learning characteristics are also different. While developing a learning plan for them it is important to take into consideration various aspects of adult learning. There are a number of theories that support adult learning and these theories will also help in developing training plan for the learners in a proper manner.

Learner characteristics

There is a well known theory about adult earning that is known as Malcom Knowles’ Adult Learning Theory. This theory supports andragogy and it has provided five assumptions for adult learners. These assumptions are self-concept, readiness to learn, adult learner experience, motivation to learn and orientation to learning. This theory thus suggest that it is very important for learners to have these four elements that are self-concept, readiness to learn, adult learner experience, motivation to learn and orientation to learning (Budworth, Latham & Manroop 2015).At the same time he also provided four principles for adult learning. These principles guide to develop training plan effectively and as per the audience. Along with that there is another theory that supports adult learning and this theory is known as social learning theory. This theory is not exclusive for adult learners but is also useful for other audience. The theory majorly focuses on cognitive process and it suggests that behaviour is governed by reinforcements. A renowned academician has provided a behavioural theory and this theory is very significant in adult learning known as operant conditioning (Vlasova 2013). This theory is very significant in the present context because the learners who will receive training will majorly receive training on behavioural aspects and due to that this theory will play an important role in providing training to the waiters in the restaurant.

The organisational context

Organisational context plays an important role when it comes to develop training plan. The organisation for which this training plan is being developed is an Indian restaurant. In this restaurant the waiters are not performing up to the mark and the feedback from customers shows that there is an issue with table set up behaviour of the waiters. There are around 3-4 waiters in the restaurant. The chef and restaurant manager is one and the same person. Overall the size of this restaurant as of now including full time and part time staff is around 10 employees.

At present the focus of training is only waiters and their table setting behaviour. Since the organisation is very small in size there is distinct Human resource department and within this context the restaurant manger will be responsible for designing and developing the training program for the waiters. The organisation is recently opened and due to that the problems in behaviour of waiters persists. Along with that there is a very significant element with respect to the organisational context and it is that all the employees belong to diversified group and due to that the organisation has is facing many issues (Ulrich 2013). The waiters also belong to diverse group and this is why it is very important to take into consideration diverse trainee characteristics.

Learning objectives

The objective of this training is to develop a plan that is measurable, observable, specific, time oriented and attainable (Gobind 2014). As it can be seen that the problem that organisation facing is related to the table set up behaviour of the waiters and this is why the objective of training shall also be related to making behavioural changes in waiters. The major objective with which the training program is developed is to improve the skills of the waiters so that they can set the table in a better way. The feedback obtained from the customers suggests that there is a need to improve table setting etiquettes of the waiters and this is why the training program aims to do that. The ultimate objective of this training program is to improve the efficiency and productivity of the organisation and this will only be possible of the objectives of the training will be set using SMART framework. This framework ensures that the objectives that are being set are achieved and that too on time. On the basis of this the objectives of the training are described below:

• The aim of this training is to bring behavioural changes in the table setting etiquettes of the waiters in the restaurant.
• To ascertain the proper training it is also an objective to make sure that the training is evident to all the stakeholders. This simply means that training program developed shall be observable.
• To determine a time frame for the learning of the waiters so that they can get training to improve their behaviour in a time oriented manner.
• To monitor regularly the improvement in the table setting etiquettes of the waiters and providing them training as per that.
• To disseminate the conditions under which the training to the waiters will be provided. This will make the training program more specific.
• To specify the attainability of the learning by taking into consideration various aspects related to the learning ability of the waiters and the training program. This will make the objectives of the training attainable.

Learning activities and material to train people

This is the most significant step of a training program because it deals with the ground work. In this step the learning activities and training material will be ascertained. First of all a detailed overview of the learning activities with their description is discussed below:

Thus there will be two major learning activities that will help waiters to improve their table setting skills in an efficient manner. The learning activities are very practical and specific and thus there will be no confusion in providing training to the waiters (Chovancová 2013).

The training material that will be used for providing training to the waiters will comprise of a training manual which is made by using manuals from various restaurants (Mostafa, Williams & Bottomley 2015). This manual is designed on the basis of principles of effective training design. There are various principles of effective training design which are discussed below in detail:

• Show and tell: It is very important to show trainee in advance that their learning will help them as well as the organisation to achieve the objectives. This is something that is described in the Show and tell principle of training design.
• Relate information to what learners already know: It is important to relate training information with the existing information so that the learners will be able to relate it and there will be no problems relating to lack of trust.
• Incorporate stories: It is very important to incorporate the stories and because stories help in enhancing learning among individuals.
• Enable learners to set their goals: By doing this the objectives of the training will be achieved easily. This will make learners goal-oriented and thus they will be able to achieve their goals in a significant manner.

Training method

The method of training that will be used is presentation method. The trainer will give a brief presentation to the waiters to make them learn about table setting skills.

Learning assessment mechanism

After providing training to the waiters it is very necessary to ensure that they have learnt out of this training program. For that there is an evaluation mechanism and this mechanism helps the organisation in making it sure about the progress of the waiters. The evaluation of training will help in knowing the results of the training process. It will also help in finding out the gap between desired result of training and achieved result from the training. The learning evaluation mechanism (fig 1) is divided into four steps (Louw 2013). These steps are trainee attendance, trainee learning, and workplace behaviour and organisation results. In this manner the learning of the individual will be determined.

Figure 1: Framework for Evaluation of training

The evaluation will be done by knowing whether the waiters are able to set up the table properly or not , whether they are working as per the training guideline or not, whether they are performing all the requisites such as table cleaning, use of cloth, etc, properly or not.

Conducting training sessions

There is an efficient time for conducting a training plan (Coetzee, Schreuder & Tladinyane 2014). The training session will be conducted in 2 parts in week 4 of the module. The training session will be conducted in library room no. 12 of the university. Following is the outline of conducting training sessions:

The training thus requires a very short period of time. A total of 15 min is required for the training and it is distributed in three sessions with proper intervals as required.

Conclusion

A good and efficient training plan is the one that is ultimately able to achieve the organisational objectives that are set before starting the training plan. Every training plan has some flaws as well that shall be recognised using evaluation and addressed. This training plan is also developed very carefully with the aid of all the academic sources and by taking into consideration all the objectives of the training. In this manner the training plan developed here has potential to train the waiters effectively. It is expected that this training program will help the organisation to make improvements in the table setting etiquettes of the waiters and thus will lead to positive feedback from the customers. This is ensured because of strong evaluation program that is implemented along with the training plan.