Training and Development in Small Businesses – Training Proposal

Assignment Instructions: Training and Development in Small Businesses

Select a small business with which you are familiar. Imagine that you have been called into that business to provide a consultation on training. Create a comprehensive training proposal for the business.

Write a six page in which you:

Analyze key elements of training and development geared toward improving the performance of the specific small business for which you are consulting.
Predict three potential challenges that the managers or owner of the business could face in addressing organizational performance.
Justify the effects of detecting organizational gaps in small business, providing examples to explain the rationale.
Propose a competitive strategy that will improve the position of the business in the market. The strategy should include, at a minimum, an agenda of training activities, rationale for instructional strategies used, and the return of investment (ROI) that will be gained from the strategy you have developed.

Must have quality academic resources

Training and Development in Small Businesses – Sample Paper

Small businesses draw varied advantages from the training and development programs that they implement. For instance, training helps the businesses develop pools of experienced and knowledgeable substitutes for staff members who are promoted or who leave them. As well, training makes certain that the businesses have the requisite personnel to bolster their growth as well as expansion (Casner-Lotto & Work in America Institute, 1988). Besides, training enables the businesses to exploit the strengths presented to them by varied technologies as well as to adapt promptly to speedily evolving competitive environments. Employees who undergo structured training programs are likely to be highly motivated and efficient. They are likely to be satisfied with their jobs and highly productive. This paper examines various facets of the programs.

Key Components of Training and Development Programs

The programs, which are aimed at enhancing specific small businesses’ performances, are defined by various characteristic elements. With respect to the small businesses being consulted for in the presence case, its training and development program will have five major elements (Wentland, 2007). First, the program will provide for a meeting between the owner of the business and the consultant to establish the business’ strategy as well as mission statement. The owner and the consultant will discuss the business’ objectives along with goals and needs, including personnel needs and staff development needs (Quaddus & Woodside, 2015). The consultant and the owner will appraise the business’ preceding training documentation and files.

Second, the program will allow for the making out of the business’ needs through the comparison of the business’ objectives and its personnel needs. That will help establish the probable gaps between the business’ staff development needs and the business’ objectives. The consultant will develop training goals to address the gaps and formulate particular learning approaches with respect to the gaps as well.

Third, the consultant will develop a training schedule or plan to narrow the identified gaps. He or she will develop learning goals for the specific training program and identify the sessions that every staff member will require to attend (Casner-Lotto & Work in America Institute, 1988). The training offered in the session will be included in every staff evaluation. Appropriate learning management systems will be established to support the program’s registration, tracking as well as administration.

Fourth, the consultant will seek out for management agreement, as well as support, prior to the plan’s implementation (Hussey, 1988; Korda & Business Expert Press, 2012). The consultant will appraise the plan with the owner and get her buy-in for its implementation. The consultant will answer every attendant question and every issue raised by the owner using his or her training strategy. The consultant will get the requisite materials ready.

The last, fifth, element of the program will be the plan’s scheduling and implementation. The consultant will make out resources for his or her training. He or she will select, as well as train, instructors. He or she will reserve the requisite training facilities. He or she will share out the schedule for the training and appraise it with the owner and any selected staff members (Casner-Lotto & Work in America Institute, 1988). The training strategy will be executed and the related progress will be monitored regularly. The program will help address varied issued relating to the business’ organizational performance. Notably, there are varied possible difficulties which businesses’ owners or managers may face when tackling organizational performance issues.

The Possible Difficulties

As noted earlier, there are varied possible difficulties which businesses’ owners or managers may face when tackling organizational performance issues. First, the managers or owners may face organizational silo, which means absence of organizational collaboration. The sustained enhancement of organizational performance only happens where there are well-structured exercises combining distinct stages into joint efforts. That is rather challenging to realize if every organizational function acts autonomously without regard to the other functions’ contributions to their enhancement plans (Casner-Lotto & Work in America Institute, 1988). Duplicate efforts are rather common in such cases. Such efforts occasion counterproductive outcomes and confusion.

Second, the managers or owners may lack the requisite management buy-in and commitment. The enhancement of organizational performance requires the support of the managers or owners regarding direction setting and bolstering of the required discipline. When the buy-in and commitment are lacking, different organizational performance functions become misaligned with the corresponding business objectives. To ensure that the performance is enhanced effectively the managers or owners ought to be consistent and clear in their communications to cultivate organizational cultures that are defined by pervasive, aligned, and accountable duty to performance.

Third, the usage of outdated technologies and systems impedes the enhancement of organizational performance. For instance, processes that are hinged on spreadsheet overwhelm business managers or owners easily in monotonous detail and take up much of their time unjustifiably. The managers or owners spend lots of time in efforts to make given systems run effectively, leaving them with limited time for implementing the related information (Hussey, 1988; Korda & Business Expert Press, 2012). To ensure that organizational performances are enhanced smoothly, business should update their technologies to support own objectives best. The updating of the technologies will as well help the businesses free up their resources to utilize more time analyzing and executing information. Notably, many small businesses use specific technologies in identifying own organizational gaps.

Consequences of Identifying Organizational Gaps

In small businesses, organizational gap appraisals entail the determination of the areas with and staff with specific gaps or deficiencies. The appraisals offer foundations for the development of the businesses’ action plans. The appraisals of the gaps helps businesses determine the elements, or aspects, lacking in specific staff members in specific positions. They help businesses develop performance maps, which describe the actions of effective individuals in given business roles.

Proposed Competitive Training Strategy For the Business

Schedule of Experiential Training Activities
- Lunchtime yoga
- Company quiz game
- Eggs balancing game
Instructional Strategy’ Rationale
- The training activities that will be used in the competitive training strategy by the consultant will be experiential. An experiential instructional strategy will be used. The strategy will allow for the immersion of the participants in the specific activities via role-playing, building, and planning. As well, the strategy will support the participants to lower their inhibitions as well as unleash own creativity.
Return on Investment
- The strategy will allow for the repairing of breakdowns in communication within the business. The strategy will improve teamwork in the business. It will motivate employees and support their personal development (Casner-Lotto & Work in America Institute, 1988).

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