Unit 3 Human Resources Development Assignment Copy

Program	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Unit 3 Human Resources Development
QFC Level	Level 5

Introduction

Human resources development (HRD) refers to process in which HR department of organization analyze the needs of human resources for managing and improving operation and functional efficiency to meet the objectives. This process evaluates the training gaps and develops the plan to enhance the skills and knowledge of the staff members to maintain the efficiency and standard of activities for meeting objectives according the benchmarking standards. Human resources development will compare the training needs at different levels and access the advantage and disadvantage of training methods for Waitrose food retail organization. Waitrose is leading food manufacturing and retail organization of UK that offering quality food products UK and across the globe. Moreover report will develop the document using questionnaire method for gap analysis for training and operation human management. Furthermore, report will evaluate the role of government for training and development and assess the contemporary training initiatives for human resources development.

Task 2 

2.1 Comparison of training needs at different level

For an organization like Waitrose training and development for staff members plays important role in managing the operational activities to deliver quality products and services. Following are the three major level there training needs are being evaluated for Waitrose:

Operation level: At operation level training of Waitrose staff members is essential as manufacturing, packaging and inventory of food products and services take place. However, HR department of organization is offering training and guideline to staff members but for meeting the deadline staff members are lacking. For maintaining the delivery on time, organization needs to offer training to staff. The expert needs to offer direction for managing the resources for meeting the time limit to manage the balance in product development and delivery (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). This kind of approach will help to encourage the performance and efficiency of staff.

Management level: This is an important area for managing the human resource services and planning for Waitrose that helps to gain the competitive advantage. For that, Waitrose HR department needs to appointee experienced and knowledgeable manager and clearly mention the guideline to perform and monitor the performance of each department to offer quality services and products. By providing job training and using the meeting method organization could offer the practical training to managers that will help to improve skills and knowledge of managers at all levels. Moreover, skills of motivating staff members require improvement.

Customer level: For retail organization like Waitrose, training for managing customer services is requiring improvement in communication and decision making through analyzing the situations. At this level Waitrose management requires focusing on the practical training for interaction and offering the products to customers considering the culture and needs of the target customers (Bratton and Gold, 2012). For that organization could use the job training by collecting the feedback from staff to analyze the gaps and overcome their impact.

2.2 Assess the advantages and disadvantages of training methods

Table 1: Advantages and disadvantages

Training methods	Advantages	Disadvantages
Job mentoring	Senior staff offer essential direction for staff members to meet objectives The morale of staff get encourage	Lacking in the practical learning to staff members Managers may busy in their work which influence the training requirements
Jon rotation	Get more opportunities for learning the new job specifications Employees feels exited to perform  new tasks and improve level of knowledge at operation level	Shifting of staff affect the process of working and level of interest in operation Increase the probability of disputes and conflicts (Dar-El, 2013).
On job training	Improve practical information and knowledge of staff members and help to make decision Enhance the performance level as staff able to understand the process of working	It is consume time and cost for offering the real time training to staff Sometimes employees get de-motivated as it requires high attention and follow-up of guidelines

2.3 Systematic training and development plan

By considering the needs and areas of improvement for staff members at Waitrose, following training and development plan has developed for employees which will help to improve the performance according the required standard.

Table 2: Training and development plan

SKILLS	AREAS OF LACKING	ACTIVITY FOR IMPROVEMENT	TIME FRAME
Time management	To manage time and compete the task on given time	By prior planning of task and proper allocation of time to each activity	3 Months
Communication	To meet the professional written communication	Review of letters and practicing through online sources	2 month
Planning	Arrangement of resources	By using the past experience and new techniques of management (Flamholtz, 2012).	2 months
Team working	Interaction with each member	Organizing team and one to one meeting	2 Months
Professional knowledge	Use of professional language for explain task	By joining the classes and practicing at home	2 months
Utilization of resources	Assign role and responsibility	By analyzing the skills and qualification of individual	1 Months

For development and implementation of plan following systematic approach would be used:

Analysis of performance gap: The manager and supervisors of each department will analyze the performance of staff members and identify the major areas of lacking to develop the plan accordingly (Posavac, 2015).

Competency gaps: According to approach, manager will compare the performance of staff as per the benchmarking standard of organization for customer services. This will help to gain critical analysis of individual performance and offer the training accordingly.

Alternative training options: After the analysis of areas of improvement, manager will select the approaches and ways to offer the training to the staff for improvement in the performance. For that consideration of cost and time for training and development will be the major area of concern (Van Dooren.et.al. 2015).

Training evaluation: In the part of approach, manager will evaluate the effectiveness of training process and evaluate the outcome for Waitrose. This will help to gain the in-depth analysis of performance of staff and improvement in areas of lacking through training plan.

Task 3

3.1 Evaluation using the suitable technique (Questionnaire method)

For evaluation of developed training plan for Waitrose staff members, I have selected the questioner method that will help to collect the critical feedback from the employees about the effectiveness of training plan.

The form for evaluation for developed training plan would be as follows:

Trainning evaluation form:

Training type

Date:

Time:

Name of trainer:

About the activities undertaken for training:

A. Are the process and activities used for training effective- Y- N

B. Is the time for each task in training sufficient Y- N

C. Is the guideline and information offered in training good Y- N

D. Recommendation for improvement:

1.

2.

About the trainer:

A. Is the trainer provided good explanation of activities Y-N

B. Is the trainer answered all your doubts Y – N

C. Is the trainer good in terms of communication and knowledge Y

The above documents is being developed and used for analyzing and improving the following elements for Waitrose staff training and development:

Sales improvement: This is major objective for organization for business. Waitrose is looking to craft improvement in the training to encourage the sales. By using this training evaluation HR manager will able to identify the effectiveness of training plan to achieve this objective.

Efficiency: From this training evaluation, HR manager will evaluate the improvement in efficiency for staff to meet the financial objectives for business as well improvement in the production and delivery process of Waitrose products and services (Cummings and Worley, 2014).

Services improvement; This will be major area for concern after offering the training to staff members as meager or supervisor will evaluate the improvement in the services provision of organization to meet the satisfaction level of customers.  

3.2 Evaluation of workshop for training using the document

The document that is been used for analyzing the training effectiveness for staff members, it is been carried out that the plan incorporated for improvement in the knowledge of staff was fishable, innovative and helpful for improvement. Moreover, business event has found it valuable as staff members offered the critical feedback about the training initiatives and approach used for resolving the issues in training. The theories and activities used for training and development has helped staff of Waitrose to understand the culture and standard of managing the operations for meeting the customer satisfaction and planed their own task according to benchmarking (Price, 2011). However, training and development plan has helped to offer the knowledge to staff to deal with the challenges in systematic manners but the level of communication of trainer was not up-to the required standard.

Additionally, from the evaluation it can be carried out that training and development plan has helped staff of organization to craft improvement in decision making as role play method used for offering the practical training. This kind of approach has helped to encourage the communication, planning, time management and anticipation of customer needs which has positive impact on the knowledge and efficiency of staff of Waitrose. Overall, it can be considered that training plan initiative was successful as it helps staff members to focus on the needs and areas of lacking who ever participated in training events.  The human resource development plan also played an important role and it helped staff members to focus on the real time situation faced by them during work and the same was shared with the top level management of Waitrose (Wheelahan, 2014). The staff members were satisfied with the approach of trainer and the activities that used for providing the training.

3.3 Review of success of evaluation method based on the response

For the improvement in the Human Resources Development of Waitrose organization, an effective training and development plan has been incorporated that has helped to craft improvement in the skills and knowledge of employs for communication, planning and decision making for meeting the customer service standard. Review of plan is essential for analyzing the impact as well improvement in the HRD approach. According to observation and evaluation of HRD plan it is been carried out that performance of Waitrose staff members is improved as per the desired standard which is positive aspect of initiatives. This has enhanced the productivity and sales of organization at domestic and international level which is good for future business.

Appraisal can likewise be summative, where the intention is to check the discovering that has been accomplished. For that feedback method is been used that is effective in terms of gaining the right and valid view of staff members about the training plan that proposed to staff members of organization (Budhwar 2014). This method has helped to gain the critical review of staff with particular training and development activity for improvement in the set of skills. Waitrose use both these assessment techniques: developmental and summative. After providing efficient training and development program, there employees have now changed their perceptions towards work and they are likely commit well in future also.

Task 4 

4.1 Role of government regard training and lifetime learning

For improvement in professional and personal context lifelong learning is important for organization and their employees. The UK government has taken many initiatives Human Resources Development for local population according to needs and requirements of industries. The government is offering training according to trends and basically for communication, time management and effective utilization of resources. The skill development plans of UK government are also executed at schools level as it providing the education for technical, operational and managerial level knowledge to young professional. This kind of approach is helping to develop skilled and quality human resources for contributing business and organizational development (Liao 2015). According to observation, government of UK is playing important role in training and development as offering the funds for skill development and proposed regulations of offering the necessary training for performing the tasks at different level of organization.    

In following manner government of UK is contributing in training and development and lifelong learning:

National vocational qualification: The national government of UK is financial and conducting the skills development program for young population that helping in human resources development. The eligible candidates are undergo these training according to needs and choice of the field that helping Waitrose to select and recruit skilled candidates to perform operation and customer services.

Modern training: According to current scenario, national government is offering training and learning for young professional for utilizing the technical resources and improve the efficiency in the operation. These kinds of initiatives of national government are helping to train the candidates as well qualification to meet the standard for human resources development.  

Business review and feedback: The government of UK is conducting research and collecting feedback for analyzing the need for training and development plan (Wilkinson.et.al. 2014). This kind of process is helping to carry out the seminar and training conferences for students that supporting lifelong learning which influencing the role of government in training and development.

4.2 Impact of competency movement on the public and private sector organization

Competency movement refers to growth in the level of competition level in skills and capabilities of staff members for both public and private sector organizations. This has positive and negative impact on the performance of organizations like Waitrose and NHS in UK. In current scenario, NHS is using the competency for offering the training and development for improvement in the quality of decision making and planning of the operation and functional activities. For that top management of NHS is investing fund for training and development through seminars and conferences that helping to offer knowledge for healthcare services for customer satisfaction. It has been also observed that the competency movement had made an effective impact on both the sectors as it had made them strive hard to be on the top and implement the best practices over their workplaces (Clark, 2014).

On the other hand, private organization like Waitrose is using competency movement for managing the human resources at workplace for achieving the business objectives. For that, organization is developing the training and development plan according to rivalry organization for products development and delivery of food products and sales planning. The motive of Waitrose for using the competency movement is to gain the comparative advantages by investing on the skills development plan for staff members according to needs of employees and trends.

4.3 Contemporary initiatives introduce by UK government for HRD for Waitrose

The contemporary initiatives of UK government have been undertaken for craft improvement in the set of skills for employees of organization and meet the standard of products and services. These initiatives have been taken for both public and private organizations. Waitrose is also benefited from this contemporary HRD plans as government working on quality through training. By concerning the contribution of UK government it is been consider that initiatives has facilitated the department of Waitrose of as it offering wide range of skill development. The national government of UK is financial and conducting the skills development program for young population that helping in human resources development (Bowman.et.al. 2014). The eligible candidates are undergo these training according to needs and choice of the field that helping Waitrose to select and recruit skilled candidates.

For example, UK government is providing technical skills development training for young professionals that looking for good career in future. Government has started the institute like department of education and skill to enhance the capabilities of workforce of private and public organization. Waitrose HR department is also following the guideline and direction for skill development and managing the manpower according to needs and specification. According to current scenario, national government is offering training and learning for young professional for utilizing the technical resources and improve the efficiency in the operation (Olson, 2015). By using the and taking active participation in government initiatives Waitrose management is encouraging the skills and capabilities of employees that helping to meet the standard of services.

Conclusion

From the above study, it can be carried out that training and learning is essential for different levels of organization that involve operational, managerial and customer services that have significant impact on the business of Waitrose. Report has proposed development plan for training and workforce development as well as developed a document for evaluating the training and development initiatives of Waitrose for identifying and overcome the gaps in the skills and knowledge of staff members. Moreover, report has explained the role and initiatives of government of UK to human resources development for training and lifelong learning as well as assessed contribution of government.  

References