Learning And Development At Metro Departmental Store

Organizational Context

The learning and development are generally referred to as training and development or human resource development. It embraces both on the job and off the job methods in order to acquire the necessary knowledge, skill, and behaviors. The learning is the process of acquiring new knowledge, skill, and attitude which can enhance the ability of the employees to meet current and future job requirements.it helps individuals to perform at higher levels. This report includes the learning and development (L & D) scenario at Metro departmental store, Singapore.  Metro is a recognized household name in the retail industry. It was established in Surabaya, Indonesia in 1953. The departmental store sells cosmetics, apparels, and fashion accessories. Metro has currently 13 outlets across Singapore. The company was listed in the Stock Exchange of Singapore in 1973 as Metro Holdings Limited. Later, the company expanded its operations and included property development and investment. The company also entered the hospitality sector in the mid-1990s. The company has redefined the concept of the departmental stores in Singapore. Recently in 2017, the company has 3 departmental stores in Singapore, Metro Centre point, Metro Paragon, and Metro Woodlands.

There are two profiles of trainees at Metro such as retail trainee and purchasing manager. The retail trainee is going to learn about floor responsibilities and will become expert in managing all the things. Both classroom and store’s teaching will not help trainees to gain experience but going to attain relevant experiences as well. The trainees are also going to learn more about the daily duties on the job. The purchasing managers are accountable for buying quality equipment, goods, and services at competitive prices. They negotiate, do networking, deal and support business in saving money and increasing profits. Their responsibility is to forecast the level of demand for the products and services. They are required to maintain the relationship with the suppliers. Metro invests from 2-5% of salary budgets into training.

Metro is the most trusted brand for 60 years. The brand is committed to delivering exceptional value to the shoppers in the years to come. The company works with the clients to achieve sustainable performance gain through expanding markets, building partnerships, improving formals and ensuring productivity. The company conducts various tests and learning on the different things in order to find out what works and doing more of it. Metro supports strategic retail value creation. The organizational strategy comprises growth and international expansion. It works with the retailers in order to identify future growth in the new market, target group, and new categories. The company constantly makes efforts to adopt new business models, value propositions and format strategies to the dynamics of merging local markets (Alkhatib, 2016). The active management of the store portfolio makes use of trade-off decisions like which store should be upgraded, should new stores be opened or the existing stores should be closed.

Strategic Considerations

The Metro is a wholesaler for business and professionals. The mission of the Metro is to provide quality products along with the business solution at the lowest possible prices. It is an iconic brand provides exciting shopping experience. The store is specialized in well-designed offerings and warm services.

Metro is going to govern the cash and carry wholesale division worldwide through its exclusive business formula which aims to improve the effectiveness of customers all over the world.

Metro aims to offer a superior level of service which resonates with the brand’s own positioning. The values of the company exceed the expectations of the perceptive visitors around the world (Zapalska, Jackson and Zelmanowitz, 2016). The company makes huge efforts to make decisions in the best concern of the customers to assist them in a better way. Metro also guides its employees to achieve the mission of the company in a practical way and clearly describes the values and norms of the organization.

The PESTLE analysis aimed at looking at the external environment of Metro. The HR department focuses on the L & D of the trainees and looks outside for the requirements.

Political factors	The political factors comprise the culture of the Metro and how the L & D is viewed by other functions. It includes the changing trends of the government laws along with the development rate of parties and provincial and global political crunch. The political shift rate in the retail industry has done a lot with the Metro stores. The foreign investment is exhilarated but in practices, retailers face a lot of encounters. The foreign companies are encouraged to own land and buildings.
Economic factors	The economic factors comprise the budgetary position of the Metro. The customers like to spend more money on the offerings and there is the availability of cash in the store. The trainees are likely to be affected by the inflation rate and the investment rate. The number of hypermarkets and superstores is not very high in Singapore (Yaqoot, Wan Mohd Noor, and Mohd Isa, 2017).
Social factors	The social factors include a decreased population growth rate, aging population, working career insolence and more. The lack of proficient and capable employees is also covered under the social factors. The trainees are most affected by the social factors.
Technological factors	The technology factors include the information technology available. There is the availability of the high quality and the innovative equipment in the Metro which helps trainees to learn. Metro ensures good safety quality assurance regulation. The company has state art of technology and hi-tech like RFID and real-time inventory change.
Legal factors	The growth of the store necessitates translucent market favorable guideline and legislation in specific areas. The legal regulatory support the industrial development and growth in the economy. The e-commerce policies are introduced as a guideline, laws and the policies which help in the learning and the development.
Environmental factors	The environmental responsibility is entrusted in the Ministry of the environment. Air pollution is the main problem from the products produced by the store. The learning and development guide trainees regarding the factors which harm the environment.

The horizontal integration is used by the Metro which increases production of the goods and services at the same measure of the supply chain. It is more of a competitive strategy which increases market power over the distributors and suppliers. It helped Metro to enhance its product differentiation and helps in expanding market share in the new market segments. The trainees can learn how an organization can expand business with the help of the acquisitions (Wang, Alashwal, Asef, Abdul-Rahman and Wood, 2018).

Metro achieved horizontal integration by acquiring other business segments.  For instance, the cash and carry business of Metro which serves independent trader, hotels and restaurants is an active acquirer. It bought Pro a Pro from the Belgian retail and the wholesale group Colruyt in 2014. It also acquired Singapore based classic fine foods in 2015.

Metro has gained popularity in the wholesale and food merchandising. The group comprises of Metro and Metro cash and carry. Metro has a worldwide presence and operates more than 280 hypermarkets. The company contains delivery experts like classic fine foods, Rungis express, and pro a pro. These companies offer Metro a global existence and established a spot in the food service delivery sector (Tinu and Adeniji, 2015). The portfolio of the metro comprises start-up network Metro accelerator driven by Techstars. It provisions entrepreneurial teams from the globe in the development of digital solutions. Additionally, there are 4 service companies like Metro properties, Metro logistics, Metronome and Metro advertising which provide service in the areas like real estate, logistics, IT and advertising.

Business-led Considerations

Metro is more than a successful retailer and it is a leader in providing innovative solutions. The culture of the company helps trainees in learning effective skills and develops in the environment.  It believes in making things promising. The company is fast, intensive and agile. It focuses on which is vital and creates added value for the customers and the stakeholders. Metro strives to achieve more (Arunprasad, 2015).

It is an innovative way to add value to the organization in order to grow revenue, retain customers and in remaining competitive. The value can be added to the products and services of the company with the help of service, expertise, customer engagement, and convenience. The customers like to shop if they are being offered a better experience than the other stores. The company needs to ensure that it meets and exceeds the expectations of the customers. Metro can add value by offering expert advice to the customers. The advice can be provided through interactive customer support. The customers can be engaged even the post-shopping by keeping in touch with them with the help of emails, messages, and calls (Beevers and Rea, 2016). For instance, customers can also be engaged by offering special discounts on birthdays and anniversaries. The company is required to make the shopping experience as appropriate as possible. For instance, Metro can offer free delivery options or in-store pickup service, it offers shoppers to convenience to pick order the way wanted by them (Sung and Kelley, 2018).

The right training program will have a surplus of benefits for the Metro. It enhances retention, customers’ engagement along with productivity. It improves customer service and boosts sales. As per a report, an average training budget costs to $800,000 on the annual basis. The regular training cost per trainee is estimated to $400. It has been considered that the proper training has a positive effect on the performance of the trainees which ultimately influences the performance of the company. The budget even considers the adding value and consideration of the objectives of the company (Nissen, Pendell, Jivanjee and Goodluck, 2014). There are no budgetary estimates provided as L & D department meets the entire costs.

Item	Cost per person ($)	Total costs ($)
Hotel	80	16000
Food and drinks	80	16000
Hotel Delivery costs	Not applicable	4000
Design costs	Not applicable	4000
Speakers	Not applicable	22000
Logistics and allowances	60	12000
Estimated number of attendees 200	400	80,000

The work environment requires employees to be capable in conducting complex tasks in the appropriate manner. The training is required for the workers to perform up to a certain level and in order to attain the expected level of performance. An effective training needs analysis recognizes who need training and what type of training is required. It is counterproductive to provide training to the persons who do not need or to offer the inappropriate type of training. The training needs analysis put the training resources to the noble use (Bell, Bowden, and Trott, 2014). The needs analysis in the context of the different trainees. The sources which can help to determine needs analysis as per the situation can be organizational, person, work, performance, content, training-sustainability, and cost-benefit analysis.

Horizontal Integration

Today’s workplace necessitates trainees to be self-determining thinkers responsible for taking good decisions based on partial information. The trainers require a special kind of treatment as they do not possess any skills (Rae and Wang, 2015). There are various knowledge, skills, and abilities which are essential to possess in order to perform duties as well. The knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) model are frequently used to describe the necessities of the job opening and make a comparison at the time of making decisions regarding candidates. Knowledge focuses on the understanding of the concepts. It is more of theoretical. An individual can have textbook knowledge but no experience of relating it. Whereas the skills are the competencies developed through training or experience. The abilities are habitually confused with skills although there is a subtle difference. The abilities are the talent that a person brings to a situation (Skarmeas, et. al. 2016). A person can learn to negotiate capably by obtaining knowledge and practicing skills required. The knowledge and skills can be developed efficiently through training activities. It incorporates theoretical training and key concepts. Strengthening KSA is mainly a coaching challenge. The three factors such as observation, feedback and improvement can be used to develop KSA abilities. The competencies of KSA are compliance, analytical skills, action alignment, business knowledge, employee development, communication, customer emphasis, decision making, and global viewpoint. It also comprises invention, interactive skills, leadership, risk management, forming objectives, self-management, teamwork, and technology. These KSA’s are required before hiring any person in the company (Bowyer and Chambers, 2017).
The techniques used for the needs assessment techniques can be undeviating observation, questionnaires, discussion with the persons in key positions, interviews, focus groups, assessments, and work samples. The survey can be directed with the trainees and employees of the organization. The surveys are helpful in finding outperformance scarcities in the definite areas. A questionnaire can be prepared and circulated among employees to conduct a survey. It focuses on the specific tasks and needs of the individuals in the organization. The work of the individuals can be observed by the training managers on the regular working conditions. It offers sufficient information about the performance gaps. The aspect such as technical, functional and behavioural should be considered while observing. The interviews are capable of collecting information on the performance gaps. These can be formal as well as informal (Mufeed, 2018). The interviews can even be conducted in person or by phone, at working locations or anywhere. The customer feedback indicates the improvement areas. It is even directed towards specific service and performance.

Structure and Culture

The experimental learning theory of the Kolb works on the 2 intensities, a four-stage cycle of learning and four separate learning styles. Much of this theory is focused on the learner’s internal cognitive styles. The learning comprises the attainment of abstract concepts which can be applied malleably in a variety of situations. The experimental learning style theory is signified by the four-stage learning cycle in which the learner hints all the cores. The experimental learning cycle comprises real experience which means encountering a new experience or situation or reinterpretation of the prevailing experience (Chawla, 2017). The cycle also includes deep observation of the new experience. It includes the prominence of discrepancies between knowledge and understanding. The abstract conceptualization gives upsurge to the innovative idea and amendment of the prevailing abstract concept which a person learns from the experience. At last, active experimentation is used by the learners to apply ideas to the globe to see what happens. The effective learning is possible when an individual growths by a cycle of four stages like having an existing experience followed, surveillance and reflection of the experience which hints to, creation of abstract concepts and then used to examine hypothesis in the future conditions ensuing in the new experiences (Molodchik, Krutova and Molodchik, 2016). The learning is viewed as the integrated process as each stage being reassuring and serving into next. It is probable to enter in any stage of the cycle and followed through the valid sequence (Maurice-Takerei, 2017). The effective learning can only arise when a learner executes all the stages of the model.

The learning theory sets different learning styles which are totally based on the four-stage learning cycle. Diverse people prefer different learning style. The factors influencing a person’s style are a social environment, education experiences or the perceptive structure of the learners. Diverging and converging are two different styles of learning. As per the diverging theory, people are able to look at the things from the dissimilar viewpoints. They are subtle and desire to watch then doing. As per this style, people execute better in the situations which necessitate ideas generation. Whereas according to the uniting learning style, people can resolve problems and use their knowledge in finding out solutions to applied problems (Choo and Tan, 2017).

The range of the L & D methods available are:

Career planning: Career planning and development conferences comprise meetings with individuals to deliberate their short-term learning supplies and long-term career choices within the company. The discussion can be made on the skills needed by the individuals in order to acquire in the future.  The career planning is useful in performance appraisal and follows up distinct sessions.

Recognition of prior learning: It is a procedure which allows a learner to have prevailing skills and information recognized by providing confirmation of the competence like certificates and protests. This process checks the skills and abilities of a person against the set of precise skills. These skills may be acquired from the national competency standards. This process helps to categorize gaps against the performance requirements (Kumar and Kumar, 2016).

Observing the team: Metro can focus on the team and offer the best ways to identify the learning needs. The occurrence of the learning gaps can be assessed by keeping an eye on the way of handling tasks by the learners and the way they deal with others. Their ability to solve problems also helps in assessing the learning gap.

Discussion with individuals: The discussion with individuals may follow when a learner identifies a learning gap which is required to be immediately addressed in order to complete duties successfully. It is not significant to wait until the formal performance review (Falola, Abasilim and Salau, 2016).

Workplace skills assessment: A workplace skills assessment provides assistance to a learner to recognize skills and knowledge gaps at the time of making comparisons against the standard sets.  

Self-evaluation: It is the best method to inspire team members to regularly self-evaluate their work routine and classify areas of enhancement. It may be helpful in identifying own areas which require extra advice or training. The skill identification means a learner has taken accountability for the learning and professional development (Kalumbilo and Finkelstein, 2014). The self-evaluation asks team members to list the consequences a learner is hoping to attain and the questions which are responded by them before participation in the training session. It confers both learners and team’s needs at the weekly meetings and asks learners to report on the consequences.

The L & D evaluation techniques specify the L & D solution for the designing and delivering in response to the scenario. The L & D evaluation technique comprises techniques like Kirkpatrick’s model, ROI and ROE to assess the L & D solution.

It is significant to measure the efficiency to deliver training for the team. Kirkpatrick’s four-level training evaluation models help to analyze the effectiveness along with the influence of the training. It helps to improve effectiveness further. The four levels of the Kirkpatrick model help to examine the application of the model to evaluate training (James Davis, 2014). It also looks at the situations where it may not be useful. These 4 levels are reaction, learning, behavior and results. The reaction processes how trainees react to the training. Metro believes in providing appreciated experience and feels trainees to good about the mentor. It is significant to measure response in order to understand how well training is accomplished by the trainees. It is helpful in refining the training for the future trainees and includes significant areas which are absent from the training. The second level is learning which measures what trainees have learned along with the knowledge they have increased from the training. Metro is required to plan the training session with the list of specific learning objectives (Irwin, Stokes, and Marshall, 2015). It is also important to measure the factors which are not helpful in improving future training. The third level which is behavior assesses how far trainees have transformed their behavior centered on the training they have accomplished. Finally, the fourth level investigates the fourth results of the training. It comprises outcomes that are determined to be effective for the business, employees and the bottom line (Shongwe, 2015).

The ROI stands for the Return on Investment and used to evaluate the efficiency of expenditure against the objectives. It can be used to compare several investments against each other. Conventionally it has been linked with the financial measurement. The ROI takes up the time along with the resources (Rana and Goel, 2015). The ROI is important in L & D for the business owners, finance, HR and learners. The business owners should keep a strategic opinion of the goals and movements of the company. The ROI helps to evaluate the impact of each department and how they spent on the bottom line of the company. The ROI is used by the HR to increase the earning budget and to communicate the value of HR to other business units. The ROI can motivate learners and increase participation levels in the online campaigns. The ROE can also be used to compare the performance of the company in delivering a response to the trainees. It is management’s ability in order to generate income. It measures the profitability of the business and how well it makes use of investments to generate earnings (Jalloh, 2015).

Conclusion 

This report describes the L & D scenario along with the requirements. The L & D scenario defines the business context along with the profile of the trainees, roles, and accountabilities for L & D and the suitable budget and costs. The organizational context comprises the theory and models for making reasonable assumptions. It is supported by the Metro’s strategy, business-led, horizontal integration, structure and culture, added value and the associated L & D budget. The analysis comprises the techniques and processes used in the needs analysis to determine knowledge, skills, and attitude. The learning theories are also applied in the application of the design of the L & D solution. Further, the L & D methods are discussed to focus on the appropriate delivery of the proposed response. Finally, the L & D evaluation techniques are discussed in response to the scenario.

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