Importance And Benefits Of Soft Skill Training For Qantas

Factors Affecting Training Effectiveness

Question:

Discuss about the Relationship Management for Business Scenario.

For the contemporary business organizations, managing the employees is one of the prime factors that should be considered in gaining competitive advantages in the market. This is due to the fact that, the individual skills and expertise being possessed by the employees are important for the organizations (van Scheers and Botha 2014). However, there are various aspects of managing the employees in the organization. One of the most effective measures is providing training to the employees in enhancing their effectiveness and productivity. In the present business scenario, employee training especially the soft skill training is important for the hospitality industries due to the reason that they are the ones, who directly deal with the end customers.

Qantas is one of the most prominent and leading airliners in Australia as well as in the global scenario (Qantas.com 2017). They have one of the largest portfolios of fleets operating around the world. However, being an airliner, they have to deal directly with their customers and level and standard of the customer service is one of the key determining factors in attracting the customers. Thus, soft skill training is having immense importance for them in equipping their employees to effectively and positivity deal with the customers.

This report will discuss about the importance and benefits of soft skill training for Qantas. Moreover, the various internal and external factors will also be discussed in influencing the training effectiveness and identification of the gaps. In addition, detailed logistics for training will also be discussed.

Qantas will have various benefits if they will invest more in providing soft skill training for their employees (Rao 2014). The following sections will discuss about the various benefits of soft skill training.

• One of the key benefits that Qantas will gather from initiation of soft skill training for the employees is the building of internal relationship in the organization (Fritz 2014). Providing of soft skill training to the employees will help them to have the knowledge of effective communication skill to connect with the customers. The customers will be more satisfied if they are being communicated positively. Thus, the customers’ satisfaction level and customer loyalty will get enhanced.
• The more will be the effective soft skill training for the employees, the more will be the sales. This is due to the due to the fact that, customers will more likely to opt for Qantas if they receive effective and positive service (Wilson et al. 2012). Thus, the soft skill of the employees will act as competitive advantages for the organization.
• In the contemporary business scenario, positive word of mouth caused huge implications for the business organizations. There are many cases being happened that sharing of some sort of information in the social media by the employees caused negative word of mouth for the organization (Cheung and Thadani 2012). Thus, in order to prevent these types of issues, Qantas should invest in the soft skill training for the employees. This will help the employees to have the awareness about the aspects that should be considered during sharing any information in the social media.
• Initiation of soft skill training for the employees will also increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees (Karim, Huda and Khan 2012). This is due to the fact that soft skill training for the employees will help to enable them having the quality of planning and organizing in the organization. Thus, with the help of soft skill training, they will be more equipped to organize their jobs in the organization. It will help Qantas to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their employees.
• Communication skill will also be enhanced for the employees. There are various employees who are introvert in nature and feel shy in dealing with the customers. however, the sector where Qantas is operating is heavily dependent on the communication skill of the employees. They have to be extrovert and should be able to communicate with the customers effectively (Sigmar, Hynes and Hill 2012). In this case, soft skill training will play an important role. This will help the employees to overcome the issue of being introvert and they will be well trained and equipped to communicate with the customers effectively. The more effective will be the communication between the customers and the employees, the more business profit will there for Qantas.

There are various factors, which determine the effectiveness of training for the organizations. External and internal factors are there, which determines the effectiveness of the training. The following sections will discuss about the external and internal factors.

• Business scenario is rapidly changing and thus, organizations may face difficulty in providing the training to the employees according to the current market scenario. Organizations such as Qantas have to periodically determine the customer taste and preference pattern and what they are expecting from the airliner and accordingly they train their employees. Thus, the training for them should always in accordance to the requirement of the market to meet the current market requirement.
• Cultural diversity in the workforce also determines the effectiveness of training programs in the organizations (Bellini et al. 2013). This is due to the reason that, organization such as Qantas is having culturally diverse workforce and thus it may pose challenge for them to train the employees according to diversified perspectives. Employees from different cultural groups will have different perspectives and approaches. Thus, it is difficult to convey the same and similar message to all the employees. Qantas is operating around the world and thus they are having employees from around the world and different diverse social backgrounds. Thus, in this case, they have to initiate separate training programs to train the employees from different cultural backgrounds (Bezrukova, Jehn and Spell 2012).
• As discussed earlier, Qantas operates in different countries around the world and the requirement and preference pattern of the market around the world is also different. Thus, the training should also be given to the employees according to the different need and requirement of the customers. Different types of soft skills are required for the employees to deal with the customers from different regions.

• The purpose of the soft skill training should be adhered to the organizational objectives. This is due to the reason that, the key motive of providing the training to the employees is to effectively meets the organizational objectives. Thus, one of the key internal factors for initiation of the training is to align the training objective with the organizational objective.
• Resources also are one of the key internal factors for the initiation of the training purpose. In implementing the training program for the employees, it is important for Qantas to effectively allocate the required resources such as fund, appoint of suitable trainer and other required infrastructures (Phillips and Phillips 2016). The more suitable and effective will be the available resources for the training purpose, the more favorable will be the outcome of the training.
• Quality and expertise of the trainer will also have implications for the training program. This is due to the reason that, the more expertise the trainer will have in the particular subject, the more effective will the providence of the training to the trainees. Thus, it is important for the organizations to determine the expertise required for the training purpose and accordingly select the right trainer.

One of the key training gaps that may emerge in the training program is the language and communication barrier. In certain cases, resources are being effectively provided by the organization for the training purpose and expertise trainer is being appointed to look after the training programs. However, the language and the style of communication being involved by the trainer may cause difficulty for the trainees (Sigmar, Hynes and Hill 2012). In this case, the key motive of the training program will get diluted. Thus, communication and language should be involved in such a way that the objectives of training program will be clearly communicated to the employees.

Benefits of Soft Skill Training for Qantas

As discussed earlier, soft skill training is very much important for the value creation for the organization. This is due to the reason that, the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees will get increased. The customers for Qantas are mainly the air travelers and thus, the employees of them should have the expertise to deal with the travelers and effectively meet the requirement of them. With the help of soft skill training, the employees will be trained and equipped with the expertise required to deal with the travelers (Ji et al. 2012). Soft skill will help the employees to possess positive behavior to the employees, which will increase the value of the services provided by them. Thus, the investment being made by Qantas in enhancing the soft skill training for the employees, will have positive outcome by having increase in sales, revenue, and customer satisfaction.

Training is of various types and is meant for different types of stakeholders. Induction training is being designed for the newly appointed employees. The key motive of this training program is to increase the comfort level of the new employees in the organizations. They are being trained in adhering them with the organizational policies, rules and regulations. On the job training is being designed for the existing and old employees (Saks and Burke 2012). This training is being given to align them with the current trend in the market. Safety training is being given to all the employees including the senior management in order to adhere them with the safety rules and regulations of the organization. Leadership training is being given to the supervisors and the senior managers to make them equipped regarding the effective management skills. This training is being given in order to enhance the effectiveness of the managers in the organization.

Logistics of training include different aspects or steps. The first step is the determination of attendees. It includes determining who are the audience, what are their needs, their personal requirements. The next step is the agenda. This includes determine the goal or objective of the training (Hays and Singer 2012). The third step is the access. This includes communicating the login details with the attendees. The next step is the facilities, where the training is going to happen. This includes selection of the venue and the alignment of the venue with the training purpose. The last step is the determining the resources required for the training. This includes projectors, printers and other material required for the training.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that investment in initiation of the soft skill training by Qantas will have positive outcome for them due to the fact that it will increase the efficiency of the employees. The discussion above in this report helped to understand the requirement and factors that determine the effectiveness of the training program. Moreover, the logistics required for the training purpose have also been discussed in this report.

Reference

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