Training And Development Needs Analysis For Comfort

Organization Background

Discuss about the Training and Development and Sharing Services.

The rapid progress of the private car rental and sharing services such as UBER, GrabCar and Comfort in the Singapore market has created ripples all over the industry. The key driving force for the change could be perceived in the rapid progress of technology alongside other notable factors such as satisfaction of cab drivers and regulations for the safety of passengers (Brewster, Mayrhofer & Morley, 2016).Competition in the taxi industry of Singapore is gradually acquiring prominence and therefore traditional organizations face the risk of falling down to the peer pressure. The rationale for the following paper reflects on the need for identifying creative approaches for training and development needs within a selected case organization in the taxi industry. Rationale for the paper could be defined as the motive for undertaking analysis of training needs, business environment, requirement of resources and selected training and analysis methods (Cox & Warner, 2013).

The enterprise selected for the paper is Comfort. The company is owned by the Comfort Delgro Corporation Ltd. The organization is counted as the topmost provider of taxi rental service in Singapore. Survey of the business environment could be apprehended effectively with the realization of prevalent trends in the taxi industry (Ford, 2014). The advent of mobile apps has created a huge demarcation from the traditional working of the taxi industry in Singapore as well as across the globe. The apps serve as convenient resources for passengers to hire the transport services of various companies with comparatively cheaper rates than the traditional taxi enterprises. Furthermore, taxi drivers could avail the benefits of flexible work schedules as well as opportunities for self-management. However, the operations of Comfort are also subjected to unconditional rise in competition as well as substantial increment in employee turnover. The organization has the distinct advantage of loyalty from its employees and is counted as one of the few strengths possessed by an enterprise in the industry of rental transportation. As a cab-for-hire service provider, Comfort also confronts the challenges of ensuring security of the passengers as well as drivers alongside providing the benefits of insurance to its drivers (Iqbal et al., 2014). Hence Comfort has to cope with the emerging trends in the industry such as sharing economy through revision of goals and strategic objectives. The revision process has to be accompanied with the realization of considerable disparities in the present and predicted drawbacks as well as preferences of passengers and drivers alike.

Review of Training Needs Analysis

Training needs analysis could be defined as the stage-wise procedure accompanied with three distinct stages commonly known as organizational level analysis, job and individual analysis. The profound objective implied by training needs analysis reflects on the determination of necessity of a particular training activity and the impact of the training intervention on the productivity, competitive advantage as well as prospects of long term sustainability of the organization (Jones, 2013). The distinct training needs identified in case of Comfort are derived from the proposal for introducing an enterprise software application for narrowing the gap existing between the organization and its competitors such as Grab Car and Uber. The illustration of needs of an organization could create flexible training programs for employees and in this case Comfort has to look after the primary needs of the organization which in this case is the design of the enterprise application software (Jehanzeb, Rasheed & Rasheed, 2013). The challenges for the company have created the worries of increasing employee turnover which could be detrimental in the long run. The organizational level training needs analysis in case of Comfort could be derived from the SWOT analysis and business structure of the organization (McGrath, 2012). The analysis of business structure and SWOT are cognitively related since the latter provides a detailed illustration of threats, opportunities as well as strengths of the organization. The training needs analysis assumes the increasing competition intensity and employee turnover as the foremost threats which could be probably encountered by the organization. The identification of training needs on individual levels such as from the prospective of subordinate staff and management team enables the training needs analysis to match with the desired objectives of the organization (Noe & Winkler, 2012).

The intended learning outcomes for the paper include apprehension of the disparities in expertise which could arise in case of Comfort Ltd when it introduces the enterprise software application. The profound learning outcome from the intervention could be stated as the improvement of an individual’s capability to operate an electronic device (Noe & Tews, 2012). The training process implemented by Comfort Ltd can be considered in alignment with the business goals since the program enables the employees to acquire conclusive knowledge of the new enterprise software and its operations alongside acquiring the benefits of flexible work schedules (Salas et al., 2012). The increasing employee turnover could also be reduced through the provision of training in the operation of the newly designed app. Therefore, it can be clearly apprehended that the training needs identified for Comfort in context of the present business environment prove to be valid with respect to the organization’s objectives.

Suitable Methods for Training and Assessment

The alignment of training session with the training needs analysis could be reviewed with respect to the illustration of Comfort Ltd.’s training programs designed for individual categories of employees. The design of the enterprise software application has to be communicated to the cab drivers, software management personnel and support staff in order to make the process of training easier. For example, training of cab drivers should be based on a job perspective which enables the drivers to learn the specific aspects of the app which can be used by them for apprehending orders of cab bookings. Software management personnel on the other hand have to be trained in the distinct structural facets of the application in order to cater any maintenance issues which could arise in the application. The operational managers of the company are subject to different training session in which they are informed about the storage of data related to customers, transactions and tracking details of customers. The customer support personnel also require distinct training as identified in the training needs analysis on an individual level and they have to be trained in accessing the relevant information demanded by customers frequently while registering complaints or making inquiries such as booking details, transaction amount and the offers which are provided by the company in specific occasions.  

The selected methods for training must be reviewed in order to gain a firsthand impression of the feasibility of the intervention. The training is considered as an intervention and is meant to derive a plausible outcome in terms of productivity for Comfort Ltd which could enhance its position with respect to other competitors. The alignment of the training program and the required skills for the new software could be verified through illustration of individual prerequisites demanded for each step (Noe & Winkler, 2012). The structural analysis reviewed in the training needs analysis provides a viable illustration of the distinct needs of the organization as well as individuals such as subordinate staff and management personnel. The goals which have been assigned to the organization in the revised stage indicates the training of employees in the new enterprise software application alongside increasing the flexibility of the application in order to facilitate rental and sharing transport services at cheaper rates to customers. The training program derives a major share of its effectiveness from the analysis of individual functions of employees which is characterized as task analysis in the training needs analysis. The review of task analysis allows the management of Comfort Ltd to establish precise guidelines emphasizing on the balance between the demands of a particular job and the proficiency of employees. The demarcation of jobs also serves as a prolific opportunity to identify the relevance of training methods to the expected goals as well as measure the performance of the strategies implemented for training (McGrath, 2012).

The use of distinct training methodologies is evidently helpful for obtaining promising outcomes in case of Comfort Ltd. specific methods for training and assessment adopted by the company must derive references from functional models such as Solo taxonomy. Solo taxonomy has been accepted as a prolific resource to establish the training progress through execution of training in distinct stages. The training of employees of Comfort ltd in event of the launch of the new application has to be initiated with the pre-structural, unistructural, multistructural, relational and extended abstract approaches to a new entity. The process of training can be considered as learning process in which the employees face the question of “How to use the new enterprise software application?” this question has to be resolved through specific steps as observed in the solo taxonomy. The prestructural apprehension directs towards a non-conforming approach to the question and suggests that the learner is new to the subject and does not know anything about it. This can be considered as the stage when the cup is empty and has to be filled with the appropriate training methods. Thereafter the unistructural apprehension of training refers to formation of a generic impression related to the training subject. This stage is related to the basic understanding of the purpose of the app for different employees. Then the multistructural stage of the taxonomy would be used to determine job specific training provided to employees on the app. For example, cab drivers should be able to understand the interface and the basic way of operating the application. The multistructural approach in solo taxonomy refers to the distinct manner in which employees should utilize the application. Relational approach relies on the final outcome of the application for each employee. And the extended abstract is delivered in the final stage of training in order to convey the significance of the individual stages of learning followed earlier in order to form a common impression of using the app. This enables coordinated use of the application due to the self-reflective learning of employees.

The training of employees could be realized efficiently in case of potential assessment measures. It is obvious that the outcomes of training for different employees could be perceived differently since the mindset as well as learning capabilities are different. Hence assessment is imperative after the training process in order to evaluate the performance of employees. Online assessment of employees could be conducted through weekly review questionnaires provided to employees for providing details of their performance and knowledge acquired from the training process. Interviews and monthly performance appraisals could also serve as potential resources for understanding the capabilities of employees and improvement with respect to the previous stage.

The primary resources required for the training program could be classified into physical, human and financial resources. The financial resources required for the training program comprise of the costs for providing explanation on the new hardware required to design the software and monitor the operations as well as the database associated with the software (Jehanzeb, Rasheed & Rasheed, 2013). The other financial undertakings for the organization could be observed in the costs related to materials required for the training and incentives for employees to join the program. Human resources requirements in context of the training program for Comfort Ltd could be satiated by the senior management alongside the supporting staff required in the training program. The physical resources refer to computers, projectors and other technical aids which could serve the key objective of employee training for accomplishing the desired objective (Jones, 2013). Additional investments could be required from the senior management team in terms of time and effort in identifying the specific goals alongside preparing a training plan which could satisfy strategic objectives of the organization.

The execution of a training activity has to be complemented with feasible and ordered distribution of resources. Allocation of resources for the training activity has to be considered while designing the application. The requirement of personnel for training as well as the necessary infrastructure as identified above demand investments which could improve employee performance. The use of investments in advertising for employee training does not account for a reasonable investment and hence emphasis on technical and human resources for investment must be emphasized. The execution of training methods should be conducted in a stage wise procedure as identified in solo taxonomy. First of all, the launch of the new application should be conveyed to employees through mail or advertisement in the office notice board. This would create the prestructural stage of training in which the employees would be completely unaware of the new application. The following stage involves the inquisitiveness of employees and thus the unistructural phase of training is realized in the orientation of employees in context of the launch of the new application. The orientation stage of training is followed by the multistructural training in which employees are classified into distinct categories based on their job descriptions and individual training programs are prepared for them. The relational phase of training is executed through assessment in which the employees are able to communicate their perception of the training process. Thereafter the employees are subjected to another training session in which they are informed of the pitfalls committed by them in the learning process and therefore the final outcome is realized in the form of an extended abstract citing the overall impression of employees pertaining to the application i.e. it allows them to access enterprise level information alongside contributing to flexible provision of sharing rental services through which cabs of Comfort Ltd can cater the needs of customers of other cab booking services on a sharing basis. The employees are also aware of the percentage of income they will be receiving in event of sharing cabs.

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