Training and development entail the imparting and sharpening of employees’ job skills and areas of competence for career and personal advancement. Training is critical for the sustenance of a highly productive workforce which in turn leads to better customer relations for customer retention and attraction and overall profit maximization the goal of all businesses. In entrepreneurship especially when the customer base is relatively small, the need for customer relations cannot be overestimated since every single customer is important to the business. Training takes different forms including apprenticeship, mentoring, coaching, technology enabled training, vestibule training and internship training. Training can be undertaken on the job, or the employees can be trained before starting the job, but it should be a continuous process in the dynamic business world which is ever evolving. As a fast food small business training consultant, I would recommend an on the job training for the staff in the form of a conference.
As a process, training comprises of various elements which facilitate the imparting of information from the trainer to the trainees in a simple and easily understandable way (Blenko, Mankins, & Rogers, 2013). Training encompasses a planning process which entails the assessment of the business needs that need to be addressed during the training session. The needs assessment is also important for deciding which type of training to employ since different businesses in different industries have varied needs (Longenecker, 2012). In the small, fast food business, customer care would be the main area of concentration since secondary to good food it's a major customer attraction and retainer since it builds customer loyalty. The needs assessment would also inform the budgetary projections for the small business owner to ensure that the training session will run smoothly without any stoppages or delays due to financial constraints (Dalglish, 2016). The needs assessment would improve the business performance by identifying the current business tactics that are working and those that are reducing the productivity of the business. By crafting a curriculum that fortifies the strengths and eliminates the weaknesses revealed in the assessment, the business would perform more optimally.
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Training program
The training program will approach different topics and will focus on needs assessment, budget formulation and will be done in phases. The main topics for the program will be taught in two weeks session or gaps rather then finally the trainees will sit an exam that will touch on all the taught areas. The phases will be divided based on topics of training.
Assessment of Need
The needs assessment element of the training process is followed by the curriculum development which entails the identification of the areas that will be covered during the training session (Dalglish, 2016). The curriculum is critical since it helps the business, the trainer and the trainees get prepared for the training session through the identification of the training tools that will be required. In the case of this consultancy, the curriculum would include training in specialties like corporate communication, customer relations, conflict resolution and personal motivation and management techniques for personal development (Longenecker, 2012). The firm will use examples of past experiences to facilitate the learning of needs assessment. IN a bid to improve and sharpen the manner in which the students or learners rather comprehend and acknowledge problems will be taught using a projector in the room. The projector will show power point slides containing both videos and images of managers discussing needs of a company. The learners will be engaged with one another as the trainer will pose them various issues and let them figure out what and where the problem is in the situation. It is important that learners are equipped with enough tools and knowledge on how to detect and solve problems. (Longenecker, 2012).
The curriculum development is followed by the formulation of an action plan. The action plan acts as the blueprint for the training session since it details the step by step activities to be undertaken during the training, the required resources, the time frame of the training activities and how resources would be allocated during the training (Blenko et.al., 2013). The action plan would improve the performance by ensuring that all the resources required for the session are procured, the areas of training slotted and prioritized and the employees well equipped to reap the most benefits from the training session.
Budgetary Formulation
The budget formulation process follows, and it's aimed at putting cost estimates on the required resources and the whole training process and the cost of the training staff (Dalglish, 2016). The budget would help the business to undertake training without jeopardizing their running costs by planning the training requirements by the business’ financial capability. The training and development process also has the goal formulation element which spells out the goals and objectives that the training seeks to achieve (Blenko et.al., 2013). In the consultancy would be aimed at improving customer relations and the overall productivity of employees through professional and personal development. The training method would be a two-day conference which would address all the stated issues, and the evaluation of the training exercise would be incorporated in the training process different sessions.
When teaching on budgetary formulation, the trainer will ensure that learners engage actively in groups in making a budget for a certain firm. The main objective for making the budget will be to increase competitive and ensure stability of the firm so that it does not dwell beyond its resources. The training program will proceed to divide the learners into groups each with the same assignment. The groups shall discuss among themselves on which ways to go about making budgets and make budgets for the company they have been given as an example. Finally, the trainer will take the groups through all their final presentations. Each group will present its budgetary formulation explaining the basis of the same. Afterwards, the trainer will go through the discussion with the trainees informing them of weaknesses they had and encouraging their strengths. Finally, the trainer will proceed to provide the best solution for the situation. The training session on budget formulation will take two weeks with consecutive practical and theoretical sessions.
When addressing organizational performance, challenges are bound to arise since the process involves dealing with people with different personalities and temperaments (Blenko et.al., 2013). One of the common challenges is the business's organizational culture which is defined as the belief system, values, and attitudes unique to a certain work place. Corporate culture plays a critical role in how employees in a certain business behave and work. If the culture is negative and encourages laxity, it can act as an impediment to improving organizational performance (Dalglish, 2016). When the manager introduces new ways of doing things to improve performance, they may be challenged by the rigidity of the employees’ beliefs and values which can lead to the slowness to embrace change.
Communication
Communication acts as a facilitator to and could negatively affect organizational performance at the same time (Dalglish, 2016). If the manager lacks a proper communication channel to engage the employees, the corporate performance is negatively affected leading to reduced productivity. For instance, if the management style is authoritarian and only has a one-way communication channel, the employees may withhold information critical to the organizational performance (Blenko et.al., 2013).
The program will ensure to discuss communication with learners in a one week session where the students will discuss various aspects of communication. The training program will focus on key factors of communication that influence business performance and progress. Such include issues such as communication breakdown and solving conflicts in a bid to progress the company. The session will be interactive and will ensure that learners participate in forms of dramatization relating to employees and managers. Breaks will be taken in between the sessions to ensure that learners can digest what they learn and avoid monotony. For a business to grow and improve, the infrastructure is critical since it points out the redundancy, repetition of duties, loss making activities and unnecessary inputs in the production process which are critical in increasing the performance and productivity in the organization.
Organizational gaps refer to the disparities between corporate performance and the set key performance indicators (Dalglish, 2016). The detection of the organizational gaps is critical in improving the organizational performance, increasing profitability and cutting of losses. The gaps stem from either inside the organization or from outside the organization and have an adverse impact on the profit margins of the business (Longenecker, 2012). The identification of organizational gaps resulting from external forces is essential for optimization of the value chain. The value chain refers to the process and activities that organizational goods and services go through from procurement to production (Blenko et.al., 2013). For example, if the business manager identifies a problem resulting from delayed supplies causing an organizational gap, he or she can fix the problem by changing suppliers to save the time and reduce wastage of resources and redundancy for improved organizational performance (Longenecker, 2012). The effect of the value chain optimization is increased profits since it eliminates wastages, redundancy and optimizes the production process.
Additionally, the detection of organizational gaps is critical in bridging internal gaps for increased productivity (Blenko et.al., 2013). For instance, it boosts customer attraction and retention through increasing employee motivation and job satisfaction levels. The manager after analyzing the organizational performance could discover that redundancy and repetition of duties are causing slowness and underperformance in the workplace (Longenecker, 2012). Once the internal gap is identified, the manager could introduce motivational practices like giving awards and recognition and other incentives to workers to increase their job performance (Dalglish, 2016). A more active and motivated work force with high job satisfaction level is more likely to serve customers better for customer attraction and retention thereby increasing the profitability of the business.
The competitive training strategy of choice in this instance is a two-day conference aimed at maximizing the business's customer relations designed to fortifying the business's competitive edge in the market niche (Longenecker, 2012). Considering the business commands a market share of over 50% currently compared to other small, fast food businesses, market expansion and retention of customers is the guiding factor. The training agenda will incorporate decision making on customer relations and problem-solving centering on conflict resolution in the workplace (Dalglish, 2016). The decision making agenda aimed at improving customer relations will start with an examination of ways to offer excellent customer service. It will be followed by an introduction exercise to examine how the employees rank in the excellent customer service abilities. It will then introduce the principles of excellent corporate communication practice and how to master them in the small business environment and how to apply them (Blenko et.al., 2013). The conflict resolution would be aimed at sharpening the strategic thinking of the employees. The agenda would be to examine productive and counterproductive conflict resolution methods and how to tell one from another (Dalglish, 2016). Scenarios and case studies would be used to impart the difference in productive and counterproductive conflict resolution techniques.
Strategies
The rationale for using the interactive instructional strategies of case studies, quizzing, and scenarios in the training conference is that it breaks the monotony in the training process (Longenecker, 2012). Training sessions which involve note taking and listening alone lead to boredom and reduce the knowledge retention capacity of the employees (Blenko et.al., 2013). The interactive instructional strategy would, therefore, be great for more retention and improved concentration levels. It also makes an evaluation of the training sessions easy since the trainers can assess the learning capacity of different trainees based on their responses to the various quizzes and by assessing how and what they contribute to the discussions (Longenecker, 2012). The interactive instructional strategy is therefore relevant for this particular situation.
The return on investment from the training is immense since it will lead to improved customer relations and better conflict resolution practices in the work place (Dalglish, 2016). When handled unprofessionally, conflicts lead to loss of customers even if the service or product provided by the business is of higher quality than the competitors. Excellent customer relations will, therefore, lead to customer attraction and retention and also build brand loyalty. Loyal customers act as brand ambassadors who through word of mouth spread the word about the business attracting more customers (Longenecker, 2012). The impact will be increased sales which will, in turn, lead to increased profits and higher brand equity for the small business. These factors will solidify the business's competitive edge and position in the market since it will be seen as a superior brand to their competitors leading to increased market share (Blenko et.al., 2013). Conflict resolution will also decrease turnover rates since the employees will be trained on how to coexist peacefully in the work place. Low turnover rates further build brand equity and reduce the business's expenditure on severance packages and the cost of hiring new staff (Dalglish, 2016). The return on investment of the training strategy is, therefore, greater than the costs and risks involved in the process.
In sum, as a consultant for a small scale fast food business I would recommend on the job training to improve customer relations, and conflict resolution since the quality of the products is already great, and the business enjoys a big market share. The training would involve a two-day conference, and the return on investment would be higher profitability, increased job satisfaction, low turnover rates and cultivation of a competitive edge. The challenges to the addressing of job performance issues would be poor communication and the lack of technical know-how to carry out job performance assessment in the small business.
References
Blenko, M. W., Mankins, M. C., & Rogers, P. (2013). Decide and deliver: five steps to breakthrough performance in your organization . Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.
Dalglish, C. (2016). Small business training: developing entrepreneurs in the informal sector . Prahran, VIC, Australia: Tilde Publishing Australia.
Longenecker, J. G. (2012). Small business management: launching and growing entrepreneurial ventures . Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
