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1、Business Strategy and Training:A Direct LinkTopic Report developed by Survivor Group:Heidi CisnerosWayne EdwardsHui-Ling (Vivian) LiuNgoc (Sam) NguyenYa-Ping (Celeste)Yu Table of ContentsTopic Summary3Book Reviews Book Review by Wayne Edwards12 Book Review by Hui-Ling (Vivian) Liu20 Book Review by N
2、goc (Sam) Nguyen40 Book Review by Ya-Ping (Celeste) Yu51Annotated Bibliographies by Heidi Cisneros60Practitioner Interviews Interview conducted by Heidi Cisneros 72 Interview conducted by Wayne Edwards76 Interview conducted by Hui-Ling (Vivian) Liu 79 Interview conducted by Ngoc (Sam) Nguyen81 Inter
3、view conducted by Ya-Ping (Celeste) Yu85Additional Sources87Annotated Bibliography Articles88Topic SummaryBusiness strategy derives from a firms mission, purpose, and objectives. In todays highly competitive environment, firms survive by creating policies and programs and implementing methods to ach
4、ieve the mission, purpose, and objectives. In simpler terms, we defined business strategy as the methods used to attain the vision set by a firm which keep the firm competitive in its industry. In our new global economy, training has become a key to providing a competitive advantage for companies. I
5、n addition, training is a necessity for increased productivity and retention of employees. In the past, training functions focused on training staff salaries, building costs, and classroom settings. A relationship was not evident between improving performance of employees that attended training sess
6、ions and the training session itself. Restructuring training programs is now essential as a result of technological changes. Additionally, changes in workforce environment have created a need to provide training which improves productivity, increases competition, deals with new values in the workfor
7、ce, and emphasizes on globalization. The book, Corporate Universities: Lessons in Building a World-class Workforce by Meister, depicts the overall themes found in our research. In it, the new training agenda incorporates the following themes: 1. Tie the goals of education and development to the stra
8、tegic needs of the organization2. Involve leaders as learners and faculty3. Select a chief learning officer to set a strategic direction for everyone4. Consider employee education an ongoing strategic process, rather than a one-time event 5. Design a core curriculum to stress corporate citizenship,
9、contextual framework, and core competencies6. Link what employees learn to what they earn7. Experiment with technology to measure, track, and accelerate learning8. Involve the customer/supplier chain in trainingAdditionally, our research of the books and articles found four consistent elements which
10、 linked business strategy to training and development. These elements are training and evaluation, management involvement in training, building learning organizations, and moving from training to learning to meet business goals. These sources also provided different points of view regarding these el
11、ements. Training and Evaluation Several authors have written about issues surrounding training and the business strategy, but the most overlooked and under-analyzed of these is that of evaluation of the training conducted. Donald Shandler, author of Reengineering the Training Function: How to Align
12、Training with the New Corporate Agenda, specifically addressed the aspects that should be measured like reaction, learning, behavior, and results. Robert Haskell in his book Reengineering Corporate Training, mentioned that part of the problem with failure to improve training programs lies in the att
13、itude of corporate America. In other words, they dont speak critically about what needs to be gained from training. He then goes on to say that honesty in the numbers found by effectiveness studies is vital to building good training programs. Daniel Tobin, author of The Learn-Enabled Organization, M
14、oving from “Training” to “Learning” to meet Business Goal, had an interesting view on the evaluation of training. Tobin stated that the only real measure of evaluation should concern the amount of information and skills applied to the job following training. This was seconded in the article “Playing
15、 the Training Game and Losing” in HR Magazines August 2002 issue. It is echoed in several areas of the literature fore mentioned as well as other readings that a very important part of improvement on current training and actually learning what is or is not effective in training and development invol
16、ves measuring what is applied and what is not applied. The challenge for most begins with the brutal honesty necessary to admit when training is not working and being able to then correct the lack of applicability concerning the training. The Process of Linking Training to Business StrategyThe autho
17、rs of the books used in our research, Tobin, Meister, and Shandler, agree that it is necessary to identify the organizational vision, mission, and goal before they can make use of mechanisms to link training to business strategy. For instance, Tobin tells us the first step is to determine the compan
18、ys business goal, Shandler says to align the companys mission, vision, values, and key requirements to satisfy customer expectations, and Meister states that the organization should create a vision and funding strategy. Thus, it is evident that all three authors concur on the importance of developin
19、g a business strategy before training programs are initiated. However, Tobin, Meister, and Shandler, differed in their opinions of how training was linked to the business strategy by their distinction between the organizational level and individual level. Tobin indicates how to set up a learning con
20、tract for individuals, but both Meister and Shandler illustrate a link to the organizational level. There are several steps that link learning to business goals in Tobins book. First, the companys business goal must be determined. Then, departmental goals are determined based on the company goals fo
21、llowed by the determination of individual employees goals and skill requirements. Once these steps are taken, employees current knowledge and skills levels are assessed and employees learning goals and contracts are developed. Tobin clearly points out how the individual learning tasks combined with
22、organizational goals is a process which begins with the organizational goals and is accomplished by individual employees. In both Meisters and Shandlers books, there is an emphasis on the reengineering and redesign of the training process based on the organizational level. For example, Shandler tell
23、s us to find out the weaknesses and advantages of the process, redesign the process, and examine the evaluation tools. As for Meister, he points out several ways to build the corporate university from the viewpoint of a governance system which include creating a vision, recommend a funding strategy,
24、 identifying stakeholders, creating products and services, and creating measurement system. Management InvolvementShandler believes that management needs to be involved in order to reengineer the training function. The author of Corporate Universities: Lessons in Building a World-Class Workforce, Me
25、ister, also agrees with Shandler in that top managements support is essential. Slomans article, “Ground Force”, agrees with the other authors regarding effective training programs within organizations due to managers ability to explain and coach. Pfau, Kay, Murphy, & Kilduffs article, “Playing the T
26、raining Game and Losing” also agrees that senior management involvement in training programs is necessary.In the book, The Knowledge-Enabled Organization, Moving from “Training” to “Learning” to Meet Business Goals, an organizations structure is depicted as one that must have open boundaries at ever
27、y level which allow information to flow easily. The boundaries can be easily crossed by employees seeking to share their knowledge and skills with others. Another author, Shandler, believes that training leaders have multiple roles which include researcher, manager, needs analyst, individual career
28、development advisor, program designer, HRD material developer, marketer, organization change agent, administrator, instructor/facilitator, and evaluator. Meister agrees with Shandlers depiction of trainers as individuals who wear multiple hats. He states that a chief learning officer has to be a bus
29、iness partner, system thinker, alliance builder, and senior education officer. In addition to the other authors, Tobin also believes trainers have multiple tasks/roles. These tasks include teaching employees to identify learning needs, building and maintaining the knowledge network, researching and
30、publishing learning guides, coaching employees to identify and utilize learning resources, developing courseware and offering formal courses, and teaching knowledge resource people how to share their knowledge. Slomans article agrees and states that trainers are more than just instructors. They are
31、learning facilitators and strategic partners.Learning Organizations Three books used in our research, The Knowledge-Enabled Organizations: Moving from “Training” to “Learning” to Meet Business to Meet Business Goals, Reeingineering the Training Function: How to Align Training with the New Corporate
32、Agenda, and Corporate Universities, mentioned the importance of the learning organization. They all pointed out the necessity of building a learning organization. Due to global competition, new knowledge, and new technology, businesses need to reinforce the workforce quality to gain competitive adva
33、ntage. The authors agree that learning is a life-long task, not a one time solution. They conclude that learning is a business issue involved in every part of the training process.Although, learning organizations were a common theme for these authors, their approaches differed. In Corporate Universi
34、ties, Meister describes the structure of the corporate university. The other two books explain actual training processes. In The Organizational-Enabled Organization, Moving from “Training” to “Learning” to Meet Business Goals, Tobin offers a very clear map of how to become a learning organization. H
35、e points out that adjusting structure, policies, rewards, and technical infrastructures foster a positive learning environment. In Reengineering the Training Function: How to Align Training with the New Corporate Agenda, Shandler gives us a good idea that training is just one component of the contin
36、uous learning organization.Strengths & Weaknesses of Research MaterialIn reviewing our research material, we determined each books strengths and weaknesses. In Reengineering the Training Function: How to Align Training with the New Corporate Agenda, we found several strengths and weaknesses. For exa
37、mple, some strengths are that Shandler lists the changing mindsets from the traditional corporate perspective to the new corporate realities, he lists the changing mindsets from traditional corporate perspectives, and he provides examples and questionnaires that organizations or companies may use. I
38、n addition, he presents challenges that companies may face with possible solutions. The book was also written in a way that the chapters could be read independently.We found a weakness in Shandlers book to be that information was presented in the form of lists, which made it hard to follow until rea
39、der understood the pattern. He seems to rely on the lists, which kept him from fully explaining some ideas. Another weakness is that topics are not covered in great depth and author assumes that the readers are familiar with these topics. The last weakness we noted throughout the book, was that Shan
40、dler compares traditional and reengineered functions but he does not identify how many organizations are still working under or using the traditional mindset.We also found several strengths and weaknesses in Corporate Universities. The first strength we noticed is that Meister provides the structure
41、 of a sound corporate university and offers a good example for companies to follow. It also points out corporate universities would play a multiple roles of company and competitor with the formal educational system. Meister also gives many real-world examples which provide confidence to readers of t
42、he capabilities of the corporate university.However, we felt that Meisters presentation of the corporate university model was very conceptual. His examples relied on companies who have substantial financial backing. The book is not very useful for small companies. We found Meisters book to be more s
43、uitable for training program leaders and staff to have systems-oriented thought processes.In Reengineering Corporate Training, one of the strengths is the real feel the book conveys. For example, Haskells writing style is one of intricate, but necessary detail and his statements are backed with ever
44、yday analogies that anyone can relate to. Also, concepts are tied together, and the style is smooth throughout the book.A weakness is that too much time is given to the importance of learning and not to training itself. Haskell is almost too detailed, and at times, he becomes a bit redundant.Another
45、 weakness we found is that the only chapter directly related to training in the book was chapter twelve. In addition, the aspect of learning and transfer is mentioned in the other materials used in our research briefly. This book was not as useful as the others.The research articles were extremely h
46、elpful in interpreting our books and visualizing real-world settings. We classify them as one the strengths of our research material. However, the practitioner interviews provided the most insight to our topic.Practitioner Interview CollaborationsWe interviewed a Chief Financial Officer, an Applicat
47、ion Analyst, a Manager for the Human Resources Department, and a Director for Training and Development. Most had very clear descriptions of their business strategy. When asked if their training program was tied to their business strategy, three interviewees agreed that it can be related, especially
48、dealing with technical or skill based training. Other common themes found in our research that were discussed in the interviews were leadership involvement, limited training budgets, communication problems, the need to evaluate the effectiveness of the trainings, and learning organizations. For example, David Lee, Manager of the Human Resource Department at Sheng Yu, stated that he hopes to “encourage employees to change their thinking style” in order to make his company a l
