Reinventing the Wheel at Apex Door Company

The training process at Apex is not well designed and not standardized as it should be. It is
clear from the attitude of its employees. It is very haphazard. It is unstructured and there is no
standardized / formal training documentation resulting in entire training process very
awkward.

The Company has many flaws in delegating work and it also shows the employee’s lack of
interest in doing the job done. This is due to the incomplete / outdated and unorganized job
descriptions. It shows that every employee is trained equally across all departments and is not
actually trained according to their job profile. There is no formal procedures guidelines for
each employee in every department. They are being trained in the same way as of other
departments. No specific job related training is being provided.
There is a weak accountability system as well. The person assigned to perform the training is
likely to have very low motivation as he is a departing employee. Without any formal
description, the trainer will teach “his own way” of accomplishing tasks. There are no
outcome measures to determine if the training was successful.
The employees must be given effective training, so that the quality of work and efficiency
can be improved. The management has to introduce a training manual that would help the
employees in managing their roles and responsibilities accordingly.

8.19 Job Descriptions are written statements that describe the duties, responsibilities,
required qualifications and reporting relationships of a particular job.

Writing job descriptions is an important step as it forms the foundation for many important
processes such as job postings, recruitment, selection, setting expectations, compensation,
training and performance management. Job training is an important step in getting a new
employee up to speed on the roles and expectations. Hiring employees without a well-defined
job description can lead to reduced productivity as the new employees would be unprepared
for their duties and require extra training to fulfil their jobs. Job descriptions play a vital role
in employee training as well. In Apex, the training is same for all the employees throughout
the company. This is not feasible as different positions require different set of skills that
cannot be achieved without an effective training programme without a well-defined and
updated job description.

8.20 From the case we can observe that there isn’t any form of formal or standardized
training program in Apex, no specific job and training manual or job description, absence of
proper orientation program, lack of proper orientation and training of new and existing
employees. And these are the reasons why Jim Delaney, president of Apex Door, has
problems within his organization.
Following steps shall be taken to improve the training process at Apex:
01. Job description would be a good start in improving the training process. When a job
description is in place, the roles, responsibilities and required skills are laid out. With this in
mind, the current position of the employees can be evaluated and compared with the job
description needs. This gives the objective of the training program. The training program
should revolve around this.
02. The current process of employee orientation is not a standard one. A new employee is
trained by the employee who was on the same role during the overlap period. But when there
is no overlap period, then the new employee is trained by the existing employees who had
occasionally performed that role. The orientation can be conducted at two levels – at the
organisational level and at the job level.
03. Give employee a overview of the company, its vision, mission, goals, culture, etc.
04. At the job level, the employee can be introduced to a supervisor, who can explain the
roles and requirements of the job. After which he can be sent for a training program to
familiarize him with the working of the company and his role.