Chapter 03

Strategic Training

By: Muhammad Menhas

Learning Organization

A learning organization is a company that has an enhanced capacity to:

1. Learn
2. Adapt
3. Change
Learning refers to the acquisition of knowledge by individual, employees or groups of
employees who are willing to apply that knowledge in their jobs in making decisions and
accomplishing tasks for the company.

Knowledge refers to what individuals or teams of employees know or know how to do

(human and social knowledge) as well as company’s rules, processes, tools and routines
(structured knowledge). Knowledge is either tacit knowledge or explicit knowledge.

Tacit knowledge refers to personal knowledge based on individual experience that is

difficult to explain to others

Explicit knowledge refers to knowledge that can be formalized, codified and

communicated. That is, it can be found in manuals, formulas and specifications. It is easy
to communicate and explain to othres
What is Strategy?

Strategy is a long-term plan to outperform against the competitor

An organizational strategy is a planned effort that produces fundamental decisions
and actions. These actions in turn shape and guide the organization, its goals and
activities, focusing every plan on the future

It establishes the principal direction, concentrates resources towards a limited no

of directions, while focusing on stake-holders’ benefits

It structures a company’s vision and mission

It ensures the most effective use of organizational resources

Strategy is concerned with the planned actions that an organization
undertakes at each level. A strategy is an integrated set of decisions defining
where and how to compete

How a company supports innovations to bring uniqueness? How a company

can enhance its customer services to achieve customer loyalty? How IT can be
better used for achieving the competitive edge?

To answer the above and others many questions, a company needs a strategy
Levels of Strategy

1) Corporate Level Strategy – Formulated by Top Management

2) Business Level Strategy – Business (unit) level or product level

3) Functional Level Strategy – Ground level

• There is both direct and indirect link between training and business
strategy and goals

• Training that helps employees develop the skills needed to perform

their jobs directly effects the business

• Giving employees opportunities to learn and develop creates a

positive work environment, that supports the business strategy by
attracting talented employees as well as motivating and retaining
existing employees
Strategic Training

• Strategic Training is a form of training that provides the employees with

necessary tools, information and skills that are required to complete their task
effectively and efficiently
• Strategic training focusses on the strategic goals of the organization
• Strategic training aims to help in achieving the short and long-term goals by
helping employees to first understand these goals and then to equip themselves
with necessary tools and skills
• Its enables employees to perform as per the management’s expectations
• Its also helps in aligning individual objectives with the organization’s objectives
Strategic Training Process
Models of Strategic Training

Faculty Model (safety training, quality and technical training, leadership

development, sales training)

Customer Model (information system, marketing, production and operation, finance)

Matrix Model ( both above)

Corporate University Model (MDP, newly hired employees' programs)

Virtual Model (Three principles – 1. Employees have primary responsibility for

learning, 2. OJT, 3. Manager – Employee relationship)
Organizational characteristics that influence strategic training sessions

o The role of employees and managers

o The impact of top management support

o The integration of business units

o The feel of global presence

o General business conditions

o Staff involvement in training

o Other HR practices
o The Role of employees and Managers:
Research suggests that managers in traditional work environments are expected to do
the following:

• Manage individual performance: Motivate employees to change performance,

provide performance feedback, and monitor training activities.
• Develop employees: Explain work assignments and provide technical expertise.
• Plan and allocate resources: Translate strategic plans into work assignments and
establish target dates for projects.
• Coordinate interdependent groups: Persuade other units to provide products or
resources needed by the work group and understand the goals and plans of other units.
• Manage group performance: Define areas of responsibility, meet with
other managers to discuss effects of changes in the work unit on their
groups, facilitate change, and implement business strategy.
• Monitor the business environment: Develop and maintain relationships
with clients and customers and participate in task forces to identify new
business opportunities.
• Represent one’s work unit: Develop relationships with other managers,
communicate the needs of the work group to other units, and provide
information on work group status to other groups
o The impact of Top management support:
The CEO, the top manager in the company, plays a key role in determining the
importance of training and learning in the company.
The CEO is responsible for:
• A clear direction for learning (vision).
• Encouragement, resources, and commitment for strategic learning (sponsor).
• Taking an active role in governing learning, including reviewing goals and
objectives and providing insight on how to measure training effectiveness
(governor).
• Developing new learning programs for the company (subject-matter expert).
• Teaching programs or providing resources online (faculty).
• Serving as a role model for learning for the entire company and demonstrating a
willingness to constantly learn (learner).
• Promoting the company’s commitment to learning by advocating it in speeches,
annual reports, interviews, and other public relations tools (marketing agent).
o The Integration of Business Units:

In a highly integrated business, employees need to understand other units, services, and
products in the company. Training likely includes rotating employees between jobs in different
businesses so they can gain an understanding of the whole business.

o The feel of Global Presence:

For companies with global operations, training is used to prepare employees for temporary or
long-term overseas assignments.

o General Business Conditions:

When unemployment is low and/or businesses are growing at a high rate, companies often
find it difficult to attract new employees
For companies in an unstable or recessionary business environment, training may be
abandoned, be left to the discretion of managers, or become more short term.
For employees in companies experiencing growth—there may be many new opportunities for
lateral job moves and promotions
o Staff Involvement in Training and Development:

• How often and how well a company’s training program is used are affected by
the degree to which managers, employees, and specialized development staff
are involved in the process.
• If managers are not involved in the training process, training may be unrelated
to business needs. Managers may also not be committed to ensuring that
training is effective. As a result, training’s potential impact on helping the
company reach its goals may be limited because managers may feel that
training is a “necessary evil” forced on them by the training department rather
than a means of helping them to accomplish business goals.
• If line managers are aware of what development activity can achieve, such as
reducing the time it takes to fill open positions, they will be more willing to
become involved in it. They will also become more involved in the training
process if they are rewarded for participating.
o Other HRM Practices:

Human resource management (HRM) practices consist of the management

activities related to investments in staffing, performance management, training,
and compensation and benefits. The type of training and the resources devoted
to training are influenced by the strategy adopted for two human resource
management practices: staffing and human resource planning
Staffing strategy refers to the company’s decisions regarding where to find
employees, how to select them, and the desired mix of employee skills and
statuses (temporary, fulltime, etc.).
Human resource planning includes the identification, analysis, forecasting, and
planning of changes needed in the human resource area to help the company
meet changing business conditions. Human resource plans can help identify
where employees with certain types of skills are needed in the company.
 Marketing the training function

successful internal marketing tactics:

• Involve the target audience in developing the training or learning effort
• Demonstrate how a training and development program can be used to solve
specific business needs
• Showcase an example of how training has been used within the company to solve
specific business needs
• Identify a “champion” (e.g., top-level manager) who actively supports training
• Listen and act on feedback received from clients, managers, and employees
• Determine what financial numbers—such as return on assets, cash flow from
operations, or net profit or loss— top-level executives are concerned with and show
how training and development will help improve those numbers
• Speak in terms that employees and managers understand. Translate jargon
Outsourcing Training

Outsourcing refers to the use of an outside company (an external services firm)
that takes complete responsibility and control of some training or development
activities or that takes over all or most of a company’s training including
administration, design, delivery, and development

Business process outsourcing refers to the outsourcing of any business process,

such as human resource management, production, or training.
Thank you