Effects of Business embedded and traditional training models

Service industry is now focusing more and more on providing valuable training opportunities to its employees in order to improve the quality of its services and benchmarking them as its competitive advantage. This research has attempted to understand the effects of the Business Embedded Training Model and the Traditional Training Model on employees’ job motivation. A sample of 80 organizations and 1000 respondents was taken and Group t-Test and Log Linear Logit techniques were used to evaluate that which training model is preferred over the other by the service industry and which training model has more positive effects on employees’ job motivation. The study revealed that Business Embedded Training Model has more positive effects on employees’ motivation than the Traditional Training Model.

Key words: Training, Motivation, Performance, Employee Satisfaction

INTRODUCTION

In nearly every modern market a large portion of the business world provides training and development opportunities to their employees to improve the level of their performances, thereby adding value to their company growth and success (McDougall & Beattie, 1998). One of the noticeable issues with training is the question on why do people need training? Are they interested in training for monetary benefits/growth opportunity/self realization? Does training really impact positively on motivation? Practically all employees receive some form of training during their job. Certainly, individuals rely on training to develop their existing skill sets and to learn new proficiencies. However, to maximize the benefits of training, researchers and practitioners must know more than whether it worked. Many authors have called for greater research attention to understanding why training works. In particular, several have suggested that developing a better understanding of participants’ training related motivation would provide useful insights into a neglected area related to training effectiveness (Mathieu, Tannenbaum & Salas, 1992). Training & motivation is always considered to function side by side as any one of it cannot work without the support of the other one. Knowing the relevant dimensions of employee motivational information is vital to anyone concerned with organizational performance, as it gives the ability to make objective assessments of what people expects from their employment. Whether it is formulating personal policy, strategic plans, or reengineering processes, keeping employees motivated is necessary to reach goals of productivity and efficiency (Turkiewicz, Massey & Brown, 1998).

The problem discussed in this paper is the Effects of Business Embedded & Traditional training models on employees’ job motivation since the way training is provided has a very significant effect on employees’ job motivation. In order to address the concerned problem the following two hypotheses are tested

H1: Business Embedded Training Model has a higher level of preference in the service industry than the Traditional Training Model.

H2: Business Embedded Training Model has more positive effects on employees’ job motivation than the Traditional Training Model

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this new era of learning and development, organization’s success and competitiveness mainly depends upon continually improving performance by reducing cost, improving and creating new products and process, enhancing quality and productivity, increasing speed to be the first to the market and all aspects of the organization must demonstrate their ability to positively impact performance (Wells, Layne & Allen, 1991). Nevertheless many practices of human resource management are implied in the development of internal as well as external resources, but training is considered to be a vital activity in order to have well qualified, flexible and well prepared human capital to achieve the higher standards of performances. According to various authors, training is considered as one of the most significant processes in the Human Resources Management functions in the organizations. It plays a critical role in maintaining and developing the capabilities of both individual employees and the organization as a whole and in contributing to the vital process of organizational change as well. At present the business world is characterized, among other things, by an increasing competitiveness, market globalization, continual technological advances and changes in work organization; therefore, the survival of a company implies the prosecution of sustainable competitive advantages and theories placing the origin of these advantages outside the company are now losing validity in the interest of those centered on internal elements, especially the theory of resources and capacities (Sa´nchez, Arago & Sanz-Valle, 2003). So keeping in view the prime importance of training, organization’s triumph mainly depends upon continually improving its performance levels by making training as a permanent factor in the development of the organization so that it can demonstrate its ability to positively impact its performance. Considering the significance of training is not only important but it is also critical to know that what kind and how much of training is required for a particular job function. In considering what adequate training is, we need to determine who should be trained, what areas of training should be covered, what methods and resources can be used, and who should conduct the training (Hoff, 1970). The prime importance of training can be viewed from the point of view of a company, in a way that the employee training truly starts to pay off once it can see the impact of its investment translated into increased productivity. The value of a company automatically rises when an employee is able to successfully put into practice the skills he or she has acquired from training. Any business with the willingness to invest in employee development and training, enjoy great results and satisfactions both in the short and long terms (Valle, Martin, Romero, & Dolan, 2004).

Understanding the phenomenon of employee training and development requires understanding of all the changes that take place as a result of learning. As the generator of new knowledge, employee training and development is placed within a broader strategic context of human resources management. The strategic procedure of employee training and development needs to encourage creativity, ensure inventiveness and shape the entire organizational knowledge that provides the organization with uniqueness and differentiates it from the others (VemiÄ‡, 2007). Employee training and development does not mean only to obtain new knowledge, abilities and skills, but also the possibility to promote a learning culture, introduce employees to changes, encourage the changes of their approach, introduce the employees to important business decisions and involve them actively in the process of decision making (Sa´nchez, Arago & Sanz-Valle, 2003).

Usually, the point of training is to ensure that employees can successfully delivers of what is expected of their jobs. The business situation as of today has changed drastically, with severe strain on organizations to stay ahead of their competition through improvement & enhancement (Cauwenbergh & Cool, 2000). In the view of the above, in order to contribute to the company’s success, training activities should help the company achieve its business strategy by developing the necessary skills and the knowledge required to raise the standard of performance of the individual employee. The link between business strategy and individual performance occurs in part through organizational capacity to create and embed people process along a number of dimensions: vertical linkage (to create alignment with short term business needs); horizontal linkage (to create cohesion); and temporary linkage (to perform to meet future needs) (Gartton, Hailey, Stiles & Truss, 1999). So by linking training with the adopted business strategies can greatly help employees to develop necessary skills and knowledge needed to perform their jobs effectively, which directly affects the required business needs and giving them such opportunities to improve and develop their businesses for future obstacles. According to various research studies, in order to train the employees the management first must create a learning culture or a learning organization and then do the transfer of training which can be described as a systemic organization which has the capacity to change & adapt in difficult situations. Learning and development is usually conceived of as an individual phenomenon, and it is true that beneficiaries and practitioners can learn as individuals. If the process of organizational learning and development does not take place, organizations cannot alter/adapt to new circumstances as they develop. To avoid this state of affairs, the organizations need to explore ways to originate, motivate and encourage the learning and development not only to certain individuals but also on the part of the organization as a whole (VemiÄ‡, 2007).

Explanation of the Effects of Business Embedded and Traditional Training Models on motivation:

The Business Embedded Model is characterized by five competencies: Strategic Direction, Product Design, Structural Versatility, Product Delivery and Accountability for results. The most noticeable difference between the BE function and a traditional training department is its structure.

Model to study the Effects of Business Embedded & Traditional Training models on Motivation:

Strategic Direction

Program Structure Versatility

Training Program Design

Training Delivery

Accountability for training outcomes

Employee Motivation Levels

[Source: S.S Mcintosh, “Envisioning Virtual Training Organizations”. Training & Development (May 1995):47, Book (), Chapter 2, page 78-79. Please note that the above figure is modified as per the Research problem.]

The traditional training organization trends to operate with a fixed staff of trainers and administrators who perform very specific functions such as instructional design. Whereas, the BE function makes sure that the training process is delivered, well communicated and the resources are shared (Noe, 1996). For the understanding of the effects of the two models, motivation is considered to be a prime cause. It helps to understand more clearly every element of the model at the strategic level, design level, delivery level, structural level and finally at the accountability of the training outcomes.

(a). Strategic Direction

A brief historical review of the literature suggests that many changes have taken place in the corporate orientation and strategy followed by corresponding changes in the training provided by the firms to their employees (Valle, Martin, Romero & Dolan, 2000). Technological, economic, and social changes are causing organizations to depend more and more on training to accomplish their objectives. Business objectives are accomplished when training practices, procedures, and systems are developed and implemented based on organizational needs, that is, when a strategic perspective to training and development is adopted (Baird & Meshoulam, 1988). In this era of continuous changes & developments a flexible strategic direction of a company helps it to effectively run its activities (such as production, finance, marketing, HR & others) to fulfill certain needs, objectives & to reach specific goals that the organization desires. Strategic arrangement of training and development directly encourages organizational business goals and objectives. By working from a point of view of the intended strategic initiative an individual gradually learns new skills and develop new business relationships, thereby acquiring new human and social capital (Lovas & Ghoshal, 2000). A strategic direction of a company should clearly communicates its objectives of training and ultimately provide solutions that could cater the real needs of the customer. To a company in order to achieve its true potential from its strategic direction, top management ensures their undivided attention (Simon, 1993).

(b). Training Program Design

When managing any training process, it is very important that company leaders work closely with functional departmental heads and Human Resources personnel in a systematic approach to training (Sa´nchez, Arago & Sanz-Valle, 2003). A comprehensive review of the subject material (and subject matter experts) is also crucial. Goals and performance objectives must be well set, and a plan to analyze the training should be developed. Instructional materials and strategies must be acquired, prepared, and pre-tested (Rouda & Kusy,1996). Designing of a training program involves a series of steps that can be grouped into stages like needs assessment, instructional objectives, design, realization and final valuation. To be effective and well-organized, all training programs must begin with a needs assessment. Long before any actual training occurs, the training manager must determine the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of training.

The training objective usually clears what goals/objectives are required to be accomplished at the conclusion of training (Lewis, 1998). Without the clarity of what is needed to be done, training efforts are at finest randomly useful and at worst, useless. The end result is the more precise picture of training needs, which can lead to a performance oriented improvement training program and better results for training (Brown, 2002). With reference to above authors it becomes very clear that it is highly essential to understand the training objectives & needs that the company is aiming to develop before designing a training program. For this purpose however the main responsibility lies with the instructional designer, however HR professionals, concerned managers and even sometimes the involvement of the important clients/customers also becomes a vital aspect to ensure the success of developing a more value adding and effective training system which could contribute to the overall business strategy and improved outcomes for training (Rouda & Kusy, 1996).

(c). Training Program Structure Versatility

A training program should always be flexible enough to accommodate the changes as per the training audience. In order to structure an effective training program following guide lines must be covered:

The content of the training program should be according to the job.

In order to be effective, the trainer must know the common characteristics of each participant in advance, thus moderating the delivery of training more successfully.

The audience of a training program should be educated to enhance their participation with the faculty and to reduce crossfire amongst them.

The direction of the training must always be to convey the usage of the right method for the development of skills/knowledge/experience/ expertise, which can be job-oriented, for business development or for building culture in a right mix, suitable to the audience (Rajan, 2004).

While developing a through structure for an effective training course companies should involve all the concerned parties related to training and the program must be developed in such a manner that it should accommodate/ manage resources for the best of trainees to contribute to the value adding factors of the organization. With a strong structure, the training program is more organized, flexible and the content flow is logical. The best reward out of this would be the greater increase in the motivation levels of the employees, thus enabling them to perform out of the ordinary for the betterment of the business (Milliman, Glinow & Nathan, 1991).

(d). Training Delivery

In today’s fast-paced business environment, if your employees are not learning, then the company may just be falling behind. After all, companies learn as their people do. But no matter whether organization has 5 employees or 5,000 employees, there are some tried ways to achieve and/or improve the successes yielded by those training investments (VemiÄ‡, 2007). Training needs to be executed in a manner that gives your employees the information, skills, and motivation they need to aid your organization in the achievement of its strategic goals. To do this, consider conducting a thorough needs analysis. This exercise may be time consuming but, if done correctly, should force management to look at the need for process changes (Martin, 1999). While delivering an employee training and development program it must be realized that its success mainly depends upon its proper execution, including the development of methods to identify training needs that correspond with corporate goals. If the training is targeted at achieving specific business goals, any financial considerations resulting from the training becomes indeed essential investment in the longevity of your business (VemiÄ‡, 2007).

(e). Accountability for Results

In today’s environment of increased accountability, the training evaluation process is a critical component of an organization’s training program. Organizations administering the program not only are accountable for what employees learn, they also are accountable for ensuring that employees transfer their knowledge to their work performance. While traditional training evaluation methods focus on using the assessment process to improve training delivery, information should also be collected to determine whether training is assisting the organization to improve its business performance (Carr, 1999). Evaluation methods/procedures should be determined based on the goals of the training process and should meet the demands of the various stakeholders involved. Every business has several stakeholders and not everyone within the business has the same information needs. Typically, organizational stakeholder groups include the training division, employees and other business units. Furthermore, the participants in the training program can also play a vital role in the valuation process as well (Miller, 2008). That is why the evaluation process is not possible without the joint effort/ comments of all the concerned groups. When training is not evaluated, the investment and its effects cannot be tested and resources can be wasted in inadequate activities. Sometimes, training evaluation is avoided because it is considered as an expensive and time-consuming process. At other times, the reason is the lack of measurement systems for determining the changes arisen from training. (Sa´nchez, Arago & Sanz-Valle, 2003). The training evaluation process has the potential to provide useful information to further improve the training process/ systems. It also helps in providing valuable information to the trainee, thus motivating him to further improve his performance to achieve his individual goals which ultimately contributes to the overall success of the company (Miller, 2008).

Training & Motivation

Organizations are constantly looking for new methods of training, methods that motivate and encourage learning. To meet this challenge and provide effective training, a re-examination of the way we orchestrate training, together with an examination of our fundamental beliefs of how we consider the learner and our instructional role are required (Dwyer, 2002). Numerous studies have established that motivation has a significant impact on training outcome. To our knowledge, with the exception of one empirical study motivation has been positively linked to learning in training. Training and motivation has also been correlated with post-training satisfaction and with transfer of knowledge acquired to the work situation (Sylvie & Sire, 2001).

The element of employee motivation becomes very important when the management wants to develop an effective training program which could bring the desired outcomes or results (Bodimer, 2009). While designing or developing a training program that can effectively motivate employees, the companies must create a value adding training content/material and should organize the training program in such a way that it can accommodate the changes that could occur during the training course, thereby keeping it flexible to the needs for the company. As every employee brings a different set of skills and talents to a company, therefore ultimately it becomes the prime responsibility of the company to manage such valuable Human Assets by keeping them motivated through effective trainings to further develop and enhance their skill for the betterment and the success of the company (Sylvie & Sire, 2001).

METHODOLOGY

This research paper finds out the Effects of the Type of Training Models on Employees’ Job Motivation. The direction is to find out the overall effectiveness of the Business Embedded and Traditional Training Model on employees’ job motivation levels, finally concluding to perfection in overall performance. For this purpose detailed surveys and interviews were carried out with different levels of managers. The instrument used for the data collection was a questionnaire comprising of 18 dimensions of training included in the Business Embedded Training Model developed by Mcintosh in 1995. Managers were asked about their practice related to each of the dimension and also their opinion as to how these dimensions effect the motivational level of the employees. The Cronbach’s Alpha of the instrument was 0.89 and it was pretested on 20 employees working at various levels in the organizations and subject experts to assess the validity of the instrument. A sample of 80 key companies from the service sector of Pakistan was taken and a total of 1000 employees of different levels were asked to fill the required questionnaire. Key points were also discussed with the managers of these companies to find out whether the training impacts employee motivation and at what levels.

The software used for evaluating and interpreting the questionnaires into meaningful data for resulting analysis was Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Since the data contains only one independent variable and a dependent variable therefore a Group t-Test and Log Linear Logit techniques were used to test the two hypotheses. The Group t-Test technique was used to determine the comparison between the two models and the Log linear Logit technique was used because there were more than two categories present in the data.

FINDINGS

H1. Business Embedded Training Model has a higher level of preference in the Service Industry than the Traditional Training Model.

Table 1. Summary Assessment of Research Hypothesis 1:

S. No.

Particulars

Business Embedded Training (%)

Traditional Training

Dept. (%)

Empirical Conclusion

Clarity in the communication of the training objectives

Table 2. Summary Assessment of Research Hypothesis 2:

S. No.

Particulars

Impact of BE Training on Employees’ Job Motivation Level (%)

Impact of Traditional Training Dept. on Employees’ Job Motivation Level (%)

Empirical Conclusion

Clarity in the communication of the training objectives

47.40

7.1

Accepted

Recognizing that customer needs/Requirements may vary

44.45

33.35

Accepted

Provides customized solutions for training program

44.10

28.00

Accepted

Understanding that the training program has its own life cycle

35.15

22.00

Accepted

Training course content should be suitable for the target audience

46.60

31.35

Accepted

Making Training Mandatory for all

41.65

37.5

Accepted

Designing of training programs using training mythologies (innovative/rigid)

44.65

16.05

Accepted

Strategic involvement of suppliers during the development of the training program

43.05

27.65

Accepted

Involvement of the trainer in the development of training program

44.80

30.15

Accepted

Leverage of resources for the training program

36.70

23.10

Accepted

Decision on the direction of training content

43.10

21.30

Accepted

Varity of the learning options in the training program

45.55

21.70

Accepted

Suitability of the location for the effective delivery of training

43.00

28.60

Accepted

Considers manager’s responsibility for development of the employee

45.05

34.6

Accepted

Level of involvement of the participants

40.20

25.00

Accepted

Considers manager as key player in support learning

47.90

34.60

Accepted

Considers only the course evaluation as a primary source of feed back

35.90

40.00

Rejected

Guarantees that the training program will improve overall performance

47.60

7.4

Accepted

Note: All the above statements have been tested at 5% significant level. The p-value is P<0.005

Through the analysis it is revealed that there is a significant effect of Business Embedded Training model on the level of employee’s motivation. The reason is that the Business Embedded Model allows the companies to achieve the benefit of centralized training but at the same time ensuring that the training programs, their substance & the delivery techniques should meet the specific needs of the business. The statistical interpretations given above show the level of significance of each training model, the acceptance and rejection of result depends upon the significance level i.e. p > 0.05 is not acceptable where as p < 0.05 is acceptable. According to the research survey the major companies from the services sector of Pakistan are now focusing more and more towards the Business Embedded style of training methods as compared to Traditional training methods so that they can better control their training costs and ensure that the training is aligned with the business strategy but at the same time respond quickly to the client needs and provide high quality services leading to strengthening their performance standards.

CONCLUSION

This study indicates that the Business Embedded Training Models does have a significant impact on employee motivation. The Business Embedded Training Model has a more positive impact on employee’s motivation as compared to Traditional Training Model. It takes more responsibility for learning and evaluating the training effectiveness, providing customized solutions of training according to the customers’ needs and determining when, where and how to deliver training. Similar to other studies our data also indicates that Business Embedded Training is being practiced more in today’s corporate world because it allows the companies to gain the benefits of centralized training but at the same time ensures that the training can provide programs, content and the delivery methods that meet the needs of the specific businesses. It not only views trainees as customers but also the managers as customers who make decisions to send employees for training. Motivation is an important factor in comparing the two models; it basically decides which one of the two training models has more positive effect on motivation, leading to elite performance levels. It significantly helps to understand the practicality and the usage of the two models in terms of the business strategic direction, training design, effective delivery, training program structure versatility and the accountability for training outcomes. By studying the effects of the two models on motivation it is now very clear that, it has greatly help to determine and even bench mark the training practices which could benefit the overall success of the company and employees can also benefit from it by further developing their talents/skills and realizing their true potential for the betterment of the company.

RECOMMENDATIONS

More and more companies should now focus their efforts on adopting the Business Embedded Model of training as compared to Traditional Training methods which can greatly help them to achieve better results by spending lesser money, effort and time. As the Business Embedded approach allows the companies to gain the benefits of centralized training but at the same time ensures that the training programs, content and the delivery methods must meet the needs of specific businesses. The Business Embedded training model is actually more practical in usage because it smoothly facilitates the process of learning by making the content /material easy to understand and customizes it to the extent of applicability, which provides the participants more alternatives to enhance their skills for the betterment of their careers. Another significant aspect of this research indicates what is highly recommended by a number of senior managers that by giving the training participants more options for learning can help immensely to improve their motivation towards their own career development.

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