LOCAL GLOBALIZATION- a new idea of HRM for a company operating within a single country.

A NEW IDEA OF HRM FOR A COMPANY OPERATING WITHIN A SINGLE COUNTRY

All of us heard about a concept of GLOBALIZATION for long time. This is often discussed about or for the MNCs (Multinational Companies). But the idea of 'Local Globalization' came into my mind while researching about HRM of a company  which operates within a single country, but has got lots of branches in different areas of the country. Well, I will not go further into this, because some of us may not have clear idea about the 'Globalization' of HRM. So, I will try to highlight some information on 'Globalization' first and then discuss on my new idea of 'LOCAL GLOBALIZATION' of HRM.

GLOBALIZATION
Lots of scholars and Gurus have said about the 'global village' concept. It is often practiced and discussed for the MNCs, as I said before. MNCs have different numbers of working sites in different countries. So, to run the function of the MNCs, Globalization is a must. From the host or head-office; whatever you call it, operations are controlled all over the world. In these sorts of situations, HRM has got very vital role. like,

• Firstly, to tackle cultural shock.
• To train the EXPATRIATES for local language, policy, laws.
• How to work within a multinational or diversified employee environment.

etc. You can list hundreds of them. But my main point is, I want to give you simple idea that while MNCs work in

a Global environment, they have to be highly supported by IT, HRM and other technical things: which gives them a chance to cut the cost and increase net profit. In simple word, when a system or business operating globally like a single unit, you can simply define this idea as 'Globalization'.

LOCAL GLOBALIZATION


its too late, i will write tomorrow about this.

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Training Evaluation

Hamblin (1970; cited by Blanshard and Montgomery 1978) defined evaluation as obtaining information on effectiveness of training and assessing it. He differentiated between ‘Evaluation’ and ‘Validation’. ‘Evaluation’ is a process where ‘validation’ is a result. But The Training Support Unit and Branch 6 (TSD) HM Customs & Excise Training Service Division (1992) argued that evaluation of training is simply measuring the results of training.  Evaluation process should start during the Need Analysis stage. Training is planned and designed to achieve expected outcomes. But sometimes it may not be possible to achieve expected result because of different reasons and this process of comparing the outcomes of training programme with training objectives is evaluation. Rightly said about training evaluation,

 “...Any attempt to obtain information (feedback) on the effects of a training programme, and to assess the value of training in the light of that information.” (Hamblin, 1974; cited by Bee and Bee 1994, p. 174)

Importance of Training Evaluation

Most of the organization needs to analyse the contribution and effectiveness of the training programme. It may be necessary to identify the quality of the existing training programme. These can be achieved through evaluation. Evaluation can facilitate with reviewing training policy, which will affect subsequent stages of next training programmes. If the trainer can see the result of performance, then they can measure performance, can set targets and can feed back the results of performance into the training (King 1964). It is an important management tool to control the effectiveness of training. Blanshard and Montgomery (1978) suggested getting the feedback of trainees’ performance through evaluation process. As a whole, training evaluation process has great impact on the entire training process.

 Training Evaluation Process

Cole (1993) defined evaluation as part of the control process of training. He emphasized to set the standards of training. The more accurately the standards can be set, will be easier to evaluate the training.

Levels of Training Evaluation

Most of the authors divided evaluation into different levels. Centre of Social Development (CSD) (nd; cited by Blanshard and Montgomery 1978) divided evaluation into four levels:

• a.       REACTION LEVEL:    it is immediate information collected from trainees.
• b.      LEARNING LEVEL:  it is carried out after completion of the training on competences learned by the trainees.
• c.       JOB BEHAVIOURAL LEVEL:    it is carried out after a gap of time after completion of training. Information regarding changed learning on workplace is collected here. This information should be collected through observing staff and from asking superiors.
• d.      ORGANISATION LEVEL:            the effect of changed job behaviour by the trainees is evaluated here. But difficult to calculate. Because of its wide range of factors involvement. Where trainees may be one of factors for outcomes.

Hamblin (1974; cited by Blanshard and Montgomery 1978) divides above stated 4th level into Organisational and Ultimate Value level. He suggested identifying changes in the way of organisation works and the extent it achieved its ultimate goals.

War, Bird and Rackham (nd; cited by Cole 1993) suggested an on-going process for evaluating training. These are:

• a.       Context evaluation- deals with information regarding training needs and objectives.
• b.      Input evaluation- evaluates the effectiveness of training resources, like staffs, different training aids etc.
• c.       Reaction evaluation- assesses the information about trainees’ reaction about training programme.
• d.      Outcome evaluation- evaluates results in immediate, inter-mediate and ultimate levels of training.

Difficulties with Evaluation Measurement

According to Blanshard and Montgomery (1978), sometimes numerical figures fails to show the results of training effectively, because of the information remains subjective. Other side of the evaluation cannot be expressed with numerical figures. It should be assessed by intuition. Again it is difficult to express result with this way. It will be more effective to use both the techniques. Quantitative techniques provide standard to compare and other one can interpret the figures.

Factors Affecting Training Evaluation

While evaluating a training programme, certain factors need to be assessed with great importance. According to Kruse et al. (1994) important factors are:

• a.       Contribution of the training to company’s aim.
• b.      Cost effectiveness.
• c.       Effectiveness of training methods.
• d.      Compare the outcome with training objectives.
• e.       Effectiveness of training design.
• f.       Effectiveness of training delivery and trainer.
• Evaluation ex-ante, during the training and ex-post.

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Training Delivery

After planning the training programme, delivering the training is important and critical step. A well-planned training can be wasted because of its improper delivery. Certain factors need to be examined and planned while selecting the delivery methods. These are discussed below.

Training Provider

Training can be part-time or full-time; day or evening or mixture of any. Training can be provided internally and/ or externally. External training can be provided by colleges or private contractors. They provide NVQs as qualifications. Internal provider can provide company specific dedicated programmes. Again some of the national standard supervisor training programmes can be run internally with company’s internal assessors.

 Who Should Do the Training?

This is one of the crucial decisions to make sometimes. Staff Training Working Group of the Distributive Trades EDC (1971) defined manager as anyone who leads a team; it may be supervisor, department manger or simply anyone. That is a topic to raise questions about. Practically that may not be true. Sometimes supervisor may train staffs; even an old experienced staff may train new staffs. So, the above statement may create lots of confusion. Even if we consider managers to train staffs, it is important to find out what the reasons are. Some companies hire trainer for the businesses. Why do they do that? The answer of these is important to select a trainer.

Manager as Trainer

Professional trainers are there to train staffs. But some cases, managers are responsible for training the staffs. Managers have practical knowledge on everything within the store and they are capable to know the abilities and needs of every staffs (Staff Training Working Group of the Distributive Trades EDC 1971). Instead of having some advantages, there are some disadvantages. If managers act as trainer, they need to sacrifice their time from managing business and other activities.

Training the Trainer

Though managers can act as trainers, but they need to be trained on different aspects of training. Professional trainer is already trained to perform as trainer. There is cost involve in training the managers to be trainers. It is important to explore the cost while selecting the trainer.

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Designing a Training Programme

Cole (1993) suggested considering the following factors while designing the training programme.

• a.       What training.
• b.      When and How to provide.
• c.       Where and by whom to provide.
• d.      Cost of training.

There are some stages while designing an effective and systematic training programme. These are discussed below:

Pre-design Consideration

Miles (1981; cited by Bunker et al. 1987) suggested if the training programme is large or/ and duration is too long, it is better to separate the people to conduct training and to run administration of training. Davis (1974; cited by Bunker et al. 1987) suggested keeping a ratio of one staff member for every 10 trainees maximum. The important issue is to give both trainer and the trainee with adequate opportunities to train and to learn in an effective environment. It is important to know the training briefly, for both trainee and trainer, before start of the training (Bunker et al. 1987). It helps to share needs and expectations of both trainee and trainers. If the trainees know what they are going to get, it will be more helpful.

Designing

Mature trainees should have a chance to learn by themselves, participating through many ways during the training and if trainer put themselves in trainees shoes, they can design the training more effectively. While designing, it should be kept in mind that participants must have maximum chance to get them involved in various activities. It will help to build up their leadership quality (Bunker et al. 1987). Type, duration, intensity of the events should be kept in mind while designing to make it more attractive and enjoyable. Trainees need to have motivation while training and a well designed training programme must obtain that quality. The training environment which includes place of training, trainer and other trainees’ behaviour has great impact on learning outcome.

 Events or Methods to Use

While designing training programme, a flow should be maintained towards training objectives. Difficulty level within the activities should be increased. It is fruitful to keep the training simple.

A training session may have more than one activity. According to Rae (2001), a well constructed problem solving exercise can increase the ability to analyse, problem solving, team development, planning and execution, communication etc. A solved or unsolved problem can be given to the trainees to solve. It will increase their ability to think beyond their knowing.

In case of activities during the training, there are lots of activities which can be planned for training programme. It is on to the designer to choose the right one at the right place. Kruse et al. (1994) suggested a list of activities which is attached as appendix ( VI ).

Timing

Some activities or events during the training programme will take some time. According to Rae (2001), often time allocation during designing the training programme is forgotten. It is important to allocate the timescale during designing training programme; so that all the contents are covered within the framed time limit.

Grouping

Normally during a training programme, groups or sub-groups needed to be formed for many reasons. It can be random selection. But if it is demanded to form groups very frequently during the training, Rae (2001) suggested forming a system of rotation before the training starts. It will decrease the possibilities of confusions and chaos.

Resources

It is suggested to use training aids, but it should be relevant and useful. Resources needed for a successful training programme, should be planned and arranged before. It will facilitate smooth running and less chance of intervention during the training programme.

Final Preparation

At the end of the preparation, it may be necessary to include some briefs or instruction sheets for the programme. It is very important to make these documents well enough so that trainees cannot use it as a reason of failure.

 Different Costs of Training Programme

While carrying out planning of a training programme, different costs related to the programme need to be catered for. It should meet the company policy and objectives; and it will be helpful during the evaluation process. Different types of cost are listed below:

·         Training costs

·         Wage costs

·         Journey expenses

·         Continuation expenses

·         Other costs

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Different Types of Training

Initially training has two categories; On-the-job training and Off-the-job training. This type of training can be in-house or external. There are different infrastructure can be used, like on-the-job, residential and training centres. There are both advantages and disadvantages for them. It is important to concentrate on that and to select the right one required for the training programme. A list of infrastructure and their advantages/ disadvantages suggested by Kruse et al. (1994) is attached as appendix ( IV ). Cole (1993) broke down off-the-job as external and in-company figure (2.8).

Figure (2.8):         Different types of training methods (Cole 1993, p. 320)

Following are the widely used on-the-job training approaches.

a.    GAFO (Go Away and Find Out).

b.    Coaching.

c.    Mentoring.

d.   One-to-one instruction.

       e.  Computer-based training.

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Different Factors to Remember While Planning Training Programme

The concept of designing a training programme is changing frequently, because of the changing demand of certain factors. So, before discussing the process of designing training programme, it is important to highlight about different factors related to this.

Role theory

Role theory helps to differentiate between training within a company and training in impartial territory. In a training programme, trainees need to perform routine jobs and the role ‘trainee’ is superimposed on that role. So he needs to perform two roles at a time. Esty (1987) said, fully different experience can be seen when the training takes place outside the company boundaries. Their job roles become less powerful and ‘trainee’ roles become significant. Sometimes because of their different roles both trainees and trainers cannot express themselves independently, especially if the training is on worksite.

Trainer and Trainee Relationship

Sometimes trainers try to impose their power; sometimes trainers try to be extra authoritative and do not tolerate errors (King 1964). If an individual does not make mistake, then it is not possible to experience the mistakes, then that person’s learning cannot be fulfilled. Sometimes trainers forces trainees to imitate them, rather than to explore their own ideas. As a result, trainees cannot come out of the box and exercise their own concepts.

 Trainer Exchange

Young (2000) stated about movement of students, teachers and other officials among the educational institutions within Europe for Leonardo Da Vinci programme. Outcome of that programme was that they could exchange their ideas and good practices including review and updates of the training programme contents. They could implement those back in their institutions as per requirement. It enriched them with new methods, additional resources. It improved their motivation and self-confidence. It helped a lot to work as a team and implements back those to own place.

Vocational Training

Vocational training formed with a view to prepare a trained, competent labour market for the country. It operated parallel with normal educational system and played a vital role for the distribution of knowledge, qualifications and competencies all over the organisation. Vocational training focuses deeply on key assignments or project areas.

National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs)

Regular training on a specific job is not preferable now. Rather, providing general competences to perform in varying occupational situations is preferred. National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) worked towards this goal.  NVQs are broad, across and focus on present and future task functions of the job. It works towards achieving a minimum standard to perform the job. It breaks down the tasks and focuses on training of each element of the tasks.

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Training Rationale

Concept of training is changing every day. Designing a training programme is of great importance and sensitive issue. Most important characteristic of an employee of a modern firm is to be capable of planning, organising and work independently (Education, Training, Youth, European Commission 1995). They try out new way of work, learn from their experiences and spread their knowledge quickly to the rest of the organisation. If the training is wrongly designed or planned, it may act as a virus within the company. If employees are trained wrongly, it is going to affect the whole organisation. That is why, an effective, rightly designed and well delivered training programme is very important for any organisation.

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