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Course/Unit code BUSM 1139 Course/Unit name HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT Lecturer/Teachers name MS LINETTE HENG Assignment number 1 Assignment due date 15/3/2012 Program title BBMFT Tutor / Markers name (if applicable) MS LINETTE HENG Group/Session name (if applicable)

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Declaration and statement of authorship: 1. I/we hold a copy of this assignment, which can be produced if the original is lost/damaged. 2. This assignment is my/our original work and no part of it has been copied from any other students work or from any other source except where due acknowledgment is made. 3. No part of this assignment has been written for me/us by any other person except where such collaboration has been authorised by the lecturer/teacher concerned and is clearly acknowledged in the assignment. 4. I/we have not previously submitted or currently submitting this work for any other course/unit. 5. This work may be reproduced and/or communicated for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. 6. I/we give permission for a copy of my/our marked work to be retained by the School for review by external examiners. 7. I/we understand that plagiarism is the presentation of the work, idea or creation of another person as though it is your own. It is a form of cheating and is a very serious academic offence that may lead to expulsion from the University. Plagiarised material can be drawn from, and presented in, written, graphic and visual form, including electronic data, and oral presentations. Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the material used is not appropriately cited.
8. Enabling plagiarism is the act of assisting or allowing another person to plagiarise or to copy your work.

Family name -

Given name
MD KHAIRUZZAMAN

Student number S3271844

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Date 4/4/2012

Further information relating to the penalties for plagiarism, which range from a notation on your student file to expulsion from the University, is contained in Regulation 6.1.1 Student Discipline www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=11jgnnjgg70y and Academic Policy: Plagiarism www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=sg4yfqzod48g1.

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College of Business

M&BDU-12/08

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Document: 108347570.doc Author: Natasha Emerson Save Date: 03/04/2012 Page 2 of 10

Introduction The purpose of this essay is to scrutinize the efficiency of the training program that was prepared and done by my company, Pizza Hut Singapore Private Limited. The training was conducted to induct new trainees into the company call center of which I had to attend. I chose this training program as it was quite comprehensive and was part of an overall understanding to be service oriented. The training program that I had attended will firstly be presented. It is then followed by Human Resource Development (HRD) theories supporting the program. Following which, there will be an overall evaluation of the theoretical aspect to the issues that I observed throughout the training. Finally, using HRD theories, there will be an attempt to find a viable solution to the issues that were brought out. Background Information The call centre training is a compulsory program of which every Pizza Hut call centre employee has to go through in order to take orders from the customers in a systemized fashion without any deviation. It was conducted by a three people team of experienced trainers, Madam Mariana, Madam Sadibar and Miss Nadia. The purpose of the training is also to familiarize the trainees with the computer systems for them to learn to use it. The training was held throughout 5 consecutive days with the final day having practical coaching from the seniors, a buddy system for trainees to observe the buddy taking a customer order and finally evaluation by them to assess our capabilities to take up calls ourselves. The training was conducted in a batch of 20 people of which half were for KFC and the other half was for Pizza Hut training. Structure of the program The training program was held over a period of five days with a full work day to fully familiarize with every aspect which was covered during training. It was held in the evenings for four hours each day starting from 5pm. The trainers made a courtesy call the day before the commencement of training to confirm attendance and to also remind them to come at least 15 minutes earlier than the stipulated time in order to settle administration work. On the day of training, most of the trainees came although the trainers noted that there were still absenteeism but it was well within their expected turnout. The training was held in a specific training room. It is an enclosed room with actual system sets and not dummy ones. It was separated from the main bulk of where employees have to actually work which the trainers dubbed as, the floor. Each of us were given a booklet which entails every aspect of the program and which by the end of the training, we would already know all the necessary information on our fingertips. The trainers briefed in detail on the dos and donts of the call center
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and the allotted break time of fifteen minutes during the duration of the training. The training was quite well spaced out and due to the wealth of experience of the trainers, we, trainees, felt quite comfortable and understood the points that the trainers went through each day. They were roleplaying done to assist the trainees to understand a practical aspect as to what expect from a typical customer although it was not done on a class wide basis, only partner-to-partner. They made a point to stop after each segment taught and encourage trainees to clear out things that they are unclear of. Since this was a call centre training, trainees were encouraged to speak boldly, clearly and in concise manner. However, we observed that since there were two sets of training done in tandem, it was quite confusing to hear two trainers speaking at the same time in the same room. There were some trainees who were really naturally soft spoken and still attended the training. It was a wonder why they were selected in the first place. During the buddy system, the trainers who were supposed to assess our capabilities did not make their rounds to assist us; instead, we relied heavily on the seniors who had considerable experience but was not expert enough to handle some difficult customers and therefore had to rely on the managers and not the trainers. The training felt too lengthy since it was held over five days to cover briefly on the theory learning. The focus on practical was done during the actual work experience. It was also up to the trainers discretion as to where to stop for the day as there were no clear indications of signposting as to where we were supposed to stop for the day. Theories Evaluation and possible solutions HRD has been theorized for most of the last four decades by many theorists. As aptly put by Mankin (2010) that The HRD of tomorrow will be different from the HRD of today and it is this process of fluidity that most aptly captures the unique characteristic of the concept itself. Therefore, the most comprehensive definition that was found was compiled by Hamlin and Stewart (2010) who researched and concluded that HRDs purposes are to, improving individual or group effectiveness and performance; improving organizational effectiveness and performance; developing knowledge, skills and competencies; and enhancing human potential and personal growth. The training that I went through was one I felt had potential in improving my effectiveness in handling customers and I had learnt how to be more customer oriented in general. On the other hand, it does have its shortcomings that should be addressed in order for the necessary improvement of the organizational effectiveness. There are four stages to evaluating HRD namely, investigation, design, implementation and evaluation (Delahaye 2005). Each of these stages will be discussed and accompanied by recommendations for improvement of the training program as a whole. Investigation
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The first stage of evaluating HRD is the knowledge of identifying the requirements of an organization, thereby is the primary role of HRD Needs Investigation (HRDNI). To do that, the organization has to acknowledge that there are substantial differences between an organizations desired performance outlook and the emerging gap of an organizations performance (Stone 2002). The primary need of the organization is to have employees equipped with the knowledge and standardization when dealing with customers. Therefore, the training program must meet the basic learning requirements in which trainees are most comfortable with. In this case, since every trainee is new to the program, there are no issues pertaining to any differing skills that any of us might have in relations directly that may affect the understanding of the program as a whole. As every trainee was new to the program, the amount of attention given to the trainers were higher as we trainees were eager to learn all that was necessary in order to execute our job well. Precisely for the fact that training was held for five days was probably for the slower trainees to be given the opportunity to catch up with the rest and to fully understand the topic. However, I would recommend that the theory part should be shortened as the primary function of the training focuses more on the practical aspect, in which is the most needed focus that trainees come to agree upon. The training was mostly theories based but the trainers had many ideas mixed around to create a balance and to capture the attention of all trainees as much as possible. This is in line with Goads (2010) Eight Steps for preparation and execution of learning. He mentioned, people learn best if given the room to do so and when they are properly motivated. In which in this case, all the trainees were motivated in learning new things that can not only be applicable for the job but also allows us to learn in depth about proper phone etiquette in a general setting. It seemed that the trainers were quite motivated and showed enthusiasm and also knew how to motivate and stimulate our interest. Therefore, we were interested to learn and they had performed well to train us. Design The purpose for learning has to consider four desired results namely, 1) the learners reaction to the learning event; 2 the acquisition of new knowledge, skills or attitudes; 3 the ability to apply new learning in a work situation; 4 the measurable effects of learning on organizational performance (Kirkpatrick 1976). Also, according to Biggs (1987), he states that there are two different approaches to learning, deep and surface. I believe that in this case, the trainees adopted a surface type approach, which means to say their characteristics were that they saw, the task as a demand to be met, a necessary imposition if
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some other goal is to be reached, in this case a gainful employment by Pizza Hut; avoids personal or other meanings the task may have, which there is a distinct air of indifference that a customer is just a customer and not someone who is held in high regards in the eyes of the trainees and trainers. Lastly, the training relies on memorization, attempting to reproduce the surface aspect of the task since the training I attended focused mostly on the memorization of the 10 steps to take a successful order. Although, on the other hand, I felt that the training should include some feedback from the trainees themselves on the improvements on how the training should go much better. The training that was provided was a mixture of both structured and semi-structured method. There was a formal lecture format throughout the five days of training to cover the topics in the booklet provided. The trainers had ample of experience as call center agents before and therefore had a lot of story- telling to tell us trainees on what to expect from customers, hence engaging and motivated us. There was also class-wide participation in terms of role playing to simulate actual work experience, this was in fact one of the semi structured learning strategies that was implemented. Bailey and Guskey (2001) also mentioned that with practice, handouts, verbal instructions and usage of key pointers adds up to the learners experience. Thereby, these steps were already in place in the training and we as trainees felt that there were no lack of resources given to us, like the booklets with all the key points and the trainers giving clear instructions on how to operate the system. Also, as mentioned by Goad (2010) that adults learn better with practice, therefore with the buddy system that made us trainees remember the procedures on how to communicate and take down the order in the system made us trainees more confident in dealing with what is going to be expected in the process. Hence, I believe that being taught by trainers who had a wealth of experience in working and as a trainer, had helped them design the program better.

Implementation Mankin (2009) specified that having four to six trainees to a single trainer was the ideal number. The training had a total attendance of twenty people but it was divided into two with half attending KFC training and the other half Pizza Hut. The trainers therefore effectively had only to concentrate on ten trainees. Since there were three trainers, there was one trainer for each side and the third trainer was
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to assist with both sides, be it with continuing a lecture or to facilitate the training by giving out resources to the trainees. According to Goad (2010), the help from a facilitator was important as they help trainees to be more interactive in the training. Also according to Kirkpatrick (2008) the use of a proper environment was key in conducting a successful training. The environment played a big impact in carrying out the training program. However, in this case, even though the training was held in a training room, there were two training done at the same time. Therefore, there were times that I felt very distracted from the training held by the KFC side which was different from what I was to learn. Listening to the trainer was also quite difficult. Hence I would recommend that the training should be conducted separately in the future so as not to confuse the trainees who otherwise would lose interest in the training. Evaluation Bailey and Guskey (2001) explained that evaluation is where the effectiveness of training is gauged and whether it has completed its objectives. Delahaye (2005) added on that feedback gives trainers the opportunity to know where they had made any error and to see if there are any further changes that can be done to the program. This is in part with the feedback that we had to provide at the end of the training via a slip of feedback form that our trainers had provided us. However, there was no verbal communication after which to assure us that future training would have any changes in which we had suggested. However, a feedback form certainly filled its role as a tool which provides insights to the trainers should they choose to evaluate and make better decisions for future trainings. Something that the training could be improved on in terms of evaluation was that they should be more vocal about the feedback session. As I felt that there were still ample time for a question and answer session, feedback could have been incorporated in as well to add on to any queries or lingering doubts that trainees might have. The solution that I observed was that, most of the answers were provided during the buddy system and that the trainers had left the majority of the actual practical explanation to the seniors who would have showed the trainees the ropes. Therefore, by doing so, the trainers had cut down unnecessary time to explain how the system would work and hence left to practical solutions. I felt that this was quite a smart move as it cuts down a lot of time but on the other hand, most of the seniors did not have the requirements to teach those who might be slower in catching up with the usage of the system as a whole. Conclusion

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All in all, the training I had attended was in many ways one of the complete training programs which was overall effective and had clearly enough time and experience to consider the four key stages of HRD. However, there were a few issues pertaining to the program which if left ignored might be problematic to the whole process of training and be stagnated. The trainers had considered the nuances of adult learning and hence were able to capitalize and focus on the objective of the training as almost all of the trainees had an enjoyable time with the learning objectives met. 2434 words

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Reference list Bailey J. M & Guskey T. R 2001, Developing Grading And Reporting Systems For Student Learning, Corwin Press Inc, USA Biggs J. B 1987, Student approaches to learning and studying, Research monograph, Hawthorne: Australian Council for Educational Research. Delahaye B. L 2005, Human Resource Development: Adult learning and knowledge management, 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Australia. Goad T. W 2010, The First-Time Trainer: A Step-by-Step Quick Guide for Managers, Supervisors, and New Training Professionals, 2nd Edition, American Management Association, New York. Hamlin, B and Stewart, J 2010, What is HRD? A definitional review and synthesis of the HRD domain, Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 199-220, Emerald Insight. Viewed 15th March 2012. < www.emeraldinsight.com/0309-0590.htm> Kirkpatrick, D. L. 1976. Evaluation of training, Training and development handbook: A guide to human resource development, McGraw Hill, New York Kirkpatrick D. L, 2008, Evaluating training programs: The four levels, 3rd Edition, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc, San Francisco, California.

Mankin, D 2010, A model for Human Resource Development, Human Resource Development International, Vol. 4, no.1, Taylor-Francis Online. Viewed on 1st April 2012, <http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/action/showCitFormats? doi=10.1080%2F13678860121714>

Mankin, D 2009, Human Resource Development, Oxford University Press, United Kingdom

Stone, R. J 2002, Human Resource Management, 4th Edition, Wiley Publishing, Milton, New South Wales, Australia

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