Training_Plan

Establishing a training plan in an organization contributes to the growth and success of the business. Training and development is important in providing information, knowledge, skills, tasks and opportunities for continued learning. First, the training goals need to be identified, and determine who needs to attend. Then the training plan will be designed to include the learning preferences, course content, and learning objectives. The learning objectives were obtained using S.M.A.R.T goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely). The team training plan will address communication, collaboration and conflict. Once the training plan has been delivered to the team, it will be evaluated so the performance can be measured. Communication will be the first part of the training plan, and will be offered to all members of the team through a workshop program. It is important that ideas between team members be conveyed accurately to be understood. The four functions of communication in an organization are: control, motivation, emotional expression and information (Robbins & Judge, 2007). Communication can control members of the organization. For example, asking the employee to comply with company policies. Communication promotes motivation by giving feed back to the employees on their job performance. Communication also encourages emotional expression by showing their feelings and frustrations on different subjects. Lastly, communication provides information to make decisions. The workshop will address oral communication, written communication and nonverbal communication. The workshop will also focus on organizational communication and knowledge management. This involves communication in small-group networks, grapevine, email, and videoconferencing. Knowledge management will guide employees to deliver the right information to the right people (Robbins & Judge, 2007). The remaining portion of the workshop will cover the issues in communication, such as barriers between men and women, silence as communication and cross cultural communication. Businesses strive to compete in areas where they have an advantage in the market, and to increase their advantage they collaborate with other companies improve their success. Collaboration is becoming an integral part in global businesses, and will be incorporated in the training plan. Through a series of seminars, each team member will be informed of the International Strategic Alliances. The ideas of ISA are divided into three concepts, structures, functions, and objectives. The structure establishes the collaboration. The functions are the activities performed by the alliance, and the objectives are the overall contributions the alliance intended to have on the organization (Mintzberg, 2003). The seminars will also involve the six ISA objectives: learning, leaning, leveraging, linking, leaping and locking out. The remaining focal point will be on the knowledge management process, such as technology sharing between both companies for a competitive advantage. Organizations that work in teams have the advantage over individuals due to the diversity of knowledge and ideas in the group. However, conflict is a natural occurrence, and arises in all teams from differences. To help the team members deal with conflict in the workplace, there will be training classes available. The training will discuss the five stages of the conflict process: potential opposition and incompatibility, cognition and personalization, intentions, behavior, and outcomes (Robbins & Judge, 2007). The training will assist in communication barriers that can lead to conflict, such as poor listening skills, sharing of insufficient information, and differences of interpretation. However, conflict can be positive and lead to new ideas and processes. When conflict is left to escalate, people within the team will feel defeated and distrust becomes an issue. If conflict is left unresolved it can destroy the team. This training will concentrate on a team resolution process, resolving issues as they surface. These classes well help to understand conflict in collaboration, mediation, and team counseling. Negotiation can be an effective way to resolve conflict as well when each team member has something to gain from it. Negotiation allows for both sides to be heard and finding a common interest to diffuse the situation. Also, listening, acknowledging and responding aids in resolving conflict. For the training to plan to be effective the team performance must be evaluated. This evaluation will support team members to be held accountable for their individual contributions. Team members aren’t always the solution, so it is important to acknowledge if the work can be performed by a group to obtain a set of goals. Using the example of WorldCom, top management could have omitted certain information, and may have prevented bankruptcy. This lack in communication from top management to the CEO has proven to be unsuccessful. If the CEO of WorldCom knew the performance goals were unrealistic, the CEO may have held off on all the acquisitions and propose time for consolidation.