Introduction
Lumenpulse first ventured into business in the year 2006 with its headquarters in Canada. Their main business agenda was to design and manufacture lighting fixtures and related accessories, electronics and technologies for household and industrial interiors and exteriors decors (Lumenpulse, n.d). Over the years, the company has achieved significant growth and quite impressive recognition. To sustain its market share and maximize on its competitive edge, Lumenpulse has resorted into developing and implementing the latest and modest technologies and innovations to enable offer clients long-lasting and above standard lighting fixtures. All this is achievable formulating and executing a sound training and development strategy. Training and development has become an organizations necessity when there exists a variance between the actual and standard performance (Garavan, Carbery, & Rock, 2012). Providing training and development for employees is considered to be the responsibility of the organization in which they must heavily invest in (Salas et.al, 2012).
Needs Assessment
Needs assessments are crucial to suit the diverse employment environments and they assist the company to perform better and attain success as well as to improve the quality of output that is notable in the enterprise. Successful needs assessment procedure will create an enabling environment to take note of those members that need training and also the nature of training that is required to allow efficient allocation and use of training resources. Various components will thus assist to determine that need assessment that is readily appropriate for the organization. An in-depth analysis of the organization needs concerning established clear goals, strategies, and common purpose is vital. Lumenpulse desire is to manufacture robust electronics and lighting fixtures to meet the present needs and demands of the potential end users (Lumenpulse, n.d). For this to be effected, it requires the organization to coach and develop its employees to achieve desired results.
Personnel analysis is a fundamental area that the topic of needs assessment is aimed at tackling. This topic involves an analysis of the workforce who are actively engaged in the learning and developmental process in the work area. For an organization to attain success, the Human Resources Department need to focus on training their workforce to match their current responsibilities and also to nurture their talents, skills, and knowledge to suit future roles and activities (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). Lumenpulse attracts recruits and retains employees with greater experience and technical know-how. The gap that exists in the workplaces are majorly centered on the capability of the staff to deliver and in such a case, the know-how that is required for the productivity of the individuals in question is of importance. When carrying out a needs assessment for the workforce, and in line with a person’s ability to deliver in the workplace, the topic of process analysis comes in handy, and this issue will be noted in the next section of this essay. For maintaining employees’ competitiveness and professionalism, the company is endeavored to establish formal employees’ career learning and development program to enhance creativity, increase productivity as well as boost overall organization performance (Lumenpulse, n.d). When the above factors are arrived at, the chances are high that the quality of output increases with a notable shift in the gap that exists in the employees' attributes.
Process is another critical area that involves analyzing the tasks and processes being performed by the employees. This type of analysis helps the management to identify the core functions and duties and the capability level that will be required. The research and development department team of Lumenpulse, for instance, is what describes where there are inefficiencies within processes as well as the new technology that is to be adopted by the firm to help design and manufacture good quality and affordable products. Aided by the research and development practitioners, the company will be able to recognize and ensure that the training process to be implemented will incorporate essential links to the task required to be accomplished (Lumenpulse, n.d).
Adoption of new systems and technological development may facilitate the need for training. Today’s dynamic business world is marked by rapid technological innovations and advancements. Acquisition and use of the new technology require that organizations must train their employees to familiarize themselves with the innovations (Salas et.al, 2012). With more than 100 exclusive rights being granted and an additional 60 more patents still waiting for new inventions, Lumenpulse requires a sophisticated and competent team to work with the new systems and innovations necessary to produce distinct, uncomplicated and simple to use products for target customers.
Need for Chosen Training Methods
Employee training and development programs are usually meant to match organization’s needs, job roles, job descriptions, job designs, and collective bargains. While choosing the best employee training and development programs to be used, it is important to recognize that it will be a continuous learning process (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). There exist several resources and techniques to prepare employees with relevant skills and knowledge to perform better. The management has to be wise enough to choose the paramount alternative that will best equip employees with sophisticated skills as well as integrate the different learning styles that may be used (McKenzie & Woodruff, 2013).
Hands on training method are one technique that can be used for training. It emphasizes on employees specific needs. In most cases, the managers or supervisors are the primary instructors. This technique is useful, especially when accommodating new technology and systems into the organization or when facilitating on the job practice. Lumenpulse deals with the manufacture of lighting fixtures and other accessories, hands-on training would be ideal for the technical workforce as it's directly pertinent to one’s job description and roles to improve on practical expertise (Lumenpulse, n.d).
An interactive training method comes in handy as an essential training technique. Here, employees are allowed to mingle and interact with others through, say, facilitating group discussions as a way to acquire new knowledge and information (McKenzie & Woodruff, 2013). For the research and development team of Lumenpulse, interactive training will provide them with an efficient ability to redesign, acquire, and implement new systems and programs that will improve on processes. Through demonstrations and workshops, the technical team can also benefit from the training program by improving their self-confidence and allowing them to exhaust their talents and be creative in a way to enable produce easy to use products for customers.
It is essential for organizations to establish and conduct an efficient and effective training program that will benefit the organization in the long run. Where the skills and knowledge acquired during the training process are used to the optimum and efficiently, then the organization is guaranteed to make an improved performance that translates to increased growth and ultimately triumph (Salas et.al, 2012).
Analysis of Development Needs and Methods to Meet the Development Needs
Training as an employee development process will thus aim at improving employees’ performance given designated roles. It will serve to enhance employees’ personal and career growth (McKenzie & Woodruff, 2013). To be able to determine whether a training program is effective, it will all depend on how well the employees are capable of putting on what they have learned to expand on the job performance.
The entire workforce efforts are shaped by a common organizational culture and goal. Having a new set of organizational performance goals would do after having addressed the training needs and evaluating these goals which is of critical importance to gauge the direction that the company is taking. An organization culture that supports learning important as it creates an opportunity for the employees to learn and acquire knowledge is fundamental (Garavan, Carbery, & Rock, 2012). A new and unique policy may be established as an efficient learning program for every employee. Through monitoring and observing employees perform their key duties; a manager can be able to ascertain an employee’s efficiency. A manager may be forced to review employees’ job description to identify those abilities and skills that are needed to do a better job. While gauging employee performance, it would be easy to determine the variance between the actual performance and the standard set performance (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014)
Legislation that May Impact Training and Development
Application of labor policies in a work setting by organizations may affect the training and learning process in a positive or negative manner. Labor laws are meant to govern the rights and duties of employers and employees. These laws are intended to protect employees’ interest and also ensure that they are well and are equitably treated at workplaces.
Employment laws were enacted to address public grievances on repressive practices within organizations. Promoting fairness at workplaces is what is needed to enhance efficiency and improve economic growth (Block, 2011). In organizations where they practice discrimination and bias as well as provide unsafe and unfavorable work environment for workers, it is more likely that employees will not be enthusiastic to learn and develop themselves. An unfriendly work environment hinders the employees' ability to be creative and innovative resulting to poor performance. Lumenpulse can provide flexible and conducive work experience for their employees concerning job security and flexible working hours.
The wage legislation was established and required that employees are entitled to a minimum wage. Employers, on the other hand, are required to honor and comply with these regulations (Block, 2011). In most cases, equal and competitive remuneration and rewards and other benefits serve to increase morale and maximize job satisfaction among employees (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). For a practical training, employees must be prepared and passionate to learn and work. Therefore, in an organization where the wage and compensation act is violated, employees may be unwilling and uneager to embrace training to learn and acquire new skills and information. Lumenpulse management has been known to strive to treat workers fairly and equally to ensure that their employees feel comfortable at work hence making them become compelled and at ease to apply new skills and knowledge in their job responsibilities (Lumenpulse, n.d).
Anticipated Budget for Training and Development during the First Year
Below is an outline of Lumenpulse training budget for the year 2016.
References
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Block, W. E. (2011). Labor relations, unions and collective bargaining: a political economic analysis. Unions and Collective Bargaining: A Political Economic Analysis (July 12, 2011).
Garavan, T. N., Carbery, R., & Rock, A. (2012). Mapping talent development: definition, scope and architecture. European Journal of Training and Development, 36(1), 5-24.
McKenzie, D., & Woodruff, C. (2013). What are we learning from business training and entrepreneurship evaluations around the developing world?. The World Bank Research Observer, lkt007.
Lumenpulse. (n.d). Lumenpulse. Retrieved 19/08/2016 from http://www.lumenpulse.com/en/pages/company/about-us
Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S. I., Kraiger, K., & Smith-Jentsch, K. A. (2012). The science of training and development in organizations: What matters in practice. Psychological science in the public interest, 13(2), 74-101.
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