Introduction
Iwamoto, Crew & Coe was contracted by Kathy Kudler, the proprietor of Kudler Fine Foods to evaluate the alignment of Kudler Fine Foods Performance Management (PM) system to the its strategic plan and develop the necessary processes need to implement a new performance management system before the end of the year. To this end, Iwamoto Crew & Coe conducted a training needs analysis. The TNA consisted of organizational analysis, operational analysis and person analysis. This report documents the findings of the training needs analysis.
Organizational Analysis
Organizational analysis involves evaluating how an organization’s internal environment influences employee performance and how it fits within the organizational objectives and goals. The organizational analysis focused on the mission and strategies of Kudler Fine Foods, resource endowment, total internal environment and resource endowment. This information was obtained from Kudler Fine Foods strategic plan and Human Resource Policies and Procedures. The mission statement of Kudler Fine Foods is “Kudler Fine Foods is committed to providing our customers with the finest selection of the very best foods and wines so that your culinary vision can come true” .To achieve this mission, Kudler Fine Foods has various strategic plans including; increasing their product lines to include coffee and tea, deli and fish, open more stores in California and outside California and develop a website. To achieve this, Kudler Fine Foods needs to invest in continuous training and development of employees and refresher courses on new local and foreign recipes. However, this is lacking. In Kudler Fine Foods training and development policy, only new employees undergo a 3 week on job training.
The reward system used by Kudler Fine Foods is linked to performance and is therefore appropriate. The reward system is based on the philosophy that highly motivated employees create highly satisfied customers. The pay grades are closely linked with requirements and responsibilities of each position with an allowance for market premium for hard-to-recruit positions. Employees with an exceptional performance rating are entitled to higher salaries compared to employees with a satisfactory review rating. In addition, there is an incentive program which is tied to the overall performance of a store. The incentive plan is to share up to 20 per cent of after tax store profits equally among employees of that particular store. The profit sharing incentive will result in goal congruence by encouraging team work among employees in pursuit of the common mission of Kudler Fine Foods. However, paying employee depending on their review rating may result in unhealthily internal competition and development of multiple conflicting goals. Kudler Fine Food has various employee recognition policies for good performance. Associate of month which is awarded to one employee in each store on a monthly basis for inspiring service based nomination by co-workers and shopper ratings. The winner normally awarded with a reserved parking space and honoured with a plague in front of the store. Store Associate of the Year that is based on the review of monthly winners is awarded $ 1,000.Company Associate of the Year competition, which is awarded to one of the Store of the Year Associates, is given $2,500 and is recognized in local dailies in a paid advertisement. The recognition system will provide more health competition and contribute to attainment of overall goals.
Operational Analysis
Operational analysis is aimed at determining what is required of employees in order to make them effective. This process involved an in depth analysis of jobs and determination of all the tasks necessary to perform the job effectively and consequently the skills, attitude and knowledge necessary to perform each task. Kudler Fine Foods is speciality food store. Therefore, the tasks carried out at Kudler Fine Stores relate to provision of foodstuff. There are 19 job descriptions at Kudler Fine Foods; Accounting Clerk, Administrative Assistant (HR), Administrative Assistant (President), Assistant Store Manager, Bagger, Cashier, Clerk, Computer Support Specialist, Department Manager, Director of Administration and Human Resource, Director of Finance and Accounting, Director of Store Operations, HR Assistant, Inventory Manager, Purchasing Assistant, Purchasing Manager, Retail Assistant, Stocker and Store Manager. Due to time and space constraints only jobs relating to the core functions are discussed.
The Retail Assistant supposed to prepare food items that have been requested by a customer. To achieve this retail assistant should: fill customer orders, obtain items from the freezers, shelves, coolers, table or bins, weigh items to determine their weight, wrap purchases for a customer, clean bins, tables, shelves and freezers, respond to questions from customers and mark, stamp or price tag goods that are set up for display. In order to perform these tasks retail assistants need knowledge on the various foodstuff sold by Kudler Fine Foods, basic arithmetic skills and soft skills in order to deal with customers. The job description from the HR department on a retail assistant is comprehensive. All the tasks are well outlined as well as the required qualifications are relevant in the pursuit of Kudler Fine Food mission and goals. However, an important qualification is missing, soft skills has not been mentioned as part of the required skills. This is very important for a retail assistant since they interact directly with customers of the organization. The cashier is mandated with operating the cash till to record total purchases by customers and collect money from customers. The tasks that a cashier is supposed to undertake include; reviewing price changes as directed by the store manager, using electronic scanners to record prices, record purchases by customers, collect cash, counting money in the cash time at the beginning and end of their shift and weighing items. Cashiers need to have soft skills, excellent arithmetic skills, integrity and prior experience. The job description from the HR department on a retail assistant is comprehensive. All the tasks are well outlined as well as the required qualification are relevant in the pursuit of Kudler Fine Food mission and goals. However, they failed to include prior experience as part of the qualifications. Experience is important when dealing with cash because it is very sensitive. In addition, since there is normally only one cashier, a cashier cannot learn by apprentice.
Person Analysis
Person Analysis aims at identifying current employees who do not measure up to the performance requirements identified in operational analysis. Kudler Fine Foods has a person analysis system. This information was obtained from employee files. Employees are appraised by their supervisor who states the employees name, position and date of the appraisal. There supervisor is then required to document whether the employee comes to work on time, whether the employee interact courteously with customers and co-workers, whether the employee keeps their work area clean and whether the employee handles food as per safety standards. It is evident that the person analysis is linked to organizational performance. This is because a supervisor is required to document whether the employee interacts courteously with customers and remembers the names of repeat customers. However, the person analysis can be improved further to increase the link with organizational performance. In addition the link should be recorded using objective measures.
Rationale for Using Proactive and Reactive TNA
Proactive TNA normally focuses on human resource requirements of the future. Kudler Fine Foods is keen on expanding geographically in the future as well as in other product lines. Therefore, planning for future human resource requirements is necessary. Kudler Fine Foods also aims at providing continuing opportunities to its employees for successful careers and personal growth. As such, succession planning is necessary to identify and develop employees to fill in key position that will be vacant in the future. On the other hand, reactive TNA begins from discrepancies in job performance today. Today’s performance is equally important as future performance. It is current performance that will determine the future performance of a company. A firm, therefore, needs a reactive TNA to assess the current performance of each department.
References
Aguinis, H. (2008). Performance Management (2, Illustrated ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Blanchard, N. P., & Thacker, J. W. (2007). Effective Training: Systems, Strategies, and Practices (3, illustrated ed.). Upper saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Kudler Fine Foods. (2003, January 10). https://ecampus.phoenix.edu. Retrieved December 17, 2012, from Strategic plan: 2003: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/CIST/VOP/Business/Kudler2/intranet/docs/StrategicPlan2003.pdf
Kudler Fine Foods. (2004, January 13). Human resource: Policies and Procedures. Retrieved December 17, 2012, from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/CIST/VOP/Business/Kudler2/intranet/policies-procedures.asp
