II.

Current Process Adopted for Designing and Implementing Training

In Asangas department the main items being sold are household electrical items and
engineering equipment used in small and medium industries, all of which are well known
brands. The department serves a diverse clientele including corporate customers, middle
level business people, individuals and agriculture workers. The sales staff consists of five
persons, two of whom are ladies. The main competitor to the company is another outlet
that sells less known brands at lower prices. The success of the competitor is largely due
to the salesmanship of the staff. The customers of these companies are not necessarily
technically affluent, and often needed assistance from sales persons to select an
appropriate device to cater to their specific needs. It is the customer care and sales service
that play a pivotal role in determining which company clinches the sale. When analysing
customer complaints, Asanga found that most of the complaints were not relating to
technical details, but more due to the way customers were handled. In fact, there had been
several occasions where a sale was lost to the competitor due to the inadequacy of his
staff. Asanga raised this problem at the regional meeting, and it was decided to send his
staff for a training programme to be conducted by the companys training centre that was
scheduled to commence shortly.
In the company, the training requirements were usually gathered from information from
the self-appraisal section of the appraisal form. Based on this the employees would be
called for training sessions conducted by the companys training centre, at the end of
which the trainees would provide some feedback.
There are significant issues on basing the training programmes solely on the appraisal
form. As Asanga informed his regional manager, this was a section of the form that he
often left out. If training is based on this information alone, it is unlikely that the needs
and requirements of many will be catered to. Another flaw in this method is that the
supervisor isnt involved in designing the contents of the programme. The supervisor is a
valuable source of information when designing the training programmes, as it is he who
experiences the day-to-day work and thereby the needs and requirements of his staff. In

fact he would probably have a better insight into the requirements than the staff members
themselves. Therefore when designing the programme it is important that this
information is gathered from the supervisors.
The content of the training does not seem to be clearly communicated or known. The
trainers simply call persons based on the requirements listed in the appraisal forms. As
the training was called Sales Training, Asangas regional manager assumed that it
would be appropriate for Asangas staff. Asanga himself did not enquire into the actual
content and aims of the training session. Managers and supervisors need to be more
aware of what the training programme consists of and what it hopes to achieve. While
Asanga expected practical aspects of sales to be covered, the content of the training
programme was mainly focused on text book knowledge, including aspects such as
history of marketing, role of sales persons and selling techniques.
There is little or no communication between the trainer and supervisor as to the expected
outcome for the training, and their roles in improving the performance of the employees.
Asanga expected the training programme to cover the practical aspects, mainly because
this was the problem his department was facing, while the training manager believed that
his role was to give the trainees the background and the practical aspects should be
handled by the respective supervisors on the job. It is essential that they co-ordinate the
training requirements and contents together, to ensure that the training programme is
geared to cater to the needs and requirements of the employees and indeed the
organization.
The training programme was designed to be interesting, by including games etc, and tried
to instil what was taught. It could be seen that from Asangas conversation with
Wasantha, that certainly that he could repeat what had been done in the programme. This
indicates the training programme itself is a good one. The flaw is that it did not cater to
the needs at hand. It did not encapsulate the practical aspects of sales, which was what
Asanga required. The current training programme seems to focus more on the technical
aspects of the business (i.e. the details about the fittings etc) rather than how to deal with

customers. This is due to lack of communication as to what is expected of the programme

and the desired out comes.
The implementation of the training programme does not appear to be very successful in
that many persons who listed the training requirements failed to attend as they were
attending to their personal goals. It would seem that either the requirements listed in the
appraisal form were not significant enough for these employees to attend the training, or
that there was not enough prominence and emphasis given to the training programme.
Employees need to be made aware of the purpose and importance of training. It has short
term as well as long-term benefits for the employees and the organization and should be
made a high priority activity. Supervisors need to emphasize the importance and
encourage their employees to attend such programmes to overcome their weaknesses and
improve their performance.
The expectations of the training programme were not clearly communicated to the
members of the staff. They were simply informed that they should attend the training
without the actual reasons been given to them. The sales staff was quite satisfied with the
training as they found it interesting and learnt new things, which made them feel
important. However, in all practical terms, the same problems that existed before the
training persisted. For a training programme to be a success it is important that the
trainees are made aware as to why they are attending the training and what they are
expected to gain from the experience.
The training programme does not have a structure or formalized feedback component.
This is essential to ensure that the training programme has met the requirements and also
to identify future improvements. The feedback that was received was only from the
persons who attended the training. It is important that feedback from the supervisor is
also obtained, as it is he who would experience the improvement in performance, or lack
thereof. The training programme does not seem to have a proper follow up component,
where the progress of the staff after attending the training is monitored to determine the

progress. This is not only useful to help the employees put what they learnt into practice,
but also to improve the training programme itself.
All in all, although the trainees deemed the programme successful, most of the issues
were not addressed and the same problems continued in the department. The training
programme was not designed to cater to their needs and problems, and wasnt
implemented taking into consideration the issues in the department and the expectations
of the supervisor. Therefore the problems of the department persisted.