TRAINING
Introduction
This paper focuses on training and development and the significant role it plays as an aspect of managing people. Training and development of employees is one of the strongest pillars that supports the continuity of an organization as it guarantees strong organizational performance and yields better revenues and overall profitability. The paper will focus on the Qatar Foundation in discussing this aspect to highlight how it has impacted the organization and guide in recommending on whether organizations should adopt it and if the Qatar foundation should make any improvements regarding how it trains and develops its employees to realize further benefits. In light of this, the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development is a privately owned, not-for-profit organization that focuses on the primary aspects of community development, education, as well as science and research to improve the welfare of the Qatar population (Qatar Foundation, 2020). The Foundation focuses on nurturing the country’s future leaders by promoting human development at the local, regional, national, and international levels. As such, the foundation emphasizes on training and developing its leaders to enable them provide the requisite competencies to the youth population, especially because of its commitment to promoting a culture of excellence in supporting innovation and developing sustainable social prosperity and human capacity in attaining an economy based on knowledge.
Importance of Discussing About Training and Development
As previously mentioned, this paper aims to discuss the aspect of training and developing employees to assess whether it is important for an organization and in this case, for the Qatar Foundation. The significance of employee training and development will be verified by discussing the benefits the institution has gained from this practice and to inform my desire to understand if and how the element fosters organizational growth. I have experienced the benefits of training and developing employees and I understand the benefits associated with empowering employees through enhancing their ability to execute their roles in an organizational setting. After the introduction, the second part of the essay will analyze the application and importance of employee training and development within the Qatar Foundation. An outline of the possible benefits of training and developing employees will also be discussed, followed by a comparison of the institution’s training practices with what might be regarded as “good practice” for this aspect. An explanation of why I believe the training and development processes at the institution are fitting will ensue, followed by a set of recommendations on how the institution could augment its employee training and development practices. The paper will end with a conclusion reiterating the need to train and develop employees, followed by a list of references supporting the information supporting the practice.
Analysis
Training and developing employees is one of the most critical aspects facilitating the attainment of the organizational objectives of the Qatar Foundation. The Foundation has manages its people by training them on the intricacies of their specific competencies to enhance their performance in their various roles. The Foundation also espouses the need for developing its employees and leaders because development is broader and has denser focus on the growth of its employees and their future performance at the institution. The Foundation understands that programs that promote the development of its employees should not only be competitive but must support it on its articulated strategic path. Training and developing its employees implies that the Foundation can churn out progressive people with the capacity to address the country’s communities’ social needs and help transform their regions’ economic and cultural spheres.
The Qatar Foundation trains its employees through promoting, operating, and supporting programs in science and research, education, as well as community development. The implication is that the institution trains its employees on how to deliver the critical services in these key areas to ensure they, in turn, can provide services competently to the people they are entrusted to guide. As such, the employees acquire training on creating teaching modules based on the Foundation’s preferred and most effective instructional methods. The employees thus gain competency in creating effective syllabuses and that can attend to the learning needs of the diverse students. Further, the Foundation trains its employees to analyze the diverse educational needs of its learners and assess their effectiveness in delivering the needed training. This assessment is also coupled with assessing the effectiveness of the training they deliver in terms of the response of the learners to what they are taught. The implication of such training is that the Foundation’s employees can create, develop, and deliver competent continuous learning approaches to optimize learning output. Further, training and development allows the institution’s employees and pertinent leaders to gain the needed skill in collaborating with relevant institutions to design educational content that trains on delivery for specific training needs.
According to SHRM (2020), one “good” practice in training and developing employees is identifying who they are, what their training needs are, and what they are struggling with, which would obstruct them from learning how to execute their specific work functions. An organization that fails to understand its employees will fail at identifying and advancing the right information to its employees, implying that the employees will be misaligned with the articulated organizational needs and objectives. Informed employees understand how to apply their specific competencies in a way that can help reach the business targets of the organization. As such, they are able to use the organizational resources effectively to deliver their expected work roles. Moreover, informed employees know how they are expected to deliver and hence, they can assess their performance to check whether it aligns with what their job roles require. The Qatar Foundation excels in identifying its employees’ needs and ensures that they are well accustomed to the required training programs and approaches and guides them on making curriculums that help them execute their duties and also meet the assorted needs of its learners. Acquainting its employees with the needed training content and regime allows them to produce qualified experts who can help improve their welfare, the institution’s, as well as that of the country’s economy and communities.
Another “good” practice in employee training is consistency in improving employee performance and output, based on the fact that the employee can understand their roles better and consistently improve their work experience. Such improvements in employee performance have enabled the institution’s employees to understand their job roles better, which has fostered sustained performance improvement that continues to work well for the application of the institution’s operational procedures and policies. The implementation of training courses has allowed the Foundation’s employees to adhere to the institution’s standards of quality and thus enhanced its profile and reputation globally.
Conclusion
From the findings obtained on the nature of employee training at the Qatar Foundation, it follows that the institution’s current employee training and development practices are highly desirable. The institution’s employees are highly engaged because the training the Foundation provides responds to their competencies, which allows them to get acclimatized to their work roles. Due to such training, the Foundation has managed to create a receptive work environment for its employees, a direct outcome of employee training and development as noted by Osborne & Hammoud (2017). Ultimately, Qatar Foundation should continue training and developing its employees because it helps improve their performance, update its employees’ competencies, satisfy their personal growth and development needs, and understand important human and organizational skills.
Recommendations
To uphold the good training and development practices, the Institution should incorporate practices such as benchmarking against other good performers as also advised by Nathan (2016), which would guide it on the improvement to make in its training to keep up with good training practices. The Foundation should also employ more intensive and conclusive employee surveying practices to help them understand their current needs and decide how to provide what they need in their training. Further, the institution should continuing devising more innovative ways to weave employee training in its culture more inclusively, which will help improve employee satisfaction and encourage better performance. Ultimately, Qatar Foundation will know if its employee training and development programs are helpful by measuring how well they respond to their work roles and assessing their performance towards attaining the articulated organizational goals.
References
Nathan, A. 2016. 7 Key Steps for Better Training and Development Programs. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/organizational-and-employee-development/pages/key-steps-for-better-training-development-programs.aspx
Osborne, S and Hammoud, M.S. 2017. Effective Employee Engagement in the Workplace. International Journal of Applied Management and Technology, Volume 16, Issue 1, Pages 50–67. scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1239&context=ijamt
Qatar Foundation. 2020. About Qatar Foundation. https://www.qf.org.qa/about
SHRM. 2020. Developing employees. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/developingemployees.aspx