Designing an In-House Training Program for BHP Billiton

This project outlines a comprehensive training and development program designed for BHP Billiton to address identified needs and enhance employee skills. The program details the importance of training, participant identification, and benefits for both employees and the company. It includes a detailed plan covering program objectives, learning theories, schedule, delivery methods, trainer instructions, and evaluation strategies. The project also addresses resource requirements, potential barriers, and strategies to overcome them, ultimately aiming to improve company performance, innovation, and productivity through targeted workforce development.

Running head: TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 1
Training and Development Environment: BHP Billiton
Student Name
Institution Affiliation

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 2
Table of Contents
Organization................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction and BHP Billiton Overview..................................................................................................3
Importance of Training and Development Needs Identified...................................................................4
Participants..................................................................................................................................................7
Identify Participants.................................................................................................................................7
Explanation of the Cohorts......................................................................................................................7
Benefits of Training and Development of Employees to BHP Billiton and all Participants.......................8
Program Plan...............................................................................................................................................9
Detailed Plan...........................................................................................................................................9
Program Objectives and Learning Theories...........................................................................................10
Schedule and planned activities............................................................................................................11
Method of Delivery................................................................................................................................11
Instructions for Trainers........................................................................................................................12
Feedback/ Evaluation............................................................................................................................12
Resources Required...................................................................................................................................13
Technology............................................................................................................................................13
Notebooks.............................................................................................................................................13
Human resources...................................................................................................................................13
Location.................................................................................................................................................13
Cost of Resources......................................................................................................................................14
Possible Barriers........................................................................................................................................14
Management support............................................................................................................................14
Perception and participation.................................................................................................................14
Finance..................................................................................................................................................14
Conflicting priorities..............................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................16
References.................................................................................................................................................17

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 3
Organization
Introduction and BHP Billiton Overview
Incorporate in 1885, BHP Billiton Limited has grown to one of the world’s largest resource
company and started operating in Australia since 2001 after its merger with the UK based oil
giant mining producer Billiton. BHP Billiton is located in Australia with its headquarters at
Melbourne. The company has diversified its operations and is a leading producer of iron ore,
copper, metallurgical, and uranium. Other products produced by BHP Billiton are aluminium,
potash, silver, copper, nickel, and manganese. BHP Billiton is today among the world’s leading
mining and resource producer operating in more than 25 countries with approximately 100,000
employees. The company’s operations are segmented into Base Metals, Petroleum, Carbon Steel
Materials, Energy Coal, Diamonds, and Specialty Products.
BHP Billiton is a multinational company where it has formed a strong international brand image
in the industry. In terms of innovations, BHP Billiton has been thriving well something which
greatly contributes to its competitiveness and sustainable position in the market. The company is
dedicated to respect and ethical conduct when it comes to accountability and company values.
The strong dedication by BHP Billiton to become the world's best resources enterprise motivates
the management to invest a lot in workforce training and development (Bratton & Gold, 2017).
The company has established a unique capabilities combination in order to link technologies and
human resources for the benefit of customers and the society at large. The company is committed
to employees’ development and consistent delivery of high-quality products and services to
customers as well as establishing high standards of care for the human resource environment.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 4
The main mission of BHP is becoming a global leader in the mining and manufacturing sector.
In this regard, this report aims at explaining the importance of the training and development
needs identified in assessment 2.
Importance of Training and Development Needs Identified
Based on the previous assessment, the business environment in which BHP operates has
experienced numerous changes due to globalisation. As a result, business processes have
changed, new technologies of doing business have advanced, new techniques of training and
developing human resource have emerged, and also advanced ways of undertaking daily
business operations in the sector have emerged (Cascio, 2018). We are in the era of digital
revolution, and the internet is taking hastened pace in the business world. Due to digital
disruption and the emergence of the internet of things (IoT), BHP Billiton has faced stiff
competition from other global players operating in the mining and manufacturing industry. The
main competitors of BHP Billiton are Exxon Mobil, Nippon Steel, Anglo American, BP, and
Royal Dutch Shell. Due to the stiff competition in the market, the HRM of BHP Billiton
conducted employees training and development needs analysis to understand their weak areas
and adopt the right strategies to strengthen them.
In assessment 2, the management of BHP Billiton used interviews, work samples (sampling), and
assessment surveys techniques in assessing training and development employees’ needs in the
company in order to improve performance (Lasserre, 2017). There is need by the company to
equip employees with up to date skills, talents, and knowledge in order to boost creativity and
innovation hence contributing to improved company performance, competitiveness, and
productivity in the industry (Chao, 2014). The management of BHP Billiton understands that the

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 5
training and development need assessment done on employees in assessment two will help the
HRM adopt the right measures to train and develop employees appropriately.
The main training and development needs identified in assessment 2 include:
i. Advancing and upgrading workforce skills and capabilities in their areas of
specialisation.
ii. Enhancing proper planning for human resource needs and areas of weaknesses to
facilitate effectiveness and efficiency in execution
iii. Assisting the management in making the right decision about the key areas to invest in
when it comes to training and development of personnel
A proper understanding of the knowledge, talent, and skills possessed by BHP Billiton
employees effectively helps the management in understanding weak areas in employees’ areas of
weaknesses so as to offer the right training (Hrcouncil, 2018). BHP Billiton employees are less
creative and innovative when compared to employees from its competitors. In this regard, the
management needs to invest more in the new minerals manufacturing technologies and establish
a work environment in which employees get trained and developed (Asfaw, Argaw, & Bayissa,
2015). New technologies enable employees to become creative and thus innovate new ideas that
seek to promote, modify, and advance the value and quality of a given product or service for a
company. If the management of BHP Billiton train and develop employees according to their
areas of specialisation, their skills, talents, and knowledge will be promoted hence enhancing
innovation of new products.
The proper identification of training and development needs of employees will enable BHP
Billiton to enhance planning and execution hence improved employees performance. In this

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 6
regard, proper training and development of employees help the management in planning and
execution of other workforce-related practices and policies. Properly trained and developed
employees can properly plan their work and execute their goals in a more efficient, cost-
effective, and safe manner (Schermerhorn et al., 2014). BHP Billiton greatly relies on
manufacturing efficiency, and when employees cannot adequately plan and execute their duties-
production efficiency is affected adversely. New employees at BHP Billiton need induction and
training so as to understand the nature of the company’s work environment before starting their
work. On the other hand, in the event BHP Billiton succeeds in employees training and
development; the management will find it very easy to plan for the training needs identified on
the part of employees and execute the right approaches to addressing the identified need (Wagner
& Hollenbeck, 2014).
Further, decision making was another training need identified in assessment 2 and considered
effective to BHP Billiton management. The human resource management of BHP Billiton has
been finding it difficult when it comes sound decision making about employees training and
development (Solomon, Katz, & Lovel, 2008). The management needs to start technologized
work analysis, content analysis, and performance analysis in order to make sustainable training
analysis decision on the part of employees. Doing the job and task analysis by the management
will help the BHP in making the right choices about the weak area of an individual employee
that require either training or development. Also, analysis the performance gap of an employee
based on the expected performance can help BHP get the performance gap hence gaining the
ability to make the right decision on the area that an employee needs development. In this
perspective, the company will avoid investing in uncertain training and development needs of
employees since budget allocation will be done regarding the nature of the need and its relevance

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 7
to the company. As a result, the company will reap maximum benefits regarding team morale
and creativity.
Participants
Identify Participants
The training and development programs will take place across all branches of BHP Billiton in
over 25 countries, supervised by different managers of the locations. The aim of this training and
development program is enhancing sustainable performance improvement through acquiring
new, predetermined, knowledge, skills, and cooperation opportunities.
The main participants in the training and development program include senior staff, front-line
employees, subordinates staff, and all other in-house employees at BHP Billiton and its
subsidiaries. Also, casual labourers in the mining and manufacturing sites will be trained on the
preventive measures and personal security approaches when undertaking their duties in the
mining site. Other participants in this training and development program are IT employees whose
creative and innovative ideas enable the company to thrive in such a diversified metals and
mining sector (Ford, 2014). Additionally, BHP Billiton will contract external training and
development officers to come and train the employees on the new skills to do their duties, and
other planning and execution need to be required of them. On the same note, the external
contractors will work hand in hand with the immediate supervisors of an employee together with
the internal training and development officers of BHP Billiton in a given segment.
Explanation of the Cohorts
Employees’ participation: The main cohorts to the training and development programs are all
BHP Billiton company employees. Different employees have different competencies and

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 8
qualifications. BHP Billiton goes beyond just mining and manufacturing and spreads to other
internal fields such as the Finance, internal audit, sales and marketing, and procurement among
others (Kum, Cowden, & Karodia, 2014). All these fields are operated by employees, and these
employees require motivation which comes through skills enhancement and growth.
Casual labourers: Casual labourers operate/ work in the mining and manufacturing site of BHP
Billiton. In the site, most accidents occur and harm the casual workers. There is a need to train
them on personal safety measures and risk avoidance strategies in order to prevent such instances
from occurring (Imran & Tanveer, 2015).
Training officers: BHP needs to go beyond internal training and development officers and
contract outside training and development companies to come and train their employees as per
the needs assessed by their supervisors and documented in their KPI forms (Keep, 2014).
Top management and supervisors: Without engaging and involving immediate supervisors of the
employees, BHP Billiton will find it difficult in identifying training and development needs
(Chaudhary & Bhaskar, 2016). Due to this, the top management in liaison with supervisors
contributes to decision making when it comes to employees training and development through
job evaluation and performance appraisal techniques.
Benefits of Training and Development of Employees to BHP Billiton and all
Participants
This Training and development of employees program will offer numerous benefits to the
employees themselves and BHP Billiton Company at large.
To employees, the training and development program will help them in;

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 9
i. Gaining new and up to date skills, knowledge, talents, and expertise that leads to
enhanced creativity and innovation of new products and services to the company.
ii. Increasing employees’ morale, dedication, commitment, and cooperation to work for the
company hence building their personal and company strengths in the industry
On the part of BHP Billiton, the training and development programs will contribute to:
i. Increased company productivity: When employees are highly skilled, they will commit
fewer mistakes hence leading to increased productivity.
ii. Meet the set goals and objectives appropriately: Meeting the set goals by a company
results from the quality of the workforce. When employees of BHP Billiton are
appropriately trained and developed, they will become more productive and competitive;
this will significantly contribute to its achieving of the set goals (Franks et al., 2010).
Program Plan
Detailed Plan
The training and development program will be conducted by both in-house trainers and external
training and development contractor (Yadavn & Kumar, 2015). The plan for BHP Billiton in
Australia is detailed in the table below:
Training
Needs
Trainees will
be able to?
Trainer Time Line Number of
Employees to
be Trained
Budget
Introduction
to work
environment
Hire twenty
(20) new
machine
In-house 4 months 50 machine
operators
32
$6000

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 10
operators in
the mining
site
supervisors
Machine
cross training
Become
productive
like current
operators
within 3
months
Contractor 2 months 18 plant
operators
12
supervisors
$3000
Office suite Upgrade
company to
MS Office
Suite
Contractor 1 month 20
supervisors
15 support
staff
$ 2500
Safety needs Design
personal
safety
measures
Contractor 2 weeks 40
supervisors
10,000 casual
labourers
$ 4000
Program Objectives and Learning Theories
In designing the training and development plan for BHP Billiton, learning theories behaviourism,
constructivist, and cognitive are considered (Cohn et al., 2015). The four objectives of the
program plan include:
i. Upgrading and maintaining proficiency and competence in employees current jobs

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 11
ii. Acquire and enhance skills, knowledge, talents, and abilities unrelated to employees'
current duties in order to achieve self-determined goals and realise career objectives
iii. Develop new skills, knowledge, and abilities as part of succession plans and leadership
development processes at BHP Billiton
iv. Learn new industry systems, technologies, procedures, and trends
Schedule and planned activities
The schedule of the planned activities is represented below:
Planned Activity Time line
Introduction to work environment 4 months
Machine cross training 2 months
Office suite 1 month
Safety needs 2 weeks
Method of Delivery
Three training and delivery methods will be used in this program for BHP Billiton, and these
include:
Coaching and Apprenticeships: The trainers locate new employees close or next to experienced
workers to get trained.
Seminars: BHP Billiton to organize for seminars through external contractors and ensure that in-
house trainers together with other employees attend the seminars for training purposes.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 12
Instructor-led training: Both the in-house and external contractor trainees assemble new
employees in a training room to equip them with the skills required to work for BHP Billiton in a
more productive manner.
Instructions for Trainers
The management of BHP Billiton must issue instructions to both in-house and contractor trainers
before starting the actual training and development process (Forehand & Kotchick, 2016).
Examples of instructions to trainers include:
i. Trainers must ensure that they become members in the training and development program
for the employees to emulate them.
ii. The training sessions should not exceed the stipulated time- and within the set limit, all
the training and development objectives ought to have been achieved.
iii. Help weak employees gain confidence by genuinely complimenting their progress during
the training program.
iv. Trainers should not be bias, discriminative and prejudice to employees, all personal
issues have to be kept aside during training sessions.
Feedback/ Evaluation
After the training program, the management of BHP Billiton will need to assess employees'
feedback on the training program and evaluate its progress to the company over a given set of a
period.
The HR management of BHP Billiton will issue only questionnaires with a Yes or No answer to
the employees trained to collect data on the efficiency and appropriateness of the training and
development program.