Human Resource Development Report: TESCO Training Program Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Development (HRD) strategies, focusing on the case of TESCO, a major international retailer. The report begins by comparing different learning styles (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic) and their importance in training programs, emphasizing the need for diverse approaches to cater to a large and diverse workforce. It then explores the significance of the learning curve and transfer learning in enhancing employee skills and applying knowledge in new business environments. The report further delves into the training needs at various levels within TESCO (Management, Operational, Customer), assessing the advantages and disadvantages of different training methods like job rotation, performance appraisal, and lectures. A systematic approach to training and development is outlined, including objectives, training needs analysis, strategy design, and evaluation. The report includes the development of an evaluation form and analyzes responses to assess training effectiveness. Finally, the report examines the role of the government in training, development, and lifelong learning, as well as contemporary training initiatives in the UK. This report aims to provide insights into effective HRD practices within a large organization like TESCO.

HUMAN RESOURCE
DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Comparison of different learning styles ..........................................................................4
1.2 Importance of learning curve & transfer learning ..........................................................5
1.3 Importance of different learning theories and styles........................................................6
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Comparison between training needs required at various level.........................................7
2.2 Assess the advantages and disadvantages of different training methods.........................7
2.3 Systematic approach to training and development...........................................................8
TASK 3...........................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Prepare an evaluation form ..............................................................................................9
3.2 Carry out an evaluation by analysing responses.............................................................10
3.3 Review the success of evaluation...................................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
4.1 Role of government with regards to training, development and lifelong learning.........11
4.2 Development of the competency movement has impacted on the public and private
sectors...................................................................................................................................12
4.3 Contemporary training initiatives by the UK government ............................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................1
.........................................................................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION
With the advent of the service sector today employees are not merely looked upon as a
factor of productions rather in today's competitive market they are considered as a value creators,
the most precious resources of a firm. Thus, human resource development forms a proactive
function which provides a framework to enhancing employee's skills, knowledge and work
ability so as to empower them to be capable of fulfilling their aspirations and to realize their
potential. It helps the company to maximize efficiency and performance of its people leading to
firms to gain success and growth in the long term ((Anderson, 2013).
TESCO is a British international chain of retailer which was established in 1919, with its
headquarters in Herdfordshire, UK. It deals in groceries and other general commodities
including household appliances, beauty products, furnitures, electronics, clothing, financial
services and many more. It is the third largest retailer across world in terms of profits and ninth
largest retailer in terms of revenues.
This assignment will compare different learning styles along with its importance and will
explain the usefulness of learning curve for a transfer of learning at workplace. Further it will
plan and design a training and development workshop and will evaluate it for its effectiveness.
Later in project b initiatives taken by government for development of skills and learning will be
discussed.
TASK 1
1.1 Comparison of different learning styles
Learning is described as process of modifying or enhance the existing skills, knowledge,
values of an individual that tends to bring a relatively permanent behavioural change in him. It is
a continuous process which requires to be reinforced regularly to achieve success and to master
the change through practice and experiment (Learning Styles, 2016). As every employee is
different therefore a firm requires to use different learning styles to make its employees
understand the relative concept of training program. TESCO being one of the leading global
retailers has a team of around 476000 employees managing its operations in more than 13
countries across world. Thus, to manage its workforce and to enhance their competitiveness so
that they become proficient in dealing with customers, handling their queries and assist them in
providing viable solutions, TESCO make use of following different styles.

VAK- Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic Learning Style
Visual - This style emphasize on learning through visuals, by writing or reading any
information.
 HRD department of TESCO make use of charts, graphics, attractive pictures to present
any information that company want to explain to its employees.
 It helps in getting the attention of employees towards topic so that it becomes easy for
them to retain any information in way it is presented to them to retain in way it is
presented to them (Aswathappa, 2013)
Auditory- In this style, an individual prefers to learn by listening new things rather than
reading or writing them. Trainer uses sound, words etc. to provide information to learners. TESCO make use of tools like seminars, group discussion, lectures etc. to encourage its
employees to speak and share what they think or wants.
Kinesthetic- In Kinesthetic learning style, the learner likes to grasp any information by
physically experiencing it i.e. by touching, holding or doing.
 TESCO during its training session provide the required arrangements like diary and pens
so that employees could write down their own notes, making it easy for them to recall
and imagine entire process in future.
1.2 Importance of learning curve & transfer learning
Learning curve is a graphical representation that shows the learning experiences and
progress of an employees over a period of time that helps them to focus on developing new
skills that enhances their capabilities and work performance. It also enables the firm to estimate
the time and cost involved in understanding a task by learner.
In, TESCO with changes occurring in business dynamics, company provided appropriate
training to its employees so that they become proficient in facing new and bigger challenges in
future and can complete the task assigned with best of their abilities leading to achieving firms
target on time and with efficiency (Bamberger and et. al., 2014).Moreover it also helps firm to
monitor employees performance, finding out reasons behind improvement and deterioration in
their work quality and other relevant information to make important decisions related to
employees promotion, training requirements, transfers etc.

Importance of transfer learning:
It enables employees to apply acquired skills and knowledge into new business
environment making it easy for business to get an edge over rivals by having a competitive
workforce.
It encourages employees to be proficient by improving their capabilities so that they can
achieve their personal as well as professional goals.
It helps in increasing the overall efficiency, work productivity and performance of
workers as they get positive working environment, where in they are provided with opportunity
to learn and grow (Bray and et. al., 2012).
1.3 Importance of different learning theories and styles
Learning theories and styles are requisite at each and every level of a firm to avoid and
remove psychological gaps among different existing groups in firm.
Learning Theory- This theory deals in enhancing overall capabilities of an employees
by adopting a structured and systematic approach. This provides a two way beneficiary effect for
firm as on one hand it lead to achievement of bot personal and professional objectives of
employees and on other hand it helps in increasing the goodwill and image of firm as employee
centric organisation resulting in less employee turnovers, dedicated staff, reduction in
absenteeism and so on. Mentioned below are some of the prominent learning theories:-
Social Learning Theory- This theory emphasis that new behaviour could be acquired by
individual by learning from on another through the process of observation, imitation and
modelling.
Goal Setting theory- This theory states that people becomes motivated to acquire new
knowledge or learn new skills in order to achieve their pre set objectives, that serves as a driving
force for them.
Constructivism Approach: In this theory, mangers and employers develop their own
perceptions that are based on their own knowledge and experience which they have acquired at
different levels (Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017). It is based on the fact that learning is a
continuous process that aims towards enhancing overall efficiency and productivity of an
individual at all levels of a firm.
Having a huge workforce worldwide makes it difficult to adopt any one particular
learning style that could be adopted to provide knowledge and skills to its employees having

different learning requirements and belonging to different countries. Thus, TESCO make use of
multiple learning styles to enhance employees capabilities in a broader manner.
TASK 2
2.1 Comparison between training needs required at various level
A firm is an amalgamation of various divisions having various roles and responsibilities
to be undertaken by each one of them. Thus, each departments consists of different types of
employees having varied duties and tasks to fulfil. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for a
firm to assessed training needs of varied departments separately before designing and planning a
training program to achieve better results and employees performance. Mentioned below is the
description of training requirements of various departments in TESCO -
Management Level- Like any other firm Management in TESCO is responsible for
taking all decisions related to various business matters. Thus, training program for this level
should be able to provide them with skills to make informative decisions, to enhance their team
building capabilities and to improve practical learning skills (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017).
The training can be provided through seminars, research work and other off the job training
methods so that they can efficiently assist and support employees also in their work.
Operational Level- This forms the most important division for a firm as it coordinates
activities and efforts of all other departments. TESCO being a retail supermarket chain requires
proficiency in all its operations so that customers could be satisfied by providing the with goods
and services on time as per their specifications. Thus, employees of this unit are provided with
training to supervise employees and to lead, manage and control them.
Customer Level- TESCO being one of world's leading retail supermarket having a
number of sales executives, sales men etc. who forms the face of company as they are the ones
interacting with customers. Thus, they are required to be provided with training that built up their
interpersonal and communication skills, making them proficient to deal with customers queries
and provide them with viable solutions(Unger and et. al., 2011) .
2.2 Assess the advantages and disadvantages of different training methods
Every training method that are applied by an organization has certain merits and demerits
associated with it. Mentioned below are some advantages and disadvantage of training methods
adopted by TESCO-

Training method Advantages Disadvantage
Job Rotation It helps in reducing boredom
experienced by employees due
to monotony in performance
of same duties on daily basis
(Scullion and Collings, 2011) .
Job rotation tends to consume
a lot of time of an employee to
get acquainted with new place,
process and working style.
Performance Appraisal It helps an employee to
improve his work efficiency by
pointing out gaps between his
actual and expected
performance and suggesting
ways to correct it.
It can be stressful and
demotivating for an employee
to be pointed about his
loopholes or areas of lacking.
Lecture This can be most appropriate
method that could be used by
TESCO to impart knowledge
in its employees related to a
particular topic by an expert or
specialist. It helps in providing
large amount of information on
various topics to a mass
audience.
It becomes boring for
individual to sit and listen to
someone for 4 to 6 hours. Also
, its a passive way of learning
as lecturer does not have a way
to ensure how engaged a
person is during the lecture.
2.3 Systematic approach to training and development
TESCO being a multinational company having approx 4,66,000 employees is required to
provide necessary training to its workforce to enhance their work efficiency so as to maintain its
profitability and market share Cummings and Worley, 2014). Mentioned below is the systematic
process used by TESCO while designing its training and development program.
 Firm's Objectives: TESCO's main aim is to enhance its overall sales and revenue ratio
within specific time period. Besides, firm also strives to gain an advantage over its
business contenders.

 Analysing Training requirement: The second steps is to training need assessment in order
to identify level of skills and knowledge required to achieve company's goals and
objectives as well as identifying personal needs of employee so that a perfect ali9gnmemt
could be made between professional and individual's need to make them work in one
directions towards achieving firm's goals.
 Designing training strategies: After assessment of training needs, HR department TESCO
after evaluating effectiveness of various training methods adopts the most suitable
method of training and development for its employees (Daley, 2012).
 Implementing and Evaluating- Once training program is designed it is then implemented
by the management which included per testing trainees, preparation for delivering
training and then delivering the learning. After completion of training program, it is then
analysed and evaluated to find out whether it is able to attain training objectives or not
(Werner and DeSimone, 2011).
TASK 3
3.1 Prepare an evaluation form
The result of the training is essential to be analysed in a systematic manner, to assess the
success or benefit of the training and development program in accordance with employees needs.
TESCO to know the effectiveness of its various methods of training adopted to impart skills and
knowledge to its employees make use of Feedback form as an evaluation tool.
Feedback: it is the procedure of gathering information from the employees who
undergoes the training program to know about their response. They provide their views about
their learning experience, how effective training was to them in enhancing their knowledge and
skills (Grossman and Salas, 2011).
Feedback form: It is document that contains a series of systematic questions related to
the particular training and development program that employees has undertaken. It helps in
judging the effectiveness of training session in imparting learning in individuals.
Feedback form
1. Were the training methods adopted by firm was effective?
2. Does the presenter(s) provided relevant time for questions and how satisfactory they
answered them?

3. Does information and/or skills provided in training programme were relevant and
useful?
4. Is the training programme assists in developing skills of employees?\
5. Will this training module beneficial for the company?
3.2 Carry out an evaluation by analysing responses
In this, responses of employees are evaluated. For this 6 individuals are chosen for
conducting analysis so as to understand effectiveness of training program.
Responses of the employees
1 2 3 4 5 6
Q1 yes yes yes no yes no
Q2 yes no no yes no yes
Q3 no yes yes yes yes no
Q4 yes yes yes yes yes yes
Q5 yes yes yes yes no yes
From analysis of feedback form it has been concluded that training session adopted is effective
for company and is surely going to contribute in enhancing knowledge and skills of its
employees.
Kick Patrick model of training evaluation:
This model has four stages that helps the manager of Tesco in understanding
effectiveness and efficiency of training program (Guest, 2011). These phases are:
Reaction: It involves evaluating reaction of employees related to training programme
undertaken by them.
Learning: This stage includes learning in terms of skills and knowledge which
employees has gained from training.
Behaviour: This stage enables firm in identifying the change in behaviour of employees
of Tesco.

Results: In this stage, mangers determines what employees has gain from this training
program.
3.3 Review the success of evaluation
The training programme implemented by TESCO for enhancing skill and capabilities of
its employees has highly contributed in increasing efficiency of the firm as well as of its
workforce (Hobfoll, 2011). HR department of firm make use of feedback form which involves a
series of systematic questions related to training to be answered by employees. Their response
serves as a efficient and important too, in identifying and evaluating about effectiveness of
training an developing program. The feedback form revealed the following information
mentioned below:-
Properly planned training: From employee's feedback, it is evaluated that training
program was properly planned as per the skills requirement and behaviour of the employees.
Delivery of training: According to employees, training is properly delivered proving
beneficial for the employees (Kakuma and et. al., 2011).
It helps TESCO in achieving its objectives.
TASK 4
4.1 Role of government with regards to training, development and lifelong learning
Government of UK plays a very important part in imparting learning and training and
development of employees in order to improve their skills and knowledge. UK government
evident to spend half of expenditure in developing infrastructure and on research process
helping the private sector to grow and develop more. TESCO is a UK based retail firm that
deals in groceries, home ware, electricals, furnitures and other general commodities is third
largest firm in terms of profits and ninth largest company in terms of revenues thereby contribute
in UK exports. Hence for diversification UK government provide various kinds of benefits and
subsidies like the Government of UK for the welfare and benefit of firm as well as for its
employees hold power to formulate HR policies for TESCO (Romney and Steinbart, 2012). This
assist firm to plan out policies, programs and strategies related to its training and development
event. Also Government conducts various lectures and seminars of professionals and experts
that train employees about how to handle stress related to various external environment factors
(McKenzie and et. al., 2012). Also there are various government association that provided funds

to TESCO considering its previous financial and solvency positions. Moreover government has
also enforced various legislations to protect right and interest of employees such as Equality Act,
employment disability act, minimum wage act and so on that are mandatory for the firm to be
abide by.
4.2 Development of the competency movement has impacted on the public and private sectors
In recent times UK government has taken some revolutionary measures in developing
competency movement that focuses more on developing an individual. These performance
management programs helps in enhancing the overall capabilities of employees and develops
their job performance. TESCO to maintain and enhance its competitive edge in market through
its most valuable resources- its employees need to studies and identifies core competencies of its
employees along with job skills and capabilities. Core competencies includes basic key skills,
attributes and characteristics that is unique to a firm and differentiate it from entire market place
or competitors. Job competencies, it relates to certain characteristics that are highly requisite for
an employee to perform its assigned task and related responsibilities (Meredith Belbin, 2011) .
Competencies or capabilities that are based on evaluation which is the outcome generated by
analysing competitors strategies by TESCO to gain advantage over the. Competencies based on
improvement that involves measures such as motivation factors, employee reviews etc. to
evaluate performance of employees at the time of performing a particular task.
4.3 Contemporary training initiatives by the UK government
There are various contemporary learning methods that have been formulated by UK
government for bringing stability and growth in both private and public sectors. Contemporary
learning is practical training method which focuses on providing qualitative possibility to
learners leading to imparting quick learning. Also government has made considerable initiatives
to make human resource more effective and proficient. With the help of government TESCO too
have taken initiative in designing short training programs as per firm's needs to strengthen future
position and prospect of the company (Payne and Isaacs, 2017). The UK government provided
assistance to TESCO in developing its human resource by providing two prominent policies in
relation to labour market I.e. passive and active policies. Passive policies relates to those action
plans that assist in providing replacement income to employees at the time of unemployment,
training or job search. It includes services like voluntary retirement etc. that enables employees
to survive even when he is not engaged in any kind of job. Active polices helps in coordinating

job with its demand. It basically focuses on re integrating labour market by using various
methods like creating job, help in searching job, entrepreneurship etc.
CONCLUSION
The project undertaken concludes that learning styles forms the base for a firm to design
its training and development program by evaluating both organizational as well as employee
objectives. Moreover this assignment also evaluates importance of various theories of learning
and styles , giving a brief about various advantages and disadvantage associated with them.
Later it discuss about the role of government in relation to training and development and how it
contributes in developing human resource of a firm.