Training and Development for Improved Teamwork Skills in the Workplace

This report, prepared for an operational manager at Barista Information Technology Limited, focuses on the critical importance of teamwork skills for employee attraction, retention, and overall company success. It emphasizes the need for continuous learning and development in a rapidly evo...Read More

Running Head: IMPROVING TEAM WORK SKILLS
Training and Development Environment
Student’s Name:
Institution Affiliation:

EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION 2
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................3
2.0 Improving the teamwork skills.............................................................................................4
2.1 Leadership..............................................................................................................................5
2.2 Hire the right people..............................................................................................................6
2.3 Innovation..............................................................................................................................6
2.4 Learning culture.....................................................................................................................7
3.0 Project plan for improving the teamwork skills...................................................................7
4.0 Summary...............................................................................................................................9
5.0 References................................................................................................................................10

EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION 3
1.0 Introduction
Training and retention of employees are the most significant aspects among the ten forces in
training and development environment. It is undeniable that learning is continuous in most of the
companies that have been successful and those that want to remain at the top of the ever-
changing and competing market (Smith, 2017). In my workplace, as an operational manager in
the Barista Information Technology Limited, that mainly deals in manufacturing mobile phones
and other electronic devices, I have realized that the success of a company mostly depends on the
team that works mutually to a common objective, and it is not an easy task to build such a team
as supported by Ulrich (2017). Creating such a team always takes not less than six months and
might proceed for years. It is, therefore, critical to a manager to have the capability of identifying
the potential in every employee and help in nurturing them instead of letting them go
unnecessarily according to Noe and Winker (2012). Technological advancement is one of the
industry consisting of diverse customers with ever-changing taste and needs that will never be
satisfied at ones with one device, thus offers a space for development and competition in
inevitability.
The continuous technological change and development makes me as the operational manager
to put more emphasis on it to ensure that the company remains in commanding the market
through conducting proper strategic training and development on various skills such as
customer’s services, innovation, teamwork and many others (Makikangas et al., 2016).
Throughout the years, I have realized that practice also plays an essential role in retaining the
best skills, since after training; the employees will always tend to feel that their contribution is

EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION 4
significant to the company. According to Noe and Winker (2012), there are different forces that
drive and determine the process of learning in a workplace, and among them improving team
work skills is the most significant.
2.0 Improving the teamwork skills
Organization’s success depends mostly on the employee's capability and collaboration
with one another. As the company that consists of about 400 employees ranging from different
ranks and performing different tasks that depend on one another to have the final products, the
best team tends to enhance the individual ability and encourage all the partners to improve as an
individual as well as a team (White, 2017). A mutually relating team always tends to do the best,
beat other companies, and at the same time strive to remain at the top. To this company, the
following areas need to be addressed to ensure that the Information Department is at the par with
the global technological needs. To improve the skills in team, as the manager the following are
very essential.

EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION 5
2.1Leadership
Leadership tends to go beyond the management expectations of balancing budgets and
schedules of an organization (Taplin et al., 2013). Therefore, to successfully offer leadership, the
manager must be able to set goals and achieve them within the timeline with the help of the
employees. Most of the leaders tend to have their way rather than incorporating employee’s ideas
that might bring a breakthrough in the company. Such managers find it difficult to build a
respective team members that can be retained and be able to retain it at the same time improving,
leadership is a critical issue. Without proper team leadership, then the team members tend to go
against or lose the organization’s path. With such strays, the goals of the company tend to be
difficult to achieve.
Every leadership style tends to affect the commitment of the employees. Therefore, it is
to my advantage to have and practice more participative leadership that will motivate the
employees that their ideas count to the success of the company (Ulrich, 2017). With such
motivation, the members will be willing to go the extra mile in taking the risk to try new ideas
that will result in innovation skills.

EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION 6
2.2 Hire the right people
Team building entails having the right people rather than the best. Employees are the
backbone of every business and company, therefore having the right people will give me as the
manager, comfortable time in nurturing them into the line of the company (Fajcikova &
Urbancova, 2017). To most of the managers, who tend to pick the most experienced and talented,
always face a difficult time in dealing with the “Know all” notion of the employees hence
nurturing and developing them continuously becomes a difficult task. During the hiring, I will
take into account how each interviewee will contribute to the company and how will he or she
collaborate with others to have a shared vision.
2.3 Innovation
Innovation is a critical skill for every technology company that strives to be successful
and remain as the commander of the market. All the employees in Barista must all be flexible
and creative to build both simple and sophisticated appliance that will satisfy the needs of
various customers (Azzam, 2013). The creativity is achievable through the provision of the free-
work environment that will allow my employees to have their experiments. The free-work
environment is improvable also through constructing different working spaces to the best
innovators to provide privacy to their work. Besides, these secure rooms will also allow them to
work at their own time that they feel very productive.

EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION 7
2.4 Learning culture
As the team builder, every member should be able to know that learning is a process and
never stops. With the culture of learning in the system, it is possible to continue training and
developing all employees irrespective of the ranks and achievements (Yan et al., 2017). The
culture will allow every person to try different things in different departments, such as allowing a
graphic designer to be in the marketing department or act as a project manager for some time. As
a result, there will be a development of brainstorming in issues that could not be identified by
people working in those areas, eventually results in learning system and improvement. Such
problems identified and addressed by team members from other departments, also help in
creating a stronger bond within them.
3.0 Project plan for improving the teamwork skills
Conducting Needs Assessment -Proper training is achievable after identification of the
needs that is done using the SWOT analysis, to determine the strength and weakness of every
individual in the innovation and production department. The process will allow me to identify
the gaps that hinder the company from making advancement in technological growth (Knapp &
Mujtaba, 2011). With the gaps, I will ensure that the employees understand the need for them to
take training in the devices that are required. It is observable that most of the employees cannot
adequately use the circuit board and the connections which are the basis of every mobile phone.
Ensuring readiness for training and environment-After the identification of the need for
training, which is to make all the employees be at the par with the mobile circuit board, as the
operation manager, I will ensure that the employees are both mentally and physically ready for

EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION 8
the training (Schneider et al., 2011). This is achievable through preparing them that learning is a
process and it does not mean any form of dumbness. Both the environment and the trainees are
well chosen, to offer free atmosphere.
Ensuring transfer of training-On-site training is good since it offers them to interact with
the equipment that they will use daily. However, off-job training offers that peaceful mind and
creates some sense of seriousness. The trainer's pact should be well-known innovators from most
trusted companies such as Samsung, Sonny, and many others. The method of training should
ensure that it covers all the skills, and therefore, the appropriate methods that will conform with
the objectives of the training include lecturing, use of both audio and visual equipment and
simulation.
Developing an evaluation plan-The evaluation plan is essential in the determination of
the achievement of the objectives. The evaluation shall be done severally during the process,
through various means to determine the level of skills acquirement. The evaluations methods will
include small questions to the trainees, both practical and theory. During the evaluation, the
trainers to enable proper adjustment to the plan note discrepancies down.
Selecting training method-For the training, the off-job training method is the most
significant one from the trainees. They will give the trainees ample time to concentrate on the
objectives of the training since in the vestibule training they are capable of learning deeply on
machines and other devices that are critical for the manufacturing of the mobile phones. Besides
they are farther away from all the job and domestic issues. Training method will include both the
traditional methods and the e-learning.

EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION 9
Monitoring and evaluation of the program-The monitoring and evaluation of the training
shall be done through job rotation, to ensure that the trainees are actually at the par with the
training objectives of acquiring more knowledge and skills in the circuit board connections
through conducting another SWOT analysis (Quan & Ian, 2015). The achievements are
observable on the company’s production, the behavior of the participants and from the
supervisor's reports. With the objectives achieved, the employees can be rotated creating easy
time when a colleague is taking time-off, off-peak periods or even sickness periods.
4.0 Summary
Employee training and development is critical to the success of every business organization
and is always a continuous process no matter how successful the company or the individual is.
To have the best employees, team building need to focus on both the skills and bonding should
be the key role of every leader of an organization that is capable of identifying the strengths and
weakness of the company, as attributed by every employee. The best talented should be used to
train and develop the weak during on-job training programs, and proper training and
development should follow a specific process to ensure that the objective is achievable.

EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION 10
5.0 References
Azzam, A. (2013). As technology and generations in medical education change, what remains is
the intersection between educator, learners, assessment and context. International Review
Of Psychiatry, 25(3), 347-356. doi:10.3109/09540261.2013.787048
Chanhoo, S., Kwangseo Ryan, P., & Seung-Wan, K. (2015). Servant Leadership And Team
Performance: The Mediating Role Of Knowledge-Sharing Climate. Social Behavior &
Personality: An International Journal, 43(10), 1749-1760.
doi:10.2224/sbp.2015.43.10.1749
Fajčíková, A., & Urbancová, H. (2017). The Role Of Organizations In Lifelong Learning And
Development. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis,
65(2), 621-630. doi:10.11118/actaun201765020621
Gokdas, I., & Torun, F. (2017). Examining the Impact of Instructional Technology and Material
Design Courses on Technopedagogical Education Competency Acquisition According to
Different Variables. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 17(5), 1733-1758.
doi:10.12738/estp.2017.5.0322
Knapp, P. R., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2011). Strategies for the Design and Administration of
Assessment Center Technology: A Case Study for the Selection and Development of
Employees. Journal Of Business Studies Quarterly, 2(2), 154-171.

EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION 11
Mäkikangas, A., Aunola, K., Seppälä, P., & Hakanen, J. (2016). Work engagement-team
performance relationship: shared job crafting as a moderator. Journal Of Occupational &
Organizational Psychology, 89(4), 772-790. doi:10.1111/joop.12154
Parmelee, D. X., & Hudes, P. (2012). Team-based learning: A relevant strategy in health
professionals' education. Medical Teacher, 34(5), 411-413.
doi:10.3109/0142159X.2012.643267
Quan, L., Di, Y., & Lan, L. (2015). Factors Influencing Knowledge-Sharing Behaviors And
Learning Effect: A Multilevel Investigation. Social Behavior & Personality: An
International Journal, 43(10), 1683-1698. doi:10.2224/sbp.2015.43.10.1683
Schneider, V. I., Healy, A. F., Barshi, I., & Kole, J. A. (2011). Following navigation instructions
presented verbally or spatially: Effects on training, retention and transfer. Applied
Cognitive Psychology, 25(1), 53-67. doi:10.1002/acp.1642
Smith, S. P. (2017). Adult Learners: Effective Training Methods. Professional Safety, 62(12),
22-25.
Taplin, S. H., Foster, M. K., & Shortell, S. M. (2013). Organizational Leadership For Building
Effective Health Care Teams. Annals Of Family Medicine, 11(3), 279-281.
doi:10.1370/afm.1506
Ulrich, B. (2017). Using Teams to Improve and Performance. Nephrology Nursing Journal,
44(2), 141-152.

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White, A. (2017). Driving Business Retention, Expansion And Attraction Programs To A Higher
Level Through Talent Pipeline Management. Economic Development Journal, 16(4), 28-
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Yan, R., Baiyin, Y., & Lin, M. (2017). Leaders' Sense Of Power And Team Performance: A
Moderated Mediation Model. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal,
45(4), 641-656. Doi:10.2224/Sbp.5662