Learning Need Analysis and Programs
The aim of this paper is to do a training and learning need analysis for the UK-based Construction Company. It is now trying to expand its business across the national market of the United Kingdom. It has five main operational sites within which three sites are experiencing troubles in terms of health and safety incidents. These incidents are harmful to the social image of the company because problems with the health and safety of the workplace imply a negative internal culture. Hence, a solution to overcome these problems, strong health, and safety culture must be built. Moreover, the operation managers of these operational sites find it difficult to communicate and share information among them and thus want a clear design of L & TD intervention from the L & TD team of this company.
This paper has been designed in the following way: at first, the learning need analysis (TNA) has been done to understand the needs for the training and learning programs. Next, the purpose of these programs has been discussed along with the objectives. The paper then delves into identifying the key stakeholders. Therefore, the learning program is designed and developed. After that, the process of implementation of the design is discussed. In the end, the process of evaluation and assessment of the learning program has been proposed.
The learning need analysis is mandatory when the organization is trying to understand the required training that the employees of the organization need to reach the desired organizational performance level. The training needs assessment is done by following these steps: 1) gathering information, 2) analyzing this information, and 3) creating a training plan. The TNA analysis can be done based on various dimensions but the dimension appropriate for this case is the performance gap analysis. The information can be gathered by doing surveys among the employees through preparing proper questionnaires, by observing their work patterns to understand potential health and safety risks. The focus areas for this task analysis should be on the following aspects:
- the type, difficulty level, importance, and frequency of each task, the knowledge needed to do the task effectively,
- gaps in performance that is the gap between the desired and actual performance and why the gaps exist,
- is one group of people are more efficient than the others,
- is there any particular area where the performance is poor,
- is there any gap in performance among the operational sites and why that gap exists,
- does the gap in performance increase due to changes in market and industry,
- how these gaps in performance are affecting the health and safety in the work site, and
- the available training.
The mission statement of this company is “Home for all”. Here the term “home” doesn’t only mean a house but a safe place to reside or work in. From the mission statement itself, it can be understood that the organization is focused on maintaining a healthy and safe working environment. The recent development of health and safety incidents has been a major concern for retaining the internal organizational culture of this company. Hence, the TNA program is proposed to achieve the desired level of safety and security in the workplace.
The common health and safety hazards in a construction Company are slip, trip, and fall, fire hazards from electronic connections (from the short circuit), being obstructed, or being caught between the objects. According to the health and safety act 1974 (under section 2), the employer is bound to ensure safety and security in the work environment. If the workers need training, instructions, and supervision to ensure the health and safety of themselves as well as others then the employer should provide them with it. For this training no charges will be deducted from the employees’ salary even the company will arrange vehicles for any kind of commute (such as commute to other construction sites and the online training place) for the employees as under section 9 of the same law, the employers should not charge the workers for such health and safety training programs.
Importance of Health and Safety Culture
The SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and Time-bound.
The objective of this mandatory learning program is
- to spread awareness regarding this among the employees after doing an assessment of the operational sites to identify the fire hazards (as per the guidelines of OSHA 1989).
- to train all the employees for a minimum of 3 months regarding the mandatory safety and security protocols to be followed during work hours (such as wearing gloves, goggles, guard rails, fall protection gear and harness).
- to train the employees regarding the evacuation and firefighting methods so that they can help the emergency response team to ensure safe evacuation and firefighting in case of a fire outbreak.
- to train the workers regarding the use of all the necessary equipment required for ensuring the safety of the workers such as firefighting equipment (fire extinguishers, gloves, aprons, masks, an alarm system), better quality and high rising ladders, cranes, lifts, and others.
- To form different team within the employees, assigned with different work such as keeping an eye on the health and safety of the work site, to contact the emergency response team at the right time, to take prompt action during emergency rescue operations, to be able to provide first aid to the injured people.
- to reduce the health and safety incidents by 90% in the operational sites within 2.5 years.
The objective of this TNA program is specific, as the area and reason of training are addressed specifically. The success of this objective can be measurable by the reduction rate of health and safety incidents. It is feasible as the company’s financial position is well-enough to support this program for 300 employees. It is realistic because after receiving the training the employees are more likely to make the same mistakes which ultimately enhance the company’s performance. The objective is time-bound as the time limit has been taken into consideration.
Stakeholders are those who get affected positively or negatively by the decision or activity of the company. In this case, the stakeholders are mainly the people who work in this company, the raw materials providers, the people engaged in the transportation of those supplies, the customers, and the neighborhood of the operational sites, the contractors, the engineers, the designers, and the local authority.
The risks related to this learning and training program can be segregated into two sections: the company including its designers, engineers can face loss if all the workers get busy with the training programs and the suppliers, and most of all, the clients may shift to another company due to delay in work. Another risk should be mentioned in this case: if the company may face enough loss, this training program may get canceled.
|
Type of risk |
risk |
Affected stakeholders |
|
High risk |
Loss of business |
The company authority, designers, engineers, and employees |
|
High risk |
Delayed work |
Customers, suppliers |
Table 1: Risk Mapping
Source: Author
Proposed Strategy to reduce these risks is:
- The total number of employees should be divided into 10 groups so that 30 employees get their training session every 3 months. The remaining 270 people continue the work.
- The individual training can be given in the week offs (in exchange for overtime pay).
- To retain the customers, small discounts or coupons can be given for this period.
- A meeting should be done with the supplier for communicating the TNA program taken by this company to avoid any kind of misunderstanding.
The learning program can be divided into two main parts based on the type of topics that will be covered: maintaining health and hygiene in the workplace and maintaining safety protocol during work. Two renowned doctors in the locality will be invited to take the sessions in which mandatory hygiene and other health aspects will be taught. Three experts (former servicemen of the disaster management group) will be invited to take sessions on the mandatory safety measurements in the workplace. The employees will be taught about the penalties related to their offensive behavior in terms of maintaining health and safety in the operational sites as mentioned in the health and safety act 1974 (under paragraph 1). They will be introduced to the organization’s health and safety-related precautionary requirements.
The design of this program has been done based on the knowledge that the L & TD team of this company has gathered from the earlier learning theories such as cognitive, social, experimental, and situated learning theories. This program can be segregated based on another dimension: offline and online mode training sessions. The theoretical learning will be done mainly through the digital platforms available to the company as it is convenient for the experts (who will be taking these sessions). For every group of 30, there will be two types of training sessions: group sessions and individual sessions. Individual sessions will be conducted according to the skill deficiency of the individual.
The L & TD team of this company proposed the following points after reviewing the literature:
- The concept ofsocial learning theory will be incorporated by allowing the participants to work together during the practical or in-hand experiments.
- The concept of situated learning theorywill be internalized in this training process by allowing trainees to learn by doing the work themselves in the practical sessions.
- The concept of experiential learning theorywill be incorporated by allowing the participants to watch the application of the intended knowledge by the experts during the practical sessions.
- The concept of cognitive learning theorywill be included in the practical sessions where the participants will be given a problem (or situation) and will be asked to do the needful to solve the problem by themselves. The experts will be there to help them.
Common Hazards in Construction Companies
The design of the program will be like this:
- For the first 10 days, the trainees will be trained by both the health and disaster management experts in online mode. The training sessions will be 9 hours long (in the usual working hour) with small breaks in between. The first 7 hours of the session will be in the group and the remaining 2 hours will be individual training.
- From the 11th day to the 30th day, the in-hand sessions will start where the trainees will be shown the application of the theories they were taught in the first 10 days by the experts. This will also be done in groups and individuals.
- The experts will divide the theoretical sessions and practical sessions as per the requirement of the trainees after the 30th day of the program.
- After every session, a test will be taken (both in the case of group and individual sessions) by the experts to gauge their progress in learning.
Under the safety protocols the employees will be taught 1) what to wear at the construction site (the basic minimum is hard hat, long pants, safety vest, light colored shirt with sleeves, gloves and work boots) as different jobs need different types of protection (in case, an employee is exposed to flying particles eye protector and face shield is mandatory, in some cases people need sound protective devises), even the hair style of a worker during the working hours and wearables fall into this category, 2) tool box talk, 3) drug and alcohol policy of the company (in accordance with the health and safety act 1974), 4) how to anchor a fall protection gear, lanyards, 5) how to use a ladder properly, 6) how to secure the small or bigger holes in the site to avoid falling risks, 7) proper physical postures during a particular work to ensure that the workers don’t get hurt, 8) proper use of electronic equipment, fire extinguishers, fire blankets to avoid or fight fire hazards.
To implement the above-mentioned design the main requirement is the fund to make payments to the experts along with the equipment required to continue the practical learning. Another very important requirement is to arrange a room for the online classes which can accommodate at least 30 trainees with 30 computers and internet connections. The place will be chosen keeping in mind the locations of all the operational sites. The practical sessions will be taken at any of the construction sites that is different sites will be chosen according to different needs. The list of participants and the training schedule of each 3 months of the training program will be prepared for each operational site. Additionally, a schedule of meetings among the experts and the 5 OMs of 5 sites of this company will be prepared to communicate with each other regarding this program and the necessary arrangements need to do.
During the process of training, the trainees will be assessed regularly. After each session trainees will be asked to answer some theoretical questions and/or to perform the same act (they have learned from the session). All the results of those daily assessments will be recorded and added along with the final assessment (described in the next section). To encourage the trainees to do better in these assessments a reward system is being proposed: the top 5 ranked trainees according to the cumulative result of the assessments will be rewarded after completion of this 2.5 years program.
The success of the learning intervention can be evaluated using Kirkpatrick’s Model of Learning Evaluation method. The four levels associated with this model are: reaction (of the trainees towards the training program), learning (to assess whether the trainees have learned the desired knowledge, skills or not), behavior (whether the subsequent behavior has changed after training or not), results (whether the desired outcome has been achieved or not)4.
Reaction: To measure the reaction of the trainees, one email will be forwarded to all the employees after completion of their training which would contain a link to a Google form. The following questions will be asked to each employee in that form:
SMART Objective of TNA Program
1. Do you find the training helpful?
Answer: Yes/No
a) If yes, how much?
(Rate between 0-5)
2. Do you think you can work with more efficiency after receiving the training? Answer: Yes/no
b) If yes, how much?
(Rate between 0-5)
3. What are the most important things you’ve learned?
Answer: (Choose the options)
4. Do you think something was missing in this program?
Answer: Please explain briefly.
Learning: To assess whether the trainees had learned the intended skills and knowledge two procedures will be followed. First of all, one email with a link to Google form will be shared in which some theoretical questions will be asked to each employee followed by a practical examination.
Behavior: After completion of the full training program to assess the behavior change, two experts will be assigned to each operational site to observe whether the employees are incorporating their knowledge into their behavior or not.
Results: Once the training program is finished, 5 members of the training and learning team will be assigned to keep records regarding the outcomes of the training such as: whether the number of health and safety incidents has been reduced or not, whether the overall performance of the company is increasing or not.
Conclusion
The purpose of this paper was to develop a Learning and Training development plan for a construction company that is experiencing several health and safety incidents in three of the five main operational sites. The plan has been proposed in this paper accordingly. There will be risks of this plan as well as benefits. The OMs of the company are advised to follow the guidelines presented in this report to minimize the potential risks and to maximize the potential benefits. It’s expected that the employees, as well as the company, will be benefited from the above-discussed plan. Thus the report concludes by revealing the structure of the learning and training development plan and recommending possible evaluation methods for judging the success of this plan.
Reference
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Ogbeiwi, O. “Why written objectives need to be SMART.” British Journal of Healthcare Management 23.7 (2017): 324-336.https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/bjhc.2017.23.7.324
Paul, M., Craig W., and Antonia G., “Applying the Kirkpatrick model: Evaluating an ‘interaction for learning framework ‘curriculum intervention.” Issues in Educational Research 26.3 (2016): 490-507.https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/32998/1/ILF-curriculum-intervention.pdf
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