Walmart is a world leader in helping to save people money, but the company also strives to provide excellent customer service. This paper will address the training and development of Walmart’s employees to uphold this value. Through one-on-one training mixed with online courses, the HR department of Walmart can achieve this goal. The Training Need Walmart’s training needs are to have training classes for customer service provided to all Walmart associates including managers, assistant managers, door greeters, and other employees.
Recommend that Walmart’s subcontractors such as Subway and the nail salon employees also receive this training. The focus of the training will be on customer service and satisfaction so that all associates can gain the knowledge of Walmart’s vision and serve the customers in a way that the customer’s believe or think that they may be right at home and a part of the family. According to Johnson (2008) a few ways to enhance customer service is, making it easy for the customers, limit the number of associates who help a customer, chop down the phone tree, and have a live person on the phone.
Finally, if the associates make a mistake, admit to it. Recommend all of these customer service techniques be on the next training schedule for all associates. Training Medium Recommend customer service training be conducted at all levels within the Walmart organization using the Walmart online training programs. Currently, Walmart uses an online training program in all of its stores that offer training on how to work, manage, and conduct business in its garden center, softlines, sporting goods, chemicals, and housewares.
Recommend a training module within the Walmart training database that will teach Walmart associates everything they need to know about customer service. First, recommend planning and promoting the training to all associates so that they can be ready and at the same time have Walmart’s main headquarters contact the programmers. Second, recommend the creation of organizational strategies to include lesson plans, course material, and a curriculum. The third step is the implementation of mandatory training for all Walmart employees and associates.
Finally, all store managers must ensure and supervise completion of the training within the deadline set by Walmart. Recommend that all store managers discuss the importance of the customer service training with all associates, and the importance of keeping and maintaining the best resource, the customer. With Wal-Mart as one of the largest retailers in the world, they need to make sure that their training programs are a key factor. Walmart provides training for their new hires on ways that the employees treat the customers every time they visit a Walmart.
Walmart wants employees to complete the training on an internal base, therefore controlling the methods used. Training Delivery When any new hires join the Walmart family, they have to complete an in-depth orientation process starting with how to deal with the expectations of the customers by using a business simulation. Next, the new hires learn about Walmart’s history and the processes of the company. Finally the new hires complete what Walmart calls Audio Store Discovery Tour that gives them an idea of how customers may sound when enacting with them (Walmart Corporate, 2011).
For the hourly and floor employees, the training takes place in the store they work. This is similar to the business simulation. In addition, the new hires can take training class on the company’s eConrell website. These classes allow the new hires to complete training and gain additional training to help them advance into management positions. The managers within Walmart went through the same training program as the new hires. Once they progressed through the ranks within the company, their training increased over time.
According to the Walmart Corporate (2011), the managers, and the managers in training, use a program call Assistant Management Training (AMT) to assist with the training process. The purpose of the AMT is to help the managers learn the tools needed to run a profitable store and understand the roles during their time as managers. The AMT is a three-phase process that has to be complete. Phase one includes making sure the employees knows what their current positions are. Phase two helps employees understand and know how to complete it will little help.
Phase three gives the employees the know-how to advance the corporate ladder. Just like the hourly and floor employees, the manager can gain access to some training programs through the online site and have the chance to go to school to complete their training. Walmart will send managers to the Walton Institute for training. They have campuses in Bentonville, Arkansas, which is their main site, Brazil, Japan, United Kingdom, and others all over the world (Walmart Corporate, 2011). Evaluation of Training Evaluation of employee training reinforces the development of training programs.
Employees must answer a series of questions intended to query the individual’s current understanding of areas such as job responsibilities, departmental goals, and organizational goals. The preliminary feedback gathered through the questionnaire provides trainers with a qualitative basis from which to determine the extent of an individual’s comprehension of Walmart. HR’s workflow design and job analysis establishes benchmarks that leaders deem necessary to sustain a high performance organization. Market analysis of industry trends can provide insight into the topics training should cover.
Training course effectiveness measures three areas: transfer of training, new skills and knowledge, and performance improvements (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2007. p. 234). Walmart associates take the tools from the classroom to the workplace and actively transfer training to an associate’s area of responsibility. Employees who have undergone customer service training incorporate learned objectives in interactions with the customer. Managers evaluate employee’s use of customer service tools in the workplace throughout the days and weeks following training to ensure compliance.
Associates responsibilities encourage the application of new skills and knowledge acquired through training. Managers completing courses in organizational behavior update employee profiles to exercise the controls necessary for managing a team. This gives the manager an opportunity to identify and chart characteristics that influence employee productivity. One-on- one with employees allows managers to discern what actions need to be taken to ensure the employee has the tools or resources necessary to be an effective worker.
The impact of management’s training measures the individual’s ability to increase the productivity of his or her team. Results of Training The ultimate goal of training gauges Walmart’s productivity as an organization. Performance improvements in associate and managerial tasks indicate if the information furnished via training is applied to the work environment. Annual or semiannual performance reviews focus on objectives established through training and align with company and departmental goals.
A performance evaluation process highlights areas such as customer, team, and financial focus weighed on importance and given a rating scale. Each employee receives an assessment on his or her ability to satisfy the requirements of each focus. The results of the performance evaluation help to aid HR in deciding the areas where employees are excelling or falling short. The assessment of the aggregate results of employee performance tells HR, which personal and organizational goals are met. Subsequent training will serve to augment any deficiencies found in these reports.
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