Week 01 Office Training Project – Why Training

Throughout this course, you will work on a course project that involves the design and development of an effective HRD training program. Each week you will work on a specific aspect of the project. The final completed project is due in Week 10.

Most weeks you will be given instructions on what portion of your project is due. For the most part, the weekly project steps are set up so that you will use the knowledge and skills gained from that specific week’s materials.

See the Course Materials folder for complete Office Training Project instructions.

Study tip: Print out the complete set of Office Training Project instructions in order to have an overview of what you will work on each week.

Week 01 – WhyTraining? (10 points)

You are the HRD Manager of a large trucking company called Fleet Trucking. You have been approached by several middle management personnel who are seeking your assistance to improve the productivity and efficiency of the administrative office personnel. Office personnel apparently are not being trained effectively in their job duties, especially with new equipment or procedures, and many aspects of their duties are either being overlooked or not completed properly.

The first thing that must be done is to convince upper management that a training project, beginning with needs assessment, is necessary.

For the sake of simplicity and time, arbitrarily choose (without needs assessment, for now) a basic office training task for your project.

Examples (Choose one from the list or select your own task.)

1. How to inventory office supplies
2. How to appropriately answer a business call
3. How to open a client account
4. How to effectively write an inter-office memo

Next, compose a memo in Word to the upper management personnel of Fleet Trucking, persuading them to allow you to launch this training. Submit your memo to the drop box as explained below. In your memo, be sure to mention the training task you have selected. Be sure to use information gathered from Chapter 1 of your textbook to assist you. A key issue, for example, is to describe how you know training in this particular area will improve the performance of office personnel. Explain how the training will benefit the entire company. In Chapter 1 of your textbook, refer to the material following “A Framework for the HRD Process,” especially “Needs Assessment.”

Note: It is important to mention in your memo that middle management has called for this training, but that an essential part of your plan will be to conduct a needs assessment before you launch the training.(See Week 04 for additional needs assessment details.)