Title: Competency Assessment: (CU2 M1) Training and Development
Course: SkillsCom BA 224 15.1

CREDIT 2: MODULE 1 ASSESSMENT:

After reading the information in from this module, you should have learned the foundational

elements associated with training and development. In summation—training is an HR

activity that happens when new human capital is onboarded into the organization or

when a current employee is moved into a position with greater responsibility and

authority. Development is an HR activity that is a continuous process of improvement.

Development should be happening if a company implements a new process that

changes the way a job is completed or if an employee is struggling to meet his or her

established goals.

THE ASSESSMENT: In this assessment, you will be given some situations from various

companies and you will have to analyze the situation to come to some kind of

conclusion about what you have just read. In each scenario (situation) listed below, you

will have to first identify whether the situation has prompted a training need or a

development need. Once you establish the situation as a training or development need,

you will then need to identify the best method to use in this situation. You should refer

back to the course materials to identify the methods.

NOTE: Please keep in mind it is possible for more than one method to apply to a

situation, but you should be focused on identifying the best option. When you

make your choice, please be sure to provide an explanation based on your

understanding of each method. Again—in every situation listed, you will need to

list whether this situation is a training or development activity. Then you will need

to discuss the best method to support the situation, making sure you explain

your response.

1. Percy Lugaen is the Vice President of Human Resources for Jackel Enterprises. He

has just been informed that the company has decided to expand the business into new

markets. Currently, the company does business in Illinois. The expansion will take the

company into Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa. Jackel Enterprises is a retail

manufacturer of outerwear for men, women, and children. Traditionally, the company

only manufactures the items and sells them to retail outlets. The company expansion

will take it into these markets and create new retail outlets for Jackel Enterprises to sell

its merchandise directly. Creating a retail branch of the company means it will need

human capital to manage the stores and sell the merchandise. Using your knowledge

of the course material in this unit, what will the Vice President of Human Resources

need to do for Jackel Enterprises?

2. Heather Bellagan is a successful hair salon business owner who has been able to

expand her business from one small 1,000 sq. ft. facility to five 2,000-plus sq. ft.

facilities. In expanding her business, Heather has partnered with several community

and career colleges who educate and license new cosmetologists. Heather has been in

business for 10 years and has a number of employees who have been with her since

she opened her first door to the public, including the managers of the locations where she is not regularly working. Business for Heather has been so great that she is looking

for eight new cosmetologists. She went to the community college and posted an ad and

got a huge response. She began the process of interviewing new cosmetologists. In

the interviews, she asks the applicants to cut and style a wig to identify their own

signature way of styling hair. One young lady took the wig and added additional hair

extensions and implemented a technique called an invisible part. Heather asked this

young lady about her technique and was told this is something new that has been

created and is currently being taught in cosmetology school. Heather further learned

this young lady has been doing hair for five years and is actually in school getting her

license to become a salon manager. Heather decides to offer her a job and help her

understand the intricacies of being a salon owner/manager. As part of the deal, Heather

asked this young lady to bring this technique to all of her salons and demonstrate it to

her current stylists. Heather not only hired this young lady, she made offers of

employment to seven other students who were weeks away from getting their license.

These seven individuals have not had previous experience with customers outside of

the classroom, but Heather is not worried because of how many seasoned staff

members she has in her business. She will pair the new stylists with one of her

seasoned staff members for the first six months of their employment. Using your

knowledge of the course material in this unit, what is going on in Heather's business?

3. Johnny Jackson is the warehouse manager for a small, family-owned produce

company. Johnny has a couple of direct reports who supervise specific functions for him

throughout the warehouse. Johnny manages the production supervisor, the shipping

and receiving supervisor, the quality control/auditing supervisor, as well as the customer

service supervisor. All of these positions are intricate to the organization’s success,

especially since the company has been experiencing a boost in business activity. In a

recent meeting with the owners of the company, Johnny discussed his areas of

responsibility and what he wanted to do to support the business moving into its growth

stage. One of the points he talked about dealt with the absence of his supervisors. He

had a supervisor who recently took time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act

(FMLA) and was gone for four months. During this same period, he had another

supervisor who was on vacation during two of the weeks the former supervisor was out

on FMLA. Finally, another one of his supervisors had decided to give notice and leave

the company, which meant there would be a void that Johnny needed to fill. In his

discussion with the owners, Johnny talked about the fluctuations in business and

created a chart illustrating how the changes in business aligned with the various events

happening with his supervisors. His conclusion was that his supervisors were too

focused on their direct responsibilities and did not understand how their departments’

work was connected with other aspects of the business. Johnny also knew that he had

to come up with a solution that would not require a huge amount of company resources

to implement. He wanted to change this thought process and ensure the business did

not have any decline in productivity when there is something going on with his

supervisors. Using your knowledge of the course material in this unit, what can Johnny

do in response to this situation?

4. Tina Lathon is the Director of Human Resources for PamPei, a major department

store chain in the United States. It is July and Mrs. Lathon and her team are already

getting ready for the holiday season. Christmas is a big deal for most retailers, and

PamPei is no exception, doing about 60% of their annual revenue during the six weeks

between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. To support this temporary volume in

business, Mrs. Lathon and her team have developed an HR strategy which includes the

hiring of about 5,000 temporary employees companywide. Because of the high volume

of employees and the amount of time most of them will work for PamPei, Mrs. Lathon

has to develop a strategy that is going to provide these individuals with the necessary

information to make PamPei successful, while simultaneously considering the costs

associated with bringing these individuals temporarily into the organization. Using your

knowledge of the course material in this unit, what should Mrs. Lathon do in response to

this situation?

5. Grendian is a lumber company with 14 offices across the United States. There are

about 10 to 15 different managers at each of their offices who deal with various aspects

of the company’s business. As a company, it is very concerned with creating

consistency within the organization and ensuring that each of its managers are pushing

the concept of teamwork, as well as ensuring that everyone in the company fully

understands that what they do impacts not only their performance but the company’s

performance and level of service provided to their customers as well. To ensure that

the message of teamwork and consistency is understood correctly, Grendian brings all

of its managers together annually to discuss, share ideas, and learn how to deal with

each other directly and indirectly. Using your knowledge of the course material in this

unit, what is going on at Grendian in this situation?

6. Larry Hoi is a Human Resource Consultant. As a consultant, Larry works with a

number of companies—both small and large. Larry is currently working with a new

company and has been contracted to look at various aspects of its current HR

processes and assess how they can be improved. Larry has noticed a number of

issues, but one that concerns him involves the process used to onboard cashiers and

customer service representatives for this client. The company has the employees

review a series of self-help videos and answer some worksheets. If the employees

score high enough, they are then paired with a more seasoned employee to learn their

new role while on the job. This process stands out because one of the company’s goals

is to minimize employee turnover. Using your knowledge of the course material in this

unit, what is going on in this situation? What should be happening to properly support

this situation? HINT: You should be identifying two methods in this situation and

explaining how each applies to this situation.