Building Competitive Advantage through Successful Training and - PDF document

Building Competitive Advantage through Successful Training and Development Submitted in the partial fulfillment for the award of Graduate Diploma in Management Dimuthu de Silva 421061422 Professional Project Module GDM 406 6874words 25 July 2015 1

DECLARATION I declare that this Professional Project is an original work carried out by me under the supervision of Ms Himashi de Mel, Module Tutor, and submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of Graduate Diploma in Management. Signature: Date: 25 July 2015 2

Table Of Contents 7 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 10 ABSTRACT 11 CHAPTER 1 11 1.0 INTRODUCTION 11 1.1OVERVIEW/ RATIONALE 12 1.2 CURRENT SITUATION 13 1.3 ACADEMIC AIMS/ OBJECTIVES 14 1.4 CONCLUSION 15 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 15 2.0 INTRODUCTION 15 2.1 LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT 19 2.2 TALENT DEVELOPMENT 20 2.3 TALENT ACQUISITION 22 2.4 TALENT MANAGEMENT 23 2.5 COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE 24 2.6 CONCLUSION 25 CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 25 3.0 INTRODUCTION 26 3.1 OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH 3

26 3.2 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY AND OBJECTIVES 28 3.3 RESEARCH APPROACHES 29 3.4 RESEARCH STRATEGIES 31 3.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 32 3.6 TIME HORIZON 32 3.7 DATA COLLECTION METHOD 33 3.8 POPULATIONS/ SAMPLING TECHNIQUE 34 3.9 PILOT SURVEY 34 3.10 DATA ANALYSIS 35 3.11 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 36 3.12 ETHICAL APPROACH TO THE RESEARCH 37 3.13 CONCLUSION 37 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS 37 4. 0 INTRODUCTION 38 4.1 EVALUATION OF THE QUESTIONS 38 4.1.1 IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT 40 4.1.2 FREQUENCY OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT 4.1.3 NEED FOR ON THE JOB AND OFF THE JOB TRAINING AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS 42 4.1.4 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AND ITS CORRELATION TO DERIVE 44 COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AGAINST INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PEERS. 4.1.5 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRAINING AND IT’S ORGANISATIO NAL 47 BENEFITS. 4

4.1.6 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRAINING AND THE BANK’S OUTPUT, MY PERFORMANCE, ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS AND LOCAL ORGANISATIONAL 49 OUTPUT. 4.1.7 CONSIDERING TRAINING AS AN INVESTMENT TOWARDS INDIVIDUAL, 52 DEPARTMENTAL AND ORGANISATIONAL SUCCESS 4.1.8 CONSIDERING APPROPRIATENESS AND ADEQUACY OF TRAINING RECEIVED 54 4.1.9 CREATING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE THROUGH EMPLOYEE VALUE 56 PROPOSITION, COMMITMENT AND ENGAGEMENT. 59 4.1.10 LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT AND CAREER GROWTH 60 4.2 CONCLUSION 61 CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 61 5.0 INTRODUCTION 61 5.1 REVIEWS OF THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 61 5.2 KEY EVIDENCE PRESENTED IN LITERATURE 61 5.2.1 IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT 62 5.2.2 LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT AS ITS FREQUENCY. 62 5.2.3 NEED FOR ON-THE-JOB AND OFF-THE-JOB TRAINING. 5.2.4 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT TO DERIVE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE 62 AGAINST INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PEERS. 62 5.2.5 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANISATION BENEFITS 5.2.6 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRAINING, INDIVIDUAL OUTPUT, ORGANISATIONAL 63 EFFECTIVENESS AND ORGANISATIONAL OUTPUT 5.2.7 CONSIDERING TRAINING AS AN INVESTMENT TOWARDS INDIVIDUAL, 63 DEPARTMENTAL AND ORGANISATIONAL SUCCESS. 63 5.2.8 ADEQUACY AND APPROPRIATENESS OF TRAINING 5

5.2.9 CREATING VALUE PROPOSITION, COMMITMENT AND ENGAGEMENT AMONG 64 STAFF FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. 64 5.2.10 LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT AND CAREER GROWTH 64 5.3 KEY FINDINGS OF THE RESEARCH 65 5.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 66 5.5 RECOMMENDATIONS 67 CHAPTER 6 - LIST OF REFERENCES 73 LIST OF APPENDICES 6

List of Tables and Figures Tables 1. Research Paradigms 27 2. Research Assumptions 28 3. Research Strategies 29,30, 31 4. Research Methodology 31 5. Time Horizon 32 6. Data Collection Methods 32,33 7. Research Limitations 34 8. Research Ethics 36 Figures 1. High Impact Learning Model 18 2. Research Onion 25 3. Research Approaches 29 7

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Acknowledgements I acknowledge the following persons who helped me bringing this research project to life. Ms Himashi De Mel, for her tireless efforts to provide guidance, as my tutor, and advice to piece together this research and her invaluable constant supervision to meticulous detail that brought out the fine details to light. My parents and my sister, who supported me when I needed most. My friends, Thushara Vithanage, Amila De Saram-Larssen, Uthpala Amarasekara and Lasantha Dasanayaka who provided me with much needed comfort, knowledge and expertise on many perspectives discussed in the research. Ms Jayani Mendis and the Student Development Team at BMS. Their efforts to coordinate my research will always looked with sincerity and for the patience to our many requests during our GDM lectures. My trainees and workshop delegates who were absolute sports in taking part in the questionnaire and my line management for their careful consideration in letting me take my own space and time to complete the project. Furthermore, my heartfelt gratitude extends to Ms Deepanie Perera for her lectures and guidance, which helped me immensely during the project. I express my sincere gratitude for persons mentioned and not, for all their continued effort and support, which resulted in the successful culmination of my project. 9

Abstract The research takes a look at how training and development is looked at through a spectrum of strategic investment, its return and how it shapes building competitive advantage for employees. As such, ABCD Bank Plc’s Global Service Centre in Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka, provides the context to the study. The researcher aimed through his research to analyse the strategic need for learning and development in organisations and other factors that relate to building competitive advantage. Throughout the research, the researcher analysed concepts such as talent acquisition, talent management and talent retention in order to derive at the need for competitive advantage. Further, the study intended to cement the notion of how learning and development leads to be a key determinant of competitive advantage at ABCD Bank Plc and in global organisations. The study included a primary data collection using a questionnaire to gauge the need for and the effectiveness of learning and development at ABCD Bank Plc. The secondary data was collected through the research of relevant literature. With a quantitative analysis of data, the study concluded that learning and development is indeed a key determinant in creating competitive advantage. Moreover, it also summed up that learning and development is incremental organisations for growth and sustainable prosperity. Keywords: Learning and development, training, competitive advantage, talent management, diversity management, talent acquisition, employee value creation 10

Chapter 1 1.0 Introduction Training and development is misunderstood as a series of workshops or sessions that employees have to attend in most organisations. However, the very essence of training and development is not about the number of sessions that employees attend but rather on their quality. Moreover, most managers search for the elusive return on investment for most of these sessions given the massive amounts of money that being utilised for training sessions and organisational development. This chapter aims to understand the current needs for training and development at ABCD Bank Plc, against its current backdrop. The chapter also focuses on the research aims and the need for research into this specific area. 1.1Overview/ Rationale Training in all its senses (mentally, physically and socially) encompasses one of the means through which companies aim to achieve it employees’ productivity, brand value and most importantly; competitive advantage as subscribed by Olaniyan et al. (2008). Bersin (2014) emphasizes that although corporate spending for Training and Development has increased almost two- fold to $130bn by 15%, most companies still view training and development as an unnecessary waste of time or rather a distraction that would affect organisational effectiveness given that staff are away from work for sustained periods of time. Bersin (2014) reaffirms his status quo with reference to one of the most commonly asked boardroom questions; “What is the return on investment after running this training?” Suckley (2014) answers the above said boardroom question by adding that financial return on training is quantitative and can be measured but what adds value to the equation, through training and development, is confidence that each individual, team or teams are able to perform to the best of their knowledge and ability as Olaniyan and Ojo (2008) confirms that knowledge translates to ability and 11