STRATEGIC TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT REPORT

Onboard Assignment

STRATEGIC TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT REPORT

This assignment is worth 20% of your final grade. It gives you an opportunity to investigate, analyze, and report on the strategic role of training and development in an organization. You must complete this assignment individually, without contacting other students. The assignment addresses Course Objectives 1, 2, and 3.

The Training Top 125 for 2017
For the past 17 years, Training magazine has ranked organizations based on their employer-sponsored training and development programs. The list below contains the top five organizations for 2017.
2017 Training Top 5/125 Winners

1 Keller Williams Realty, Inc.

2 New York Community Bancorp, Inc.

3 Leading Real Estate Companies of the World

4 BNSF Railway

5 Sonic Automotive, Inc.

Details about the selection process and about all 125 organizations ranked by Training can be found at the magazine’s website:

https://trainingmag.com/training-magazine-ranks-2017-training-top-125-organizations
YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Choose one of Training magazine’s top five organizations and investigate the organization’s strategic training and development initiatives.

Visit the organization’s web site for business information (hint: look at the organization’s annual report for information about financial expenditures, company priorities, and competition) and use the UMUC library to conduct a search for references to the organization. Don’t forget to look for YouTube videos by or about the organization.

You should also browse the trainingmag.com website for additional articles related to the Top 125 list. The January/February 2017 issue contains a wealth of information. Since the top five companies in 2017 were not all the same top five companies in previous years, you should browse the trainingmag.com website for earlier articles about the company you choose to explore.

Prepare a 3-5 page report based on your research.
Using the criteria Training uses to rank organizations as well as information from your own research, prepare a 3-5 page report about strategic training and development in your chosen organization. Your report should include the following elements:

1. A description of the organization and its major products and/or services (a brief description — no more than two or three paragraphs). Try to find information about the organization’s mission and/or goals and how its training function is organized. The organization’s website and its annual report, particularly the letter to shareholders at the beginning of the annual report, are good sources of information. Be sure to cite the specific web page where you found information used in your report. [Do not cut and paste the company’s descriptions. i.e do not include statements such as “Our mission is to…” use your own words and write from your point of view – such as “The company states its mission is to…”

2. A description and assessment of the characteristics of the organization that help it excel in training and development. Include factors such as the total budget for or amount of money spent on training and development; the level of employee involvement in training and development activities; the type(s) of training and development opportunities offered; the organization’s investment in and/or use of technology for training; and the availability of benefits such as tuition assistance.

3. A description and assessment of how the TD function operates in the organization. How is the TD function organized? Does it follow one of the T&D models well-known to T&D academics? For a description of three training organizational models, read http://www.trainingindustry.com/wiki/entries/organizational-models-in-training.aspx. Does the organization use training needs analyses (TNAs) to identify performance gaps or the need for new skills to support business strategies and initiatives? Does the organization employ the ADDIE, RID, or Agile approaches to design training? Do the TD professionals in the organization display any of the competencies described in the ATD T&D professionals’ competency model mentioned in the Week 1 lecture?

Support your opinions and statements with a minimum of four references from sources published within the last ten years. Use the materials provided by the class. You can cite scholarly and practitioner-oriented journals, course materials, newspaper articles, YouTube videos by or about the organization, the organization’s annual report, and the organization’s web site, but not Wikipedia, vendor websites, or other non-academic sources. The UMUC library can help you identify appropriate sources.

Use APA format for citations, references, and quotations. This means your list of references should start on a separate page, and should be double spaced, with a hanging indent and no spaces between entries. For help with APA format, please consult the Writing Resources module in the Course Resources section of our classroom. Your report should be three to five pages (not counting the cover or reference pages and not counting any tables, charts, or other appendices), double spaced with one inch margins and a font size of at least 11 points.

Submit your assignment electronically via the Assignment folder.

Name your file this way: YourLastNameFirstInitial_T&DReport
(Example: DoeJ_T&DReport)

Due date: [June 11, 2017], 11:59 p.m. Eastern time

Please see the next page for the grading criteria for this assignment.
Criteria for Grading the Strategic Training and Development Report

Note: The strategic training and development report should be 3-5 pages long, excluding the reference and cover pages. Most organizations value efficient communication. Busy managers and executives do not have time (and most do not have the inclination) to read long reports. However, you will not be penalized if you exceed the page limit slightly.

Criteria

A B C F Points Earned
Knowledge and Application of Relevant Theories and Concepts
(55 pts) Student demonstrated exceptional knowledge and application of relevant theories and concepts; all statements and opinions were supported by appropriate citations from the literature.

55 – 50 points Student demonstrated satisfactory knowledge and application of relevant theories and concepts; most statements and opinions were supported by appropriate citations from the literature.

49 – 44 points Student demonstrated less than satisfactory knowledge and application of relevant theories and concepts; some statements and opinions were not supported by appropriate citations from the literature.

43 – 39 points Student demonstrated unsatisfactory knowledge and application of relevant theories and concepts; many statements and opinions were not supported by appropriate citations from the literature.

38 – 0 points
Comments
Quality of Research
(30 pts) Student did an exceptional job of researching the organization and integrating course readings with the additional research. Student cited more than the required number of references; sources listed were all scholarly or practitioner journals, newspapers, annual reports, or academic books from the last ten years.
30 – 27 points Student did a satisfactory job of researching the organization and integrating course readings with the additional research. Student cited the required number of references; sources listed were primarily scholarly or practitioner journals, newspapers, annual reports, or academic books from the last ten years.
26 – 24 points Student did a less than satisfactory job of researching the organization and integrating course readings with the additional research. Student may not have cited the required number of references; some sources listed were not scholarly or practitioner journals, newspapers, annual reports, or academic books from the last ten years.

23 – 21 points Student did an inadequate job of researching the organization and integrating course readings with the additional research. Student did not cite the required number of references; many of the sources listed were not scholarly or practitioner journals, newspapers, annual reports, or academic books from the last ten years.
20 – 0 points
Comments

Presentation of Ideas and Mechanics
(10 pts) Student presented ideas in a well-organized, compelling manner with no distracting grammar or spelling problems; the page length requirement was met.
10 – 9 points Student presented ideas presented in an organized manner with few distracting grammar or spelling problems; the page length requirement was met.
8 points Student presented ideas in a somewhat organized manner with several distracting grammar or spelling problems; the page length requirement may not have been met.
7 points Student presented ideas in a poorly organized or incoherent manner with many distracting grammar or spelling problems; the page length requirement may not have been met.

6 – 0 points
Comments
APA formatting
(5 pts) All citations, quotations, and references were properly formatted or contained one or two minor errors.

5 points Most citations, quotations, and references were properly formatted or contained a few minor errors.

4 points Some citations, quotations, and references were not properly formatted or contained major errors.

3.5 points Many citations, quotations, and references were not properly formatted or contained many errors.

3 – 0 points
Comments
Total Points Earned
(100 points max)
Overall Comments