Training and Development Comfort Transportation Pte Ltd

Question: Discuss about theTraining and Developmentfor Comfort Transportation Pte Ltd. Answer: Introduction Technology has developed over the years facilitating interaction of people. It has aided in sharing of information on new business trends. Besides, it provides for opportunities to develop new ideas. However, it has posed a challenge of increased competition for traditional firms that either have to keep up or are completely put out of business. It is therefore up to these companies to come up new objectives that deal with their challenges. This paper explores the challenges faced by the taxi industry due to the use of taxi-hiring apps, proposes new goals and training programs to ensure their employees can work efficiently. Organizational Background The taxi industry has developed in the recent years by incorporating technology. Uber and GrabCar are apps that allow people to hire transport services. The companies using computer applications have a competitive advantage over the traditional taxi companies as they offer cheaper charges. Also, they allow users to share information on travelling route with family and friends for monitoring. For taxi drivers, the apps enable them to have flexible schedules, and self-management. Such technology has, therefore, posed challenges to taxi companies who face increased competition and high employee turnover. Comfort Transportation Pte Ltd is a corporation operating in the taxi industry, and like other taxi companies, Uber and GrabCar has increased its competition threat and employee turnover. Though it has loyal employees, the consistent reduction in earnings poses a challenge of high employee turnover in the future. Despite the challenges, transportation companies have a few strengths. They provide for the security of both the drivers and passengers and offer insurance benefits to its drivers. The company has to revise its goals to accommodate the changes in the business environment. Identification of Business Goals After studying the challenges facing the transport industry, the following are the proposed goals for Comfort Company; To develop an enterprise software application. This application will help bridge the gap that exists between it and Uber and GrabCar. To train employees how to use the new form. A new application in the company will require that the company conducts a training program to ensure that its employees can understand how to use it. To offer cheap and flexible transport charges. This will help attract more customers who are loyal to the company and increase their customer base. To minimise employee turnover. The challenges the company is facing has put it at the risk of facing high employee turnover. It should implement strategies that reduce future employee turnover. Meeting the above goals will help Comfort Ltd to increase its strengths compared to the rival applications. Developing software that operates like Uber will expand its customer base. It will also contribute to reducing turnover by providing a more secure job to its employees. Organizational Needs Analysis To achieve its set goals, it is necessary to carry out an analysis of the organisational needs of Comfort Ltd. An organisational needs analysis involves examining a firms current conditions and its desired future position. It determines the gap by identifying shortcomings of the business structure (Sleezer Russ-Eft, 2007). It explores the strengths and weakness of a company as well as its opportunities and threats it faces. The SWOT analysis technique is the most appropriate. Comfort Ltd has a loyal employee base which is a strength and is met with threats such as future employee turnover and increased competition. The analysis determines the need for a training program to minimise or eliminate these weaknesses. After conducting structural analysis on Comfort Ltd, it is necessary for the companys members to have sufficient knowledge of the business environment and new trends, skills that ensure they are efficient and effective, and attitudes that accommodate the change to realise the firm's goals stated above. The management team should have adequate knowledge about the new application that is, how to operate it, advantages and disadvantages. They should possess analytical skills to identify possible failures of the software and the risks the firm faces should they occur. Subordinate staff, on the other hand, should understand the working of the application and acquire necessary skill to use it. The technical department should have adequate skills that detect troubleshooters in the software and have knowledge on how to solve the problems that may arise. They should be able to examine the nature of possible failures and design procedures on how to address them should they occur in future (Sleezer Russ-Eft, 2007) Having analysed the structure of Comfort Ltd, it is evident that the company has the right attitude to meet its goals. Besides, the management identifies the new challenges that the organisation faces and makes the necessary decisions and strategic plans to overcome these difficulties. However, since the proposed goals included the development of a new software program, it is important to equip all members with knowledge on the software and skills necessary to operate it. Also, it has provided the technical team with sufficient training. Task (Function) Analysis The proposed new goals of the firm introduce new and complex task to be undertaken hence the need to conduct a functional analysis. A job analysis examines how work gets accomplished. It gives detailed insight on both the manual and mental complexities of the activities, the duration of performance and the frequency of tasks (Ainsworth, 2009). Also, it provides a comparison between the job's demands and the capabilities of the operator to meet these requirements. Jobs in a firm can be divided into observable actions and tacit cognitive functions. Observables tasks include all those activities that can be physically measured while implicit cognitive functions describe activities that are mentally performed based on ones skills and experience. In the transport industry, the main tasks involved include administration, transportation, and maintenance. However, these tasks are further broken down to allow for division of labour and increase efficiency. In Comfort Ltd, these tasks have been allocated to different departments where they are further sub-divided to reduce the workload for each member. Most activities carried out at the company are physically measurable such as driving, accounting, and maintenance (Ainsworth, 2009). On the other hand, decision-making by managers is a tacit cognitive task. With the additional software management responsibility, the company will require acquiring a team that can sufficiently conduct implied cognitive, technical functions. Individual Learning Needs Analysis New goals and tasks proposed in the business have arisen the necessity of a training program. It is, therefore, necessary to analyse the learning requirements of every individual of the firm. An individual learning needs analysis explores the attitude, current levels of skill and knowledge of members of an organisation and anticipates gaps depending on tasks and required expertise (Huddlestone Pike, n.d.). This analysis helps to identify the learning provisions in a training program. Identification of Intended Learning Outcomes Comfort Ltd will require addressing the expertise gap that arises when it incorporates sophisticated software to its structure. Its employees will need training on how to operate the application. This training will be based on how best an individual can work an electronic device. More emphasis should be paid to the computer illiterate as they have a wider expertise gap. Understanding individual, task, and organisational needs help design an appropriate program that has all the necessary provisions to facilitate training. After conducting a training program, productivity and efficiency are expected to improve. A training program at Comfort Ltd may result in higher computer literacy and expertise, increased efficiency and productivity as well as employee confidence and motivation (Huddlestone Pike, n.d.). Conclusion In conclusion, technology had adverse effects on traditional transport companies. 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