Paper Example on Training and Developing Workforce for Business Growth

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

The workforce in a company determines its good performance. Employees are prime assets for an organization and its operations to ensure growth and survival in the competitive environment (Amadi, 2014). Therefore, a company should work to provide its workers with training and development to enable them to remain committed, motivated, and skilled in executing their duties within the business. The effort of training workers is directly related to the quality of human resources in a business and in in turn employee effectiveness. Some of the organizations consider training and development as an essential part of employee motivation and effectiveness. Business has a responsibility for assessing, establishing and satisfying employee training and development needs to enhance their effectiveness when performing their duties and serving the organization (Asfaw, Argaw & Bayissa, 2015) That way, businesses can exploit the inherent capabilities of the workforce including their contributions, employability, and potential after gaining more knowledge and skills from the learning and development opportunities provided continuously in the organization.

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The increased competition in the global market has led to businesses focusing on each and every aspect of operations (Elnaga & Imran, 2013). The management in organizations is now questioning every function and process on how they can contribute to the achievement of the strategic goals. The training and development departments have the mandate of overseeing this responsibility and take action on meeting employee training and development needs. The training departments are now pressurized to show their value within the business as organizations are spending a lot of time, effort and money in training workers. However, the benefits or change from these training and development sessions for employees are not visible most of the times when looking at their effectiveness and organizational performance (Pallavi & Kulkarni, 2013).

This implication calls for companies to take crucial measures in ensuring that training and development useful within the business operations. The management should have a well-planned training and development strategy that aligns to the systematic implementation to enhance employee effectiveness and ultimately the organizational performance. Well trained employees can perform their duties effectively (Nassazi, 2013). Staffs influence the organization achievement of its targets based on performance. It is critical for organizations to realize the importance of training and development of staff in achieving improved performance. Since human resources are a critical aspect of organization success, it is necessary to implement measures that optimize their contribution towards the achievement of the aims and objectives of the company. The current research will be examining the impact of training and development on employee efficiency with a special reference to the TAQA ATRUSH B.V. Company in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).

Training and development are defined as the formal and systematic adaptation of behavior through learning (Amadi, 2014). It takes place after people are educated, following the given instructions, developing the needed skills and knowledge as well as the planned experience. Through training and development, the workforce in a company is equipped with the required skills, attitudes and knowledge to handle their responsibilities in the workplace. Development of employees entails providing them with crucial competencies to help them meet the environmental demands and adaptability to change in the future.

1.2 Background to TAQA ATRUSH B.V

The meaning of TAQA in Arabic is energy. The TAQA ATRUSH B.V Company is based in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. TAQA operates the ATRUSH Block in the northwest, Erbil with the field site (operations block) in ATRUSH District at Duhok. The company possesses the largest share in the block with other partners such as the General Exploration Partners and Marathon (TAQA, 2018). The TAQA ATRUSH B.V Company embraces crucial ethical standards in running its operations safely and sustainably. Currently, the organization goals are aligned with the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 that promotes the achievement of a sustainable economy promoted through the knowledge-based industry.

There are over 200 employees working on the ATRUSH project in TAQA headquarters, KRI. The company has a powerful purpose and a clear vision to embrace the future with shared values. By embracing shared values all employees pull in the same direction towards achieving the organizational goals. Based on its purpose of operations, the TAQA ATRUSH B.V Company in KRI aims at improving the lives of people and brings them prosperity through the production of energy. The company delivers affordable and reliable products including energy, water, and gas. Its workforce ensures to make a difference when delivering solutions to people. Its values promote the building of an ensuring business that makes its people proud.

The TAQA ATRUSH B.V Company focuses on three sectors including oil and gas, energy and water. Therefore, the main operations for the business are water desalination, power generation, pipelines, gas storage, gas and oil exploration, and production. The organization gives its employees an opportunity to grow and expand their skills as they work. Staffs are allowed to advance their careers in an environment that is challenging and exciting. The success of TAQA has been based on recruiting smart and passionate workers. The company participates in in-house knowledge building, expertise, and experience. These training and development goals are key to achieving sustainable success and long-term performance of the business. Every employee joining the company is assured of growing and achieving their potential (TAQA, 2018).

1.3 The Problem Statement

Employee training and development is a critical element in achieving the goals and objectives of a business (Amadi, 2014). Sustaining effectiveness of employees requires the optimization of their contribution to the organization. Training and development motivate and involves staff in aspects that enhance their effectiveness in the company. One of the objectives of human resources management in an enterprise is to create situations that promote the realization of the latent potential or workers (Saleem, Shahid, & Naseem, 2011). Without this focus, an organization will have staff not committed to the organizational success. The scope of evaluating training and development needs in a company should focus on what the initiative will contribute to the big picture of the organization including employee effectiveness. Training and development serve the ultimate purpose of improving employee effectiveness that in turn achieved performance results (Singh & Mohanty, 2012). Therefore, training activities should have the effect of addressing the competitiveness of employees in the industry at the individual, organizational and international level.

In TAQA ATRUSH B.V Company in KRI, the success of the business is built on the recruitment of passionate and smart people. Training and development focus is on building in-house skills, knowledge, expertise, and experience to achieve employee effectiveness and organizational success. The company wants to see its workers' contribution to the business, people who have the capability to become part of the TAQA success, take responsibility and help in shaping the organizational culture. In that case, they must work the TAQA Way by becoming leaders with the ability to embody the business culture and their actions shaped by the company values. The workers must learn the way of interacting with each other among themselves, the business and all the other stakeholders including customers, industry partners, community, investors and the government. Therefore, there are training needs that must be identified and met to ensure all employees meet the demands of working the TAQA Way. The TAQA ATRUSH B.V Company must conduct training and development sessions and workshops for its employees in areas such as products, systems, customer service, management, and leadership, as well as quality assurance.

The subject of training and development has not been researching in the context of the TAQA Company in KRI. Also, there are no studies on the training and development of employees and its impact on employee efficiency in relation to energy companies. Those investigating on the subject focus on its impact on employee performance (Barzegar & Shahroz, 2011), productivity (McDowall & Saunders, 2010), and behavior (Pallavi & Kulkarni, 2013). Barzegar and Shahroz (2011) studied the impact of on the job training courses on staff performance and found out that employees gain new knowledge and technology, build organization culture and improve their performance by undergoing job training courses. The courses influence employee performance even though the level of change in the company is below the expected standards. Pallavi & Kulkarni (2013) undertook a literature review on training and development and quality of work and found out that training plays a significant role in challenging the format of business and obtaining competent employees. Training enhances the quality of work from staff by making changing their behavior, attitudes towards the job and improving their morale.

McDowall and Saudners (2010) evaluated the UK manager's conceptions of training and development and revealed that the conceptualizations of training and development in organizations vary. Through formal training, companies improve employee job-related skills. However, there other non-job related skills that cannot be achieved through formal training. Therefore, a combined approach towards training and development in organizations will be valuable in addressing both job and non-job related skills for workers. The above studies are only but a few of those undertaken on the subject of training and development in organizations. From the previous findings, it is evident that there is no study that focuses specifically on training and development and its contribution to employee effectiveness. There is an existing gap in the knowledge, literature, and research regarding the topic of training and development and its impact of employee efficienc...