G LOBAL M ARKETPLACE

Training plays a central role in the effective implementation of organizational strat- egy and merits thoughtful planning and investment of company resources. An MNC might formulate a brilliant strategy, but it will go nowhere without effective execu- tion and implementation, particularly by means of the current and high-quality mas- tery of knowledge and competencies as well as solid commitment to the priorities and direction of the organization. We now will examine five particular ways in which training can assist organizations in gaining a competitive advantage in our global marketplace.

Q

UALITY AND

C

USTOMER

S

ATISFACTION

Various studies have identified “reliability” as a primary if not the most important standard that customers use in evaluating the quality of a product or service.5 _This high premium on reliability is consistent with the total quality, Six Sigma, and ISO 9000 movements, which place a priority on using training to help employees achieve

consistent quality performance, thus reducing the variability of performance from a high quality standard.6 _{And a reduction in variability or variation from a defined} standard of performance is essentially the same as increasing the reliability of per- formance at that desired standard. Therefore, in this way training provides an impor- tant contribution to the achievement of customer satisfaction.

D

ECREASING

C

OSTS

A major strategy for competitive success is satisfying customer needs at lower costs than other firms are able to achieve—thus allowing the use of cost savings to develop new lines of business or service for better satisfying customers, or especially to reduce costs for the customer for products or services. Through effective training, as men- tioned earlier, a company can reduce “rejects” and unacceptable performance that yields undesirable results. And because these rejects represent undesirable costs to the orga- nization, their reduction and even elimination through effective training (for example, “zero defects,” in total quality language) represent important cost savings.

An additional means of lowering costs is the reduction of wasted time that could be put to more productive use. Training is important for reducing the “learning curve,” or time it takes for an employee to achieve an acceptable level of performance mas- tery. Thus, a shortened learning curve means less time is spent on less productive, suboptimal performance with its associated higher costs of mistakes and necessary higher degree of supervision, representing clear cost savings for the organization. In our global economy, where turbulence and change are increasingly common fea- tures of doing business, the agility, or ability of an organization to learn and adapt to needed change swiftly–as presented in the form of threats or opportunities—achieved through effective training and acquisition of new knowledge and skills represents a huge source of cost savings.7

The inability to adapt and change rapidly also means the potential costly loss of business to competition that can adapt and meet changing customer demand more quickly. Although not as universal and prominent a criterion as reliability, timeli- ness also has been strongly linked to customer satisfaction.8 _{Training again comes} into play here by promoting the ability, through rapid skill and process mastery, to reduce the time required to deliver a satisfying product or service to a customer. If your product is of similar price and quality as that of the competition, but yours is consistently available sooner upon the customer’s order due to your well-trained, competent workforce, your business will likely lead the competition.

O

RGANIZATIONAL

L

EARNING AND

K

NOWLEDGE

M

ANAGEMENT

We increasingly are noting the strategic role of organizational learning and knowl- edge management as companies compete globally.9 _{In their research on thirty-five} major MNCs from North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, Conn and Yip found that MNC effectiveness in transferring critical capabilities was by far the most important factor affecting success of a foreign venture.10 _{As mentioned earlier} in chapter 4, related to knowledge transfer, knowledge held by individuals can be in the form of tacit knowledge, or capability possessed by an individual based on his or her overall level of experience and expertise. Typically this tacit knowledge is not consciously reflected upon, but simply drawn on as work tasks demand. This knowl- edge often is shared through team working arrangements in which the less-experienced employee can observe the actions and decision-making behavior of the more expert employee. Training professionals also can observe these experts to capture their tacit forms of expertise and convert this tacit knowledge into more explicit knowledge and training objectives to be disseminated systematically throughout the firm. Company- wide training plays a major role here through its involvement in the identification of knowledge and competency needs for addressing performance problems and require- ments and subsequent systematic diffusion and transfer of knowledge and skills throughout the organization.11 _{Collective individual learning and knowledge acqui-} sition resulting from training and various formal and informal forms of experience sharing are followed by organizational learning, or changes in MNC culture, poli- cies, and commonly accepted practices. Collaborative efforts, including joint ven- tures, are engaged in to provide a valuable exchange and sharing of ideas, knowledge, and experience.12 _{However, this sharing and dissemination of new knowledge and} competencies will proceed only in a haphazard, unpredictable manner unless sys- tematic practices of training are adopted.

G

LOBAL

A

LIGNMENT

Various training activities and related efforts can be used to help build internal em- ployee alignment, or a common mind-set, throughout the MNC that brings control and consistency to offset the unavoidable uncertainty and rapid change within the environments of global business.13 _{Beyond this common mind-set, training also can} build a common commitment and sense of values to guide decisions; shared attitudes

provide additional stability and support for unity of action. This alignment is par- ticularly crucial as MNCs continue to expand into foreign markets through mergers and acquisitions with foreign organizations whose employees unavoidably possess different priorities, values, and ways of thinking, with typically greater difference corresponding to greater cultural distance.14

B

UILDING

G

LOBAL

T

ALENT

An increasing priority for MNCs is the development of high-potential employees, from wherever they are found in the global organization, into effective managers and leaders who are able to think and compete effectively on a global scale. This devel- opment of needed talent to meet the firm’s present and future international business needs cannot be left to happenstance. Training can serve a vital function for helping global professionals and leaders reliably and effectively develop general interna- tional competencies (for example, international adjustment skills) that are crucial for their present and future success as well as specific knowledge and skills that meet specific international assignment demands (such as specific foreign language ability and knowledge of local laws).15

In document Managing a Global Workforce HR2 (Page 180-182)