Competency Training in Collaborative Supply Chain Using KSA Model

(1)

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 191 ( 2015 ) 500 – 505

Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of WCES 2014 doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.352

ScienceDirect

WCES 2014

Competency Training in Collaborative Supply Chain Using KSA

Model

Andra Badea

a

*, Gabriela Prostean

a

, Andrei Hutanu

a

_{, Serban Popa}

a

a_{“Politehnica” University of Timisoara, Faculty of Management in Production and Transportation, 14 Remus str., 300191 Timisoara, Romania}

Abstract

The new alternatives of collaboration implies a deep analysis of competencies of supply chain actors and involves a good partnership amongst supply chain partners through exchange of information, resources and allocation of specific roles. It is considered to be important finding mutually profitable cooperation models that support staff essential educational training for a good supply chain collaboration. One of the concepts that helps educational courses to improve training in collaboration between partners it is use to identify new challenges that requires competencies in supply chain. The methodology is based on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes model (KSAs) and it is use to support competency training in collaborative supply chain. Knowledge Skills and Attitudes (KSA) are considered part of the three domains identified in the educational styles of learning activities. The KSAs were selected to enable supply chain professionals, regardless of work setting, to identify areas of training needed in order to become proficient in the competencies required to address their areas of responsibilities in supply chain. More specifically this paper presents the learning process in a collaborative buyer-supplier relationship and the development of shared knowledge, skills and attitudes in supply chain relations. The model applied present that supply chain actors need to have the ability to understand the information to perform the right task and demonstrate that stimulating internal drivers provide answers for a good collaboration between partners.

Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of WCES 2014.

Keywords: knowledge, skills, attitudes, educational training, communication 1. Introduction

It has become essential for the achievement of organizational goals that competencies enable employees to combine and leverage their individual knowledge for greater organizational advantage (Barnes and Liao, 2012). More important it has been shown that creating an area where are involves collaborative activities can increase competitive advantage and organizational performance (Cao and Qingyu, 2013). One of the concepts that helps

* Andra Badea. Tel.: +40.744.987.917

E-mail address: [email protected]

(2)

educational courses to improve training in collaboration between partners it is use to identify new challenges that requires competencies in supply chain. The new challenges of collaboration in supply chain must empower supply chain managers to share information, develop relationships, cooperate, and use collaborative skills with suppliers and internal/external customers. Internally, they must understand, collaborate and resolve differences with various business functions within their own company (McCarter and Northcraft, 2007). To achieve these challenges they have to put in front one important idea that every method that implies cooperation between partners it is use to share mutual objective, respectively, giving greater information in order to avoid interruptions in logistics flows. In this case collaborative relationships must be characterized by trust, commitment and long term time horizons (Ntayi, Eyaa, 2010). This process of collaboration involves a good partnership amongst supply chain partners through

exchange of information, resources and allocation of specific roles in order to enable mutual risk management [6]. When it comes to risk this can be unpredictable if we look at (1) disruptions of natural disasters, terrorism, war, (2) delays and inflexibility of supply source, (3) systems information infrastructure breakdown, (4) inaccurate forecast and bullwhip effect, (5) intellectual property, (6) procurement and exchange rate risk, (7) receivables and number of customers, (8) inventory holding cost, demand and supply uncertainty, (9) cost of capacity (Sutton, Smedley and Arnold, 2008). Regarding these aspects the research team proposes a model for competency training that support staff essential educational training for situations that involves different risk factors that can harm the entire process of collaboration in the supply chain. Using this educational model can generate the utility of collaborative teamwork knowledge, skills, and attitudes training for enhancing the effectiveness of action teams in supply chain. Applying this model in collaborative supply chain trained team members can achieves higher levels of declarative knowledge regarding teamwork competencies and demonstrated greater proficiency in the areas of planning and task coordination, collaborative problem solving, and communication (Chopra and Sodhi, 2004). More specifically this paper presents the learning process in a collaborative buyer-supplier relationship and development of shared knowledge, skills and attitudes in supply chain relations. Collaboration between buyer and supplier occurs when two or more organizations such as the manufacturer, the distributor, the carrier, and the retailer share their responsibilities, resources and performance information to serve similar end customers. The role of collaborative relationships it is used to develop long-term relationships, loyalty and commitment (Aleksander, Bell, Ployhart, Hollenbeck & Ilgen, 2005). The flow of information and technology is a crucial factor for supply chain efficiency. From perspective of collaborative relationships between competitors and other supply chains actors one of the strategies of collaboration it is used when two or more unrelated or competing organizations cooperate to share their private information or resources. Collaboration requires high communication skills between various information systems and a compatibility of their practices (Chonticha, 2011). Based on above arguments to develop a collaborative buyer-supplier relationship map the research team analysed important aspects of collaboration that motivate behaviour of supply chain partners in order to extend and maintain good relationships. It is considered to be important finding mutually profitable cooperation models that support staff essential educational training for a good supply chain collaboration. Dealing with human resources and people management issues in a dynamic environment it is difficult to remain competitively superior over competitors. The driving force behind such an organization is its ability to effectively manage knowledge (Briscoe, Dainty and Millett, 2001). Education is needed to create a vision as well to empower people at all levels to become actively engaged in integration and improvement initiatives. Such staff educational training is further necessary because people tend to resist change, especially when change requires yielding up control, exposing weakness or valuable information to others, and changing one’s mindset (Senge, 2000). People cannot be forced to change; rather they must be enrolled to generate buy-in to allow their passions to manifest in making the supply chain succeed (Krathwohl, Bloom and Masia, 1973). In this case to develop a competency training in collaborative supply chain we have to identify the issues that implies the newest alternatives of collaboration, more exactly information sharing, decision synchronization, skill sharing and knowledge management.

1.1. Information sharing

There are some aspects that information sharing in a supply chain can transform business collaboration between buyer and supplier into a potential crisis. Confidentiality is probably one of the biggest issues, and there are other obstacles not so obvious like antitrust regulations, the timeliness and accuracy of the provided information, differing technologies between the supply chain partners (Cao, Qingyu, 2013). Therefore trust and cooperation become critical ingredients in a supply chain partnership (Fawcett, Magnan and McCarter, 2005). They must share the

(3)

information in both forward and backward flows that provide adequate visibility across both internal functions and organizational of the supply chain.

1.2. Decision synchronization

Supply chain partners coordinate planning and operations activities for optimizing the supply chain benefits. A supply chain decision refers to the following actions: combining information and plans, resolving differences and conflicts, establishing procedures and rules. Problem in synchronization decision process may arise when information is widely dispersed or there is no clear authority structure. Supply chain partners have different decision rights and expertise about supply chain planning and operations (Simatupang & Sridharan 2002). They can have conflicting crisis in choosing the right decision for the overall chain.

1.3. Resource and skill sharing

Skill sharing between buyer and supplier it is referring to IT knowledge in order to construct the linked information system. A potential risk could be considered disruptions of the material, technological information flow between partners (Aleksander, Bell, Ployhart, Hollenbeck & Ilgen, 2005).

1.4. Knowledge Management

From the perspective of knowledge management, collaborative relationships develop competence through different programs to provide mutual positive feedback. Knowledge management is an important determinant of higher performance and greater competitiveness. Apparently knowledge management in collaborative supply chain provides a sustainable supply chain in production innovation, reducing project time, improving quality and customer satisfaction (Karuranga, Frayret & D’ Amours, 2008). Analyzing these alternatives of collaboration we identify 4 domains that need a special attention for supporting staff essential educational training, more specifically collaboration in buyer-supplier relationships for a good supply chain coordination. The methodology is based on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes model (KSAs) and it is use to support competency training in collaborative supply chain. The KSAs were selected to enable supply chain professionals, regardless of work setting, to identify areas of training needed in order to become proficient in the competencies required to address their areas of responsibilities in supply chain to avoid interruptions in logistic flow caused by different risk factors.

2. Applying the KSAs model

Knowledge Skills and Attitudes (KSA) are considered part of the three domains identified in the educational styles of learning activities (Maqsood, Finegan, Walker & Derek, 2003). Benjamin Bloom was the person who associated these to the learning process. He believed that knowledge referred to the cognitive process of mental skills. Attitude was related to the affective area that has to deal with feelings or emotions and skills the psychomotor process of manual or physical skills (Anderson, Krathwohl, Airasian, Cruikshank, Mayer, Pintrich, Raths & Wittrock, 2000). The KSAs model provide a foundation and enable supply chain professionals to identify areas of training needed in order to become proficient in the competencies required to address their areas of responsibilities in supply chain. The model applied present that supply chain actors need to have the ability to understand the information to perform the right task and demonstrate that stimulating internal drivers provide answers for a good collaboration between partners. After studying recent articles and journals about collaborative relationships in supply chain and after final discussions the research team has identified 4 domains and 17 competencies noted in Table 1. In collaborative buyer-supplier relationship map are analyses competencies of supply chain actors in different problems, how they communicate and manage the information, how they manage the plan and improve practice for future activities and how they coordinate tasks and maintained good relationships between them.

Table 1: Collaborative buyer-supplier relationship map

Domains Competencies

1. Collaborative problem solving 1.1 Solve problems under emergency conditions.

1.2 Manage behaviors associated with emotional responses in self and others. 1.3 Facilitate collaboration with internal and external emergency response partners.

(4)

1.4 Maintain situational awareness.

1.5 Demonstrate respect for all persons and cultures. 1.6 Act within the scope of one's legal authority. 2. Communicate and Manage Information 2.1 Manage information related to an emergency.

2.2 Use principles of crisis and risk communication.

2.3 Report information potentially relevant to the identification and control of an emergency through the chain of command.

2.4 Collect data

2.5 Manage the recording and/or transcription of data

3. Plan for and Improve Practice 3.1 Contribute expertise to a community hazard vulnerability analysis. 3.2 Contribute expertise to the development of emergency plans.

3.3 Participate in improving the organization’s capacities (including, but not limited to programs, plans, policies, laws, and workforce training)

4. Task coordination 4.1 Shared planning and flexibility in coordinating activities

4.2 Protective behaviors according to changing conditions, personal limitations, and threats.

4.3 Report unresolved threats through the chain of command. Source Association of Schools of Public Health, 2012

2.1. Developing the Knowledge, Skills & Attitudes (KSAs)

With the domains and competencies defined, the next step in operationalizing a training model was to define KSAs statements for each of the 17 competencies noted in Table 2. The Table 2 was elaborated after the research team has indicated important details of KSA in collaborative supply chain articles. KSAs in Collaborative Supply Chain was created in order to determine if supply chain actors use current knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate for achieving better supply chain integration. The implications of current skills and attitudinal deficiencies are assessed in terms of whether they act as barriers to effective supply chain partnering in the future (Bloom B. S. 1956). Also a number of factors that affect partnerships (behavior) affect learning collaboration. Learning appears to have a positive impact on performance measures relating to end-customer satisfaction and being a more market-focused supply chain.

(5)

The data in Table 2 was collected after an action research and a deep analysis of articles regarding the collaborative relationships between actors in supply chain [1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 12; 19; 20]. Based on bibliographic statistical research presented in Table 2 we obtained for every domain a number of KSA according to the following reasoning. The result for Domain 1 was calculated summing K. (17), S. (41) and A. (7). In a similar manner were calculated the results obtained for Domain 2, Domain 3 and Domain 4 (fig. 2). We observed that the results for Domain 1 (65 KSAs) are much higher that the results for Domain 2,3 and 4. The Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes (KSAs) model in collaborative supply chain provide specific statements of observable and measurable behaviors necessary to measure the competencies (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. KSAs in Collaborative buyer-supplier relationship

The research team propose that training to become proficient and address areas of supply chain responsibilities it is necessary to plan and process steps to develop a competency training. Developing this competency training can improve the relationships between actors in supply chain. The research team presented this process in three steps. Step 1: Organizational Purpose

The first step is to establish the organizations purpose in undertaking training (to teach new concepts or improve current performance). Using training staff to develop skills for better collaboration on information sharing in a very short time. An example can be considered entering the information into the system by the person responsible for the product delivery for the logistic department know exactly what size and how much space it requires for storage. This can save time and cost.

Step 2: Selecting Appropriate Instructional

The second step is to ensure that learning outcomes are realized using methods that can apply knowledge transfer respectively ensure that decisions can be taken. When is clear hierarchy structure decisions synchronization ensure better coordination. In this step are appropriate workshops that combine information and plans, resolving differences and conflicts, establishing procedures and rules, training in situations of stress, risk uncertainty, time pressure. Trainings and workshops are more specific statements of observable and measurable behaviours necessary to mastering each competency; these suggest how knowledge, skills, and attitudes will be different because of the learning experience. The earlier employees can acquire skills sharing in their work process, managing and improving personal and team performance levels.

Step 3: Evaluate Curriculum and Development Process

Organizations increasingly need their employees to act as trusted business partners across functions and to collaborate effectively with different parts of the organization. Training has to be an important path for sustainable development in future collaborative relationships. After training testing determine whether the competency training met the educational objectives, indicate some key talent and improve employee satisfaction.

(6)

3. Conclusions and future work

Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes (KSAs) model represents an important step forward in providing preparedness training for managers in supply chain. Knowing that most of the supply chain organizations and staff in supply chain have core competencies in different risk management programs is sometimes very difficult and critical to be prepared and response to all-hazards events. Within an organization interactions the distribution of responsibilities, resources and power between people, can critically affect that organization willingness and capacity to comply with work regulation. Also, inspecting and enforcing among all players in supply chain through coordinated, networked interventions may be needed to overcome constraints to compliance. After the final results was obtained the research team observed that a higher importance is allocated to Domain 1 and Domain 2. The next step for a future research is to develop a model that focus competencies for collaborative problem solving and competencies for communicate and manage information inside the supply chain organization and between supply chain partners.

References

Aleksander, P. J. E., Bell, B., Ployhart, R. E., Hollenbeck, J. R., & Ilgen, D. R. (2005). An evaluation of generic teamwork skill training with action teams: Effects on cognitive and skill-based outcomes. from Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations site. http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/articles/46/

Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P. W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R. E., Pintrich, P. R., Raths, J., Wittrock, M. C. (2000). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon.

Barnes J., Liao Y. (2012) The effect of individual, network, and collaborative competencies on the supply chain management system, Int. J.Production Economics 140 pp 888–899

Biggs, J. B. and Collis, K. (1982). Evaluating the Quality of Learning: the SOLO taxonomy. New York, Academic Press Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.

Briscoe, G., Dainty, A. R.J, Millett, S. (2001) Construction supply chain partnerships: skills, knowledge and attitudinal requirements, European

Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management, Volume 7, Issue 4, 243–255

Cao, M., Qingyu, Z. (2013) Supply Chain Collaboration Roles of Interorganizational Systems, Trust, and Collaborative Culture, Springer London Heidelberg New York Dordrecht, ISBN 978-1-4471-4591-2

Chonticha, M. (2011). Supply Chain Collaboration – What’s an outcome? : A Theoretical Model. International Conference on Financial Management and Economics, 11, 102-108.

Chopra, S., Sodhi, M. S. (2004). Managing risk to avoid supply chain breakdown. MIT Sloan Management Review 46 (1), 53-62.

Deshumkh, P. A. (2010). Horizontal Collaboration in Flexible Supply Chains: A Simulation Study. Journal of Studies on Manufacturing, Vol. 1, 54-58.

Fawcett S. E., Magnan G. M., McCarter M.W. (2005) The Effect of People on the Supply Chain World: Some Overlooked Issues http://business.illinois.edu/Working_Papers/papers/05-0118.pdf

http://www.orsea.net/pastpapers/2008/Collaborative%20Relationships,%20Procurement%20Practices%20and%20Supply%20Chain%20Perform ance.pdf

Karuranga, E., Frayret, J. M., D’ Amours S. (2008). Measurement and Determinants of Supply Chain Collaboration, CIRRELT-17

Krathwohl, D. R., Bloom, B. S., & Masia, B. B. (1973). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook II: Affective Domain. New York: David McKay Co., Inc.

Maqsood, T., Finegan, A. D., Walker Derek H.T. (2003). Extending Knowledge Management across the supply chains in the construction industry: Knowledge sharing in construction supply chains. Second International Conference on Construction in the 21st Century (CITC-II). McCarter, M., Northcraft, G. (2007). Happy together? Insights and implications of viewing managed supply chains as a social dilemma. Journal

of Operations Management 25 (2), pp 498–511.

Ntayi J., Eyaa S. (2010) Collaborative Relationships, Procurement Practices and Supply Chain Performance The Case of Small and Medium Enterprises in Uganda

Senge, P. (2000). The Leader’s New Work: Building Leaning Organizations. Knowledge Management: Classic and Contemporary Works. D. Morey, M. Maybury, and B. Thuraisingham, (eds.), pp. 19–52. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Simatupang, T. M., Sridharan R. (2002). The Collaborative Supply Chain: A Scheme for Information Sharing and Incentive Alignment.

International Journal of Logistics Management, Vol. 13 No. 2

Spekman R. E., Kamauff J. W. Jr, Myhr N. (1998), An empirical investigation into supply chain management. A perspective on partnerships International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 28 No. 8, pp. 630-650.

Sutton, S. G., Smedley, G., Arnold, V. (2008). Accounting for Collaborative Supply Chain Relationships: Issues and Strategies. The