Training And Development At Google: A Case Study

A Brief Description of Google Company

Discuss about the Recruitment and Retention.

Training and development of employees is a very essential component of every organization that aims at better performance and professional efficiency. The management of several organizations faces tremendous issues in the process of managing the human resources allocated to them. It hence requires a skillful strategic development in the process of finding solutions to different issues affecting the HRM (Levi 2011, p. 63). While learning and development, career management and planning, recruitment and selection, as well as training and development among other issues affect HRM strategies, this paper presents a detailed analysis of training and development with Google as a case study organization.

Training and development presents prime opportunities for the expansion of the knowledge base and skills of employees. However, Shelly (2016) points out that many employees find the development opportunities very expensive. On the other hand, employees tend to miss the working hours while attending any organized training sessions which at the end may delay project completions within the organizations. Despite the noted potential drawbacks, development and training provides the employees and the company as a whole with benefits that make the time and cost a worthwhile investment. 

Google Inc. is a global technological company whose main responsibility is organizing the world’s information so as to make it universally accessible and essential. It was founded in the 1998 but has grown to become the most outstanding organization in innovation technology and serves millions of customers globally. The organization hires smart and intelligent individuals who are taken through a series of training and development to develop their ability over experience that many organizations embrace as the major qualification. The organization strives to maintain a diverse culture where every employee is a hands-on contributor in sharing their opinions and ideas (Helft 2016, p. 87).

According to Lombaro (2015), the human resource management for the Google Inc. covers the effective training programs for the employees. The organization also has different performance management trainings to maximize the capabilities of the human resource. The company employs appropriate need analysis method sin designing the training programs so as to support an effective workforce. The company regularly monitors the results of the training programs so as to ensure they meet the needs of the company. The HRM of the organization also ensures a fine-tuned performance management practices and planning that directly address the corporate issues and objectives of the company. The training programs for the employees are directed towards addressing information and performance challenges so as to improve the employees’ performance and the management practices.

Analysis of Training and Development

The organization employees’ different needs analysis to strategize on the training programs for the employees. These include organizational analysis, cost and benefit analysis, as well as work analysis on performance issues affecting the organization. The organization helps in identifying the new human resource needs based on the current position of the organization (Wright & McMahan 2011, p. 94). For instance, in new business investments and developing new products, Google performs organizational analysis in determining the corresponding human resource requirements. Work analysis then helps in identifying the specific requirements in fulfilling the tasks on new jobs or during recruitment. At the end of it all, cost and benefit analysis helps in determining the practicality of employees’ training and development programs towards the identified resource requirements.

In strategizing for the program designs, the HR management of Google ensures they use a combination rational model together with the results-oriented approaches to help in training and development program designs according to Noe et al. (2015). The company keeps a positive track by focusing on the relationship between the management and the employees using the rational model. The result-oriented models then focus on the training and development programs in facilitating the learning process to the new and existing employees. The rational model thus helps in optimizing the employees’ relationships as result-oriented approaches ensure the effectiveness of the training programs through performance.  In delivering training programs, Google embraces different methods such as discussions, on-the-job training, as well as assimilations. Embracing discussion forums enable the company to maintain a rich communication and openness among the employees and the management as denoted by Saini (2016, p. 62). Such platforms promote maximum feedback from the trainees in addition to improving their confidence.

The company also employees simulation o facilitate creative responses ad empower the employees to acquire a detailed understanding of the projects, work tasks, and results of the training and development from the results they poses in the process of their duties. The human resource management of the company also employs on-the-job training to maximize knowledge transfer to interns of new hires (Lombardo 2015). Google Inc. also has descriptive and summative purposes in the evaluation of training programs. Noe et al. (2015) points out that summative programs assist the company in determining the effectiveness of the development programs to manage human resources. The company as well uses descriptive purposes in evaluating the understanding of the employees towards the training programs. The human resource management of the organization hence uses various variables of evaluation such as reactions and learning and the training program results in terms of the evident changes in the skills, abilities, and knowledge on performance.

Need for Improvement

According to Sellers (2015), training and development tends to be one of the lowest things that some companies tend to ignore completely or give the least priority. When organized, it happens at the persistence of the human resources department. However, many developing and well performing employees have come to the realization that there is enormous value of strategizing for proper training and development sessions for the employees who are the major driving force for the success of the organizations. The process allows the employees to sharpen existing skills, develop new ones, increase productivity, and perform better as well as becoming better leaders. Since the success of different organizations is the sum total of the individual employees’ achievements, Helft (2016, p. 90) denotes that organizations needs to do everything within their power to ensure a peak performance of the employees.

Training is also essential for giving orientation to new hires within the organization (Peurto 2016, p.132). Levi (2011, p. 63) recommends that it serves as a platform for getting the new employees up to the speed and standard of the organization and fill any skill gaps. Training and development also help in ironing any professional shortcoming within the working force. For instance, Google Inc. has the entire headcount in different groups that provides focus and training relevant to every group. The groups are categorized under the sales training, middle management, executive leadership, and senior leadership. As it amplifies the strengths and new skills to the employees, it enables organizations to develop a group of satisfied workforce. In the rapidly involving business landscape, Levering et al. (2016) point out that productivity and performance not only depend on the employees, but the technology they use as well. The training and development should go a long way with employees getting updated to new technological innovations, using the existing skills better, and discarding any updated one. In this manner, performance becomes more efficient and productive.

In the industrial practices, many organizations carry out training and development for various reasons. Employees are the major driving force in the success of the organizations and needs to be treated with care and respect. As a result, best industrial practices encourage training and development, employees’ performance appraisal, good working relationships, and risk management as vital skills that are necessary for all employees (Zolla 2013, p. 9). For many organizations, the management organizes training and development for their employees for the following reasons;

Comparisons with Industry Best Practices

Most of the employees of different organizations have their areas of weaknesses in terms of their skills in the line of professions, relationships with other employees, risk management behaviors etc. Training is hence essential in strengthening these areas of skills through various development programs that brings them to higher levels of professional knowledge and skills. Such programs are essential in reducing the weak links for the organizations that primarily rely on the performance of the employees to complete their basic tasks (Shelly 2015). In a similar manner, Google Inc. provides the necessary training and development programs for their employees so as to create overall knowledgeable staff packed with employees who can at any time take over responsibilities for each other if there is a need. The employees can thus work independently or on teams without constant supervision and help with the management.

Every employee who receives the necessary training in their lines of duty effectively performs to attain the desired goals of the organization. Such employees become more aware of the proper basic tasks procedures as well as the safety practices necessary in the process of performing their duty. Understanding their responsibilities in the industry helps the employees to build confidence that will help in pushing a better performance while incorporating new ideas that promote excellence (Shelly 2015). Continuous training for the Google employees has kept them on the cutting edge of the technological industry development. They have thus become very competence and top of the changing technological industry and essential standards that have enabled the company to uphold its technological performance as a strong competitor in the technological industry.

A structured and well-strategized training and development programs for the employees help in ensuring that employees possess consistent experience as well as super background knowledge on their responsibilities. The organization's basic procedures and policies require consistency in performance so as to maintain the ever changing and competitive market standards. All the workers within the organization thus require them to be aware of the procedures and expectations within the organization according to Mathis and Jackson (2011). Google Inc. employees goes through regular training in the areas of innovation, safety, information security, administrative tasks etc hence exposing them to different facets of the working environment.

Employees who undergo regular training and development develop consistency in their experience and background knowledge in other related professional skills. They thus become more effective and competitive than other employees that are left by their respective organizations to seek out training and development opportunities by themselves (Lengnick & Beck 2011, p. 234). For Google Inc. investing in their employees also makes the employees feel valued thus creative a supportive workplace and good relationships between the employees themselves as well as the management.

Upon comparison with the best practices of training and development in different industrial organizations, it is recommended that Google Inc. also improves on the following strategies to enable improvement in their training programs;

• It should implement e- training and development platforms as it is a diverse organization with employees win different geographical locations.
• Any of the training and development strategies should be geared towards abolishing referrals so as to promote diverse innovation ideas amongst the employees.
• Implement a full training and development programs that even includes the human resource departments so as to improve their management skills for better performance of the organization.
• Establish real-time strategic programs for both internal and external training as well as formal and informal development strategies to increase the employees’ skills in all diversities.
• Embrace the implementation of learning management database system to as to evaluate training plans mainly for the new hires and the interns.

In order to carefully evaluate and understand the areas that need improvement, there is need of performance evaluation on the management practices as well as that of the employees. These should run on the customer service, support for delivery, communication, as well as the problem-solving abilities of the employees among other facets of performance. It is thus necessary that the organization evaluate their performance in the following areas so as to understand the areas that may need training and development.

Link to the performance to the company objectives; the performance management practices should be directly linked to corporate objectives to ensure that the employees are in the position of supporting the business activities of the organization. For instance, the company should emphasis on diversity so as to support diverse skills, knowledge, and ideas among the employees so as to pave way for higher innovation rates and promote the organizational resilience of Google Inc. According to Lombardo (2015), Google Inc. embraces different measurement standards of ethical conduct, quality product, and innovation contribution of the employees. However, there is need that the organization embrace creativity that can motivate the employees to sustain the innovative culture of the organization. The organization should also conduct performance interviews so as to address individual and team performance concerns. The interviews should cut across the ability, knowledge, skills, and other individual attributes as well as the any possible performance problem that might be identified during the evaluation process (Jayakumar & Sulthan 2014, p. 58).

Conclusion

Training and development practices helps in ensuring that an organization has in place qualified employees who can be of benefit to the organization. Any organization should ensure that its practices are well suited to achieve the stated company objectives. As in the case of Google Inc., development and training is embraced as a normal routine as it follows the right procedures. There is need for change in its practices to reach levels that are in standards with the companies that ensure the best practices of development and training. It will help in fostering the relevant skills necessary for the performance of the employees who are the backbone of the success of every organization.

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