Team E will discuss all the different types of training tools and modules. In this paper team e will discuss the needs assessments, training methods, and training evaluation strategies. Mr. Stonefield will be able to effectively provide training materials and safe work practices for all employees.
Environmental Analysis
“Environmental analysis is the evaluation of the possible or probable effects of external forces and conditions on an organization’s survival and growth strategies” (Business Dictionary, 2014). Stonefield should consider all external effects toward the company when training employees. Anything that can happen most likely will happen when it comes to environmental effects. For example, the stock market crashing and millions of jobs lost would be the result of an environmental effect.
Organizational Analysis
“Organizational analysis is the process of reviewing the development, work environment, personnel, and operation of a business or another type of association” (Business Dictionary, 2014). When management periodically performs a detailed organizational analysis, the company can identify problems that have arisen, but have not been addressed yet. According to Cascio, W.F., 2013, organizational analysis focuses on identifying whether training supports the company’s strategic direction (Cascio, 2013).
Demographic Analysis
According to Business Dictionary 2014, demographic factors are socioeconomic characteristics of a population expressed statistically, such as education level, age, income level, marital status, religion, birth rate, sex, occupation, death rate, average age at marriage, and average size of a family. A census is a collection of the demographic factors associated with every member of a population. The demographic analysis determines the special needs of a particular group.
Operational Analysis
An operational analysis is a method that determines the efficiency of the company as well as possible improvements the company could do to become more successful (Merriam-Webster, 2014). Taking a look at the big picture of the company is important when doing an operational analysis. Questions should be asked to the employees regarding how they feel about certain aspects of the company, and what they believe should change. Customer feedback is also important when it comes to determining possible improvements. The training process is the first aspect that should be looked at. Bradley Stonefield could ask his employees what they think of the training process and if the employees think that it is positively benefitting them and actually teaching them the proper techniques, focusing more on what is important rather than small details. Stonefield needs to look at his budget and determine if he is on track and has enough funds to fuel his company. From there he can determine what improvements he needs to make when it comes to the budget. Hours given is a factor as well. Hours has to do with the budget, if one employee is working without a break, or if one employee is working to many hours this will affect the budget of the company. Hours do affect the budget; however in the state of Texas it is not required that an employee takes a break. If the employee decides to take a break anything less than a twenty-minute break is a paid break and anything over a thirty-minute break is a non-paid break (Texas-Wages and Hour Laws, 2014). Once Stonefield has received feedback from his employees, his customers, and his own records of the company he will know how to improvement the company for the future.
Individual Analysis
An individual analysis is when one person is analyzed for their work and how well they are doing. The boss or manager may take an employee and observe them to see how they are interacting with customers, what their personality is like, and what makes them a unique asset to the company. Bradley Stonefield needs to make sure he does this with all of his employees. Because he is very firm about having such few employees, it is important for him to have a strong understanding of every single one of them. In larger companies this task is nearly impossible to achieve, but because this is a small business Stonefield should have no problem observing and analyzing all of his employees. A good way for Stonefield to observe all of his employees is by taking a ride with the drivers that have already gone through the training process. This was he can observe how the employee treats his customers, how the customers are responding to his driving, personality, and the overall experience. Once Stonefield has observed drivers he can then let them know what he noticed. At this time he can give feedback to allow the driver to fully understand what they are doing right and what they still need to work on. This will be a great way for employees to learn new things, and it will be a great way for Stonefield to get to know his employees. Stonefield will also have to observe his employees that are in the training process. This is a great way for Stonefield to see if the training process is working, what is effective in the training as opposed to what is not very effective. Stonefield can ask questions and hear feedback about the training process, as well as get to know each of the employees’ personalities’ to see what they can bring to the business. It is very important for the boss to get to know employees because without feedback and strong relationships in small businesses the company cannot be successful.
Training Methods, Media, and Types
Training quality chauffeurs without exhausting available funding is an industry-wide dilemma that has no absolute answer. Limousine companies across the country use a variety of training methods including hiring third-party professional driving schools, incorporating video training courses, written training, and side-by-side training from existing staff. These training methods have benefits and drawbacks that must be considered before implementation, particularly for a startup company like Landslide Limousines. The training should include basic skills, such as safe operation of for-hire passenger vehicles and the etiquette needed to work within the service industry as a driver.
Third-Party Training Courses
Driver training courses for chauffeurs incorporate safe driving tactics and etiquette techniques needed to provide a quality customer experience (Limousine, Charter & Tour, 1994). These third-party courses vary in terms of duration, depth, and cost. Some of the available courses take the form of traditional classroom settings, although this method is not as popular in recent years given the ease of access that most have to Internet and video services. The most expensive types of third party training courses involve a classroom type setting where drivers are trained off-site. The least expensive involve a series of online or video training sessions taken by the driver at the place of employment. Business owners should weigh the validity of each program prior to choosing to incorporate this method of training into their training schedule. The benefit of using a third-party training course or school for training drivers is continuity of training, as once a school is chosen as the vendor for training all employees will receive the same training and education.
Manuals
Most companies regardless of type incorporate some sort of training manual or documentation for employees. Employees read the available documentation then are tested on their knowledge of the practices demonstrated in the document after completion (Limousine, Charter & Tour, 1994). This is a cost effective method of training because the employer need only create the documents once then either provide the documents via print or computer. Employees can study these documents at their leisure during the training period. The problem with using only this method is two-fold. First, these documents will likely need to be updated regularly as the industry changes to ensure the company remains current on trends. Second, training manuals would require that the new hire be capable of reading, writing, and comprehending whatever language they are written in.
Side-by-Side Training
A third method of training popular within the limousine industry is ride along training whereby a new hire rides with an experienced driver to see first-hand what is needed to be a successful driver. This method resides in the middle ground for cost, not because there are additional costs incurred by the training but because the driver performing the training will lose some time when he or she could be working with clients. The trainer would need to focus at least some of the time training discussing effective skills, which could cut into the bottom line for the business. Finally, there is no method for control if an experienced driver who is not the owner of the business trains the new hire. Care should be taken to avoid these potential pitfalls.
Learning Principles Learning principles refers to the employees training process. Educators have researched how to capture and keep individuals attention, however throughout all of the research that has been done, the end result is simple. Individuals enjoy learning when they are researching a topic that they enjoy (R.H., 2011). In the workplace the employees going through the training process should already have interest in the topic considering they applied for the specific job and had an idea as to what they were going to be learning about. Another great way to encourage employees to want to learn is for the instructor to make sure that most exercises performed in the training process are interactive. When the individual running the training process encourages interaction and encourages the employees to participate and share their opinions the end result will be absorbing knowledge (R.H., 2011). By encouraging interaction this proves that the employees are responsive, listening, and excited to learn. By allowing the employee to practice, the employee will retain the information better.
Effectiveness of Methods Providing excellent training to all employees is important for the businesses future success. Effectiveness is a primary motive when it comes to training (Bedinham, 1998). By observing the methods involved with training it is important that the training methods are effective, and that behavioral changes are occurring (Bedinham, 1998). Once the training sessions are over the employees can see how their knowledge on the topic has changed and how aware they are of what they just learned. A great way to evaluate the training process and to determine what the employees learned throughout the training process is by giving them a questionnaire (Bedinham, 1998). The questionnaire can be done within a variety of ways. One way is to break the training up into several days and test each employee at the end of each individual day to see what information they gathered. The second option is to have them go through the entire training process and at the very end require them to take a large multi-question exam covering the information that was gone over the past couple of days. It is important for companies to have questionnaires or a version of testing their employees’ knowledge after the training has been completed. This indicates that the employee went through the training process, has learned the policies and procedures of the company, and has a full understanding of every aspect involved with doing the job.
Criteria
Questionnaires are important for employees to complete for the benefit of them and the company. Once the employee completes the training and takes the questionnaire there will be proof that the employee has a full understanding of what the training taught him. As important as it is for the employee to complete the questionnaire and pass, it is just as important for them to evaluate the overall training process. Once the employee has completed the training questionnaire they should be required to take a quick survey to provide feedback to the instructor and overall training process. This survey will ask a variety of questions that examine the overall training process, the instructor, what they learned, and what they would change about the overall training process. This could include what they found to be beneficial, not beneficial, and what they would change about the training process.
Pretests
Before going through the training process each employee should be required to take a pretest. This pretest will help determine what the employee already knows. Some employees may come in to the business knowing nothing about driving a limousine, and some may come into the business having past experience driving commercial vehicles. This is why pretests are so important for every employee to complete. Whether the employee knows nothing about the limousine industry to everything about the limousine industry it is important for the instructor to know the employees background. This will help the employee discover how much or little they know about the topic. Pretests are a great way for employees to determine how much they know, to how much they have learned; it is a great way for the instructor to see how much they have grown, and it is a great way for the manager to determine what their strengths and weaknesses may be.
Monitoring and Observing Training It is important for Stonefield to be involved with the training process. He needs to be very aware as to what is being covered, how it is being covered, and the period of time it will be covered in. Stonefield needs to make sure to have a strong relationship with the training instructor so that at the end of each day they can go over what was talked about, how responsive each employee was, and what still needs to be covered in future dates. If Stonefield is monitoring training, he will have an idea what was covered and what still needs to be covered. If he is observing the training sessions he can see how the instructor is teaching and how the employees are responding. If there are any employees being disrespectful or not absorbing the information presented to them it is important for Stonefield to address this issue right away.
Collecting Feedback When collecting feedback from customers and employees it is best to make sure of what you want to know. For example, Mr. Stonefield wants to know how well the employees thought the new training materials were. He could ask open ended questions or make a questionnaire. It is important to not to take offense to criticism about the training. If there is a questionnaire then this may be put in a box or something to where the employees may remain anonymous if they wish to do so.
Implementing Feedback When implementing feedback can be quite costly so in order to make effective feedback ask what could have been different or better about the training for your employees to get the most out of it. This approach relies on parallel work efforts, minimal commitments, and extensive user testing. “Designers are expected to create and test training before the needs assessment is complete, and to modify it based on the results of user tests” (Cascio, 2013).
Conclusion
Team E discussed all the different types of training tools and modules. Different materials were given to Mr. Stonefield that allows him to ensure safety and productivity with his workers. In conclusion, Mr. Stonefield needs to have some sort of training for the employees he plans to hire. There are many different ways to show employees the proper way to get the job done without getting hurt or hurting others in the process.

Reference:
Cascio, W.F. (2013) Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Life, Profits (9th ed.) Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Demographic Factors. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/demographic-factors.html
Environmental Analysis. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/environmental-analysis.html
Limousine, Charter & Tour. (1994). Operators Discuss Methods of Training and Training Quality Chauffeurs. Retrieved from http://www.lctmag.com/people/article/42487/operators-discuss-methods-of-training-and-retaining-quality-chauffeurs
Operations analysis (2014). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/operations%20analysis
Organizational Analysis. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/organizational-analysis.html
R.H. (2011). Media Literacy: Learning Principles. Nieman Reports, 65(2), 51.
Bedinham, K (1998). Providing the Effectiveness of Training. Education & Training. 166-167.
Texas-Wages and Hour Laws (2014). Employment Law Handbook. Retrieved from http://www.employmentlawhandbook.com/wage-and-hour-laws/state-wage-and-hour-laws/texas/