To what extent does the lack of training affect the productivity and efficiency of Intech?

To what extent does the lack of training affect the productivity and efficiency of INTECH?

INTECH is a business focused on the design and supply of wastewater treatment plants and industrial water. It’s a contracting company and thus it’s profitability and productivity is heavily reliant on specialty. Their purchasing department is responsible for the obtention of the machinery and thus their main skill is of commercial nature. The problem is that part of their job includes operating this machinery which they can’t do due to their lack of design and engineering background. The issue is a result of their lack of training which severely impacts the whole company as it reduces the employees’ productivity and thus the whole business’ profitability

Intech is a business that specializes in the design of wastewater treatment plants. Their problem revolves around the lack of training present in the purchasing department which results in an overload of work in other departments such as the design department. The question that must be investigated is thus: To what extent does the lack of training affect the productivity and efficiency of INTECH? The main tools that were put to use in order to properly investigate this issue are: a SWOT analysis of the business, Frederick Taylor’s motivation theory, Off the job and cognitive training as well as the lean production technique of Kaizen. The primary research conducted consisted of an employee survey in addition to an interview with the heads of the purchasing and HR department, thus providing a broadened scope of the problem. The secondary research was mainly an article that investigated the effects of lack of training in the workplace. The employee survey revealed that this lack of training has resulted in an increase of stress, lack of productivity and efficiency which in turn caused a decrease in profits. The main limitation of the research is that the sample which has undergone the survey could have been larger as it would’ve allowed a more reinforced view of the problem.

INTECH (International Environmental Technologies Co.) is a leading company specialized in the design and supply of municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment plants. The company has an extensive capability in a lot of fields like: Process design, Engineering, Supply, Installation, Commissioning etc...

 

For more than 30 years of experience, Intech maintained leadership and experience in the water and wastewater industry. Currently, they have a reference of more than Hundreds water and wastewater treatment facilities in Egypt and in the Middle East and Africa.

 

Intech is considered to be a contracting company, the point is that these contracting companies are based on technology and knowledge; on specialty. To reduce the manpower costs of such companies , they have a purchasing personnel having accountant and commercial background , as well as a separate personnel having design and engineering backgrounds for the technical parts. In the long run, that caused the company more manpower and cost, as the purchasing people didn’t have the requested basics to handle the job. They merely acted as a mailbox transferring everything to the design and engineering departments rather than handling it themselves, which thus duplicated the work of these departments and actually ended up impacting their efficiency to the favor of a less specialized personnel. “To what extent does the lack of training thus affect the productivity and efficiency of Intech?”

Primary and secondary research was conducted to help gather relevant data.

 

Primary data -

• Interview with the heads of HR and purchasing department: provided insight on the main cause of the problem as well as how it affected employees productivity, motivation and efficiency
• The employee survey provided the employees opinions on the training they underwent in Intech and how it actually demotivated them as it was inadequate. This helped in gaining a more enriched and enlightened insight on the problem and the extent to which it has hindered employees performance.

 

Secondary data -

• The main secondary research conducted was a quick investigation on how severe the consequences are for employees who lack training as it could potentially result in a high turnover induced by a lack of motivation and increase in stress.

Summary of interview -

The interview was conducted with both the heads of both the H.R and purchasing department. It revealed that the main root of the problem is the lack of training and the faulty hiring criteria. The only type of training they undergo is on the job training which has proven to be insufficient and has rendered the purchasing department unable to accomplish certain tasks. This resulted in an overload in work in other departments which affected their mental well being.

One of Intech’s main strengths is that they have good financial stability which immensely aids them as it allows them to cope with the high prices for the water purification machinery that they must buy. Their main weaknesses are the lack of training in some departments such as the purchasing one and the defective hiring criteria that allowed for this issue to exist in the first place. This issue is very dangerous as it could potentially induce a higher chance of turnover due to employees of the purchasing department getting motivated as they are not able to do their job and employees of the design department being stressed due to coping with the overload in work. The provision of fringe benefits such as health care to employees would be very beneficial to the business if they apply it since it would make the employees feel validated; this would make the business win their loyalty and would reduce chances of turnovers.

 

Motivation Theory (Frederick Taylor), Off-the-job Training, Cognitive Training

The main motivation theory that could be put to use is that of Fredrick Taylor’s. The whole of this theory revolves around scientific management, which is essentially a detailed scientific analysis of a certain job that provides the most efficient way of performing it. The four principles which compose this theory are: the application of the scientific method to study the job and the most efficient way of performing the required tasks, the selection of employees with the right and coherent abilities, the scientific and proper training of those employees and finally to monitor the work performance to ensure quality. The implementation of this theory would solve the current problem Intech has, to a great extent, as it would solve both the faulty hiring criteria and the lack of training. Taylor’s second principle suggests that it’s primordial to select employees with the necessary requirements in order to efficiently perform the job and thus, for Intech to apply this theory, they would have to simply change the hiring criteria which would essentially aid them in eliminating future ability-oriented problems. Taylor’s third principle proposes that it’s imperative to properly train the employees to attain the most efficient procedure. For Intech to apply this concept, they would have to incorporate more types of training such as off the job training and cognitive training. Off-the-job training is a form of training in which employees attend a facility other than their place of employment to learn more about their line of work or the most recent developments in it. This kind of training would essentially improve the efficiency with which purchasing personnel carry out their duties. By holding training sessions away from the workplace, distractions will be reduced and thus employees can concentrate entirely on the training they are undergoing. Off the job training would thus extremely benefit the purchasing department as they are required to operate the machinery they buy. The incorporation of cognitive training is equally important as it would helpboth employees of the purchasing and design department deal with the stress caused by the recent overload in work. Cognitive training is a non medicinal approach that trains employees mentally, using a series of exercises, in order to develop their cognitive abilities. Due to the recent lack of training issues, surveys were conducted to check employees morale all of which showed that they have been suffering from stress and demotivation; due to the design department handling the purchasing department’s responsibilities. This form of training would thus allow the design department to cope with the stress, and the purchasing department to cope with the demotivation that came with their incapacitation of properly performing their job.

 

Lean Production (Kaizen)

Fast improvement techniques such as kaizen are frequently regarded as the basis of all lean production techniques. If Kaizen is incorporated, the organization's targeted activities and processes will continuously improve all while simultaneously reducing waste and increasing productivity. The application of such a technique by Intech would result in a huge increase of quality standard since it would involve both members of the purchasing and design department in solving problems regarding quality. The training issue would thus be, for the most part, resolved since both departments would be able to communicate the flow of tasks and responsibilities more fluidly and efficiently which would in turn help in solving problems regarding the overload of work. The conduction of constant meetings is equally necessary as it would allow them to detect future problems more quickly, before significant harm is caused, and would consequently allow them to come up with solutions ; all in hopes of maintaining the quality standard. The implementation of habitual meetings regarding quality control will shift the standard towards the right path, by carrying out small changes over a long period of time thus resulting in a sustained and lasting development.

Intech’s hiring criteria and training methods have been evaluated and turned out to be lacking in several aspects. The conduction of a swot analysis helped the business highlight their main strengths as well as weaknesses which included the immense lack of training. To effectively resolve this, Intech would have to incorporate Kaizen which consists of organizing consistent meetings that include all departments with the purpose of upholding the quality standard. Another weakness was the defective hiring criteria which would be easily resolved by applying Taylor’s motivation theory as it requires the conduction of scientific analysis for each job; this would consequently allow Intech to develop a highly efficient hiring criteria. The research was limited by the sample margin of the employee survey as it could have been larger which would’ve aided in gaining more diverse results. The unavailability of financial data can also be considered a limitation as it restricted insight into the extent of the financial damage, caused by the lack of training.

•  To avoid future problems, increase motivation and productivity, Intech can incorporate off the job and cognitive training. Their professional development would be boosted by exposure to various training methods and materials that will challenge their ability to make decisions and problem solve to the test. Cognitive training will equally help them as it will develop their capacity to handle stress and also develop their communication skills which could consequently improve collaboration between employees and thus increase efficiency and productivity.
• The conduction of constant meetings with managers will help ensure the work performance of both design and purchasing departments which will in turn help uphold the quality standard as employees will get the proper feedback and support they need in order to be properly motivated.
• By applying Taylor’s motivation theory, Intech will develop a more efficient and coherent hiring criteria since they would have scientifically analyzed the requirements of the specified job; this would immensely help them in the reduction of waste and the allocation of resources.

Interview with the head of the H.R department and the head of purchasing department -

• What is the root of this problem?

⇒ The root of this problem is a faulty hiring criteria in addition to employees’ severe lack of training.

 

• Do employees take training and if yes then how long is the duration of it?

⇒ Yes, employees take training but there is no specific duration for it. Our training system puts new trainees in a 3 month probation period in which they must accomplish all their training related necessities. This probation period acts as a means of assessing the employees’ newfound skills.

 

• What types of training do they take?

⇒ All new employees undergo induction first in order to familiarize them with the business’ mission, culture, and job responsibilities. Followed by that, the main type of training that they take is on-the-job training. Each group of them has a mentor, typically an experienced colleague, and they observe them undertaking the job’s tasks and thus they learn from it.

 

• What is the budget allocated to the training of the employees?

⇒ Since the type of training they undergo is internal, it thus requires no money. The only prerequisite to properly effectuate the training of the employees is an experienced colleague’s consent to volunteer as a mentor for the new trainees.

 

• What has been the hiring criteria this far and how has it proven to be ineffective?

⇒ The main issue faced regarding the hiring criteria is that the purchasing people were hired solely based on their commercial background. This unfolded to be a major problem because the purchasing department equally requires employees with an engineering background, in order to operate the machines that they are purchasing.

 

• To what extent has this overload in work affected your employees’ mental well-being?

⇒ Sadly, this overload in work has negatively impacted our employees’ mental well-being. Members of the design department experience more stress than they are used to ( because they’re basically responsible for both their department and the purchasing department’s responsibilities ) while members of the purchasing department experience a sense of uselessness as they are improperly equipped to do their jobs.

 

• How has this overload in work impacted the business financially?

⇒ It has lowered the company’s profits because there’s essentially been a huge waste in manpower; the design department is responsible for the work of their own department in addition to a big portion of the purchasing department’s work thus rendering a whole department as partial waste.

 

• What solutions have you come up with this far?

⇒ The only main solution we have thought of is to change the hiring criteria of the purchasing department. It is a necessity to hire people with an engineering / design background accompanied with a commercial one instead of it being only the latter in order to avoid future complications such as this one.