Background
 
Over the past 150 years, Nokia has evolved from a riverside paper mill in southwestern Finland to a global telecommunications leader connecting over 1.3 billion people. Nokia has made rubber boots and car tires, generated electricity, manufactured TVs and have sold well over a billion mobile phones.
 
Nokia is committed to diversity, which it fondly refers to as “the Nokia Way” – the core values and shared philosophy that make the company tick. Key philosophy at Nokia is to boost Creativity, empowerment, openness, collaboration, and consideration for people and the environment. Operating in over 130 countries, diversity is crucial to Nokia’s success.

Needs Assessment
 
This needs assessment will determine whether a training program is necessary at Nokia.  The assessment will involve an organizational analysis, person analysis and a task analysis . After the analysis, I will establish the solution to the performance problem; identify objectives of the training, the content and the method. I will involve the managers, staff trainers and the employees of Nokia in this need assessment process. Noe (2010) advises that training will be more successful in helping Nokia achieve its strategic goals if management is involved in the needs assessment process.
 
 
I will seek to establish whether training will support the strategic direction Nokia is taking, the perception of management in regards to training and what training support exists in the organization. I will use Nickols (2005) questions as cited in Noe (2010) questions to ask in an organizational analysis. I will also ask trainers and external consultants with Nokia who will be enlisted in training to demonstrate their experiences in training such a diverse organization and the evidence that their training interventions worked. I will finally seek to know from the employees what their personal view of training is and how the organization manages training and application of the new skills that have been acquired.
 
As part of Nokia's needs assessment, I will seek to review the organization's strategic plan, understand the organization vision and mission, the performance management process, Standard operating manuals, job descriptions, staff performance reviews, marketing plans and consumer reviews. This will inform me on the direction the organization is taking and how consumers and general staff members are feeling about the strategic direction of the organization.
 
I will further use Observation to establish the level of skill and interaction in the organization. Due to the breadth of operations, I will send questionnaires to the various countries that Nokia operates in and use a random sample to gather data on the training needs. I may also use an online technology to collect information from the different zone that Nokia has a presence.
 
This approach will provide me with enough insights to develop an effective training program for Nokia.
 
References
 
Nokia. (2012). The Nokia story . Retrieved May 10, 2012, from Nokia: http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/company/about-us/story/the-nokia-story/

The Truth About Training

Hi. My name is David Ndungu, Training and Development specialist at David Consult.

I am going to talk about Staff training in a globalized business environment. Training and development is no longer a nice to do but a must do business strategy. Research by various scholars has shown that organizations that have effective staff training systems have consistently outperformed those that do not. Noe (2010) has demonstrated why Southwest airlines, Seattle city lights, Nokia, Boston pizza among others have performed well over the years.

Training and continuous learning translate into personal and professional growth. It is the continuous learning that allows the employees to acquire the skill and ability to use new technologies that makes businesses competitive. These employees become more valuable as they have the requisite skills to meet the changing technological demands in a globalized business environment.

Organizational training also allows the organization to focus and align employees to the organization business strategy. Without effective training employees and different business units will not understand and appreciate the strategic direction that an organization is taking. Training ensures the entire organization is pulling in one direction.

Training can be an approach not only to develop and enhance talent, but also motivates employees. Organizations that invest in training their employees have better retention of their high performing employees. Your organization is better served if it can retain its skilled and talented employees and keep them highly motivated which can be achieved through strategic training.

References

Noe, R. A. (2010). Employee Training and Development (5th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill/Irwin.

The truth about training