For the semiconductor industry, Why training is a strategic issue
12/01/2000
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Dianne H. Jordan
There is an irony about the semiconductor industry that should give senior executives some pause. On the one hand, it is becoming more highly automated than most, with microscopically precise machinery. On the other, in this world of robots and automated processes, the human worker is the critical element.
As long as humans are essential to semiconductor production, the industry's ability to identify, recruit, hire, and retain valuable workers will remain the sine qua non of an exploding marketplace. Its growth has been hampered by shortages of highly trained workers, however, resulting in expensive errors and defects in processes and products.
Semiconductor executives should consider the following key training issues part of their organizational strategy:
First, CEOs need to emphasize training in the same way they do information technology (IT), finance, and marketing. In the past, training has been treated like the stepchild of human resources — last to get funding, first to get cut in lean times.
Similarly, up until a decade ago, IT issues were not handled at the CEO level — they were usually regulated and managed by accounting or some other functional area. During the early '90s, however, it was increasingly recognized that IT could have strategic impact on organizations. The more recent and visible incarnation of this realization is Internet commerce, where not only "front office" but "back office" operations have total visibility and seamless integration.
It is difficult to establish a discipline as strategic without the support of a senior leadership position. In the IT function, it was the chief information officer (CIO) position created in the late '80s or its counterpart in the mid-90s, the chief technology officer (CTO), that has given IT a place and voice at the strategic table. Likewise, there needs to be a "chief learning officer" sitting at the CEO's roundtable to give focus and voice to the strategic contribution of training and its cousin, knowledge management.
Second, knowledge is a critical resource that must be generated, captured, stored, and made easily available to every worker. Today's organizations revolve around knowledge, which has become a commodity in itself. Knowledge workers use, trade, create, and add value to the knowledge inside and outside the organization.
 (Courtesy: Winbond) |
During the mid-to-late '90s, companies began to see training as a strategic issue that could impact an organization's competence and position in its industry. This is equally true of for-profit, governmental, or nonprofit organizations. Lack of appropriate and timely training results in low economic effectiveness, low employee morale, high turnover, and inefficient work processes. The Internet revolution, for example, makes its greatest impact on organizational processes and procedures — getting employees retooled to these new routines requires training.
Third, senior executives should treat training as they would any other technology investment and expect returns. Many senior executives are afraid that if they buy into advanced technologies for training, they will end up with a lot of "toys" and no "tools" for increasing productivity. The reality check executives can use for spending resources on distance learning (DL) tools and technologies (internet-based learning/training) is return on investment (ROI). In the truest sense, ROI is a retrospective accounting of what additional value (financial, organizational, competitive, market) has been accrued as a direct or indirect consequence of investment in DL. However, there is no need to wait passively until the results are in!
Economic and business analysts can build models that estimate the ROI based on cost and benefit factors. To build such a model, there must be a good understanding of what factors will be considered costs of training, including facilities, instructor staff, materials and other resources, costs of conversion, and maintenance. There must also be an understanding of what may be considered benefits or avoidance of costs, including increased worker productivity; shorter training time; avoidance of travel, hotel, and per diem costs; and increased student throughput with DL, which decreases per student training costs.
In the best of all possible worlds, investment in DL would be coupled with a strategic training plan and a methodology that models the ROI and tracks actual costs and benefits.
Fourth, there must be a champion for training in your organization. Given similar funding levels and other resources, some DL projects fail to thrive, while others are successful. In my experience, and from the academic research I have seen, the difference is often the presence of a project champion.
From an organizational and cultural standpoint, when innovations in technology are attempted by organizations, it helps to have a driving force (in the form of a human representative of the initiative) who can articulate the vision, keep track of competing distractions, and motivate the team to move the initiative forward. Without the presence of a champion, you have a new venture without a visible advocate; hence it becomes a bureaucratic process, or a purely technical process, both of which have unattended risks.
In any new organizational venture, many decisions come up without precedent, and someone with the clout, visibility, motivation, and knowledge can help the project navigate through its rough spots. On the other hand, DL is more than just a technical solution — it is an organizational and technological solution that requires change management processes, cultural change, and other nontechnical intervention for a successful outcome. If left solely to the multimedia programmers and web developers, these vital functions would be left unattended. Therefore, a project champion is necessary as a focal point where the integration of management, technology, and organization takes place. The champion should be senior enough to have control over the project resources, be visible enough to have the ear of the most senior executives, and have interpersonal and communication skills as well as enough technical knowledge to speak the language of all the stakeholders.
Fifth, take advantage of commercial learning management systems (LMS). LMS provide a virtual educational environment for learners, instructors, and administrators; some have tools that facilitate the development of reusable learning objects. In the near future, as reusability of stored learning objects increases, they will become part of the repository of an organization's culture, experience, and expertise.
Dianne H. Jordan is a strategic information technology planner at Booz-Allen & Hamilton, where she leads several teams who provide e-Learning solutions using reusable learning object repositories. She recently co-authored The Evaluation and Implementation of Distance Learning: Technologies, Tools, and Techniques, available from Idea Group Publishing (http://www.idea-group.com). e-mail [email protected] or [email protected].