Case $9\mathrm{.}1$

Management Development Systems at Resort Wear of California

You are part of a consulting group that has been hired by Resort Wear of California, a chain of twelve upscale outdoor clothing stores located between Scan Diego and San Francisco. The owner of the business is worried about the quality of store managers. Some are good, some are promising but inexperienced, and some do not seem to be very effective. The owner plans to double the number of stores starting next year and would like to build up the skills of store managers and assistant managers to support this expansion.

The owner is willing to commit a reasonable amount of money to develop managers, but you do not have a blank check $($you can't afford to send them all to a university or even bring them together physically more than once or twice$).$ It is also necessary to keep all stores running while management training is occurring.

Your team has been retained to design a training strategy to be implemented. Using what you know about training, decide how you should proceed and what you might recommend to the owner. Consider training content as well as methods.

Answer the following questions:

Why does the organization need training?

Which jobs are supposed to receive training? What competencies and KSAOs are relevant?

What do you know about the training participants?

Which training goals should be pursued? Define up to three goals.

Develop a training strategy! Which methods should be used for the training? How should the training be organized?

What else do you consider important regarding the training delivery?

How would you identify if the training was successful? Consider the four levels of Kirkpatrick's outcomes!