Scenario - For the Subject of Training and Development (Human Resources Management)

Training and Development for WHS Advisors in the Education Department

The Education Department is responsible for supporting schools in the State to meet various educational, and other, standards. One critical area is Work Health and Safety (WHS) legal compliance. In recent years, many schools have struggled to meet some WHS obligations, resulting in catastrophic consequences for school communities as well as impacting the reputation of schools and the Department. Recent media reports sparked community and political concerns about school safety and the performance of the Education Department. The Education Union is demanding more support for school leaders. With an election on the horizon, the Premier flagged safety improvements in schools as a high priority.

School leaders struggle with multiple, time-sensitive, competing demands and do not always have the resources, or expertise, to implement work health and safety arrangements appropriately. As such, the Education Department employs 18 full-time Work Health and Safety Advisers (Advisers) to support schools and leaders with WHS decision-making. Each Adviser is allocated a region, within which they are responsible for meeting with school leaders, reviewing safety arrangements and supporting them by offering recommendations to enhance WHS. The role of the Adviser is challenging - they need to convey complex ideas and convince school leaders to implement changes that may be unfavourable whilst maintaining an ongoing positive working relationship with them. As such, Advisers require excellent technical knowledge of WHS coupled with a high degree of credibility in the field, in addition to polished skills in persuasion, diplomacy, leadership and communicating ideas.

Originally, Advisers were recruited from Departmental staff, including teachers seeking a change of profession. New Advisers participated in an intensive safety information training course before allocation to a region. With each Adviser working autonomously within only their region, there were few opportunities to engage with other Advisers, with one describing the role as, We get sent out to our region on our own and thats how it stays it feels like there is no support. Attrition of Advisers is high, and positions can be difficult to fill. A core of 4 to 5 Advisers achieves very good compliance outcomes whilst maintaining a positive working relationship with their school leaders however the remaining regions suffer from ongoing compliance concerns and a negative attitude towards WHS.

When these issues became apparent to management, it was assumed a lack of technical skills was to blame. As such, management arranged further technical training and exams for all Advisers. Exam results revealed all Advisers demonstrated excellent technical knowledge. Instead, it appeared they lacked skills to communicate that knowledge persuasively and effectively. Furthermore, recent performance reviews revealed that Advisers with the highest WHS technical scores were most likely to demonstrate a gap in non-technical skills. Management has begun to recognise that, after training and deployment, Advisers feel unsupported due to the off-site, regionally based nature of their roles and a lack of easily accessible shared resources. There had previously been some reluctance to share knowledge and resources amongst the group, and no straightforward way to do so.

As the Education Departments new Training Manager, you have been directed to enhance the training and development of Advisers to ensure they are well-placed to deliver the following objectives across all schools:

• WHS changes are implemented in a timely manner
• Ongoing maintenance of WHS compliance is evident
• School leaders are satisfied with the quality of WHS decision-making support received from Advisers
• The role of Adviser is seen as a desirable job that offers career progression opportunities

Question to answer for the above Case Scenario: Textbook reference: Noe, R. 2019, Employee training and development (available as an eBook), 8th edn, Irwin McGraw-Hill, Australia..

Questions 1: (work count limit 700 words for the below questions).

a. Describe the purpose of a training Needs Analysis.

b. Discuss benefits likely derived from conducting a thorough Needs Analysis.

c. Advise the organisation on the steps involved in conducting a needs analysis at the organisational, person and task level for the position of WHS Adviser. At each level, describe the data to be collected and explain the rationale for your choice of methods.