Performance Improvements

Briefly explain the factors influencing the shift from a training department to a performance improvement department using the following scenario:

Organizational structure:

This company is a financial institution with over 13,000 employees and is a call center environment. The call center focuses on customer support for credit card accounts. Competition with another financial institution is reducing the market share.

Presenting issue:

Reduction in the opening of new accounts and other financial pressures have caused upper management to re-evaluate the existence of its training department. The company is considering outsourcing their training.

Training department’s position:

The director in the training department has felt that the solution to the company’s problems involves more than training. The director has sent a few employees to complete a performance improvement certification program through ISPI and ASTD. The director is urging that the best solution is to show the company how to use the current training department resources and repurpose the training department into a performance improvement department.

Call to action:

Without using additional sources of funding, the training department has 6 weeks to present a viable solution to senior management outlining a transition from a training department to a performance improvement department.

Current state of the training department:

There are 15 instructors, 3 instructional designers, 2 multimedia experts, 1 coordinator in charge of scheduling and managing resources, 1 director, and 1 administrative assistant in the current training department of this company. The facility consists of 8 classrooms, 21 office cubicles, and 1 office. Each classroom is equipped with a complete computer network, projectors, and whiteboards.