Introduction
In the modern world, there is a variety of international corporations that are present across the countries. In this connection, they need to adjust their strategies to the local cultures and social contexts. This paper aims to focus on The Body Shop, an international beauty company that provides natural cosmetics and perfume. The paper will discuss the company’s products and training needs based on the interview with the company HR manager. It is expected to propose a plan of action for improving employee skills and knowledge.
Organization Identification
Headquartered in Littlehampton, West Sussex, UK, The Body Shop defines its position as a cruelty-free beauty industry that promotes community trading. This business company includes more than 1,000 products and has stores in more than 65 countries all over the globe (Chun, 2016).
All stores of The Body Shop, including those located in the US, follow the common vision of benefiting the local communities by sourcing raw ingredients for the products. Speaking more precisely, there are products for skin, hair, and body care, which are supplanted by make-up tools and fragrances. The company’s mission can be determined as follows: to design and sell the products that boost environmental and social change, balancing the human and financial needs of all involved stakeholders. Currently, approximately 10,000 people work for this business in different countries.
For this proposal, three interviews working for The Body Shop were identified according to their contribution and direct responsibility for human resources. First, Louise Wilson, the Global People Director, was contacted as the chief representative of the company for developing employees. Ms. G. and Mrs. M., two HR managers from the UK and US, also agreed to answer the questions of the interview. It should be noted that these managers preferred not to disclose their personal information. All of the interviews were contacted via the Internet, and the conversations went online for the convenience of the participants. The following questions were offered:
- Do you think that the employees meet the company’s goals?
- What skills and knowledge does your staff need to develop?
- What are the gaps and challenges existing in the company with regard to human resources?
- Do your employees respond properly to the needs of customers?
- How well the employees handle conflict and collaboration initiatives?
Proposed Training Program
The training needs identified by the mentioned interviewees vary in their approaches to evaluating employee performance yet coincide with regard to the issues that should be enhanced. Culture awareness, support for innovations, and interpersonal communications are the three main training needs clarified in the course of asking the interviewees. It was stated that many employees work in their native countries, but some of them move and fail to adjust to a new culture. More to the point, the challenge of using modern technology and new strategies causes stress in some employees who are not flexible in their work. Ultimately, several conflicts between employees were also mentioned as a problem that affects the company in general.
In view of the specified training needs, the core goal of the proposed program is to achieve the condition when the employees would master the necessary skills and successfully implement them in practice. Since the mission of The Body Shop is to boost innovation and benefit customers and employees, the latter should develop interpersonal skills, focusing on conflict resolution, open communication, and relationship building (Hanaysha, 2016).
Another goal of the program is to ensure that all the staff members understand the role culture plays in terms of this business. The positive approach towards mutual respect and diversity should be promoted both across internal and external environments (Alhejji, Garavan, Carbery, O’Brien, & McGuire, 2016). The primary role of the proposed program lies in equipping employees with pertinent tools to improve their skills and explaining to them the potential outcome of such training.
Currently, the given organization measures training effectiveness by skill assessment in practical terms, visual confirmation, and Key Performance Indicators (KPI). The first two types of evaluation are conducted through role-playing, when the HR designs the possible situations, and employees aha veto respond properly. The KPI is utilized to compare the employee performance based on the universal indicators to reveal their progress in learning. To enhance the company’s training effectiveness, one may recommend paying more attention to cultural sensitivity and competence as well as stimulating working relationships: both material and non-financial incentives can be offered (Alhejji et al., 2016). In addition, it seems to be useful to ask employees about what skills they want to improve. By recognizing and rewarding training achievements, the company would consolidate them.
Conclusion
To conclude, this paper discussed the training needs of The Body Shop employees. Based on the interviews with the company’s HR managers, it was revealed that a lack of cultural awareness, internal problems, and poor innovation support are the key needs. It was proposed to design the training program with an emphasis on interpersonal skills and cultural sensitivity. The ways that are currently applied by the company to measure training results can be regarded as appropriate.
References
Alhejji, H., Garavan, T., Carbery, R., O’Brien, F., & McGuire, D. (2016). Diversity training programme outcomes: A systematic review. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 27(1), 95-149.
Chun, R. (2016). What holds ethical consumers to a cosmetics brand: The Body Shop case. Business & Society, 55(4), 528-549.
Hanaysha, J. (2016). Examining the effects of employee empowerment, teamwork, and employee training on organizational commitment. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 229, 298-306.