Competency In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency: Assess the effectiveness of an organization’s learning and development plan

Competency In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency: Assess the effectiveness of an organization’s learning and development plan   Recommend a learning and development plan to stakeholders Overview In this second project, you will assess an organization’s training plan and recommend revisions to stakeholders.  Scenario For this project, you are a human resource consultant working for HRUCanTrust Consulting. You have been with the firm a little over a year but have been working in HR for five years. Your role as a consultant gives you the opportunity to work with a variety of clients and projects, from recruiting the chief executive officer (CEO) of a firm to crafting a performance management process for a large automotive manufacturer. Your newest client, Martha’s Marketing, is asking you to review their existing training and learning plan for their 75-employee firm. After you review their plan, they want you to recommend any changes you would make for the upcoming year. After meeting with the CEO of Martha’s Marketing as well as the management staff, you have the following notes and information to help you craft your proposal:  All 75 employees participated in some job skills training in the previous year. All employees had mandatory training for compliance, and 10 employees went to an outside training for leadership. Some sales training was conducted, but it was sporadic, and only about 20% of the employees were able to complete it fully.  On the basis of employee insight survey data, only 40% of the employees thought the training was “worth their time” and “relevant to the job.” Eighty-nine percent of employees rated training as important to their organizational happiness and overall retention.  Last year, the company spent $90,000 on training (about $1,200 per person).  Overall, company performance has decreased 5% in the past year. Seventy-eight percent of the employees were rated “at target” or “below target” during the last performance review cycle.  All training at the organization takes place on site and is conducted from the same vendor, Training Trailblazers.  Managers collectively agree that the training needs to transfer back to the job and needs to be measured for effectiveness.  Directions For this project, you will create a 10- to 12-slide PowerPoint presentation for senior management. Elaborate in the speaker notes section for each slide. This presentation will identify your results from assessing the effectiveness of the organization’s current learning and development plan. It will also provide a new learning and development plan that strengthens and fills gaps from the previous plan.  Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria: Plan Effectiveness  In this part of the presentation, you will provide an overview of what kinds of plans are effective and of considerations for the company.   Identify appropriate stakeholders for participation in the training. Include the following in your response:  Identify appropriate stakeholders with whom to communicate the plan and who will receive the training.  How does an effective learning and development plan identify performance as a key factor to assess using data considerations?  Are there considerations to avoid making learning and development ineffective?  Discuss pros and cons of an organization training employees internally and externally. Consider the following in your response:  How does the approximate cost of internal training compare with the approximate cost of external training?  How does the time commitment required compare for internal versus external training?  Does the current plan have a good return on investment?  Determine if internal or external trainingwould work best for the organization, justifying your response. Consider the following in your response:  On the basis of the pros and cons and what you know about the organization’s needs, what options would work well? Provide your justification in the speaker notes. Data Considerations  In this section, you will discuss how you approached analyzing the data to determine strengths and weaknesses.  Discuss strategies for assessing the effectiveness of the organization’s current plan. Include the following:  What strategies did you use to assess the existing plan?  What key factors did you assess and why?  Use data to benchmark a learning and development plan. Consider the following:  Define the role of benchmarking and how it would be used.  Select key business metrics that support your findings and recommendations, elaborating in the speaker notes.  Which data comparisons make sense for benchmarking this plan?  Conduct a needs assessment to determine weaknesses in the current or previous learning and development plan. Include the following in your response:  Identify strengths and use data to support your claims.  Identify weaknesses and use data to support your claims.   Recommendation  In this section, you will use the information you provided and the data to make a recommendation for the organization to move forward.  Recommend revisions to the existing planfor meeting organizational needs. Consider the following in your response:  How will the revisions address existing concerns?  Examine the need to proactively create or revise the learning and development plan. Consider the following in your response:  What indicators suggest a need to revise the learning and development plan?  Discuss an action plan for deploying a new learning and development plan. Consider the following in your response:  How will you communicate this plan to stakeholders?  What needs to be communicated?  Describe appropriate tools and technologyto carry out a learning and development plan. Consider the following:  Are there learning and development platforms or learning management systems that may be considered for implementing the plan?  How can technology be used to increase employee engagement?  What to Submit To complete this project, you must submit the following:  Presentation  Use the Project Two Template to submit this assignment as a PowerPoint presentation that contains all sections above, including the title and reference page (if sources were used). Elaborate in the speaker notes section for each slide. Cite at least two sources to display where research was used. Consult the Shapiro Library APA Style Guide for more information on citations. Sources should be cited according to APA style.  Supporting Materials The following resource(s) may help support your work on the project: Template: HRM 350 Project Two Template Use this PowerPoint template to create your assignment.   Sample Training Plan: Project Two Sample Training Plan  Use this sample training plan to meet rubric criteria in the “Recommendation” section. Please note that this plan is intended as a negative example for you to review and propose revisions to as part of the project.  2. BUS 400 Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview A sustainable, competitive advantage aligns with an organization’s strengths and long-term strategy, which is where the Blue Ocean Strategy excels. By creating uncontested market spaces and delivering innovative value, organizations can minimize competition and uncover new opportunities for growth. Through a comprehensive analysis of risks and opportunities, businesses identify gaps, address unmet customer needs, and align with emerging trends like sustainability or technology. Defending these decisions with clear evidence and measurable outcomes builds stakeholder confidence and drives strategic buy-in. By leveraging the Blue Ocean Strategy, organizations can foster innovation, adapt to challenges, and achieve sustainable growth, ensuring continued success in evolving markets. Scenario This is your opportunity to prove why your new product or service deserves funding. You’ve done the research, and you understand that the investment you’re seeking could be a game-changer for the company—driving revenue and profitability and strategically setting the organization apart from its competitors. Now, as you prepare to address questions from senior management, you’ve developed a comprehensive checklist with key talking points to cover all aspects of the project. Research and market analysis Feasibility of the idea using the Business Model Canvas (BMC) Project scope, including a timeline Risk mitigation strategies Alignment with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals A 24-month pro forma that outlines financial projections In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of driving business opportunities based on the following competencies: Determine how an organization gains a competitive advantage Determine organizational risk and growth opportunities in order to develop a strategic plan Defend business decisions in support of an organization’s strategic plan Directions Create a pitch for funding. In this pitch, you will have to convince senior management to greenlight the new product or service. Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria: Value Proposition: Describe the company’s existing value proposition in the market. Describe the selected company’s main product or service. Discuss the company’s overall strategic plan. Competitive Advantage: Describe the competitive advantage the company will gain by funding the project. Describe how you discovered an opportunity to do something better than your competitors. Determine how the new product or service shifts the value proposition of the company. Risks and Opportunities: Establish the risks and growth opportunities of the company. Determine if the new product or service could disrupt the industry now. Identify the risks associated with the development of this new product or service. Growth Opportunities: Describe the areas of potential growth for the company. Identify the growth opportunities within the company. Explain how the competitive advantage allows for growth. Distinguish as a New Product or Innovation: Distinguish the new product or service as an innovation or improvement on an existing product or service. Determine if the product or service fits within the capabilities of the company. Note: A company’s SWOT analysis or 10-K is an indicator of whether the new product or service could be feasible. Explain how the new product or service adds to the portfolio of the company. Target Segment: Describe the targeted segment. Identify the target customer. Explain your blue ocean strategy. Note: The new market is identified here. Speculate Sales: Speculate on the projected sales. Justify your product or service by the numbers; discuss your projected revenue gain. Note: It MUST have an ROI that justifies the project for investors and senior management. Explain the risks associated with projected sales. Speculate Profitability: Speculate on the profitability of your proposed product or service. Determine if the project is profitable.  Note: In this pitch for funding, senior management must know that the project, based on market research, is speculated to be profitable. Use the company’s latest income statement to project how the company’s profitability will be affected. Look to other companies in the marketplace with products or services similar to the one you are proposing as a basis for your projections. Note: These numbers are purely speculative. Determine the impact on the functional areas of the business (accounting, marketing, sales, and so on). CSR Plan: Outline the plan to service the community or customers who purchase the product or service. Discuss how the idea demonstrates corporate social responsibility (CSR). Identify what the company has invested in as it relates to the communities they serve. Discuss how a good CSR plan helps the company gain competitive advantage. DEI Plan: Summarize how the project will include a variety of perspectives to gain a better unique value proposition. Determine if the company has a corporate culture built on DEI. Discuss how the project’s DEI plan fits into the company’s overall strategic plan