Chick-Fil-A Training Program Development Running Head

Chick Fil A Training Program Developmentrunning Head Chik Fil A Train

Chick-fil-A is an organization that continues to grow and expand nationwide and as a result, the organization must develop a training program that can be utilized at every location. As a consultant, one of the first steps to complete when starting a new project is to assemble a SWOT Analysis as well as to prepare a Balanced Scorecard and Casual Chain Score card. SWOT analysis To ensure a successful consulting project the consultants must conduct an in depth analysis of the company and where the training program will lead it. The analysis of strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats will provide guidance to develop the program and other tools to evaluate its performance.

The consulting project strengths will attract new customers and maintain already existing fans. The consulting project will add to their current position in the industry by focusing on personalized customer service. The second strength is employee involvement. Involvement of all levels will provide higher approval and success percentages. The program will also provide employees a completion timeline, and require them to evaluate the training they received.

Evaluation will provide feedback on the training programs pertinence to restaurant operations. One of Chik-fil-A’s weaknesses is the public relations nightmare which occurred when the CEO, Dan Cathy, admitted to opposing same-sex marriage. As a result the company faced public scorn and a lost profits. Employees and customers alike also took this as acceptance of bigoted behavior towards LGBT employees or customers. The new training program will need to address the side effects of their CEOs comments.

The consultant’s must ensure the program addresses a culture of inclusion and acceptance to counteract the CEO’s comments. Failure to do so could exacerbate the public’s view of the company’s attitude towards the communities they serve. The program’s second weakness will be the time required for each employee to complete the training program, learning the new procedures and standards of performance, and then any time spent afterwards providing an evaluation. The company has various opportunities such as the increase of menu items, expansion and customer service improvement. The consulting project will develop a training program focused on adding to the customer experience.

The biggest opportunity offered by the training program is the opportunity to develop a way to evaluate employee’s performance. Finding a way to evaluate performance is essential to evaluating overall productivity (Markham, 2005, p.33). It will also allow the company to improve on operational processes affecting customer service. Re-enforcing the customer service experience by new training procedures will increase the market share and brand relevance. Threats to the consulting project vary in magnitude.

Lack of owner support will be the most important one, as the company that already has hundreds of establishments and employees tries to roll out a new training program. Franchise owners who doubt, or do not support the new training will become a problem if the consultants do not address their concerns. Another threat is the cost to develop the program before implementation. The final threat, employee resistance, poses a smaller, but no less important threat. Employees who resist the training program goals will inhibit proper evaluation of the program’s effectiveness.

Balanced Score Card Balanced score cards were first introduced in the early 1990’s to improve performance measurement (Gibbons & Kaplan, 2015, p.449). Through the implementation of categories that are not centralized in financial execution, the balanced score card creates a broader view and evaluation of a project. The balanced score card includes four categories: processes, operational, financial and growth. The score card in Appendix I follows a similar approach but with a few extra categories to align it to the project. Each of the categories presents an evaluated aspect that can be subdivided into different topics.

The first category, development and growth, contains specific project information. Dates and length of the project are important details to present. The training programs detailed timeline outlining how specific tasks contribute to the project are explained and evaluated. The process category outlines each new procedure used in the program. Personalized service, such as asking names, offering choices and alternatives, or nutrition facts are key parts of introduced elements.

The stakeholders and satisfaction category will explain how the training program will add value to the company and will address stakeholder relationships including customers, franchisees, employees and top management. The last category, covering finances, will evaluate how the training program will affect finances, the overall cost of using consultants, and implementation by the company; and finally the return on investment. Refer to appendix A for balanced scorecard pertaining the training. Casual Chain Scorecard A causal chain scorecard is another type of scorecard that companies use to manage their performances. This type of scorecard consists of seven categories of measures.

The information in these categories shows how one category affects the next. The categories are: input measures, cost measures, reaction measures, learning measures, application/impact measures, impact measures, and ROI measures. To create a scorecard, it would help by beginning with the company’s mission statement, vision, and any value statements the company has. The next thing to look at is the company’s current situation and then what the goals of improvement are. In this case, the scorecard will focus on training and development.

The input measure includes all the people involved in the training and development, the projects and the time spent on the project. Personnel involved include those designing the training, those conducting training and those being trained. Time duration will include how long it took to design the training and how long training takes. The cost measure consists of the costs for everything involved in the input measure. From the cost of the designing the training and development, the cost of instructors, paid time to employees, and if the training is catered, as an option the company would pay for.

The reaction measure includes the reaction and satisfaction from all stakeholders involved. This category is the feedback section. It could include the feedback of whether stakeholders thought the training and development was relevant and worth the costs. This will also include suggestions for redesigning the training to include more relevant information. Trainees provide feedback on whether the training helped them understand expectations, makes their service more efficient, and any improvements for future training.

The instructors can also provide information on whether the material was relevant and how training affected the employees. Chick-fil-A is an organization that continues to grow and expand nationwide. As a result the organization must develop a training program that can be utilized at every location. One of the steps in evaluating Chik-fil-A’s casual chain scorecard is seeing how they handle the development of the training program. They should look at the amount of information they need to provide to employees; the employee’s skill set, and finally the employees perceptions.

Developing a training program allows each location to be unique but standardized. As an organization known for its friendly, family orientated atmosphere they must ensure they develop a training program ensuring this is standard at each location, nationwide. Impact measures for the training program for the employees are broken down into two parts the intangible, (non-monetary) and the tangible (the monetary) data. Utilizing these will help the organization and the employees see the benefits of the training program being developed. Intangible data, such as providing great services to the customers, loyal customers, and learning on the job skills and experience are all part of intangible benefits for the training program.

Tangible data are more the organization can do for the employee and what the employee can do for the company, such as higher profit margins, employee promotions and bonus. Each one of these are benefits for the organization and the employee. The ROI measures are a formula that evaluates the total cost of the consulting investment. Which is as follows ROI = Net Consulting Project Monetary benefits / Consulting Project Costs x 100. This formula allows the organization consulting team to be able to see “how the benefits, expressed in monetary values, compare to cost” (Philips, Trotter, & Pullman Phillips, 2015, p. 433).

By doing this and working the formula the consulting team and the organization will be able to see how well the investment is doing, and if the consulting team contributions are working as a good decision. Conclusion The purpose of the Chik-fil-A SWOT analysis is to enable us, as a consulting organization, to complete such tasks as compile an in depth company analysis, and recognize such topics as public relations weakness, opportunities for expansion and to acknowledging the threats of the project. Unlike a simple scorecard or a balanced scorecard that only consider a smaller number of factors, preparing a Casual Chain Scorecard will help to identify both internal and external influences as well as to help develop a full awareness of all the factors involved within the new training program decisions.

References

• Gibbons, R., & Kaplan, R. S. (2015). Formal Measures in Informal Management: Can a Balanced Scorecard Change a Culture? American Economic Review, 105(5).
• Markham, C. (2005). Developing consulting skills. Management Consulting Journal, 16(4), 33-37.
• Philips, J. J., Trotter, W., & Pullman, P. (2015). Maximizing the Value of Consulting. Retrieved from [appropriate source]