This gives you an opportunity to investigate, analyze, and report on the strategic role of training and development in an organization. 

The Training Top 125 for 2018

For the past 18 years, Training magazine has ranked organizations based on their employer-sponsored training and development programs (Freifeld, 2018). The list below contains the top five organizations for 2018.

Company 2018 Rank 2017 Rank
Leading Real Estate Companies of the World 1 3
New York Community Bancorp 2 2
Sonic Automotive 3 5
BNSF Railway Co. 4 4
Dollar General Corporation, LLC 5 8

Details about the selection process and about all 125 organizations ranked by Training can be found at the magazine’s website:https://trainingmag.com/training-magazine-ranks-2018-training-top-125-organizationshttps://trainingmag.com/trgmag-article/2018-training-top-125-winners

You should also browse the trainingmag.com website for articles related to the 2018 Top 125 list. The January/February 2018 issue, which you can find in Training’s digital archives, has feature articles on the top five companies for 2018.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Choose ONE of Training magazine’s top five organizations and investigate the organization’s strategic training and development initiatives.

In addition to researching articles on Training’s website, you should explore the organization’s web site for business information (hint: look for the organization’s annual report, which can be a source of information about financial expenditures, company priorities, and competition) and use the UMUC library to conduct a search for references to the organization. Don’t forget to look for YouTube videos by or about the organization.

Prepare a report based on your research.  
Using the criteria Training uses to rank organizations as well as from your own research, prepare a report about strategic training and development in your chosen organization. Your report should include, but is not limited to, the following elements:

1. A description of the organization and its major products and/or services (a brief description — no more than two or three paragraphs). Try to find information about the organization’s mission and/or goals and how its training function is organized. The organization’s website and its annual report, particularly the letter to shareholders at the beginning of the annual report, are good sources of information. Be sure to cite the specific web page where you found information used in your report. 
2. An assessment of the characteristics of the organization that help it excel in training and development. Include factors such as (but not limited to) the total budget for or amount of money spent on training and development; the level of employee involvement in training and development activities; the type(s) of training and development opportunities offered; the organization’s investment in and/or use of technology for training; and the availability of benefits such as tuition assistance. 
3. An assessment of how the Talent Development (TD) function operates in the organization. How is the TD function organized? For a description of three training organizational models, read Organizational Models in Training (Training Industry, 2013), available at http://www.trainingindustry.com/wiki/entries/organizational-models-in-training.aspx. Does the organization use training needs analyses (TNAs) to identify performance gaps or the need for new skills to support business strategies and initiatives? Does the organization employ the ADDIE, RID, or Agile approaches to design training? Does the organization embrace any of the TD competencies described in the Association of Talent Development (ATD) competency model? 

Support your opinions and statements with a minimum of four references from sources published within the last ten years. You can cite scholarly and practitioner-oriented journals, course materials, newspaper articles, YouTube videos by or about the organization, the organization’s annual report, and the organization’s web site, but not Wikipedia, vendor websites, or other non-academic sources. The UMUC library can help you identify appropriate sources.

Use APA format for citations, references, and quotations. This means your list of references should start on a separate page, and should be double spaced, with a hanging indent and no spaces between entries. For help with APA format, please consult the Writing Resources module in the Course Resources section of our classroom.

Please see the next page for the grading criteria for this assignment.

References

Freifeld, L. (2018, February 13). Training magazine ranks 2018 Training Top 125 organizations. Retrieved from https://trainingmag.com/training-magazine-ranks-2018-training-top-125-organizations
Training Industry. (2013, May 23). Organizational models in training. Retrieved from https://www.trainingindustry.com/wiki/organizational-models-in-training.