The business training in the automotive industry in greecethe example of opel

1. Industrial and Commercial Training
The business training in the automotive industry in Greece: the example of Opel
Vasiliki Brinia Konstantinos Pefanis
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Vasiliki Brinia Konstantinos Pefanis, (2013),"The business training in the automotive industry in Greece: the example of Opel", Industrial and
Commercial Training, Vol. 45 Iss 4 pp. 209 - 217
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2. The business training in the automotive
industry in Greece: the example of Opel
Vasiliki Brinia and Konstantinos Pefanis
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to investigate the views of the employees of GM Hellas (the
subsidiary of Opel car manufacturer in Greece), with regards to the training they receive from their
employer. More specifically, the research seeks to examine two types of training aspects: those related
to the principles of adult education and those related to the business goals of the company, such as the
improvement on trainees’ qualifications and skills, the need to upgrade trainees’ job prospects, the
provision of knowledge on recent technological developments.
Design/methodology/approach – The research took place in 2012, the 4th consecutive year of
recession in Greece (since the beginning of the 2008 debt crisis); it investigates a business sector which
has been hit very hard due to falling consumer demand for cars. Therefore, the time and context of this
research makes it almost unique in its field. The research followed a quantitative approach
(questionnaires administered to a sample of 114 employees/trainees).
Findings – The researchers concluded that the training provided by GM Hellas is viewed in a very
positive light by its employees. Several training aspects considered important in adult education, as well
as some business goals achieved through training, were all very favorably evaluated.
Originality/value – In-company training is a key factor for business growth and competitiveness. This is
the first research of business education in the automotive sector in Greece, which is very important in the
Greek economy.
Keywords Training, Evaluation, Automotive industry, Greece
Paper type Research paper
Introduction and literature review
Companies operate and grow in constantly evolving business environments, where
customers are in need for high quality products and services. As a result, companies must
always adapt to new circumstances in order to operate competitively. One of the key tools for
modern business operation is training. In-company training is one of the major factors for all
big enterprises because, among other things, it helps them:
B Progress by adapting all best practices on administration, business organization and
modern technology.
B Align their long-term strategy with everyday work practices, which should be put into
practice by their experienced staff. It has been argued that the workforce is the key
strength of each business and a major factor differentiating one from the other (Evans and
Lindsay, 1999). Pfeffer (1994) pointed out that enterprises become more competitive in
their sector, when they make effective use of their workforce.
B Improve knowledge and skills of their staff, helping them coping with the demands of their
jobs and making them more adaptable to change (Lester, 1996).
In-company training being part of adult education, should comply with principles and best
practices, which have been thoroughly investigated and discussed by academics in this field
DOI 10.1108/00197851311323493 VOL. 45 NO. 4 2013, pp. 209-217, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0019-7858 jINDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING j PAGE 209
Vasiliki Brinia is a Lecturer,
Department of
Management Science and
Technology, Athens
University of Economics
and Business, Athens,
Greece.
Konstantinos Pefanis is
based at Hellenic Open
University, Patras, Greece.
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3. (Mezirow, 2000, Knowles et al., 2011). However, in-company training has some special
characteristics. First, it is all too often compulsory; the management of the company usually
takes the initiative to train their staff on various subjects; employees, on the other hand, as they
are bound by their employment contracts and job responsibilities, need to comply with the
managements’ training decisions. Second, as Sleezer et al. (2004) pointed out, the aim of
in-company training programs is not only the knowledge/skills improvement of the trainees, but
it is also the increase in effectiveness and productivity of the whole workforce, as well as the
company itself. For this reason, there is often a strong shift towards improving collaboration
among staff members. Third, there have been reported incidences of inequalities with regards
to training opportunities provided by big companies to their employees. For example, those
holding top managerial posts, who in most cases, are already very thoroughly trained, are likely
to receive more training in the future, than those holding lower level jobs (Green et al., 1999).
First of all, the evaluation of training is an important source of feedback and it is considered
to be one of the most important parts of the training process (Kirkpatrick, 1959, Worthen and
Sanders, 1987). It is a comparison between the initial goals of each training process, and the
actual results it achieved. Based on that comparison, the management of the company will
take decisions/make changes in order to reach conclusions on training worth end
effectiveness and achieve, next time, better training results (Gustafson and Branch, 1997).
The research presented here, has been based on the automotive sector in Greece. This
particular sector is very important in the Greek economy. In year 2010, the Greek automotive
industry consisted of 893 companies which traded cars, car parts and accessories. The car
segment represented a percentage of 9.1 percent of the total turnover of trading companies.
Due to the recent financial/debt crisis, the automotive sector has been at a constant decline;
the turnover index of the car trading sector for year 2010 has been reduced by 37 percent
compared to year 2009, while gross profits decreased by 35.1 percent (ESEE, 2011a). In the
third quarter of year 2011, the turnover index has been decreased by 8.5 percent in
comparison to the second quarter (ESEE, 2011b), showing that there are still difficult days to
come. These difficult circumstances in the car sector, as well as in the country itself, have
made clear to all businesses that it is vital to cut unnecessary expenses and costs. This often
results in making people redundant and/or reducing budgets of all departments (including
HR and Training). In that light, the researchers view that this work has the added benefit of
evaluating training at the downturn of the economic cycle.
GM Hellas, the company which is the subsidiary of Opel in Greece, was where our research
was based. Opel was founded in 1862 in Ru¨sselsheim, Germany. Apart from being a car
manufacturer with a rich history covering more than a century, it is believed to be one of the
most technologically advanced manufacturers in Europe; it operates 13 factories in six
different countries, and has established its appearance in 40 different European markets,
employing around 40.000 people. Opel has also strong ties with the US car giant, General
Motors, being its European subsidiary. In Europe, for the period of January-April 2012, Opel
had a market share of 6.6 percent, holding 4th place regarding new passenger car
registrations (ACEA, 2012). In Greece, GM Hellas imports cars, parts and accessories for
the Greek market. Its network consists of 22 official distributors, which are fully organized
with 94 sale points and 92 service points.
Opel provides in-company training programs to all staff levels and job posts (e.g. sales
consultants, parts and accessories consultants, technicians, service advisors, etc.). The
‘‘ [. . .] in-company training [. . .] is all too often compulsory; the
management of the company usually takes the initiative to
train their staff on various subjects; employees, on the other
hand, as they are bound by their employment contracts and
job responsibilities, need to comply with the managements’
training decisions. ’’
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4. ultimate goal is to transfer the philosophy of the organization to its workforce. Its philosophy
is better described with the motto: ‘‘we don’t just manufacture cars, we live for the cars!’’ In
practical terms this means that Opel is a company committed to innovation, advanced
product design and high quality production standards.
According to the company, its training helps participants progress, so as they can achieve
optimal personal development. It also helps Opel manufacture, distribute and support top
quality vehicles. Opel has a dominant position in the Greek car market; according to SEAA
(2012), the Association of Car Importers Representatives, in the first six months of year 2012,
Opel had the biggest market share in Greece. Moreover, the company shows a big
commitment to training; it maintains a well-organized Training Department within GM Hellas,
called GM Academy, and each Opel dealer employs a training manager. There is also a
training goal for the company, which is to train all its employees for at least two days annually.
These two aspects, successful business results and commitment to training, were the
reasons why the researchers wanted to examine the ‘‘phenomenon Opel’’ thoroughly.
Within GM Hellas there are three levels of training: bronze (lower level), silver (medium level)
and gold (high level). At least 25 percent of all job holders in each type of post (car sales,
spare-part sales, technical advisors, technicians, etc.), need to have acquired the gold
level, whereas the rest should have acquired, at least the bronze level. There are three types
of training: Training with a trainer (IBT), which was the most common type of training
representing 79 percent of total Opel training sessions in year 2010, web-based training
(WBT, 10 percent) and training in a virtual classrooms (VCT, 11 percent). All GM Hellas
employees are obliged to participate in training. However, there are several differences,
regarding training opportunities among various job holders: technicians and sales
representatives are more likely to receive training (37 percent of trainees were technicians
and 21 percent of trainees were sales people), rather than directors of all departments (8
percent) or technical consultants (18 percent). What is important to point out, is that in year
2010, there were 1,037 days of training provided to Opel employees, therefore there were
2.05 days of training for each staff member; this is a sufficient indicator, in terms of the
quantity of training provided. It remains to be seen whether the quality of in-company training
is also of a high standard. This is where our research came into place.
Aim of the research and measures
The aim of the research has been the evaluation of training provided by GM Hellas to its
employees. Evaluation goals usually involve multiple purposes at different levels, e.g. evaluation
of learning, training materials, trainers, transfer of training, return on investment, etc. (Eseryel,
2002). Among all these elements which could be evaluated, and taking into account several
cost and time constraints, the researchers have decided to focus on aspects which:
B are considered important from the point-of-view of Adult Education;
B are related to the sector the company belongs (need for competitiveness, job
requirements, technological innovation); and
B are linked to future training decisions regarding the length, type and location of training.
More specifically, the research presented here has been conducted in order to provide
answers to the following questions:
Q1. How do the employees of GM Hellas evaluate the training they received from their
employer?
Q2. What are their preferences with regards to the length, type and location of training,
provided by their company?
With regards to Q1, the research has investigated the following twelve aspects of training
(a1-a12):
1. The trainees’ general satisfaction degree from the training received (a1).
2. Whether the goals and content of training had been well documented and communicated
beforehand (a2).
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5. 3. The trainers’ responsiveness to trainees’ needs (a3).
4. The variety of training techniques applied (a4).
5. The degree in which the training provided was relevant to/corresponded with:
B the trainees’ own experiences (a5);
B the need to improve the qualifications and skills of the trainees (a6);
B the trainees’ everyday job demands (a7);
B the need to upgrade the jobs of the participants (a8);
B the need to improve their prospects within the company (a9);
B the recent technological developments in the automotive industry (a10);
B the demands of competition within the sector (a11); and
B the ‘‘Opel philosophy’’ (a12).
On second level (Q2), in order to address some ‘‘practical’’ issues regarding the training
provided, which were considered important for the company management (and are
associated with training costs), the research investigated the views of the trainees on:
B whether the length of annual training/ time of training provided, was sufficient (a13);
B what was the type of training preferred by most employees (traditional training in class,
web-training, virtual classroom) (a14); and
B the preferred location of training (Opel training centre, third part facilities, dealers’
facilities, web-based) (a15).
Methodology
The research has followed the quantitative approach, which was deemed as more suitable,
considering that the examined population was geographically widespread; the 22 largest
Opel dealers were examined, which were located all over the country. Although OPEL is
present in 94 total points in Greece, those 22 major dealers taken into the sample, where the
ones which included fully operational departments of sales and after sales, e.g. sections such
as car sales, parts and accessories sales, as well as mechanical and bodyshop services.
Therefore, in these major dealers, the researchers could access employees from all sorts of
job posts. In that respect, the researchers believed that they would get a more detailed picture
of how Opel employees view and evaluate their training, no matter what their job post was.
The method used was a questionnaire survey research. In order to increase processing
speed, all questionnaire items required closed answers. There were two types of questions:
1. Questions linked to answers in Likert scale format; Likert scales have been ideal for
measuring attitudes and their use increases the reliability of questionnaires (Moser and
Calton, 1986; Oppenheim, 2000).
2. Dichotomous type questions with multiple choice answers (Cohen et al. 2000).
The research was conducted between January and March 2012. The data analysis was
completed in May 2012.
‘‘ In-company training is a key factor for business growth and
competitiveness. Any company that offers internal training is
hoping for the direct application of knowledge/skills gained
by its staff, in order to improve the results of the company
itself. ’’
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6. There were 200 questionnaires, sent to Opel employees/trainees, 114 were returned
completed (return rate 57 percent). Taking into account the fact that in year 2010, 474 Opel
employees received various types of training, it was clear that a sample consisting of 24
percent of the total population, should lead to valid results. In order to measure the reliability
of the results, the researchers calculated Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability index, which for the 13
dichotomous type questionnaire items (n ¼ 13) has provided a value of 0.783. Being above
0.7, this index showed that the research provided quite reliable results.
The sample consisted of 93 men (81.6 percent) and 21 women (18.4 percent). All participants
were between 26 and 50 years old, whereas the majority of the respondents had completed
high school and/or technical schools (83.3 percent). Only 14 percent of the respondents were
University degree holders. With regards to the job posts of the respondents, 14 people (12.3
percent) worked in car sales, 22 (19.3 percent) worked in parts sales, 34 people (29.8
percent) were car technicians, 16 people (14.0 percent) were technical consultants, and 28
people (24.6 percent) were doing office work. Within the Opel group, employees receive
training which is – more often – associated with their job posts. Therefore, the respondents
have attended training courses in customer service (52.3 percent), technical issues (47.7
percent), sales (38.7 percent), new models presentations (34.2 percent), business
management (20.7 percent) and other matters (9.9 percent). The majority of the
respondents (56 people, 49.1 percent) had been working for Opel for more than ten years.
In the following paragraphs we are presenting the results of the research.
Results
The research results on aspects a1-a3 and a5-a12, have been presented and summarized
around two angles: positive or very positive (favorable views), and negative or very negative
(unfavorable views), as shown on Tables I and II.
The initial picture derived from Table I, shows a very favorable training environment. Table III
shows that the most satisfied workers were technical consultants and technicians (people doing
manual/practical work, dealing with car service). This might be indicative of the fact that the
company’s training is well focused on addressing ‘‘real’’ practical problems, therefore it should
include a lot of exercises, practice etc., which, in general, are important for this type of work.
As already discussed, training techniques applied by trainers are a very well researched
subject in Adult Education. In our research, there was extensive use of techniques such as
lectures (88.3 percent), exercises (71.2 percent), practice (54.1 percent), group/team work
(50.5 percent), demonstrations (33.3 percent) and case studies (10.8 percent). The results
(for each type of job) appear in Table II.
With regards to attributes a5-a12, the results presented on Table IV, provide a clearly positive
picture on how the respondents view the training programs provided by their employer.
Further to the positive results appearing on Tables I and IV, it is important for management to
be aware of their employees’ preferences regarding the degree in which the length of annual
training provided was sufficient or not (a13), the type of training they preferred (a14), as well
as their preferences on the location of training (a15), (see Q2). The results of the research on
these matters have been summarized in Tables V-VII.
The results of the research have been discussed in the following paragraphs.
Table I Evaluation of aspects a1-a3
Favorable Unfavorable
Aspect evaluated (%) (%)
a1. trainees’ general satisfaction degree from the training received 90.3 9.7
a2. goals and content of training being well documented and communicated beforehand 97.3 2.7
a3. trainers’ responsiveness to trainees’ needs 93.9 6.1
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7. Table II Crosstabulation between trainees’ general satisfaction degree (a1) and job posts
Job post
How do you evaluate your general
satisfaction level from the training you
received?
Car sales
consultant
Spare part sales
consultant Technician
Technical
consultant
Office
worker Other
Excellent
Frequency 2 6 12 8 7 0
Percent 14.3 28.6 35.3 53.3 29.2 0.0
Good
Frequency 12 13 20 7 15 1
Percent 85.7 61.9 58.8 46.7 62.5 33.3
Poor
Frequency 0 2 2 0 2 1
Percent 0.0 9.5 5.9 0.0 8.3 33.3
Very poor
Frequency 0 0 0 0 0 1
Percent 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 33.3
Total
Frequency 14 21 34 15 24 3
Percent 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Table III Crosstabulation between training techniques applied by trainers and trainees’ job
posts
Job post
Training
techniques
Car sales
consultant
Spare part sales
consultant Technician
Technical
consultant
Office
worker Other
Lecture
Frequency 13 17 31 13 22 2
Job post (%) 23.2 29.3 28.4 25.5 39.3 16.7
Total (%) 3.8 5.0 9.1 3.8 6.4 0.6
Exercise
Frequency 11 15 28 13 10 2
Job post (%) 19.6 25.9 25.7 25.5 17.9 16.7
Total (%) 3.2 4.4 8.2 3.8 2.9 0.6
Group/team work
Frequency 11 11 12 8 12 2
Job post (%) 19.6 19.0 11.0 15.7 21.4 16.7
Total (%) 3.2 3.2 3.5 2.3 3.5 0.6
Demonstration
Frequency 10 6 12 5 1 3
Job post (%) 17.9 10.3 11.0 9.8 1.8 25.0
Total (%) 2.9 1.8 3.5 1.5 0.3 0.9
Practice
Frequency 9 9 22 11 7 2
Job post (%) 16.1 15.5 20.2 21.6 12.5 16.7
Total (%) 2.6 2.6 6.4 3.2 2.0 0.6
Case study
Frequency 2 0 4 1 4 1
Job post (%) 3.6 0.0 3.7 2.0 7.1 8.3
Total (%) 0.6 0.0 1.2 0.3 1.2 0.3
Total
Frequency 56 58 109 51 56 12
Total (%) 16.4 17.0 31.9 14.9 16.4 3.5
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8. Discussion
The employees of GM Hellas have in general expressed a very positive view with regards to
the training they receive from their employer. All training aspects investigated (a1-a12) were
favorably evaluated with percentages:
B starting from 87.7 percent (for aspects a8 – training as a means to upgrade the jobs of the
participants, and a11 – training as a way to address the demands of competition within
the automotive sector) and
B reaching a staggering 97.3 percent (for aspect a2 – goals and content of training being
well documented and communicated beforehand).
In the Opel case, several principles of Adult Education which need to be fulfilled when adults
are trained, were very well met; for example, the goals and content of training being well
documented beforehand (97.3 percent), trainers’ responsiveness to trainees’ needs (93.9
percent), training being relevant to trainees’ own experiences (87.7 percent), training
responding to the everyday job demands (92.8 percent). There were also some business
goals which were achieved through training, such as the improvement on trainees’
Table VII a15 – preferred location of training
Where would you prefer to be trained? (%)
At the Opel training center 64.6
In third part facilities 29.2
In dealers’ facilities 48.7
At my own home, with distant learning methods (web-based) 22.1
Table VI a14 – preferred type of training
Which of the following types of training, do you believe that is the most effective and
corresponds better to your own training needs? (%)
Training with a trainer (IBT) 89.4
Web-based training (WBT) 23.9
Training in a virtual classroom (VCT) 6.2
Table IV Evaluation of aspects a5-a12
Aspect evaluated: the degree in which the training provided was
relevant to/corresponded with:
Favorable
(%)
Unfavorable
(%)
a5. the trainees’ own experiences 87.7 12.3
a6. the need to improve the qualifications and skills of the trainees 92.1 7.9
a7. the trainees’ everyday job demands 92.8 7.2
a8. the need to upgrade the jobs of the participants 87.7 12.3
a9. the need to improve their prospects within the company 93.8 6.2
a10. the recent technological developments in the automotive industry 94.7 5.3
a11. the demands of competition within the sector 87.7 12.3
a12. the ‘‘Opel philosophy’’ 93.8 6.2
Table V a13 – duration of annual training
The time of training each employee attends
annually is (%)
Too much 17.1
Sufficient 56.8
Not enough 26.1
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9. qualifications and skills (92.1 percent), upgrading participants’ jobs (87.7 percent),
improving their prospects (93.8 percent), coping with new technological developments
(94.7 percent) and competition (87.7 percent). These results show a good balance between
educational and business goals being met by Opel training.
Another business training goal is transmitting the philosophy of Opel to its employees. It has
to do primarily with the product itself, the car, which, for Opel defines a unique experience to
be transferred to the final customer. The customer should enjoy the product and quality of
service, in accordance to the company’s high standards of customer care. Therefore, the
percentage of 93.8 percent who believed that the training they receive helps them adopt the
‘‘Opel philosophy’’, is a very positive outcome, because it should have a direct impact on the
customer’s experience and satisfaction.
The time spent by employees on training is also an important factor in Adult Education;
adults, being very busy most of the time and trying to cope with various personal and
professional commitments (Hiemstra and Sisco, 1990), usually have a strong need to feel
that the time they sacrifice on training is time well spent. In our research, 56.8 percent of Opel
employees were satisfied by the duration of training provided to them.
The training techniques used by trainers, include all appropriate methods of Adult
Education. Opel trainees concluded that the preferred mode of training for them is through
an instructor, which shows a rather ‘‘traditional’’ training approach, although the majority of
the respondents were quite young. Another aspect that arose, was the fact that 23.9 percent
of the respondents preferred web-based training, whereas the company offers this type of
training only for the 11 percent of cases. This shows that there is definitely some potential for
further development of this type of training, not only because it is favored by so many
people, but also because it is usually very cost effective. With regards to the preferred
location of training, the majority of the respondents were in favor of the Opel training center
(64.6 percent), rather than third party conference facilities (29.2 percent), which is an
argument against outsourcing Opel training to third parties.
Conclusion
In-company training is a key factor for business growth and competitiveness. Any company
that offers internal training is hoping for the direct application of knowledge/skills gained by
its staff, in order to improve the results of the company itself. Therefore, staff training is in line
with business development, and this is the main reason why many companies give special
attention to it. At times of economic downfall, like the one experienced in Greece at the
moment, in-company training needs to justify its resources, therefore, results need to be
thoroughly evaluated. Regarding the training provided by GM Hellas, the research has
revealed very favorable results: All training aspects measured were viewed very favorably
by the majority of the employees. This positive outcome shows that the company’s
commitment to training has shown dividends. However evaluating company training is
always an ongoing process. Future researchers could evaluate Opel’s training in a few years
in order to examine how the company’s training evolves. They could also conduct similar
research in other car businesses, and taking into account their training budgets and market
share, could perform comparisons and reach conclusions, as to whether (which type of)
training has a considerable effect on business results.
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Corresponding author
Konstantinos Pefanis can be contacted at: kpef@otenet.gr
VOL. 45 NO. 4 2013 jINDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAININGjPAGE 217
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