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International Journal of Project Management 26 (2008) 149–163
Project risk management practice: The case of a South African
utility company
Riaan van Wyk a, Paul Bowen b,*, Akintola Akintoye c
a
Electricity Supply Commission of South Africa (ESKOM),
South Africa
b
Department of Construction Economics and Management,
University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7700, South
Africa
c
School of the Built and Natural Environment, Glasgow
Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow, Scotland,
UK
Received 26 October 2006; received in revised form 26
February 2007; accepted 20 March 2007
Abstract
This paper documents the risk management practice of a utility
company for its Recovery Plan project to address the risks of
power
interruptions due to a shortfall of supply and increasing
electricity demand. The company’s corporate risk management

process and its
practice at divisional and project levels are discussed. The key
role of stakeholders in risk identification, analysis, mitigation,
monitoring
and reporting is emphasised by the company and this drives its
risk management practice. Despite the level of resources
available within
the company to use more sophisticated risk management tools,
the company adopts simple risk management methods
suggesting that a
large size company does not necessarily use ‘state of the art’
risk management techniques. Recommendations for improved
practice are
made.
� 2007 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Risk management; Utility; Case study; Stakeholder;
Electricity; South Africa
1. Introduction
Risk management continues to be a major feature of the
project management of large construction, engineering and
technological projects in an attempt to reduce uncertainties
and to achieve project success. Miller and Lessard [1] have
argued why large engineering projects should be carefully
managed given that they are ‘‘high stakes games’’ charac-
terised by substantial irreversible commitments, skewed
reward structures in case of success, and high probabilities
of failure. In addition, they categorised the risk associated
with different types of projects ranging from oil platform
projects, nuclear-power projects, hydro-electric-power pro-
jects, urban transport projects, road and tunnel systems,
and research and development projects. They are of the
opinion that power projects possess moderate risks in so
far as engineering is concerned, but are very difficult in
0263-7863/$30.00 � 2007 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights

reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2007.03.011
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 21 650 3445; fax: +27 21 689
7564.
E-mail address: [email protected] (P. Bowen).
terms of social acceptability. Elkingston and Smallman
[2] examined project risk management practices of British
utility companies given that the utilities sector (comprising
water, power, telecommunications) is associated with less
predictable projects which are perceived to be riskier than
day-to-day business activities. They argued that risk man-
agement is an integral part of project management in this
sector; hence, most large companies put substantial
resources into the management of their business risk.
The current paper presents the risk management of a
Recovery Plan project of the Eskom Holdings Ltd. power
company in South Africa. Eskom Holdings Ltd. is wholly
owned by the South African government. The company
is a vertically-integrated operation that generates, trans-
mits, and distributes electricity to industrial, mining, com-
mercial, agricultural, re-distributors and residential users.
It is also involved in the purchase and sale of electricity
to and from South African Development Community
(SADC) countries, comprising Botswana, Mozambique,
Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia.
mailto:[email protected]
Shantelle Hildred
150 R. van Wyk et al. / International Journal of Project
Management 26 (2008) 149–163

The company’s business is divided into a number of divi-
sions: Generation, Transmission and Distribution;
Resource and Strategy; Finance, Key Sales and Customers
Services; Enterprises; Human Resources; and Corporate
and External Relations. The group has many main subsidi-
aries, with the core businesses including non-regulated elec-
tricity supply industry activities, the provision of electricity
supply and related services outside South Africa, the grant-
ing of home loans to employees, the management and
insurance of perceived risks to Eskom, and social invest-
ment initiatives. The company’s revenue in the 12 months
of the 2005/2006 financial year was R36,607m
(US$4947m or £2662m)1 and employed some 29,697 per-
sons (excluding contract and temporary workers). This
paper does not add to the theory of risk management.
Rather, the purpose is to document rich case study material
indicating the practice of risk management and the extent
to which practice and theory converge/diverge. One of
the authors is currently employed by Eskom in a project
management capacity, thus facilitating access to the case
material presented here.
The case study has been structured into four parts: Part
1 describes the corporate risk management process of the
holding company. Part 2 presents the risk management
process of a division of the company; the distributive divi-
sion being used for this purpose. Part 3 presents the case
study of a Recovery Plan project of the division to address
the risks of power interruptions due to a shortfall of supply
and increasing electricity demand. Part 4 documents the
conclusions emanating from the study. The lesson from
the case study is that a (very) large company with an appro-
priate level of resources may not necessarily use sophisti-
cated risk management tools; rather, simple methods that
enable the company to mitigate the risks faced by the busi-
ness are adopted.

2. Corporate risk management within Eskom Holdings Ltd.
Risk management within Eskom is an important and
integral element of the business. Given the importance of
risk management, the company has a dedicated Risk Man-
agement Committee (RMC) as one of its seven primary
committees (the other committees are the Board commit-
tee, audit committee, tender committee, human resources
committee, remuneration and ethics committee, sustain-
ability committee, and executive management committee).
The RMC comprises three non-executive directors, the
finance director and the managing director (Generation
division). The RMC is chaired by an independent, non-
executive director. The committee is tasked with ensuring
that the company’s risk management strategies and pro-
cesses are aligned with best practice. It also deals with
1 Exchange rates as at 7th September 2006: R7.40 SA Rands =
US$1;
R13.75 SA Rands = £1.
the company’s integrated risk management strategy and
processes, these embracing risk tolerance and appetite, risk
accountably, major risk exposures, and emerging risk
issues.
Eskom practices an integrated risk management strategy
and process by identifying risks and opportunities against
business objectives during risk assessments throughout
the organisation, from both a line and functional perspec-
tive. Risk integration between divisions and subsidiaries is
reviewed by the RMC to ensure a coordinated approach to
risk mitigation measures. Key risk management ‘‘buzz
words’’ feature prominently in the company’s risk manage-
ment process, as depicted in the company’s 186 page 2006
annual report (http://www.eskom.co.za/annreport06/).
The risk prefixes that are contained in the annual report
include: exposure, assessment, accountability, internal con-

trol, matrix, categories, mitigation measures, tolerance lev-
els, categories, identification, evaluation, appetite, profile,
audit, financing, issues, process, ownership, etc. A content
analysis of the annual report shows that the word ‘risk’ is
mentioned 206 times whilst the term ‘risk management’ is
mentioned 56 times; these being explicit indicators of the
importance that the company attaches to the risks to which
it is exposed. Risk categories that the company faces are
defined in the company’s risk matrix, and include: finance,
technical, environmental, legal, human resources, informa-
tion, stakeholders, regulatory and strategic.
The remit of the company’s Risk Management Commit-
tee (RMC) is to ensure that Integrated Risk Management
(IRM) is applied throughout the Eskom business. It
reviews the risk processes and all major risks within the
business and reports back to the Board. Integration
between the various Eskom divisions and subsidiaries is
ensured via the interaction of the different risk (or risk-
related) committees. Each division within the company
handles its own Risk Management System and may have
slightly different risk approaches within each of the six
regions: Western; Eastern; Northern; North-West; South-
ern; and Central. This diversity is allowed as long as it sup-
ports the strategy and milestones set by the RMC which
encourages a coordinated and common approach for the
business as a whole.
Eskom has adopted the Code of Practice published by
the Institute of Risk Management of South Africa. In
addition, it has developed its own methodology for deter-
mining the ‘value’ or weighting for specific risks faced by
the company. These weightings are used to assist the
organisation to better identify which risks should receive
priority and also show the value of risk mitigation mea-
sures. Aligned to this valuation methodology there are

risk tolerance levels for each division and main subsidiar-
ies, together with risk appetite parameters for each func-
tional risk area. Being a South African utility company
with a wider remit for the sale and purchase of electricity
from neighbouring countries, the company has identified
some risks that it considers it faces. These are depicted
in Table 1.
http://www.eskom.co.za/annreport06
Table 1
A list of key risks faced by the company
Key risks
1. Regulatory risk that encompasses the need for clear
regulatory
framework and adequate price increases to ensure long-term
sustainability
2. Future capacity, where the following needs to be addressed:
a. The availability of capacity in the long-term
b. The impact of new capital projects on the overall business
c. The ongoing ability to maintain consistent supply
d. Aging plant and increasing plant performance indicators
3. Debt management of small power users
4. Non-technical energy losses where the theft of conductors
results in
the lack of supply of power and the potential for injuries to the
public
5. The ability to respond to changes in the industry arising from
the

proposed new Electricity Supply Industry in South Africa while
meeting the shareholder’s objective for the company
6. Shareholder relationships with the focus on the ability to
manage
the different expectations of the shareholder and government
departments in terms of Eskom’s business objectives
7. Information security, management of the outsourced
information
technology service contract, lack of skills and resources, and
infor-
mation technology business continuity management
8. Availability of the skills required for the future business
needs
including skills retention, training and succession planning. The
impact of HIV/AIDS is also addressed as a component of this
key risk area
2 The King Reports on Corporate Governance (King I and King
II),
published by the King Committee on Corporate Governance,
aimed at
promoting the highest standards of corporate governance in
South Africa.
More specifically, the King I Report dealt with financial and
regulatory
aspects of corporate governance and, in addition, advocated an
integrated
approach to good governance in the interests of a wide range of
stakeholders. With the publication of the King II Report, in
terms of
which risk management received official consideration for the
first time in
South Africa, companies are now required to audit risk exposure

on an
annual basis and disclose it to their shareholders. In addition,
King II
acknowledged that a company’s activities are more than profit
to
shareholders, embracing economic, environmental and social
aspects.
R. van Wyk et al. / International Journal of Project Management
26 (2008) 149–163 151
3. Risk Management System within the Distribution Division
Given that each Division and each region within the
company handles its own Risk Management System, risk
management within the Distribution (Western Region)
Division forms part of the responsibilities of the Business
Planning and Integrated Risk (BPIR) Committee which is
led by the BPIR Manager. BPIR is therefore a subcom-
mittee of the Regional (Western) Executive Committee
(REC). BPIR duties focus on a holistic business planning
and integration function, which includes all associated
risks. The REC appoints the members and chairperson
of the BPIR committee, who, in return, report back
and advise on all Region’s business risk-related matters.
Membership of BPIR consists of REC members, subject
matter experts and other Eskom officials. They manage
the entire Risk Management Process at regional level
and include issues around process deadlocks and emer-
gency preparedness.
The BPIR committee meets once a month and has iden-
tified the following attributes of its approach to the overall
Eskom Integrated Risk Management (IRM):
� assists with business decision-making as more informa-
tion becomes available from the risk process being

executed;
� facilitates learning from and incorporating lessons from
the past;
� allows for an external view on matters which could lead
to more issues being identified;
� provides for integration between the different functional
departments leading to the optimal addressing of risk
issues;
� allows identification of any opportunities arising from
the matters at hand;
� ensures focus on objectives, keeping in line with the
regional objectives and those set by the Risk Manage-
ment Committee at Board level;
� ensures a proper audit trail for all risk-related matters:
the origin, owner, actions decided upon and taken,
and progress;
� assists with decision making, by providing input into the
continuous business planning which is also a function of
this committee;
� very importantly, it strives to protect against any impact
to the region’s financial results and image; and
� meets the requirements of the King II2 report.
4. Case study of the Western Cape Recovery Plan project
One of the projects of the Western Region Distribution
Division is Eskom’s Recovery Plan for the Western Cape.
The project was developed to address the current risk of
power interruptions due to a shortfall of supply and increas-

ing electricity demand during the winter period. To under-
stand the reasons for the shortfall in supply, it is necessary
to understand how the Western Cape is supplied with elec-
tricity and the existing constraints surrounding this.
The Western Cape requires up to 4250 MegaWatt (MW)
of power supply daily over peak periods during the winter
months. This is supplied from four power stations that pro-
vide a combined total of 4780 MW as follows:
2 · Nuclear reactors at the Koeberg Nuclear
Station (900 MW · 2)
1800 MW
Coal power stations in Mpumalanga
2400 MW
Palmiet hydro-electric pump station
400 MW
Steenbras hydro-electric pump station
180 MW
Total
4780 MW
However, there are peak periods in this region when
there is a surge in power consumption and these usually
occur between 5am and 8am, and 6pm and 8pm during
week days as shown in Fig. 1.

During routine maintenance on Unit 1 at the Koeberg
Nuclear Station in late 2005 serious damage was done to
the generator and its cooling system for this Unit. How-
Fig. 1. Demand for electricity as shown in the peak periods.
Management 26 (2008) 149–163
ever, the nuclear reactor was not affected. The time for
repairing the generator and cooling system was set for at
least three months from January 2006. The repair pro-
gramme was focused on minimizing the period for Unit 1
to be out of service. This meant that various options had
to be considered which included obtaining replacement
parts (i.e. stator and rotor), acquiring spare parts, and
repairing the damaged parts. The dismantling of the Unit
1 generator is considered a slow process due to the cool
down period required (5 days) and separation of the rotor
and stator (10 days). After the assessment of the extent of
the damage, it was decided to start repairs to the stator and
rotor and obtain a spare rotor from a company in France.
This particular company had been the original advisors to
the Koeberg plant some 20 years ago.
During this time, Koeberg Unit 2 continued to provide
the required electricity to the Western Cape. However, a
number of power interruptions were experienced during
the month of February 2006 due to a variety of reasons,
including:
1. Unit 6 of the Kendal Power Station in Mpumalanga
tripped causing a large fluctuation on the National Net-
work. As a safety precaution, Koeberg’s Unit 2 was

removed from the grid and placed in a controlled shut
down. After the stabilisation of the network, it took
Unit 2 about a week to start up and increase generation
to full capacity. Due to the shortage of supply during
this period, load shedding (controlled black-outs) were
required and implemented. Public opinion was vocifer-
ous in its condemnation of Eskom.
2. Flash-overs between transmission lines due to high pol-
lution from veld fires and unexpected fog caused various
power lines to trip; interrupting the power flow from the
north and forcing Koeberg’s Unit 2 to remove itself
from the grid once again. This led to more load shedding
to manage the power shortage. This served only to
increase public condemnation.
Another risk was identified from the scheduled refuel-
ling of Unit 2 which was scheduled for March 2006. How-
ever, the repairs to Unit 1 had to be completed in time so
that Unit 2 could be shut down for approximately two
months to complete the refuelling and routine maintenance
procedures. In normal circumstances both units would then
have been ready to provide power for the winter months.
The rotor from France was only expected (and delivered)
during April 2006 and the repairs to the local rotor and sta-
tor were still underway at that time. It was impossible to
remove Unit 2 before Unit 1 was repaired as there was
no means to provide for the shortfall in electricity supply.
The economic impact of the February power outages was
estimated to be in excess of R500 million (about US$68m
or £36m) and was subject of discussion at provincial and
national governmental levels. To remove Unit 2 from the
grid would immediately mean a shortfall of another
900 MW and would force further load shedding to occur
with its associated economic impact.
The Western Cape Recovery Plan was an effort to do

the following: (1) explain the electricity supply problem;
(2) forecast the power demand and expected shortfall for
the winter months; (3) provide the timelines for Koeberg
26 (2008) 149–163 153
Unit 1 to be repaired and Unit 2 to be refuelled; (4) iden-
tify all risks that could impact on the project plan; (5)
develop mitigating actions for the identified risks; (6) iden-
tify other energy saving options to minimize the impact of
the shortfall; (7) provide load shedding principles and
guidelines; and (8) provide stakeholder and communica-
tion guidelines.
This plan was a combined effort between Eskom, the
City of Cape Town (electricity department) and RED
ONE (the recently formed regional electricity distributor).
Load Shedding
Streamlead
KSACS Streamlead
DSM Streamlead Customer Services
Streamlead
Grid and National
Control Streamlead
Human Resources
Streamlead
Koeberg/Generation
Streamlead

Corporate Finance
Streamlead
Eskom Enterprises
Streamlead
Other Corporate
Functions
Key
PM
DSM
ERD
WR
Recovery Programme PMO
Recovery Programme Manager
National Recovery Sponsor
Transmission Managing Director
Western Region Risk Manager
Fig. 2. Team structure for the Weste
Eskom
Holdings
Eskom
Executive
Eskom
Recovery

Team
Dept of
Public
Enterprises
Dept of
Provincial
&Local
Government
Provincial
Government
Energy Risk
Management
Committee
ERMC
Recovery
Team
Integrated
Recovery Team
M
Fig. 3. Stakeholder structure for risk man
An Eskom Recovery Team was established which was
headed by the Managing Director of the Transmission
Division. The team structure is shown in Fig. 2. The team
reported into a bigger operating model made up of various
stakeholders headed by the Energy Risk Management

Committee (ERMC) as shown in Fig. 3. The Eskom
Recovery Team (ERT) met at least once every two weeks
where progress on the Recovery Plan was given. The feed-
back was consolidated and forwarded to the Integrated
Recovery Team and finally to ERMC. A weekly status
Corporate Communications/ERD Streamlead
WR Communications & Stakeholders Streamlead
Corporate Spokesperson
SO – Programme Management Office
– Demand Side Management
– External Relations Dept.
– Western Region
Corporate Communications & Stakeholder Manager
Regional Recovery Sponsor
Western Region General Manager
rn Cape Recovery Plan project.
unicipal
Municipal
Recovery
Team
RED1 Other
Stakeholders
Dept of

Minerals
& Energy
agement of the Recovery Plan project.
Management 26 (2008) 149–163
report was also compiled by ERT and published internally
within Eskom and externally to the general public.
5. Risk management of the Recovery Plan project
There are typically five stages associated with risk man-
agement, namely: (1) risk management planning, (2) risk
identification, (3) qualitative and quantitative risk analysis,
(4) risk response planning, and (5) risk monitoring and con-
trol [3]. However, Edwards and Bowen [4] state that the pro-
cess of risk management should include evaluation and
reporting and they have as a result categorised the process
of risk management into nine stages: Identification; Classifi-
cation; Allocation; Analysis; Response; Recording; Moni-
toring; Control; and Evaluation. Chapman [5] identified
nine phases of the generic risk management process
(RMP), comprising: define; focus; identify; structure, owner-
ship; eliminate; evaluate; plan and manage. Practically, how-
ever, it is possible to classify all these stages into a four-stage
risk management cycle: risk identification; risk analysis; risk
response; and risk reporting. The risk identification stage
includes classification and allocation, while risk reporting
includes monitoring, control and evaluation. The risk man-
agement practice of the Recovery Plan project within the
Eskom integrated risk management protocol is presented
below along the lines of this four-stage framework.

5.1. Risk identification (and classification and allocation) of
the Recovery Plan project
The role of stakeholders in the RMP is emphasised by
Loosemore et al. [6]. According to them, effective and fre-
quent involvement of stakeholders at all stages of the RMP
will ensure that more risks are identified and commitment
obtained in managing them. Stakeholder management
becomes very critical in the risk identification process given
that they can have conflicting interests and the risks identi-
fied could be biased towards those interests or limited to their
own experiences. The possibility that the stakeholder mix
could change over time also has an impact on project objec-
tives and its associated risks. Furthermore, stakeholders
might be unable to express their objectives clearly or limit
the sharing of valid information due to confidentiality or
inter-stakeholder politics. Hence, they have suggested that
the risk manager or risk management service provider should
encourage stakeholders to balance their objectives with one
another, be flexible where possible, and understand the pres-
sures and background under which objectives are created.
It is generally accepted that companies with organic
structures allow for more creative and imaginary
approaches to identify risks, though it is still easier for
mechanistic structured companies to implement those
approaches [4]. This is because the latter could provide
backing in the form of authority sources, addressing possi-
ble resistance. Hence, companies’ management should be
committed to the risk management process, identifying
leaders with a strong personal passion for the subject.
The classification of risks creates a common framework
for grouping risks, although different cultures could classify
the same risk differently. Edwards and Bowen [4] suggest
two primary categories for classifying risks: Natural and

Human Risks. Natural risks are those from systems ‘‘beyond
human agency’’ which include risks from weather, geologi-
cal, biological and extraterrestrial systems. Risks from
human systems are more difficult to categorise due to their
overlapping nature. These include risks from social, political,
cultural, health, legal, economic, financial, technical and
managerial systems. Baber [7] refers to internally and exter-
nally generated risks. The Project Management Institute [8]
classifies risk into internal and external. Examples of internal
risk in project development are issues relating to labour,
materials, site conditions, cash flow, etc., while external risks
include governmental regulations, vandalism, sabotage,
environmental factors, market forces, inflation, etc.
It is generally accepted as a good risk management prac-
tice that a risk should be allocated to the party who can best
manage it that risk. To avoid duplication it is suggested that
continuous investigations are undertaken during the pro-
cess of risk management to ensure that another stakeholder
has not already taken up the control of a risk [6].
Eskom, in general, is very risk aware and has invested
considerable resources into this project management prac-
tice within the company. Many processes are in place to
identify and manage potential risks in its various functional
areas. Within its Distribution Division the foci of opera-
tions are customer services, engineering (safety standards
– occupational safety and health requirements); finance;
human resources; information management; and commer-
cial. All of these functional departments are represented
on the BPIR Committee where risks are raised and man-
aged. At this level risks are categorized as follows: finance;
technical operation and performance; legal audit and com-
pliance; people; strategic acquisitions, divestitures and pro-
jects; strategy; transformation; pricing; regulatory (NER);
stakeholders; information; subsidiaries, associates and joint

ventures.
In this particular case, the main reason for the inade-
quate supply capacity to meet the needs of the Western
Cape within the normally envisaged risk possibility of a
loss of generation at Koeberg was aggravated by decisions
by central government that limited the capacity of Eskom
to build new power stations or transmission lines. Arising
from the White Paper on Energy Policy [9], government
decided it was necessary to proceed with ‘the unbundling
of Eskom’s generation and transmission groups’ and ‘sep-
arate the power stations into a number of companies’ to
‘create the opportunity for private sector and Black Eco-
nomic Empowerment investment opportunities in the gen-
eration sector’. Later, the Intergovernmental Fiscal Review
[10] stated ‘The ESI restructuring involves three key
aspects: the sale of 30 per cent of Eskom’s generating
capacity to private investors, with a black empowerment
equity stake of at least 10 per cent of capacity; the separa-
tion of Eskom into several generation clusters and a sepa-
3 Eskom initiated a schemed whereby the public were
encouraged to
exchange their conventional light bulbs for less electricity-
consuming
CFLs – at no cost to the consumer.
26 (2008) 149–163 155
rate transmission company; and the introduction of an
electricity market, which will ensure competition between
the different electricity generators. These reforms will begin
during the course of 2003.’ The central government had
taken responsibility to manage the investment decisions

of the supply industry, and it was only in late 2004, with
looming insufficient capacity, that the decision was made
to return the responsibility for electricity sufficiency to
Eskom [11]. Thus, Eskom was constrained by external
forces in its ability to respond to identified risk. Most sub-
sequent risk was a consequence of this external risk.
The identified risks are usually assigned to the BPIR
Committee members for mitigation. Although the commit-
tee members remain accountable, they could subsequently
delegate the risk mitigation actions and management to rel-
evant staff within the establishment.
The Eskom Recovery Team panel of experts responsible
for addressing the Western Cape Recovery Plan project
comprised senior managers drawn from the following
departments and/or divisions: National Recovery Sponsor
(this is …
Assignment 4: HR Training Class
Due Week 8 and worth 200 points
Imagine that you are a member of the HR department of a small
retail company and upper management has asked you to create a
new employee customer service training class for all new
employees.
Write a six to seven (6-7) pages paper in which you:
1. Justify the use of a needs assessment of your company’s
proposed employee customer service training, stressing five (5)
ways in which such an assessment would expose any existing
performance deficiencies.
2. Develop a customer service training implementation plan and
determine the method of training (i.e., presentation, discussion,
case study, discovery, role play, simulation, modeling, or on-

the-job training).
3. Justify why you selected the training method that you did.
4. Propose two (2) ways to motivate an employee who has no
interest in attending a training class.
5. Develop a survey to collect feedback from the employees
who attend the training.
6. Use at least three (3) quality academic resources in this
assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify
as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
· Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size
12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references
must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your
professor for any additional instructions.
· Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the
student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the
date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in
the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this
assignment are:
· Design job and task analyses that align with the overall HRM
strategy.
· Design training and development systems to improve
employee performance.
· Use technology and information resources to research issues in
strategic human resource development.
· Write clearly and concisely about strategic human resource
development using proper writing mechanics.
Rubric
Points: 200
Assignment 4:HR Training Class
Criteria

Unacceptable
Below 70% F
Fair
70-79% C
Proficient
80-89% B
Exemplary
90-100% A
1. Justify the use of a needs assessment of your company’s
proposed employee customer service training, stressing five (5)
ways in which such an assessment would expose any existing
performance deficiencies.
Weight: 20%
Did not submit or incompletely justified the use of a needs
assessment of your company’s proposed employee customer
service training, stressing five (5) ways in which such an
assessment would expose any existing performance deficiencies.
Partially justified the use of a needs assessment of your
company’s proposed employee customer service training,
stressing five (5) ways in which such an assessment would
expose any existing performance deficiencies.
Satisfactorily justified the use of a needs assessment of your
Thoroughly justified the use of a needs assessment of your
2. Develop a customer service training implementation plan and
determine the method of training (i.e., presentation, discussion,
case study, discovery, role play, simulation, modeling, or on-
the-job training).
Weight: 20%
Did not submit or incompletely developed a customer service
training implementation plan and did not submit or incompletely

determined the method of training (i.e., presentation,
discussion, case study, discovery, role play, simulation,
modeling, or on-the-job training).
Partially developed a customer service training implementation
plan and partially determined the method of training (i.e.,
presentation, discussion, case study, discovery, role play,
simulation, modeling, or on-the-job training).
Satisfactorily developed a customer service training
implementation plan and satisfactorily determined the method
of training (i.e., presentation, discussion, case study, discovery,
role play, simulation, modeling, or on-the-job training).
Thoroughly developed a customer service training
implementation plan and thoroughly determined the method of
training (i.e., presentation, discussion, case study, discovery,
role play, simulation, modeling, or on-the-job training).
3. Justify why you selected the training method that you did.
Weight: 10%
Did not submit or incompletely justified why you selected the
training method that you did.
Partially justified why you selected the training method that you
did.
Satisfactorily justified why you selected the training method
that you did.
Thoroughly justified why you selected the training method that
you did.
4. Propose two (2) ways to motivate an employee who has no
interest in attending a training class.
Weight: 15%
Did not submit or incompletely proposed two (2) ways to
motivate an employee who has no interest in attending a
training class.
Partially proposed two (2) ways to motivate an employee who
has no interest in attending a training class.
Satisfactorily proposed two (2) ways to motivate an employee
who has no interest in attending a training class.
Thoroughly proposed two (2) ways to motivate an employee

who has no interest in attending a training class.
5. Develop a survey to collect feedback from the employees
who attend the training.
Weight: 20%
Did not submit or incompletely developed a survey to collect
feedback from the employees who attend the training.
Partially developed a survey to collect feedback from the
employees who attend the training.
Satisfactorily developed a survey to collect feedback from the
Thoroughly developed a survey to collect feedback from the
6. 3 references
Weight: 5%
No references provided
Does not meet the required number of references; some or all
references poor quality choices.
Meets number of required references; all references high quality
choices.
Exceeds number of required references; all references high
quality choices.
7. Clarity, writing mechanics, and formatting requirements
Weight: 10%
More than 6 errors present
5-6 errors present
3-4 errors present
0-2 errors present
Running head: HR TRAINING CLASS 1
HR TRAINING CLASS 2

HR Training Class
xxxxx xxxxx
Dr. XXXXXX
HRM 530
August 24, 2014
Introduction
The paper will justify the use of a needs assessment of a
company’s proposed employee customer service training, and
the practices of HRM such as performance management. HRM
empowering employees can also extend to innovation and less
stress. This paper will elaborate on stressing the five (5) ways
in which such an assessment would expose any existing
performance deficiencies. From my perspective, successful
organizations treat all their workers as knowledge workers and
provide proper training informing them about company
expectations during the new hired employee’s orientation. Let
employees know how well the company is performing, and they
invite ideas about how the organization can do better working
as a team. Thus, upper management creates new employee
customer orientation for all new employees and training
development for the purpose of customer service training and an
implementation plan to determine the method of training (i.e.,
presentation, discussion, case study, discovery, role play,
simulation, modeling, or on-the-job training). Lastly, this paper
elaborates on the selection of the training method, the way to
encourage or motivate an employee that have no interest in
training, and setting up a meeting to collect feedback from an
employee who has attended training.

Needs Assessment
Every company needs an assessment to help address any gaps or
needs between present conditions and preferred ones. By
creating an assessment, it identifies where employees and
companies need to improve by listening to what the employees
have to say and give their opinion. It’s also very important in a
training session to listen to what employees say or ideas,
because it helps improve their performances as well as
relationships with management. By having a needs assessment
with employee customer service training, employee’s
performance deficiencies will be exposed. There are many ways
in which an assessment would expose any existing performance
deficiencies, such as observation, interviews, questionnaires,
studying job descriptions and difficulty analysis (Stewart G.L.
& Brown, K.G., 2012). First, with observation, this gives the
trainer first hand data on employee’s strengths and weaknesses
without affecting their productivity. Secondly, with
interviewing, the trainer will be able to gauge the employee’s
options and perceptions but allowing them to address their own
performances while asking in depth questions about
performances. Third, with the questionnaires, this option will
help give a bigger picture of the environment as respondents
will be asked identical questions; data collected will help
identify challenges in performances after being analyzed in a
quantitative way. Fourth, studying job descriptions, this will
help enacting a thorough training and supervision on the
trainers as the employees will be aware of their responsibilities
and what is expected of them. Lastly, the difficulty analysis
will help managers identify what job duties are causing the
employees problems and determine what training is needed in
the particular area in order to better boost performance.
Customer Service Training Implementation Plan
To train customer service employees, there has to be a well laid
out plan. The plan will need to cover such aspects as the goal of
the training, the trainers, the duration of training, the method of
training, the budget for the training process and the technology

that subsequently needed for a successful training session. Per
the HR training class title, the customer service employees will
be trained on how to improve their job duties. The training
implementation will consist of goal training, trainers, methods
used to train and the time of duration of the training. First, the
goal of training is to educate all training customer service
representatives on ways to better serve the customer, secondly,
the training will be conducted by seasonal experience trainers
who will be either from the company or hired from outside.
Once the training is completed, a thorough report will be
conveyed to the management team, either by voice or report on
how well the session was accepted. Third, the method of
training will consist of on job training and case studies. This is
the most effective way because it has been proved that
employees listen to what is practically justifiable. For example,
customers are reminded that failure is a part of success;
however, for employees to believe this, trainers will need to
incorporate case studies and examples on famous individuals
who have failed and then bounced back with a successful story.
Lastly, the trainers will need to determine how long the duration
of the training will be, therefore, during the implementation
training process, an estimated time and budget will need to be
proposed. The company’s management team, Human Resource
Department and trainers will need to propose a cost effective
training budget and once agreed, the finance department will
approve and incorporate into the budget.
Selected Training Method
I selected on the job training and case studies as my two
training methods and the primary training method would be on
the job training. I selected this as my primary training method
because it has advantages over the other methods. This method
gives an employee a chance to ask workplace specific questions
and get pioneering guidance (Rothwell and Kazanas, 2004). It
also raises employee’s skills as new standards and practices
emerge as changes occur as job duties change. However, I
included the case study training method because it internalizes

the concepts passed on during job training. According to Wilson
(2005), company psychologists have proved that employees tend
to listen and believe to what is practically justifiable. When
training, employees need to hear what others have done in order
for them to accept the concepts of training, for example, as
mentioned earlier, employees may be reminded that failure is a
big part of success. Therefore, the training method of case
studies will give the employees an idea of, in order to be
successful; you will have setbacks in the process.
Employee Motivation
There are numerous ways to motivate employees to attend a
training class but my two motivational ways I chose are;
offering incentives and cross training opportunities after the
training is completed. For me, I find that attending training
class is boring because, the sessions are based on information
that’s already been relayed to us, therefore, I choose not to go
but I will explain why the two motivators I chose is beneficial
to the employee and employer. First, offering incentives such
as monetary increases, extra vacation days or additional hours
of personal time would attract more employees to attend the
training class and motivate them to perform to the best of their
ability, therefore, when incentives for employees are facilitated,
an instant level of enthusiastic peaks from employees to
attending training class. Secondly, allowing employees to cross
training on duties within the company that they are unfamiliar
with, would spark them to attend the training class as well.
Allowing employees the opportunity to advance their knowledge
within the company will motivate them to attend the training,
which consecutively makes them more valuable to the company.
Therefore, managers should encourage cross training after a
class because it breaks the monotony and employees are able to
switch up at any given time and do another job when needed.
Also, with cross training, employees will have the opportunity
to trade jobs periodically which makes a good business strategy
because it a proactive way to keep the company running
smoothing. The motivators I chose are just two out of the many

ways that helps generate fulfilling work attitudes from
employees.
Survey Development
The survey below will be used to collect feedback from
employees attending the training. This survey will seek the
interest how to collect feedback from employees on whether the
training was beneficial, how the training once learned will be
put into practice, whether more training is needed in customer
service and the challenges they expect face while serving the
customers on a day to day basis (Montana and Charnov, 2002).
Also, this survey will focus on the aspects s age, job position
and employee opinions regarding the training class. Lastly, the
survey will consist of two sections; the first section pertains to
collecting information regarding the data of participants and the
second section pertains to collecting information about the
participant’s feedback towards training.
Survey
Section One
1. Indicate your sex
⃝ Male
⃝ Female
2. Indicate your position in the company
⃝ Employee
⃝ Senior Employee
⃝ Manager
⃝ Senior Manager
3. Marital Status
⃝ Single
⃝ Married
Section Two
Please indicate your view by checking the column of the items
listed below:

Strongly Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
1. The training fulfilled by expectations.
2. Will you be able to utilize the training?
3. Topics were identified and adhered to.
4. Content thought out and easily followed.
5. Materials relevant and handy.
6. The trainer was well informed.

7. The value of instructions was good.
8. Trainer achieved the training objectives.
9. Discussion and interaction encouraged.
10. Ample time for questions/discussion.
Section Three
Good Average Poor Very Poor
11. What is your overall rating? ⃝
⃝ ⃝ ⃝

12. Suggestion on what needs to be improved.
13. Additional Comments.
References
Montana, P. J. & Charnov, B. H. (2002). Training and
Development Management. Barron’s
Educational Series, pg. 225. ISBN 0-7641-1276-7
Rothwell, W.J. & Kazanas, H.C. (2004). The Strategic
Development of Talent. Human Resource
Development Press, pg. 4. ISBN 0-87425-752-2.
Stewart G.L. & Brown, K.G. (2012). Human Resource
Management. Linking Strategy to
Practice. (2nd ed.).
Wilson, J. P. (2005). Human Resource Management: Learning
and Training for Individuals and
Organizations.

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