GAJAH International believes in the importance of skills training. The research and development company - which offers equipment manufacturing and design manufacturing services for audio and visual products such as MP3 players - signed up for and put one of its employees through a skills-building 'Crossing the Chasm' course conducted by NUS adjunct professor Tom Kosnik, who has taught in the past at Harvard Business School, and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
The two-day course in March this year aimed to share with participants insights into managing high tech innovation and marketing.
Gajah, started in July 2004 by four NUS students, has affiliates in Taiwan, Malaysia and Australia.
The company shared its expectation that the training will result in higher quality output and staff ability to assume greater responsibilities, and ultimately a growth in company scale.
'Training is necessary for us to continue to grow. It cultivates the learning and sharing culture. When the staff feels the personal growth within them, they will be more loyal to the company. They are willing to pour in more effort into their work as they appreciate the company concerns on their growth,' said CFO and operation manager Woo Weng Foong.
'It can also increase efficiency resulting in financial gains and decrease need for supervision as employees will become more independent and proactive. Training can also improve employees' capabilities and skills. Employees will be more efficient and innovative.'
The move is part of the company's thrust to increase company productivity and reduce employee turnover, and was made possible by NUS Extension, the continuing education arm of NUS which organises training programmes to aid and encourage SMEs to embrace knowledge updating and skills upgrading.
Said James Tay, director of NUS Extension, 'A workforce equipped with enhanced skill sets results in greater competencies and many other benefits. For instance, appropriate training in customer service fosters a nimble customer-focused orientation, which places companies in the right position to differentiate themselves from their competitors.'
NUS Extension is looking at expanding its suite of programmes under Entrepreneurship Development for both aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as entrepreneurs who have just started off. It firmly believes that management should lead the way in skills training to create a 'supportive people development environment' where they can rely on the capabilities of staff.
Staying relevant
It emphasised the importance of staying relevant in a rapidly evolving global economy by embracing knowledge updating and skills upgrading, as a means to ensure that the initial spark of entrepreneurship will spread into future organisational growth and bolster a company's ability to attract, train and retain talents.
People development in the form of training is a dilemma shared by many SMEs as it is a burden on the accounting books. Many do not have large people development budgets; hence, training plays second fiddle. Furthermore, employees may move companies after receiving training and consign the investment to a red mark, which is why some bosses are afraid to commit to such pursuits.
Gajah summed up the problems which may arise from insufficient investment in people development under the context of overdependence: An inability to handle work effectively while unguided and unsupervised.
It is not alone in thinking this - Wangi Industrial (founded in 1968) believes potential hang-ups also exist in intangible forms. The provider of surface finishing and optical thin-film coating solutions highlighted a general resistance to change as the culprit. It pointed out its emphasis on explaining to employees why and not just how its training philosophy works.
'We do find that training and people development does reduce our turnover,' said vice-president for business, Wangi, Chew Ker Yee.
'It is definitely better to build talent than buy it.'
This principle that training helps SMEs to stay relevant is entrenched in Wangi's human resource philosophy. Wangi has partnered NUS Extension as one of its main training providers since early 2005 in courses ranging from project management to leadership training and best practice seminars.
Mr Chew believes that developing talent and chanelling it upwards to the supervisory and management level is a 'process that takes time', something which should be set in motion quickly to allow company representatives to bring back and implement the lessons learnt: 'In these courses, good amounts of knowledge can be acquired, numerous tools gained and professional relationships forged. We find the latter particularly important when our team members interact and learn from other participants.'
The gains from such forms of training investment are multi-faceted.
This article was first published in The Business Times on May 27, 2008
