Training and Development Notes

Training Defined

  • Training is a learning process focused on acquiring knowledge, sharpening skills, understanding concepts and rules, and modifying attitudes and behaviors to improve employee performance.

Training vs. Development

  • Training:
    • Focuses on specific job knowledge and skills applicable in the short term.
  • Development:
    • Focuses on broad knowledge and insights for future adaptation to environmental demands.

Development Defined

  • Development helps individuals handle future responsibilities, with less emphasis on current job duties.

Need and Purposes of Training

  • Increase productivity.
  • Improve quality.
  • Help the company fulfill future personnel needs.
  • Improve organizational climate.
  • Improve health and safety.
  • Obsolescence prevention.
  • Personal growth.

Benefits of Training

Benefits to the Organization

  • Improved profitability and positive attitudes toward profit orientation.
  • Improved job knowledge and skills at all levels.
  • Improved morale of the workforce.
  • Helps people identify with organizational goals.
  • Creates a better corporate image.
  • Aids in organizational development.
  • Helps prepare work guidelines.
  • Aids in understanding and carrying out organizational policies.
  • Provides information for future needs in all areas.
  • More effective decision-making and problem-solving.
  • Aids in developing leadership skills, motivation, loyalty, better attitudes, and other aspects of successful workers and managers.
  • Aids in increasing productivity and/or quality of work.
  • Helps keep costs down in many areas (e.g., production, personnel, administration).
  • Develops a sense of responsibility to the organization.
  • Improves labor-management relations and creates a climate for growth and communication.
  • Reduces outside consulting costs by utilizing competent internal consulting.
  • Stimulates preventive management.
  • Eliminates sub-optimal behavior.
  • Helps employees adjust to change.
  • Aids in handling conflict, thereby helping to prevent stress and tension.

Benefits to the Individual

  • Helps in making better decisions and effective problem-solving.
  • Motivational variables (recognition, achievement, growth, responsibility, and advancement) are internalized and operationalized.
  • Aids in encouraging and achieving self-development and self-confidence.
  • Helps handle stress, tension, frustration, and conflict.
  • Provides information for improving leadership knowledge, communication skills, and attitudes.
  • Increases job satisfaction and recognition.
  • Moves a person towards personal goals while improving interaction skills.
  • Satisfies personal needs of the trainee.
  • Provides an avenue for growth and a say in one's future.
  • Develops a sense of growth in learning.
  • Helps develop speaking, listening, and writing skills.
  • Helps eliminate fear in attempting new tasks.

Benefits in Intra and Inter-group Relations

  • Improves communication between groups and individuals.
  • Improves interpersonal skills.
  • Makes organizational policies, rules, and regulations viable.
  • Improves morale.
  • Builds cohesiveness in groups.
  • Provides a good climate for learning, growth, and coordination.
  • Makes the organization a better place to work.

Identifying Training Needs

  • The gap between present performance and desired performance indicates the training need.

Approach to Training

Setting Training Objectives and Policy → Designing Training Program → Conducting the Training → Follow up and Evaluation

Types of Training

  • Induction or Orientation Training:
    • Introduces new employees to the organization, its procedures, rules, and regulations.
  • Job Training:
    • Relates to the specific job, providing information about machines, processes, instructions, and methods.
  • Internship Training:
    • Involves arrangements between educational institutes and industrial enterprises for practical knowledge.
  • Refresher Training:
    • Aimed at old employees to update them with the latest methods and improve efficiency.
    • Dale Yoder: "Retraining programs are designed to avoid personnel obsolescence."
  • Training for Promotion:
    • Prepares talented employees for higher job roles.

Training Methods

  • On-the-Job Methods
  • Off-the-Job Methods

On-the-Job Methods

  • Job Rotation
  • Coaching
  • Job Instruction/Training (step by step)
  • Committee assignment
  • Internships
  • Apprentice

Off-the-Job Methods

  • Vestibule Training
  • Role Playing
  • Lecture Methods
  • Conference or Discussion
  • Programmed Instructions
  • Lecture/Talks/Discussions
  • Videos/Films
  • Case study
  • Demonstrations

On-the-Job Training Methods

  • Involves first-hand knowledge and experience under actual working conditions.

Managerial On-the-Job Training

  • Job Rotation:
    • Moving a trainee across different departments to broaden experience and identify strengths and weaknesses.
  • Coaching/Understudy Approach:
    • Working directly with a senior manager or the person to be replaced.
  • Job Instruction:
    • The trainer explains the job, provides knowledge and skills, and allows the trainee to perform the job, providing appraisal and feedback.
  • Committee Assignments:
    • Trainees solve actual organizational problems together to develop teamwork.

Off-the-Job Training Methods

  • Trainee is separated from the job to focus on learning material related to future job performance.
    • Offers freedom of expression for trainees.

Off-the-Job Methods

  • Vestibule training
  • Sensitivity training
  • Transactional analysis
  • Grid training
  • Role playing
  • Lecture methods
  • Conference or discussion
  • Programmed instruction

Off-the-Job Management Training and Development Techniques

  • Vestibule Training:
    • Simulates actual work conditions in a classroom using materials and equipment used in the actual job. Commonly used for clerical and semi-skilled jobs.
  • Sensitivity Training (ST) or Laboratory Training:
    • A method for changing individual behavior through unstructured group interaction, aimed at developing understanding of themselves and relationships with others.
  • Transactional Analysis:
    • A theory of personality that analyzes interactions between people.
      • Individual's personality comprises of three ego states:
        • The parent
        • The child
        • The adult
  • Grid Training:
    • A six-phase program lasting 3-5 years, starting with managerial skills upgrade, then group improvement, inter-group relations, corporate planning, implementation methods, and finally evaluation.

Managerial Grid (Blake and Mouton)

The managerial grid is a style of leadership that represents the concern for people versus the concern for production using a coordinate plane.

  • Impoverished Management (1,1): Exertion of minimum effort to get required work done.
  • Authority-Obedience (9,1): Efficiency in operations results from arranging conditions of work in such a way that human elements interfere to a minimum degree.
  • Organization Man Management (5,5): Adequate organization performance is possible through balancing the necessity to get out work with maintaining morale of people at a satisfactory level.
  • Country Club Management (1,9): Thoughtful attention to the needs of people for satisfying relationships.
  • Team Management (9,9): Work accomplishment is from committed people; interdependence through a "common stake" in organization purpose.

Off-the-Job Development Methods

  • Behavior Modeling:

    • Demonstrates desired behavior, provides practice opportunities, and offers feedback.

  • Role Playing:

    • Simulates realistic situations where trainees assume roles. Develops interpersonal interactions and relations.

  • Lecture Method:

    • Traditional direct instruction. Effective if it motivates and creates interest among trainees. Useful for large groups.

  • Conference or Discussion:

    • Involves group sharing ideas and data to improve job performance with two-way communication and feedback.

  • Programmed Instruction:

    • Subject matter is presented in sequential units from simple to complex levels of instruction. Time-consuming and expensive.

Design Of a Training Programme

  1. Identification of Training needs
    • Organisational Analysis
    • Task Analysis
    • Human Resource Analysis
  2. Setting Training Objectives
  3. Organisation of Training Programme
    • Trainee and Instructor
    • Period of Training
    • Training Material
  4. Evaluation of Training Results

Training Process

Understanding Organizational Objectives and Strategies → Training Need Assessment → Establishment of Training Goals → Devising Training Programs → Implementation of Training Program → Evaluation of Results

Process of Training and Development

  1. Training needs analysis
  2. Instructional design
  3. Validation
  4. Implementation
  5. Evaluation and follow-up

1. Training Needs Analysis

A. Organization Analysis: Identify training needs according to long-term goals and set training goals.

B. Job Analysis: Identify training needs according to job descriptions and specifications and specify skills/knowledge/behavior to be trained.

C. People Analysis: Identify people that need training and their trainability.

2. Instructional Design

A. Set training goals.

B. Determine what to train.

C. Identify trainees.

D. Choose training materials.

E. Determine training modes and methods.

F. Select trainers.

G. Schedule training.

H. Develop training budget.

3. Validation

A. Validate the training program before implementation.

  • Pilot study: conduct the program with a small number of trainees to test its effect.
  • Consultation: consult the trainees and their supervisors on the appropriateness of the program.

B. Make revision of the training programs before implementation.

4. Implementation

A. Obtain continuous support from line-management to the training program.

B. Appoint manager for the training program.

C. Develop managing guidelines for the program.

D. Provide logistic support.

E. Conduct concurrent evaluation of the program.

5. Evaluation and Follow-up

A. Types of evaluation:

  • Concurrent evaluation: evaluate training effects during training.
  • Immediate final evaluation: evaluate training effects at the end of the training.
  • Follow-up evaluation: evaluate training effect by evaluating trainee performance over time.

C. Forms of evaluation:

  • Written tests: Check learning results of knowledge.
  • Simulation: check learning results of skills.
  • Interviews: check training effects by talking to the trainees and their supervisors.
  • Questionnaire: check effectiveness of instruction materials, trainer and training methods.
  • Performance appraisal: check learning transfer and training effectiveness on job.

Evaluation of Training Program

  • Reactions: Evaluation on the basis of Trainees reaction to the usefulness of coverage of the matter, depth of the course content, method of presentation, teaching methods etc..
  • Learning: Evaluation on the basis of quantity of learning and time of learning with the application of the knowledge gained through training.
  • Job Behaviour: Evaluation based on the manner and extent to which the trainee has applied his learning to his job.
  • Organisation: Evaluation based on the overall organisation's increased productivity, quality, morale, sales turnover etc..
  • Ultimate Value: Measurement of the ultimate result of the contributions of the training programme to the company goals like survival, growth, profitability etc..and to the individual goals like personality and social goals like CSR activities.