Read this article to learn about Training of Employees:- 1. Types of Training 2. Methods of Training 3. Assessment 4. Evaluation.
Types of Training:
There are several methods of training, and the type selected will depend very much upon the employee’s actual job and the degree of skill required.
Types of training can be broadly categorised as follows:
1. Craft Training:
This entails entering into an apprenticeship which results in ultimate entry into a recognised skilled trade or craft. Certain skilled jobs are the exclusive preserve of workers who have qualified by apprenticeship and others wishing to carry out this work are either prevented from doing so by the established workers or have to work at lower rates of pay.
Apprenticeships have to be provided by the employer, and both employer and employee are bound by the apprenticeship indentures.
2. Operative Training:
This is for less skilled workers and for those trades where no formal apprenticeship schemes exist. Instruction is given on the shop floor, often supplemented by the worker’s attendance at a technical college. Where the latter occurs the worker is normally given a day off each week to attend college on what is termed a ‘day-release course’.
Many office jobs fall under this category including shorthand-typing, typewriting, word-processing and office practice, especially where recruitment is straight from school. Many employers, however, do expect some skill to be present in other recruits and attendance at college is encouraged for the improvement of these skills.
3. Professional Training:
This covers both technical and commercial training and normally involves ultimately qualifying by professional or national examination. Some of the areas involved are mechanical engineering, accountancy, statistics, computer science, production engineering and so on.
The new universities and colleges of higher education provide most of the training and education for such areas, either on the basis of day-release or on a ‘sandwich course’ basis where the worker spends a period, say a term, in college followed by a period with the employer, again followed by another period in university or college.
In the latter case many of the qualifications are, in India, degrees rather than qualifications from professional bodies, such degrees being awarded by the universities or colleges under the auspices of the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA).
Such degrees rank equally in status with those awarded by the older universities. Indeed, in India, under recent legislation, polytechnics have been elevated to university status, though their courses remain, in the main, vocational rather than academic as in the tradition of the older universities.
4. University Degrees:
Many of the older universities now award degrees in disciplines attractive to industry and commerce, such as degrees in accountancy, business administration, the various branches of engineering, marketing and others. Normally, however, people taking such degrees obtain them before seeking employment.
The importance of proper training is exemplified by the fact that Government of India has seen fit to encourage employers to train their employees, both by various acts of parliament and by exhortation. Various statutes are enacted from time to time and reference should be made to the latest legislation when necessary.
A wide variety of training methods is available. Selection of a particular method(s) depends on many considerations.
Personnel managers have a variety of choices in selecting training and development programmes. The most common training approach is on-the-job training, which is informal instruction conducted at the job site. In the actual job environment, the trainee mainly learns by doing the job, with help provided by an experienced partner.
Another traditional training approach used with operating employees is apprentice training, an approach that is similar to, but more formal than, on-the-job training. The employee learns a job by spending a relatively long time working directly with ‘ a more experienced employee, who teaches procedures, rules, and techniques.
1. On-the-Job Training:
The most widely used training methods take place on the job. This is largely due to the simplicity of such methods and the impression that they are less costly to operate. On-the-job training places the employees in actual work situations and makes them appear to be immediately productive. It is learning by doing.
In short, on-the-job training is learning how to perform the job on the work site under the guidance of an experienced employee. Other training and development methods are classroom training, computer-assisted instruction, conferences, and visits to other organisations to study their process (benchmarking).
For jobs that are difficult to simulate or can be learned quickly by watching and doing, on-the job training makes enormous good sense.
One major drawback of OJT is low productivity while the employees develop their skills. The second drawback can be errors which may be dangerous for himself, his co-workers and the organisation made by the trainees while they learn.
However, when the damage the trainees can do is minimal, where training facilities and personnel are limited or costly, and where it is desirable for the workers to learn the job under normal working conditions, the benefits of the on-the-job training frequently offset its drawbacks.
2. Apprenticeship Programmes:
People seeking to enter skilled trades to become, for example, plumbers, electricians or iron-workers are often required to undergo apprenticeship training before they are accepted to expert status. The period of such training varies from job to job. During the apprenticeship period, the trainee is paid less than a fully-qualified worker.
Apprenticeship programmes put the trainee under the guidance of a master worker so that the trainee can acquire the required job knowledge and skills as early as possible. However, long apprenticeship may also create barriers to entry and help keep wages high.
3. Job Instruction Training:
This is a systematic approach to on-the-job training. It was developed to prepare supervisors to train operatives. Job instruction training is a part of the training within industry programme.
It has four key components:
(1) Preparing the trainees by telling them about the job and overcoming their uncertainties;
(2) Presenting the instruction, giving essential information in a clear manner;
(3) Having the trainees try out the job to demonstrate that they understand; and,
(4) Placing the workers into the job, on their own, with a designated resource person to call upon if they need assistance.
Steps in Job Instruction Training:
1. Demonstrate to the employee how the task is to be done.
2. Communicate the key component of the task to the employee.
3. Do the task for the employee.
4. Have the employee do a simple part of the task.
5. Have the employee do the whole job while being observed.
6. Let the employee do the job by himself (or herself).
Use of job instruction training can achieve impressive results. By following the above six steps, employee turnover can be reduced. Higher levels of employee morale have been witnessed as well as decreases in employee accidents by the users of the training methods.
4. Off-the-Job Training:
It covers a number of techniques classroom lectures, films, demonstrations, case studies, and other simulation exercises, and programmed instruction. The facilities needed for each of these techniques vary from a small makeshift classroom to an elaborate development center with large lecture halls, supplemented by small conference rooms with sophisticated audio- visual equipment, two-way mirrors, and all the ultramodern gadgets and frills.
5. Seminars or Conferences:
The seminar or conference approach is well adapted to conveying specific information — rules, procedures, or methods. The use of audio-visual or demonstrations can often make formal seminar presentations more interesting while increasing retention and possibly clarifying more difficult points.
Films can be a useful training technique. Whether purchased from standard video distributors or produced internally by the organisation, they can provide information and explicitly demonstrate skills that are not easily presented by other techniques. Videos and seminar discussions are often used in conjunction to clarify and amplify those points that the video emphasised.
7. Simulation Exercises:
Any training activities that place the trainee in an artificial environment that closely imitates actual working conditions can be considered a simulation. Simulation activities include case exercises, experimental exercises, complex computer-based training and vestibule training.
Cases present an in-depth description of a particular problem an employee might encounter on the job. The employee attempts to find and analyse the problem, evaluate alternative courses of action, and decide what course of action would be most satisfactory.
Experimental exercise refers to short, structured learning, experiences where individuals learn by doing. Computer-based training simulates the work environment by programming a computer to imitate some of the realities of the job. Computer modelling is widely used by airlines in training pilots.
In vestibule training, employees learn their jobs on the equipment they will be using, but training is conducted away from the actual work floor. This method is no doubt, very expensive. But it allows employees to get a full feel for doing tasks without ‘real-world’ business. Moreover, it minimises the problem of transferring learning to the job, since vestibule training uses the same equipment the training will use on the job.
8. Programmed Instruction:
The programmed instruction technique can be in the form of programmed tests, manuals, or video displays, while in some organisations teaching machines are utilised. All programmed instruction approaches have a common characteristic: they condense the material to be learned into highly organised, logical sequences, which require the trainee to respond. The ideal format provides for nearly instantaneous feedback that informs the trainee if his (her) response is correct.
This method has two variants:
(1) Interactive videos (videos that permit the user to make changes/selections); and
(2) Virtual reality (a process in which the work environment is simulated by sending messages to the brain).
By using the first method employees, experience greater learning in such areas as mathematics, interpersonal skills and marketing skills. The second method is a relatively new concept in corporate planning. Both the systems are promising. But they are costly. So they are used only in extremely large organisations and in very complex jobs.
A newer, less traditional approach to training is called mentoring. Specifically, a mentor is an experienced employee who coaches and counsels a less experienced employee in the latter’s training and development. A new salesperson may start out by teaming up with a mentor to make calls on customers and prospects.
Assessment of Training:
What are the criteria to consider in measuring the effectiveness of a training programme?
Here are some yardsticks to use:
Is there a clear target for each training programme, and is this target in line with a broader organisational goal?
2. Cost and Benefits Analysis:
Is the training unit in a position to justify its programme by relating its monetary cost to expected dollar benefits to be derived from training?
Has the training group proved its ability to cope with new requirements of the organisation with reasonable despatch?
In the various training functions, are key result areas specified and accomplishments indicated in quantitative and reasonable terms?
Is there an objective search procedure, including an updated manpower inventory, for staff selection and advancement?
Do all the various training functions undergo an independent audit periodically, not less than once a year?
What feedback mechanisms are available from line operations to improve the quality, quantity and timeliness of training?
Training and development must remain alert to trends affecting the organisation economically, socially and politically. Its leadership must be in constant touch with planned changes in the organisation’s products or services and the projected manpower requirements.
Evaluation of Training:
No training method is right for all situations. So trade-off must be made. For personnel management/this means choosing a training method that meets various time and cost constraints. Regardless of the methodology used, specific types of training programmes are offered frequently.
Of these training programmes the most popular are video tapes, and seminars, followed by one-on-one instruction, role plays, audio tapes, simulations and case studies.
Various training methods emphasise one thing at least: the learning of routine and programmed behaviours that can immediately be applied to the job. Evaluation of these training programmes becomes easier, as the trained employee either can or cannot do the job after being trained.
Whether this is measured by a test, productivity gains, or by observation of the employees’ work movements we can assess whether the specific job-oriented tasks have been learned from the training programme.
Training programmes should always be evaluated. There are two basic kinds of evaluation measures: those collected when the trainee is on the job and those collected after their training. The former are easier to get but the latter are more important.
Trainees may say they enjoyed the training and learned a lot, but the true test is whether their job performance is better after their training than before. As training continues to assist employees in their current jobs so too do employee development efforts to prepare them for tomorrow’s work.