Training and Development Process
Training and Development Process
In the present day knowledge based environment, things are changing at a very fast pace. Even to maintain its position, an organization has to do a lot as well as act very fast. Organization achieves strategic advantages only due to its core competencies and core competence is developed only by the employees of the organization. Hence for achieving a level of excellence, organizations are to invest in updating the skills of its employees. This is done through training and development process. The process of training and development is shown in Fig 1.
Fig 1 Process of training and development
Training and development process is an organizational activity aimed at improving the performance of the individuals and groups of employees in the organizational settings. It is an organized activity for increasing the knowledge and skills of the employees. It involves systematic procedures for transferring technical and management skills to the employees. Training process is an important activity both for the organization as well as for the employees. Skills acquired by the employees through training are assets for the organization. The enhancement of the skills also provides the employees job security as well as opportunities for career advancement.
In the modern industrial environment, where technological development is outpacing all other things, there is a continuous need for systematic training and development of the employees. Through ‘training’ employees are taught specific skills while through ‘development’ employee’s personality and management skills are enhanced. The training in an organization is necessary since there are:
- Advancement in technologies
- Demanding customers
- Thrusts for boosting productivity
- Requirements for improving the motivation levels
- Needs for improving the quality of output
- Necessities for effectiveness in management.
Training is a continuous process and it should not stop at any stage. The management should ensure that a training programme should attempt to bring about positive changes in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the employees. The objectives of a training programme are as follows.
- To prevent obsolescence in the organization
- To improve employees knowledge for doing specific job
- To impart skills to the employees systematically so that they learn the same quickly
- To impart multi skills in the employees so that they become capable of handling different jobs
- To bring about the change in attitude of the employees towards organization and the fellow employees
- To improve the overall performance of the organization by inculcating technological discipline in the employees
- To train the employees in efficient handling of materials, plant and equipment
- To educate employees towards conservation of resources, pollution prevention and avoidance of wastages
- To provide safety as well as occupational health training to the employees for man and equipment health and safety
- To develop management skills in the employees so that they are prepared to take up higher responsibilities and position
Benefits of training
Training of employees is costly but the ultimate cost is much more if an organization ignores to train its employees. Hence investment in training is necessary since the training brings a number of benefits to the organization as well as to the employees. The benefits to the organizations are listed below.
- Faster learning of new skills
- Increased productivity
- Standardization of procedures
- Reduced need of supervision
- Increased motivation and morale of the employees
- Economy of operations
- Managerial development
The benefits to the employees are as follows.
- Increase of the confidence level
- Learning of new skills
- Helps in career advancement and higher earnings.
- Developing resilience to change
- Improving safety at the workplace
- Helping in teamwork and hence improving interpersonal relationship
Training needs of an organization are identified by any of the following analysis.
- Organizational analysis – It is basically a systematic study of the organization’s objectives, resources, resource allocation and utilization, growth potential and its environment. Its purpose is to determine where the emphasis for training is to be placed in the organization so that effectiveness of the organization increases.
- Task analysis – In task analysis the main focus is on the job. It requires the study of various types of skills and training required to perform the job effectively. It is systematic analysis of jobs to identify job contents, knowledge, skills and aptitudes needed to perform the job. The important aspects are the tasks to be performed, the methods to be used, the way the employees learn these methods as well as the performance standards required from the employees.
- Manpower analysis – Both the internal and external environments influence the quality of manpower needed by an organization. The quality of manpower also depends upon the social, economical, political and technological environments in which the organization operates. The manpower analysis is done taking into considerations these factors to determine the quality of manpower needed. Specific training needs for the manpower are determined for meeting the quality standards needed as per the manpower analysis. These needs include (i) specific areas where employees need training, (ii) the capability of present employees to learn new skills and behaviour, (iii) the time frame for imparting training, and (iv) designing and redesigning of jobs with introduction of new work methods and technologies.
Needs and types of training
In an organization, training needs can arise due to job changes, person changes and performance deficiency. Job change occurs when an employee is given a new job within the organization. Person change happens when an employee leaves the organization and a new person takes over his position. Training need due to performance deficiency exists when there is a gap between the present skills and knowledge of the employees and the skills and knowledge they require for their effective performance.
There are mainly three categories of the training needs. The first category of the organization training need is that covers each and every employee of the organization. The second category of training need relates to specific group of people within an organization. The third category relates to the training needs of individual employees who have been identified to take up the new positions within the organization.
Training needs can be identified through appraisal sheets, self assessments, peers review, supervisor’s assessment, structured assessments, and by systematic investigations. The need of training can be one time requirement, recurring requirement or continuous requirement. The need of training can also be changing with time. Further the scope of training can be limited or substantial. It can be a short time learning course or a long term education. It can be acquisition of a skill by learning through practicals in a workshop or can be enhancing qualification through studying in an institution. It can be on job training or in class room training. It can be technical training or training in management practices. It can be training for implementing a standard in the organization or can be in implementation of procedures with the required discipline. The training can be orientation or induction training, job training, apprenticeship training, internship training, refresher training or training to enhance skills for employee’s promotion.
Planning for training
Like any other management functions, training also needs proper planning in order to get maximum efficiency and effectiveness from training and development process. In fact proper planning is a precursor for effective training. For proper implementation of training and development process, both long term and short term training are to be planned. Planning of training is to include operational level planning. The training is to be planned keeping in view the capabilities of the participants. It is to be correctly conceptualized and is to be well organized. The planning of a training session includes identification of objectives and selection of appropriate contents, materials, training strategies and evaluation techniques. The planning of a training session must include information of prior knowledge of trainees, format of training, focus on behavioural aspects, contents of training, instructional procedures, and training aids etc. Learning curve is an important factor to be considered while planning for training. It is a well known fact that learning does not take place at constant rate. A number of factors such as the difficulty of task, and the ability of an individual to learn influence the learning process. A learning curve (Fig 2) has three stages. Stage I is rapid initial learning stage, stage II is the tapering of the learning stage while the stage III is the fluctuating learning stage.
Fig 2 A typical learning curve
A properly designed and planned training process can create the potential for a virtuous learning circle which is shown in Fig
Fig 3 Virtuous learning circle
Principles of development of a training programme
The following principles are important for the development of a training programme.
- The person to be trained must have motivation to learn
- The training material must be meaningful and should relate to the purpose of the training programme.
- Training should provide variety to prevent boredom and fatigue.
- Since human beings tend to forget what they learn within the first 48 hours, it is necessary that the employees should start practicing the new things which they learn in a training programme.
- Training material is to be well organized and should not only be properly presented but should also be made available to the trainees.
- For a trainee to absorb the new learnings effectively, it is advisable that training programme is divided into short sessions spread over long time instead long sessions held in short time.
- Getting a feedback on training from the trainees helps in improvement in the training programme.