Training and Development

 

Training

Once employees have been selected for various positions in an organisation, Training them for the specific tasks to which they have been assigned takes on great importance. It is true that in many organisations, before an employee adapts to a harmonious working relationship with other employees, he is provided with the appropriate Training. Training is the act of increasing an employee’s knowledge and skills to perform a particular job. The main outcome of Training is learning. A trainee learns new habits, refined skills and useful knowledge during Training that help improve performance. Training enables an employee to perform his current job more efficiently and prepare for a higher level job.  (Lynton; Gupta; Rajamani; Group; Goldstein)

Training is the process for providing required skills to the worker for doing the task effectively, skilfully and qualitatively. Training of employees isn’t continuous, it’s periodical and given in specified time.  Generally Trainings are going to be given by an expert or professional in related field or job.

Training is required at every stage of work and for each person at work. To stay oneself updated with the fast changing technologies, concepts, values and environment, Training plays an important role. Training programmes are necessary in any organisation for improving the standard of labour at all levels. It’s also required when an individual is moved from one job to another of a different nature.
Training is a process of learning a sequence of programmed behaviour. It helps in bringing about positive change within the knowledge, skills & attitudes of employees. Training is investment in getting more and better quality work from your talent.
Thus, Training is a process that tries to enhance skills or augment the prevailing level of knowledge so the worker is best equipped to do his present job or to mould him to be suitable for the next job involving higher responsibilities. Training bridges the gap between what the worker has and what the job demands.

Since Training involves time, effort and money by an organisation, so an organisation should be very careful while designing a Training program. The objectives for Training should be clearly identified and the method or kind of Training should be chosen in keeping with the objectives established. Once this can be done accurately, an organisation should take a feedback on the Training program from the trainees within the sort of a structured questionnaire so as to know whether the amount and time invested on Training has turned into an investment or it was a complete expenditure for an organisation.
Recurrent Training is a Training that’s scheduled at periodic intervals so as to stay employee skill abilities at a maximum level. Recurrent Training often occurs in certain industries, like health care and aviation where human safety is involved. Recurrent Training will be outsourced, provided by a visiting instructor, or performed by instructors from a company training department.

Training Process:

Types of Training:

There are many approaches to Training.  (Zalman; Smith)

1. Skills Training: This type of Training is more common in organisations. The process here is quite simple. The need for Training in basic skills (such as reading, writing, computing, self-management etc.) is identified through assessment. Specific Training goals are set and Training content developed to meet those goals.

2. Refresher Training: Rapid changes in technology can force companies to opt for this type of Training. By organising short-term courses that incorporate the latest developments in a particular field, the company can keep its employees updated and ready to face emerging challenges. It is carried out at regular intervals with the help of external consultants who specialise in a particular description.

3. Cross-functional Training: Cross-functional Training involves Training employees to perform operations in areas other than their assigned job. There are many approaches to Cross-functional Training. Job rotation can be used to provide a manager in a functional area with a broader perspective that he would otherwise have. Departments can exchange staff for a specified period so that each employee understands how other departments are performing.

4. Team Training: Team Training generally covers two areas: content tasks and group processes. Content tasks specify the team’s goal such as cost control and problem solving. Group processes reflect how members function as a team – for example, how they interact with each other, how they resolve differences, how they participate etc.

5. Creativity Training: In creativity Training, trainers typically focus on three things:

a) Breaking away: To break away from restrictions, the trainee is expected to identify the dominant ideas that influence his own thinking; define the limits within which he is working; bring out the assumptions and challenge everything.

b) Generate new ideas: To generate new ideas, the trainee must open his mind; look at the problem from every possible angle and list as many alternative approaches as possible.

c) Delaying judgement: To promote creative thinking, the trainee should not try to eliminate ideas too quickly; they should be held back until he is able to generate as many ideas as possible. He should allow ideas to grow a little.

6. Diversity Training: Diversity Training considers all diverse dimensions in the workplace – race, gender, age, disabilities, lifestyles, culture, education, ideas and backgrounds – while designing a Training programme. Its objective is to create a better cross-cultural sensitivity with the aim of fostering more harmonious and fruitful working relationships among employees of an organisation.

7. Literacy Training: The inability to write, speak and work well with others can often hinder the way of performing duties, especially at the lower levels. Workers, in such situations, may not understand safety messages, appreciate the importance of sticking to rules, and commit avoidable mistakes. Functional literacy programmes focus on the basic skills needed to perform a job properly and capitalize on most workers’ motivation to get help in a particular area.

8. Orientation Training: In orientation Training, new employees get a first hand view of what the company stands for, how work is done and how to get along with colleagues.

Management Development

“Executive or management development is a planned process of learning and growth designed to bring behavioural change among the executives.”

Management Development is continuous process of learning. Management Development implies that there’ll be a change in knowledge and behaviour of the individuals undergoing development programme. The worker is going to be able to perform his present job better and can increase his potential for future work.

Managers develop themselves by participating in formal training courses organised by the organisation. They also make use of actual job experience in learning new behaviour and therefore the organisation must provide opportunities for development of its managers. Self-development is a crucial concept within the whole programme of executive development.

Management Development could be a process in which managers working at different levels learn and improve their ability, capability, knowledge and skills for improving the performance of individual as well as organisation. The effectiveness of managers at work contributes plenty to the success of each organisation.

The new approach of HRM is that money used in development of employees and managers is taken into account as an investment and not as a cost. Along with their jobs the managerial staff is provided opportunities to learn and improve their competencies. This complete process is known as Management Development.

The managerial staff is ready to enhance their performance on present jobs and preparing them for further assignments also. Management Development could be a systematic process of Training and growth by which managerial personnel gain and provide skills, knowledge, attitudes and insights to manage the work in their organisations effectively and efficiently.

Management Development programme involves the activities — short courses, leadership courses, management education and Training programmes, coaching, guiding and mentoring. These programmes can be conducted in-house or outside by consultants or experts.

References:

1. Rao, V S P, (2010). “Human Resource Management Text and Cases”, 3^rd ed., Excel Books, New Delhi.

2. R. Lynton, U. Pareek, "Training for Development", Sage Publication, New Delhi, 2002.

3. I.L. Goldstein, "Training in Organisations", Monterey, C.A., Brooks, 1993.

4. R. D. Zalman, "The Basics of In-house Skills Training", HR Magazine, 34, Feb 1990.

5. T. L. Smith, "The Basics of Basic-skills Training", Training and Development, 49, April 1995.