Training & DevelopmentIntroduction:Every organization needs well-adjusted, trained and experienced people to perform its activities. As jobs in today’s dynamic organizations have become more complex, the importance of employee education has increased.Employee training is a learning experience, it seeks a relatively permanent change in employees that their improves job performance. Training involves changing skills, knowledge, attitudes, or behavior. This may means changing what employee know, how they work, or their attitudes toward their jobs, coworkers, managers, and the organization.Managers, with HRM assistance, decide when employees need training and what form that training should take.

Definitions Employee training

A learning experience designed to achieve a relatively permanent change in an individual that will improve the ability to perform on the job.

Training is more present-day oriented; it focuses on individuals’ current jobs, enhancing those specific skills and abilities to immediately perform their jobs.

Training helps the employee do their current job. The benefits of training may extend throughout a person’s career and help develop

that person for future responsibilities.

Employee development Future-oriented training, focusing on the personal growth of the employee. Development focuses on future jobs in the organization. As job and career progress,

employee need new skills and abilities. Help that person for future responsibilities, with little concern of current job duties.

Steps To Training & Development1. Determining training needs2. Training & development objectives3. Set program content and learning principles4. Implementation of actual program5. Evaluating the effectiveness of T & Program

1. Determining training needs/ Need assessment:What is need assessment?“A training need exists when an employee lacks the knowledge or skill to perform an assigned task satisfactorily. It arises when there is a variation between what the employee is expected to do on the job and what the actual job performance is.”

Identifying the training needs: A training need exists when an employee or group of employees lacks the knowledge

or skills to carry out their present or future job in a way that: Meets the standards required Incorporate new methods and procedures

Need assessment diagnoses current problems and future challenges to be met trough training and development.

Need assessment must consider each employee.

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The employee’s needs may be determined by HR department, by supervisors, or by self-nominations.

Specific training need should be based on: Organization’s needs Type of work to be done Skills necessary to complete the work

Indicators of declining job performance/ Indicators of need for more training: Drops in productivity Increased rejects Lower quality Inadequate job performance Rise in the number of accidents Customer Complaints Unsatisfactory customer survey ratings Missed objectives and targets New facilities or technology

The value added by training must be considered versus the cost. Having identified the problems and performance deficiencies, we must lay out the

difference between the costs of any proposed solutions against the cost of not implementing the solution. Here's an economic "gap analysis":

What are the costs if no solution is applied? What are the costs of conducting programs to change the situation?

Approaches for Needs assessment:To pinpoint the range of training needs and define their content, the HR department uses different approaches to needs assessment.

a. Survey: Survey the potential trainees to identify specific topics about which they want

to learn more.

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It suggests that trainees are more likely to be receptive to the resulting programs when they are viewed as relevant.

b. Group recommendation: The group’s expertise may be tapped through a group discussion, a

questionnaire, the Delphi procedure, or a nominal group meeting.i. Group discussion:

Resembles face-to-face interview technique, e.g., structured or unstructured, formal or informal, or somewhere in between.

Can be focused on job (role) analysis, group problem analysis, group goal setting, or any number of group tasks or themes (e.g., "leadership training needs of the board").

Uses one or several of the familiar group facilitating techniques: brainstorming, nominal group process, force fields, consensus ranking, organizational mirroring, simulation, and sculpting.

Advantages: Permits on-the-spot synthesis of different viewpoints. Builds support for the particular service response that is ultimately decided on. Decreases client's "dependence response" toward the service provider since

data analysis is (or can be) a shared function. Helps participants to become better problem analysts, better listeners, etc.

Disadvantages: Is time consuming (therefore, initially expensive) both for the consultant and

the agency. Can produce data that are difficult to synthesize and quantify (more a problem

with the less structured techniques.

ii. Questionnaire: May be in the form of surveys or polls of a random or stratified sample of

respondents, or an enumeration of an entire "population" ranking. Can use a variety of question formats: open-ended, forced-choice, priority -ranking. May be self-administered (by mail) under controlled or uncontrolled conditions, or

may require the presence of an interpreter or assistant. Advantage:

Can reach a large number of people in a short time. Are relatively inexpensive.

Disadvantage: Make little provision for free expression of unanticipated responses. Require substantial time (and technical skills, especially in survey model) for

development of effective instruments. Suffer low return rates (mailed), grudging responses, or unintended and/or

inappropriate respondents.c. Task identification:

Evaluating the job description to identify the salient tasks the job requires. Once trainers have an understanding of those tasks, specific plans are developed to provide the necessary training.

d. HR weaknesses: HR may find the weaknesses among HR activities, includes inappropriate

placement, orientation, selection, or recruiting may lead to workers with deficiencies.

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Errors in these activities may stem from weaknesses in HR planning, job design, or the HR information system.

Training and development may be needed to increase the workers’ performance and it may modify other activities to ensure a better fit between people and performance.

e. Other sources of information: Reviewing other sources of information Includes different reports, e.g. production records, quality control reports,

grievances, safety reports, absenteeism and turnover statistics, and exit interviews of departing employees

May reveal problems that should be addressed through training and development efforts.

Advantages: Readily available Provide objective evidence of the results of problems within the agency or

group. Can be collected with a minimum of effort and interruption of workflow since

it already exists at the work site. Disadvantage:

Carry perspective that generally reflects the past situation rather than the current one (or recent changes).

Need a skilled data analyst if clear patterns and trends are to emerge from such technical and diffuse raw data.

f. Supervisors: Observe employees on daily basis. Supervisors may recommend an employee for training and development as reward

good employees. Self-nominations: Employees are asked to nominate themselves for training and development

programs where they want the differences in between their expected skills, knowledge and abilities and actual.

2. Training & Development Objectives & Goals:

Once it has been determined that training is necessary training goals must be establishes.

Management should explicitly state its desired results for each employee. It must state what change in employee knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors

and also clarify what is to change and by hoe much. It should state the desired behavior and the conditions under which it is to occur. Goals should be specific, tangible, verifiable, timely, and measurable. Theses stated objectives then become standards against which individual

performance and the program can be measured. They should be clear to both the supervisor and the employee because they can be

used to evaluate their success. If the objectives are not met, failure gives the HR feedback on the program and

the participants.

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3. (a) Program Content: The program’s content is shaped by the needs assessment and the learning

objectives. The program must meet the needs of the organization and participants. Participants must view the content as relevant to their needs or their motivation to

learn may be low.(b) Learning Principles: Training & development are more effective when training methods match the

learning styles of the participants and the types of jobs needed by the organization.

Learning cannot be observed; only its results can be measured. Learning curves: Trainers have two goals related to shape of each employee’s learning curve.

i. They want the learning curve to reach a satisfactorily level of performance.

ii. They want the learning curve to get satisfactorily level as quickly as possible.

The rate at which people learn depends on the individual, learning principles help speed up the learning process.

Learning principles are guidelines to the ways in which people learn most effectively.

The more these principles are reflected in training, the more effective training is likely to be.

Learning principles are participation, repetition, relevance, transference, and feedback.

i. Participation:o Learning usually is quicker and longer lasting when the learner

participates actively.o It improves motivation and apparently engages more senses that reinforce

the learning process.ii. Repetition:

o Repetition apparently etches a pattern into one’s memory.iii. Relevance:

o Learning is helped when material to be learned is meaningful.o Trainers explain the overall purpose of a job to trainees before explaining

specific tasks.iv. Transference:

o The more closely the demands of the training program match the demands of the job, the faster a person learns to master the job.

o The close match between the simulator and the actual job allows the trainee to quickly transfer the learning in the simulator to actual conditions.

v. Feedback:o Feedback gives learners information on their progress.o With feedback, motivated learners can adjust their behavior to achieve the

quickest possible learning curve.o Without feedback trainee cannot gauge their progress and may become

discourage.

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Effectiveness of Training & Development approaches:In selecting T& D techniques, trade-offs exist. No single technique is always best; the best method depends on:

Cost effectiveness Desired program content Learning principles Appropriateness of the facilities Trainee preferences and capabilities Trainer performance and capabilities

Training & Development Methods:A. On-the-Job Training Methods

1. Job instructions: It is received directly on the job, and so it is often called “on-the-job” training

(OJT). It is used primarily to teach an employee how to do their current jobs. A trainer, supervisor, or coworker serves as the instructor. OJT includes several steps:

i. The trainee receives an overview of the job, its purpose, and its desired outcomes, with an emphasis on the relevance of the training.

ii. Trainer demonstrates the job to give the employee a model to copy.

iii. Employee is allowed to mimic the trainer’s example.iv. Demonstrations by trainer and practice by the trainee are

repeated until the job is mastered.v. Employee performs the job without supervision.

2. Job rotation:

Job rotation involves moving employees to various positions in the organization to expand their skills, knowledge and abilities.

It can be either horizontal or vertical.i. Vertical job rotation is promoting a worker into a new position.ii. Horizontal job rotation is short-term lateral transfer.

Benefits: It is excellent method for broadening an individual’s exposure to

company operations and for turning a specialist into a generalist. Increase the individual’s experience Allows an employee to absorb new information Reduce boredom Stimulate the development of new ideas. Provide opportunities for a more comprehensive and reliable

evaluation of the employee by supervisors.

3. Assistant-To Position:

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Assistant-to positions allow employees with potential to work under and be coached by successful managers.

Working as staff assistants, perform many duties under watchful eye of a supportive coach.

Benefits: Employee experience a wide variety of management activities Groomed for the duties of next higher level position

4. Committee assignments Committee assignments provide opportunities to an employee for:

Decision-making Learning by watching others Becoming more familiar with organizational members and problems

Temporary committee: Act as a taskforce to delve into a particular problem, ascertain alternative

solutions, and recommend a solution. Temporary assignments can be interesting and rewarding to the employee’s

growth.Permanent committee:

Increases the employee’s exposure to other members of the organization Broadens his/her understanding Provide an opportunity to grow and Make recommendations under the scrutiny of other committee members

5. Apprenticeships and Coaching:

Apprenticeships involve learning from a more experiences employee or employees.

It may be supplemented with off-the-job classroom training. Assistantships and internships are similar to apprenticeships because they use

high levels of participation by the trainee and have high transferability to the job.

Coach attempts to provide a model for the trainee to copy. It is less formal than an apprenticeship program because there are few formal

classroom sessions. Coaching is handled by the supervisor or manager not by HR department. Manager or another professional plays the role of mentor; give both skills and

career advice.

B. Off-the-Job Training Methods1. Lecture Courses & Seminars:

Traditional forms of instructions revolve around formal lecture courses and seminars.

Helps the individuals acquire knowledge and develop their conceptual and analytical abilities.

Many organizations offer these in-house, through outside vendors, or both. Lecture courses and seminars benefit from today’s technology and are often

offered in a distance-learning format.

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Feedback and participation can be improved when discussion is permitted along with lecture process.

Benefits: Relative economic method

2. Vestibules: Learning tasks on the same equipment that one actually will use on the job but

in simulated work environment. Separate areas or vestibules are setup with equipment similar to that used on

the job. This arrangement allows transference, repetition, and participation. Benefits:

Not disrupting normal operations

3. Role Playing and Behavior modeling: Role-playing is a device that forces trainees to assume different identities. For example, a male worker may assume the role of a female supervisor and a

female supervisor may assume the role of a male worker. Then both may be given a typical work situation and told to respond, as they would expect the other to do.

It is used to diversity training, to change attitudes and also helps to develop the interpersonal skills.

Behavior can be learned, modified and altered through this method where individual is either “matching” or “copying” or “imitating”, through the observation of some other individual.

It is an “observational learning” technique. Learning takes place not through experience but through observing the others’

behavior. The re-creation of the behavior may be videotaped so that trainer and the

trainee can review and critique it. Trainer and trainee observe the positive and negative consequences; the

employee receives vicarious reinforcement that encourages the correct behavior.

4. Simulation: Simulation refers to any artificial environment that attempts to closely mirror

an actual condition. Learning a job by actually performing the work May include case studies/case analysis, experimental exercises/decision

games and role-plays and group interactions and are intended to improve decision-making.

It is similar to vestibules, except that the simulator more often provides instantaneous feedback on performance.

Benefits: Opportunities to attempt to create an environment similar to real situations

manager face, without high costs for poor outcomes.

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Disadvantage: Difficult to duplicate the pressures and realities of actual decision-making

on the job, Individuals often act differently in real-life situations than do in simulated

exercise.

i. Case-study: Take actual experiences of organizations, these cases represent attempts to

describe, as accurately as possible, real problems. Trainees study these cases to determine problems, analyze causes, develop alternative solutions, select what they believe to be the best solution, and implement it.

If cases are meaningful and similar to work-related situations, it means transference is there.

Participation can also increased by discussing these cases. Benefits:

Provide stimulating discussions among participants Excellent opportunities for individuals to defend their analytical and

judgmental abilities. Improving decision-making abilities within the constraints of limited

informationii. Decision Games/ role-playing:

Played on computer program, Player makes decision, and computer determines the outcome in the context of

the conditions under which it was programmed. Provide opportunities for individuals to make decisions and to witness the

implications of their decisions for other segments of the organization. Role-playing allows participants to act out problems and to deal with real

people.

5. Self-study & Programmed Learning: Carefully planned instructional materials can be used to train and develop employees. It is computer programs or printed booklets that contain a series of questions and

answers. After reading and answering a question, the reader gets immediate feedback. If right,

the learner proceeds; if wrong, the reader is directed to review the accompanying materials.

Programmed materials provide learner participation, repetition, relevance, and feedback.

It ranges from manuals to prerecorded cassettes or videotapes. Benefits:

It is useful when employees are dispersed geographically or when requires little interaction.

6. Outdoor Training: Outdoor training typically involves challenges, which teach trainees the importance

of teamwork/working together. It typically involves some major emotional and physical challenge.

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Purpose is to see how employees react to the difficulties that nature presents to them. Do they “freak”? Or are they controlled and successful in achieving their goal?

Benefits: It reinforced the importance of working closely with one another, building

trusting relationships, and succeeding as a member of a group.

5. Evaluation of Training and Development:

Definition: “Evaluation is the process of determining the value and effectiveness of a learning program. It uses assessment and validation tools to provide data for the evaluation. Assessment is the measurement of the practical results of the training in the work environment; while validation determines if the objectives of the training goal were met.”

Training and development activities must be evaluated systematically. The benefits gained must outweigh the costs of the learning experience. Only analyzing such programs determines effectiveness. It is not enough to merely

assume that any training an organization offers is effective, we must develop substantive data to determine whether our training effort is achieving its goals that is correcting the deficiencies in skills, knowledge, or attitudes that assessed as needing attention.

Several managers, representatives from HRM, and a group of worker who have recently completed a training program are asked for their opinions. Trainees’ comments are generally positive.

The reactions of participants or managers, while easy to get, are the least valid, because their opinions are heavily influenced by factors that may have little to do with the training’s effectiveness: difficulty, entertainment value, or the personality characteristics of the instructor.

Trainees’ reactions to the training many provide feedback on how worthwhile the participants viewed the training.

Training must be evaluated in terms of how much the participants learned, how well they use their new skills on the job (did their behavior change?) and whether the training program achieved its desired results (reduced turnover, increased customer service, etc)

The types of questions that can be answered by an evaluation include:

What impact did the training have on the organization? Was a return on our investment realized? Are the learners using their new techniques and processes back in the work

environment? Did the program change attitudes, behaviors, or skills in a way that positively

impacts business results?

Training Outcomes:Effective criteria used to evaluate training focus on outcomes. Trainers are particularly concerned about:

1. The reactions by trainees to the training content and process.

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2. The knowledge or learning acquired through the training experience.3. Changes in behavior that result from the training.4. Measurable results or improvements in the individuals or the organization, such as

lower turnover, fewer accidents, or less absenteeism.

Outcomes Description CommentsReactions Trainee reactions to the course

Does the trainee like the course?Usually in the form of evaluation forms, sometimes called "smile sheets".

Most primitive and widely used method of evaluation. It is easy, quick, and inexpensive to administer.Negative indicators could mean difficultly learning in the course.

Learning Did trainees learn what was based on the course objectives?

Learning can be measured by pre- and post tests, either through written test or through performance tests.

Behavior Trainee behavior changes on the job - are the learners applying what they learned?

Difficult to do. Follow-up questionnaire or observations after training class has occurred.

Results Ties training to the company's bottom line.

Generally applies to training that seeks to overcome a business problem caused by lack of knowledge or skill. Examples include reductions in costs, turnover, absenteeism and grievances.May be difficult to tie directly to training.

Steps in the evaluation of Training & Development:i. Establish the evaluation criteria before training & development

Evaluation criteria closely match the training and development objectives.

ii. Pretest: Participants should be given a pretest; that is , they should be tested to

establish their level of knowledge before program begins.iii. Training and development program

Implementing the training and development program.iv. Posttest:

After training and development has been completed, a posttest or post training evaluation should reveal the improvement that resulted from the program. It is useful way to determine whether the information was communicated.

v. Transfer to job: After post test trainees are placed to their job for what they have

trained and developed.vi. Follow-up:

It may be conducted months later to see how ell learning was retained.

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Performance-Based Evaluation Measures Performance-based measures (benefits gained) are better indicators of training’s cost-effectiveness.

Post-training performance method. Employees’ on-the-job performance is assessed after training. It may overstate training benefits.

Pre-post-training performance method.Employee’s job performance is assessed both before and after training, to determine whether a change has taken place. It deals directly with job behavior.

Pre-post-training performance with control group method. Compares the pre-post-training results of the trained group with the concurrent job performance of a control group, which does not undergo instruction.Used to control for factors other than training, which may affect job performance.

Development of Human Resource Benefits/ Advantages:

Development of current employees reduces the company’s dependence on hiring new workers.

If employees are developed, the job openings are more likely to be filled internally. Promotions and transfers also show employees that they have a career, not just a job. The employer benefits from increased continuity in operations and from employees

who feel greater commitment to the firm. Increase the productivity of employees. It helps in the career development of organization and employees too.

Human resource development is also an effective way to meet several challenges, includes:

i. Employee obsolescence

Obsolescence results when an employee no longer possesses the knowledge or abilities needed to perform successfully.

Or It may results from a person’s failure to adapt to new technology, new procedures,

and other changes. The more rapidly the environment changes, the more likely it is that employees will become obsolete.

Employers are reluctant to take strong action and fire obsolete employee, particularly employees who have been with the company a long time.

Proactively assessing the needs of employees and giving them programs to develop new skills can avoid employee obsolescence.

If these programs are designed reactively, after obsolescence occurs, they are less effective and more costly.

When an employee reaches a career plateau, obsolescence may be more likely. A career plateau occurs when an employee does well enough no to be demoted or

fired but not so well that s/he is likely to be promoted.

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Motivation to stay current may be reduced when an employee realizes that s/he is at career plateau.

ii. International & Domestic Workforce Diversity: Workforce diversity causes many organizations to redesign their development

programs. Role-playing and behavior modeling are more effective ways to train and develop

employees for facing the challenges the workforce diversity.

iii. Technological change: Rapid changes in technology require the firms to engage in nearly continuous

improvement. Technological changes having profound impact on training and development,

increases the need to assess the developmental requirements of current and future managers, professional and technical peoples.

iv. Development, EEO and affirmative action: Training and development activities must be conducted in such a way that they do not

discriminate against protected classes.

v. Employee Turnover: Turnover – the willingness on employees to leave one organization for another. Departures are largely unpredictable, development activities must prepare employees

to succeed those who leave. Some employer with excellent development programs finds that training programs

contribute to employee turnover. Therefore, they are reluctant to invest money in workers who may then take their new skills to a new job at a higher-paying competitor.

After evaluate the importance of training and development programs, the organizations realize that it is better to have some trained employee who may leave than to have an untrained workforce that says.

Organization DevelopmentIntroduction:Organizations change from time to time. Changes with respect to continuous improvements, diversity, and work process engineering require the organization to move forward through a process called organizational development.

Organization Development:o Definition: Organization development is a process that addresses system wide

change in the organization. Change agent:

o Change agents are individuals responsible for fostering the change effort and assisting employees in adapting to changes

o They are may be internal employees, or external consultants.

What is change? OD efforts support changes that are usually made in four areas:

i. The organization’s systems

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ii. Technologyiii. Processes iv. People

Two metaphors clarify the change process. 1. The calm waters metaphor

It describes unfreezing the status quo, change to a new state, and refreezing to ensure that the change is permanent.

Kurt Lewin describes the status quo can be considered an equilibrium state. Unfreezing, necessary to move from this equilibrium, is achieved in one of three ways:

a. The driving forces, which direct behavior away from the status quo, can be increased.

b. The restraining forces, which hinder movement from the existing equilibrium, can be decreased.

c. The two approaches can be combined. Lewin’s three steps process treats change as a break in the organization’s

equilibrium state. The status quo has been disturbed, and change is necessary to establish a new equilibrium.

2. The white-water rapids metaphor: The white-water rapids metaphor recognizes today’s business environment that

is less stable/dynamic and not as predictable/uncertain.

OD Methods: Organizational development facilitates long-term organization-wide changes. Its focus is to constructively change attitudes and values among organizational

members so that they can more readily adapt to and be more effective in achieving the new directions of the organization.

One fundamental issue of OD is its reliance on employee participation to foster an environment of open communication and trust.

Persons involved in OD efforts acknowledge that change can create stress for employees.

OD attempts to involve organizational members in changes that will affect their jobs and seeks their input about how the innovation is affecting them.

OD techniques: Any organizational activity that assists with implementing planned change can be

viewed as an OD technique.

OD techniques include:i. Survey feedbackii. Process consultationiii. Team buildingiv. Intergroup development

i. Survey Feedback:

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Survey feedback assesses organizational members’ perceptions and attitudes about their jobs (satisfaction with their job, coworkers, supervisors, and management etc) and organization (decision making, communication effectiveness, and leaderships etc).

The summarized data are used to identify problems and clarify issues so that commitments to action can be made.

ii. Process consultation: Process consultation uses outside consultants to help organizational members

perceive, understand, and act upon process events. Consultants coach managers in diagnosing interpersonal processes that need

improvement.

iii. Team Building: Organizations are made up of individuals working together to achieve same

goals. They frequently interact with peers. The primary function of OD is to help them become a team. Team building may include:

Goal setting Development of interpersonal relationships Clarification of roles Team process analysis

Team building attempts to increase trust, openness towards one another, and team functioning.

iv. Intergroup development: Intergroup development attempts to change attitudes, stereotypes, and

perceptions that one group may have towards another group. It attempts to achieve cohesion among different work groups or helping

members of various groups become a cohesive team. It builds better coordination among the various groups.

The Learning Organization:

Values continued learning and believes a competitive advantage can be gained from it. Characterized by:

–Capacity to continuously adapt –Employees continually acquire and share new knowledge –Open communication–Collaboration across functional specialties –Teams are an important feature –Empowered employees to make decision about their work or resolving issues.–Strong and committed leadership, shared vision–Organizational culture – shared vision, inherent interrelationships among organization’s processed, activities, functions, and external environment.–Strong sense of community, trust

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–Employees feel free to openly communicates, share, experiment, and learn without fear of criticism or punishment.

International Training and Development Issues

Cross-Cultural Training Necessary for expatriate managers and their families:

o Before assignments (to learn language and culture)o During, and after foreign assignments (to adjust to changes back home).

Cross-cultural training is more than language training Involves learning about the culture’s:

o Historyo Politicso Economyo Religiono Social climateo Business practices

May involve role-playing, simulations and immersion in the culture.

Development Often, organizations do not do a good job of planning for the return of overseas

managers. Leads to the managers’ being frustrated Returning expatriates can:

o Be assigned a domestic positiono Prepare for a new overseas assignmento Retire or be terminated

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