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Introduction to Employee Training & Development


~Training and development ( T & D ) constitute as a HRD function, and it has implicated that it’s one of the main functions in HRD (Weil and Woodall, 2005). Also T & D is significant in an organization. Without it, employees will not have a proper grasp on their duties and responsibilities. Therefore T & D  plays an important role on improving effectiveness (McLagan and Patricia, 1989). Further effective T & D will improve workplace performance also personal development (Wilke, 2006).~



Introduction 



To begin with Programs which help the employees to learn skills or specific knowledge to improve performance in their current job role can be defined as “training”. On the other hand focusing on employee future performance and growth, rather than an immediate job role referred as “development” (Chiaburu and Tekleab, 2005). Comparatively Swanson (2001) has defined T & D as a process of systematically developing work-related knowledge and expertise in people for the purpose of improving performance. Also according to Kremple and Pace (2001) T & D is defined as managing knowledge to develop the organization’s culture, to enhance individual performance and to strengthen the organization’s capability.



Video 1 : Introduction to T & D



(Source - Modern Workplace Learning in 2020, 2019)



Types of Training and Development


Figure 1: Types of Training and Development 



(Source - Researcher work)



References


Chiaburu, D. and Tekleab, A. (2005). Individual and contextual influences on multiple dimensions of training effectiveness. Journal of European Industrial Training, 29(8), pp.604-626.

Krempl, S. and Pace, R. (2001). Training across multiple locations. San Francisco, Calif. [u.a.]: Berrett-Koehler.

McLagan and Patricia A (1989). Models for HR practice: Training and Development Journal, v43 n9 p49-59.

Modern Workplace Learning 2020. (2019). 5 Features of Modern Workplace Learning - Modern Workplace Learning 2020. [online] Available at: https://www.modernworkplacelearning.com/cild/mwl/new-model-of-workplace-learning/ [Accessed 16 Nov. 2019].

Swanson R, (2001). Foundations of Human Resource Development: Developing human expertise through personal training and development.

Weil, A. and Woodall, J. (2005). HRD in France: the corporate perspective. Journal of European Industrial Training, 29(7), pp.529-540.

Wilke, J. (2006). The importance of employee training. Jacksonville Business Journal".




Comments

  1. Hi Anne, thought of sharing new training methods adopted by few global companies which are described by Mason (2016), as an addition to the facts mentioned in your blog. They are;
    • Multi-National Insurance Giant Allianz runs two training programs named “Dialogue in Darkness” and “Dialogue in Silence”. The first takes place in a sensory-deprived room, where participants must respond to instructions and complete tasks whilst the latter takes place in a soundproof room, where participants must use mimes and gestures to communicate with others. The company wants to teach the employees about their own behavior and the understanding of others which will correlate to better teamwork in an office environment.
    • Baby goods maker Combi adopts a novel training program called “Pilgrimage Training” where participants are dropped on a mountain range only with a map and want them to find their way-out. The objective is let the group to focus on a single task.
    • Ritz-Carlton gives its staff with USD 2000- without the knowledge of their immediate superiors and wants them to create an exceptionally staying experience for their guests. Company wants to show the deep trust on the employees and to foster creativity of the employees using their previous training and to manage the budget wisely.
    • Gamification – The concept is to use elements of game design and logic to apply to a work situation. This method has the benefits of being competitive which results in quick progression, training becoming more enjoyable, higher retention of information and cost effective than the traditional training methods. McDonalds used this method when introducing a new till system and Air Cargo Netherlands used it for introducing a logistic system called “Smartgate”."

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    1. Hi Suresh, Thank you for sharing these valuable examples, agreed that organizations use and implement new methods on T and D also in addition For a Company to be successful today, its workforce must be Diverse, Innovative, Insightful and Knowledgeable. This can only be achieved by offering training and education to the most valuable asset of the organization – its people.In today’s era, employees are not keen to join an organization where their Knowledge and Skills are not upgraded. In this respect, organizational training is undergoing a huge transformation. Many organizations provide opportunities for learning and use it as a retention tool.( Bhattacharjee & Mukherjee 2017)

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  2. Hi Anne, Further more today, most Companies have developed new training and development programs for their current employees. Companies generally offer their employees a tuition reimbursement package to strengthen their knowledge and training. The Corporate University has found that almost 10% of employees have the right to this benefit( Rosenwald 2000).

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    1. "Hi Aravindth, Organizations have set up their employee development programs in a variety of ways. Also Rosenwald (2000) indicated that the demands of work and family life make it difficult for employees to invest extra time outside of the job for such opportunities . Additionally, it is primarily senior management and those people who place a high value on an advanced degree who take advantage of tuition reimbursement. As a result, many organizations find in-house programs more beneficial and many are going the route of corporate universities."

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  3. Hi Anne, The success of organization is however dependent on its knowledgeable, skilled as well as experienced workforce. Therefore in order to maintain sustainability,
    organizations must see continuous employee training and development as invaluable. Training and development is very essential at all employee levels, due to the reason that skills erode and become obsolete over a period of time and has to be replenished (Nishtha and Amit (2010).

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    1. Hi Lakshmi, Agreed on the statement in addition Training has been invaluable in increasing productivity of organizations. It does not only enhance employees resourcefully, but also provides them with an opportunity to virtually learn their jobs and perform more competently. Hence, increasing not only employees productivity but also organizations’ productivity. Various researches indicate the positive impact of training on employees’ productivity. Training as a process is one of the most pervasive methods to enhance the productivity of individuals and communicating organizational goals to personnel (Ekaterini & Constantinos-Vasilios, 2009). Rohan & Madhumita (2012) also supported that investing in training employees on decision making, teamwork, problem-solving and interpersonal relations has beneficial impact on the organizations’ level of growth, as well as impacting on employees’ performance. Training affects employees’ behavior and their working skills which results into employees enhanced performance as well as constructive changes (Satterfield & Hughes, 2007).

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  4. Furthermore, goals of the organisation should be elaborated to the staff and should draft their KPI's accordingly. This will assist the staff to be proactive in day to day operations (Azulay, 2012)

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    1. "Harvey (2000) confirmed that no matter which KPIs are used, they should mirror the business strategy and be reformulated periodically to adapt to the changing entrepreneurial environment. Hence By offering the training and development opportunities employers help employees develop their own
      competitive advantage and ensure long term employ ability, Jackson (2008). Development implies it is an ongoing process and that progress is made over time and this fits also with the emphasis on long life learning."

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  5. As you mention blog The corporate learning function is part of the human resources management. Furthermore Tarique, (2014) mention It is responsible for ensuring that employees have the capabilities that are compulsory for successful job accomplishment. Competencies refer to the mixture of knowledge, skills, capabilities, attitudes, and behaviors. More specifically, the corporate learning function is responsible for the instruction, maintenance, application, and transfer of competencies.

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    1. Similarly, Ivancevich (2003) says that training is the systematic process of altering the behavior of employees in a direction that would achieve organization goals. Training is related to present job skills and abilities; has a current orientation and helps employees master specific skills and abilities needed to be successful. Thomson and Strickland (2004) also state that building employee competencies and competitive capabilities suited to current strategies make an organization capable of good strategy execution, and can be efficiently implemented by providing training for employees. They state that employee training is strategically important in organizational efforts to build skill-based competencies and, if the chosen strategy called for new skills, deeper technological capability, or building and using new capabilities, employee training should be high in the organization action agenda.

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  6. Adding more to your blog, training & development need to be carried out by doing assessment of the employees. Not all employees within an organisation may need training while others may need significantly more. Three steps have been introduced by Mary Carolan (1993) as Identify, Analyse & Research to conduct assessment of the employees.

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  7. One method of needs assessment is ―training gap analysis.‖ David Chauldron (1996) proposed that human resource managers should define the gap between current employee knowledge and knowledge that the employee will need to know in the future. While Chauldron uses ―training gap analysis‖ in the context of training due to corporate restructuring, this approach may be used in any training environment.This assessment and implementation occurs before actual training in order to present the employee with a better understanding of his/her position. Finally, managers should know what skill sets and knowledge each individual needs to excel at his/her position. Training programs will focus on deficiencies in those areas (Chauldron, 1996).

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  8. Hi Ann, just wanted to point out that, Schank (1996) suggests it is important that the training and education should look, feel and like involving in it for the trainees. Therefore, as described by Lujan and DiCarlo (2006), it is important to identify the learner’s preferred sensory mode of learning first, as it is what they prefer to take the new information in, making the training endeavor more productive. Such sensory modalities can includes visual, auditory or kinesthetic methods, which will enable each individual to grasp the content by seeing as they are referred to, by watching as they are being performed or by learning from hearing the content in their own unique way.

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