22 Training and Development

Dr. Sulakshna Dwivedi

1. Learning Outcome

2. Introduction

3. Training and Development – Meaning and definitions

4. Difference between Training and Development

5. Benefits of Training and Development

6. Learning- The basis of training

7. Training and Development process

8. Summary

1. Learning Outcome

After completing this module the students will be able to:

Understand the concept of training and development and the difference between the two.
Understand meaning and definitions of training and development
Understand the Significance or benefits of training and development
Understand the process of learning the basis of training and development Understand process of training and development

“If you wish to plan for a year sow seeds, if you wish to plan for ten years plant trees, if you wish

to plan for a life-time develop men”. Chinese adage

An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly is the ultimate competitive advantage. — Jack Welch, former General Electric CEO

The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay. — Henry Ford, Founder, Ford Motor Company

The way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel. And if your employees don’t feel valued, neither will your customers. — Sybil F. Stershic, marketing and organizational advisor

2. Introduction

After recruiting and placing a right candidate on the right job, its time to train and develop employees according to their skill sets and job profile. It’s basically to create a person-job-fit and person-organization fit. Training is a process whereby the focus is on enhancement of skills, knowledge and attitude of employees so that they can excel in their current job, while, development focuses on overall development which is required not only for present job but for future job as well. Development is for promotion of employees or to make him competent for future job profiles. It is commonly said that moment a person stops learning his or her declines starts from there only.

A day without learning is a day without breathing. Both training and development encompasses learning where one has to defreeze the old ways of doing things; freeze the new ways and further refreeze the new learning so that its becomes permanent and becomes an integral part of the personality of the person. Now, ‘why learning is important?’, because change is inevitable everywhere. Be it social, political, economic, technological changes, all the change forces pushes an organization for movement from its current state to desired or future state. This all depends upon intensity of resisting forces and change forces which will make organization see a change or no change or maintenance of status quo. With the organizational change, structures, processes, systems also witness a change. Hence skill sets, management skill set also get revised thus necessitates a need for training and development. Change is both reactive as well as proactive. Hence depending upon the approach of an organization training and development sometimes is due to reaction to changes but organizations which are proactive in nature treat change as inevitable hence create in built systems of training and development which not only continuously train and develop their employees but also keeps the learning spirit alive and make the organization a learning organization.

3. Meaning and Definitions of Training and Development

Various authors have defined and redefined training and development in different ways. The basic purpose of studying these definitions is to observe changes that have taken place in defining T&D over the years.

According to Black (1961), “Training is defined as imparting job knowledge to employees so that they can carry out orders smoothly, efficiently and cooperatively”.

Oatey (1970) defines training as any activity which deliberately attempts to improve a person’s skill at a task.

According to Hesseling (1971), “training as a sequence of experiences or opportunities designed to modify behavior in order to attain a stated objective”.

According to Nadler (1971), training includes “those activities which are designed to improve human performance on the job employee is presently doing or is being hired to do”.

Hamblin (1974), “training is an activity which deliberately attempts to improve a person’s skill on a job”. Training and development is described as a maintenance subsystem, intended to improve organizational efficiency by increasing routinization and predictability of behavior–

Katz & Kahn (1978)

According to the Edwin B Flippo (1984), “Training is the act of increasing knowledge and skills of an employee for doing a particular job.”

HRD is defined as an organized learning experience, conducted in a definite time period, to increase the possibility of improving job performance and growth (Nadler, 1984).

“Training refers to the methods used to give new or present employees the skills they need to perform their jobs.” (Storey, 1994).

“Training is an organized activity for increasing the knowledge and skills of people for the definite purpose. It involves systematic procedure for transferring technical know how to the employees so as to increase their knowledge and skills for drag specific jobs with proficiency” (Storey and Westhead, 1995).

The core element of training and development in above definitions is imparting job knowledge so that individuals can perform their jobs smoothly and well.

Aswathappa (2000), “The term ‘training’ indicates the process involved in improving the aptitudes, skills and abilities of the employees to perform specific jobs. Training helps in updating old talents and developing new ones. ‘Successful candidates placed on the jobs need training to perform their duties effectively’.

Training and development are planned learning experiences that teach workers how to perform their current or future jobs effectively- Kleiman (2000)

Training and development is defined as a process of systematically developing work-related knowledge and expertise in people for the purpose of improving performance. Swanson & Holton(2001)

Training and development is defined as managing knowledge to develop the organization’s culture, to enhance individual performance and to strengthen the organization’s capability

Kremple & Pace (2001)

According to the Michel Armstrong (2001), “Training is systematic development of the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by an individual to perform adequately a given task or job”.

According to Lynton and Pareek (2002),” training is one that consists largely of well organized opportunities for participants to acquire necessary understanding and skills.

Definitional exploration after 2000 reveals T&D as a process; planned learning experiences; systematic development of the knowledge, skills and attitudes; well organized opportunities etc. The most exhaustive and interesting definition is the one given by Kremple & Pace (2001) where the core element is managing knowledge and the end results are development of organization’s culture, enhancement of individual performance and strengthening of organization’s capability

4. Training and Development-A distinction

Training and development should be a continuous process which tends to improve knowledge, skills, and attitude of employees to perform better at their current job and grooming and preparing them to take charge of higher positions. Training is considered as short term process while development is regarded as long term process. Training focuses to improve the skill set for better performance at current position while development focuses on ameliorating not only the skill sets but also overall development of employees to assume the charge of higher position in that organization as well as in other organizations. Training therefore is more centered on technical aspects while development focuses on managerial, leadership and behavioural aspects of job. Training is a narrower term as its scope is smaller e.g. Excel training, 5S training, GMP training, Safety training etc. while development focuses on areas like communication skills, interpersonal skills, team skills, conflict management and leadership skills.

Thus training and development is an intervention which is used for organizational change. Basic goal under training is development of work-force while in development the focus is on development of organizations’ executive talent. Training and development both involves learning.

5. Significance /Benefits of Training and development

The organizational growth is directly proportional to the growth and development of its workforce. Able, committed and productive employees can take the organizations to new heights. This is an age for talent hunting, talent development and talent management. In 1997, Steven Hankin of Mckinsey and company coined the term “The war for talent”. Michaels et al. described in the book, ‘The war for talent” as an increasingly competitive landscape for recruiting and retaining talented employees and mindset that focuses on the importance of talent for the success of any organization.

In defining talent as,” some combination of a sharp strategic mind , leadership ability, emotional maturity, communication skills, the ability to attract and inspire other, talented people, entrepreneurial instincts, functional skills and ability to deliver results”. Michaels et al. have emphasized on various abilities and skills talent should possess. Thus, it speaks volume about importance of development of talent pipeline.

At Individual Level

Training ensures enhancement in knowledge, skills and attitudes. Individual performance levels are increased

It harness creativity among individuals
Through training individual employees can get better adjusted to organizational changes.
Employees commitment level increases Enhancement in sense of belongingness
Better decision making and effective problem solving skills are developed Increase in self confidence
Job satisfaction will increase
Training will develop a sense of achievement and growth.
Helps individuals in becoming good employees, good human beings as well as good citizens.

At Group Level

Helps in formation of cohesive groups
Information flow or communication between groups and individuals Interpersonal relations and team building skills are improved
Facilitates formation of think tanks
Group thinking can be reduced with training and development
With the use of group decision making techniques like Delphi, brainstorming, nominal etc. better decision making can be ensured thus training and development facilitate better group performance.

At organizational level

Productive employees will yield to better organizational productivity Better financial performance or profitability.
Satisfied investors and other stakeholders.
High employee morale will ensure satisfied customers. Motivated employees
Reduced accident rates. Safe work environment
Improves organizational culture
Makes organizational policies, rules and regulations more viable.
Creates an organizational climate of growth, learning and development Makes the organization a best place to work with.
Improves the goodwill of organization thus oit will be able to attract more talented employees.

6. Learning an essential component in Training and Development:

Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience. Learning includes

Change in behavior: change in the way we think, feel and judge and eventually behaves. If there is no change in behavior that means no learning has taken place.

Changes are relatively permanent:

Changes which are not permanent may only be reflexive in nature. That means which is spontaneous, unconscious or automatic. A learning is no learning if change is not permanent that means conscious effort on the part of individual to retain and inculcate that learning in him/her. Due to experience: The basis of learning is experience. Experience may be by observation or practice e. by reading, listening or doing etc.

6.1 Principles of Learning

1. Principle of Motivation

2. Principle of Feedback

3. Principle of Reinforcement

4. Principle of Practice

5. Principle of Transferable

6. Principle of Relevance

Principle of Motivation: Principle of Motivation states that if subject (individual) is motivated to learn something then his learning will get augmented as motivated employee will be ready to channelize his energy in the right direction. Motivation sometime is intrinsic and sometime it is extrinsic. If employees are not intrinsically motivated to learn then through counseling or by telling the advantages of learning as in training will give boost to confidence, self esteem and will help furthering promotion etc. employees can be motivated so as to enhance his learning.

Principle of Feedback:

Feedback is a very essential part in the learning process. According to Ken Blanchard, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions”, this statement is the crux about importance of feedback. Through feedback one tends to know about their performance and chance to improve upon that. According to Grant Wiggins, “Learners need endless feedback more than they need endless teaching”. To facilitate learning, intentions of feedback should be fair and purpose should always to help others.

Principle of Reinforcement:

To enhance learning, one needs to positively reward the behaviors’ rather negatively punished behaviors.

Principle of Practice:

As they say, ‘Practice makes a person perfect’. This adage talks volume about the principle of practice. Through sheer repetitions of learning process the behavior becomes permanent. As practice requires hard work and there is no substitute for hard work

Principle of Transferable: It is concerned with transferring of learning to praxis or actual job. Ultimately learning has to be practiced in the job and thus it would create a value. Therefore learning process must ensure transferability of behavior into praxis.

Principle of Relevance:

Learning material should be in consonance with training objective of the organization, Otherwise it will lose its relevance and hence would not enhance the learning among individuals. Therefore relevance is very important aspect in learning

6.2 Laws of learning:

Fig.1 Laws of learning

6.2.1 Primary Laws of learning

Three primary laws of learning are:

Law of effect:

Law of effect works on the rule that behavior is a function of consequences. When the learning is associated with pleasant consequences, learning gets strengthened and when it is associated with unpleasant consequences then learning gets weakened. Therefore, learning will be effective when the learner derives satisfaction and pleasure out of it.

Law of exercise:

Also known as law of use and disuse. In technical language S-R (Stimulus- Response) (Stimulus is what causes the response and response is the desired behaviour) connection gets stronger with use and weakened with disuse. In simple words, learning gets faster with repetition or repetitive use. Practice makes things permanent but not perfect unless correct things are made to learn. Therefore, right content and practice ensures effective learning.

Law of readiness:

S-R (Stimulus- Response) connection is strengthened when the subject is physically, emotionally or mentally ready (adjusted) to receive the stimuli. Conversely, if the subject is not ready to receive the stimuli the learning process will get hampered.

6.2.2 Secondary Laws of learning

Law of Primacy:

Things learned fast create a strong retention and impression in the mind of subject or learner. Therefore, first things should be procedurally correct e.g. Professor by being punctual on the first of the class and not allowing those students who are late in the class creates the first impression which would ensure the punctuality of the class in whole semester.

Law of Recency:

Subject is quicker to learn the most recent things. Recapitulation at the end of the lecture helps in retaining the jist of the lecture. keeping in mind the laws of recency, sequence of lectures or adjusted.

Law of Intensity: Higher the intensity of the material taught, higher will be the learning. Adding different methodologies, praxis, simulations, role plays, gamification will add to the intensity of the lecture and the subject is more likely to retain the things.

Law of Freedom: Things learned in the open and free environment are easily learned. Learning in a free way is like a play. Participation of students, interactive sessions and where students learn all their inhibitions definitely leads to intellectual stimulation and advancement of learners.

7. Training process

Though various models are used in explaining the training process. But AADIE is very commonly used training framework that covers generic processes which training designers and managers use. ADDIE stands analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation and control. The first four phases are sequential in nature, but the evaluation and control phase is a continuous process because it works simultaneously with all other four phases and provides formative evaluation and finally summative evaluation.

ADDIE first appeared in 1975. It was created by the Center for Educational Technology at Florida State University for the U.S. Army and then quickly adapted by all the U.S. Armed Forces (Watson, 1981).

Analysis:

Methods used in Training Need assessments

Training need assessments addresses present problems and future challenges that are to tackled with training and development or with some other related interventions

Training need assessment happens at two levels one is at Individual level and the another is at group /organizational level

Following methods are used at Individual Level
Performance appraisal Interviews
Attitude surveys Questionnaires Observations
Rating scales Work sampling
Organizational goals or objectives Exit interviews
MBO (Management by Objectives) Quality circles
Job satisfaction, job commitment survey Organizational climate survey
Skill/ Management inventories
Future plans and strategies of the organization
Current and future trends in the workplace arena.

Fig.2: Need assessment and remedial measurement

Source: Human Resource Management and Personnel Management (Text and cases)- K. Aswathappa

All these methods help to identify various training needs of employees at individual and group / organizational level and even these methods are used to pinpoint individual and group performance deficiencies and aid in suggesting methods which can rectify these performance deficiencies. So, Training manager can recommend training or non- training measures to improve upon the deficiencies. Other causes could be wrong selection, faulty job design or compensation etc. Therefore, non- training measures like right selection, placement or job redesign or fair and equitable compensation package can remove all these deficiencies.

T& D objectives:

After assessing the training needs, T& D goals must be established. Objectives gives direction to the Training manager and thus facilitates him/her in designing the training and development programmes and also to evaluate the training and development sessions because objectives provides a set of standards at Knowledge, skill and attitudinal level to match after the T&D programmes are delivered to employees.

Design the T&D programmes

Design include following questions to be answered
Who are Participants(Top level, middle level or lower level employees)
Who is the trainer (Individual/Group , in house or Third party consultancy group ) Methods and Techniques
Level of training
Learning principles needed Training budget
Training venue and timing
Training standards to be evaluated.

Development

Development of training material

After preparing a design about training programmes next job is to develop the training materials based on that particular design. Therefore, depending upon participants, budget, timing, trainers, level of training and principles of learning, objectives etc. training programmes are developed.

Implementation

Implementation of training program

This phase consists of actual implementation of training programmes to the concerned trainees. Implementation should seek to create a proper milieu for learning and active participation. In implementation, trainer should ensure proper transfer of learning from trainer to trainees. Continuous feedback from trainer through their interest, participation, curiosity etc. should be gauged to ensure proper implementation. Various models are used to evaluate the training programmes. Models name itself represents the facets which these models assess and evaluate.

Evaluation

Refine and revise the program

Once the training programme is developed or implemented to trainees. It is ought to be evaluated in terms of enhancement in Knowledge, skill, attitude. For this pre and post training data can be compared. Actual application of knowledge in the job can be vouched to see the changes. Although attitudinal change is not easy to measure as it take some time to adopt a new attitude.

Summary

Training and development plays a consequential part in multidimensional growth of an employee, team and organization. Training and development bring with themselves a learning experience which in turn helps to remain updated and embrace the change. Training and development are distinct from each other but both go hand in hand as training is required for development. Training and development is an important function of human resource management. Even sometimes it is defined as HRD function of HRM. As the world is becoming a global village and lot of MNCs are operating in India, competitive scenario is changing and training and development of employees is considered as key strategic factor of any organization. These days’ organizations expend huge amount of resources for training and development of employees. Organizations have separate departments for this purpose. Training manager works in tandem with HR manager. Training process includes analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation of training programmes. As training encompasses learning,therefore trainer should understand various laws and principles of learning. First training needs are assessed, then according to training needs at different levels; training programmes are designed and developed. Thereafter the process involves actual implementation and evaluation which test whether there is actual transfer of learning to employees. Therefore, according to the objectives and resources of an organization, training manager should formulate various strategies to train and develop the employees.

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Learn More

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