Concept of Training and Development

Concept of Training

Training is a process of learning a sequence of programmed behavior. It is the application of knowledge and gives people an awareness of rules and procedures to guide their behavior. It helps in bringing about positive change in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of employees.

Thus, training is a process that tries to improve skills or add to the existing level of knowledge so that the employee is better equipped to do his present job or to mould him to be fit for a higher job involving higher responsibilities. It bridges the gap between what the employee has and what the job demands.

Training refers to a planned effort by a company to facilitate employees’ learning of job-related competencies. These competencies include knowledge, skills, or behavior that are critical for successful job performance. The goal of training is for employees to master the knowledge, skill, and behavior emphasized in training programs and to apply them to their day-to-day activities. Training is seen as one of several possible solutions to improve performance. Other solutions can include such actions as changing the job or increasing employee motivation through pay and incentives.

Today there is a greater emphasis on:

• Providing educational opportunities for all employees. These educational opportunities may include training programs, but they also include support for taking courses offered outside the company, self-study, and learning through job rotation.
• An ongoing process of performance improvement that is directly measurable rather than organizing one time training events.
• The need to demonstrate to executives, managers, and trainees for the benefits of training.
• Learning as a lifelong event in which senior management, trainer manager, and employees have ownership.
• Training being used to help attain strategic business objectives, which helps companies, gain a competitive advantage.

The term Training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of technology (also known as technical colleges or polytechnics). In addition to the basic training required for a trade, occupation or profession, observers of the labor-market recognize as of 2008^[update] the need to continue training beyond initial qualifications: to maintain, upgrade and update skills throughout working life. People within many professions and occupations may refer to this sort of training as professional development.

Training usually refers to some kind of organized (and finite it time) event – a seminar, workshop that has a specific beginning data and end date. It’s often a group activity, but the word training is also used to refer to specific instruction done one on one.

Employee development, however, is a much bigger, inclusive “thing”. For example, if a manager pairs up a relatively new employee with a more experienced employee to help the new employee learns about the job, that’s really employee development. If a manager coaches and employee in an ongoing way, that’s employee development. Or, employees may rotate job responsibilities to learn about the jobs of their colleagues and gain experience so they might eventually have more promotion opportunities. That’s employee development.

In other words, employee development is a broader term that includes training as one, and only one of its methods for encouraging employee learning. The important point here is that different activities are better for the achievement of different results. For example, if the desire is provide an employee with a better understanding of how the department works, job rotation might work very well. If the goal is to improve the employee’s ability to use a computer-based accounting package direct training would be more appropriate than, let’s say, job rotation.

Objectives of Training and Development

The principal objective of training and development division is to make sure the availability of a skilled and willing workforce to an organization. In addition to that, there are four other objectives: Individual, Organizational, Functional, and Societal. Training and development is a subsystem of an organization. It ensures that randomness is reduced and learning or behavioural change takes place in structured format.

• Individual Objectives – help employees in achieving their personal goals, which in turn, enhances the individual contribution to an organization.
• Organizational Objectives – assist the organization with its primary objective by bringing individual effectiveness.
• Functional Objectives – maintain the department’s contribution at a level suitable to the organization’s needs.
• Societal Objectives – ensure that an organization is ethically and socially responsible to the needs and challenges of the society.

The quality of employees and their development through training and education are major factors in determining long-term profitability of a small business. If you hire and keep good employees, it is a good policy to invest in the development of their skills, so they can increase their productivity.

Training often is considered for new employees only. This is a mistake because ongoing training for current employees helps them adjust to rapidly changing job requirements. Reasons for emphasizing the growth and development of personnel include

• Creating a pool of readily available and adequate replacements for personnel who may leave or move up in the organization.
• Enhancing the company’s ability to adopt and use advances in technology because of a sufficiently knowledgeable staff.
• Building a more efficient, effective and highly motivated team, which enhances the company’s competitive position and improves employee morale.
• Ensuring adequate human resources for expansion into new programs.

Research has shown specific benefits that a small business receives from training and developing its workers, including

• Increased productivity.
• Reduced employee turnover.
• Increased efficiency resulting in financial gains.
• Decreased need for supervision.

Employees frequently develop a greater sense of self-worth, dignity, and wellbeing as they become more valuable to the firm and to society. Generally, they will receive a greater share of the material gains that result from their increased productivity. These factors give them a sense of satisfaction through the achievement of personal and company goals.

Need for Employee Training:

Training of employees takes place after orientation takes place. Training is the process of enhancing the skills, capabilities, and knowledge of employees for doing a particular job. The training process moulds the thinking of employees and leads to the quality performance of employees. It is continuous and never-ending in nature.

Training is given on four basic grounds:

1. New candidates who join an organization are given training. This training familiarizes them with the organizational mission, vision, rules and regulations and the working conditions.
2. The existing employees are trained to refresh and enhance their knowledge.
3. If any updating and amendments take place in technology, training is given to cope up with those changes. For instance, purchasing new equipment, changes in technique of production, computer impartment. The employees are trained about use of new equipment’s and work methods.
4. When promotion and career growth becomes important. Training is given so that employees are prepared to share the responsibilities of the higher level job.

Training needs can be assessed by analyzing three major human resource areas: the organization as a whole, the job characteristics, and the needs of the individuals. This analysis will provide answers to the following questions:

• Where is training needed?
• What specifically must an employee learn in order to be more productive?
• Who needs to be trained?

Begin by assessing the current status of the company how it does what it does best and the abilities of your employees to do these tasks. This analysis will provide some benchmarks against which the effectiveness of a training program can be evaluated. Your firm should know where it wants to be in five years from its long-range strategic plan. What you need is a training program to take your firm from here to there. Second, consider whether the organization is financially committed to supporting the training efforts. If not, any attempt to develop a solid training program will fail.

Next, determine exactly where training is needed. It is foolish to implement a companywide training effort without concentrating resources where they are needed most. An internal audit will help point out areas that may benefit from training. Also, a skills inventory can help determine the skills possessed by the employees in general. This inventory will help the organization determine what skills are available now and what skills are needed for future development.

Also, in today’s market-driven economy, you would be remiss not to ask your customers what they like about your business and what areas they think should be improved. In summary, the analysis should focus on the total organization and should tell you (1) where training is needed and (2) where it will work within the organization. Once you have determined where training is needed, concentrate on the content of the program. Analyze the characteristics of the job based on its description, the written narrative of what the employee actually does. Training based on job descriptions should go into detail about how the job is performed on a task-by-task basis. Actually doing the job will enable you to get a better feel for what is done. Individual employees can be evaluated by comparing their current skill levels or performance to the organization’s performance standards or anticipated needs.

Importance of Training:

Training is crucial for organizational development and success. It is fruitful to both employers and employees of an organization. An employee will become more efficient and productive if he is trained well. The benefits of training can be summed up as:

1. Improves Morale of Employees- Training helps the employee to get job security and job satisfaction. The more satisfied the employee is and the greater is his morale, the more he will contribute to organizational success and the lesser will be employee absenteeism and turnover.
2. Less Supervision- A well-trained employee will be well acquainted with the job and will need less of supervision. Thus, there will be less wastage of time and efforts.
3. Fewer Accidents- Errors are likely to occur if the employees lack knowledge and skills required for doing a particular job. The more trained an employee is, the less are the chances of committing accidents in job and the more proficient the employee becomes.
4. Chances of Promotion- Employees acquire skills and efficiency during training. They become more eligible for promotion. They become an asset for the organization.
5. Increased Productivity- Training improves efficiency and productivity of employees. Well trained employees show both quantity and quality performance. There is less wastage of time, money and resources if employees are properly trained.

For citing this article use:

• Rudrapogu, C. (2016). Training and development A comparative study of sbi and icici bank.