Types of Training

Employee Training is more than just an event where trainer talks and trainees listen or take notes, its has far reaching effects on business and its performance both in the short and long term. Training acts as a pathway to learning, Learning drives change and change is key to survival in the fast changing business world. There are different kinds of activities that require training. The most of them are safety, customer service, computer skills, quality initiatives and communication. As mentioned benefits of well-done training include (for both individuals, teams and organisation)

enhanced skills, greater ability to adapt and innovate, better self-management, performance improvement. effectiveness and productivity, more profitability and reduced costs, improved quality.

Training can be designed to meet a number of objectives and can be classified in various ways. As Figure shows, some common groupings include the following:

Required and Regular Training

These are the mandatory trainings that has to be provided due to legal or other business requirement, for instance, fire training, or one given to all employees (e.g., new employee orientation)

Job/technical Training

These training are provided to enhance employee capability to perform the job. (e.g., product knowledge, technical processes and procedures, customer relations)

Developmental and Career Training

Focused on growth of both the individual and the business, these trainings are provided to gear up for the future challenges e.g., business practices, executive development, organizational change, leadership.

Interpersonal and Problem-Solving Training

Aimed at establishment of a conducive, and better working culture, it helps address issure pertaining to both operational and interpersonal problems and aims at improving working relationships for instance interpersonal communication, managerial/supervisory skills, conflict resolution.

Bibliography

Source: Mathis, L, R., and Jackson, H, J., (2010). Human Resource Management. 13th Edition.

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Organizational Commitment and Employee Development

Research sometimes fails to show attention to intervening constructs that help us explain the relationship between the training expenditures or learning organization strategies with financial performance across many organizations, It is suggested that investment in human resource development may impact competitive advantage. This is not just about developing employees into a more competent work force.

It has far reaching affects on employee work behaviors such as such as absenteeism work morale and turnover rates and maybe through helping to recruit good employees for whom development experiences are generally attractive. it is about creating a force that treats organizational loss as their own loss.

Research could focus on measures of employee development and their link to measures that result in positive employee behaviors (Respect at work place, Absenteeism, Morale and Turn over intentions) and attraction of talented employees. One variable that has been extensively explored in relation to things like absences and turnover is organizational commitment. Employees who are committed to an organization are less likely to leave, be absent and may display other positive behaviors that are valuable to an organization. It is further suggested that first organization must work on increasing employee engagement through changing job role; making them more flexible, providing them autonomy and resources.

Affective commitment, or the employees’ affective identification with the organization, and their intention to continue to work for the business has been the focus of past employee development studies and has been shown to have the strongest relationships with a variety of organizationally relevant variables. From a social exchange perspective, employees are favorably disposed toward an organization to the extent that the organization provides something valuable to the employees. and in return employees value their organization by showing enhanced commitment and motivation at workplace.

When an organization provides something valuable such as support for employee development, this should create a mindset in employees that is positive toward the organization, resulting in positive work behaviors. resulting in positive employee attitudes, all of the aforementioned variables could result in effective  recruiting and retaining of employees, all this is possible through employee development interventions.

Research has suggested that the presence of employee development systems and support is positively associated with organizational commitment by employees. Although the systems and support will be viewed as subjective, with different employee have varied perceptions and attitudes towards them but their is a general consensus on the presence and beneficial results that could be attained for the business. Having a thorough understanding of the possible moderating effects by individual differences could be extremely valuable; as they could help resolve future conflicts and be helpful in developing a better support system

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Employee Engagement

Employee engagement has been defined as “an individual employee’s cognitive, emotional and behavioral state directed toward desired organizational outcomes” (Shuck and Wollard, 2010). Employees who are engaged exhibit attentiveness and mental absorption in their work and display a deep, emotional connection toward their workplace. The field of employee engagement is bourgeoning as companies pour resources into developing a more engaged workforce.

Many organizations believe that employee engagement is a dominant source of competitive advantage and thus, have been drawn to its reported ability to solve challenging organizational problems such as increasing workplace performance and productivity amid widespread economic decline.

Research has expanded this belief, suggesting that organizations with high levels of employee engagement report positive organizational outcomes; a small bright spot in an otherwise bleak financial forecast. For example, North Shore LIJ Health System Company invested $10 million into training and development and encouraged employees to further their education in hopes of raising engagement levels within their organization. As a result, the company reported a one-year retention rate of 96 per cent, increased patient-satisfaction scores, and record setting profits. At Johnson and Johnson, engagement has become a part of the work culture as teams are provided real time feedback about how their work enables their individual business units to meet their quarterly goals (States, 2008).

Such real-time communication programs help to create a positive, accountability-driven workplace resulting in increased productivity levels, profit margins and levels of engagement. Still further, after substantial efforts to increase levels of engagement on factory floors, Caterpillar, a large multi-national construction equipment supplier and manufacturer, estimates the company saved $8.8 million in turnover costs alone by increasing the proportion of engaged employees at one of their European-based plants.

Although engaged employees have consistently been shown to be more productive on most available organizational measures, it is conservatively estimated that,30 per cent of the global workforce is engaged. Moreover, ,20 per cent of employee’s report any level of confidence in their current manager’s ability to engage them (Czarnowsky, 2008). Not surprising, employee engagement is reported to be on a continued decline worldwide. “The discrepancy between the perceived importance of engagement and the level of engagement that exists in organizations today”  is cause for major concern. This discrepancy, however, presents a significant opportunity for human resource development (HRD) scholars and practitioners to develop research agendas and practical strategies toward the forefront of this emerging concept. As organizational leaders embrace employee engagement, they are increasingly turning toward  HRD professionals to develop and support strategies that facilitate engagement-encouraging cultures. Unfortunately, HRD professionals are unlikely to find the support they need as little academic research has investigated the experience of being engaged or how engagement affects an employee’s experience of their work, and ultimately their performance.

In conclusion, an engaged employee leads to a committed workforce, that identifies with the business, wants to work with the organization and believes in the business objectives and thus work willingly to attain them.

Bibliography

Czarnowsky, M. (2008), Learning’s Role in Employee Engagement: An ASTD Research Study, American Society for Training and Development, Alexandria, VA.

Shuck, B. and Wollard, K.K. (2010), “Employee engagement and HRD: a seminal review of the foundations”, Human Resource Development Review, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 89-110.

States, A. (2008), “The rage to engage”, available at: www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1731893,00.html (accessed 5 June 2008).

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Learning Theories

Learning Theories

There are different theories on how individual learns, some of them are

AndragogyCognitive LearningExperiential Learning

According to Marques (2006) Andragogy refers to one where Learners take responsibility for their own learning and resent authority, whereas cognitive learning is an approach where learning is an active ‘mental’ process of acquiring, remembering, and using knowledge but one of the criticisms of cognitive learning is that learning itself is not directly observable.

Experiential Learning

David A. Kolb – Experiential Learning theory, based on four elements: concrete experience, observation and reflection.  Kolb argued that learning can begin at any point and continues from their on. The following figures shows that one steps followed by another in a cyclical manner, and there is no exact end or start,  it could start from provision of an experience like in a training of softwares where the trainer first shows how to use the software and is followed by Reflection, Conceptualization, and questionably Active Experimentation. the following figure of Kolb Experiential Learning Cycle identifies the four key step in the learning process.

Concrete Experience

Learning experience deals with the 'doing' or 'actively trying out' the  contents so that the trainees can have an experience of the contents/material that needs to be understood.

Reflection

Simmonds (2003) provides an equation which expresses that Action without reflection is not Learning, expressed as:

A – R ? L

Reflection according to Kolb refers to reviewing what has been done and experienced and understanding the effects. To foster reflection participants should be involved continuously in a process of discussion plus a session evaluation shall be conducted to find out how well the experience was and what they believed worked and what didn’t work thus providing with a chance to reflect on the experience.

Conceptualisation

This element of the cycle deals with developing an understanding of what happened by seeking more information and forming new ideas about ways of doing things in the future. To help conceptualization participants could be provided real world example relating to their own particular field which could help them conceptualize how they can use the learning experience in real life.

Active Experimentation

Active experimentation provides the learners a  chance to actively experiment their learning during the training event but it may not be provided  due to different constraints, for instance location constraint, but to cope up with the constraint participants could be provided with a Video Cd and Step by Step guide they can use it if they need in future, plus its also the job of the participants what they take out of training, they use it in their real life.

Bibliography

Simmonds, D.,  (2009). Training and Development. London: CIPD

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The Concept of Learning and Development Strategy

-Provides on-going learning opportunities and effective feedback to its employees

-Provides learning opportunities for not just a group or the elite but all employees

-Has a structure that enable employees to take time off from their everyday responsibilities and use the learning opportunities

-Has a culture that encourages employees to be inquisitive, innovative and willing to learn

-Has managers that are aware of the importance of learning and development

-Allows learning and development to be embedded in organisation’s strategy and the responsibility to plan, develop and deliver this strategy is given to HR

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Learning and Development Strategy

Learning and Development strategy focuses on achievement of busines goals through promtion of human capital. L&D strategy shall be business led, and shall be designed in a way that Human Capital adds to the attainment of Business Objectives through personal learning and development with organisational support.

The philosophy behind L& D is the creation of an environment where learning  thrives and employees focus on personal development that adds to the organisational performance. This concept of a learning culture is associated with that of the learning organization.

Learning and Development Philosophy

L& D Philosophy is an expression of how organisations values the function of Learning and Development in their workplace, the beleifs of the business could be expressed in terms of

• L& D activities play a major role in the achivement of business objectives, as they make employees more equipped with skills needed to perform the jobs efficiently and effectively. and investment in them benefi ts all the stakeholders of the organization.

• Business and Human Resource Strategies shall dictate the draft of Learning and development strategies.

• Ultimate objective of the L&D strategies shall be to enahcne both individual and organisational performance, activities shall be designed in light of  kep performance requirement of the business.

• Equal opportunities to learn shall be provided they would not only help in enahcing skills of employees but will also increase the motivation and commitment of Everyone in the organization.

• Individuals shall be encouraged to develop plans for their development that would result in self-directed learning.

• It is due on the Managers to support their subordinates to learn and develop by providing support and access to necessary resources.

Elements of the Learning and Development Strategy

The learning and development strategy should incorporate the following elements

• The learning and development philosophy of the organization.

• The aims nad priorities of the learning and development strategy.

• The aims will be achieved through the creation of a learning culture, formal learning and development programmes, coaching, personal development planning, and self-directed learning.

• The responsibilities for learning and development as shared between top management, line management, individual employees, and members of the HR.

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Measuring Satisfaction of Training and Transfer of Learning

Although a subjective phenomenon, but since HR is always being questioned on its return, it is important the there are ways to measure the satisfaction drawn out of training and Up to what level people are able to transfer the learning to workplace.

The article highlights the factors that aid in understanding if a training event was successful and whether or not the leaning from the training was transferred to workplace.

Satisfaction with the training event has been divided into two parts with the first on focusing on the Training  itself, including the needs and communication of training whereas the latter part discusses an important ingredient that is the trainer, as satisfaction of training event is impossible without being satisfied wit the trainer. Whereas in the second part, transfer of learning is assessed, as to what level the trainers were able to implement the learning from training to their normal job routine, it includes factors from Management support to the actual effectiveness and efficiency in carrying out the duties after the learning event.

Here are the points that needs to be considered to evaluate a training event.

Measure Satisfaction of Training

Following items could be utilized to question the satisfaction with training event.

Find out if Organizational steps for employee growth such as Training have positive impact on employees job.The training objectives were accurately conveyed.The training objectives were properly accomplished.Having told that “How Would Employee benefit from this training Program” helped gain his/her commitment to training program.Trainer was helpfulTrainer was well preparedTrainer used varied learning methods for different types of learners (e-g, slides, images, videos, practical demos)Skills acquired through Training were helpful to the employee in carrying out his/her duties.The Training session was collaborative and involved discussion with the trainer.Training session has increased employee understanding of the subject

Measure Transfer of Learning

Employee was provided with adequate resources to implement the learning from training sessionManagement supported the staff in transferring training to workEmployees was able to transfer the learning from training to work.The skill(s) acquired through training/development program has increased staff capability.Employee was in control on how to implement the learning and learn from his/her mistakesThe Training has put the employee in further control over his job/dutiesThe training has increased the staff efficiency and effectiveness

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