Training and Development

Introduction to Training and Development

Training

Training is a systematic process of developing Knowledge, Skills, Attitude and Technology that is needed to assist a person to perform better in the present job. It helps the individual to do his present job well and meet up to the expectations and requirements of the demands of the job.

Development

Development refers to helping an individual to meet up to the expectations of a higher and more challenging job in the future. This is also referred to as guided growth.

Importance of training and development

• It improves performance of an employee and thereby improving the performance of the overall organization.
• Improve productivity - It contributes for both individual and organizational productivity.
• Improve efficiency - Result in maximum resource utilization and reduce wastage leading to better performance of the organization.
• Increase moral and positive attitude.
• Improve career progression of employees.

In the training and development, an employee is exposed to perform at a given task than his routine performance. This process enables the employee to rise through career ladder, along with improvement in organizational performance.

Figure 1: Training and Development

Process involved in the Training & Development

Initial Assessment

As an initial step, the training needs should be assessed by an initial assessment.  The mechanism involved should be in keeping with the scope and objectives of the organization. It should also be in line with the existing capacity of the employee, as the introduction of too advance training sessions may not contribute for an improvement of the capacity of an employee initially.

Each learning situation should help an employee to move from her or his present skill level to a desired skill level. Even though the training process involves many activities, an employee should be able to exist all skills along with knowledgeable and experiences in the assigned subject.

Identification of a proper training module should be carried out depending on the present employee capacity and organizational scope a training module could be selected. Furthermore in view to make the training more effective the training materials should be carefully selected and prepared.

In the training and development process, it is needed to create an environment for the employee to learn and get exposed to a wider scope. The activities would allow the employee to successfully accomplish the learning objectives. Therefore, when developing training materials, our priorities are to:

• Create an effective learning environment.
• Make the learning steps clear for participants.
• Develop activities and exercises that help the employee master the material.
• Emphasize critical learning objectives.
• Maximize learning opportunities for the employee.

An organization looks at training and development as an integral part of the human resource development activity. Most organizations have mandated training hours per year in advance.

In the process of training it involves change in knowledge, skills and attitudes of an employee with the resultant improvement in the behavior. For training to be effective it has to be a planned activity conducted after a thorough need analysis and target at certain competencies, most important it is to be conducted in a learning atmosphere.

When designing the training module it has to be in keeping with both the individual goals and organizational goals.