Training and Developing Employees

Chapter 7

• How training and development are linked to competitive advantage

• Recognize the difference between training and development

• Understand the Training Process

• Determine when employees need training and the best type of training given a company’s circumstances

• Recognize the characteristics that make training programs successful

• Understand how to socialize new employees effectively

Chapter 7 Objectives

Linking Training and Development to Competitive Advantage

Training and development contributes to competitive advantage by:• Enhancing recruitment• Increasing worker competence (new and

current)• Reducing the likelihood of unwanted

turnover.

Linking Training and Development to Competitive Advantage

• Enhancing Recruitment:– Attract best candidates

Linking Training and Development to Competitive Advantage

• Increasing the competence of new employees:– Technical training: Provide technical

knowledge and skills needed to perform a job.

– Orientation training: Learn about the job, the company, and its policies and procedures.

– Literacy training: Improve basic skills in such areas as writing, basic arithmetic, listening/following oral instructions, speaking, and understanding manuals, graphs, and schedules.

Linking Training and Development to Competitive Advantage

• Increasing the competence of current workers:– Remedial training: Implemented when

workers are deficient in some skills.– Change-related training: Used to keep

up-to-date with various changes including technology, laws or procedures, or the organization’s strategic plan.

– Developmental programs: Provide employees with the appropriate skills needed for higher level positions.

Linking Training and Development to Competitive Advantage

• Reducing the likelihood of unwanted turnover:– Training can prevent unnecessary terminations by:

• Building employee job skills, improving job performance.

• Improving supervisors' capabilities for managing “underperforming” workers.

• Reeducating people whose skills have become obsolete, allowing the organization to assign them to new job responsibilities.

– Effective training programs can reduce turnover by strengthening employee loyalty.

HRM Issues and PracticesTraining Versus Development

Training• The process of providing employees

with specific skills or helping them correct deficiencies in their performance.

• Current Job• Individual Employees• Immediate• Fix current skill deficit• May be seen as negative

Development • An effort to provide employees with the

abilities the organization will need in the future.

• Current and future job• Work group and

organization• Long term • Prepare for future work

demands

HRM Issues and PracticesChallenges of Training

• Is training the solution to the problem?

• Are the goals of training clear and realistic?

• Is training a good investment?

• Will the training work?

HRM Issues and PracticesManaging the Training Process

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – Needs Assessment

Levels of needs assessment:

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – Needs Assessment

Four Steps to Conducting a Needs Assessment:• Step 1. Perform a "Gap" Analysis:

• Current situation vs. Desired or necessary situation• The difference or the "gap" between the current and the necessary will identify our needs, purposes, and objectives:

•Problems or deficits•Impending change•Opportunities •Strengths•New directions•Mandated training

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – Needs Assessment

Four Steps to Conducting a Needs Assessment:•Step 2. Identify Priorities and Importance:

• Examine each in view of their importance to your organizational goals, realities, and constraints

•Cost-effectiveness •Legal mandates•Executive pressure•Customers

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – Needs Assessment

Four Steps to Conducting a Needs Assessment:• Step 3. Identify Causes Of Performance Problems and/or Opportunities.

•Are our people doing their jobs effectively? •Do they know how to do their jobs?

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – Needs Assessment

Four Steps to Conducting a Needs Assessment:• Step 4. Identify Possible Solutions and Growth Opportunities:

• Training may be the solution, IF there is a knowledge problem• Organization Development Activities may provide solutions when the problem is not based on a lack of knowledge and is associated with systematic change:

• strategic planning• organization restructuring• performance management • effective team building

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – Development and Conduct of Training

Approaches vary by:

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – Development and Conduct of Training

Development and Conduct of Training Phase:• Location Options – On the Job (OJT):

• Job rotation• Apprenticeships• Internships

• Advantages:• Relevant to job• Can be inexpensive to implement • Immediate feedback

• Disadvantages:• Can be costly in customer satisfaction• Wide variation in quality and content of teaching

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – Development and Conduct of Training

Development and Conduct of Training Phase:• Location Options – Off- the-Job Training:

• Advantages:• Gives employees uninterrupted time• More conducive to learning/less distractions

• Disadvantages:• Learning may not transfer back to job• Employees may view training as an opportunity to enjoy time away from work

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – Development and Conduct of Training

Development and Conduct of Training Phase:• Presentation Options:

• Slides and Videotapes• Teletraining• Computers• Simulations

• Replicate job demands at off-site facility

• Virtual Reality (VR):• The use of a number of technologies to replicate the entire real-life working environment in real time

• Classroom Instruction and Role-plays

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – Development and Conduct of Training

Development and Conduct of Training Phase:• Types of Training Options:

• Skills Training:•Job aids:

• External sources of information that provide job related information

• Retraining• Cross-functional Training• Team Training

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – Development and Conduct of Training

Development and Conduct of Training Phase:• Types of Training (cont.):

• Creativity Training – brainstorming• Literacy Training• Diversity Training• Crisis Training• Customer Service Training• Ethics Training

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – The Evaluation Phase

Phase 3 – The Evaluation Phase• Monetary Assessment • Return on Investment (ROI)

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – The Evaluation Phase

The Evaluation Phase (Non-Monetary):• Level 1: Reaction

• Were the participants pleased? • What do they plan to do with what they learned?

• Level 2: Learning • What skills, knowledge, or attitudes have changed? • By how much?

• Level 3: Behavior • Did the participants change their behavior based on what was learned in the program?

• Level 4: Results • Did the change in behavior positively affect the organization?

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – The Evaluation Phase

The Evaluation Phase (Monetary):• ROI

HRM Issues and Practices

Managing the Training Process – The Evaluation Phase

The Evaluation Phase:• Legal Issues in Training

• The major requirement here is that employees must have access to training The major requirement here is that employees must have access to training and development programs in a nondiscriminatory fashionand development programs in a nondiscriminatory fashion

HRM Issues and PracticesEmployee Orientation – a Type of Training Program

Employee orientation:• Process of informing new employees about what is expected of them in the job and helping them cope with the stresses of transition

• Orientation content:• Information on employee benefits• Personnel policies• The daily routine• Company organization and operations• Safety measures and regulations• Facilities tour

HRM Issues and PracticesEmployee Orientation – a Type of Training Program

Employee orientation:• A successful orientation should accomplish four things for new employees:

• Make them feel welcome and at ease.• Help them understand the organization in a broad sense.• Provide a Realistic Job Preview (RJP):

• Make clear to them what is expected in terms of work and behavior.• Help them begin the process of becoming socialized into the firm’s ways of acting and doing things.

Training and Development and the Manager’s Job

Training and Development and HR’s Job