Training vs. Development
INTRODUCTION Many companies are nowadays facing the problem of undeveloped, untrained applicants for almost every job. Their limited potential makes them unemployable on the labor market. There is high level of competition not only on products and services market but also on labor market. Therefore have employees to be trained, educated and assisted in continuing process of job learning and self-development if they want satisfactorily perform their jobs and rise their value on the labor market. Training and development is becoming a common phenom in public and business organization. But it should not only be focused on solving basic practical problems but also on spreading range of competencies needed in the future.
TRAINING According to Milkovich’s and Boudreau’s Diagnostic approach training is one of HRM activities and is defined like a systematic process of changing the behavior, knowledge and motivation of present employees to improve the match between employee characteristics and employment requirements. One of the older definitions claims training is the formal procedures which a company utilizes to facilitate learning so that the resultant behavior contributes to the attainment of the company’s goals and objectives. However, training should not be classified as an expense, but as an investment. Well trained employees can only provide competitive advantage.
Reasons for training First, the processes of training should contribute to attainment of organizational goals and objectives. Therefore we must know what our specific goals in terms of organizational functions are. If there are no apparent goals in the organization which training can influence, there is no reason for undertaking a training activity. This concept is called training–by–objectives. Probably the most common reason for training is an identified deficiency in performance. If such situation occurs, should the management make the necessary decisions so that training can take place. This decision is reasonable especially when the deficient of performance is visible by more employees. Sometimes it could be a problem to a manager to accept the fact, that the employees who have been productive may now need training in order to regain a previous level of performance. Also newer employees may require training, because although they met the requirements for the job, they may not be able to perform the standards of the organization.
Choosing methods Training methods are divided into two groups – on-the-job and off-the-job training. Some managers wrongly explain them according to the place they take. But in fact it is going about how near is the method to the real work environment. On-the-job training This method takes place mostly in the organization during the work-time. Trained employees are teached directly from their peers or subordinates by imitating their behavior. The main advantage is that there is contact to real work conditions. Trained employees are given the know-how of their more experienced colleagues. This way of training is easy to follow, cheap and effective. We can divide this method into following groups: Mentoring – is informal leading and educating of employees by mentor. It is a senior member of the profession or organization who provides support, coaching, feedback, acceptance and friendship; who also creates opportunities for exposure, provides challenging and educational assignments and serves as a role model and counselor.
Coaching – is formal pointed leading of employees. Coach has own wards, is formally assigned to lead them and responsible for their results. Self-training – is encouraging individuals in improving their skills and knowledge by their own. Individuals have to carry the responsibility for theirselves, but on the other hand he/she can provide own speed of training. It is cheap, but hard to prepare for the organization. Employees need to be well-motivated and strict on their selves. Apprenticeships – it combines practical on-the-job and theoretical off-the-job training. It requires cooperation between employer, schools, government agencies and unions. During the practice trainees are working under supervision of senior staff. Off-the-job training These methods need not to take place in the spaces of organization. It is becoming prevalent to hold audio/video/computer conferences. Therefore is education allowed also to geographically distant employees. It is more or less indirect way of teaching. The most common types of off-the-job training are: Lectures – is a highly passive way how to offer in the short time as much information as possible. It is relatively cheap and effective in imparting factual information. Difficulties such as insensitivity or lack of feedback could be overcome by a competent lecturer Simulations – is a method where real situation is imitated. They are used especially in cases when it would be too risky to use expensive equipment – physical simulations. Another type is business games, which allow learners to make decisions about business variables, often competing against other individuals or teams. Simulations include also behavior-modeling and case studying. In general, simulations are expensive on design and actualization. Discussion – is essential in small groups of students. This method is based on sharing experiences and skills among students. It is hard on preparation, but gives excellent feedback.
Role playing – is suitable especially in practicing communicating skills, active listening and giving feedback. Learners are divided into small teams and work of leader is only effective summarizing shared experiences for whole group. Evaluating training outcomes Evaluation is necessary and important part of training program, equal to other activities of training process. It needs not be only a final stage, but should be planned in advance. Moreover, it gives the manager a subsequent feedback. Nadler gives three elements of effective evaluation. Data gathering – It is necessary to have some kind of data which indicate what has taken place. Therefore we need a tool for collecting data. This could be a questionnaire, a structured interview, or a checklist. It should be focused on two elements: learning and performance. Analysis – The data gives us no information without proper analysis. This must reflect feedback-giving conditions in the organization. Analysis itself could consist of some formal reports, informal discussions, or reports at staff meetings.
Feedback – When giving it, we must recognize our audience that would receive our feedback. It could be program developers, who would use it for redesign the program if necessary, or facilitators of learning, who could improve their performance in future programs. The learners are helped in understanding what happened during the learning experience. On the other hand, the managers want to know, whether resources they gave, were used effectively and whether the learning objectives were met. In fact, return on investment is the best evaluation method. Actually, the feedback process should be in two parts. The first one is your receipt of report, which should be properly studied. Then there should be a face-to-face meeting with people interested in evaluation outcomes. After discussion it will be obvious, whether undertaken program was beneficial to company. DEVELOPMENT It is another activity of HRM. According to Luptáková , development means complex of formal training, education, work experience and relationships, which will help the employees in their future position. The stress is on the future-what is the main difference between training and development. To get developed, the employee is building on his/her present work experiences and he/she is getting the possibility to learn something new by getting promoted, getting overseas assignment, or working on new project. It is absolutely voluntary type of education connected with career planning.
Reasons for development Development consists of experiences designed to prepare an individual for the future. It is not related to the present job and it is also not designed to prepare an individual for future, definitely defined job. It is just keeping individuals in a learning state so they are ready to learn when new opportunities occur. Generally, there are two directions of development. The first one is related to an organization. They must always change if they want to survive. They must permanently looking to the future and be prepared to anticipate every change. We are living in the times of learning organizations. And they consist of developing employees. The second direction is in terms of the individual. People change, environment changes and in this world of change individuals plan their careers. Development simply helps people to go with time. On the other hand, development is high-risky. This indicates that we are more likely to find development in larger well-established organizations.
Development programs Formal education – are involving some combination of lectures and simulations. Well know example is WEMBA program, which is often a requirement in progress in career ladder. Assessment centers – are often used to recognize, which employee is best suitable for particular position, especially managerial. This is done by series of practices and tests. 360° feedback – is giving SWOT analysis of an employee from every side and therefore giving him/her an idea of possibilities of development. Work experience – to most common belong job enlargement, rotation, outsourcing, promotion, demotion or international assignment.
TRAINING VS. DEVELOPMENT
Development Training Focus current future Use of work experience low high Goal preparation for current job preparation for changes Participation required voluntary Table 1
The basic difference between development and training is that development is long-running process of lifelong training and gaining of experiences and skills, which is undoubtedly connected with future plans and affecting the career of an individual. Therefore the main difference between these expressions is in the time range. While training is oriented on current job, development is sustainable process of gaining information and skills. But continuing process of training can become a development. Developed workforce is flexibly reacting on changing situation and always prepared to learn something new. Another evident difference is in participation of employees. Training in an organization is unavoidable when management decides to undertake it. On the other hand, development of an individual is voluntary, and depends on the responsibility of everyone to be well skilled and experienced and so increase his/her value on the labor market. The need of employee-development comes even more reasonable these days, when Lisboan’s strategy of learning organizations creates the complex plan of building competitive European economy. Refusing on developing our selves, we will consequently lose opportunity to have a good job or what’s more, a possibility to establish a prosperous company.
CONCLUSION To sum up, training and development do not stand opposite each other, but they are complementary. Moreover, they go together in order to reflect current trend of learning organizations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 TRAINING 1 Reasons for training 2 Choosing methods 3 On-the-job training 3 Off-the-job training 4 Evaluating training outcomes 5 DEVELOPMENT 6 Reasons for development 6 Development programs 7 TRAINING VS. DEVELOPMENT 7 CONCLUSION 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS 9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 10
Zdroje:
Yoder, D. – Heneman, H.G.: Training and Development, 1st edition. The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington D.C.. 1977 - Nadler, L.: Corporate human resources development - A management tool, 1st edition. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, N.Y. and American Society for Training and Development, Madison. 1980 - Bajzíková, Ľ. – Luptáková, S. – Rudy, J. – Vargic, B. – Weidlich, R.: Manažment ľudských zdrojov, 1st edition. Univerzita Komenského, Bratislava, 2004 -
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