CHAPTER 1: Introduction

Knowledge – the subjects, topics, and items of information that an employee should know at
the time he or she is hired or moved into the job. Knowledge represents bodies of information
that are applied directly to the performance of work functions.
Skills – It is the ability to perform a task without conscious monitoring. It is technical or
manual proficiencies which are usually learned or acquired through training. Skills should be
measurable and observable. –
Abilities – Abilities are the qualities of being able to do something. The present
demonstrable capacity to apply several knowledge and skills simultaneously in order to
complete a task or perform an observable behavior.
Learning-- Nature of learning means the characteristic features of learning. Learning
involves change; it may or may not guarantee improvement. It should be permanent in
nature, that is learning is for lifelong. The change in behavior is the result of experience,
practice and training. Learning is reflected through behavior.
Education- is the process of facilitating learning or the acquisition of knowledge, skill,
values, beliefs and habits. Education is the (life-long) process of increasing the general
knowledge and understanding of people about the total environment. Its main purpose is to
improve the conceptual understanding of the people about a subject or theme or
environment. Education is imparted through schools or colleges or universities, through the
contents of programmes aimed at improving the knowledge and understanding of the people
about their environment.
Employee training and development is an indispensable part of human resource function and
management. Both the activities aim at improving the performance and productivity of the
employees.
Training is a program organized by the organization to develop knowledge and skills in the
employees as per the requirement of the job. In training, the employees are imparted
technical knowledge and skills related to the particular job and stresses on improving the
abilities of each worker.

Training is a learning experience that seeks a relatively permanent change in an individual

that will improve his/her ability to perform his job.

Edwin B. Flippo, “training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skills of an employee

for doing a particular job.”

1
Michael J. Jucious, “training is any process by which the attitudes, skills and abilities of

employees to perform specific jobs are improved.”

Development: The training for the top-level employees is considered as development, also
known as management or executive development. It is an on-going systematic procedure in
which managerial staff learns to enhance their conceptual, theoretical knowledge. It helps the
individual to bring efficiency and effectiveness in their work performances. Development is
not only limited to a particular task, but it aims to improve their personality and attitude
for their all-round growth which will help them to face future challenges. It changes the
mindset of the employees and makes them more challenging or competing. Coaching,
mentoring, counseling, job-rotation, role playing, case study, conference training, special
projects are some of the methods of development.

Development is an organized activity in which the manpower of the organization learn and
grow; it is a self-assessment act. Development is a sort of educational process which focuses
on the growth and maturity of the managerial personnel.

Benefits of Development
1. Exposes executives to the latest techniques and trends in their professional fields.
2. Ensures that the company has an adequate number of managers with knowledge and skill
at any given point.
3. Helps in the long-term growth and survival of the company.
4. Creates an effective team of managers who can handle the company issues without fail.
5. Ensures that the employees utilize their managerial and leadership skills in particular to
the fullest.

Key Differences Between Training and Development

1. Training is a learning process for new employees in which they get to know about the
key skills required for the job. Development is the training process for the existing
employees for their all-round development.
2. Training is a short-term process i.e. 3 to 6 months, but development is a continuous
process, and so it is for the long term.
3. Training focuses on developing skill and knowledge for the current job. Unlike, the
development which focuses on the building knowledge, understanding and
competencies for overcoming with future challenges.

2
 4. Training has a limited scope; it is specific job oriented. On the other hand,
development is career oriented and hence its scope is comparatively wider than
training.
5. In training, the trainees get a trainer who instructs them at the time of training. In
contrast to development, in which the manager self-directs himself for the future
assignments.
6. Many individuals collectively attend the training program. Development is a self-
assessment procedure, and hence, one person himself is responsible for one’s
development.

Key Differences Between Training and Learning

TRAINING LEARNING

Meaning The action of teaching a person a The acquisition of knowledge or skills

skill or type of behavior. through study, experience, or being taught.

Term Short term Long term

Focused On Immediate needs Career development

Audience The masses The individual

Aim Specific job or role related Conceptual and general knowledge

Need for Training:

1. Environmental changes:
Mechanization, computerization, and automation have resulted in many changes that require
trained staff possessing enough skills. The organization should train the employees to enrich
them with the latest technology and knowledge.
2. Organizational complexity:
With modern inventions, technological upgradation, and diversification most of the
organizations have become very complex. This has aggravated the problems of coordination.
So, to cope up with the complexities, training has become mandatory.
3. Human relations:
Every management must maintain very good human relations, and this has made training as
one of the basic conditions to deal with human problems.
4. To match employee specifications with the job requirements and organizational
needs:
An employee’s specification may not exactly suit to the requirements of the job and the
organization, irrespective of experience and skills. There is always a gap between an
employee’s present specifications and the organization’s requirements. For filling this gap
training is required.
3
5. Change in the job assignment:
Training is also necessary when the existing employee is promoted to the higher level or
transferred to another department. Training is also required to equip the old employees with
new techniques and technologies.

Training Principles:
According to Pigors and Myres, training principles and techniques include:

(a) The trainee must want to learn. His motivation to improve his job performance or to learn

a new skill must be high.

(b) There should be some reward at the conclusion of training viz., promotion or a better job.

(c) The trainer should ask the trainee as to whether he is learning the job correctly. This is

known as feedback.
(d) Training is best accomplished through learning by doing rather than by listening.

(e) The material to be learned should be developed in stages.

(f) When the trainee gives correct response, he has learned the job.

Importance of the employee training:

1. Better Performance:
Training improves employee’s ability and skills and, in turn, improves employee’s

performance both in quantity and quality. Better or increased employee performance directly
leads to increased operational productivity and increased organizational profits. Improve-

ments in employee performance/productivity in developed countries’ lend support to this

statement.
2. Improved Quality:
In formal training programmes, the best methods of performing jobs are standardised and

then taught to employees. This offers two-fold benefits. Firstly, uniformity in work

performance helps improve the quality of work or service. Secondly, better informed, or say,

trained workers are less likely to make operational mistakes.

3. Less Supervision:
A trained worker is self-reliant. He knows his work and way to perform it well. Therefore, his

work requires less supervision. The supervisor can devote his time on more urgent works.
4
 4. Less Learning Period:
A well planned and systematically organised training programme reduces the time and cost

involved in learning. Training enables to avoid waste of time and efforts in learning through

trial and error method’.

5. High Morale:
Training not only improves the ability and skill of employees, but also changes employee

attitude toward positive. Higher performance, job satisfaction, job security and avenues for

internal promotion lead to high morale among the employees. High morale, in turn, makes

employees’ lore loyal to the organisation.

6. Personal Growth:
Training improves employee’s ability, knowledge and skills and, thus, prevents employee’s

obsolescence. This makes employees growth-oriented.

7. Favorable organizational climate:
The aforesaid advantages combined lead to an improved and favourable organizational

climate characterized by better industrial relations and disciplines, reduced resistance to

change, reduced absenteeism and turnover of employees, and improved stability of

organisation.

Training Process
The Training Process comprises of a series of steps that needs to be followed systematically
to have an efficient training programme. The Training is a systematic activity performed to
modify the skills, attitudes and the behavior of an employee to perform a particular job.
1. Needs assessment: The first step in the training process is to assess the need for training the
employees. The need for training could be identified through a diagnosis of present and
future challenges and through a gap between the employee’s actual performance and the
standard performance. (Identify training needs)
The needs assessment can be studied from two perspectives: Individual and group. The
individual training is designed to enhance the individual’s efficiency when not performing
adequately. And whereas the group training is intended to inculcate the new changes in the
employees due to a change in the organization’s strategy.
2. Deriving Instructional Objectives: Once the needs are identified, the objectives for which
the training is to be conducted are established. The objectives could be based on the gaps

5
 seen in the training programmes conducted earlier and the skill sets developed by the
employees. (Establish objectives)
3. Designing Training Programme: The next step is to design the training programme in line
with the set objectives. Every training programme encompasses certain issues such as: Who
are the trainees? Who are the trainers? What methods are to be used for the training? What
will be the level of training? Etc .Also, the comprehensive action plan is designed that
includes the training content, material, learning theories, instructional design, and the other
training requisites.
4. Implementation of the Training Programme: Once the designing of the training
programme is completed, the next step is to put it into the action. The foremost decision that
needs to be made is where the training will be conducted either in-house or outside the
organization.
Once it is decided, the time for the training is set along with the trainer who will be
conducting the training session. Also, the trainees are monitored continuously throughout the
training programme to see if it’s effective and is able to retain the employee’s interest.
5. Evaluation of the Training Programme: After the training is done, the employees are asked
to give their feedback on the training session and whether they felt useful or not. Through
feedback, an organization can determine the weak spots if any, and can rectify it in the next
session. The evaluation of the training programme is a must because companies invest huge
amounts in these sessions and must know it’s effectiveness in terms of money.

Stakeholders of Training and Development

One kind of stakeholder is internal to the organization, meaning that these stakeholders are on
the organization's payroll. Some of these internal stakeholders are listed in Table 1. Other
stakeholders are external to the organization; no less important, but often forgotten. These are
shown in Table 2. Of course, not all of these stakeholders will be relevant for every training
program.

6
Table 1 – Typical training program internal stakeholders and their interests

Internal Stakeholder Interest

Trainer  greater workload from more rigor

 increase in funding for future programs

Participant  enhanced employability/promotability

 "slack time" during training

Participant's  seen to be doing something

Manager  extra workload from no backfilling

Program Sponsor  influence over rival departments

 greater workload from juggling multiple tasks

Instructional  increase in credibility/promotability

Designer  access to latest technology

Finance Manager  demonstrable return on investment

 potential budget overruns

Technology Manager  showcase "cutting edge" technology

 low support costs

Executive/Directors  pressure from shareholders to show profit

 potential increase in payroll costs

Table 2 – Typical training program external stakeholders and their interests

External Interest
Stakeholder

Training Vendor  increase in credibility

 occupy consultants on bench

Shareholders  demonstrable short-term profit

 delayed dividend to shareholders

Customers  reduced cost of doing business

 fear of new system

Suppliers  reduced cost of doing business

 additional vendor selection qualification criteria

7
Need for Training and Development
Training and development of employees is a costly activity as it requires a lot quality inputs
from trainers as well as employees. But it is essential that the company revises its goals and
efficiencies with the changing environment. Here are a few critical reasons why the company
endorses training and development sessions.

• When management thinks that there is a need to improve the performances of employees

• To set up the benchmark of improvement so far in the performance improvement effort

• To train about the specific job responsibility and skills like communication management,
team management etc.

• To test the new methodology for increasing the productivity.

Objectives of Training and Development

1. Increased Productivity
2. Quality Improvement
3. Learning time Reduction
4. Safety First
5. Labour Turnover Reduction
6. Keeping yourself Updated with technology.
1. Increased Productivity
For any company, keeping the productivity at its peak is as important as getting in new
customers for business. Since even a slightest of the disturbance can take the business to the
brink of huge losses. Moreover, to tackle with the immensely growing competition in the
target market, it is important for one to increase the productivity of its workers while
reducing the cost of production of the products. So, that’s where the training comes as a
savior of the company, jumps in the scenario and takes it out of the dangers bravely.
Training takes the current capabilities of the workers of a brand, polishes it and makes them
learn and devise new and effective methods of doing the same thing, in a repeated manner. In
other words, the training, if done in a proper way, can give
2. Quality Improvement
Improving the quality of the product is obviously one of the main objectives of training and
development since it’s not like those times when customers weren’t such quality conscious.
Today’s customer knows what’s better for him and what’s not. Simply said, those old
methods of some sweet talk and business won’t work for much long, because once they know

8
the reality behind the curtains through the services and products quality, they will leave the
company as it is without giving it, even, a second thought.
Just think of it as if you and your competitor are competing for the same service with some
difference in quality but at the same price, it is obvious that they will choose the one who is
better at handling the task without any quality degradation. Even if your price is a little
higher, then it is most likely the case that most of the customers will come to you.
3. Learning time Reduction
Keeping an eye on the learning capabilities of employees, and providing them the help which
they need, can be highly beneficial in longer runs. This capability of theirs’ is what that
determines how quickly an employee grabs the newly discovered fact and so, shape the future
products on this discovery. The weaker the capability, the harder it is to learn. But this
scenario can also be supported by the usage of proper learning material and experienced
instructors who prefer real-life experience than cramming. So, reducing the learning time is
also one of the main objectives of training and development.
4. Safety First
Safety of anyone, either he is a worker, an officer or even a customer, is not something that
can be taken lightly, especially in cases, where one knows that even a minute mistake can
even lead to life threats. Therefore, providing the knowledge, for using the equipment in a
proper way and creating the life-friendly product, also belongs to one of the major objectives
of training and development. The higher, the employees are better at handling equipment, the
better it is both for the company and for the workers.
5. Labor turnover Reduction
No business can flourish well while it is regularly turning over its workforce since it is
obvious that every new workforce will require some time to understand the type of work, its
principle and safety precautions, which lead to decreased productivity. Moreover, it also
diminishes the feeling of self-confidence among the workers, and this really isn’t a good
thing.
On the contrary, training ensures that the company doesn’t need to turn over its workforce
again and again because it prepares the employees to face any situation which proves helpful
in bringing in the feeling of workers. Therefore, the workforce feels safe and secure at a
particular job.
6. Keeping oneself Updated with Technology
Computers and mobile phones are the miracles of the past but the world of today is far more
advanced than that. It’s time for latest technologies capable of connecting the world in just a
blink of an eye. Now, earthlings are trying to reach far off planets to get information about

9
the life force present there. Newer technologies are rolling in and we could continue to list it
down, but we haven’t got time for that.
Training and education to the employees keep them updated with the latest of the additions to
the technologies, methods, techniques and processes. Since it also opens a new gateway for
them to look for a way which is greater in productivity and efficiency but decreases the need
of manual work immensely.
For example, spraying of pesticides and herbicides to keep the crop healthy and safe from
invaders with the help of a hand pump is a lot more tiresome work than it would be with the
help of a semi-automated machinery. But how can workers know that such a type of
machinery is available in a market, which cuts the time needed in the matter of hours instead
of days, without any update on what’s going on around the globe?
7. Effective Management
One of the primary objectives of training and development process is to give rise to a new
and improved management which is capable of handling the planning and control without
any serious problem. With the knowledge and experience gathered through training, acting as
the guiding light for this newly shaped management, it lets them handle the tough decisions
and confusing realities thus opening the way for bigger and better opportunities for business
for the cause of the brand.
Importance of Training and Development
1. Help in addressing employee weaknesses: Most workers have certain weaknesses in their
workplace, which hinder them from giving the best services. Training assists in eliminating
these weaknesses, by strengthening workers skills. A well-organized development program
helps employees gain similar skills and knowledge, thus bringing them all to a higher
uniform level. This simply means that the whole workforce is reliable, so the company or
organization doesn’t have to rely only on specific employees.
II. Improvement in workers performance-A properly trained employee becomes more
informed about procedures for various tasks. The worker confidence is also boosted by
training and development. This confidence comes from the fact that the employee is fully
aware of his/her roles and responsibilities. It helps the worker carry out the duties in better
way and even find new ideas to incorporate in the daily execution of duty.
III. Consistency in duty performance: A well-organized training and development program
gives the workers constant knowledge and experience. Consistency is very vital when it
comes to an organization’s or company’s procedures and policies. This mostly includes
administrative procedures and ethics during execution of duty.

10
IV. Ensuring worker satisfaction-Training and development makes the employee also feel
satisfied with the role they play in the company or organization. This is driven by the great
ability they gain to execute their duties. They feel they belong to the company or the
organization that they work for and the only way to reward it is giving the best services they
can.
V. Increased productivity-Through training and development the employee acquires all the
knowledge and skills needed in their day to day tasks. Workers can perform at a faster rate
and with efficiency thus increasing overall productivity of the company. They also gain new
tactics of overcoming challenges when they face them.
VI. Improved quality of services and products Employees gain standard methods to use in
their tasks. They are also able to maintain uniformity in the output they give. This results with
a company that gives satisfying services or goods. VII. Reduced cost-Training and
development results with optimal utilization of resources in a company or organization. There
is no wastage of resources, which may cause extra expenses. Accidents are also reduced
during working. All the machines and resources are used economically, reducing expenditure.
VIII. Reduction in supervision-The moment they gain the necessary skills and knowledge,
employees will become more confident. They will become self reliant and require only little
guidance as they perform their tasks. The supervisor can depend on the employee’s decision
to give quality output. This relieves supervisors the burden of constantly having to give
directives on what should be done.

Disadvantages of training and development

Even though there are several advantages, some drawbacks of training and development are
mentioned below:

1. It is an expensive process which includes arranging the correct trainers and engaging
employees for non-revenue activities.

2. There is a risk that after the training and development session, the employee can quit the
job.

11
 Questions
1. a) Express your views on Training and Development. 3
b) When do organizations feel for employee training? 3
c) Why organizations are keen to spend money for employee training? 5
d) Does training add value to the organization. 3

2. a) Define Knowledge, Skill, Training and Education 2

b) How can organizations get desired outcome from training? 3
c) An unplanned training would mean nothing but waste of time and money- Explain. 5
d) Employee training does not involve employees only- Explain. 4

Answers

1. a) Express your views on Training and Development. (TR v DV) 3

b) When do organizations feel for employee training? (Need for TR) 3
c) Why organizations are keen to spend money for employee training? (Objective of TR) 5
d) Does training add value to the organization. (Importance of TR) 3

2. a) Define Knowledge, Skill, Training and Education 2

b) How can organizations get desired outcome from training? (TR Principles) 3
c) An unplanned training would mean nothing but waste of time and money- Explain. (TR 5
Process)
d) Employee training does not involve employees only- Explain. (Stakeholders of TR) 4

12