Topic 6 Managing the Employment Relationship

6. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION
Training → planned effort by an organization to facilitate employees’ learning of job-related skills,
knowledge, and behaviors.
Formal training → talent develpment programs, courses, and events that are offered and
organized by the organization.
Informal Learning → learner initiated learning that involves action and doing and is motivated by
an intent to develop. Does not occur in a formal learning setting.
Employee Development → combination of formal education, job experiences, relationships, and
assessment of personality to help prepare for a future career.

The T&D initiatives should improve

organizational performance, enhance
individual performance and develop
organizational leaders.

Strong learning cultures (organizational commitment to ongoing learning, and processes of

sharing, support, communication, and understanding that move the firm forward) lead to higher
organizational performance.

Continuous learning → system that expects employees to acquire new skills, apply them on the
job, and share what they have learned with other employees.

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT LINKED TO ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS

Organizations need to establish training programs that are effective and do so through the
instructional design1 → process of systematically developing training to meet specified needs.

NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Process of evaluating the organization, individual employees, and employees’ tasks to determine
what kinds of training, if any, are necessary. The assessment answers questions in the three broad
areas:

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See image at the slides or book.
Topic 6 Managing the Employment Relationship

- Organizational analysis → process for determining the appropriateness of training by

evaluating the characteristics of the organization. (Context in which training will occur).
- Consider strategy, resources available, and management support.
- Person analysis → a process for determining individuals' needs and readiness for training.
- Do performance deficiencies result from a competency gap—that is, a lack of
knowledge, skill, or ability?
- Who needs training?
- Are these employees ready for training?
- Task analysis → process of identifying the tasks and competencies that training should
emphasize. Looks at environment, time constraints, safety considerations, and
performance standards.

READINESS FOR LEARNING

Combination of employee characteristics and a positive work environment that permits training.

Employee Readiness Characteristics

To be ready to learn, employees need basic learning skills, especially cognitive ability, which
includes being able to use written and spoken language, solve math problems, and use logic to
solve problems

Work Environment
Readiness also depends on two broad characteristics of the work: Situational constraints are the
limits on training's effectiveness that arise from the situation or the conditions within the
organization. Social support refers to the ways the organization's people encourage training,
including giving trainees positive feedback and encouragement, sharing information about
participating in training programs and expressing positive attitudes toward the organization's
training programs.

PLANNING AND DESIGNING THE TRAINING

Planning begins with establishing objectives for the training program. Effective training objectives
have three components:
- They include a statement of what the employee is expected to do, the quality or level of
performance that is acceptable, and the conditions under which the employee is to apply
what he or she learned.
- They include performance standards that are measurable.
- They identify the resources needed to carry out the desired performance or outcome.
When deciding whom to include in training, the organization has to avoid illegal discrimination
as a minimum requirement.

In-House or Contracted Out?

An organization can provide an effective training program, even if it lacks expertise in training.
Many companies and consultants provide training services to organizations. To select a training
service, an organization can send several vendors a request for proposal (RFP), a document
outlining the type of service needed, the type and number of references needed, the number of
Topic 6 Managing the Employment Relationship

employees to be trained, the date by which the training is to be completed, and the date by which
proposals should be received. Even in organizations that send employees to outside training
programs, someone in the organization may be responsible for coordinating the overall training
program. Called training administration, this is typically the responsibility of a human resources
professional. Training administration includes activities before, during, and after training sessions.

TRAINING METHODS
PRESENTATION METHODS: learners are passive and receive information provided by others.
Applications: conveying facts or comparing alternatives.
- Instructor-led Classroom → involves an instructor leading a group. In many cases, lectures
s supplemented with Q&A, discussion, and case studies.
- Distance learning → With distance learning, trainees at different locations attend
programs online, using their computers to view lectures, participate in discussions, and
share documents. Many of the benefits of classroom training.
- Audiovisual Training → need not require learners to attend a class. They work
independently, using materials in workbooks or on the Internet. These include videos,
podcasts, charts… They have control over the presentation.

HANDS.ON METHODS: learners are actively involved in trying out specific skills.
Applications: teaching specific skills; showing how skills are related to the job or how to handle
interpersonal issues.
- On-the-job training (OJT)2 → training methods in which a person with job experience
and skill guide trainees in practicing job skills at the workplace. Useful for training newly
hired employees.
- Apprenticeship → work-study training method that teaches job skills through a
combination of on-the-job training and technical training.
- Internship → on-the-job learning sponsored by an educational institution as a component
of an academic program. Students placed in paid positions to learn and gain experience.
- Co-operative education → a plan of higher education that incorporates paid work
experience as an integral part of academic studies.
- Simulation → a training method that represents a real-life situation, with trainees making
decisions resulting in outcomes that mirror what would happen on the job. Allow
employees to see the impact of their decisions.
- Virtual Reality → computer-based technology that provides an interactive,
threedimensional learning experience.
- Case study → detailed description of a situation that learners study and discuss. Designed
to develop higher-order thinking skills.
- Business games → learners gather information, analyze it and make decisions that
influence the outcome of the game.
- Gamification → applies principles of digital and computer games.
- E-learning → receiving training via the Internet or the organization's intranet. Electronic
performance support systems (EPSS) provide access to skills training, information, and
expert advice when a problem occurs on the job.

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To see characteristics of OJT to be effective check Studocu notes.
Topic 6 Managing the Employment Relationship

- Blended learning → combines technology methods, such as e-learning, simulations, or

social media, with face-to-face instruction, for the delivery of learning content and
instruction.

GROUP- OR TEAM-BUILDING METHODS: learners share ideas and experiences, build group
identities, and learn about interpersonal relationships and the group.
Applications: establishing teams or workgroups; managing performance of teams or workgroups.
- Experimental programs → – training programs in which participants learn concepts and
apply them by simulating behaviors involved and analyzing the activity, connecting it
with real-life situations.
- Adventure learning → a teamwork and leadership training program based on the use of
challenging, structured outdoor activities.
- Cross-training → team training in which team members understand and practice each
other's skills so that they are prepared to step in and take another member's place.
- Coordination training → team training teaches the team how to share information and
make decisions to obtain the best team performance.
- Team Leader training → trining in the skills necessary for effectively leading the
organization’s teams.
- Action Learning → training in which teams get an actual problem, work on solving it,
commit to an action plan, and are accountable for carrying it out.

IMPLEMENTING AND EVALUATING THE PROGRAM

Implementation should apply principles of learning. In general, effective training communicates
learning objectives, presents information in distinctive and memorable ways, and helps trainees
link the subject matter to their jobs. Consideration should also be given to ensuring employees
have the required workplace literacy skills to succeed and perform well in their jobs.

Principles of Learning
- Communicate the learning objective.
- Use distinctive, attention-getting messages.
- Limit content of the training.
- Guide trainees as they learn.
- Elaborate on the subject.
- Provide memory cues.
- Transfer course contents to the workplace.
- Provide feedback about performance.

CHOOSING THE TRAINING METHOD → one way to choose a training method is to compare
methods. The first step is to identfy the type of learning outcome the training is to influence.
Different methods may influence one or several learning outcomes. A final important
consideration is the training budget. If limited, structured OTJ is a good choice.
Topic 6 Managing the Employment Relationship

The ultimate goal of implementation is transfer of learning → requires that employees actually
learn the content of the program. To aplly what they learned, certain conditions are important:
social support, technical support, and self-management.3

MEASURING RESULTS OF TRAINING

Afetr or during an ongoing training program, organizations should ensure that the training is
meeting objectives.

Kirkpatrick’s evaluation levels:

Level 5: Cost-Benefit Analysis.

- Calculation to determine if
the monetary benefits outweigh the
costs.
Level 4: Business results
- Improvements in
individual, group, or company
performance (higher customer
satisfaction, more sales, fewer
defects).
Level 3: Behavior change.
- Changes in behavior related
to the content of the training, E.g.
concern for safety or support of
diversity.
Level 2: Demonstration of Learning
- Information such as facts, techniques, and procedures that they recall after training.
Level 1: Learner Reactions
- Satisfaction with the program.

APPLICATIONS OF TRAINING
Orientation of New Employees
Training designed to prepare employees to perform their jobs effectively, learn about their
organization, and establish work relationships. Increasingly, employee orientation is referred to as
onboarding, reflecting the critical role these programs play.

Onboarding
Transfer of organizational, team, and role-specific knowledge to new employees; aims to prepare
and socialize new employees for full participation.

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See chatbots in the book.
Topic 6 Managing the Employment Relationship

Diversity Training
Training designed to change employee attitudes about diversity and/or develop skills needed to
work with a diverse workforce.

Inclusion
An environment in which employees share a sense of belonging, mutual respect, and commitment
from others so that they can perform their best work.

APPROACHES TO DEVELOPMENT
Development is becoming more individual-driven.
- Formal education → at the workplace or off-site, workshops and short courses, and
university programs.
- Job experiences → job enlargement & rotation; transfers, promotions, and downward
moves; externships & sabbaticals.
- Assessment → collecting information and providing feedback; MBTI4, assessment center;
360-degree feedback.
- Interpersonal relationships → Mentor, Coach.

Mentor: experienced, productive senior employee who helps develop a less experienced employee.
Coach: peer or manager who works with an employee to provide a source of motivation, help him
or her develop skills, and provide reinforcement and feedback.

4
Myers-Briggs Tye Indicator → identifies individuals’ preferences for source of energy, means of information gathering,
way of decision making and lifestyle.