STRATEGIC TRAINING and

DEVELOPMENT
TRAINING and Development DEFINED

• Training and development (T&D) is a planned,

continuous effort by management to improve employee
competency levels and organizational performance.
• Training & development
▫ Represents ongoing investment in employees &
realizes employees are assets
• Training is designed to provide learners with the
knowledge and skills needed for their present jobs.
• Development is learning that looks beyond the
knowledge and skill needed for a present job.
Strategic Choices
 Does the organization want employees who are
content following the status quo or challenging it?
 Should the organization develop its HR (“grow its
own”) or get already developed (“buy its own”)?
 Should the organization find ways to improve the
performance of marginal workers, or replace them?
 How well does the organization’s development
strategy match the organization’s overall strategy?
Importance of training & development

▫ Rapid technological changes cause skill

obsolescence
▫ Redesign of work brings need for new skills
▫ Mergers & acquisitions have increased need for
integrating employees into different cultures
▫ Employees are moving between employers more
often, necessitating training
▫ Globalization of business requires new knowledge
& skills
Benefits of Training & Development
• Individual employee
▫ Increased employee marketability
▫ Increased employee employability security
• Organization
▫ Improved bottom line, efficiency & profitability
▫ Increased flexibility in employees who can assume
different & varied responsibilities
▫ Reduced layers of management
▫ Makes employees more accountable for results
Triggers for T&D
• Business strategy
• Internal values and systems
• Internal labor market needs
• External labor market shortages
• External support agencies.
 Training and Development Trends
 Skill requirements will continue to increase in response
to rapid technological change;
 Workforce will become significantly educated and more
diverse;
 Corporate restructuring will continue to reshape
businesses;
 As outsourcing of training increases, training
departments have shrunk;
 The role of training departments will change
significantly acting as brokers;
 Integrated high-performance work systems will
proliferate (just-in-time & just what is needed);
 More firms will strive to become learning organizations;
 Emphasis on human performance management will be
put into action.
Factors Influencing T&D

• Top management support

• Technological advances
• Organizational complexity
• Behavioral science knowledge
• Performance of other human resource functions.
T&D Process

• Step 1: Determining T&D Needs

▫ Organization Analysis-examines the entire
organization to determine where T&D should be
conducted.(How does the training relate to
organizational objectives? Impact of day-to-day
workplace dynamics? Costs and expected costs and
benefits of the training?
▫ Task analysis-provides information on tasks, necessary
skills, minimum acceptable standards, and behaviors
required.
▫ Person analysis-focuses on the individual employee in
performance gap & employee proficiency gap. (skills,
knowledge, abilities)
Step 2: Establishing T&D Objectives

▫ To assist in designing meaningful T&D programs.

▫ Evaluation of a program’s effectiveness would not
be possible.
• Objectives can be of the following types: (SMART)
Regular training, which is on-going (Orientation,
refresher courses)
Problem-solving (training clerks to reduce
complaints),
Innovation or change-making, has a longer-range
focus (anticipating problems)
• Align/match identified training needs with
training objectives
• Define objectives in specific, measurable terms
▫ Desired employee behaviors
▫ Results expected to follow from such behaviors
• One source of information for setting objectives
▫ Performance deficiency data contained in
performance management system
Step 3: Choosing T&D Methods

• Critical training design issues

▫ Interference from & difficulty of overcoming prior training,
learning, habits
▫ Transfer of newly learned skills back to job
 Choice of training environment approximating or simulating
actual working conditions
▫ Organizational environment supportive of training &
development
• Methods
▫ Coaching; Mentoring; Business Games; Case Study; Videotapes; In-
basket; Internships; Role Playing; Job Rotation; Apprenticeship;
Simulations; Vestibule training; Demonstration.
Step 4: Implementing T&D Programs

▫ Sessions are scheduled, participants are invited, instructors

scheduled, materials prepared and delivered, and training
conducted.
▫ Participants should know its merits
▫ Need to carefully monitor a new program
▫ Problems may include; scheduling the training around
present work requirements, record keeping
▫ External training requires considerable
scheduling/planning (outsourced training).
Step 5: Evaluating Training

▫ Evaluation is “any attempt to obtain information (feedback) on the

effects of a training program, and to assess the value of the training in
the light of that information.
• Evaluation Levels
▫ Level 1 – Reaction –evaluation measures how those who
participated have reacted (immediate customer satisfaction).
(Measure-questionnaires)
▫ Level 2 – evaluating learning – information on the extent to
which learning objectives have been attained (how much was
acquired). (measure-written tests, performance tests)
▫ Level 3 – Evaluating behavior – the extent to which behavior has
changed as required after training. (measure – appraisals by
superior, peers, clients, subordinates)
▫ Level 4 - Evaluating results – assessing the benefits of the
training against costs. (measure – quality, costs, profits)