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Training and Development: Needs, Identification and Action Companies opting to distinguish themselves in the market through customer service require a workforce capable of providing a notable positive difference in customer experience versus that which a competitor can provide. Providing such an experience as a means to communicate and support your corporate brand requires several key factors be in place. It is no secret that success in business relies upon excellence in execution.
While corporate leaders have historically looked to other functions, such as product development, marketing, and sales, to drive corporate success, today more and more eyes are looking to HR for help. In every industry, employees serve as the primary “channel” used to characterize the brand during direct contact with the customer. Thus one such tool to exemplify or empower the work force is training and development of employees in the organization in order to achieve better results from them.
This research focuses on finding the needs of training and development in an organization and then acting upon it. Introduction Change is the only thing that is consistent in the present scenario and we can see changes all over the world at the speed of light. After Economic reforms LPG (Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization has brought many changes in the Indian Business. Due to these changes in the environment for an organization to sustain they have to go about continuous change so as to maintain interface with the environment.
People, Process and Technology are the three crucial elements for the sustenance and growth of any organization and among these people play the most important role as they are the one’s who are going to use the process and technology. Companies these days focus on winning faith of there employees to get best possible returns. They know that if the employees are motivated, excellent performance is ensured. Competition and technology have increased the work pressure and more and more is demanded out of the employee every time.
Not only is the work pressure there but less support from the home side is there as because of trend of nuclear families. As a result, workers have more to do every day in all parts of their lives. In such a scenario Training as a tool imparted by the organization to the employees for their development is the best way to ease out the tremendous pressure and challenges faced by the today’s workers. Like there is difference in utility of a plate of food for a hungry person and for a person who just had a full course meal, same way training also has different requirements.
A worker should be given training as per his need otherwise any unrequired training given will be of no use to the worker and so will not do any good to the organization thus giving no return on the investment . Rather it will be an expense with no meaning attached to it. Therefore before going on for a plan to organize training program in an organization, a trainer should go on for a training need assessment. Training and Development can be described as interventions and activities that are intended to improve the knowledge and skills in organisations which increasingly focus on the learner.
It deals with the design and delivery of learning to improve performance within organisations. Training is a systematic program of the organization which aims at increasing the aptitude, skills and abilities of the workers to perform specific jobs. To support these concepts of training many Human resource experts have come up with their definition and one such definition given by: Michel J. Jucius – “The term Training is used here to indicate only process by which the aptitude skills and abilities of employee to perform specific jobs are increased. ” Importance of training 1. Increase productivity i. e. ore output at lesser cost 2. Better and economical use of resources 3. Reduced Supervision and Direction 4. Standardisation 5. Better Management 6. Versatility and adaptability . Training as a process means a Training cycle which has Training followed by learning and then evaluation and then vice versa. Looking at this we can say that training is a process through which trainer teaches and the trainees learns. Learning through training when is applied by the trainees’ in their job it is called as Transfer. Here, unless an individual learns during training, the question of transfer to actual job setting is meaningless.
The third step in this process is the Evaluation of training program. A good training evaluation can serve as a diagnostic technique to permit the revision of programs to meet the large number of goals and objectives. As mentioned in the graphical form, identification of training need is the first step in the process of training, and then selection of training program is done as per the requirement of the job. The next step after this is preparing the program as well as the trainee for the actual action of conducting the program.
After this comes the toughest job of a trainer, that is conducting the training for the employees and then testing its validity. Testing of validity can be seen as the process of evaluation of the training program. Finally if the training program proves out to be useful than both the trainer and trainee are rewarded in the form of praise and better performance respectively. To understand all this better lets have a brief look at all the steps. Need for Training The development of people is central to the sustained growth of any organisation.
The next decade will address issues such as increasing competition, rapidly changing markets, advances in information technology, privatization etc.. This will place greater demands on organization, on their people and on those required to lead them. Organisations have to focus on people’s ability to anticipate, adapt and respond to rapid changes in the environment. Training will have to integrate itself with corporate goals. It must be convenient with what the business leaders are trying to achieve. To make training more relevant, its agenda will focus on business related issues for the future.
In practice, its success will depend on developing clear training objectives from the strategic goals and operating plans of the business. If top management wants effective mangers, it has to create a work environment where people can work and learn in a continuous and supportive way. Experience and background of the in house as well as external trainers, their commitment to working with the participants and looks for an ongoing relationship dedicated to management development is likely to be powerful addition to the human resource development.
After all, successful companies in today’s business climate must not only train managers but build educational systems. An organization can be an effective learning organization only if the flow of training program is a continuous process in the organization. Training is an ongoing process it should be provided to the employee at all time possible and not only at the time of requirement of any specific skill. This demands for future forecasting of training needs so that, the required program is provided to employees before time. The need for Training Forecast
Determination of Training needs is not simple, and then training manager can spend resources without attaining a reasonable return for the time and money he spends unless he follows a systematic and well conceived plan for needs assessment. Forecasts and prosecutions, they represent a look in to the future and thus are subject to error. However, training forecasts are absolutely essential; they provide the basis for performing all of the other managerial planning tasks. It is also obvious that identification of training and development needs is central to the formulation of training and development budget.
Types of Forecasts Training and development forecasts are of two types, ?Long-range forecasts ?Annual forecasts of training needs Both are essential to the proper management of Training department. The Long range forecasts looks five or more years into additional services, technologies trends and development and organizational the future it is based on analysis of enterprise’s long-range plans and man power forecasts. It takes into account economic trends, markets, new products, changes. On the other hand The Annual training forecasts, is or can be made highly accurate because it deals with immediate training needs.
It is, of course based on review of long range training needs forecasts, but it is updated by experience. Five main areas in which training can operate: ?Knowledge ?Skills ?Techniques ?Attitude ?Experience Training program can operate effectively only if there will be a need in the particular fields, and to find them a proper classification of Training needs need to be done. Training needs can be classified under: ?Organizational training needs- Related to whole organisation. ?Occupational training needs- Related to a particular category of employees. Individual training needs- Applying to specific individual. ?Maintenance and development needs- Needs that must be met to maintain and carry out current performance of employee. Knowing the different classifications of training, now the focus moves on to the identification of training needs that means finding whether the training is required or not and if yes than in which area it is required. The training need identification can be done through: 1. Job Description- The difference between the job specification and individual traits of the employee recruited can be termed as training need. 2.
Self assessment- In this method an individual is asked to assess his training needs as perceived by him related to his present job in view of his strengths and weaknesses. 3. Determination of training needs by seniors- Seniors may assess training needs of employees reporting to them viewing their performance on present job vis-a-vis performance expected in higher position. 4. Performance appraisal- In some performance appraisal forms provision to mention the training need is also there, if this data is passed on to training department the training program will be suitably designed and conducted in house. . Counseling and discussion by training personnel- In this method, the training personnel through discussion with an individual and his superior may be able to determine the training needs. Now the point here is transferring training needs to the training objectives which focuses broadly on what is to be learnt and how the training will be successful. Once the objective has been decided the next step is to consider the route to achieving these objectives. The action plan now should be to decide how the training is to be provided. Selecting a training method
One of the aspects which must be considered when designing training course is the way it is intended to convey the information to the group of trainees. There are varieties of training methods available to choose from and selecting the most appropriate one can make a substantial difference to the reception of your training message and the length of time it is retained after the course is completed. No one route is the right one, but a particular path might be more effective when all the circumstances and variables are considered. Some of the Training methods in practice are:
Action Maze Incident Process Assignments In Tray Brainstorming Games Briefing groups Lectures Buzz groups Programmed Instructions Case Study Role Playing Clinic Seminar Debate Sensitivity Training Demonstrations Talk
Discussions Trips Fishbowl Workshops Once training is provide using any of the above mentioned method than comes the role of the evaluation which is done to assess whether the learning objectives originally identified have been satisfied and the deficiencies are rectified. On the basis of this evaluation if the training program proves to be effective than they are applied in the future also. Subject of discussion Rapidly changing circumstances, policies are forcing organizations to rethink on their HRD strategies.
The new HRD logic is to expand the skills of the human resource or human capital and give them place in the organizational process by empowering them. Organisations are therefore focusing on their employees to produce, to expand, to meet the challenges of the global economy. An employee is now a key asset which can play a crucial role in the growth and development of the organization. In this context, grooming employees have become an organizational priority which also requires the organizations to have a clear focus on their ethics, their future goals and clarity as to their capability.
The present study attempts to study how Mahendra Associates has encountered this need of proper Training and Development programs and how their training programs help them in their branding so as to increase their value in the market. This study also aims to know the HRD strategies adopted at MAST. Objectives of the Research: 1. To identify Training needs at various divisions of MAST. 2. To analyze the importance of Training in development of employees of MAST and also knowing its benefits to MAST. 3. To see as to whether Training helps in increasing the productivity of MAST. 4.
To be of help to MAST in achieving Business Development in terms of products, services and processes. Methodology Used Research instruments Questionnaires were designed to gather the required information from the employees working at MAST. Gradually with the collection of data through questionnaire, another instrument was adopted and that was, personally asking the employees of the company about their training requirement and about the company so as to know about the working condition of the company and how successful they are in them. Type of Research: An explorative research has been adopted to collect relevant data.
Method of collection of Data The primary data has been collected by structured questionnaire from the employees. Secondary data has been collected through the text books, journals, lecture, notes etc. Tools for collection of Data The tools used to collect data are through structured questionnaire by way of face to face interview with the respondents. The questionnaire was distributed to 50 employees The questionnaire consists of 35 questions covering all the training measures of the company. Sample size 50 Employees of various departments were given the questionnaire among that more than 60 % filled it and returned for analysis.
Analysis The filled in questionnaire were analyzed and evaluated, percentages of different categories were found and then were depicted through flow charts and graphs, Suggestions are offered wherever feasible. Data Analysis The Questionnaire framed had 35 questions with varied degree of questions in it, through which analysis was done, When employees were asked ” How do you rate “Training” at MAST 33. 30% of employees found it excellent and 46. 62% found it good but there was a group of people who do not feel the same, 6. 66% of employees say its bad and 13. 32% of employees didn’t even answer.
This clearly shows that MAST’s employees still expect more from the company in the form of training and company should look into the situation and act accordingly. Then questions put to employees were like how important is training in enhancing the personality of the individual then what kind of training do they prefer, On the job or Off the job, for the first one more than 60% employees agreed to the importance of training and for the second one again more than 60% wish to have On the job training. Employees when were asked to relate training to productivity then 100% employees felt that yes they do help in increasing productivity.
Most of the employees feel that improvements in workplace training are attributable to work place training which had proved efficient in changing their personality. Employees to a great extent i. e about 98% agree that training helps in making an individual better in decision making and effective problem solving which helps in confidence building and acquiring new skills. An out of the track question which was asked was what do the employees think about training as a tool in improving the morale of workforce and 87% felt that it supports it.
Training’s relation to cost reduction and increased efficiency was also agreed by many. Question to them as to, do they wish to have training in the form of conferences to discuss topics of common interest was appreciated by all and they all liked to go with this kind of training. A check for the requirement of mock sessions and cross functional training was also done. When employees were asked to rank their preference for the mode of training they ranked visual and practical mode as the most preferred one.
Employees were even asked to write their training needs, answer to which helped the company a lot in framing its new training programs. Employees had a very positive answer towards the work culture of the organization and also felt good being a part of it. Even the question regarding there view about their growth prospect at MAST was also answered very positively by employees who feel that at MAST they get a better learning exposure through which they have a better growth prospect being a part of it. Response to this can be seen from the pie chart. And Training at MAST got the response in the following manner
All these are achieved by the organization with the support of the efficient HR team at MAST as well the effective training program conducted there. The analysis clearly brings out this fact that the training programs at MAST were satisfactory and employees give the credit to their action and performance to the training programs conducted at MAST. This way relating the role of training and development to employer branding. Findings from the Research are: ?There is a well established HRD unit in the organisation which has taken adequate measures to bring about a change on the employees’ quality contribution in the phased manner. In spite of being the authorized and number one distributor of 3M MAST still faces a lot of competition in the market. ?The products in which it deals are high income group so it has good market in big cities. ?The company provides training as per the job requirement and looking at the experience and age profile of the employees it seems that the company believes in hiring new blood. ?Employees have been made to understand the concept of new technologies and employees are trained in new technologies. The goal of the organisation is that every department should be participative dept and therefore need for training is in the area of diversification of products and services. ?Performance appraisal is used as a tool for training need analysis and therefore every officer is required to identify in the performance appraisal his training needs. ?More people have undergone general training as compared to product training Suggestions: The study has revealed the extensive contribution of the company towards transformation of their existing HRD policies arising out of too much complexity in the market.
New training and development technique should be implemented to fulfill all the requirements of the employees of the company. For the company to survive in this competitive environment and to remain vibrant may have to: ?Re-emphasize and reinforce the dictums of quality, time management individual integrity and work ethics. ?Review the training inputs from time to time to suit the changed work scenario and to meet the worker’s expectation in order to meet customers’ expectation ?Updating of knowledge and knowledge sharing can be encouraged through company learning centers and proper benchmarking. Recognition of achievers among the employees will boost the morale for each and everybody in the company to toe in line. After all high performing organisation is the result of high performing achievers. Conclusion: The main objective of the project was to identify Training needs at various divisions of MAST and to do a research on how to identify it through the functioning of MAST. This research has supported the theory that training and development improves the quality of the every aspect of the company and thus helps in the functioning of the organization.
From the response of the employees to the research it is seen that employees of MAST have welcomed the idea and have given positive response to various measure taken for training and development. To keep pace with the continuous competitive global field the companies these days have to follow an effective training program and with the help of this research MAST will be directed toward a better and coordinated training and development system. With a good training program a company can improve its image in front of its ustomers and most importantly in front of its employees and this research has established a prominent relationship between employees training and development and improvement of the organization References: Internet materials (Sites visited) – www. google. com www. hr. com www. mahendraassociates. com www. mmm. com www. xlri. ac. in David Leigh (1984), Handbook for Designing and Delivering Training for groups, McGraw Hill, New York Virmani B. R and Seth P (1985), Management Training and Development , Vision Books, New Delhi Raymond A. Noe (1989), Employee Training and Development, Houston, Gulf Publishing Company Pfeffrer, J. 1994), Competitive advantage through people: Unleashing the power of the work force, Harvard Business Press, Boston, MA Robyn Peterson (2002), Training Need Analysis, London, Gower Press Reports on Training Needs and Evaluation (2004), ICFAI Publication Training and Development –HRM Review Human Resource Management – ICFAI Publication IBS Business School magazine, Volume-7, August- December 2006, the issue is on Employer Branding in HRM. Indian Journal for Training and Development, Vol xxxvi, July-Sept, 2006 Indian Journal for Training and Development, Vol xxxvii, Jan- Mar, 2007