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Chemuturi Consultants – 
Do it well or not at all
 
32-78/3 Sainik Nagar Rama Krishna Puram, Secunderabad - 500056+91-40-2722 0771 -
www.chemuturi.com
- murali@chemuturi.com
Are we getting “right” participants for our training programs?
Murali ChemuturiDr. B.TrivikramaDr. PSS Murthy
Introduction
There has been a growing recognition that employees are not a mere pair of hands, but areresources – human resources of the organization. There has also been a growing recognition thatunless there is a continuous development, these unlisted assets would rust and are likely tobecome liabilities to the organization. The result is that organizations are placing more emphasison human resources development than ever before and spending significant amount of monetaryresources on this activity. As is well known, training remains the main tool for human resourcedevelopment and is being widely recognized as an important function receiving greater attention.Here we are first examining the training scenario. The common perception about training programsis outlined next. The issue of selecting the right participants for the training programs, which formsthe focus of this study, is discussed next.
The present scenario
So far, training is given to employees to impart a specific set of skills needed by him to perform his job satisfactorily. Organizations have been taking care to impart only those skills, which are not apart of the curriculum at the educational institutions for the employee. This training was usuallyoffered at the time of entry into the organization, or only when a relocation of the employeebecame necessary. Executive training is usually restricted to attending seminars or sponsoringpersons to public domain training programs conducted professional bodies or training institutions.The effectiveness of these training programs was rarely measured. The effectiveness of the skilltraining programs was seen in the performance of the employee on the job and the supervisorswere filling in the gaps, if any, in the training programs. The effectiveness of the executive trainingwent largely unmeasured. However, training is necessary for effective performance of the present job as well as preparing the employee for future requirements. These future requirements receivedlittle, if any, attention from the training departments, until recently. But the situation is changingwith the organizations going in for expansions and, as a sequel, they are forced to train theiremployees to handle the new job requirements.When it comes to evaluate the effectiveness of a training program, the institution conducting italways tries to evaluate the training program in terms of course content, course material, trainingmethodology, the environment and the faculty, which helps them to improve their future programs.The organization sponsoring the participants is interested in the evaluation of the level of learningof the participants. However, more often than not, the participants are not evaluated since theparticipants would be reluctant to write any type of examination and have the results reported totheir management. Also, the training institutions on their part, unsure of the reception of theparticipants, do not wish to put to test their own credibility by conducting a test to the participants.Once the participants go back to their organizations, usually no formal methodology exists toevaluate how a particular training program benefited the organization. Thus, it is not surprising thatthe training institutions pay more attention to food, course material and carry bags that are givenduring the training program than to the course content. And they concentrate on pleasing theparticipant rather than on imparting the skills / concepts in order to get an excellent rating for thetraining program.
Common perceptions about training programs
 
 
Chemuturi Consultants – 
Do it well or not at all
 
32-78/3 Sainik Nagar Rama Krishna Puram, Secunderabad - 500056+91-40-2722 0771 -
www.chemuturi.com
- murali@chemuturi.com
There are varying perceptions about the training programs being conducted by the organizationsfor their employees. Some of these are – 
Training programs are paid holidays
– Most of the training programs do not have anyevaluation of the participants and no confidential reports are sent to the sponsoringorganizations. Attendance is also not maintained strictly, nor is it reported. The sponsoringorganizations, on their part, do not insist on the evaluation of the participant. Thus, theparticipants are likely to take it easy during the training programs an enjoy the trainingperiod as a holiday, albeit a paid one.
Nomination to training programs is a reward
– When a person cannot be motivated thruincrements or promotions, many executives resort to nominating a person to a trainingprogram at an exotic locale. The authors have met some participants who had come to thetraining programs to enjoy the hospitality, rather than an eagerness to learn.
Training programs are organized as a favor to the institutions
– Some times trainingprograms are conducted because someone in the organization, powerful enough to awardthe contract, gives it as a favor to a friend. These programs have rarely any relevance tothe organization’s skill gaps
To be nominated to a training program, one must either be idle or be influential
– it iscommon to see the same faces in a variety of training programs conducted for the sameorganization. Some executives, when required to nominate, tend to send the whosoever issparable rather than on the basis of a genuine need. Also every organization has its shareof blue-eyed boys who corner all training nominations.
Training programs are rarely conducted to fulfill an existing / future skill gap
– Manyorganizations do not have a formal mechanism to assess the training needs of theorganization and resort to hunch-based finalization of the training programs, or take what ispopular and available in the market.
Training activity is only a cost center and only large profit making concern canafford training
 – many organizations do not formally evaluate the benefits that accrue tothem through a formal methodology. Therefore, this perception persists. It is often seenthat whenever there is an economy drive, training activity and budget are the ones onwhich the axe falls.As stated, the above are only perceptions. Not many studies have been conducted to ascertain theveracity of the above perceptions through collection and unbiased evaluation of such data usingthe scientific method.
Selecting the participants
The effectiveness of the training program depends mainly on the faculty and the participants. Inorder that the training program should be successful, the participant – 
Should be motivated to learn
Should have the basic education and the ability to understand and assimilate the contentthe training program has to offer
Should be able to use the newly acquired skill in the near future. Otherwise the participantforgets the acquired skills, if the participant fails to practice the skill for a long time.That he should be able to use the skills in the near future depends, to a large extent, on themanagement of the organization, in the sense that he should be working in the area in which thetraining has been imparted and the onus of providing the infrastructure and facilities rests with themanagement. Even if the program is well designed, with proper mix of theory and hands-on / casestudies, with excellent infrastructure and renowned faculty in a congenial atmosphere, theorganization cannot reap any real benefit unless the aprticipant uses the skills in the near future for
 
 
Chemuturi Consultants – 
Do it well or not at all
 
32-78/3 Sainik Nagar Rama Krishna Puram, Secunderabad - 500056+91-40-2722 0771 -
www.chemuturi.com
- murali@chemuturi.com
achieving improved productivity / quality, though they may have acquired new skills to a very highdegree of specialization.Thus in the absence of a formal methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program,the selection of the participants to the training program is crucial and vital importance, if theorganizations desire to reap the real benefits, tangible or intangible.But are the organizations paying real attention to this vital aspect? When someone seeks toconfirmation in the formal channels, the answer is yes, but is it true? In one large organization (inIndia), where the authors have first hand knowledge, for a skill training in Germany, it was seenthat totally unconnected persons were deputed who, on return, were never required to perform thefunctions for which they were trained. If in such a costly training unconnected persons werenominated, this sort of thing could be happening for less costly training programs as well. Also, ithappened on one organization, it could well happen in other organizations as well.
Objectives of the study
The present study delves into the selection of participants to ascertain whether the participants areselected to bridge an existing skill gap to be used for the organization in the near future, orotherwise. This may not clear away or establish the above listed perceptions, but certainly throwsome light on at least some of those aspects.This paper attempts to bring out the perceptions of participants of training programs in terms ofusefulness of these training programs in their day-to-day functioning. Instead of trying to ask theparticipants whether a training program is useful or not (to which question, most participantsanswer “useful”) an attempt has been made to determine the time period within which theparticipant would apply the skills acquired during the training program. Further through confidencewinning and indirect questioning the real reason for attending a training program was alsoobtained to assess the real meaning of “usefulness”. Thus, an indirect approach has also beenemployed to determine whether the selection / nomination of participants to the training programsis appropriate. If wrong people are nominated to a right program, it will not be useful to theorganization, no matter how well it is conducted. In this paper we report the results of this study inthe effectiveness of training programs from organization’s standpoint through such an indirectmethod.
Description of the study
Twenty-three training programs conducted by a nationally reputed organization, which conductscorporate training programs as an adjunct to its consultancy services were studied. Theseprograms were conducted for the employees of six medium-to-large organizations out of whichfour organizations are in public sector and two were in private sector. They were conductedbetween January 1990 and December 1992. The total number of participants in these programswas 322. The training programs fall under the skill-building category as they were buildingcomputer skills. These are futuristic oriented as these organizations were in the process ofintroducing computerization in their operations and the participants were expected to man thesepositions and spearhead the computerization in their respective organizations.
The types of Training Programs
The programs that were conducted are as follows – 
Ref No Title of the Program Number ofProgramsPercentage Ratio of theoryto hands-on
1 UNIX & C 2 8.69 50:50
of 00

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