Training and Development

Q.1 A.1

What is training need and how does it get recognized? Training is several cased is very cosmetic if not dysfunctional, so as far as the organizational effectiveness is concerned. It needs to be added that the basic utility of the training and development should no get neglected. Training is as fundamental to human life as food. A human being is taught right from his early days all the involuntary motions involved in life. Wouldnt life be restricted to the elementary motions of life without the role of training in human life? Therefore the question is not whether training is useful or not. The question is that of designing effective training to further the objectives of organizations as well as individuals. Hence the whole range of issues pertaining to training need identification becomes critical to the launching of any training effort. The training needs identification is capable of many definitions but perhaps the most simple one is to see it as a desirable effort when there is a requirement of maintaining or increasing the efficiency, productivity or safety of a system or an individual. It can be seen as a part of the total organizational committee. It is well known axiom of the inherent nature of change. I would be apparent that continuous training and re-training if a requirement of human survival. Training need can be recognized on the basis of the analysis of environmental demands processed of internal change, analysis of the work problems and analysis of the manpower competencies of an organization. A training need occurs whenever a identifiable changes take place in the environment, the procedures, processes and methods of work in an organization are changed. Management of change world require orientation and training the people to the new demands, techniques, new sequences of activities and new knowledge. This means that people who operate human resource systems and command the resources associated with it must be willing to accept the change and competence to assimilate it. The training needs caused by such changes can be examined under four heads.

1. Technological changes : Technological change is bound to occur whenever there is some innovation in the equipment, energy source and technology under use. This could be apparent say when a computer is introduced. When a mechanical or automated process is installed, the design of work changes, and people have to be developed so that old rules and regulations which undergo change become acceptable. 2. Environmental changes Consumers tastes and habits (values or governmental/regulatory policies) are constantly under a state of flux. Be it the manufacturing industry or the service industry. The enterprise providing the goods or the services has to change its behaviour accordingly. The enterprise not only has to change the quality or quantity

Training and Development

of the components that make up their goods and services but many times the replacement shave to be caused. Obviously the employees are in a retraining situation. It is apparent that new products and services will require a change in procedures and systems. If training need has to be carried out scientifically and meaningfully in a user oriented competitive world, here is a positive factor which is exogenous to the organization itself and yet can cause a training need. Indeed the survival of the organization itself would be a factor for this understanding and an awareness of this change in the outside world.

3. Legislative changes As the legislatures in the central level or at the local level give a legal framework, shape and application to their concepts of social growth and social requirements, the organizations are duty-bound to respond to them. this is specially so in many of the basic industries such as steel, coal and textiles. Training packages have to be designed to respond to this. These changes can be in the area of policy, employment policy etc. 4. Manpower composition changes Training needs can also occur when there is change in the staff composition ehich can be on account of resignations, dismissals, layovers, retirement, outsourcing and oher factors as a result of change in the internal ratios of manpower. A change for example may occur when a large number of employees of given seniority retire altering the demographic ration and the quality of experience. The education level must undergo a change creating a training need. Q. 2 A.2 What are the various steps involved in designing training programmes? Once the objective of the organization has been set, the training programmes are designed to meet those objectives. Designing a training programme involves a lot of good judgment and analytical insight. A number of aspects have to be kept in mind while designing a training programme. A design and conduct of the training activity is one of the most important aspects of the training to which matching of resources have to be done. There are bound to be shortfalls if the objectives do not have enough necessary resources backup. The designing process is made up of the following steps Review of the training objectives: The objectives, knowledge, skills and attitudes require to achieve the optimality in learning might be regarded as constituting the syllabus. It is necessary to determine which objectives are more important and which of them are not necessarily high up in priority. It should be remembered that individuals as well as organizations have their objectives based on their experience, belief, knowledge and attitude. These objectives while logical and realistic in relation to the individual may be in conflict to those of the organization. It is important to pass on systematic information to the trainees. The training plan should serve as a basic

Training and Development

navigation chart to ensure the programme to proceed methodically, the review being at the center of the training chart. Determining the contents of the session: the training design will have to cleared on what the session will be and what is their need and what is the subject objective of each one of them.