Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
Since the beginning of the twentieth century and especially after World War II, training
programs have become widespread among organizations in the United States, involving
more and more employees and also expanding in content. In the 1910s, only a few large
companies such as Westinghouse, General Electric, and International Harvester had
factory schools that focused on training technical skills for entry-level workers. By the
1990s, forty percent of the Fortune 500 firms have had a corporate university or learning
center. In recent decades, as the U.S. companies are confronted with technological
changes, domestic social problems and global economic competition, training programs
in organizations have received even more attention, touted as almost a panacea for
organizational problem.
The enormous expansion in the content of training programs over time has now largely
been taken for granted. Now people would rarely question the necessity of training in
conversational skills. However, back to the 1920s, the idea that organizations should
devote resources to training employees in such skills would have been regarded as
absurd. Such skills clearly were not part of the exact knowledge and methods that the
employee will use on his particular job or the job just ahead of him. Nevertheless,
seventy years later, eleven percent of U.S. organizations deem communications skills as
the most important on their priority lists of training, and many more regard it as highly
Core Argument
So, why have organizations increasingly engaged in personal development training? It is
because that the rise of the participatory citizenship model of organization over time has
driven the expansion of personal development training in organizations. This argument is
based on an institutional perspective towards organizations. It is distinct from previous
approaches to training in two ways. First, it recognizes that training is not only provided
to satisfy functional needs of firms, but is also shaped by the shared understanding about
individuals and organizations, which is called "organizational model" in this study and is
independent of the functional needs. Second, training decisions are not only affected by
the internal conditions of an organization, but are also affected by the dominant
ideologies and practices in the organizational field.
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Do people-skills count?
How can we expect such qualities and behavior if we consider and treat our personnel as
"skills performers"? However, we could achieve the desired results if we address the
personal development needs of the employees involved.
When we plan for both "training" and "development", we achieve a proper balance
between the needs of the company and those of the trainees. The synergy created takes us
to new levels, to a continuing trend of company growth.
Our consideration of the people involved results in work motivation, goal-sharing, and a
sense of partnership. Not only do the employee-trainees perform at the desired levels, but
they offer to the company and its customers their hidden individual gifts and talents, and
this reflects itself in the quality of service. Customers feel and recognize efficient
performance, motivation and team-work. They become loyal customers.
We can learn from the case of a small restaurant operator who had become desperate at
the negligent attitude of his servers, resulting in customer complaints. He decided to seek
professional expertise to help him replace his employees with "motivated, trained" people
fresh out of a waiter's training school.
Following some probing questions it came to light that, besides hourly pay, he did not
offer much to attract and retain loyal and dedicated employees. Through professional
consultation, he came to realize that even if he paid higher wages to new "trained"
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The restaurant operator realized that until then he had treated his employees as "plate
carriers" and this is exactly how they had behaved and performed. He was ready to
change his mode of operation: he diverted his focus to the needs of his employees, restructured his organisation, planned new operational strategies, a human resources
strategy, training and development guidelines, disciplinary rules and regulations.
He communicated and shared these in a meeting with his employees and handed out the
employee handbook prepared for that purpose. He also reminded them of their
responsibilities towards the business, the customers, and themselves (taking charge of
their own training, development, and work performance). They were more than pleased
when he asked them to express their opinions, make comments and suggestions.
He was surprised at the immediate transformation that took place. He began receiving
excellent reviews from his customers, the employees worked as a team, their motivation
sky-rocketed and he never had to replace them! All this was accomplished by extending
the previous concept of training to that of training and people development.
Training and Development represents a complete whole that triggers the mind, emotions
and employees' best work performance. It is not only business managers and owners who
must do this shift in thinking, but Human Resources Directors and Training Managers
(whose title should be "Training and Development" Managers). By their actions, they
should offer a personal example, coaching and guiding all the people in an organisation to
think "beyond training" and invest efforts in people:
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Professional development
Personal development.
Contrary to what some managers think, people do not quit a place of work as soon as
they have grown personally and professionally through training and development
programs - at least they do not do so for a long while. They become loyal to their
employer and help him/her grows business-wise, which offers them more opportunities.
They chart their own course for career advancement within the broader framework of
organizational growth.
Do we not call employees our "human resources asset"? Whatever their positions, each
expect to be treated as such; when they are, they give more than their physical presence at
work.
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Influencing the legal and policy environment needed for business growth and
development
This requires that the staff be trained in the areas of the organization's services and core
competencies which may include areas such as:
Industrial relations
Training Services
This objective of training (i.e. to make its other services more effective) involves mostly
the acquisition of knowledge needed for staff to perform their functions. This is an
important pre-requisite to staff undertaking the second role of an employers' organization
in training, which is to provide training to members (and sometimes to nonmembers) in
areas in which they expect services. But unlike in the case of the first objective of
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But not the skills to apply the knowledge to particular situations which arise in
enterprises (productivity is increasingly the application of knowledge).
Performance appraisal
Employee retention
The main objectives of this second training role (to provide training to members) are:
To provide members with the means to address labour - related problems and
issues
It follows that the staff of employers' organizations are not themselves practitioners in
people management. They are trainers of those engaged in managing people and,
occasionally of other trainers.
Influencing National Policies and Programmes
The third role is one to be discharged at the national level, and involves influencing
national educational and skills training policies and schemes. This could be affected in a
variety of ways:
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Identifying employers' education and skills needs and providing feed back from
employers. Employers' organizations could form executive training committees
within the organization such as the Education Committee in the Japan Federation
of Employers' Associations, the Industrial Education and Training Committee in
the Korean Employers' Federation and the Committee on Manpower and
Development in the Singapore National Employers' Federation. At the initiative of
the New Zealand Employers' Federation the School-Industry Links Development
Board was established in 1990 to strengthen the relationship between secondary
schools and business. Unique pilot programmes were commenced in 1992 on
"Teacher Placement in Industry" and "Management Course for Secondary School
Principals".
Influencing
government,
education
and
training
authorities
to
correct
inappropriate policies and to commence preparing for the future education and
training needs if HRD policies are to have impact.
Other Roles
A fourth role is for an employers' organization to raise awareness among employers of the
need for increased investment in the development of human capital as an essential
condition for achieving competiveness.
A fifth role is in the training of personnel or human resource managers, given the fact that
their role still tends to be downgraded relative to other management functions such as
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However large or small a company or business is, it is employees at all levels that can
make or break it. This holds true not only for the people we hire on a regular basis, but
also for temporary and contracted workers. It is as important to research and study the
needs, drives, and expectations of people we hire or employ, and aim at responding to and
satisfying those, as it is with regard to customers.
In actual fact, considering the role each "employee" plays in a company's success,
analyzing and planning an adequate response to employees' motivations deserves first
place in the order of business.
Before going any further, let us shift our approach from grouping people under the
generic category of "employee" to individual human beings and term them as "hired
workers" or "working partners". This is what they are. We must acknowledge them as
human beings with individual needs, drives, characteristics, personalities, and
acknowledge their contribution to the business success.
Though each person has specific needs, drives, aspirations, and capabilities, at varying
degrees of intensity, people's basic needs are the same, as illustrated by Abraham
Maslow in the following model:
Self-
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Heavy financial responsibilities which he/she can meet only by working at two
jobs, leading to exhaustion, "sick leave", and deficient work performance
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If the company is in a remote location, all employees will have a need for more
social activities
Some women may not be ready to work late shifts unless the employer provides
transportation back home
In addition to needs and drives, adult workers have expectations from their employer they expect:
Business integrity
Two-way communications
Positive discipline
Company survival
Company growth
Business owners and managers are under constant scrutiny by the people they hire. Adult
workers care beyond the salary - they care to know to whom they entrust their fate,
reputation, and security. They consider their work as a major factor that shapes their lives
and the lives of those dear to them. Once they feel confident that the employer and their
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of
change
in
routine
or
opportunities
for
advancement.
Prevents stagnation
Sending people to work in another department at a moment's notice is not what crosstraining is about. This has to be an effective planned process. Employees must "buy" into
the idea, be encouraged to give feedback and make suggestions for improvement. They
become "partners". Departmental communications meetings can be used to share lessons
learned. When employees think "the grass is greener on the other side of the lawn" they
soon realize their mistake after exposure to other departments. They return to their job
with a better attitude.
Cross-training can also be used to "shake up" supervisors or employees who have lapsed
into poor performance. Upon being moved to a different position or department, albeit
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Unlike enterprises which can have their staff trained in management and other
training institutions, there are no courses and training institutions which are
geared to the needs of employers' organizations. This places a heavy
responsibility on senior staff to train new recruits and on staff to develop
themselves. Therefore organizations often rely on the ILO to conduct training
programmes designed to serve the needs of employers' organizations, and to
provide staff with study tours to other employers' organizations.
Most organizations do not have skilled trainers i.e. persons who have been trained
as trainers.
The economic viability of having full time training staff. Due to financial
constraints, an employers' organization would generally have to keep full time
training staff to a minimum. Therefore staff with special skills providing advisory
and representation services should be trained as trainers to enable them to
undertake some training in their areas of expertise.
Organizational Change
Conventional organizational change, which typically encompasses training and
development, and 'motivation', mostly fails.
Why? Are the people stupid? Can they not see the need for change? Do they not realise
that if the organization cannot make these changes then we will become uncompetitive.
We will lose market share. There will be job cuts. We will eventually go out of business.
Can they not see it? Actually probably not. Or more precisely, people look at things in a
different way.
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It assumes that people's personal aims and wishes and needs are completely
aligned with those of the organization, or that there is no need for such alignment,
and
It assumes that people want, and can assimilate into their lives, given all their
other priorities, the type of development or change that the organization deems
appropriate for them.
Instead, organizations, managers, bosses and business owners would do better to think
first about exploring ways to align the aims of the business with the needs - total life
needs - of their people. Most people who go to work are under no illusion that their main
purpose is to do what their manager says, so that the organization can at the end of the
year pay outrageously high rewards to greedy directors, and a big fat dividend to the
shareholders. The workers work so that other more gifted or fortunate or aggressive
people can profit because of our efforts.
And god help those if they are running a management buyout company, intent on
floating or selling out in the next two-to-five years, making the MBO equity-holders
millionaires, and leaving the employees, on whose backs these scandalous gains have
been made, up the creek without a paddle, at the mercy of the new owners.
How the bloody hell do you expect decent hardworking people to align with those aims?
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Fact two:
People can't just drop everything and 'change', or learn new skills, just because boss says
so. Even if they want to change and learn new skills, they have a whole range of issues
that keep them fully occupied for most of their waking hours. The need for consulting
with people is rather a good idea is that it saves boss from his own wrong assumptions.
Consulting with people does not mean that organization is in the workers hand they
wouldn't want the corporation if they are paid well. So if the company is thinking in this
then it is wrong because consulting with people gives boss and them a chance to
understand the implications and feasibility of what boss think needs doing. And aside
from this, consulting with people, and helping them to see things from both sides
generally throws up some very good ideas for doing things better than boss could have
dreamt of by himself. It helps boss to see from both sides too.
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Pre-requisites
There are certain prerequisites essential to undertaking a training role in relation to
members. Training may be affected in three ways
By a combination of both the above methods, this would usually be the most
practical since it is unrealistic to expect employers organizations to develop the
level of skills needed in all the areas of training.
Even in courses conducted by the organization trainers or resource persons can be used
for selected subjects to enrich the programme.
Where training is conducted by the staff of the employers' organization it follows that it
must have a comparative advantage in the subject matter of the training. In order to have
that advantage the staff should
Be trained as trainers, although this is not critical in all cases. For instance,
conducting courses on the application of the labor laws requires knowledge of the
subject matter, and skills in training may not be particularly critical though
undoubtedly useful.
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The above mentioned pre-requisites underline the two types of training an employers'
organization might undertake. The first is the transference of information and knowledge
needed by enterprises to make decisions in labor related areas. This requires the first and
third pre-requisites referred to. However, in order to have an impact on enterprises in the
management of people, the training needs to go beyond knowledge-transference and
demonstrate how to translate the relevant knowledge into practice. This involves not only
a sound information and research base and staff with the requisite knowledge, but also
staff with training skills.
Identifying Areas of Training Specialization
Employers' organizations do not usually offer training in all areas of management (e.g.
general management, finance, and marketing) because
These are specialized areas requiring knowledge in subjects outside the mandate
of an employers' organization
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Act only in a subsidiary capacity by, for instance, collaborating with external
institutions or individuals.
Some of the areas in which an employers' organization can undertake training are:
a. Industrial Relations and Labour Law. This should be a priority as it is the labour
relations role which, more than any other, distinguishes an employers'
organization from other employer bodies.
b. Personnel and Human Resource Management. Training in this area helps to
strengthen personal departments and human resource management functions.
Since one of the main objectives of HRM is to integrate it with the functions of
line managers, HRM training should be made available to all enterprise managers.
However, training in this field may require linking up with institutions which are
qualified in this regard, as it is difficult to build a comparative advantage without
external assistance.
c. Negotiation and negotiation skills. This is important not only for the conduct of
collective bargaining but also for enterprise managers in their frequent
interactions with their employees and other enterprises.
d. Safety and health. An employers' organization could develop a limited role, such
as interpreting relevant laws and training safety committees in enterprises.
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As a brief review of terms, training involves an expert working with learners to transfer
to them certain areas of knowledge or skills to improve in their current jobs.
Development is a broad, ongoing multi-faceted set of activities (training activities among
them) to bring someone or an organization up to another threshold of performance, often
to perform some job or new role in the future.
1) Corporate ethics: This covers the value of good manners, courtesy, consideration,
personal dcor and good rapport. It also shows why and how to discourage gossip,
controversies, personal work at office, rush jobs etc.
2) Communications: The increasing diversity of today's workforce brings a wide variety
of languages and customs. Right from the way the receptionist handles a call to how the
CEO deals with a customer gives a glimpse of the image of an organization. Such
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undertaken to help employees plan for their lives, career, retirement, redundancy etc.
Such training imparts the values of life skills that employees need under different and
difficult circumstances.
4) Computer skills: Computer skills are becoming a necessity for conducting
administrative and office tasks.
5) Customer service: Increased competition in today's global marketplace makes it
critical that employees understand and meet the needs of customers.
6) Diversity: Diversity training usually includes explanation about how
people have
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Absenteeism.
Staying competitive
Businesses must continually change their work practices and infrastructure to stay
competitive in a global market. Training staff to manage the implementation of new
technology, work practices and business strategies can also act as a benchmark for
future recruitment and quality assurance practices.
As well as impacting on business profit margins, training can improve:
Time management
Customer satisfaction
There are numerous sources of on-line information about training and development.
Several of these sites (they're listed later on in this library) suggest reasons for
supervisors to conduct training among employees. These reasons include:
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Improved quality
Increased productivity
Less wastage
Improved morale.
Perhaps the most important benefit of a healthy training culture is that the skills of your
staff are formally recognised and that your employees feel that their contribution to the
company is valued.
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"Training has become a been critical business enabler that is being linked to business
results"
-Sanjeev Duggal
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"Corporate IT training has still not been imbibed as a culture in most organisations.
It is need-based rather than a planned activity"
-Jitendra Nair
Vice-president
Karrox Technologies
On the other hand, Jitendra Nair, Vice-president, Karrox Technologies, believes that
corporate IT training has still not been imbibed as a culture in most organisations.
According to him, it is more need-based rather than a planned activity. The intensity in
the approach is now changing with good companies dedicating IT training budgets for
their IT and end-user staff. In India, corporate training markets are largely active in the
re-skilling space. This is the area where participants are trained on newer technologies in
order to enhance their productivity.
Nasscom figures indicate that the IT corporate training market is expected to touch rs.
600 crore by 2010 from the current rs. 210 crore. Internationally, 80 percent of a training
companys revenue comes from corporate training. However, in the Indian market, the
revenue figure could be 50 percent from retail training and the rest from the corporate
segment.
He adds, The prevailing thrust on public domain/retail training is primarily due to the
disconnect in our academic approach where the latest technologies are not offered, thus
making it necessary for job aspirants to get trained on their own in order to be job-
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"With the increased utilization of IT in all sectors, intensive training has become
essential"
-Rajeev Katyal
Senior Vice-President
Enterprise Learning Solutions, NIIT
Specialization in training
Training in India is imparted at all levelsfrontline, middle or senior managementof
the organization, but the emphasis is on the frontline staff and the senior management.
Duggal states, The training imparted to the frontline staff is skill-based. But the acute
shortage of quality people at the senior levelthe people who actually builds and
manage companieshas made investment in training and development an important tool
for the management of the organization.
Nair is of the view that corporate training is largely happening on the software
development, networking and IT security space at different levels. Specialization training
is gaining momentum, and hence delivery is task-oriented rather than theory and sciencebased, as was in the past. Rajeev Katyal, Senior Vice-president, Enterprise Learning
Solutions, NIIT, believes that with the increased utilization of IT in all sectors, intensive
training has become essential. Both the government and private sectors are relying
heavily on the training of their employees.
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Karrox
Varied approaches
The approach taken for any training programme depends on the client requirement based
on the changing market scenario. It could be specific training enhancing one particular
skill or it could be a holistic approach facilitating organizational development taken up to
address needs in a competitive market scenario.
Katyal discusses, The current requirement for corporate training is mostly related to IT.
However, management training, especially at the supervisory level, is also seeing rising
demand these days. One of the areas for consideration while designing training
programmes is incorporating a session on soft skills. (For IT skills, there is enough
material available.) The approach is need-based. This is followed by the appropriate mix
of curriculum, faculty skills and infrastructure planning. Usage of right training
methodology is essential.
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As investment in training continues to rise, with resources migrating away from in-house
programs, employers are demanding better accounting to ensure that their development
dollars go toward furthering strategic goals and bolstering the bottom line.
Technology and global competition, the two driving forces of economic change in todays
business world, havent bypassed the once-staid world of training and development.
Companies seeking to gain advantage through better-trained and better-developed
workers are employing everything from e-learning delivery systems to multicultural and
polyglot training solutions. They are hiring chief learning officers to deal with the
increasingly complex field. And they are demanding better accounting of results.
Jack Kramer, vice president of global alliances for Sum Total Systems of Mountain
View, California, says that every training effort--from the most sophisticated leadership
course to the most basic regulatory compliance training module--is being rigorously
vetted for more than just content.
"They want to know, What is the financial impact? Kramer says. Have you cut
costs? Have you solved compliance issues? Have you assimilated learning into company
operations? "
Yet despite the focus on efficiency and cost control, overall spending on training and
development continues to raise, a reflection of the fact that companies are ratcheting up
the amount of training they require of their workers in the ceaseless drive for a
competitive edge. Companies clearly subscribe to the belief that smarter, better-trained
workers increase chances for success.
"We are seeing spending continue to rise," says Pat Galagan, vice president of content
for the American Society for Training & Development. "The thing we are noticing is that
companies are working to get more efficiency, more effectiveness and better alignment
out of training. It means they are doing an enterprise accounting of learning
expenditures."
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The news industry, traditionally untroubled about staff development, is taking a new
look. In todays multimedia world, industry leaders feel heightened competition for the
best and brightest employees. Economists predict an acute shortage of knowledge
workers. Starting salaries for journalists, stagnant for decades, have begun to creep
upward. Industry attrition also is climbing, and an increasingly professional journalism
workforce wants and is starting to get more training and mid-career education.
The same information revolution that draws away journalistic talent also siphons off the
attention of audiences. But a growing body of research, as well as the experience of
many news leaders, shows that improving staff development and training can help news
organizations improve the quality of their journalism to keep and even expand
audiences.
Benefits include:
1. Journalists with learning and development opportunities stay with organizations
longer. Higher employee retention both saves money and strengthens readership.
2. News organizations with strong training and education programs enjoy a greater
chance of success in creating newsroom diversity and reaching wider audiences.
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#2:
They
fine
since
they
had
training
six
months
ago.
In order to use training as a defense tool, companies must verify that each and every
worker received training. All companies experience turnover and absenteeism problems,
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Conclusion
The employers should keep in mind these four rules of thumb when designing the
companys strategy and solution:
Rule #1: Internet technology is the key to a profound revolution in learning.
The effects of Internet technology on employee training are indeed profound; however,
technology - any technology - should be seen as a tool, not a strategy or final goal. Just
because they have good word processing software doesn't mean you write well. Likewise,
the Internet cannot, in and of itself, improve the quality of the learning and the content
they put on it. The employers need to use Internet technology combined with high
quality, effective learning to maximize learning and retention levels.
Rule #2: There is an enduring and important role for traditional classroom
instruction.
People who believe technology will totally replace great teachers in front of classrooms
of highly motivated learners are as misguided as those who believe the Internet is a
passing fad. The blended learning solution, i.e., a mixture of classroom and Web-based
training is the most effective and comprehensive learning strategy.
Rule #3: Learning is a continuous, cultural process - not simply a series of
workshops.
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davidnys2007@yahoo.co.in
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