NATURE OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

In simple terms, training and development refers to the imparting of specific skills, abilities
and knowledge to an employee. A formal definition of training & development is it is any
attempt to improve current or future employee performance by increasing an employees
ability to perform through learning, usually by changing the employees attitude or increasing
his or her skills and knowledge. The need for training & development is determined by the
employees performance deficiency, computed as follows:
Training & Development need = Standard performance Actual performance.
We can make a distinction among training, education and development. Such distinction
enables us to acquire a better perspective about the meaning of the terms. Training, as was
stated earlier, refers to the process of imparting specific skills. Education, on the other hand, is
confined to theoretical learning in classrooms.
Table 1. Training and Education Differentiated
Training
Education
Application
Theoretical Orientation
Job Experience
Classroom Learning
Specific Tasks
General Concepts
Narrow / Perspective
Broad Perspective
Training refers to the process of imparting specific skills.
Development refers to the learning opportunities
designed to help employees grow.
Education is theoretical learning in classroom.
Though training and education differ in nature and orientation, they are complementary. An
employee, for example, who undergoes training is presumed to have had some formal
education. Furthermore, no training programme is complete without an element of education.
In fact, the distinction between training and education is getting increasingly blurred
nowadays. As more and more employees are called upon to exercise judgments and to choose
alternative solutions to the job problems, training programmes seek to broaden and develop
the individual through education. For instance, employees in well-paid jobs and/or employees
in the service industry may be required to make independent decision regarding there work
and their relationship with clients. Hence, organization must consider elements of both
education and training while planning there training programmes.
Development refers to those learning opportunities designed to help employees grow.
Development is not primarily skill-oriented. Instead, it provides general knowledge and
attitudes which will be helpful to employees in higher positions. Efforts towards development
often depend on personal drive and ambition. Development activities, such as those supplied
by management developmental programmes, are generally voluntary.

To bring the distinction among training, education and development into sharp focus, it may
be stated that training is offered to operatives, whereas developmental programmes are
meant for employees in higher positions. Education however is common to all the
employees, there grades notwithstanding.
AIMS/OBJECTIVES OF TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
The fundamental aim of training is to help the organization achieve its purpose by adding
value to its key resource the people it employs. Training means investing in the people to
enable them to perform better and to empower them to make the best use of their natural
abilities. The particular objectives of training are to:
Develop the competences of employees and improve their performance;
Help people to grow within the organization in order that, as far as possible, its future
needs for human resource can be met from within;
Reduce the learning time for employees starting in new jobs on appointment, transfers
or promotion, and ensure that they become fully competent as quickly and
economically as possible.
INPUTS IN TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENTS
Any training and development programme must contain inputs which enable the participants
to gain skills, learn theoretical concepts and help acquire vision to look into distant future. In
addition to these, there is a need to impart ethical orientation, emphasize on attitudinal changes
and stress upon decision-making and problem-solving abilities.
Skills
Training, as was stated earlier, is imparting skills to employees. A worker needs skills to
operate machines, and use other equipments with least damage or scrap. This is a basic skill
without which the operator will not be able to function. There is also the need for motor skills.
Motor skills refer to performance of specific physical activities. These skills involve training
to move various parts of ones body in response to certain external and internal stimuli.
Common motor skills include walking, riding a bicycle, tying a shoelace, throwing a ball and
driving a car. Motor skills are needed for all employees from the clerk to the general
manager. Employees, particularly supervisors and executives, need interpersonal skills
popular known as the people skills. Interpersonal skills are needed to understand one self and
others better, and act accordingly. Examples of interpersonal skills include listening,
persuading, and showing an understanding of others feelings.
Education
The purpose of education is to teach theoretical concepts and develop a sense of reasoning and
judgement. That any training and development programme must contain an element of
education is well understood by HR specialist. Any such programme has university professors
as resource persons to enlighten participants about theoretical knowledge of the topic proposed

to be discussed. In fact organizations depute or encourage employees to do courses on a part

time basis. Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are known to attend refresher courses conducted
by business schools. Education is important for managers and executives than for lower-cadre
workers.
Development
Another component of a training and development is development which is less skill oriented
but stressed on knowledge. Knowledge about business environment, management principles
and techniques, human relations, specific industry analysis and the like is useful for better
management of the company.
Ethics
There is need for imparting greater ethical orientation to a training and development
programme. There is no denial of the fact that ethics are largely ignored in businesses.
Unethical practices abound in marketing, finance and production function in an organization.
They are less see and talked about in the personnel function. If the production, finance and
marketing personnel indulge in unethical practices the fault rests on the HR manager. It is
his/her duty to enlighten all the employees in the organization about the need of ethical
behavior.
Exhibit # 1

White Collar Crimes

The findings of the KPMGs fraud survey for 1998, confirm the prevalence of white collar
crimes in corporate India. The survey has pegged the loss due to delinquencies at Rs.200
crores but KPMG feels that it is only the tip of the iceberg. According to the study, 66% of the
respondents feel that the frauds will increase.
Respondents have cited kickbacks and expenses accounts as the most frequent types of
internal frauds, and patent infringements, false representation and secret commissions as the
most favored external crimes. Among management frauds, window dressing of balance sheets
is the hot favorite followed by more creative ones like fudging MIS and giving wrong
information.
Attitudinal Changes
Attitudes represent feeling and beliefs of individuals towards others. Attitude affects
motivation, satisfaction and job commitment. Negative attitudes need to be converted into
positive attitudes. Changing negative attitudes is difficult because
1. Employees refuse to changes
2. They have prior commitments
3. And information needed to change attitudes may not be sufficient

Nevertheless, attitude must be changed so that employees feel committed to the organization,
are motivated for better performance, and derive satisfaction from there jobs and the work
environment
Decisions Making and Problem Solving Skills
Decision making skill and problem solving skills focus on method and techniques for making
organizational decisions and solving work-related problems. Learning related to decisionmaking and problem-solving skills seeks to improve trainees abilities to define structure
problems, collect and analysis information, generate alternative solution and make an optimal
decision among alternatives. Training of this type is typically provided to potential managers,
supervisors and professionals.
Exhibit # 2

Training inputs at HLL

The training and development affords at HLL are designed to develop the following:
1. Helping employees satisfy personal goals through higher level of skills and
competencies
2. Facilitating higher contribution at there present jobs and preparing them for the next
level of responsibilities
3. Developing individuals and teams to meet the total needs of the organization
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AS SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Companies derive competitive advantage from training and development. Training and
development programmes, as was pointed out earlier, help remove performance deficiencies in
employee. This is particularly true when - (1) the deficiency is caused by a lack of ability
rather than a lack of motivation to perform, (2) the individual(s) involved have the aptitude
and motivation need to learn to do the job better, and (3) supervisors and peers are supportive
of the desired behaviors.
Training & Development offers competitive advantage to a firm by removing performance
deficiencies; making employees stay long; minimized accidents, scraps and damage; and
meeting future employee needs.
There is greater stability, flexibility, and capacity for growth in an organization. Training
contributes to employee stability in at least two ways. Employees become efficient after
undergoing training. Efficient employees contribute to the growth of the organization. Growth
renders stability to the workforce. Further, trained employees tend to stay with the
organization. They seldom leave the company. Training makes the employees versatile in
operations. All rounders can be transferred to any job. Flexibility is therefore ensured. Growth
indicates prosperity, which is reflected in increased profits from year to year. Who else but
well-trained employees can contribute to the prosperity of an enterprise?
Accidents, scrap and damage to machinery and equipment can be avoided or minimized
through training. Even dissatisfaction, complaints, absenteeism, and turnover can be reduced if
employees are trained well.

Future needs of employees will be met through training and development programmes.
Organizations take fresh diploma holders or graduates as apprentices or management trainees.
They are absorbed after course completion. Training serves as an effective source of
recruitment. Training is an investment in HR with a promise of better returns in future.
A company's training and development pays dividends to the employee and the organization.
Though no single training programme yields all the benefits, the organization which devotes
itself to training and development enhances its HR capabilities and strengthens its competitive
edge. At the same time, the employee's personal and career goals are furthered, generally
adding to his or her abilities and value to the employer. Ultimately, the objectives of the HR
department are also furthered.
The Benefits of Employee Training
How Training Benefits the Organization:

Leads to improved profitability and/or more positive attitudes towards profit

orientation. Improves the job knowledge and skills at all levels of the organization
Improves the morale of the workforce
Helps people identify with organizational goals
Helps create a better corporate image
Fosters authenticity, openness and trust
Improves relationship between boss and subordinate
Aids in organizational development
learns from the trainee
Helps prepare guidelines for work
Aids in understanding and carrying out organizational policies.
Provides information for future needs in all areas of the organization
Organization gets more effective decision-making and problem-solving skills
Aids in development for promotion from within
Aids in developing leadership skills, motivation, loyalty, better attitudes, and other
aspects that successful workers and managers usually display
Aids in increasing productivity and/or quality of work
Helps keep costs down in many areas, e.g. production, personnel, administration, etc.
Develops a sense of responsibility to the organization for being competent and
knowledgeable
Improves Labour-management relations
Reduces outside consulting costs by utilizing competent internal consultation
Stimulates preventive management as opposed to putting out fires
Eliminates suboptimal behavior (such as hiding tools)
Creates an appropriate climate for growth, communication
Aids in improving organizational communication

Helps employees adjust to change

Aids in handling conflict, thereby helping to prevent stress and tension.

Benefits to the Individual Which in Turn Ultimately Should Benefit the Organization:

Helps the individual in making better decisions and effective problem solving
Through training and development, motivational variables of recognition,
achievement, growth, responsibility and advancement are internalized and
operationalised
Aids in encouraging and achieving self-development and self-confidence
Helps a person handle stress, tension, frustration and conflict
Provides information for improving leadership, knowledge, communication skills and
attitudes
Increases job satisfaction and recognition
Moves a person towards personal goals while improving interactive skills
Satisfies personal needs of the trainer (and trainee)
Provides the trainee an avenue for growth and a say in his/her own future
Develops a sense of growth in learning
Helps a person develop speaking and listening skills; also writing skills when exercises
are required. Helps eliminate fear in attempting new tasks

Benefits in Personnel and Human Relations, Intra-group & Inter-group Relations and Policy
Implementation:

Improves communication between groups and individuals:

Aids in orientation for new employee and those taking new jobs through transfer or
promotion
Provides information on equal opportunity and affirmative action
Provides information on other government laws and administrative policies
Improves interpersonal skills.
Makes organizational policies, rules and regulations viable.
Improves morale
Builds cohesiveness in groups
Provides a good climate for learning, growth, and co-ordination
Makes the organization a better place to work and live

THE TRAINING PROCESS

Figure #1 below outline important steps in a typical training process.

Needs assessment
Organizational
support
Organizational
analysis
Task and KSA
analysis
Person analysis

Developm
ent of
criteria

Instructional
Objective
Selection
and design
of
instructional
programs

Training
Validity

Transfer
Validity

Training
Use of
evaluation
models

Intraorgani
zational
validity
Interorgani
zational
validity

The Training Process

NEED ASSESSMENT
Needs assessment diagnoses present problems and future challenges to be met through training
and development. Organizations spend vast sums of money (usually as a percentage on
turnover) on training and development. Before committing such huge resources, organizations
would do well to the training needs of their employees. Organizations that implement training
programmes without conducting needs assessment may be making errors. For example, a
needs assessment exercise reveal that less costly interventions (e.g. selection, compensation
package, job redesign) could be used in lieu of training.
Needs assessment occurs at two levels-group and individual. An individual obviously needs

when his or her performance falls short of standards, that is, when there is performance
deficiency. Inadequacy in performance may be due to lack of skill or knowledge or any other
problem. The problem of performance deficiency caused by absence of skills or knowledge
can be remedied by training. Faulty selection, poor job design, uninspiring supervision or
some personal problem may also result in poor performance. Transfer, job redesign, improving
quality of supervision, or discharge will solve the problem. Figure below illustrates the
assessment of individual training needs and remedial measures.
Performance
Deficiency

Lack of skill
or
Knowledge

Training

Other Causes

Non-training
Measures

Figure #2 Needs Assessment and Remedial Measures

Assessment of training needs must also focus on anticipated skills of an employee.
Technology changes fast and new technology demands new skills. It is necessary that the
employee be acquire new skills. This will help him/her to progress in his or her career path.
Training and development is essential to prepare the employee to handle more challenging
tasks. Deputation to a part-time MBA programme is ideal to train and develop such
employees.
Individuals may also require new skills because of possible job transfers. Although job
transfer common as organizational personnel demands vary, they do not necessarily require
training efforts. Employees commonly require only an orientation to new facilities and jobs.
Recently however, economic forces have necessitated significant retraining efforts in order to
assure continued employment for many individuals. Jobs have disappeared as technology,
foreign competition, and the forces of supply and demand are changing the face of our
industry.
Assessment of training needs occurs at the group level too. Any change in the organizations
strategy necessitates training of groups of employees. For example, when the organization
decide to introduce a new line of products, sales personnel and production workers have to be
trained to produce, sell and service the new products. Training can also be used when high

scrap or accident rates, low morale and motivation, or other problems are diagnosed. Although
training is not all, such undesirable happenings reflect poorly-trained workforce.
Needs assessment methods
How are training needs assessed? Several methods are available for the purpose. As shown in
the below table, some are useful for organizational-level needs assessment others for
individual needs assessment
Table #2

Methods Used in Training Needs Assessment

Group or organizational Analysis

Individual Analysis

Organizational goals and objective

Performance appraisal

Personnel/skill invention

Work sampling

Organizational climate indices

Interviews

Efficiency indices

Questionnaires

Exit interviews

Attitude survey

MBO or work planning systems

Training progress

Customer survey/satisfaction data

Rating scales

Customer survey/satisfaction data

Consideration of current and projected changes
Issue in Needs assessment
Needs assessment, individual or group, should consider several issues as shown in
Fig. #1
Organizational Support: Needs assessment is likely to make inroads into organizational life.
The assessment tends to change patterns of behavior of employees. When the needs
assessment is carefully designed and supported by the organization, disruption is minimized
and co-operation is much more likely to occur. Obviously, the analyst needs to take steps to
work effectively with all parties and gain the trust and support of the participants in the needs
assessment.

Organizational Analysis: Having obtained organizational support, the next step in the needs
assessment is an organizational analysis, which seeks to examine the goals of the organization
(short-term and long-term), and the trends that are likely to affect these goals. The analyst
needs to ask and answer the following questions:
Is there a sufficient supply of people?
How does the firm attract, retain and motivate diverse work-force?
How does the firm compete for individuals with the right skills, knowledge
abilities and attitudes?
How do employees make the firm competitive, domestically and
internationally?
Which are the target jobs that require training?
These issues enable the analyst identify skill gaps in people, which training seeks to fill.
Organizational analysis seeks to examine the
goals of the organization and the trends that are
likely to affect these goals.
Task and KSA Analysis In addition to obtaining organizational support and making
organizational analysis, it is necessary to assess and identify what tasks are needed on each job
and which knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) are necessary to perform these tasks. This
assessment helps prepare a blueprint that describes the KSAs to be achieved upon completion
of the training programme.
Person Analysis: This analysis obliviously targets individual employees. A very important
aspect of person analysis is to determine which necessary KSAs have already been learnt by
the prospective trainee so that precious training time is not wasted repeating what has already
been acquired. Also, employed who need to undergo training are identified at this stage.
Benefit of Needs Assessment
Training programmes are designed to achieve specific goals that meet felt needs. There is
always the temptation to begin training without a thorough analysis of these needs. Should this
happen, the training programme becomes inappropriate and its administration turn to be
perfunctory. There are other benefits of needs assessment are other benefits of needs
assessment:
1. Trainers may be informed about the broader needs of the trainees.
2. Trainers are able to pitch their course inputs closer to the specific needs of the trainees.
3. Assessment makes training department more accountable and more clearly linked to other
human resource activities, which may make the training programme easier to sell to line
manager.
Consequences of Absence of Training Needs Assessment
The significance of needs assessment can be better understood by looking at the consequence
of inadequate or absence of needs assessment. Failure to conduct needs assessment can
contribute to:

Loss of business
Constraints on business development
Higher labor turnover

Poorer-quality applicants
Increased overtime working
Higher rates of pay, overtime premiums and supplements
Higher recruitment costs, including advertising, time and incentives
Greater pressure and stress on management and staff to provide cover.
Pressure on job-evaluation schemes, grading structures, payment system and career
structure
Additional retention costs in the form of flexible working time, job sharing, part time
working, shift working, etc.
Need for job redesign and revision of job specifications
Undermining career paths and structures
Higher training costs

Deriving Instructional Objectives

The next phase in the training process is to identify instructional objectives. Needs assessment
helps prepare a blueprint that describes the objectives to be achieved by the trainee upon completion of the training programme. Instructional objectives provide the input for designing
the training programme as well as for the measures of success (criteria) that would help assess
effectiveness of the training programme. Below are some sample instructional objectives for a
training programme with sales people.
After training, the employee will be able to smile at all customers even when
exhausted or ill unless the customer is irate.
After training, the employee will be able to accurately calculate mark down
on all sales merchandise.
Designing Training and Development Programme
Every training and development programme must address certain vital issues (1) who
participate in the programme? (2) Who are the trainers? (3) What methods and techniques are
to be used for training? (4) What should be the level of training? (5) What learning principles
are needed? (6) Where is the programme conducted?

Who are the

trainees?

Who are the

What methods
Fig
#3 Steps in training Programme
trainers?
and
techniques?
Who are the Trainees? Trainees should be selected on the basis of self nomination,
recommendations of supervisors or by the HR department itself. Whatever is the basis, it is
advisable to have two or more target audiences. For example, rank-and-file employees and
their supervisors may effectively learn together about a new work process and their respective
roles.
Bringing
targetWhat
audience
together
facilitatetogroup
processes such as
What
shouldseveral
be
principles
of can also Where
conduct
problem
solving
and
decision
making,
elements
useful
in
quality
circle
projects.
the level of
learning?
the programme?
training?
Who are the Trainers? Training and development programmes may be conducted by several
people, including the following:
1. Immediate supervisors,
2. Co-workers, as in buddy systems,
3. Members of the personnel staff,
4. Specialists in other parts of the company,
5. Outside consultants,
6. Industry associations, and
7. Faculty members at universities.
Who among these are selected to teach, often, depends on where the programme is held and
the skill that is being taught. For example, programmes teaching basic skills are usually done
by the members of the HR department or specialists in other departments of the company. On
the other hand, interpersonal and conceptual skills for managers are taught at universities.
Large organizations generally maintain their own training departments whose staff conducts
the programmes. In addition, many organizations arrange basic-skills training for computer
literacy.
Methods and Techniques of Training: A multitude of methods of training are used to train
employees. The most commonly used methods are shown in Table #2. Table #2 lists the
various training methods and presents a summary of the most frequent uses to which these
methods are put. As can be seen from Table #2, training methods are categorized into two
groups-{I) on-the-job and (ii) off-the-job methods. On-the-job methods refer to methods that
are applied in the workplace, while the employee is actually working. Off-the-job methods are
used away from workplaces.
Training techniques represent the medium of imparting skills and knowledge to employees.
Obviously, training techniques are the means employed in the training methods. Among the
most commonly used techniques are lectures, films, audio cassettes, case studies, role playing,
video-tapes and simulations. Table #3 presents the list of training techniques along with their
ranking based on effectiveness. The higher the ranking (1 is the highest rank), the more
effective the technique is.
Table # 3 Training Methods and the Activities for which they are used

Orienting
New
Employees,
Special
Introducing,
Skills
Innovations
Training
In Products &
Services
1
2
A. On the Job
Training
Orientation
Training
Job instruction
training
Apprentice
training
Internships &
Assistantship
Job Rotation
Coaching
B. Off the Job
Methods
Vestibule
Lecture
Special Study
Films
Televisions
Conference or
Discussion
Case Study
Role Playing
Simulation
Programmed
Instructions
Laboratory
training
Y=Yes; N-No

Safety
Education

Sales,
Creative,
Administrative,
Technical &
Supervisory &
Professional
Managerial
Education
Education

Y
N

N
Y

N
Y

N
Y

Y
Y

Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y

Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N

N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y

N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y

N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y

N
N
Y
Y

N
N
Y
Y

N
N
Y
Y

N
Y
Y
Y

Y
N
N
3

At this point, it is worthwhile to elaborate on important techniques of training. We explain the

following-lectures, audio-visuals, on-the-job training, programmed instruction, computer
aided instruction, simulation and sensitivity training.
Lectures: Lecture is a verbal presentation of information by an instructor to a large audience.
The lecturer is presumed to possess a considerable depth of knowledge of the subject at hand.

A virtue of this method is that is can be used for very large groups, and hence the cost per
trainee is low. This method is mainly used in colleges and universities, though its application
is restricted in training factory employees. (See Table #3)
Table #4
Training
Method
Case study
Conference
Lecture
Business games
Films
Programmed
Instruction
Role Playing
Sensitivity
Training
Television
Lecture

The Relative Effectiveness of training Methods

Knowledge
Acquisition
Rank

Changing Problem Interpersonal Participant Knowledge

Attitudes Solving
Skills
Acceptance retention
Rank
Skills
Rank
Rank
Rank

2
3
9
6
4
1

4
3
8
5
6
7

1
4
9
2
7
6

4
3
8
5
6
7

2
1
8
3
5
7

2
5
8
6
7
1

8
5

1
9

5
8

1
9

6
9

3
9

Limitations of the lecture method account for its low popularity. The method violates the
principle of learning by practice. It constitutes a one-way communication. There is no
feedback from the audience.. Continued lecturing is likely to bore the audience. To break the
boredom, the lecturer often resorts to anecdotes, jokes and other attention-getters. This activity
may eventually overshadow the real purpose of instruction. However, the lecture method can
be made effective it if is combined other methods of training.
Audio-visual: Visuals Audio-visuals include television slides, overheads, video-types and
films. These can be used to provide a wide range of realistic examples of job conditions and
situations in the condensed period of time. Further, the quality of the presentation can be
controlled and will remain equal for all training group. But, audio-visuals constitute a one-way
system of communication with no scope for the audience to raise doubts for clarification.
Further, there is no flexibility of presentation from audience to audience.
On the job Training (OJT) Majority of industrial training is of the on-the-job-training type.
OJT is conducted at the work site and in the context of the job. Often, it is informal, as when
an experienced worker shows a trainee how to perform the job tasks.
OJT has advantages. It is the most effective method as the trainee learns by experience,
making him or her highly competent. Further, the method is least expensive since no formal
training is organized. The trainee is highly motivated to learn he or she is aware of the fact that
his or her success on the job depends on the training received. Finally, the training is free from
an artificial situation of a classroom. This contributes to the effectiveness of the programme.

OJT suffers form certain demerits as well. The experienced employee may lack experience or
inclination to train the juniors. The training programme itself is not systematically organized.
In addition, a poorly conducted OJT programme is likely. to create safety hazards, result in
damaged products or materials, and bring unnecessary stress to the trainees.
OJT is conducted at the work site and in the context of the job. It is, much time, informal. An
experienced worker shows a trainee how to work on the job.
Programmed Instruction (PI) This is a method where training is offered without the
intervention of a trainer. Information is provided to the trainee in blocks, either in a book of
thought a teaching machine. After reading each block of material, the learner must answer a
question about it. Feedback in the form of correct answers is provided after each response.
Thus, programmed instruction (PI) involves:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Presenting questions, facts, or problems to the learner

Allowing the person to respond
Providing feedback on the accuracy of his or her answers
If the answers are correct, the learner proceeds to the next block. If not, he or she
repeats the same.

The main advantage of PI is that it is self-paced-trainees can progress through the programme
at their own speed. Strong motivation is provided to the learner to repeat learning. Material is
also structured and self-contained, offering much scope for practice.
The disadvantages are not to be ignored. The scope for learning is less, compared to other
methods of training. Cost of preparing books, manuals and machinery is considerably high.
Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) This is an extension of the PI method. The speed
memory and data-manipulation capabilities of the computer permit greater utilization of basic
PI concept. For example, the learner's response may determine the frequency and difficulty
level of the next frame.
CAI is an improved system when compared to the PI method, in at least three respects. First,
CAI provides for accountability as tests are taken on the computer so that the management can
monitor each trainee's progress and needs. Second, a CAI training programme can also be
modified easily to reflect technological innovations in the equipment for which the employee
is being trained. Third, this training also tends to be more flexible in that trainees can usually
use the computer almost any time they want, and thus get training when they prefer. Not to be
ignored is the fact that from CAI is as rich and colorful as modem electronic games, complete
with audio instruction displays. A deterrent with regard to CAI is its high cost, but repeated
use may justify the cost.
Simulation: A simulator is any kind of equipment or technique that duplicates as nearly as
possible the actual conditions encountered on the job. Simulation then, is an attempt to create
a realistic decision-making environment for the trainee. Simulations present likely problem

situation and alternatives to the trainee. For example, activities of an organization may be
simulated and the trainee may be asked to make a decision in support to those activities. The
results of those decisions are reported back to the trainee with an explanation of what would
have happened had they actually made in the workplace. The trainee learns from this feedback
and improves his/her subsequent simulation and workplace decisions.
The more widely held simulation exercises are case study, role playing and vestibu1 training.
Case Study: is a written description of an actual situation in business which provokes, in the
reader, the need to decide what is going on, what the situation really is or what the problems
are, and what can and should be done. Taken from the actual experiences of organizations,
these cases represent to describe, as accurately as possible, real problems that managers have
faced. Trainee studies the cases to determine problems, analyses causes, develop alternative
solutions, select the best one, and implement it. Case study can provide stimulating
discussions among participants as well as excellent opportunities for individuals to defend
their analytical and judgment abilities. It appears to be an ideal method to promote decisionmaking abilities within the constraints of limited data.
Role playing: generally focuses on emotional (mainly human relations) issues rather than
actual ones. The essence of role playing is to create a realistic situation, as in case study, and
then have the trainee assume the parts of specific personalities in the situation. For example, a
male worker may assume the role of a female supervisor, and the supervisor may assume the
role of a male worker. Then, both may be given a typical work situation and asked to respond
as they expect others to do. The consequences are a better understanding among individuals.
Role playing helps promote interpersonal relation. Attitude change is another result of role
playing. Case study and role playing are used in MDPs
Vestibule Training: utilizes equipment which closely resembles the actual ones used on the
job. However, training takes place away from the work environment.
A special area or a room is set aside from the main production area and is equipped with
furnishings similar to those found in the actual production area. The trainee is then permitted
to learn under simulated conditions, without disrupting ongoing operations. A primary
advantage of vestibule training it relieves the employee from the pressure of having to produce
while learning. The emphasis is on learning skills required by the job. Of course, the cost of
duplicate facilities and a special trainer is an obvious disadvantage.
The advantage of simulation is the opportunity to 'create an environment' similar to real
situations the manager incurs, but without the high costs involved should the actions prove
undesirable. The disadvantage is (i) it is difficult to duplicate the pressures and realities of
actual decision-making non the job and (ii) individuals often act differently in real-life
situations than they do in acting out a simulated exercise.
Sensitivity Training: Sensitivity training uses small numbers of trainees, usually fewer than
12 in a Group. They meet with a passive trainer and gain insight into their own and others'
behavior. Meeting have no agenda, are held away from workplaces, and questions deal with
the 'here and now' of the group process. Discussions focus on 'why participants behave as they

do, how they perceive one another, and the feelings and emotions generated in the interaction
process.
The objectives of sensitivity training are to provide the participants with increased awareness
of their own behavior and how others perceive them-greater sensitivity to the behavior of
others, and increased understanding of groups processes. Specific results sought include
increased ability to empathize with other, improved listening skills, greater openness,
increased tolerance of individual difference and increased conflict-resolution skills. The
drawback of this method is that once the training is over, the participants are themselves again
and they resort to their old habits.
Sensitivity training can go by a variety of names-laboratory training, encounter groups, or Tgroups (training groups). Table 9.9 shows some more techniques of training.
Exhibit # 3
Training goes Techno-Savvy
In todays electronic world, the World Wide Web (WWW) is all pervasive. The internet
and intranet are changing the face of training and learning. Using a PC, a modem and a
web browser, it has become possible to learn online.
Web-based courses through distance learning are virtual. An employee can simply
connect to the Internet study the syllabus options available, and enroll for the courses
electronically. He or she can then receive a. course work online and even take tests and
advance to the next level-all from his or her own house.
Global giants like Motorola and Ford Motor are reaping the benefits of virtual learning.
Employees of Motorola have access of self-paced computer based training (CBT)
material through the firm's Intranet Motorola offers nearly one hundred online courses,
mostly in information technology.
Virtual learning presents its own challenges. The biggest being an infrastructure to
connect the entire organization across the seven seas. Web servers, ISDN lines, laptops,
and personnel computers are the basic requisites. But these facilities will payoff in the
long-run. Firms investing in virtual learning technologies can slash their training budgets
by 30 to 50 per cent
Learning through the web can be very convenient for' employees. There are no fixed
schedules or limitations of time. One can attend the course at home, in the evening when
one is at leisure, or while traveling to work. The learners do not have to depend on the
trainer's availability.
It is not just the technical programs: soft skills can also be learnt electronically. One firm
used a CDROM manual to impart soft-skills like performance management, coaching,
and interviewing skills. The CDROM based training was supplemented with shared
learning via teleconferencing, where managers discussed key learnings and asked for
clarifications. Face to face, role-playing exercises were added for the human touch.

One advantage of computer-based soft-skills training is that it helps maintain anonymity

in situations that may be discomforting for trainees. For example, role-playing exercises,
may call for sharing personal information with strangers. This can be avoided in a virtuallearning setting, till the time the learner becomes more open and flexible.
It reads like who is who in using virtual learning. Motorola and Ford are only the two.
There are others too. IBM, for example, has a virtual university, IBM Global Campus, to
provide its employees continuous skills-driven-Learning opportunities via the corporate
intranet across the globe.
Federal Express has turned to interactive multimedia for a more effective training system.
Employees have the facility to get training via personnel computers during regular
working hours at any time convenient to them.
Texas Instrument has been using satellite-based and CBT for a long time. The firm's
satellite broadcast links employees in countries all over the world, including Germany,
Italy, France, England, Japan, and India.
Boeing delivers interactive training to its 22,000 managers globally through a
communication service that uses the satellite broadcast technology. One application of the
service was a short strategic planning skills course for employees in Boeing offices in
US, Japan, Australia, and Western Europe. The course participants viewed the workshops
on monitors in corporate conference rooms as well as on large-screen video-projection
equipment in auditoriums. The online training was supplemented with small-group work
with a site facilitator, presentations via satellite from Boeing experts, workbook exercises,
and audio interaction with instructors. Boeing reported savings of $ 9 million in travel
costs alone.
Table #5

Techniques of Training
Technique
Description
Ice Breakers
Games to get team members know each other
Leading Games
Exercise to each different styles of leadership
Skill Games
Test to develop analytical skills
Communication Games
Exercise to build bias free listening and talking
Strategic planners
Games to test ability to plan ahead
Team building games
Exercise requiring collaborative effort
Role reversal
Exercise to teach plurality of view
Doubling
Bring out the ideas that are not often expressed
Tag Teams
One role played alternately by two participant
Mirroring
Training with external perspective
Monodrama
Insight into a given interaction
Shifting physical position
highlighting of communication problems
Structured role playing
Role play with predetermined objective
Multiple role playing
Providing a common focus of discussion

Built-in-tension
Shadowing
Outward bound training
9 + 1 + 23
Lateral Thinking
Morphological Analysis
Gordon Technique
Attribute Listening
Cross-Cultural Training

Teaching the importance of resolving matter

Working under a senior to watch and learn
Adventure sports for teams
Self-assessment by a leader of leadership skills
Thinking randomly to come up with new ideas
Listing of alternative solution to problems
Steering a discussion to crystallize solutions
Isolation, selection and evaluation of a problem
Programmes to tech specifics of varied cultures

What should be the Level of Learning? The next question in designing training and
development programme is to decide on the level of learning. As was pointed out earlier, the
inputs passed on to trainees in training and development programmes are education, skills, and
the like.
In addition, there are three basic levels at which these inputs can be taught. At the lowest level,
the employee or potential employee must acquire fundamental knowledge. This means
developing a basic understanding of a field and becoming acquainted with the language,
concepts and relationships involved in it. The goal of the next level is skills development, or
acquiring the ability to perform in a particular skill area. The highest level aims at increased
operational proficiency. This involves obtaining additional experience and improving skills
that have already been developed.34 All the inputs of training can be offered at the three
levels. How effectively they are learned depends on several principles of learning.
Learning Principles: Training and development programmes are more likely to be effective
when they incorporate the following principles of learning:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Employee motivation,
Recognition of individual differences,
Practice opportunities,
Reinforcement,
Knowledge of results (feedback),
Goals
Schedules of learning,
Meaning of material, and
Transfer of learning.

Motivation to learn is the basic requisite to make training and development programmes
effective. Motivation comes from awareness that training fetches some rise in status and pay.
Motivation alone is not enough. The individual must have the ability to learn. Ability varies
from individual to individual and this difference must be considered while organizing training
programmes.

Regardless of individual differences and whether a trainee is learning a new skill or acquiring
knowledge of a given topic, the trainee should be given the opportunity to practice what is
being taught.
Practice is also essential after the individual has been successfully trained. It is almost
impossible to find a professional cricket player who does not practice for several hours a day.
Practice can be a form of positive reinforcement.
Reinforcement may be understood as anything that (i) increases the strength of response and
(ii) tends to induce repetitions of the behavior that preceded the reinforcement. Distinction
may be made between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Positive
reinforcement strengthens and increases behavior by the presentation of desirable
consequences. The reinforcement (event) consists of a positive experience for the individual.
In more general terms, we often say that positive reinforcement consists of rewards for the
individual and, when presented, contingent upon behavior, tends to increase the probability
that the behavior will be repeated. For example, if an employee does something well and is
complimented by the boss, the probability that the behavior will be repeated will be
strengthened. In negative reinforcement, the individual exhibits the desired behavior to avoid
something unpleasant. An example might by an employee who does something to avoid
incurring a reprimand from his or her boss. If an employee who had the habit of coming late to
work, assuming this as an unpleasant experience, the employee might begin to come on time
to avoid criticism. Thus, the effect of negative reinforcement is avoidance of learning.
Knowledge of results is a necessary condition for learning. Feedback about the performance
will enable the learner to know where he or she stands and to initiate corrective action if any
deviation from the expected goal has taken place. There are certain tasks for which such
feedback is virtually mandatory for learning. A crane operator, for example, would have
trouble learning to manipulate the controls without knowing how the crane responds to control
actions.
Goal setting can also accelerate learning, particularly when it is accompanied by knowledge of
results. Individuals generally perform better and learn more quickly when they have goals,
particularly if the goals are specific and reasonably difficult. Goals that are too difficult or too
easy have little motivational value.37 further, goals will have better motivational value if the
employee has a scope for participation in the goal-setting process.
Probably one of the most well-established principles of learning is that distributed or spaced
learning is superior to continuous learning. This is true for both simple laboratory tasks and for
highly complex ones.
Schedules of learning involve (i) duration of practice sessions, (ii) duration of rest sessions,
and (ill) positioning of rest pauses. All the three must be carefully planned and executed.
A definite relationship has been established between learning and meaningfulness of the
subject learnt. The more meaningful the material, the better is the learning process. What is
learnt in training must be transferred to the job. The traditional approach to transfer has been

to maximize the identical elements between the training situation and the actual job. This may
be possible for training skills such as maintaining a cash register, but not for teaching
leadership or conceptual skills. Often, what is learned in a training session faces resistance
back at the job. Techniques for overcoming resistance include creating positive expectations
on the part of trainee's supervisor, creating opportunities to implement new behavior on the
job, and ensuring that the behavior is reinforced when it occurs. Commitment from the top
management to the training programme also helps in overcoming resistance to change.
Though, it is desirable that a training and development programme incorporates all these
principles, seldom is such a combination effected in practice.
Conduct of Training: A final consideration is where the training and development
programme is to be conducted. Actually, the decision comes down to the following choices:
1. At the job itself
2. On site but not the job-for example, in a training room in the company
3. Off the site, such as in a university or college classroom, hotel, a resort, or a
conference centres
Typically, basic skills are taught at the job, and basic grammar skills are taught on the site.
Much of interpersonal and conceptual skills are learnt off the site.
Implementation of the Training Programme:
Once the training programme has been designed, it needs to be implemented. Implementation
is beset with certain problems. In the first place, most managers are action-oriented and
frequently say they are too busy to engage in training efforts. Secondly, availability of trainers
is a problem. In addition to possessing communication skills, the trainers must know the
company's philosophy, its objectives, its formal and informal organizations, and the goals of
the training programme. Training and development requires a higher degree of creativity than,
perhaps, any other personnel specialty.
Scheduling training around the present work is another problem. How to schedule training
without disrupting the regular work? There is also the problem of record keeping about the
performance of a trainee during his or her training period. This information may be useful to
evaluate the progress of the trainee in the company.
Programme implementation involves action on the following lines:
1. Deciding the location and organizing training and other facilities.
2. Scheduling the training programme
3. Conducting the programme
4. Monitoring the progress of trainees.
Evaluation of the Programme:
The last stage in the training and development process is the evaluation of results (see Fig. #1).
Since huge sums of money are spent on training and development, how far the programme has
been useful must be judged/determined. Evaluation helps determine the results of the training
and development programme. In practice, however, organizations either overlook or lack
facilities for evaluation.

Need for Evaluation: The main objective of evaluating the training programmes is to
determine if they are accomplishing specific training objectives, that are, correcting
performance deficiencies. A second reason for evaluation is to ensure that any changes in
trainee capabilities are due to the training programme and not due to any other conditions.
Training programmes should be evaluated to determine their cost effectiveness. Evaluation is
useful to explain programme failure, should finally, credibility of training and development is
greatly enhanced when it is proved that the organization has benefited tangibly from it.
Principles of Evaluation: Evaluation of the training programme must be based on the
principles:
1. Evaluation specialist must be clear about the goals and purposes of evaluation.
2. Evaluation must be continuous.
3. Evaluation must be specific.
4. Evaluation must provide the means and focus for trainers to be able to appraise
themselves, their practices, and their products.
5. Evaluation must be based on objective methods and standards.
6. Realistic target dates must be set for each phase of the evaluation process. A sense of
urgency must be developed, but deadlines that are unreasonably high will result in poor
evaluation
Criteria for Evaluation: The last column in Fig. 9.1 contains a number of potential goals
1. Training validity: Did the trainees learn during training?
2. Transfer validity: What has been learnt in training, has it been transferred on the job
enhanced performance in the work organization?
3. Intra-organizational validity: Is performance of the new group of trainees, for which
the training programme was developed, consistent with the performance of the original
training group?
4. Inter-organizational validity: Can a training programme validated in one organization
be used successfully in another organization?
These questions often result in different evaluation techniques.
Techniques of Evaluation: Several techniques of evaluation are being used in organization
may be stated that the usefulness of the methods is inversely proportional to the ease with
which evaluation can be done.
One approach towards evaluation is to use experimental and control groups. Each group is
randomly selected, one to receive training (experimental) and the other not to receive training
(control). The random selection helps to assure the formation of groups quite similar to each
other. Measures are taken of the relevant indicators of success (e.g. words typed per minute,
quality pieces produced per hour, wires attached per minute) before and after training for both
groups. If the gains demonstrated by the experimental groups are better than those by the
control group, the training programme is labeled as successful.
Another method of training evaluation involves longitudinal or time-series analysis. Measures
are taken before the programme begins and are continued during and after the programme is
completed. These results are plotted on a graph to determine whether changes have occurred

and remain as a result of the training effort. To further validate that change has occurred as a
result of training and not due to some other variable, a control group may be included.
One simple method of evaluation is to send a questionnaire to the trainees after the completion
the programme to obtain their opinions about the programmes worth. Their opinions could
through interviews. A variation of this method is to measure the knowledge and/or skills that
employee possess at the commencement and completion of a training. If the measurement
reveals that the results after training are satisfactory, then the training may be taken as
successful.
In order to conduct a thorough evaluation of a training programme, it is important to assess the
cost and benefits associated with the programme. This is a difficult task, but is useful in
convincing the management about the usefulness of training.
Some of the costs that should be measured for a training programme include needs assessment
cost, salaries of training department staff, purchase of equipment (computers, videos,
handouts), programme development costs, evaluation costs, trainers' costs, rental facilities and
trainee wages during the training period.
The benefits to be compared with the cost are rupee payback associated with the improvement
in trainees' performance, their behavioral change, and the longevity of the period during which
the benefits would last
Closed-loop System
Referring to Figure #1, it may be observed that the model suggests that a training programme
should be a closed-loop system in which the evaluation process provides for continual
modification of the programme. The information may become available at several stages in the
evaluation process. For example, an effective monitoring programme might show that the
training programme has not been implemented as originally planned. In other instances,
different conclusions might be supported by comparing data obtained from the evaluation of
training. In addition, even when the training programme achieves its stated objectives, there
are always developments that can affect the programme, including the new training techniques
or characteristics of trainees. Obviously, the development of training programme needs to be
viewed as a continuously evolving process.

E-LEARNING
E-learning refers to the use of Internet or an organizational intranet to conduct training on-line.
E-learning is becoming increasingly popular because of the large number of employees, who
need training. Take Wipro, for example, out of its 17,500 employees, 2,500 are on site and
15,000 employees are in off-shore centers at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Delhi.
How to organize training for all these? Wipro also has a policy of subjecting any employee for
a two-week training every year. E-learning helps Wipro considerably. Similarly, at Satyam

nearly 80% of the 9,000 employees are logged into the in-house learning management system
for various courses. Infosys has almost 10% of its total training through e-Learning.
E-learning has come a long way from its early days when it was used extensively for technical
education such as learning new languages and familiarization with new technologies. Today,
firms are introducing soft skill modules as well. Satyam uses e-learning modules on
management provided by Harvard Manage Mentor Plus. Satyam has even tied up with
Universitas 21-a consortium of 16 international universities and Thomson learning-for an online MBA.
It is not that e-learning replaces traditional training system. In fact, e-learning becomes more
effective when blended with traditional learning methods. Many firms use e-Learning as a
prerequisite before classroom training popularly called blended training, a combination of
electric learning with classroom approach. Routine training such as orientation, safety and
regulation compliance is best handled in classrooms. Learning that requires discussion,
tutoring and team-work can go on-line, though it might also stay in the classroom.
Requisites for E-Learning: E-Learning does not simply mean putting existing courses and
materials on a website. Following requisites need to be provided before launching learning online:
Sufficient top management support and funding needs to be committed to develop and
implement e-Learning
Managers and HR professionals need to be "retrained" to accept the idea that training
is being decentralized and individualized.
Current training methods (compared to e-Learning) are not adequately meeting
organizational training needs.
Potential learners are adequately computer literate and have ready access to computers
and the Internet
Sufficient number of learners exists and many of them are self-motivated to direct their
own learning.
Advantages and Disadvantages of E-Learning: E-Learning is advantageous in as much as it
is self-paced, allows for consistency and incorporates built-in guidance and help. There are
problems nevertheless. E-Learning tends to cause trainee anxiety, as many may not be ready to
accept or have access to computers and Internet. Table #6 brings out the advantages and
disadvantages more comprehensively.
Table #6 Advantages and Disadvantages of E-Learning
Advantages
Disadvantages
It is self paced. Trainees can proceed on May cause trainee anxiety
their own time
It is interactive, tapping multiple trainee Not all trainees may be ready for esenses
Learning
Allows for consistency in the delivery Not all trainees may have easy and

of training
Enables scoring of services/assessments
and appropriate feedback
Incorporates built-in guidance and
helps for trainees to use when needed
It is relatively easy for trainers to
update content
Can be used to enhance instructor-led
training

uninterrupted access to computers

Not appropriate for all training content
(e.g. leadership, cultural change)
Requires significant upfront 'cost and
investment
No significantly greater learning
evidenced in research studies
Requires significant top management
support to be successful

Success Factors It is worth pointing out that organizations using e-Learning exhibit a number
of common success factors:
Cultural change has taken place about how training and learning happens and is
delivered;
E-Learning is closely aligned to the needs of the business;
E-Learning is closely "blended" with other types of training such as classroom
activities and is not used to wholly replace other activities;
Learning needs that drive the technology rather than the other way around;
E-Learning has ongoing support from a senior level and is marketed effectively
throughout the organization;
A range of people with different skills are involved, including expert trainers,
facilitators, champions of e-Learning and specialist web and graphic designers
IMPEDIMENTS TO EFFECTIVE TRAINING
There are many impediments which can make a training programme ineffective. Following are
the major hindrances:
Management Commitment is Lacking and Uneven Most companies do not spend money on
training. Those that do, tend to concentrate on managers, technicians and professionals. The
rank-and-file workers are ignored. This must change, for, as a result of rapid technological
change, combined with new approaches to organizational design and production management,
workers are required to learn three types of new skills: (i) the ability to use technology, (ii) the
ability to maintain it, and (ill) the ability to diagnose system problems. In an increasingly
competitive environment, the ability to implement rapid changes in products and technologies
is often essential for economic viability
Aggregate Spending on Training is Inadequate Companies spend minuscule proportions of
their revenues on training. Worse still, budget allocation to training is the first item to be cut
when a company faces a financial crunch.
Educational Institutions Award Degrees but Graduates Lack Skills This is the reason why
business must spend vast sums of money to train workers in basic skills. Organizations also
need to train employees in multiple skills. Managers, particularly at the middle level, need to

be retrained in team-playing skills, entrepreneurship skills, leadership skills and customerorientation skills.
Large-scale Poaching of Trained Workers Trained workforce is in great demand. Unlike
Germany, where local business groups pressure companies not to poach on another company's
employees, there is no such system in our country. Companies in our country, however, insist
on employees to sign 'bonds of tenure' before sending them for training, particularly before
deputing them to undergo training in foreign countries. Such bonds are not effective as the
employees or the poachers are prepared to pay the stipulated amounts as compensation when
the bonds are breached.
No Help to Workers Displaced because of Downsizing Organizations are downsizing and delayering in order to trim their workforces. The government should set apart certain fund from
the National Renewal Fund for the purpose of retraining and rehabilitating displaced workers.
Employers and B Schools Must Develop Closer Ties B Schools are often seen as: responding
to Labour-market demands. Business is seen as not communicating its demands to B Schools.
This must change. Businessmen must sit with Deans and structure the courses that would
serve the purpose of business better.
Organized Labour can Help Organized Labour can playa positive role in imparting training
workers. Major trade unions in our country seem to be busy in attending to mundane issues
such bonus, wage revision, settlement of disputes, and the like. They have little time in
imparting training to their members.
HOW TO MAKE TRAINING EFFECTIVE?
Action on the following lines needs to be initiated to make training practice effective:
1. Ensure that the management commits itself to allocate major resources and adequate
time to training. This is what high-performing organizations do. For example, Xerox
Corporation, in the US invests about $ 300 million annually, or about 2.5 per cent of its
revenue on training. Similarly, Hewlett-Packard spends about five per cent of its
annual revenue to train its 87.OC: workers.
2. Ensure that training contributes to competitive strategies of the firm. Different
strategies need different HR skills for implementation. Let training help employees at
all levels acquire the needed skills.
3. Ensure that a comprehensive and systematic approach to training exists, and training
and retraining are done at all levels on a continuous and ongoing basis.
4. Make learning one of the fundamental values of the company. Let this philosophy
percolate down to all employees in the organization.
5. Ensure that there is proper linkage among organizational, operational and individual
training needs.
6. Create a system to evaluate the effectiveness of training. (Evaluation of training has
been discussed above.)

Newspaper Article on Training & Development

On August 4th 2006

Finance and marketing are pass -the function that really rocks India Inc is training.
Corporate Dossier takes you deep inside the massive in-house training departments
created by knowledge corporates, to find how they are powering their growth
Training fires the corporate engine

At the SEEPZ, Andheri , office of TCS in Mumbai, Dilip Kumar Mohapatra, 56, global head
for learning and development , is occupied these days with something very unusual for people
his age computer games. Okay, were exaggerating. Mohapatras team is actually
developing an online game that will be part of the induction kit for new hires, and will
familiarise TCS inductees around the world Buffalo, New York to Hangzhou, China
with the culture of the company. The challenge is to get everyone on to the common global
TCS culture, says Mohapatra. To get a sense of this challenge, consider that the software
majors workforce across 34 countries adds up to 71,200 people from 53 nationalities. And
with 2,500 new people being recruited every month, training has to find creative ways to keep
pace.
Up north in Gurgaon, BPO player IBM Daksh is taking training equally seriously its
training group is christened the Talent Transformation Business Unit (TTBU, and is run like a
separate business with its own finance controller , quality head, an administration and
transport wing, and a dedicated HR representative. It is even held accountable for output
measures of its trainees, such as voice quality, rejection rates, cost of delivery and customer
satisfaction metrics. We believe that training is the most important lever to deliver high
quality talent, with a direct impact on client satisfaction. That explains our disproportionate
focus on this function, says Pavan Vaish, COO, IBM Daksh.
While TCS and IBM Daksh are not the only ones others like Infosys, Wipro, Genpact and
ICICI Bank, face similar challenges of hiring and training people on a large scale they are
perfect examples of how the in-house training department has become crucial, in fact, core to
the growth and success of Indias new age behemoths.
And it shows in the investments being made by these companies into training infrastructure
and resources. Infosys has a staggering $125 million annual outlay for training and
development, while TCS too invests a comparable figure on training. Accentures global
spends on training and development has been $546 million (for September-August 2005).

Need of the Hour

In the knowledge economy, its no longer enough to put your employees through the
occasional training module a few times a year. Companies looking to operate and compete in a
global market need to constantly skill and reskill their people, and training is becoming a
24/7/365 affair, cutting across geographies and time restrictions. To deliver this training on this
scale and frequency, technology is key media-rich content, video-on-demand, chat and
online self-tutorials have ensured that most of the learning for employees takes place at the
place, and time, of their convenience. Technology has made training asynchronous, says TV
Mohandas Pai, director HR, Infosys, where 30% of training is now IT enabled.
For ICICI Banks 27,800 employees a bulk of them at the operational level e-learning is
a way of life when it comes to skill up gradation. For us the classroom is the most inefficient
way (to train), says HR head K Ramkumar, whose training team conducts 190 e-learning
programmes annually. Whats interesting is that by bringing in the convenience of anytime,
anywhere learning, companies have managed to put the some of the onus of learning onto
employees. This is further re-inforced by linking training hours completed, to the individuals
overall performance score. The responsibility of gaining competency has been shifted to the
learner, since competencies are now closely aligned with appraisals, says MP Ravindra, VPEducation & Research, and Infosys.
But nowhere does training assume greater importance than in the BPO industry. With
thousands of fresh graduates handling customer queries, theres an ongoing need to equip them
with the necessary soft and specialized skills. Says Aashu Calapa, executive VP, HR at ICICI
One-Source, 40% of our recruits are fresh graduates, and with most jobs being customerfacing ones, clients are paranoid about the quality of people we employ. Periodic and, often,
frequent changes in the global business environment, have put greater pressure on training
departments to bring employees up to speed on the latest rules and regulations in their clients
industries. Calapa recalls that OneSource associates were once required to write two tests for a
UK-based client one on the data protection act and other on the money laundering act, and
to pass they had to score 18 out of 20 points.

Also, with BPO companies looking to move up the value chain, people need to be coached in
new skills. Traditional training was just about behavioral and technical training, says Rahul
Varma, head HR (India), Accenture. Now, it includes cultural and value training,
understanding your own as well as your clients organization, as well as the industry in which
one is working. There is also a need to get people ready for potential jobs that we may want
them
to
take
up.
Changing From the Inside-Out
The really big shift, of course, is that from being a HR support function, training has moved on
to becoming an independent entity within the organization. Our supply chain is mission
critical to us, says Piyush Mehta, senior VPHR , Genpact. When you keep training as part of
HR, it gets buried. To give it the importance of an independent function, we treat it as one.
And it shows last year, Genpact spent close to $8 million on training, and has 313 trainers
along with 70 part-time specialists who also conduct domain-specific training for its 25,000strong workforce across the world.
Monitoring of training quality is just as important. IBM Daksh has been working with IBMs
research labs to develop a tool called Sensei, a performance evaluation grid that assesses voice
quality and generates a statistical score. Its being tested and will be rolled out later this year.
Lyndon J DSilva , VP, Talent Transformation Business Unit, IBM Daksh, says, We believe
the only way to produce quality output is to quantify it. It also has eight people dedicated to
R&D in training, who conduct research and refine training methods, after feedback from
trainers and business units. With scalability becoming an problem, DSilva believes
technology
will
increasingly
be
trainings
best
bet.
Rapid scaling up in IT and ITES companies is also putting pressure on the training machinery,
and like most other business functions, training is faced with a talent shortage. Trainers are
definitely scarce in numbers, and in capabilities, says Varma. While many companies are
outsourcing part of their requirement of trainers, others believe in growing them internally,
since the best trainers are line managers and executives who have spent time and understand
the business first hand.
Runaway Train
Accenture follows what it calls a leaders teaching leaders approach for technical training,
while cross-cultural and communication training is outsourced to vendors. At ICICI Bank,
senior executives are required to spend time training others, and this helps decide whether they
get on the Leadership Talent List of potential fast trackers. Infosys links training to
individuals
performance.
Trainers are also required to keep updating their skills and knowledge, and most companies
have structured train-the-trainers programmes in place. Having a global presence helps in
leveraging training resources and sharing expertise across continents. TCS rotates its training
faculty between the Indian and overseas locations, and even brings down people from other
countries here. This way, cross-culturalisation happens better, says Mohapatra.

New Challenges
Its clear that the quality of the internal training capability will be among a key driver of
business success in the future. Not surprisingly, investment in training infrastructure is a
priority for most HR heads and CEOs, and coping with scale is a big issue. Expanding the
talent pool, managing incidental changes in the training modules and scalability are the
challenges the training department faces today, says Ravindra. Expanding internal resources
is one way. Building external partnerships with educational institutions is another so
companies like TCS, Infosys, and Accenture have been developing joint programmes for
training people at these institutions before they join the company. TCS runs an Academic
Interface initiative, wherein its own faculty teaches at academic institutes, and this helps in
better branding for the company, as well.
Mohapatra lists globalization and M&As as the two biggest tests of his training departments
effectiveness in the future in terms of integrating a globally diverse workforce into a single
platform, and ensuring a seamless merger of cultures during acquisitions . The existing model
of training also needs to adapt with changing business needs from time to time. For instance,
TCSs Learning & Development group is currently working on a project (codenamed
Pygmalion) to develop training programmes and tools for a new cadre of people that the
company has never hired before plain graduates.
For others like ICICI Bank, whore in the retail banking and finance business, the challenge is
in extending the in-house training capabilities to a larger pool of Direct Sales Associates
(DSAs) outside the company and make them compatible with the company culture.
Ramkumar says work is on for a certification process whereby outside partners will be
remunerated according to their assessment scores after training.
BPO firms like ICICI One-Source have mooted the National Assessment of Competence
(NAC) programme, a joint certification and assesment programme with Nasscom to expand
the employable talent base for the industry. If it works, this initiative could enable training
departments to focus on building higher end competencies in fresh inductees from day one.
Were clear that training is one of the pillars that were going to build our future on, says
Calapa.

On July 31st 2006

Infosys plans largest training centre
Infosys to set up world's largest training hub
MYSORE: Software major Infosys plans to invest Rs.809 crores ($176 million) on expanding
its global education centre in the next one year, company executives said.
Over the next one year, the NASDAQ-listed firm planned to set up a new 9,000-seat training
facility here, which would enable training of 13,500 individuals in a single sitting, they said.
An additional 7,750 hostel rooms were under construction, making it a total of 10,000 rooms.
"When fully completed it will house five food courts, one employee care centre, one
multimedia centre making it undoubtedly the largest training facility in the world," an official
said.
The company's Mysore campus is spread over 335 acres and it currently has 6,378 employees.
It has three million square feet of built up area, and work is in progress to build another 3.2
million square feet.
Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday inaugurated
the company's fourth software development block here, set up with an investment of Rs.85
crores. It can seat 2,500 people.

Daily News & Analysis

Online learning gets a thumbs-up from corporates
On August 16th 2006
BANGALORE: Indian software service firms spend six to eight weeks in training fresh
recruits before deploying them on projects. With more projects on hand and hiring in
thousands, software companies are looking at innovative ways to maximize the productivity of
their employees and ensure faster deployment.
Now, online learning companies are focusing on building content that aims to help IT firms
save training time and costs on employees.
The speed at which technology firms can develop, modify and deploy the e-learning content
is the key parameters for improving quality of the employee talent, Sanjeev Fadnavis,
associate vice-president, business development, at Harbinger Knowledge Products told DNA
Money.
According to analysts, the Indian corporate e-learning market is estimated at $10-20 million
with a potential to grow at 150%.
The technology sector has been among the early adopters of online education, with its focus
on constant training of employees and using learning as a retention tool. In order to capture
this huge segment, several players are building specialized tailor-made e-learning courses for
tech firms in the country.
Bangalore-based Liqwid Krystal, for example, has designed a solution that allows aspirants for
software jobs to write a programme in an online test and assess their capability of building
codes, unlike the traditional theory-based tests.
The proficiency of the candidate on various programmes could be assessed better, Liqwid
Krystal CEO Anand Adkoli said.
Liqwid Krystal has tied up with Viswesvaraya Technical University in Karnataka and Andhra
University in the neighboring state to train over 90,000 engineering students through the
module, including in business and soft skills.

It is important for knowledge-driven companies to develop and protect intellectual property,

which provides competitive and business advantage. The learning should be constant, Brain
League chief knowledge officer Kalyan C Kankanala said.
Brainleague and Edutech have joined hands to provide e-learning on intellectual property
rights with a focus on research units across the country.
But there is a word of caution for firms that adopt e-learning without a clear focus on their
business.
E-learning can also be a disaster if it is not managed correctly. It is not a panacea; it is a
means to an end. To be successful, online learning has to have the right fit with the
organization. It should not be chosen because it is fashionable, Nasscom has said.

On August 9th 2006

Most agencies have developed their own training methods tailored to suit the nature of their
work. GroupM has an internal training department called Aspire MGuruKool, which prepares
modules to hone functional and managerial skills. Our training programmes encompass
strategizing, planning and buying, and help develop work and soft skills, in addition to
competency-based training, which involves understanding the media business, informs
Rashmi Deshpande of Group M.
Agencies generally rope in internal and external faculties (from India and abroad) for training.
Most faculties are specialized and bring to the table expertise in a particular area.
So, for planning and strategizing, we may call someone from HLL, while for soft skills we
may bring someone from IIM Bangalore, says Deshpande. JWT conducts functional
workshops for senior-level staff, level-wise workshops to upgrade skills and middlemanagement workshops. These workshops see lectures, brainstorming and a time-bound
deliverable
action
plan,
says
Sapna
Srivastava.
Ashish Bhasin informs that a team of four from the US and the UK recently trained 25 people
in Lintas India on the Worldwide Planning Tool Kit. These 25 people will, in turn, train others
to bring about a cascading effect. We are getting the best practices when required, and at the
same
time
exporting
knowledge.
A lot of fresh knowledge is created in India in areas like rural marketing, design, etc that we
are ready to export, says Bhasin. Lintas, meanwhile, has set up its own North-point Centre of
learning to empower managers with updated knowledge and decision-making skills.
Some of these programmes are often modeled on those developed by parent companies. Says
Deshpande: All media companies under WPP exchange training programmes on modules,
content, role etc. We sometimes adapt and sometimes share best practices with others. For its

part, O&M has an HR and Training leadership group in Asia Pacific that plans regional
programmes and oversees training plans.
Young talent is given more opportunity to grow as well. O&M nominates those who have
worked for 3-4 years for the regional programme Adopt a Country, which is held thrice a
year across different Asia-Pacific centres. A buddy is chosen and the two buddies get an
opportunity to visit each others country.
The programme is intended to help youngsters build networks across different regions, work
on projects together and develop a sense of belonging. GroupM has a programme called Fast
Trackers for young achievers, where youngsters are put through a lot more grind in terms of
opportunities, sent to different regions, allowed to work with bigger clients and groomed to
take on additional responsibilities. Lowe sends two people, typically one planner and one
creative or servicing person, for its global young achiever forum, which is held once a year.
High fliers and the crme de la crme of the talent pool can also look forward to attending
special workshops. JWT nominates its top-level staff (those identified to head offices) for its
international programme Sam Meek, and introduced a top achievers programme in
December 2005.
O&M sends its senior staff for the regional senior management development programme
(SMDP), a five-module programme spread over 15 months. And Lowe has introduced
programmes like media training for non-media, IMAG Training for non-IMAG and
advertising workshop for non-advertising.

Case Study: Article

Training Employees of IBM through E-Learning

E-learning is a technology area that often has both first-tier benefits, such as reduced travel
costs, and second-tier benefits, such as increased employee performance that directly impacts
profitability."
- Rebecca Wettemann, research director for Nucleus Research
In 2002, the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) was ranked fourth by the
Training magazine on its The 2002 Training Top 100. The magazine ranked companies
based on their commitment towards workforce development and training imparted to
employees even during periods of financial uncertainty.
Since its inception, IBM had been focusing on human resources development: The company
concentrated on the education and training of its employees as an integral part of their
development. During the mid 1990s, IBM reportedly spent about $1 billion for training its
employees. However, in the late 1990s, IBM undertook a cost cutting drive, and started
looking for ways to train its employees effectively at lower Costs. After considerable research,
in 1999, IBM decided to use e-Learning to train its employees. Initially, e-Learning was used
to train IBM's newly recruited managers.
IBM saved millions of dollars by training employees through e-learning. E-Learning also
created a better learning environment for the company's employees, compared to the
traditional training methods. The company reportedly saved about $166 million within one
year of implementing the e-learning program for training its employees all over the world. The
figure rose to $350 million in 2001. During this year, IBM reported a return on investment
(ROI)s of 2284 percent from its Basic Blue e-Learning program. This was mainly due to the
significant reduction in the company's training costs and positive results reaped from elearning. Andrew Sadler, director of IBM Mindspan Solutions, explained the benefits of elearning to IBM, "All measures of effectiveness went up. It's saving money and delivering
more effective training,' while at the same time providing five times more content than
before." By 2002, IBM had emerged as the company with the largest number of employee's
who have enrolled into e-Learning courses.
However, a section of analysts and some managers at IBM felt that e-Learning would never be
able to' replace the traditional modes of training completely. Rick Horton, general manager of
learning services at IBM, said, "The classroom is still the best in a high-technology
environment, which requires hands-on laboratories and teaming, or a situation where it .is
important for the group to be together to take advantage of the equipment."
Though there were varied opinions about the effectiveness of e-Learning as a training tool for
employees, IBM saw it as a major business opportunity and started offering e-learning
products to other organizations as well. Analysts estimated that the market for e-Learning
programs would grow from $2.1 billion in 2001 to $33.6 billion in 2005 representing a 100
percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR).
BACKGROUND NOTE

Since the inception of IBM, its top management laid great emphasis on respecting every
employee. It felt that every employee's contribution was important for the organization.
Thomas J. Watson Sr. (Watson Sr.), the father of modern IBM had once said, "By the simple
belief that if we respected our people and helped them respect themselves, the company would
certainly profit." The HR policies at IBM were employee-friendly. Employees were
compensated well - as they were paid above the industry average. in terms of wages. The
company followed a 'no layoffs' policy. Even during financially troubled periods, employees
were relocated from the plants, labs and headquarters, and were retrained for careers in sales,
customer engineering, field administration and programming.
IBM had emphasized on training its employees from the very beginning. In 1933 (after 15
years of its inception), the construction of the 'IBM Schoolhouse' to offer education and
training for employees, was completed. The building had Watson Sr.'s 'Five Steps of
Knowledge' carved on the front entrance. The five steps included 'Read, Listen, Discuss,
Observe and Think.' Managers were trained at the school at regular intervals.
To widen their knowledge base and broaden their perspectives, managers were also sent for
educational programs to Harvard, the London School of Economics, MIT and Stanford. Those
who excelled in these programs were sent to the Advanced Managers School, a program
offered in about forty colleges including some in Harvard, Columbia, Virginia, Georgia and
Indiana. IBM's highest-ranking executives were sent to executive seminars, organized at the
Brookings Institutions this program typically covered a broad range of subjects including,
international and domestic, political and econQll1ic affairs. IBM executives were exposed to
topical events with a special emphasis on their implications for the company.
In 1997, Louis Gerstner (Gerstner), the then CEO of IBM, conducted a research to identify the
unique characteristics of best executives and managers. The research revealed that the ability
to train employees was an essential skill, which differentiated best executives and managers.
Therefore, Gerstner aimed at improving the managers' training skills. Gerstner adopted a
coaching methodology of Sir John Whitmore, which was taught to the managers through
training workshops.
However, after some time, Gerstner realized that the training workshops were not enough.
Moreover, these workshops were not 'just-in-time.' Managers had to wait for months before
their turn of attending the work shops came. Therefore, in most of the cases, during the initial
weeks at the job, the employees did not possess the knowledge of critical aspects like team
building.
IBM trained about 5000 new managers in a year. There was a five-day training program for all
the new managers, where they were familiarized with the basic culture, strategy and
management of IBM. However, as the jobs became more complex, the five-day program
turned out to be insufficient for the managers to train them effectively. The company felt that
the training process had to be continuous and not a one-time event.

Gerstner thus started looking for new ways of training managers. The company specifically
wanted its management training initiatives to address the following issues:
Management of people across geographic borders
Management of remote and mobile employees
Digital collaboration issues
Reductions in management development resources
Limited management time for training and development
Management's low comfort level in accessing and searching online HR resources
The company required a continuous training program, without the costs and time associated
with bringing together 5000 managers from all over the world. After conducting a research,
IBM felt that online training would be an ideal solution to this problem. The company planned
to utilize the services of IBM Mindspan Solutions to design and support the company's
manager training program. This was IBM's first e-learning project on international training.
ONLINE TRAINING @ IBM
In 1999, IBM launched the pilot Basic Blue management training program, which was fully
deployed in 2000. Basic Blue was an in-house management training program for new
managers. It imparted 75 percent of the training online and the remaining 25 percent through
the traditional classroom mode. The e-Learning part included articles, simulations, job aids
and short courses.
The founding principle of Basic Blue was that 'learning is an extended process, not a one-time
event." Basic Blue was based on a '4- Tier' blended learning model'. The first three tiers were
delivered online and the fourth tier included one-week long traditional classroom training. The
program offered basic skills and knowledge to managers so that they can become effective
leaders and people-oriented managers.
The managers were provided access to a lot of information including a database of questions,
answers and sample scenarios called Manager QuickViews. This information addressed the
issues like evaluation, retention, and conflict resolution and so on, which managers came
across. A manager who faced a problem could either access the relevant topic directly, or find
the relevant information using a search engine. He/she had direct access to materials on the
computers desktop for online reading. The material also highlighted other important web sites
to be browsed for further information. IBM believed that its managers should be aware of
practices and policies followed in different countries. Hence, the groups were foremen
virtually by videoconferencing with team members from all over the world,"
In the second tier, the managers were provided with simulated situations. Senior managers
trained the managers online. The simulations enabled the managers to learn about employee
skill-building, compensation and benefits, multicultural issues, work/life balance- issues and
business conduct in an interactive manner. Some of the content for [his tier was offered by
Harvard Business School and the simulations were created by Cognitive Arts of Chicago. The
online Coaching Simulator offered eight scenarios with 5000 scenes of action, decision points

and branching results. IBM Management Development's web site, Going Global offered as
many as 300 interactive scenarios on culture clashes.
In the third tier, the members of the group started interacting with each other online. This tier
used IBM's collaboration tools such as chats, and team rooms including IBM e-Learning
products like the Team-Room, Customer-Room and Lotus Learning Space. Using these tools,
employees could interact online with the instructors as well as with peers in their groups. This
tier also used virtual team exercises and included advanced technologies like application
sharing, live virtual classrooms and interactive presentation: on the web. In this tier, the
members of the group had to solve problems as a team by forming virtual groups, using these
products. Hence, this tier focused more on developing the collaborative skills of the learners.
Though training through e-Learning was very successful, IBM believed that classroom
training was also essential to develop people skills. Therefore, the fourth tier comprised a
classroom training program, own as 'Learning Lab.' By the time the managers reached this tire,
they all reached a similar level of knowledge by mastering the content in the first three tiers.
Managers had to pass an online test on the content provided in the above three tiers, before
entering the fourth tier. In the fourth tier, the managers had to master the information acquired
in the above three tiers and develop a deeper understanding and a broader skills set. There
were no lectures in these sessions, and the managers had to learn by doing and by coordinating
directly with others in the classroom.
The tremendous success of the Basic Blue initiative encouraged IBM to extend training
through e-Learning to its-sales personnel and experienced managers as well. The e-Learning
program for the sales personnel was known as 'Sales Compass,' and the one for the
experienced managers, as 'Managing@ IBM.' Prior to the implementation of the Sales
Compass e-Learning program, the sales personnel underwent live training at the company's
headquarters and training campuses. They also attended field training program, national sales
conferences and other traditional methods of training. However, in most of the cases these
methods proved too expensive, ineffective and time-consuming. Apart from this, coordination
problems also cropped up, as the sales team was spread across the world. Moreover, in a
highly competitive market, IBM could not afford to keep its sales team away from work for
weeks together.
Though Sales Compass was originally started in 1997 on a trial basis to help the sales team in
selling business intelligence solutions to the retail and manufacturing industries, it-was not
implemented on a large scale. But with the success of Basic Blue, Sales Compass was
developed further. The content of the new Sales Compass was divided into five categories
including Solutions (13 courses), industries (23 courses), personal skills (2 courses), selling
skills (11 courses), and tools and job aid (4 aids).
The sales personnel of IBM across the globe could use the information from their desktops
using a web browser. Sales Compass provided critical information to the sales personnel
helping them to understand various industries (including automotive, banking, government,
insurance etc) in a much better manner. The information offered included industry snapshot,

industry trends, market segmentation, key processes, positioning and selling industry solutions
and identifying resources.
It also enabled the sales people to sell certain IBM products designed for Customer
Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Business Intelligence
(BI), and so on. Sales Compass also trained the sales personnel on skills like negotiating and
selling services. Like the Basic Blue program, Sales Compass also had simulations for selling
products to a specific industry like banking, about how to close a deal, and so on. It also
allowed its users to ask questions and had links to information on other IBM sites and related
websites.
Sales Compass was offered to 20,000 sales representatives, client relationship representatives,
territory representatives, sales specialists, and service professionals at IBM. Brenda Toan
(Toan), global skills and learning leader for IBM offices across the world, said, "Sales
Compass is a just-in-time, just-enough sales support information site. Most of our users are
mobile. So they are, most of the times, unable to get into a branch office and obtain
information on a specific industry or solution. IBM Sales Compass provides industry-specific
knowledge, advice on how to sell specific solutions, and selling tools that support our
signature selling methodology, which is convenient for these users."
IBM also launched an e-Learning program called 'Managing @ IBM' for its experienced
managers, in late 2001. The program provided content related to leadership and people
management skills, and enabled the managers to meet their specific needs. Unlike the Basic
Blue program, this program enabled managers to choose information based on their
requirements. The program included the face-to-face Learning Lab, e-learning, and Edvisor, a
sophisticated Intelligent Web Agent. Edvisor offered three tracks offering various types of
information.
By implementing the above programs, IBM was able to reduce its training budget as well as
improve employee productivity significantly. In 2000, Basic Blue saved $16 million while
Sales Compass saved $21 million. In 2001, IBM saved $200 million and its cost of training
per-employee reduced significantly - from $400 to $135. E-learning also resulted in a deeper
understanding of the learning content by the managers. It also enabled the managers to
complete their classroom training modules in lesser time, as compared to the traditional
training methods used earlier. The simulation modules and collaboration techniques created a
richer learning environment. The e-learning projects also enabled the company to leverage
corporate internal knowledge as most of the content they carried came from the internal
content experts.
IBMs cost savings through E-Learning
Program
Basic Blue
Going global
Coaching simulators

Saving in 2000 (in US $million)

16.0
0.6
0.8

Manager Quick-Views
Customer-Room
Sales Compass

6.6
0.5
21.0

E-LEARNING AT IBM - FUTURE PLANS

The e-Learning projects of IBM had been successful right from the initial stages of their
implementation. These programs were appreciated by HR experts of IDM, and other
companies. The Basic Blue program bagged three awards of 'Excellence in Practice' from the
American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) in March 2000. It was also included
among the ten best 'world-class implementations of corporate learning' initiatives by the "ELearning across the Enterprise: The Benchmarking Study of Best Practices" (Brandon Hall) in
September 2000.
IBM continued its efforts to improve the visual information in all its e-Learning programs to
make them more effective. The company also encouraged its other employees to attend these
e-learning programs. Apart from this, IBM planned to update these programs on a continuous
basis, using feedback from its new and experienced managers, its sales force and other
employees.
IBM used e-Learning not only to train its employees, but also in other HR activities. In
November 2001, IBM employees received the benefits enrollment material online. The
employees could learn about the merits of various benefits and the criteria for availing these
benefits, such as cost, coverage, customer service or performance using an Intranet tool called
'Path Finder.' This tool also enabled the employees to know about the various health plans
offered by IBM. Besides, Pathfinder took information from the employees and returned a
preferred plan with ranks and graphs. This application enabled employees to see and manage
their benefits, deductions in their salaries, career changes and more. This obviously, increased
employee satisfaction. The company also automated its hiring process. The new tool on the
company's intranet was capable of carrying out most of the employee hiring processes.
Initially, IBM used to take ten days to find a temporary engineer or consultant. Now, the
company was able to find such an employee in three days.
IBM also started exploring the evolving area of 'mobile learning' Analysts felt that for mobile
sales force of IBM, m-Learning was the next ideal step (after e-Learning). IBM leveraged
many new communication channels for offering its courses to employees. IBM also started
offering the courses to its customers and to the general public. In early 2002, American
Airlines (AA) used IBM's e-Learning package, which enabled its flight attendants to log on to
AA's website and complete the 'safety and security training' from any place, at any time. The
content included instruction clips, graphics, flash animation, and so on. This made the airlines
annual safety training certification program guides more effective. Shanta Hudson-Fields,
AA's manager for line training and special projects, commented, "The full service package that
IBM offers has allowed us to develop an effective online course for our large group of busy
attendants. In addition to providing a flexible training certification experience for our
attendants, American has also brought efficiency and cost savings to our training processes

using IBM's e-Learning solution." The company had trained 24,000 flight attendants by
November 2002.