ORIENTATION AND TRAINING 

Orientation is the first part of the overall training program.  It is a guided program
designed by management so that you can adjust to your organization, your new job, and
associates. It is the duty of the Human Resources people and your direct  supervisor are to
provide proper orientation in order to assure management that new employees begin their work
the right way.

An effective orientation program has an immediate and lasting impact on the new employees.
You may anticipate two kinds of orientation, namely:

1. Organizational orientation -  is more a general type of orientation, where management

presents topics of relevance and interest to all new employees. Issues discussed may
include the organizational structure or chart, company products and services, general
policies, rules and regulation.
2.  Departmental and job orientation – is the particular type of orientation, where
management presents topics and issues that are unique to the new employee’s specific
department and job.

After you are formally hire, they have to orient you to the (1) organization and to your work
(2) job, with management motivating you to perform your work well at all times. This is just the
start of the series of training. If you like to go up the career ladder it is important that you update
and upgrade your competencies-periodically.

Features of a 21 century HRD and training programs

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1. Competency-based integration. The HR people can now identify the key competencies
required of the entire workforce. And the entire training program will be designed
around those competencies, ensuring integration of the following:

 Selection process (from HR planning and job analysis to formal hiring);

 Performance management (job evaluation, motivation, work condition);
 Succession planning (transfer, promotion, and reengineering); and
 Career development initiatives.

Again, the goal is to guarantee that the “people systems” are perfectly aligned with the
business strategy. This will allow management to hire, asses, promote, train, develop, and
manage people against consistent criteria that are relevant for the existing job and the
organization.

2. Customized solutions. Management knows too well that is cannot simply jump into a
single solution for every business problem. It is no longer a matter of one traditional
 solution for all problems. Instead, all talents and resources are configured into various
approaches to meet the particular business needs. In response to the times, 21 century
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Human Resources Department usually has a competent staff consisting of the following:

 Experience curriculum designers;

 Training programmers;
 HR expert facilitators; and
 As well as its own state-of-the-art video studios and printing facilities.

The purpose of all these is to easily tailor the HR training services and programs
(assessment tools, videos, software and instructional materials) to the organization’s unique
needs.

3. Flexible learning and powerful blending.  The 21 century Development and Training
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Program can offer more flexibility – both in content and delivery options.  HR people can
provide an integrated learning system that, by design, will meet the changing
requirements of a dynamic corporation.  In other words, HR services can be mixed-and-
matched to create a program that is highly tailored for the organization.  The aim is to
improve business performance by getting everyone actually focused on the same goal,
that is, to enter the room for improvement (kaizen).

4. Proven effectiveness.  Development and training systems are proven to build job-related
competencies and promote positive behavioral changes.  Its ability to accomplish these
objectives are tried and tested repeatedly.

5. Built-in assessment and evaluation.  Learning programs are comprehensive, containing

carefully crafted needs analysis and assessment instruments to help determine training
needs, assess post-training behavioral changes and evaluate the direct impact to the
organization.  A built-in assessment is crucial for any HRD and Training system.

6. Constant upgrading.  HR people can continuously do research, evaluate and revise

training programs to keep pace with the signs of the times, with the evolving workplace
demands of the 21 century, with change itself, HRD, as it were, must provide the
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organization with tomorrow’s solutions.

For example, when the use of videoconferencing is introduced in selection and hiring
processes, those HR people who never conducted interview through videoconferencing would
feel at a lost.  It is therefore imperative that new training programs tailored to video conference
interviewing skills are developed and delivered to hiring people.  Accelerating advances of
communication technologies is an area for constant upgrading.
The Domino effect of good training

1. If leaders and managers are well trained, they in turn can motivate their subordinates for
more productive work.  The consequence is good working relations, high performing
team, and soaring morale.
2. If the sales force and front line employees are properly trained and highly motivated,
goods/products and services are sold quickly.  There is less storage costs for keeping
unsold goods/products, muda (Japanese term for waste) in overproduction is avoided, and
the cost of overhead expenses is minimized.
3. When good working relation and high morale exist among employees, the firm will avoid
turnover, disgruntled manpower, complaints, and strikes
4. When muda, turnovers, and complaints are avoided, productivity will definitely increase.
5. When there is increased productivity, slice in the market is larger, the profit is higher, and
the returns to investments bigger.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES, METHODS AND EVALUATION

Change (like taxes and death) is inevitable. Change is what philosophers and hi-tech
experts refer to as the “only permanent thing in the world.” Economic, social, and technological
transformations are influencing the objectives and strategies of all organizations. Big words. It
only means that there are several external or environmental changes, whether we like it or not,
which will affect the way executives do business and the way you do your job. Change or
transformation can happen within the person and within the company. Planned changes within
the organization (like expansion, acquisition, downsizing, or reengineering) will make it
necessary for all personnel to update their competencies or acquire new ones. Change can
actually make the knowledge and skills you learned today obsolete in the near future. Definitely,
there is need to train.

Training is a program carefully designed by management, through competent trainers

and staff, to develop competencies needed to make you more effective on your present job or
better qualified for another job within the same company. Therefore, training is both useful for
the present and a preparation for the future. The areas to be developed by training are the
following:

1. Knowledge (what is in the head)

2. (Technical) Skills ( the psychomotor and aptitude for a certain job)
3. Attitude (includes motivation and job behavior)
4. Values (what is in the heart, personal principles, work ethics, moral standard)

Overall they refer to these as competencies. So why train? First and foremost, training is a
learning process the purpose of which is to enhance your job performance. You undergo
training and development to become more productive. To go back to our example, you are
 trained so not to be displaced in the computer-assisted design and manufacturing
(CAD/CAM) process that are now in place in many high-tech factory. You are trained to
avoid being a worthless junk in workforce, to become competitive as a worker.

Training Needs

What follows are the usual training needs, namely:

 Refresher course or retraining – is a kind of training that will help you regain the
original knowledge and skills forgotten due to passage of time.
 Updating – is the training you mostly needed because of the advent of new
technology, digital processes, and e-business tools.
 Upgrading – is the kind of training you need when your knowledge and skills
have become obsolete. This is important in order to improve the standard job
performance.
 Specializing – is a training that is required when you need to strengthen or deepen
your competencies in a particular function.

Training is an action plan that immediately follows an inventory of manpower (see HR

planning). If there is just enough manpower but lacks the competencies needed in order to
perform well, management will decide to retrain, update, or upgrade the competencies of the
particular employees involved.

Training objectives

Reasons why we undergo training

1. To grow and develop is a basic human need
2. Knowledge, skills, and competencies are not permanent
3. To be effective in your present job
4. To \qualify for a better job
5. To improve your work attitude and job satisfaction

In the HRD and Training Program management hopes to attain the five objectives, which are
the following:
 
1. To ensure that the right people with the right competencies are in the right job. This
is done in accordance with HR planning and forecasting.
2. To enhance performance on your present job. Improving your knowledge and skill
through training means more productivity on the current job.
3. To prepare you for a better (future) job. Overcoming obsolescence of competencies
and skills will certainly qualify you for a better job.
4. To booster your morale. Training hopes to improve your job attitude and behavior for
higher job satisfaction.
5. To help you in career planning. Updating and upgrading will surely provide you with
new and wider vision that will somehow help you manage your own growth pattern.
Steps in training (OJT)

Training is an empowerment. “Always remember that empowerment (development) is

not magic; it consists of a few simple steps and a lot of persistence,” suggests Business author
W. Alan Randolph (1995). After management identifies the training needs and objectives of the
organization, it is imperative to follow four steps in order to help trainee learn how to do the job
well, and do it more efficiently, safely, economically and intelligently.  

Step one: Preparation

Let me address the trainers at this point. Bear in mind that preparation is not only mental
and psychological; it is also physical, and physical preparation involves the following:

 Have the place and facilities properly arranged for training.

 Provide the right tools, equipment, supplies and materials necessary for training
before you begin.

If you’re tasked to train an associate the basic computer process, for example you can
have on hand a computer, the needed software, a training manual or CD, the data and other
materials necessary to show your associate how to use a software application. After you begin,
you don’t have to stop and look for items you need. That is being physically prepared.
Psychological preparation consists of the following:

 Find out the trainee already knows about the job.

 Get the trainee interested in and keen to learn the job.
 Inform the trainee, before the training begins, what will be taught, why it is
performed and how it fits into the overall picture.

When a trainee is not just seeing his small working area and when he set his sight on the
larger picture, that his work is a vital contribution to the whole process of production, that
trainee learns faster, understand more clearly and retains the better portion of what you
teach him. You have got to show him the bigger picture, the whys of training, how
training will affect the overall standing of business operation. Then he begins to
appreciate what he is being trained for.

Step two: Presentation

Work today is much complex to learn just by observation. It is no longer feasible to say
to a trainee, “Just watch me and do what I do.” The following pointers can guide you in showing
someone how to perform a task:

1. Describe what you are going to do. Instruct clearly, completely, and patiently one point at
a time. Make sure the trainee understand each point.
 2. Demonstrate step by step. As you demonstrate , explain each step and explain why is it
done that way. For instance, say to the trainee while explaining the spread sheet: “Notice
that I check the alphabetical order every time I enter a new item in order to make it easier
to locate the employee name in the payroll later. Otherwise you have to go through it all
over again.”
3. Have the trainee perform the task and let him explain to you the method and reason for
each step. If it’s not done to your satisfaction, repeat it; if it’s okay, reinforce it with a
praise or positive comments.
4. There is no rush in training and you have to encourage the trainee to ask questions about
the steps he doesn’t understand.

Step three: Performance tryout

Test the trainee by having her perform the job. Ask questions beginning with why, how,
when, or where. Observe performance, correct errors, and repeat instructions if necessary.
Continue until the trainee is competent on the job. After you are satisfied with the way the
trainee is learning, leave him alone and let him do the job by himself. The trainee needs
opportunity to try out what he has learned. He will probably make some mistakes, but that’s to
be expected.

Step four: Follow-up

Put the trainee on his own. Leave him do the job by himself. But comeback from time to
time and check to be sure he has followed the instructions correctly. Follow-up until trainee is
qualified to work with normal supervision. The follow-up step is important because people tend
to backslide to old way of doing or change what they have been taught. Careless people may skip
some steps in a procedure and cause errors in the process. Schedule follow-up discussions of the
new assignments two to three weeks after the presentation step. At that time, review what the
trainee has been doing.

Steps in training
STEPS WHAT GOALS
1. PREPARATION Physical (place, To get the big picture
materials) To get the interest of the trainee
Psychological
2. PRESENTATION Demonstrate step by To explain clearly and
step completely
3. PERFORMANCE Correct errors and To provide an opportunity to try
TRYOUT repeat instructions out what he has learned
4. FOLLOW UP Leave him alone to do To find out whether the trainee is
the job qualified to work by himself

Six basic principles of andragogy

 People management includes an integrative approach to managing human capital.
Psychology, adult education, and sociology come in when needed. More recently, educational
psychologists recognized the need to focus on adult learning and developed the “theory of adult
learning” (otherwise known as andragogy). Although Malcolm Knowles (1990) is most
frequently associated with andragogy, this author preferred to summarize the six basic principles
of adult learning theory for workplace form another author by the name of A. R. Noe (1999):

1. You, as a trainee, learn best when you understand the objective of the training program.
The training objective should have three components:  an explanation of what you are
expected to do (performance; a statement of the quality or level of performance that is
acceptable (criterion); and, finally, a declaration of the conditions under which you are
expected to perform the desired outcome (conditions).
2. You tend to learn better when the training is linked to your current job experiences,
because this enhances the meaningfulness of the training.  By providing you with
opportunities to choose your practice strategy as well as other characteristics of the
learning situation the training experience can be further enhanced.
3. You, as an employee, learn best when you have the opportunity to practice.  The trainer
should identify what you need to do when practicing the objectives (performance), the
criteria for attaining the objective, and the conditions under which the practice sessions
will be conducted.
4. You need feedback.  To be effective, the feedback should focus on specific behaviors and
be provided as soon as possible after your behavior.
5. Employees learn by observing and imitating the actions of a model.  To be effective, the
model’s desired behaviors or skills need to be clearly specified and the model should
have characteristics (such as age or position) similar to the target audience.  After
observing the model, you should have the opportunity to reproduce the skilss and
behaviors shown.
6. Training programs should be properly coordinated and arranged.  Good coordination
ensures that trainees are not distracted by events or conditions (such as an uncomfortable
room or poorly organized materials) that could interfere with learning.

The linking of adult learning theory with the strategic objectives of the organization is referred to
as high-leverage training.  Noe (1999) opined that high-leverage training helps to establish a
corporate culture that encourages continuous learning.  Continuous learning will help you to
understand the entire work system, including the relationships among their jobs, work units, and
the overall company.  You are expected to acquire new skills and knowledge, apply them on the
job, and share them with other employees.

Types of HRD and training programs

 On-the-job (OJT) training.  This training program is simple and realistic.  It will show
you how to perform the job in actual workplace and will allow you to do it hands-on
under the trainer’s supervision.
 Job rotation.  You learn several job tasks and duties within work unit or department and
perform each task for a specified timeframe.
  Apprenticeship or mentoring.  A neophyte is paired with an old timer so that the former
learns from the expertise of the latter.  It is the kind of training program that is well
developed in car, electronic, electrical manufactures, and even among school teachers.
 Vestibule training.  This is the most advisable program when a firm has to tral large
number of employees of similar skills.  This program prepares a “promotable” employee
for the key position he would like to take upon himself.  

Evaluation of training

Both management and HR people are fully aware that the costs of training and
development programs, including direct and indirect costs, represent a substantial monetary
outlay in  a company.  For sure top management will be asking:  Do training and development
programs pay off?  How does it show in the profit statement, percentage return on investment,
production and sales volume.

Evaluation of training is an HRD function, which is nothing more than a systematic

assessment of the extent by which training and development programs are being carried out. 
Regular evaluation also answers the question whether or not the training has reached its target
and accomplished its mission.  It seeks to obtain feedback on the tangible effects of “people
development”.  HR people need to have ready answers to questions, such as “Is this particular
training worthwhile?  How does this particular training contribute to the attainment of your
company’s  business goals and objectives?’ Sure enough, management support to training is
often dependent on the evaluation of tangible results as gathered from the trainees.

Levels of Evaluation

We can look at four levels of evaluating training.   It can be said that total evaluation must
necessarily include all these levels.  Evaluation as a systematic process must follow a sequence
of steps in order to be effective.  Not only training has to be effective; the evaluation of training
has to be effective, too.

Level 1:  Reactions.  The first step is the immediate individual response to training, and
naturally the cheapest level of evaluation.  How di you, one of the trainees, like the program? 
Evaluation as a systematic process must follow a sequence of steps in order to be effective.  Not
only training has to be effective; the evaluation of training has to be effective , too.

Level 2:  Learning.  This level measures the “cognitive” part of the participant or what
hits the head.  It evaluates what you have learned or discovered related to your job.  What
principles, facts, and concepts were made known to you in the training program?  This level
involves the measurement of principles and techniques understood and absorbed by the trainees.

Level 3:  Employee behavior and attitude.  This level measures the “affective” part of
the participants or what it’s the heart.  Although quite hard to assess, did your job behavior
change for the better because of the training program?  Needless to say, high morale and soaring
motivation in the workplace are recipes for tope performance.
 Level 4:  Results.  This level attempts to find out whether or not you can apply to your
job situation what you have learned from the training program.  What were the results of the
program in terms of the performance indicators or outcomes, such as reduced costs, quality
output, reduction in absenteeism and turnover?  This level is surely the most tedious level to
accomplish inasmuch as it measures cost efficiency.