TRAINING OF CIVIL SERVANTS

After the recruitment, the next important problem of personnel administration is their
training. From the point of view of efficiency of civil servants, training is essential, for to a
great extent administrative efficiency very much depends upon the efficiency of civil
servants. The purpose, for which the civil servants are appointed, can be accomplished only
when they are imparted skilled training. The ancient administration was plain and simple. It
was not complex and technical like that of today. Civil servants, coming directly out of their
universities or colleges cannot successfully discharge their administrative functions. Thus,
to impart them training concerning their respective position is an essential part of
administrative management.

Education and Training

Generally, people take education and training to be one and the same thing. Training
must be distinguished from education. Its scope is narrower and more specific than of
education. “The latter includes the complete upbringing of the individual from childhood, the
formation of character, of habits and manners, and of mental and physical aptitude,”—
(Tickner). Yet training and education are closely related and imperceptibly shade off into
each other. When training seeks to mould person’s attitudes and values, it overlaps
education. Prof. L. D. White has, however, distinguished education from training as
education aims to enable an individual to pass his examination, or to enable him to get
appointment or largely develop his mental capabilities, so that he may achieve success in
future. On the contrary, in-service training is meant for those who are already working. It
helps in the achievement of specific purpose of the organisation.

Meaning and Definition of Training

The dictionary meaning of training is instruction and discipline in a particular art,

profession or occupation. The training in the sphere of public administration would be that
it is a conscious effort made to improve or increase an employee’s skill, powers, or
intelligence and to develop his attitudes and sense of values lift desired direction. Training of
public employees, in its specialised sense is, however, a conscious effort directed towards
achievement of some specific purpose or purposes.

(1) Torpey William: “The process of developing skills, knowledge, and attitudes in employees
for the purpose of increasing the effectiveness of employees for future government positions.’

(2) Mandell: “We can define training as the conscious effort on the part of management to
give assistance and direction to the employees in learning their jobs and in their
occupational development.”

(3) S.B. Bapat, “In one sense, it means the imparting of knowledge essentially of a specialised
or professional nature. In another sense, training involves the teaching of techniques which
require the co-ordinated handling of tools and appliances and physical faculties rather than
of ideas. In still another sense, training entails the formation of mental and physical habit
patterns to ensure that the same stimuli would always produce the same automatic
responses.” Finally, training implies what the good gardener does to the growing sapling.

After going through these two definitions of training, we can say training is a
conscious effort to improve the skills, powers and intelligence of an employee and to develop
his attitude in a desired direction. It is a lifelong phenomenon. As such, we can describe the
following as the features of Training:

(a) Training is a conscious, deliberate and planned effort.

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(b) It is a specific planned and definite exercise.
(c) It means imparting instructions about a particular work or profession.
(d) Its purpose is to improve the skill, knowledge and effectiveness of the employees in their
tasks.
(e) It also aims at preparing an employee for higher responsibilities.
(f) Training, like the process of learning and socialisation, is a lifelong process. The
employees get some training at the entry point of administration and it is followed by in-
service and practical training about their work, duties and responsibilities.

TRAINING : TYPES

Training can be of different kinds according to its methods, duration and objectives.
Different types of training are imparted to the employees in different countries. The
Committee on the Training of Civil Servants (Great Britain 1944) suggested four different
types of training:
1. Vocational Training
2. Background Training
3. Further Education
4. Centralised Training

These are again sub-divided into several categories on the basis of their objectives:
(a) Initial Training
(b) Training for Mobility
(c) Training for Supervision
(d) Training for Higher Administration

The following are some of the major and more popular types of Training:
(1) Formal and Informal Training
(2) Short Term and Long Term Training
(3) Pre-entry and Post-entry Training
(4) Centralised and Departmental Training
(5) Skills Training and Background Training

1. FORMAL AND INFORMAL TRAINING

Formal Training: Formal training is carefully planned, arranged and conducted under
expert supervision and guidance. It is given through lectures and instructions. Its aim is the
inculcation of administrative skill by well-defined courses conducted at proper stages in a
man's career. Formal training has been becoming more and more popular because it is now
regarded as a means for improving administrative efficiency. Formal training can be
discussed under four sub-heads:

(a) Pre-entry Training

(b) Orientation Training
(c) In-service Training
(d) Post-entry Training

(a) Pre-entry Training. It is the training imparted to the candidates before they enter a
service. It may take the shape of vocational training or technical or professional training at
technical schools or colleges. It can be imparted by special institutes to candidates who have
been already recruited. They can enter the service only after completing the training
successfully. The trained candidates can be given jobs immediately after their coming out of
these institutions. Public Administration is a technical subject which requires the services of

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men with wider outlook and broader vision. For this, purpose pre-entry training is very
useful.

(b) Orientation Training. Orientation training has been gaining importance in contemporary
times because it plays the vital function of introducing an employee to the basic concept of
his job, new work environment, organisation, its goal and his job responsibilities.

According to KM. Marx, "It is clear that significant advances in functional efficiency of
the administrative state cannot be expected without corresponding changes in the working
style of the administrative system. In this respect, perhaps the most important thing is the
acceptance within the higher civil service of reorientation towards its role. The persons of the
top cadre must shift their attention from watching processes to measuring their impact,
from getting things done to giving each citizen his due, from the technology of
administration to its effect upon the general public, from utility to ethics."
Special orientation courses for employees at the entry point or after completing a definite
period of service in the organisation are conducted by special training cells or units or
institutions attached to the organisation.

(c) In-service Training. In-service training is a training which is imparted to the persons
after their selection to the Civil Service or even after their joining of the public service.
Assheton Committee of the U.K. in its report (1944) described the objects of In-service
Training in very specific words: "Briefly speaking, this type of training stimulates the
employees to make the best efforts and to improve their performance. It boosts their morale
and makes them attuned to the new tasks of an onerous nature."

This type of training may be organised either centrally or department wise. In-service
training may be given by a specialised training school by a circular training course according
to which the new recruits are first attached to the district officers and they observe the
different aspects of administration. Mostly, a combination of formal training and practical
contact with administration is used to impart the necessary education and training to the
personnel.

(d) Post-entry Training. This is imparted to the employees during the course of their
service. Its aim is to get better performance of the current work and to prepare the
employees for advancement.
Such training can be given in three ways:

(a) Organisation of Refresher Courses.

(b) Self-efforts on the Part of the Employees.
(c) Passing of Departmental Tests or Examinations.
Such training is imparted after regular intervals or at the time of each promotion.

B. Informal Training:
Informal training is training by experience, which an employee gets during the course
of his actual routine work in his organisation. This is a routine organisational activity. It
does not require a planned training programme. It is training by doing the work, learning by
trial and error and accumulation of administrative skill through practice. This type of
training neither prescribes a specific time period, nor is a group of trainees especially
selected for it. It is based upon the principle, "Learn while you work.”

However, informal training is a hard way of learning. The employee can commit errors
of commission and omission. The initiative of the employee is a big factor in such training.
Further, the success of this system depends upon the experience and seniority of the
superior officer, his interest in the new entrant, his willingness to involve the new entrant in
work and persisting efforts on the part of the new entrant to learn. Commenting upon
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Informal Training, Tickner, Director of Training and Education, HM. Treasury pointed out,
and rightly so, "It is the hard way of learning and can fully succeed only in the case of the
most persistent pupils. In the case of average employees, it may lead to the formation of bad
habits and breed much frustration and discouragement."

As such, informal training system cannot be regarded as an efficient and systematic

system of educating and training the employees. Its merit lies in the fact that it can provide
training in a routine way and within the environment of the organisation. However, it is a
non-specific system. To bring about administrative efficiency, both formal and informal
methods of training can be used in combination. Primacy, however, must be given to formal
training. Informal training can play a secondary role.

2. SHORT TERM AND LONG TERM TRAINING

On the basis of the duration of the training period, training is divided into two types-
Short Term Training and Long Term Training. These two types depend upon the duration of
the training course and the duration of the training depends upon the subject-matter of the
training course as well as on the nature of service. If the training period is completed in a
few weeks or a month or two, it may be called short term training. Short term training is
given to personnel during an emergency. For example, during war, short term training is
given to new recruits to the army. For lower level posts also, short term training is
considered good. Long term training is a normal training given to anew recruit in normal
times. Long term training programmes are conducted for a period of six months to one or
two years. Very often, a long term training course involves imparting of knowledge and some
practical experience to the personnel. Government officers are taught civil service conduct
rules and along with it, they are given field experience through attachment with existing
officers.

3. PRE-ENTRY AND POST-ENTRY TRAINING

It is clear from the terms itself that the training imparted before entering the civil
service is pre-entry training whereas the training given after a person has entered the service
is called post-entry training. Pre-entry training seeks to prepare the future recruits for the
service. All education at schools and colleges is a sort of pre-entry training. It may take the
shape of training through vocational or professional instruction at technical schools and
colleges. The products of such institutions can usually be put on the job immediately after
passing the tests.
The formal as well as non-formal training imparted to the newly recruited personnel
before their first appointments, can also be called pre-entry training. In India, after the
recruitment of the new entrants to the IAS/IPS and other allied services, an educational and
training course is conducted by the Administrative Academy at Mussoorie. It is followed by
further specialised training courses for various categories of officers, and attachment with
district officers. After the completion of the training, the officers are given their first
appointments.
The United States has developed a comprehensive system of pre-entry training for
administrative and managerial positions in the shape of apprenticeship and internship. An
internship programme is an educational method providing specially selected and specially
supervised trainees with preparation for administrative and policy careers in public affairs
by:

(1) Encouraging these trainees to apply previous academic and employment experience to
the new concrete job situations through direct participation on a systematically planned and
scheduled basis in the work of organisation appropriate to the particular interest of the
trainees and the sponsorers;
(2) Providing, if appropriate for trainees, participation in supplementary academic and
professional activities that will contribute further to their development. The internship has

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thrown quite a good number of understanding young person’s into the public service and
has brought the educational institutes and government closer.

Apprenticeship differs from internship. Under apprenticeship, the trainee, after some formal
instructions, is assigned to an official as his junior assistant. The training consists in the
apprentice being allowed to see the papers and cases that come to his senior's desk and to
watch and study the orders passed by the officer. Its object is to give to a trainee a practical
and realistic view of the administrative operation and problems by exposing him to the sight,
sound, touch, taste and smell of things themselves.
Post-entry training is very common as it is practised in almost all the countries. It is also
called in-service training. It may be a combination of formal and informal methods and it is
imparted at all levels of service. It helps in improving the efficiency and performance of the
employees and makes them professionally more competent and able.

4. CENTRALISED AND DEPARTMENTAL TRAINING

Training is departmental when it is given within the department. Most of the training
schemes in operation are of this type-each department catering for its own specialised
requirements. Its aims are limited. Its main aim is to improve the specific knowledge and
skill relating to the department and it is only conducted by each department for its own
employees. Such training is imparted by experienced officers of the department itself. The
Police Training College is an example of this type of training.

But far less specialised varieties of training, especially for the higher officers, there are
Central Training Institutions, for example The Training and Education Division of the British
Treasury which provides short courses of background training for the new entrants to the
administrative class of service.

5. SKILLS TRAINING AND BACKGROUND TRAINING

The purpose of the skills training is to instruct the employees in some specialised
techniques. It is intended to improve the skills of the employees in a particular kind of work.
It works for providing employees with all the knowledge of special skills, techniques,
procedures, methods or complicated systems etc. necessary to carry out their specialised
kind of work.

Background training is of a general nature. It provides knowledge of such subjects as

helps the trainees to understand the social, economic, political, administrative and
constitutional background and conditions prevailing in the country. Its purpose is not to
increase the trainee's skill in some particular kind of work but to broaden his vision and
mind generally. Craftsmanship training, income tax official training are examples of skills
training whereas the I.A.S. entrants training as provided by the Lal Bahadur Shastri
National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie is an example of background training.

Training, of civil servants is of great importance in all the countries. Training

programmes are chalked out with a view to making civil services more efficient and effective.
Training is necessary not only for new entrants but also for those who are already in the
service. It may be of any type-formal or informal, short term or long term, pre-entry or post
entry but it has to be imparted to the personnel of the administration. The importance of the
training of the personnel for the healthy and efficient working of the administration can
hardly be over emphasised. It is indeed an imperative necessity of public administration.
Only educated, skilled, motivated, dedicated, experienced and duly trained personnel can
carry out their functions effectively and efficiently and deliver the required goods and
services to the people. Training is an essential instrument for securing these qualities in the
personnel running the administration.