Training & Development

 

Introduction: 

• Investments in training and development of employees can improve an organization’s success and competitiveness.  
• Employees who are not properly trained can make mistakes that result in accidents and threaten public safety and well-being. 
• Continuous learning and the transfer of knowledge are key factors in fostering creativity and promoting organizational excellence. 

Performance Management: 

The process of establishing performance goals and designing interventions  and programs to motivate and develop employees to improve their performance and ultimately, organizational performance. This process signals to employees what is really important in the organization, ensures accountability for behavior and results and helps improve performance. The performance management process involves several components that are closely related to one another: 

1) Defining Performance 

2) Setting Performance Expectations 

3) Setting Performance Goals 

Managers meet with employees to discuss performance expectations and agree on performance goals and objectives. These goals should stem from organizational or department level goals and objectives. This ensures that employees goals are aligned with department and organizational goals. 

 

SMART Goals:  

Goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and have a time frame. 

Once the manager and the employee have set SMART goals, it is important for managers to monitor employee performance and provide ongoing feedback so that employees know whether they are accomplishing their goals. In addition to informal feedback, a key part of the performance management process is a formal performance evaluation. The performance evaluation also involves performance consequences to reward employees for accomplishing their goals and serves to reinforce employee behaviors and performance.  

 

A critical component of the performance management process is employee training and development and the creation of a development plan for employees. This involves programs and activities that are designed to help employees achieve their goals and improve their performance.  

Training and Development:

 

One of the most important ways that performance can be improved in  organizations. 

• Training:  Formal and planned efforts to help employees acquire knowledge, skills, and abilities to improve performance in their current job. Training usually consists of a short-term focus on acquiring skills to perform one’s job. The goal is to help an employee do their job better. 

• Development:  Refers to formal and planned efforts to help employees acquire the knowledge, skills and  abilities required to perform future job responsibilities and the long term achievement of individual career goals and organizational objectives. Often consists of more extensive training 

 

• Human Capital:  The knowledge, skills and abilities of an organization’s. It has been found to be a key  determinant of an organization’s performance and one of the most important resources for competitive advantage. Human Capital Development is one of the top areas of concern for organizations. 
• Social Capital: The social resources that an individual obtains from participation in a social structure. It  has to do with relationships within an organization and between members of the organization and external stakeholders. Like Human Capital, social capital can also be used by employees to achieve their goals and it contributes to employee and organization performance. 

 Strategy:  

The goal of all organizations is to survive and prosper. T & D can help organizations achieve  these goals. 

Effectiveness:  

There is a calculable benefit to training employees. Trained employees can do more and  better work, make fewer errors, require less supervision, have more positive attitudes, and have lower rates of turnover. Trained employees also produce higher quality products and services. A review of research on training and organizational effectiveness found that training is positively related to human resource outcomes. Research has found that companies that invest more in training have higher revenues, profits and productivity growth than firms that invest less in training 

 

References 

• Ackerman P. L. (1987). Individual difference in skill learning: An integration of psychometric and information processing perspectives. Psychological Bulletin, 102, 3–27. 
• Aguinis H., Kraiger K. (2009). Benefits of training and development for individuals and teams, organizations, and society. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 451–474. 
• Allen J. A., Baran B. E., Cliff C. W. (2010). After-action reviews: A venue for the promotion of safety climate. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 42, 750–757. 
• Allen J. A., Hays R. T., Buffardi L. C. (1986). Maintenance training simulator fidelity and individual differences in transfer of training. Human Factors, 28, 497–509. 
• Alliger G. M., Janak E. A. (1989). Kirkpatrick’s levels of training criteria: Thirty years later. Personnel Psychology, 42, 331–342. 
• Arthur W. Jr., Bennett W. Jr., Edens P. S., Bell S. T. (2003). Effectiveness of training in organizations: A meta-analysis of design and evaluation features. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 234–245.