What is human resource training and development?

Introduction

The term “human resources” implies that human abilities and potential, such as aptitudes, knowledge, and skills, are as important to a company’s survival as are monetary and natural resources. To help employees perform their jobs as well as they can, companies develop training and development programs.

Most employees must go through some form of training program. Some programs are designed for newly hired or recently promoted employees who need training to perform their jobs. Other programs are designed to help employees improve their performance in their existing jobs. Although the terms are used interchangeably in this discussion, the former type of program is often referred to as a “training program” and the latter as a “development program.”

There are three phases to a training or development program. During the first phase, managers determine training needs. One of the best ways to determine these needs is with job analysis. Job analysis is a process that details the exact nature and sequencing of the tasks that make up a job. Job analysis also determines performance standards for each task and specifies the corresponding knowledge, skills, and aptitudes (potential) required to meet these standards. Ideally, job analysis is used as the basis for recruiting and selecting employees. Managers like to hire employees who already have the ability to perform the job; however, most employees enter an organization with strong aptitudes but only general knowledge and skills. Consequently, during the second phase of training, a method of training is designed that will turn aptitudes into specific forms of task-related knowledge and skills.

A long history of training and educational research suggests a number of guidelines for designing effective training programs. First, training is most effective if employees have strong intellectual potential and are highly motivated to learn. Second, trainees should be given active participation in training, including the opportunity to practice the skills learned in training. Practice will usually be most effective if workers are given frequent, short practice sessions (a method called distributed practice) rather than infrequent, long practice sessions (called massed practice). Third, trainees should be given continuous feedback concerning their performance. Feedback allows the trainee to monitor and adjust performance to meet training and personal standards.

One of the greatest concerns for trainers is to make certain that skills developed in training will transfer to the job. Problems with transfer vary greatly with the type of training program. In general, transfer of training will be facilitated if the content of the training program is concrete and behavioral, rather than abstract and theoretical. In addition, transfer is improved if the training environment is similar to the job environment. For example, a manager listening to a lecture on leadership at a local community college will have more difficulty transferring the skills learned in the classroom than will a mechanic receiving individual instruction and on-the-job training.

Once training needs have been analyzed and a training program has been implemented, the effectiveness of the training program must be measured. During the third phase of training, managers attempt to determine the degree to which employees have acquired the knowledge and skills presented in the training program. Some form of testing usually serves this goal. In addition, managers attempt to measure the degree to which training has influenced productivity. To do this, managers must have a performance evaluation program
in place. Like the selection system and the training program, the performance evaluation system should be based on job analysis. Ideally, a third goal of the evaluation phase of training should be to examine whether the benefits of training, in terms of productivity and job satisfaction, warrant the cost of training. A common problem with training programs is that managers do not check the effectiveness of programs.

Training and development are integral parts of a larger human resource system that includes selection, performance evaluation, and promotion. Because employee retention and promotion can be considerably influenced by training, training and development programs in the United States are subject to equal employment opportunity (EEO) legislation. This legislation ensures that the criteria used to select employees for training programs, as well as the criteria used to evaluate employees once in training programs, are related to performance on the job. When managers fail to examine the effectiveness of their training programs, they cannot tell whether they are complying with EEO legislation. EEO legislation also ensures that if minority group members do not perform as well as majority group members in training, minorities must be given the opportunity for additional training or a longer training period. Minorities are given the additional time based on the assumption that their life experiences may not have provided them with the opportunity to develop the basic skills that would, in turn, allow them to acquire the training material as fast as majority group members.

On-the-Job Training

The most common form of training is on-the-job training, in which newly hired employees are put to work immediately and are given instruction from an experienced worker or a supervisor. On-the-job training is popular because it is inexpensive and the transfer of training is excellent. This type of training program is most successful for simple jobs not requiring high levels of knowledge and skill. On-the-job training is often used for food service, clerical, janitorial, assembly, and retail sales jobs. Problems with on-the-job training arise when formal training programs are not established and the individuals chosen to act as trainers are either uninterested in training or are unskilled in training techniques. A potential drawback of on-the-job training is that untrained workers are slow and tend to make mistakes.

An apprenticeship is a form of long-term training in which an employee often receives both on-the-job training and classroom instruction. Apprenticeships are one of the oldest forms of training and are typically used in unionized skilled trades such as masonry, painting, and plumbing. Apprenticeships last between two and five years, depending on the trade. During this time, the apprentice works under the supervision of a skilled worker, or “journeyman.” Once a worker completes the training, he or she may join a trade union and thereby secure a position in the company. Apprenticeships are excellent programs for training employees to perform highly complex jobs. Apprenticeships offer all the benefits of on-the-job training and reduce the likelihood that training will be carried out in a haphazard fashion. Critics of apprenticeship programs, however, claim that some apprenticeships are artificially long and are used to keep employee wages low.

Simulation Training

Although on-the-job training and apprenticeship programs allow employers to use trainees immediately, some jobs require employees to obtain considerable skill before they can perform the job. For example, it would be unwise to allow an airline pilot to begin training by piloting an airplane filled with passengers. Where employees are required to perform tasks requiring high levels of skill, and the costs of mistakes are very high, simulator training is often used.

In simulator training, a working model or reproduction of the work environment is created. Trainees are allowed to learn and practice skills on the simulator before they start their actual jobs. Simulators have been created for jobs as varied as pilots, mechanics, police officers, nuclear power plant controllers, and nurses. The advantage of simulator training is that trainees can learn at a comfortable pace. Further, training on simulators is less expensive than training in the actual work environment. For example, flight simulator training can be done for a fraction of the cost of operating a plane. An additional benefit of simulator training is that simulators can be used to train employees to respond to unusual or emergency situations with virtually no cost to the company for employee errors. A potential disadvantage of simulator training is the high cost of developing and maintaining a simulator.

These simulator training programs are used for technically oriented jobs held by nonmanagerial employees. Simulator training can also be used for managers. Two popular managerial simulations are in-basket exercises and business games. Here, managers are put in a hypothetical business setting and asked to respond as they would on the job. The simulation may last a number of days and involve letter and memo writing, telephone calls, scheduling, budgeting, purchases, and meetings.

Interpersonal skills training programs teach employees how to be effective leaders and productive group members. These programs are based on the assumption that an employee can learn how to be a good group participant or a good leader by learning specific behaviors. Many of the interpersonal skills programs involve modeling and role-playing. For example, videotapes of managerial scenarios are used to demonstrate techniques a manager might use to encourage an employee. After the manager has seen the model, he or she might play the role of the encouraging manager and thus be given an opportunity to practice leader behaviors. An advantage of role-playing is that people get the opportunity to see the world from the perspective of the individual who normally fills the role. Consequently, role-playing is a useful tool in helping members of a group in conflict. Role-playing allows group members to see the world from the perspective of the adversary.

Programmed Instruction

Programmed instruction is a self-instructed and self-paced training method. Training material is printed in a workbook and presented in small units or chapters. A self-administered test follows each unit and provides the trainee with feedback concerning how well the material has been learned. If the trainee fails the test, he or she rereads the material. If the trainee passes the test, he or she moves on to the next unit. Each successive unit is more difficult.

Programmed instruction has been used for such topics as safety training, blueprint reading, organizational policies, and sales skills. The advantage of programmed instruction is that trainees proceed at their own pace. Further, because training and tests are self-administered, employees do not feel much evaluation pressure. In addition, when units are short and tests are frequent, learners get immediate feedback concerning their performance.

Computers have increasingly replaced the function of the workbook. Computer-assisted instruction is useful because the computer can monitor the trainee’s performance and provide more information in areas where the trainee is having trouble. A potential drawback of programmed instruction is that employees may react to the impersonal nature of training. Further, if the employees are not committed to the program, they may find it easier to cheat.

The Need for Ongoing Training

Over the last two hundred years, there have been dramatic changes in both the nature of jobs and the composition of the workforce. Consequently, there have also been dramatic changes in the scope and importance of training. The history of formal employment training dates back thousands of years. Training programs were essential for jobs in the military, church, and skilled trades. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, however, only a small percentage of the population had jobs that required formal training. Training for the masses is a relatively new concept. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of workers lived in rural areas and worked on small farms. Training was simple and took place within the family. During the Industrial Revolution, the population started to migrate to the cities, seeking jobs in factories. Employers became responsible for training. Although early factory work was often grueling, the jobs themselves were relatively easy to learn. In fact, jobs required so little training that children were often employed as factory workers.

Since the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing processes have become increasingly technical and complex. Now, many jobs in manufacturing require not only lengthy on-the-job training but also a college degree. In addition, technology is changing at an ever-increasing pace. This means that employees must spend considerable time updating their knowledge and skills.

Just as manufacturing has become more complex, so has the process of managing an organization. Alfred Chandler, a business historian, suggests that one of the most important changes since the Industrial Revolution has been the rise of the professional manager. Chandler suggests that management used to be performed by company owners, and managerial skills were specific to each company. Today, managers work for company owners and are trained in universities. Because management functions are so similar across organizations, managers can take their skills to a wide variety of companies and industries.

In contrast to the increasingly technical nature of jobs, there has been an alarming increase in the number of illiterate and poorly trained entrants into the workforce. There has also been an increase in the number of job applicants in the United States who do not speak English. In response to these problems, many companies have begun to provide remedial training in reading, writing, and mathematics. Companies are thus taking the role of public schools by providing basic education. Training and development programs will continue to be essential to organizational survival. As the managerial and technological worlds become more complex, and as the number of highly skilled entrants into the workforce declines, companies will need to focus on both remedial training for new employees and updating the knowledge and skills of older employees. The use of the Internet for distance-learning training programs is expected to increase, offering opportunities for people in remote locations who traditionally have not had access to local training resources.

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