9-1 EXCEL

BOOKS
Chapter

TRAINING
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Need For Training

Training is a planned programme designed to improve performance

and bring about measurable changes in knowledge, skills, attitude
and social behaviour of employees.

Features of Training
 Increases knowledge and skills for doing a particular job
 Focuses attention on the individual job.
 Concentrates on individual employees
 Gives importance to short term performance

Training is essential for job success. It can lead to higher

production, fewer mistakes, greater job satisfaction and lower
turnover.

Training
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Need For Training

 helps new recruits to perform assigned tasks effectively

 helps existing employees to prepare for higher level jobs
 enables existing employees to keep in touch with latest developments
 permits employees to cope with changes brought in by frequent transfers
 makes employees more versatile, mobile, flexible and useful to the organisation
 bridges the gap what the employee has and what the job demands allows an
employee to gain acceptance from peer groups readily 

Training
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Training vs. Development

Training is concerned with teaching specific job related skills and behaviour.
Development is future oriented training, focusing on the personal growth of
the employee.

Training vs. Development

L e a r n in g D im e n s io n Tr a i n i n g D e v e lo p m e n t
M e a n t fo r O p e r a t iv e s E x e c u tiv e s
Focus C u r re n t jo b C u r r e n t a n d f u t u r e jo b s
S cope In d iv id u a l e m p lo y e e W o r k g r o u p o r o r g a n is a t io n
G oal F ix c u r r e n t s k il l d e f ic it P re p a r e fo r fu tu re w o rk d e m a n d s
In iti a t e d b y M anagem ent T h e In d iv id u a l
C o n te n t S p e c i f ic jo b r e l a t e d in f o r m a t i o n G e n e r a l K n o w le d g e
T im e - f r a m e I m m e d ia t e L o n g te rm

Training
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Training vs. Education

Training, more or less, is job oriented (skill) learning. Education, on the

other hand, is a person-oriented, theory-based knowledge whose main
purpose is to improve the understanding of a particular subject (a kind of
conceptual learning).

Training Pitfalls
Here is a checklist to avoid training pitfalls
 Attempting to teach too quickly
 Trying to teach too much
 Viewing all trainees as the same
 Giving very little time to practice
 Offering very little to the trainee in the form of encouragement, praise
or reward

Training
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Learning Principles: The Philosophy

of Training
Training efforts are invariably based on certain learning oriented guidelines:
 Modelling: It is simply copying someone else's behaviour. (like showing the
videotapes of desired behaviour while at work)
 Motivation: For learning to happen, it is important to motivate the trainee first.
 Reinforcement: If behaviour is rewarded, it probably will be repeated.
Positive reinforcement consists of rewarding desired behaviours.
 Feedback: Feedback helps an employee find where he stands. People learn
best if reinforcement is given as soon as possible.
 Spaced practice: Learning takes place easily if the practice sessions are
spread over a period of time.
 Whole learning: Employees learn better if the job information is given as an
entire logical process.
 Active practice: Learning is enhanced when trainees are provided ample
opportunities to repeat the task.
 Relevance: training should be as real as possible so that trainees can
successfully transfer the new knowledge to their jobs
 Environment: employees learn faster in comfortable environments

Training
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Areas And Types of Training

Training is generally offered in the following areas

Areas of training
 Knowledge
 Technical skills
 Social skills
 Techniques

Training
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Areas And Types of Training

The various types of training that are commonly employed in

present-day organisations may be listed thus.
Types of training
 Skills training: here certain basic skills like reading, writing, computing, speaking,
listening, problem solving etc are taught
 Refresher training: here the focus is on short term courses that would help employees
learn about latest developments in their respective fields
 Cross functional training: this helps employees perform operations in areas other than
their assigned job.
 Team training: this is concerned with how team members should communicate with
each other, how they should cooperate to get ahead, how they should handle conflictful
situations, how to find their way using collective wisdom etc.
 Creativity training: this helps employees to think unconventionally, break the rules,
take risks, go out of the box and develop unexpected solutions.
 Diversity training: it aims to create better cross cultural sensitivity with the aim of
fostering more harmonious and fruitful working relationships among a firm's employees
 Literacy training: this is generally offered to those employees with weak reading,
writing or arithmetic skills.

Training
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How to be more creative?

 Thermax: At Thermax (over 1200 employees nearly Rs. 600 crore turnover, 6 per
cent attrition rate) high-potential individuals are given greater exposure, high
visibility and asked to chart out a career vision through an ongoing dialogue.
 GCPL: Godrej Consumer Products Ltd’s (1052 employees, nearly Rs. 500 crore
sales) talent management system allows bright employees to acquire a wide
variety of skills through job rotation (e.g., sales systems, project management skills,
IT skills, Team building skills etc.). Outstanding performers get salary increase
instantaneously.
 Sapient Corporation: (914 employees with over $ 202 million global sales). At
Sapient employees work on 48-50 projects at any given time. Some of these are
executed entirely by the local employees from their Gurgaon and Bangalore offices.
 Johnson & Johnson: (1419 employees with over $ 41,000 million global sales)
J&J constantly encourages its employees to upgrade their skills and knowledge
through short-term programmes at institutes like the IIMs, XLRI etc. apart from
rotating employees on challenging tasks.

Cont…

Training
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How to be more creative?

 Monsanto India: (354 employees with nearly $ 5,000 global sales) Monsanto
sets stiff targets for employees, but trains employees with a rare rigour so that
they get a fair shot at those. People identified as future leaders are given internal
international positions.
 P&G: (Over Rs. 750 crore sales and powerful brands like Vicks, Tide, Ariel,
Pantene, Whishper, Pampers, Head and Shoulders, etc.) P&G relies on the
promote-from-within philosophy’. It hires freshers straight out of B-school, trains and
empowers them to handle challenging jobs from day 1. Says a new recruit from
IIM Ahmedabad: “I am two months old in the company and already handling a
new brand launch”.

[BT-Hewitt Study, 2003; BT-Mercer-TNS Study, 2004; Grow Talent Study, B. World, 1.9.2003 and 6.12.2004]

Training
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A Systematic Approach To Training

A systematic approach to training would consist of three phases: training

needs assessment, implementation and evaluation

Training needs assessment

Training efforts must aim at meeting the needs of the organisation and the
individual employees. This, essentially, involves three types of analysis:
a. Organisational analysis: This is a study of the entire organisation in
terms of its objectives, utilisation of resources to achieve objectives etc.
 Analysis of objectives
      Resource utilisation analysis
      Environmental scanning
 Organisational climate analysis

Training
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Training needs assessment

b. Task or role analysis: this is a detailed examination of a job, its

components, its various operations and conditions under which it has to be
performed.

c. Person analysis: here the focus is on the individual in a given job;

whether training is needed, whether the employee is capable of being
trained, and the areas where the training is needed. 00

Training
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Data sources used in training needs

assessment
Organisational Analysis Task Analysis Person Analysis
Organisational goals and objectives Job descriptions Performance data or appraisals
Personnel inventories Job specifications Work sampling
Skills inventories Performance standards Interviews
Organisational climate analysis Performing the job Questionnaires
Efficiency indexes Work sampling Tests (KASOCs)
Changes in systems or subsystems Reviewing literature on Customer/employee
(e.g., equipment) the job attitude surveys
Management requests Asking questions about Training progress
the job
Exit interviews Training committees Rating scales
MBO or work planning systems Analysis of operating CIT
problems
Customer survey/satisfaction data Diaries
Devised situations (e.g., role
play)
Assessment centers
MBO or work planning systems

Training
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Training needs assessment
d. Identify training objectives: Training objectives can be of three
types
Objectives of training
In n o v a tiv e
 A n t ic ip a t in g p r o b le m s
b e fo r e th e y o c c u r
 Te a m b u ild in g
s e s s io n s w ith th e
d e p a r tm e n ts
Training
O B J E C T IV E
P r o b le m s S o lv in g
 T r a in in g c le r k s to
r e d u c e c o m p la in ts
 T r a in in g s u p e r v is o r s
in c o m m u n ic a tio n s
to re d u c e g rie v a n c e s
R e g u la r
 O r ie n t a t io n
 R e c u r r in g tr a in in g o f
in te r v ie w e r s
 R e fr e s h e r c o u r s e s o n
s a fe ty p r o c e d u re s
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Training needs assessment

e. Training methods: Formal training methods include on the job training

covering job instruction training, coaching, mentoring, job rotation,
apprenticeship training, committee assignments etc and off the job
training including lectures, conference, simulation exercises and
programmed instruction.
f. Evaluation: Evaluation helps in controlling and correcting the training
programme.

Training
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On The Job Training Methods

 Job instruction training (JIT): This is training directly received on the

job. Here the trainee receives an overview of the job. The trainer actually
demonstrates the hob and the trainee is asked to copy the trainer’s way.
The trainee, finally, tries to perform the job independently.
Merits and demerits of job instruction
training
M e r it s D e m e r it s
 T r a in e e le a r n s fa s t th r o u g h p r a c t ic e a n d o b s e r v a tio n .  T h e t r a i n e e s h o u l d b e a s g o o d a s t h e t r a i n e r.
If th e tra in e r is n o t g o o d , tra n s fe r e n c e o f
k n o w l e d g e a n d s k i l l s w i l l b e p o o r.
 It i s e c o n o m i c a l a s it d o e s n o t r e q u ir e a n y s p e c ia l  W h ile le a r n in g , tr a in e e m a y d a m a g e e q u ip m e n t,
s e t t i n g s . A ls o , m is t a k e s c a n b e c o r r e c t e d i m m e d ia t e ly. w a s t e m a te r i a ls , c a u s e a c c id e n ts f r e q u e n tly.
 T h e t r a in e e g a in s c o n f i d e n c e q u i c k ly a s h e  E x p e rie n c e d w o r k e rs c a n n o t u s e th e m a c h in e r y
d o e s t h e w o r k h im s e l f in a c t u a l s e t t in g w it h w h il e it is b e in g u s e d f o r t r a in in g .
h e l p f r o m s u p e r v i s o r.
 I t i s m o s t s u it a b le f o r u n s k ill e d a n d s e m i- s k ill e d jo b s
w h e r e t h e j o b o p e r a t i o n s a r e s im p l e ; e a s y t o e x p l a i n

Training
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On The Job Training Methods

 Coaching: Here the supervisor explains things and answers questions;

throws light on why things are done the way they are; offers a model for
trainees to copy, conducts lot of decision making meetings, and allows
trainees freedom to commit mistakes and learn .Coaching, thus, requires
lot of teaching skills.

 Mentoring: The use of an experienced person to teach and train

someone with less knowledge and experience in a given area is known as
mentoring. The mentor nurtures, supports and guides the efforts of young
persons by giving appropriate information, feedback and encouragement
whenever required.

Training
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Functions of Mentoring
G o o d m e n to r s ...... G o o d m e n te e s ..... .
 L is t e n a n d u n d e r s t a n d  L is te n
 C h a lle n g e a n d s t im u la te  A c t o n A d v ic e
le a r n i n g  S h o w c o m m i t m e n t to le a r n
 C oach
 C he c k e g o a t th e d o o r
 B u i l d s e lf - c o n f id e n c e S u c c e s s fu l  A sk fo r fe e d b a c k
 P r o v id e w is e c o u n s e l M e n to r in g
 A re o p e n m in d e d
 T e a c h b y e x a m p le
 A re w il li n g t o c h a n g e
 A c t a s r o le m o d e l
 A re p r o a c tiv e
 S h a r e e x p e r ie n c e s
 O ffe r e n c o u ra g e m e n t

Merits and demerits of Mentoring

M e r its D e m e rits

 T h e r e i s a n e x c e ll e n t o p p o r t u n it y t o l e a r n
 C o n s t a n t g u id a n c e h e lp s t h e m e n t e e
t o b e o n t r a c k , u s i n g f a c i li t i e s t o g o o d
a d v a n ta g e .
 It m a y c r e a te fe e lin g s o f je a lo u s y a m o n g q u ic k ly
th r o u g h c o n tin u o u s in te r a c tio n . o th e r w o r k e r s w h o
a r e n o t a b le to s h o w e q u a lly g o o d p e r fo r m a n c e .
 If m e n to r s f o r m o v e r ly s tr o n g b o n d s w ith
t r a in e e s , u n w a r r a n t e d f a v o u r it is m m a y r e s u lt .
T h is c a n h a v e a d e m o r a lis in g e ffe c t o n o th e r w o r k e r s ,
a f f e c t in g t h e i r w o r k p e r f o r m a n c e in a n e g a t iv e w a y.

Training
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On The Job Training Methods

 Job rotation: This kind of training involves the movement of trainee from
one job to another.

Merits and demerits of Job rotation

Merits Demerits
 Improves participant’s job skills, job satisfaction Increased workload for participants
 Provides valuable opportunities to network within Constant job change may produce
the organisation stress and anxiety
 Offers faster promotions and higher salaries to Mere multiplication of duties do not
quick learners enrich the life of a trainee
 Lateral transfers may be beneficial in rekindling Development costs may shoot up when
enthusiasm and developing new talents trainees commit mistakes, handle tasks
less optimally

Training
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On The Job Training Methods

 Apprenticeship training: Most craft workers such as plumbers, carpenters

etc are trained through formal apprenticeship programmes. In this
method, the trainees are put under the guidance of a master worker
typically for 2-5 years.

 Committee assignments: In this method, trainees are asked to solve an

actual organisational programme working along with other trainees.

Training
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Off The Job Training Methods

 Vestibule training: It occurs off the job on equipment or methods that
are highly similar to those used on the job.

 Role playing: This is a development technique requiring the trainee to

assume a role in a given situation and act out behaviours associated with
that role.

 Lecture method: Here the instructor organises the study material on a

specific topic and offers it to a group of trainees in the form of a talk.

 Conference or discussion method: In this method the trainer delivers

a lecture and involves the trainees in a discussion so that the doubts
about the job to be undertaken get clarified.

 Programmed instruction: This is an approach that puts material to be

learned into highly organised logical sequences that require the trainees
to respond
Training
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Evaluation of A Training Programme

Training can be evaluated at five levels: reaction, learning, behaviour,

organisation and results.
Important decision points in training evaluation may be listed thus;

Important decision points in planning

training evaluation
 Should an evaluation be made?
 Who should evaluate?
 What is the purpose of evaluation?
 What will be measured?
 How comprehensive will the evaluation be?
 Who has the authority and responsibility?
 What are the sources of data?
 How will the data be collected and evaluated?
 How will the data be analysed and reported?

Training
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Methods of evaluation

 Questionnaires
 Tests
 Interviews
 Studies
 Human resource factors
 Cost benefit analysis
 Feedback.

Training