Change is demanded by adjustments in the external and internal environment. The process of training starts once the requirement for change is acknowledged and the components that affect the intervention are considered. Fundamentally, two questions must be inquired: “What are our training requirements?” and “What do we desire to achieve through our training struggle?” After determining the training goals, management can ascertain suitable methods to achieve them. In order to facilitate change and achieve organizational goals, training must be continuously evaluated.
Phases of Training | The Training Process
Training has the following phases.
a) Phase 1: Need Assessment & Developing Goals:
Business organizations must maintain their employees well-trained in order to compete effectively. Determining training needs is the first step in the training process. The entire aim of the assessment phase is to ascertain if training is required and, if so, to give the information needed to design the training program. Three levels of analysis are included in the assessment.
• Organizational Analysis: It is the evaluation of the types of issues that an organization is experiencing and where they are present inside the organization.
• Task/Operational Analysis: It specifies the types of behaviors & skills needed by the incumbents of a particular job and the standard of performance that must be met.
• Personal Analysis: The goal of the personal analysis is to evaluate how well the individual employees are doing their duties. Training should be provided to those who require it. Organizational resources are wasted when training is given to all employees, regardless of their skill level. Also, an unpleasant condition is created for those employees who do not require training.
Goals are desired end results. In human resources, concise and clear goals must be developed.
b) Phase 2: Delivering the Training:
The training program that is a result of the assessment should be a direct reaction to an organizational issue or requirement. Approaches differ by presentation, location, or kind. These are as follows.
• Location Options on the Job: Training is given at the real workplace employing real work equipment.
• Location Options off the Job: Training is performed outside the real workplace. Training is performed at a training facility that is prepared particularly for training.
c) Phase 3: Training Methods:
Following are the training methods that can be used for giving the training.
• Lecture: In order to communicate a large portion of actual information to a relatively large number of people at the same time, a lecture is an effective source for this. It is employed in many training programs and is a traditional method of teaching. Material can be organized in a skilled lecture and is shown in an understandable & clear manner. However, learners do not actively participate in a lecture.
• Case Method: In this training method, trainees are required to examine the information provided in the case and make decisions on the basis of that information.
• Simulations: Simulators are training devices of different degrees of complicatedness that copy the actual world. In this method, an artificial learning environment is created that resembles the actual working environment as much as possible.
• Apprenticeship: In this kind of training method, a new employee, also known as an apprentice, works side by side under the supervision of a skilled technician.
• Internships: This method of training resembles apprenticeship training. However, in internships or assistantships, a higher level of formal education is required for the occupation being considered as compared to the skilled trades. Internship opportunities for students are given by many colleges & universities by developing agreements with organizations.
• Coaching & Mentoring: An experienced mentor is assigned by some organizations to new employees. Job skills are taught by effective mentors to their protégés along with the provision of encouragement & emotional support. Mentoring and coaching provide learning on a one-to-one basis because these are on-the-job development approaches. Coaching is mostly viewed as the responsibility of the immediate boss who has enhanced experience & expertise in the relevant field and has the ability to give proper advice. A similar case applies to a mentor, but the mentor is present elsewhere in the organization or even in another business organization. The relationship may be informal or formal.
• Discussions: Because conferences & group discussions give forums where persons are able to learn from one another, they can also be used as a method of training. In order to alter behaviors & attitudes, group discussions are used.
• Games: Business games are simulations that show real business conditions. Selected parts of a particular situation are duplicated by the structure of these simulations, which are then manipulated by the participants.
• Role Playing: It is a training method in which participants are required to react to particular issues they may actually encounter in their jobs.
• Computer-Based: It is a training method that takes advantage of the memory, speed, and data manipulation capabilities of the computer for enhanced flexibility of instructions.
• Multimedia: Multimedia is an application that increases computer-based learning with animations, audio, interactive video, and graphics.
• Virtual Reality: This is a unique computer-based training method that allows trainees to see objects from a perspective otherwise impossible or impractical.
• Video Training: Another popular training method is the use of videotapes. An example of the utilization of videotapes is behavior modeling. Behavior modeling is a successful training approach that uses videotapes to exemplify potential interpersonal skills and how managers operate in different conditions.
• Vestibule Training: In this training method, training is provided at some other location away from the actual job location by using equipment that is very similar to the real equipment of the job.
d) Phase 4: Evaluating Training:
Many approaches have been taken by organizations in attempting to ascertain the worth of particular programs. The effectiveness of training is assessed in this phase. Effectiveness can be evaluated in non-monetary and monetary terms.
• Participant’s Opinion: Assessing a training program by inquiring about the opinions of the participants is an inexpensive approach that gives suggestions for improvements and quick reactions. The fundamental issue associated with this kind of assessment is that it is not based on fact but on opinion. In reality, nothing is learned by the trainee except that a learning experience happened.
• Extent of Learning: Tests are administered by some organizations to ascertain what the participants have learned in the training program. One procedure method that may be used is the post-test, pretest, and control group design.
• Behavioral Change: What has been learned may be fairly and accurately indicated through tests, but they provide minimal insight into desired behavioral changes.
• Accomplishment of Training Goals: Still, another approach for assessing training programs includes ascertaining the degree to which stated goals have been accomplished.
• Benchmarking: In the benchmarking approach, other organizations are given the task to assess and improve training programs. There is an estimate that approximately 70 percent of American business organizations are involved in some kind of benchmarking.
