Chapter 11 Training

Learning Objectives Describe the need for training Discuss how to assess training needs Demonstrate how to provide training Explain how to evaluate training Role of supervisor in providing trainers Explain the need for training for the supervisor

Training defined Training is an organized, systematic, series of activities designed to continually enhance the work related knowledge, skills, and performances of employees.

Education and training Education typically describes teaching and learning that takes place in a more formal setting, as being more theoretical, and having less immediacy or direct application. In training teaching and learning are geared towards the development of specific job related knowledge and skills that have direct application on the job.

Need for training The need for training is the result of the demands on organizations to be productive and competitive: 1. Intensely competitive nature of the modern workplace. 2. Rapid and continual change. 3. Technology transfer problems. 4. Changing demographics.

Impact of global competition For an organization to succeed in a competitive global marketplace, every employee must be prepared to contribute ideas for improving performance. To beat the competition, the organization must make its products both better and less expensively than the competitors. To do this every employee of the company must be better trained, better skilled, and more productive than similar employees in competing companies here and abroad. The best way to accomplish this is through constant training and retraining.

Technology transfer problems Technology transfer is the movement of technology from one arena to another. Technology diffusion is the process of moving newly commercialized technologies into the workplace where they can be used to enhance performance. To take maximum advantage of new technologies, people must know how to use them effectively. Knowing comes from training.

Assessing training needs The most structured approach supervisors can use to assess training needs is a job task analysis in which a job is analyzed thoroughly, and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to perform it are recorded. Using this, a survey instrument (fig 11-1, page 159) is developed. Employees respond by indicating which skills they have and which they need. The needs are then converted into training objectives.

Writing training objectives Objectives must state what the employee should be able to do after the training. Behavioral objectives contain action verbs (fig 11- 2, page 160). For example: upon completion of the training employees should be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers. The more clearly training objectives are written, the easier it is to plan training to meet the objectives.

Providing training Internal approaches: provide training on-site at the organization’s facilities. Mentoring involves placing a less skilled employee under the instruction of a more skilled employee. Computer based training (CBT) offers advantages of being self paced, individualized, and able to provide immediate and continual feedback to learners. Media based instruction may consist of video tapes, CDs, and workbooks. External approaches: involve enrolling employees in programs or activities provided by colleges, universities, professional organizations, and private training companies. Partnership approaches: include customized on site training provided by colleges and private companies or associations for business, industry, and government employers.

Principles of learning 1. People learn best when they are ready to learn: Motivate employees to want to learn. 2. People learn easily when what they are learning can be related to something they already know: Build today’s learning on what was learned yesterday. 3. People learn best in a step by step manner: Learning should be organized into logically sequenced steps. 4. People learn by doing: Lecture should be followed by application activities. 5. The more often people use what they are learning, the better they will remember and understand it: Repetition should be built in the learning process. 6. Success in learning tends to stimulate additional learning: Short segments to allow learners see progress. 7. People need immediate and continual feedback to know if they have learned: Feedback can be as simple as a nod, a pat on the back, or a comment “good job”.

Four Step Teaching Approach 1. Preparation: Planning lessons, checking equipment, and training aids. 2. Presentation: Get their attention, be brief, be organized, use humor, keep it simple, take charge, be sincere, be enthusiastic, tell stories. 3. Application: Simulation activities, role play, and hands on activities. 4. Evaluation: If employees are supposed to learn how to do X, Y, and Z then have them do X, Y, and Z and observe the results.

Terms Summary Application Education Evaluation Feedback Mentoring Needs assessment Preparation Presentation Training

Home Work Answer questions 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, and 11 on page 169 of the text book. 3. Why do organizations in the United States spend about $ 50 billion each year on education, training, and development? 4. Explain the impact of international competition on the training needs of organizations in the United States. 7. Explain the most structured approach for assessing training needs. 9. Explain briefly the following approaches to providing training: internal, external, and partnership. 10. List 4 principles of learning. 11. Explain the 4 step teaching approach.