Human resource management, human resource development, training system - Essay Example

They are not designed for skills that cannot be systematically understood. “Soft” skills like customer service could be improved by training cycles because, while it is not a technical skill, certainly repetition can benefit it, measurement can occur over time by looking at customer service responses, etc. Even some interpersonal skills might be training cycle-appropriate. But a skill like being able to select stocks based on an economic intuition or advanced theory is not likely to be a training cycle approach, since the approach cannot be systematically understood, broken down, conveyed or put into a cycle.

The training cycle design, at its basis, is a four-step process: 1. The training needs of the organisation are analysed and identified. A training gap is thus examined and enumerated: The gap between the organisation's means and goals. 2. The design of the training programme itself. 3. Implementation of the training. 4. Evaluation of that training. Evaluation of the training determines more weaknesses in the organisation as well as discovers new inefficiencies in the process which then leads back to analysing and identifying need training needs, ad infinitum.

Many design techniques are helpful in creating a working training cycle program. Pre-defined inventories of tools and skills, either defined by the organisation or defined by industry standards writ large, can guide design. “One organization wanted to develop a competency for all its information technology employees that would serve as the foundation for employee development, performance management, and career pathing. When examining the options for developing the model, the usual methods were thought of first: surveys, focus groups, subject matter expert interviews, and organization records.

However, it was suggested that IT competencyneeds are not really that different across different organisations. Ninety percent of IT skills required in one company will be required in another” (Arnold et al, 2000). In fact, most industries have well-understood pre-established job sets. It is true that, if the company were to recreate theirs from the ground up, it would likely be highly optimized for their company's needs. But unless HR has the money and time to reinvent the wheel, adopting a pre-existing inventory then eliminating skills that obviously are not relevant and adding those that are is likely to be far more efficient.

Further, the design process itself can be made more efficient: While some training elements might heavily impinge upon the workers' needs and require a lot of their feedback, some are just technical changes or improvements that workers not only desire but in any respect are not onerous impositions (Arnold et al, 2000, 24-25). The SME pool can be limited to only a few experts. The Internet itself is a wonderful tool to reduce training cycle time (Bigdoli, 2004). Implementation It is well known that training cycle approaches don't take into account the full, rich complexity of an organisation (Koster, 2002).

For one thing, training gaps are not always negative. There may be untapped strengths (Christie, 2011). Training cycles can be