Importance of Employee Training and Development in the Workplace - Essay Example

Importance of Employee Training and Development in the Workplace The business environment is changing continuously as businesses are focusing more on the development of their products and services for expanding their customers and operating in the global market. For achieving these objectives the companies need to work on broadening the skills of their human resource and must also help them to gain more interpersonal and technical skills. The role and job tasks also seem to be changing within the organization, thereby expecting employees to take tasks and responsibilities that are more challenging. Training is considered to be the best way that is being used by businesses to sharpen the skills of their human resource. This practice helps the employees to acquire new skills that would help them to perform their job more effectively. Training of employees may take place in different forms such as in formal classrooms, on the job, off the job or through coaching. Irrespective of the approaches that may be put to use by an organization, the benefits that organizations reap out of it are various. Some benefits may include increase in the motivation level of workplace employees, job satisfaction and company’s performance. Training and development is considered to be a major investment in not only the professional but also in the personal life of the employees. Training is considered to be an opportunity for expanding the knowledge base of all employees but many employers consider this employment opportunity expensive. Employees may also end up missing their work while attending the training sessions that may also cause the delay of some important projects. Despite of the drawbacks associated with training it has been proved to be beneficial for both company as well as individual and also make time and cost a worth investment. Training is considered to be an important factor as it helps in addressing the weaknesses, improving the performance of the employees, making their performance consistence and increasing employee satisfaction. Most of the employees do have certain weaknesses that are related to their workplace skills. Training programs may help to strengthen the skills of employees that they need to improve. Training and development programs may also increase the skills of the employees bringing them all to the same level so that they all share the same knowledge and skills. This may also help in reducing the weak links present in the companies that rely heavily on employees for completing the basic work tasks. Providing the necessary training to the employees helps creating knowledge staff within the organization that are able to complete the assigned project in teams as well as individually without requiring help or supervision from others. Various training and development programs that are properly structured make sure that the employees get prior in-depth knowledge as well as proper work related expertise. Consistency is considered to be relevant for the basic policies and procedures of the company. This may include discrimination, safety and also administration based task. When a firm puts all the employees in training associated with these areas the employees get exposure to some valuable information that helps them in the effective completion of the task. The employees of the organization who have the access to the training and development programs have a certain advantage over the employees working in other firms who do not have the access to these kinds of programs. The investment that the companies make in the employees’ training and development programs shows the employees that they are valued. This helps in increasing the confidence of the employees and increases their dedication. Training programs may also help in creating supportive workplace. Through these programs the employees of the organization gets access to the information they would not have known otherwise. Employees who feel appreciated and challenged through the training opportunities given to them by the firm feel more satisfied about their job (Frost, 2013). Organizations without any doubt have an option of using different methods and strategies to train or mentor their employees. They may initiates by introducing flexible provisions allowing practices to take place. Employees may also develop their skills by simply applying what they learn in the training, on their jobs. International employees exchange program also help the employees to learn new skills and gain more knowledge in different work environment. The employees who have more experience in particular field can be used to mentor other employees. Group discussions, coaching and teamwork can also be used as the sources of training employees. Having considered all these methods, extra time should be allocated to aid learning process in order to proceed with minimal interference with a person’s work based schedule. For the effective working of these methods the organizations need a proper structure with plan and strategies made for identifying the activities and monitoring the progress of the organization. The major advantages of these methods of training are that these are less costly and more convenient. However the organizations must use these methods with cautions as it may lead to bad practices that may negatively affect the culture of the organization. One way of avoiding this is to outsource the training. This will indeed be beneficial for the businesses that are trying to introduce new practices and standards that will eventually help in improving the working culture of the organization. The outsource firm will be able to maintain and introduce a certain level of integrity within the employees, which will then help them to learn and develop more skills to use in their job. There is no doubt about the fact that the trainings that are being led by an instructor are more disciplined, effective and professional, especially when the training is being led by someone outside the organization. However the major disadvantages of this training is that it is costly and it interrupts job schedule. Once an organization starts to embrace training and development of the employees, it will also be able to improve the skills of its human resource and the employees will also be able to perform different jobs in the organization. This results in improving the performance and productivity of the organization. In a nutshell the business may easily adapt to the increasing competition and the rapidly changing business environment. In order to motivate the employees to actively take part in the training and development programs being offered by the firm, the management of the firm should consider offering incentive to the employees such as allowances, promotions, etc. This approach will make sure that the firm does not experience any kind of shortage of professional or skills while achieving its objectives (Malkia, 2011). Many organizations still view training and development optional rather than essential. This viewpoint however can be costly to the long term progress and short term profits of the firm. Businesses consider training optional because they view it as an expense not an investment. This view point can be acceptable because in some cases training fails to give the desirable result to the firm. This is the reason why businesses not often send their employees on training and development programs. Businesses before sending their employees to training must calculate the measurable result as it will be effective for the employees as well as the organization (The Importance of Employee Development, 2013). Blanchard and Thacker define training into the larger context of the firm’s overall strategy and objectives. The authors of the book also present a comprehensive training model of the training process that guides the organization starting from their initial need analysis through the evaluation of their effectiveness of the training program. It also indicates the fact that there will be a positive relationship between the training program and the organizational change. Training also support the competencies of each discipline supporting the objectives of the other disciplines by using the contingency approach, suggesting alternative training approaches and methods for the organization that depends upon the organization’s unique constraints and objectives (Blanchard & Thacker, 2012). Trainers sometimes also analyze the strength and weakness of the company and identify the weaknesses existing and correct them so that the organization may increase its productivity. A common area of improvement in most of the organization is helping the supervisor to manage the performance of the company. Many employees are also promoted to the managerial position because they are considered to be good at their job but they may be not effectively trained as managers to help their subordinates for achieving the peak performance. Determining the training need of the company is only the initial phase of the training. The next and important step is the establishment of the dynamic learning environment for the company. In the booming economy of today, if organizations aren’t learning than there is no doubt about the fact that they are going to fall behind. Businesses usually grow as their employees learn more and more about the changing environment and acquire dynamic skills. The employees of the organizations are the ones that protect, refine, produce and deliver and manage the products and services of the organization. For the purpose of creating a learning culture within the organization businesses must clearly start by taking necessary steps for improving their skills, in order to stay at the top of their filed or position of work (Altarawneh & Ibrahim, 2005). Conclusion A successful program of training and development consists of a constituent that reports needs of leadership. This constituent guides the managers towards leadership training and pushes the business forward, making it exclusive and commercial. The financial effects of the training and development programs depend on how you cope with the requirements of learning, leadership and analysis. The training resources of an organization depend on whether the organization is appreciating a financial increase or persistent recession. When an organization is having a good time it spends money on training that’s not important for the company whereas in bad times the training is abolished completely. For financial related factor one must ingress the needs of training and development and accomplishes the anticipated results by brainstorming successfully. The organization chief business advantage is its employees. It must spend on them both attentively and advantageously to gain rewards in upcoming years. Another treasured resource of an organization is Human Resources even with the machines, money and materials nothing can be done unless the organizations have man power. The effectiveness of an organization depends upon how the employees perform their roles towards their job. The training of an employee helps to increase its abilities and talents so that he is well prepared for this job. The major fear of an organization is to adjust to its varying environment. The production of an organization can be increased by the selecting effective, well organized and operational training. Absence of these training programs can create disorganization, unsuccessfulness and unskillfulness in an organization. In modern world training and development plays most significant role in every organization. Its aim is to prepare employees for future jobs. Right training methods help in increasing the productivity and efficiency of the firm. This is the reason why training is given huge importance by the HR department of an organization. The organizations also conduct different studies and experiments for the purpose of improvising the training methods of the organization. References The Importance of Employee Development. (2013). Retrieved July 22, 2014, from Entrepreneur : http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/77678 Altarawneh, & Ibrahim, I. (2005). Training and development effectiveness : practices, roles and impacts on performance in Jordanian banking organisations. Retrieved July 22, 2014, from http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/4611/ Blanchard, P. N., & Thacker, J. W. (2012). Effective training : systems, strategies, and practices / P. Nick Blanchard, James W. Thacker. Pearson Education. Frost, S. (2013). The Importance of Training & Development in the Workplace. Retrieved July 22, 2014, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-training-development-workplace-10321.html Malkia. (2011). Importance of Training and Development in the Workplace. Retrieved July 22, 2014, from http://writer-malkia.hubpages.com/hub/Importance-of-Training-and-Development-in-the-Workplace Read More