Employee Training and Development - Literature review Example

Name: Tutor: Title: Employee Training and Development Course: Date: Introduction Learning is an important aspect for the employees in the current business environment. This is mainly due to the continuous changes in technology that greatly affects the operations and business process (Garofano, 2004). It is common for the organizations to train their employees so as to enhance their knowledge and apply the new skills in their workplace. The training is supposed to benefit the organization and the employees as well. However, most employees and organizations face a lot of challenges during the transfer of training. The transfer of training mainly involves applying the knowledge gained during the training into real work aspects. Edens (2003) notes that as a result of this problem most employees end up performing worse than they were before the training. This greatly affects the organization as it spends huge sum of money for the training of the employees. It is thus evident that some challenges are usually faced by the employees and the organization during training transfer. The causes of the changes may be due to the work environment or the personalities of the employees. The paper thus discusses the challenges that the organizations and employees face during the training transfer. Workers are at times faced with poor climate of transfer within the organization. Awoniyi (2002) argues that although the organizations spent a lot on the training of the workers, the transfer climate affects the process. Some organizations have poor climate of transfer and hence hindering the ability of the workers to transfer the training. Lack of support for the employees is one of the indication of poor transfer climate. The worker may be wiling to transfer the training but the opportunity to do so is hindered by lack of support. In other instances, the immediate supervisors may hinder the employees from transferring the training as it may end up changing the work scenario. According to Cheng & Hampson (2008), this is considered as a threat by the supervisors who always want to remain in control. This may not be reported to the management as the supervisors are the ones in charge of reporting. The organization therefore does not benefit from training the employees as they cannot apply the knowledge to transform the organization. The employees on the other hand do not have any other choices but to continue with the old practices. The transfer climate is thus a major challenge for the employees and the organization in terms of transfer of training (Edens, 2003). The worker may have clearly understood all the concepts of training and are ready to apply the knowledge in their workplace. However, they may be faced with a challenge of lack of strategic link of the training and the organization. Some of the aims and objectives of the organizations are not linked to the training. This therefore presents a challenge to the workers as they cannot transfer the training to better the organization. According to Noe & Winkler (2012), when the mission, vision, aims and objectives of the organization are not in line with the training, it becomes difficult for the workers to introduce new concepts. Introduction of new concepts would only mean that the employees are going against the directives of the organization. This becomes a challenge for most workers and as a result they continue with the old practices. In the end, the organization does not benefit in any way from training the employees. The workers also do not benefit from the process as they end up not applying the training to their areas of specialization. Strategic link is therefore very important for the purpose of transfer of training. Without a strategic link, then the workers face a lot of challenges in the process (Awoniyi, 2002). The lack of managerial and peer support is also a challenge that the workers face when trying to maximize the training transfer. The Lack of support by the managers hinders the workers fro applying the new knowledge in their areas of specialization (Khasawneh, 2005). This is because the training is always about bettering the skills of the workers through learning new concepts. When the new concepts are applied in the organization, it is evident that it brings about new ideas and changes. If the mangers are not wiling to have changes in their departments, then the transfer of training is hindered. It is important for the managers to discus the training transfer with the workers so as to enhance it. The failure to do this leads to negative impacts on the process. On the other hand, the peer support is very important as the workers need to discuss about the training and implement the new ideas together. However, in some organizations, this does not happen as competition among the workers is high. This eliminates the possibility of training transfer as each worker wants to out do the others. Lack of managerial and peer support is thus a great challenge faced by workers and organizations during training transfer (Cheng & Hampson, 2008). The lack of opportunity to transfer the training is a great challenge for the workers. In some organizations, the workload of the employees remains the same even after training. In other organizations, the management do not discuss with the workers concerning how they will apply their new skills. Some of the knowledge acquired may require the workers to change their method of operations or their workloads should be reviewed. The failure of the organizations to do this gives the workers minimum opportunities for training transfer (Kehrhahn, 2004). This affects the organization and the workers as well as they have no choice but to continue with their previous methods of operations. The immediate supervisors in some of the organizations are also mean and do not give the workers opportunity to transfer their training. In most cases, the workers ends up being frustrated and do not take future trainings seriously. This is because they are aware that the may not be able to apply the new concepts in their work place. As a result of this, the company looses a lot of money invested in training the workers as well as time for production. Lack of opportunities is thus a great challenge that the workers and the organizations face when implementing transfer of training (Noe & Winkler, 2012). Lack of accountability in some of the organizations hinders training transfer and creates a big challenge to the process. The organization culture of some of the organizations does not consider the issues of training transfer. This makes the process less relevant to the workers and thus their reluctance in transferring the knowledge learned into actual practice (Broad, 2005). The organization culture that holds the workers accountable during training transfer is very important in ensuring the success of the process. This makes the workers develop a sense of importance to the process. When the workers are required to show new skills in their performance ensures that they take the process seriously. The lack of rules and regulations guiding the process is a great challenge during its implementation. Laxity always arises when the works know that they are not going to be held accountable. As a result of this, the process suffers a major blow. This greatly affects the organization as the workers do not develop new ideas despite the training. Lack of accountability is therefore a challenging factor for the organization in terms of maximizing the training transfer process. Accountability is thus important for the company in order to benefit from training the workers. The workers characteristics in terms of understanding the concepts of the training are very important. Some of the employees understands the training concepts easily and can use the knowledge in the real work situation. However other workers may have problems in implementing the ideas learned during the training to practical aspects of their work. This presents a great challenge to the organization as it cannot change the worker. An organization may use all the means possible to ensure that the workers are trained and it may avail opportunities for training transfer but the worker may not be in a position to do so (Brown, 2005). This is a challenge to the company as well as a loss to the company. On the other hands, the worker may not have the motivation to transfer. According to Khasawneh et al. (2005), this may be due to various factors which include personality and lack of transforming learned aspects into practical aspects. The personality of the worker is very difficult to change and ends up affecting the training transfer. This factor is a major challenge for most of the organizations that invests heavily on the training of the workers. A company may also give all the required support but the transfer of training also depends on the characteristics of the worker. This is therefore a great challenge for the organization during the process of training transfer. In order to create an environment that encourages training transfer, it is important to first of all engage the workers before the training. The workers have to be told on how important the training I and how it is to be applied in the organization. The roles and responsibilities of the workers should be linked to the training. This will encourage training transfer as the worker will have room for applying the concepts learned during the training process (Marinova, 2005). On the other hand it is also important for the organization to provide the worker with the aids on the job. This encourages the worker to use the aids on the job to perform better. Coaching the workers on how to apply the concepts learned into real work experience is also important. This ensures that the worker is able to overcome the personal barriers that hinder transfer of training. This can be done by dedicating on the job coaching resources to aid in the transfer of training. This process is very important and it ensures that the worker is able to apply on the concepts learned during the training in the area of specialization. These measures are thus important in creating an environment that encourages transfer of training by the worker and it also benefits the organization. It is also important to set the targets for the training as this is an important step towards ensuring that the workers are performing. It is important for the organization to set a mechanism to measure the performance of the workers after the training. This should however be done after informing the worker about the expectations of the company. The outcomes of the training should also be linked to the organizational goals and the targets for the workers. This will ensure that the transfer of training is in line with the goals and objectives of the organization and hence breaking any challenge to the workers during the process. Incentives are also important in terms of improving the transfer of training. The workers should be rewarded if they meet the targets of the training and they improve the performance of the organization after the training (Gaudine, 2004). This is a motivation factor that ensures the workers give a full priority to transfer of training. This step is useful when creating a positive environment for training transfer. It increases the performance of the workers by ensuring that they become active during the process. Personal barriers can also be overcomed when a positive environment is created (Marinova, 2005). Communication within the organization is also an important tool for encouraging transfer of training. All the stakeholders should be informed about the training and its targets (Kim, 2004). This will ensure that the workers have a room for creating new ideas after the training. The managers and the supervisors should also be engaged during the process. This will ensure that they area ware of the importance of the training and thus giving the workers the opportunity to apply their training in their areas of specialization. According to Garofanoet al. (2004), giving the workers the opportunities greatly improves the process. The managerial support should also be accorded to the workers for the purpose of ensuring that they support any improvements being made by the workers. Team work among the workers should also be encouraged to eliminate competition and hence promoting better working relation. This ensures that the workers support each other during the process. Self management strategies should also be promoted during the process so as to counter the issues of personality and motivation. Once the measures are implemented, then transfer of training is encouraged within an organization. Conclusion In conclusion, transfer of training is an important aspect of human resource development. However the process is faced by various challenges that threats to make it irrelevant. The climate o transfer within the organization determines the success of the process during implementation. The organizational goals and objectives which are not in line with the training is also a great challenge for the workers as it hinders them from applying the concepts. The characteristic of the workers presents a challenge to the organization and hence hindering the process. Lack of managerial support and accountability is a factor that presents a challenge to the process. However it is also evident that organizations can create good environment for promoting transfer of training. This is mainly through improving the communication process, involving al the stakeholders and according the workers with the necessary support. These measures are beneficial to both the workers and the organization. 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