Role of Training and Development in an Organization - Coursework Example

Role of Training and Development Name: College: Introduction It is the process of acquiring new knowledge among employees. The aim is to develop employee skills so that they can improve their productivity at workplace. It is a topical aspect that many organizations consider so that they can meet the requirements of the employees. Further, there are different methods of training and human resource manager need to select the most appropriate training programs. It is one of the strategies used by organizations to motivate employees (Michael, 2006). The assignment discusses the role of continues learning to a company. It will also discuss various training methods. Training and development improve the overall performance of an organization because it motivates the staff and develops their skills leading to their improved performance. Role of training and development in an organization It helps to improve the performance of an organization because it improves job satisfaction among the employees. An organization that invests in the talent development succeeds in the market because it helps to promote satisfaction among the employees (Sahu, 2009). Also, motivation is associated with satisfaction thus reducing the turnover among employees, and this contributes to improved performance of the organization. The result is that the organization can protect its employees from poaching by other agencies with the excuse of offering adequate training and development. Therefore, training and development increase satisfaction levels among the employees. Furthermore, training and development are significant in an organization because it promotes internal opportunities for promotions. The human resource manager weighs the relationship between hiring new employees and developing the skills of the existing employees. The best way to motivate the staff is to promote learning and development among the current employees so that they have promotional opportunities (Alan et al, 2010). At the end of the training, they are ready to handle more complicated roles thus creating a chance of promotion. Besides creating promotional opportunity, it helps to build trust among the existing workforce and retain organizational culture instead of conducting external recruitment. Moreover, training and development is important in an organization because it helps to attract fresh talents into the organization. Every company wants to have the most qualified employees so that they can contribute to improved performance of an organization. When an organization has an effective training program, it will build its image and in the process attract the attention of prospective workforce (Michael, 2006). It is worthy to note, employees want to work in an enterprise that has learning opportunities to possess required skills to realize their career path and at the same time attract skilled human resources from the labor market. In this regard, training and development is critical because it helps to attract new skills to the organization. Most importantly, training and development enable an organization to keep up with dynamics in the labor market. Human skills are changing in various industries, and no firm that wants to remain behind because it will lose its competitiveness. It is also crucial that employers must comply with the regulations of the industry. The changes are achieved through continued training and development. For instance, changes in technology have forced many human resource managers to develop training programs that enable employees to undergo training so that they can have up to date skills about technology (Michael, 2006). A good example is, understanding how video conferencing works because multinational corporations conduct virtual meetings because of the flexibility at workplaces. As a result, training and development enable employees to have up to date skills. Training and development improve the competitiveness of an organization because it creates incentives for employees to learn. Learning is a process that is continues. It is because of the changing needs in various industries that require updating skills appropriately (Alan et al, 2010). However, the employees can use personal development plans, but it is not adequate without the support from the top management of the organization. In this regard, it enables employees to realize their career path because every employee wants to develop his or her career to considerable heights. Consequently, they put their skills into practice thus enjoying an active working relationship with the management. Also, training and development play a significant role in the success of an organization because it helps to reduce the errors as well as accidents that happen at the workplace. Most of the accidents happening in the workplace are as a result of lack of competent skills to foresee the errors and take appropriate measures to prevent it from occurring (Alan et al, 2010). In this regard, the management should conduct regular training and development so that they can avoid accidents that can be controlled in the workplace. For instance, employees should understand safety measures at the workplace so that they avoid risks such as fire outbreak at workshops. Through training and development, an organization can identify hidden skills of the employees. It has come to the attention of the human resource managers that they down look hidden talents of employees. In this way, they have taken initiatives to identify and exploit the talents to improve the performance of an organization (Sahu, 2009). For instance, the accountants might have hidden technology skills, and they can be exploited through learning and be given an opportunity to exploit them. The training technique to apply in this situation is job rotation. The employees have the chance to exercise their skills in different fields. In this context, it promotes diversity of competencies at the workplace. Finally, it enables employees to work with less supervision at the workplace. Training empowers employees with appropriate skills to perform their duties with less supervision because they have what it takes to execute their tasks. To some extent, employees need empowerment so that they can exercise their skills without strict instructions from their supervisors (Sahu, 2009). It is a way of encouraging creativity and innovation since the employees have the capacity to explore new techniques for accomplishing tasks. In this regard, training and development is critical because it helps to improve commitment of employees as well as encouraging innovation and work with minimal supervision. Training and development methods Various training and development methods are available for the human resource managers to select the most appropriate. They are divided into off the job, on the job and blended learning methods. Off the job learning Lectures and conferences This is the training technique where the employees develop their skills when they are not working for the organization. Training takes place outside the job. The first use of lecturing and conferences is that it helps in explaining things. Lecturers take the responsibility of explaining things to the learners considering the technicality of issues (John, 2005). The other use of lectures is that it promotes face to face learning thus improving the learning process. It is also used when there is a significant number of learners’ meaning that it is possible to apply individualized learning technique. Therefore, it is used to promote interaction among individuals. The first advantage of lecturing and conferencing is that it is possible to organize the learning activity to suit specific needs of the learners. For instance, the human resource manager can develop a technology training conference where the employee can attend and learn how to use technology appropriately (Alan et al, 2010). Further, lectures provide a relatively large amount of information thus improving the reliability of the learning process. Moreover, a learner can store the lectures notes for future use and reference. Therefore, lectures help to improve the long-term learning to employees. However, there are also limitations facing lectures and conferences. The first limitation is that it is not possible to provide adequate feedback to ascertain the learning process. The other limitation is that lectures are not appropriate when technical subjects are involved. It is because most of the lectures are theoretical and may not include substantial practical exercises (John, 2005). Moreover, lectures and conferences learning process depend on the ability of the learners to remember things and may not be appropriate to one person. On-the job learning Job rotation It is the technique that is used to develop skills of the employees while they are on their current job. On the job training is a program where the employees rotate from one job or department to another with the aim of developing diversity skills among the employees (Michael, 2008). The first use of job rotation is that it promotes flexibility at the workplace as well as diversity. It is because the employees acquire a variety of skills in various sections. The technique is used by organizations to have employees work in different sections instead of outsourcing resources. Advantages of job rotation include; it allows human resource managers to identify important skills that might be hidden in the employees. It is because the employees have the chance to work in diversified operations and it is potential to understand the possible areas where the employees perform services better (Michael, 2008). The other advantage of job rotation is that it motivates the employees because it breaks the monotony of working. It promotes healthy competition among workers thus improving their morale and they can dare taking new challenges. Besides, job rotation promotes satisfaction among employees. It is because job rotation contributes to reducing boredom among employees. As a result, the employees develop a positive attitude towards their jobs (Sahu, 2009). Further, it helps to reduce incidences of fraudulent activities. In most banks, there is job rotation so that the employees do not collude to engage in unethical practices such as embezzling funds. Therefore, the human resource manager can identify various interests among the workforce. On the other hand, job rotation faces drawbacks. The first issue is that it takes longer time to transfer employees from one department to another. It is because employees take time to get used to the new sections and this can affect the working relationship and get used to structure and culture of the new section. As a result, it can promote anxiety among the employees. Finally, job rotation is not appropriate when technical subjects are involved (John, 2005). For instance, an engineer cannot rotate jobs with an accountant. It is because they have different fields of specialization. In this regard, job rotation as a method of learning is not applicable in all areas of knowledge. Blended learning Virtual learning It is the form of learning whereby the human resource manager develops hybrid learning where traditional knowledge is changed with the introduction of virtual learning. The technique is slowly taking a greater dimension because of developments in technology (Sahu, 2009). The first use of blended learning it is used to engage different learning styles. For instance, marketing managers can learn from one another by forming virtual teams thus employees learn from one another. The first advantage of blended learning is that it promotes a partnership approach to the learning experience. It is because there is collaboration between the instructor and the learner. In this regard, blended learning helps to improve networking relationship between the learner and instructor online. The other advantage is that it promotes accessibility of the educational resources. The students can access the materials online thus improving their learning experiences (John, 2005). Also, it improves communication because the learner and instructor can send and receive emails. Most importantly, blended learning is critical because it helps to ensure all employees have equal access to learning despite their geographical location. However, blended learning has limitations. The first one is that not all employees can access e-learning or they do not know how to access online materials efficiently. In this context, some employees might miss out the educational opportunity because of relevant knowledge in information technology (Michael, 2008). Some employees are better equipped with technology, and they can enjoy online learning while others are not aware of technology developments. Therefore, it is not an equal opportunity for employees to learn. Recommendation Considering the above learning methods, the most effective one is on the job learning method such as job rotation (John, 2005). It is preferred because it helps to develop employee skills while working. It means that it promotes both theoretical concept and the practical concept thus it is the best learning method to adopt. Conclusion Employee training and development is a significant concept that contributes to the performance of an organization. The labor market is changing drastically implying that firms must consider develop appropriate programs to developing the skills of the employees so that they develop their competency and improves the performance of the organization. In this regard, it helps to improve employee productivity as well as ability to retain the competent workforce. On the other hand, various training programs are available for the human resource manager to develop employee skills. They include techniques such as lecturing and practicing job rotation. The other learning technique is blended learning where the e-learning takes place. In this regard, organizations should consider updating the skills of their workforce so that they can remain competitive in the current society. References Alan, M. Robert, H & Monica, B. (2010). Managing Performance through Training and Development, New York: Nelson. John, W. (2005). Human Resource Development, Learning and Training for Individuals & organizations, London: Kogan Page. Micahael, M. (2008). A practical Guide To Training And Development, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Michael, A. (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, London: Kogan Page. Sahu, R. (2009). Training for Development, New Delhi: Excel Books. Read More