Employee training

Question 1

What are the key training issues?

Answer 1

Key training issues:

• How can training keep pace with a changing organisational environment
• Should training take place in a classroom setting or on the job?
• How can training be effectively delivered worldwide
• How can training keep trainees motivated to learn

Question 2

What is the difference between training and development?

Answer 2

Training represents helping employees with specific skills and correct deficiencies in their performance

Development is providing employees with the abilities the organisation will need in the future

Question 3

What are the challenges in training?

Answer 3

• Is training the solution? Not all performance problems call for training. Some performance deficits have several causes which are beyond the worker’s control
• Is training a good investment? Determining whether training is a good investment requires measuring the training’s potential benefits in monetary units
• Are the goals clear and realistic? Unless the goals are clearly established before the training program is set up, the company might find itself training employees for the wrong reasons
• Will training work? Training will not work unless it is related to organisational goals

Question 4

In the context of training, what happens during the needs assessment stage?

Answer 4

The needs assessment stage consists of organisational analysis, task analysis and person analysis.
Organisational analysis examines organisational needs, culture, mission, business climate.
Task analysis examines the job performed.
Person analysis determines which employees need training by examining how workers do their job.

Question 5

How do you clarify the objectives of training?

Answer 5

The objectives should be based on the assessment stage. Each objective should relate to one or more of the KSA’s identified in the task analysis. Whenever possible objectives should be stated in behavioural terms.

Question 6

In the context of training and conduct phase, what are the location options?

Answer 6

Training can be carried out either on the job or off-the-job. In the very common on-the-job approach, the trainee works in the actual work setting under the guidance of an experienced worker. Job rotation, apprenticeships and internships are all forms of on-the-job training.
Benefits: relevant to the job, avoids additional expenses Disadvantages: lost business due to on-the-job customer frustration from employees

Question 7

In the context of training and conduct phase, what are the presentation options?

Answer 7

Slides and videotapes, teletraining, computers, simulations, virtual reality, classroom instructions and role-plays

Question 8

What are the types of training?

Answer 8

1. Skills training: most common; simple process; the need is identified through assessment; specific training objectives are generated and training content is developed to achieve those objectives
2. Retraining: gives employees the skills they need to keep pace with their job’s changing requirements
3. Cross-functional training: teaches employees to perform operations in areas other than their assigned job; makes employees more versatile and flexible
4. Team-training
5. Creativity training: based on the assumption that creativity can be learned; common approach is brainstorming; creativity can be learned and developed
6. Literacy training

Question 9

What happens during the evaluation phase of training?

Answer 9

The effectiveness of the training program is assessed

Question 10

Trainers often try to solve employee performance deficiencies with training, but some deficiencies cannot be overcome with training. Can you explain what those common causes for performance deficiencies are, and which of those can be solved with training?

Answer 10

A worker’s performance is influenced by his motivation, his ability and the situational factors surrounding them. Motivation can be stimulated by the supervisors, but also depends essentially on the worker himself/herself. Incentives can be employed in order to motivate the worker and his/her productivity. However, there are also causes for performance deficiency which do not depend on the worker.
Situational factors are out of the worker’s controls. These include: poor coordination among the workers and his/her co-workers or poor coordination between tasks; inadequate information given in order to complete the task or insufficient and poor training; the work environment also has an influence and can prevent a worker from doing their job well; lack of necessary equipment or low-quality materials also has a huge influence on the final product; insufficient time and an unrealistic deadline which is not considering of the other tasks the worker must do or the time each task requires realistically to complete. The causes which can be solved through training are, of course, inadequate training. The coordination and cooperation between workers can also be improved by better training.