EXAMINING DEFINITIONS OF
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT:
• Develop or gain knowledge
• Develop or gain skills
• Improve performance
• Improve organizational
efficiency.
The dependent variables listed above overlapped with the
area of focus and core elements in the definitions. To understand the three
major areas of focus, and dependent variable - knowledge skills and performance
and their contribution to training and development has been discussed below.
(Galaagan, 1994)
Knowledge
According to Swanson and Holton (2001)
knowledge is defined as the intellective mental components acquired and
retained through study and experience. The definition of knowledge is complex
and can be interpreted in many different ways. Knowledge is the cognitive
capacity of the organization (Wang, Hielmervik, & Brendel, 2001). Finally,
Goldstein’s (1986) definition of knowledge refers to “an organized body factual
or procedural nature, which, if applied makes adequate job performance
possible” (p. 22)
Knowledge is the
understanding of relations, and is therefore essential in making operations
effective, building business process or predicting the performance of business.
For the decision-making process employee’s knowledge play key role.
Skills
Sims (1998) classified Skills into three types’ technical skills which is
an understanding of and proficiency in a specific kind of activity,
particularly one involving methods, process, procedures or technique. It is
occupation related, concrete and functional. The second type is Human skills
which is the ability to work effectively as a group member and to build
cooperative effort within the team/group. And the third type is conceptual
skills which involve the ability to see the enterprise as a whole; Goldstein
(1986) refers to skills as “the capability to perform job operations with ease
and precision” It usually refers to the psychomotor types of activity. Like all
fields, Training and development is affected by demographic, political, economic
and social trends. So, training needs to focus on the development of skills and
human relations (Sims, 1998).
For instance,
Employee’s skill involves recognizing how the various functions of the
organization depend on one another and how changes in any one part affect all
the others and it extends to visualizing the relationship
Performance
Although
many training and development departments have been activity oriented, focus on
enhancing human performance is important as it is implicitly result-oriented.
“Out of work place upheaval emerged the high-performance work organization – a
catchall phrase for companies in a perennial search for better results”
(Galagan, 1994). For trainers that should signal an important message: shift
focus from training activities (input) to the performance of individuals and
organizations (output) (Galagan, 1994). Goldstein (1986) refers ability as
cognitive capabilities necessary to perform a job function. Ability cannot
function alone but require the application of some knowledge base.
Employee
performance cannot run alone but need skills and knowledge also. When employee has
all three dependent variables: knowledge, skill and performance he is asset for
the organization.
REFERENCE
Galagan P. (1994). Reinventing the profession. Training and
development, 22.
Goldstein, I. (1986). Training in organizations: Needs assessment,development
& evaluation. CA: Brooks Cole.
Laird D., (1985). Approaches to training and development. Reading:
Addison Wesley Publishing Co. Inc.
Sims R. A. (1998). Reinventing training and development. Westport,
CT:Quram Books.
Swanson R.A., & Holton E.F.III. (2001). Foundations of
human resource development. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler
Wang, K., Hielmervik, R.O, Brendel, B. (2001) Priniciples of
knowledge management. Norway:Tapin Academic Press.
Agreed to the content Chathuri, according to Armstrong (2009), training should be systematic in that it is specifically designed, planned, and implemented to meet defined needs. It is provided by people who know how to train, and the impact of training is carefully evaluated. Thus training involves the application of formal processes to impart knowledge and help people to acquire the skills necessary for them to perform their jobs satisfactorily and improve organizational performance. And Lewthwaite (2007), training and development are one of the key factor that employee performance totally depends on contributing to organizational performance.
ReplyDeleteThank you /sachini for giving your idea. Elnaga & Imran (2013) mentioned that training and development develops the thinking abilities and creativity of individuals for better decision making, customer service, complaints handling, and overall self-efficacy.
DeleteVery Informative. Agree with your idea. Furthermore Armstrong and Landers (2018) Stated that Training and development is the continual process of developing skills, gaining information, clarifying ideas, and changing attitudes via organized and planned education, with the goal of increasing employee productivity and performance. Training and development stress the enhancement of individual and group performance through an appropriate structure inside the company that focuses on the skills, technique, and material necessary to attain the goal. Employee training that is both effective and efficient helps to expand their abilities and knowledge, which ultimately helps a firm boost its production, leading to overall growth.
ReplyDeleteAnd Rothwell and Whiteford (2012) Stated that Training is about understanding where you are now and where you want to go with your talents in the future. People may learn new material, new methodologies, and refresh their existing knowledge and abilities through training. As a result, there is significant improvement, which increases job effectiveness. The goal of providing training is to have an impression that lasts beyond the duration of the training and to keep employees up to speed on the new phenomena. Individuals and groups can benefit from training in order to improve their skills. Organizational Development is defined as the process of striving to create the capacity to attain and sustain a new intended state that benefits the organization or community and the environment around them.
Agreed Perera, Numerous organizational adages suggest that people are the key to
Deleteany successful business operation. This emphasis is not empty as it is becoming increasingly clear that no human enterprise can succeed without properly skilled and knowledgeable human resource development professionals (Goldstein & Ford, 2002). Ongoing employee development is critical to the short and long term success of every business profit or non-profit (Becker, 1962; Pittam, 1987). Although definitions frequently include learning experiences provided to employees to bring about changes in behavior that promote the attainment of the goals and objectives of the organization, the definitions in the literature range from quite narrow to broad and all-encompassing. More often, the definitions use the term human resource development (HRD), rather than training and development, to identify the function (Tracey, 1992).
Agreed with the contents Chathuri. Furthermore, in addition to the Performance, Task performance and Contextual performance are the two types of performance that Sabin (2002) cited. And those are related to three fundamental presumptions. Task performance is related to ability, whereas contextual performance is related to personality and motivation; c) task performance is more prescribed and constitutes in-role behavior, whereas contextual performance is more discretionary and extra-role. The activities relevant to task performance differ between jobs, whereas contextual performance activities are relatively similar across jobs.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kandeepan for sharing comment on my blog. Goldstein (1986) refers ability as cognitive capabilities necessary to perform a job function. Ability cannot function alone but require the application of some knowledge base.
DeleteAdding to your post with regards to performance, (Roberts, 2001) with the use of performance management can identify who or what delivers the critical performance with respect to the aligned business objectives or strategies to ensure that performance is successfully carried out.
ReplyDeleteThank you Onita. Goldstein (1986) refers ability as cognitive capabilities necessary to perform a job function. Ability cannot function alone but require the application of some knowledge base.
DeleteAgree with the content Chathuri. Knowledge is the understanding of relations and is therefore essential in making operations effective, building business processes or predicting business performance. The definition of knowledge is complex and can be interpreted in many different ways. Employee skills involve recognising how the organisation's various functions depend on one another and how changes in any one part affect all the others. It extends to visualising the relationship. When an employee has all three dependent variables: knowledge, skill and performance, he is an asset to the organisation.
ReplyDeleteAgreed Tharindu, According to Lowry, Simon & Kimberley (2002), training is a way of enhancing employee commitment and maximizing employee potential. Training affects employees’ behavior and their working skills which results into employees enhanced performance as well as constructive changes (Satterfield & Hughes, 2007).
DeleteI agree. . Young professionals
ReplyDeletewith entrepreneurial ambitions know that they have shortage of experience and money; hence they attempt to join companies which provide training programs to prepare their employees for the betterment of future (Feldman 2000).Employee development program help employees to survive in the future and develop their abilities to cope with new technologies.
Agreed Tarishma, employee training and development has emerged as a major educational enterprise over the past three decades. This increase is associated with a demand in the workplace for employee at all levels to improve performance in their present jobs to acquire skills and knowledge to do new jobs, and to continue their career progress in a changing world of work (Armstrong, 2001; Craig, 1987)
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