Notes for Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND
DEVELOPMENT
This chapter is a basic introductory chapter explaining many of the terms used in the area of
training and development, including:
- Definitions of training and development
- Analysis of the current environment in which organizations exist, such as globalization,
workforce demographic changes, new technologies, and the changing roles of leadership and
knowledge are explained;
- The importance of training and development in today’s organizations, and today’s global
markets
- The essential roles and trainer professional competencies;
1) Training and HRM
A. Competitiveness or competitive advantage, is the company’s ability to maintain and gain
1. Training is one part of the human resource management function used to increase a
company’s competitiveness by improving employee performance, by increasing an
employee’s knowledge, skills, and abilities.
2. Training is also used to attract, retain, and motivate employees.
3. Human resource management refers to the policies, practices, and systems that
influence employees’ behavior, attitudes, and performance.
4. Globalization changing worker demographics, and new technologies have increased
the need for effective training in today’s organizations. These forces influence the
company’s ability to successfully meet stakeholders’ needs.
II. What is Training?
A. Training is a planned effort by a company to facilitate employees’ learning of job-related
competencies, including knowledge, skills or behaviors that are critical for successful job
performance.
B. High-leverage training is linked to strategic business goals and objectives, helping a
company achieve its mission and goals through an instructional design process and the use
of benchmarks for comparative purposes. This systems approach to training requires the
training function to support the company’s strategic plans.
C. Continuous learning is a condition many organizations now strive to achieve in which
employees constantly expand their knowledge and skills and develop a systemic
understanding of the company, its products and processes.
1. Techniques such as informational maps can be used to show employees where
knowledge lies within the company.
2. Technology such as GroupWare or the Internet allows employees in different
organizational units to share information and work simultaneously on projects.
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III. Designing Effective Training
A. The training design process (see Figure 1-1, p. 6) maps out a systemic approach to the
development and delivery of effective, strategic training. It is based on principles of
Instructional System Design. Instructional System Design (ISD) refers to a process for
designing and developing training programs.
1. A five (5) step model (commonly called the ADDIE model) was discussed in the text.
2. This model includes five (5) basic steps common to most training models. These steps
are: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation.
3. Measurable learning objectives should be identified before training.
4. The method of evaluation is critical to the success of the training program, and needs to
be determined in the initial design of the training program.
5. The training design process should be systematic, yet flexible enough to adapt to
changing business needs.
IV. The Forces Influencing Working and Learning
A The need for leadership
1. To successfully manage in a global economy, managers need to be self-aware and be
able to build international teams, create global management and marketing practices,
and interact and manage employees from diverse cultural backgrounds.
2. Companies need to both identify employees with managerial talent and help potential
new managers as well as current managers develop the skills needed to succeed.
B. Intangible assets are equally as valuable as financial and physical assets but they are not
something that can be touched and they are nonmonetary.
1. Human capital refers to the sum of the attributes, life experiences, knowledge,
inventiveness, energy, and enthusiasm that the company’s employees invest in their
work. Structural capital refers to the codified knowledge that exists in a company.
Social capital refers to relationships in the company. Customer capital refers to the
value of relationships with persons or other organizations outside the company for
accomplishing the goals of the company.
2. One way that a company can increase its intangible assets, specifically human capital,
is by focusing on attracting, developing, and retaining knowledge workers. Knowledge
workers are employees who contribute to the company not through manual labor but
through what they know, perhaps about customers or a specialized body of knowledge.
Redesigned work structures require many employees to work in teams, empowering
them to make decisions and making them accountable for outcomes.
3. In addition to acquiring and retaining knowledge workers, companies need to be able to
adapt to change. Change refers to the adoption of a new idea or behavior by a
company.
4. A changing environment means that all employees must embrace a philosophy of
learning. A Learning Organization consists of employees that are continuous
learners, always developing or improving their skills and knowledge to ultimately
perform more effectively.
C. Focus on link to business strategy
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1. Managers are beginning to see a more important role for training and development as a
means to support a company’s business strategy.
D. Attracting and retaining talent: Retention is an important part of talent management.
Talented employees are looking for growth and a career path. Training and development
is a key to attracting and retaining talented employees.
E. Training and the high-performance work system challenge
1. New and ever changing technology presents the need to train employees to effectively
use the technology and ensure customer satisfaction, often more sophisticated,
cognitive skills than manual skills.
2. Work teams involve employees with various skills who interact to assemble a product
or provide a service. Cross-training involves developing in employees all the skills
needed to complete every task that a work team is responsible for.
3. Virtual teams refer to teams that are separated by time, geographic distance, culture,
and/or organizational boundaries and that rely almost exclusively on technology
(e-mail, Internet, video conferencing) to interact and complete their projects.
F. A number of factors have put companies and employees into a more uncertain economic
future as businesses continue to recover from 9/11 and the dot-com bust in the early 2000s
that triggered an economic recession.
1. The implications of this economic period for training and development are difficult to
predict because at the same time that companies are struggling with economic issues
they need to attract, retain, and develop talented employees to remain competitive.
V. Competencies and Positions of Training Professionals
A. Analysis/Assessment roles include researcher, needs analyst and evaluator and require an
understanding of the industry and the organization.
B. Developmental roles include program designer, materials developer and evaluator; and
require an understanding of adult learning and skills in feedback and writing.
C. Strategic roles include manager, marketer, change agent, and career counselor; and require
an understanding of training and development and career development theory and business
and delegation skills.The Instructor/Facilitator role requires an understanding of adult
learning principles and coaching skills.
D. The administrator role requires computer competence and skills in project and facilities
management.
Discussion Questions (Ref to suggested textbook: Noe, R.A. (2010), Employee Training and
Development, McGraw Hill 5th edition)
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1. Describe the forces affecting the work place and learning. How can training help
companies deal with these forces?
Answer:
Customer service, employee retention, doing more with less, quality and productivity are
some of the issues affecting companies. Training can improve professional conduct,
improve job performance by teaching new techniques and skills, and increase a company’s
productivity and customer satisfaction.
2. What steps are included in the training design model? What step do you think is the most
important? Why?
Answer:
Step 1 is to conduct a needs assessment, which is necessary to identify if training is needed.
Step 2 is to ensure that employees have the motivational and basic skills necessary to
master the training content. Step 3 is to create a learning environment that has features
necessary for learning to occur. Step 4 is to ensure that trainees apply the training content
to their jobs. Step 5 is to develop an evaluation plan. Developing an evaluation plan
includes identifying what types of outcomes training is expected to influence. Step 6 is to
choose the training method based on the learning objectives and learning environment.
Step 7 is to evaluate the program and make changes in it or revisit any of the earlier steps in
the process to improve the program so that learning, behavior, change and the other
learning objectives are obtained. It is believed that the most important step is conducting a
needs assessment. If the needs assessment finds that would be no improvement in
production or customer service etc. there is no reason to implement a training program.
3. What are intangible assets? How do they relate to training and development?
Intangible assets consist of human capital, customer capital, social capital, and intellectual
capital. Intangible assets have been shown to be responsible for a company’s competitive
advantage. Training and development can help a company’s competitiveness by directly
increasing the company’s value through contributing to intangible assets.
4. How might technology influence the importance of training professionals’ roles? Can
technology reduce the importance of any of the roles? Can it result in additional roles?
Answer:
The training professionals’ role would become easier and they would be able to reach more
clients by using technology. They can put a training program on a CD-ROM or the Internet
and allow employees the opportunity to access it when it is convenient for them. It should
not reduce the importance of any of the roles because you will still need the trainers to
implement the programs. There may be additional roles that develop by using the
technology for training by using experts in the technology field to answer questions on the
Internet and to create the CD-ROM programs.
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5. What are the implications of the aging work force? What strategies should companies
consider from a training and development perspective to best utilize older employees and
prepare for their retirement?
The aging population means that companies are likely to employ a growing share of older
workers—many of them in their second or third career. Older people want to work, and
many say they plan a working retirement. Despite myths to the contrary, worker
performance and learning in most jobs is not adversely affected by aging. Older employees
are willing and able to learn new technology.
6. How has new technology improved training and development? What are some of the
limitations of using iPods or PDAs for training?
New technologies include the Internet, e-mail, CDROMs, DVDs, satellite or cable
television, and mobile technology such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and iPods.
While they offer greater flexibility, but at the same time technologies may result in
employees being on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Many companies are taking
steps to provide more flexible work schedules to protect employees’ free time and to more
productively use employees’ work time.
7. Explain how training relates to attracting new employees, employee retention, and
motivation.
Given the tight labor market and numerous job applicants’ lack of basic skills, many
companies are unable to hire qualified employees. But they are unwilling or unable to leave
jobs open. Therefore, they have to hire employees with skill deficiencies and rely on
training and involvement in local school districts to correct the deficiencies.
Retention is an important part of talent management. Talented employees are looking for
growth and a career path. Training and development is a key to attracting and retaining
talented employees
Training was listed as one of the major influences on employee satisfaction because it
increased employees’ opportunities for advancement.
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