Notes - Traning and Development PDF

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Training and Development – Chapter #1 – NotesIntroduction: Investments in training and development of employees can improve an organization’s success and competitiveness.  Employees who are not properly trained can make mistakes that result in accidents and threaten public safety and well-being. ...

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Training and Development – Chapter #1 – Notes Introduction:   

Investments in training and development of employees can improve an organization’s success and competitiveness. Employees who are not properly trained can make mistakes that result in accidents and threaten public safety and well-being. Continuous learning and the transfer of knowledge are key factors in fostering creativity and promoting organizational excellence.

Performance Management: The process of establishing performance goals and designing interventions and programs to motivate and develop employees to improve their performance and ultimately, organization performance. This process signals to employees what is really important in the organization, ensures accountability for behavior and results and helps improve performance. The performance management process involves several components that are closely related to one another: 1) Defining Performance 2) Setting Performance Expectations 3) Setting Performance Goals Managers meet with employees to discuss performance expectations and agree on performance goals and objectives. These goals should stem from organizational or department level goals and objectives. This ensures that employees goals are aligned with department and organizational goals. SMART Goals: Goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and have a time frame. Once the manager and the employee have set SMART goals, it is important for managers to monitor employee performance and provide ongoing feedback so that employees know whether they are accomplishing their goals. In addition to informal feedback, a key part of the performance management process is a formal performance evaluation. The performance evaluation also involves performance consequences to reward employees for accomplishing their goals and serves to reinforce employee behaviour and performance. A critical component of the performance management process is employee training and development and the creation of a development plan for employees. This involves programs and activities that are designed to help employees achieve their goals and improve their performance. Training and Development: One of the most important ways that performance can be improved in organizations. Training: Formal and planned efforts to help employees acquire knowledge, skills, and abilities to improve performance in their current job. Training usually consists of a short-term focus on acquiring skills to perform one’s job. The goal is to help an employee do their job better. Development: Refers to formal and planned efforts to help employees acquire the knowledge, skills and abilities required to perform future job responsibilities and the long term achievement of individual career goals and organizational objectives. Often consists of more extensive training.

2…. Human Capital: The knowledge, skills and abilities of an organization’s. It has been found to be a key determinant of an organization’s performance and one of the most important resources for competitive advantage. Human Capital Development is one of the top areas of concern for organizations. Social Capital: The social resources that an individual obtains from participation in a social structure. It has to do with relationships within an organization and between members of the organization and external stakeholders. Like Human Capital, social capital can also be used by employees to achieve their goals and it contributes to employee and organization performance. Benefits of Training and Development:  Benefits to Organizations  Benefits to Employees  Benefits to Society Benefits to Organizations: Organizations that invest in training and development benefit in many ways that help them obtain a sustained competitive advantage. Training and Development can facilitate the following:  Organization’s strategy  Increase Effectiveness  Improve Employee Recruitment, Engagement and Retention. Strategy: The goal of all organizations is to survive and prosper. T & D can help organizations achieve these goals. Effectiveness: There is a calculable benefit to training employees. Trained employees can do more and better work, make fewer errors, require less supervision, have more positive attitudes, and have lower rates of turnover. Trained employees also produce higher quality products and services. A review of research on training and organizational effectiveness found that training is positively related to human resource outcomes. Research has found that companies that invest more in training have higher revenues, profits and productivity growth than firms that invest less in training. Employee Recruitment, Engagement and Retention: Training is often used by organizations to increase their attractiveness to prospective employees and to retain their current employees. For many organizations today, training is the number one attraction and retention strategy. Employees who receive formal workplace training report that it makes them feel more engaged in their job. Work Engagement: A positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigour, dedication, and absorption. Vigour involves high levels of energy and mental resilience, while working. Dedication refers to being strongly involved in one’s work and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm and challenge; and absorption refers to being fully concentrated and engrossed in one’s work. Benefits to Employees:  Intrinsic Benefits: increased usefulness and belonging in an organization  Extrinsic Benefits: include such things as higher earnings, improved marketability etc.. 3….

Benefits to Society: T&D also has benefits for society that extend beyond the workplace. The T&D that organizations provide for their employees has implications for public health and safety, and it helps to create an educated and skilled population that benefits the economy and a country’s standard of living:  Educated and Employed Population  Health and Safety  Economy and Standard of living Educated and Employed Population: Education and training are fundamental for reducing unemployment, especially among youth, where it has been rising. The knowledge and skills that employees acquire through training help to create an employable, educated and skilled workforce. Some employees report using their new skills to better manage their personal lives. Health and Safety: Effective training programs not only improve employee performance, but they can also reduce errors, improve safety, and even save people’s lives. Training can reduce life threatening errors in high-risk environments and improve the safety of employees and the public. Economy and Standard of Living: A strong Canadian economy and a high standard of living require an improvement in the productivity, innovation, and performance competitiveness of Canadian organizations. There are a # of ways to improve productivity and one of them is by improving and investing in the knowledge and skills of the workforce. Investing in training and development if one of the key ways to improve Canada’s productivity, economy and standard of living. Investing in the development of the workforce through training and development is considered to be a primary means for the economic development of nations. Skills Mismatch: An insufficient number of workers with the skills needed are available to satisfy the number of available jobs. Work-Integrated Learning: Providing students with work experience, through internships, apprenticeships, and cooperative placements. Training and Development in Canada: In order to benefit from training and development, organizations must invest in training their workforce and provide employees with training opportunities. However, not all workers have access to employer-sponsored training. It has frequently been reported that just over half (56 %) of the workers in Canada have access to employer-sponsored training, while some other 44% do not. Part-time and temporary workers as well as those who are less educated and older are less likely to receive training, compared to those who are employed in small and medium sized organizations. Canadian organizations have not been leaders when it comes to investing in T&D. A recent survey found that less than half 47% of Canadian organizations provide training to their employees. Some stats:  In 2017, the average direct investment in T&D per employee was $889, which was up from $800 in 2015. By comparison, US organizations invested $1075/employee in 2017.  The average investment in T&D as a % of payroll in Canada dropped in 2017 to 1.39% , down from 1.41 in 2015. 4…. Is training an investment or an expense?

Why don’t organizations invest more in training and development? One reason is that learning and training are not considered a high priority in Canadian organizations. In a survey of Canadian organizations, only 50% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that learning is a top priority in their organization. Furthermore, Canada ranked 20 th out of 63 countries on the importance organizations placed on workforce training in 2017. This ranking places Canada behind top-ranking countries such as Japan, Switzerland and Denmark. Another reason for the underinvestment in T&D is the perception that training, learning and development expenditures represent a cost rather than an investment. Organizations that view training as a cost tend to limit their training investments to only what is required by law or necessary to survive. The province of Quebec is considering the “Act to Foster the Development of Manpower Training “ which will require organizations to invest a certain amount of $$ in training each year. According to the conference board of Canada organizations in Quebec spend on average more per employee on training and development than those in other provinces. Training Bond: A contract between the employer and employee that states that the employer will pay for the employee’s training as long as the employee remains with the organization for a minimum period of time following completion of the training program. The Context of Training and Development: Training and Development are embedded in a larger context that can influence the extent to which T&D is provided in an organization as well as the type of training provided. T&D is just one part of a system of human resources practices that is influenced by internal and external factors. The Human resources system is influenced by environmental and organizational factors. Environmental factors such as legislation, the economic climate, competition, demographics and social values have an impact on organizations ex: a competitor introduces a lower priced product ,the organization will have to decide whether to match the competitors actions or compete in other ways, such as by providing superior customer service. This strategic decision can in turn affect costs, the ability to pay employees and/or the need to train and reward employees for effective performance. Events and concerns inside and outside an organization can lead to the need for new KSA and training programs. The Environmental Context of Training and Development:  Global Competition – increasing global competition has forced organizations to improve their productivity and the quality of their goods and services.  Technology – Tech has had a profound effect on the way organizations operate and compete.  The Labour Market – Changes in the labour market can have a major effect on T&D. Ex: consider the implications of a shortage of skilled labour in Canada. It has been estimated that a critical shortage of 1 million workers could impact Canada by 2020.  Environmental Change – The tech revolution, increased globalization and competition have resulted in a highly uncertain and constantly changing envt. Must adapt and change. Page 5….

The Organizational Context of Training and Development: T&D is also affected by internal events in the organization. Among the most important internal factors are an organization’s strategy, structure and culture. Includes:  Strategy  Structure  Culture Strategy: An organization’s objectives and action plans for realizing its objectives and gaining a competitive advantage. Strategic Human Resources Management (SHRM) – The alignment of human resources practices with an organization’s business strategy. Strategic Training and Development (ST&D) – The alignment of an organization’s training needs and programs with an organizations strategy and objectives. By linking training to business strategy, training becomes strategic rather than an isolated and independent activity; this it is more likely to be effective. In fact, training can lower an organizations market value when it is not strategically focused. A strategic model of training and development:  Business Strategy  HRM Strategy  Learning and Training Strategy  Training and Development Programs Members of the training and development function need to have:  Business knowledge  Business skills  Business abilities  Cooperative relationship with line managers Structure: The structure of an organization also affects training and development. Organizations are increasingly becoming flatter, with fewer levels of management. Employees are expected to perform tasks that were once considered managerial tasks, so they must be trained in traditional managerial activities such as problem solving, decision making and teamwork. Culture: Organizational culture refers to the shared beliefs, values and assumptions that exist in an organization. An organization’s culture is important because it determines the norms that exist in an organization and the expected behaviour – often communicated to employees through training programs. Organizational Culture: The shared beliefs, values and assumptions that exist in an organization.

6…… High Performance Work System (HPWS): An integrated system of human resource practices and policies that usually includes rigorous recruitment and selection procedures, performance contingent incentive

compensation, performance management, a commitment to employee involvement, and extensive training and development programs. Instructional Systems Design Model (ISD): A rational and scientific model of the training and development process that consists of a needs analysis, training design and delivery and training education. According to the ISD model, the training process begins with a performance gap. A performance gap is something in the organization that is not quite right or is of concern to management. Needs Analysis: A critical first step in the ISD model. It determines the nature of the problem and whether training is the best solution. A needs analysis is performed to determine the difference or gap between the way things are and the way things should be. Needs analysis consists of three levels:  Organization Analysis – where training is needed in the organization  Task Analysis – what training is required  Person Analysis – who in the organization needs to be trained ADDIE: Each letter represents a different action: analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. Was the common system used before ISD. The ISD model of training and development:

After a training program has been designed and delivered, the next stage is training evaluation. The needs analysis and training objectives provide important information about what should be evaluated to determine whether a training program has been effective. The purpose of all training and development efforts is ultimately to improve employee performance and organizational effectiveness. Thus, it is important to know whether employee job performance has changed and whether the organization has improved following a training program. Despite being considered the best approach for managing the training and development process, the reality is that many organizations do not follow it.

Chapter 2 – Training and Development – Learning and Motivation

What is Learning? Although training and development is the focus of this textbook, it is important to keep in mind that what we are trying to accomplish through training and development is learning. Learning: The process of acquiring knowledge and skills and a change in individual behaviour as a result of some experience. Workplace Learning: The process of acquiring job-related knowledge and skills through formal training programs and informal social interactions among employees. 70-20-10 Model: Seventy percent of workplace learning comes from on the job experiences, 20 percent from interactions with others, and 10 percent from formal learning activities and events. Informal Learning: Learning that occurs naturally as part of work and is not planned or designed by the organization. It has been reported that 70 to 90% of what employees learn and know about their jobs is learned though informal processes. Some of the reasons for the increase in informal learning are:  An increase in the need for knowledge transfer  An increased strategic emphasis on informal learning  Informal activities being initiated by employees  Increased leadership support Formal Learning: Learning that is structured and planned by the organization.

Employees learn about many things through informal means, such as:  New General Knowledge  Teamwork  Problem Solving  Communication Skills  New Job Tasks  Computers  Health and Safety  New Equipment  And even politics in the workplace One study found that email is the most-used method of informal learning. Page 2….

Other forms of informal learning:  Internet Searches  Communities of Practice  Voluntary Mentoring  Coaching Learning Outcomes: Learning can be described in terms of domains or outcomes of learning. The first one is by Robert Gagne, who developed the best-known classification of learning outcomes. According to Gagne, learning outcomes can be classified according to five general categories:  Verbal Information: Facts, knowledge, principles and packages of information or what is known as declarative knowledge  Intellectual Skills: Concepts, rules and procedures that are known as “procedural knowledge”. Procedural Rules govern many activities in our daily lives such as driving or shopping.  Cognitive Strategies: The application of information and techniques and understanding how and when to use knowledge and information  Motor Skills: The coordination and execution of physical movements that involve the use of muscles, such as learning to swim  Attitudes: Preferences and internal states associated with one’s beliefs and feelings. Attitudes are learned and can be changed. However, they are considered to be the most difficult domain to influence through training. Kurt Kraiger drew on Gagne’s model and developed a multidimensional classification scheme of learning outcomes that includes some additional indicators on learning. This classification scheme consists of three broad categories of learning outcomes:   

Cognitive Outcomes - The quantity and type of knowledge and the relationships among knowledge elements Skill Based Outcomes – This involves the development of technical or motor skills Affective Outcomes – Neither cognitively based or skills based. Attitudinal.

Stages of Learning and Resource Allocation Theory: Learning and the acquisition of new knowledge and skills occur over a period of time and in a meaningful sequence across several stages. A theory developed by John Anderson called the adaptive character of thought theory or ACT theory, describes the learning process as it unfolds across three stages:  Declarative Knowledge  Knowledge Compilation  Procedural Knowledge (Proceduralization) A related theory called Resource Allocation theory explains how people learn during each of the stages as a function of the resources required to learn a new job. ACT Theory: Learning takes place in three stages that are known declarative knowledge, knowledge compilation and procedural knowledge or proceduralization.

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Resource Allocation Theory: Individuals possess limited cognitive resources that can be used to learn a new task. Declarative Knowled...