- Employees as Human Assets and training programs
- How much should a Company Invest in Training of Employees?
- Should line Managers be used in learning and development of employees?
- Relating Employees Attitude, Organization Performance and Training
- How Income Levels Affect Employees Training
- Effective Transfer of Training and HRM practices
- References
Employees as Human Assets and training programs
Organizations have currently started to regard their employees as “human assets”. This is because they play a major part towards the success of such organizations. Most organizations are giving more emphasis on the importance of the crucial assets (employees) since they are responsible for implementing organizational goals in order to meet the set objectives.
Therefore, it is important for an organization to ensure that it has enhanced the capacity, skills and knowledge of the workforce. It is also vital to focus on what constitutes effective employee training when covering the topic on capacity building and training. Chidambaram and Ramachandran (2012, p.278) indicate that an effective training constitutes the following:
- Pre- training arrangement process – the process may include accessing the needs for training, organizing and preparing training participants. These are regarded as the most important points in pre-training. Other aspects like preparation and selection of training environment as well as formulating training techniques are also vital.
- Training method – This is determined by the scope of training being conducted. On the other hand, the scope of training will determine the methods to be used for instruction or the training technique.
- Impact of training on self-need assessment.
- Impact of training on group needs and group changes.
A team in an organization is effective since it is capable of carrying out tasks more effectively than an individual. Training should enhance positive influence among individuals within a group.
How much should a Company Invest in Training of Employees?
It has been shown in the study that investing in training the human assets results into higher employee productivity. This in turn leads to improved financial gains and improved overall performance (Coget 2011, p.85).There seems to be some cultural influence on the amount of money that companies invest in training their employees.
The study has established that national culture influences the amount of money companies invest in training of employees. In a study conducted by two individuals namely Hilla Perets and Zehava Rosenblatt, various aspects of national culture that influence the amount of money companies in a given country invest in training of employees include:
- Power distance – the extent at which distribution of power is expected within a group of employees.
- Future orientation – the level at which individuals engage in future planning and investments.
- Uncertainty avoidance – the extent at which society expects social norms such as when arrangements are applied to reduce effects of unpredictability of future events (Coget 2011, p.86)
Should line Managers be used in learning and development of employees?
Gibb (2003, p.285) outlines that there are several advantages of incorporating line managers in training of employees. The advantages include the possibility to offer regular trainings, better chances of high quality training since line managers work more directly with juniors, transformation of the line managers when they are involved and lastly, expansion of organizational goals among employees.
On the other hand, one of the disadvantages of incorporating them includes the possibility of reduced development training which is likely to be neglected in place of continuous working. In addition, since line managers are not experts such as specialists who undertake training, there is risk of poor quality of training. Lastly there is need to have a neutral party to assess performance in relation to training levels.
Relating Employees Attitude, Organization Performance and Training
The conceptual research framework incorporates the nature of training, management involvement in training and management motivation as the three key fundamentals that results in effective training and overall good performance of an organization (Shiryan, Shee & Stewart 2012, p.45). The importance of involving managers in employee training is of greatest importance in this article.
It outlines that management should have a thorough attachment with training programs and the expected results. Their involvement comes in form of effective planning, funding and general assessment of the results compared to expected outcomes.
How Income Levels Affect Employees Training
A study conducted to establish whether income levels affect employee training or not established that there is more likelihood of organizations to offer on-job training to employees who are highly paid compared to lowly paid employees. The study carried in Canada clearly shows that employees in managerial positions have higher chances of going through on-job training (Zeutinoglu et al. 2008, p.20).
Effective Transfer of Training and HRM practices
Grossman and Salas (2011, p.1360) give a model framework on what is really required for an effective transfer of training in an organization. They suggest that three requirements are important. These are training inputs, training outputs and conditions of transfer. In their model, training inputs include trainee characteristics, training design and work environment.
On the other hand, training output constitutes learning and retention while the condition of transfer is generalization and maintenance. They suggest that trainee characteristics include cognitive ability, efficacy, and motivation among others.
Besides, training design incorporates behavioral modeling, error management and realistic training while work environment depicts aspects like transfer climate, support, follow-ups among others.
References
Chidambaram, V. & Ramachandran, A 2012, “A study on efficacy of employee training: review of literature.” Business Theory & Practice vol. 13 no. 3, pp. 275-282.
Coget, J 2011, “Does National Culture Affect Firm Investment in Training and Development?” Academy of Management Perspectives vol. 25 no. 4, pp. 85-87.
Grossman, R, Salas, E 2011, “The transfer of training: what really matters.” International Journal of Training and Development vol. 15 no. 2, pp. 1360-3736.
Gibb, S 2003, “Line manager involvement in learning and development: Small beer or big deal?” Employee Relations vol. 25 no. 3 pp. 281-293.
Shiryan, S., Shee, H. & Stewart, D 2012, “Employee training effectiveness in Saudi Arabia SME performance.” International Journal of Business and Social Science. Vol. 3 no. 14, pp. 46-52.
Zeutinoglu, I. U. et al. 2008, “Low-Paid Workers and On-the-Job Training in Canada.” Industrial Relations vol. 63 no. 1, pp. 5-29.