Articles

Why training is important to big organization?

In the modern society there are different types of organisations, there are those that are non-profit and there are those that are profit oriented. These types of organisations no matter how different they are they have some principles that they share. These principles involves being socially responsible to their clients which involves them building facilities and giving assistance to them, these organisations can also be socially responsible to the environment by ensuring that the environment is not polluted and that its safe. Of great importance is when these organisation are socially responsible to their employees, this includes taking care of their welfare and taking them for trainings which is usually a good thing both for the employee and the employer.

Training can be defined as the continuous efforts and activities that are done within the organization so as to enhance the performance of its employees. It can also be addressed as an academic process which involves improving of concepts, skills, gaining more knowledge and changing of attitude to improve the performance of employees. Even though there are new methods that are developing continuously, there are some common training techniques that have proved to be very effective. Some of the notable examples worth mentioning include role playing, class room lectures, computer training, case studies, orientations and simulations. Training may be aimed for individual performance, organizational performance or team performance. For the organisation to maximize on the effectiveness of conducting regular training, organizations must be able regularly assess and identify their employees current needs in terms of training and development so as to make them ready for the next positions awaiting them so as to be able to attain a higher growth. It is important to note that different employees will need different trainings depending on their career or positions in the organisation and these needs will always change over time as these employees continue to advance in their careers. When an organization invests more in improving the skills and knowledge of its employees, what is got in return is a highly productive, innovative and effective employees. It is important to note that Training is very crucial for the development organization and its general success which is important to both the employers and the employees of the organization.

Employee trainings not only involves going back to school and improving on your education but it also involves others training which may seem to be of no help but at the end of the day they place a greater role in the performance of the organisation. These trainings involves:

Communications training: With the increasing changes and diversity in our workforce today brings with it a variety of customs and languages, languages that our employees have to be acquitted with so as to deliver a quality service to the diverse clientele. Communication training involves both verbal and non-verbal so as to cater for those with special needs like the deaf and dumb. This can involve how to use special signs and special items such as brail. Another form of communication training involves passing of information while ensuring that protocol is observed and this can be done through effective use of memo.

Safety training: In organisations where working with repetitive activities, heavy equipment and hazardous chemicals is involved safety training is usually important. Safety training may also involve use of fire extinguishers and also how to react when there is an emergency like fire outbreak within the organisation.

Customer service training: The global market has of recent time’s experienced increased competition. These competition has been necessitated by the ever changing customer needs. It is there for important to note that to stay in the same league with other competitors the employees must be trained well to deliver quality services so as to attract more customers and also to have faith and trust as the employee will be able to understand their needs perfectly. Customer service training may involve training on etiquette towards the clients and also if the organisation has a call centre then the call attendants may need training on how to respond to the callers regardless of the pressure that they may be under when receiving the call.

Computer skills training: Basic computer skills have with time turned to become a major necessity in conducting office works and administrative duties. Computer training may involve being trained on computer packages such as the MS word, Excel, How to create power point presentations and even how to use some applications such the quick books.

Diversity training: Everyone is different in one way or the other and in diversity training which usually involves explaining to the employee how people are different and their different perspectives together with different views. In this training it employees are trained how to value and appreciate diversity.

Human relations training: Trainings can help people to have a healthy relationship in the organisation. This is not short for the fact that with daily activities at work place an employee can develop stress and this can lead to misunderstanding and conflict at the work place if he or she doesn’t know how well to handle their stress. An organisation can be offering counselling to it employees as a form of human relations training.

Ethics training: There has been increased expectations on corporate social responsibility in the society today. Our workforce today is outsourced from different places with that comes distinctive values and morals that all the employees must learn to embrace in the organization. Ethic trainings may involve benchmarking in different places so as to get acquitted with different cultures that may be surrounding them, other than that the employees may get training on Ethics from trained personnel whom may have had training on ethics and customs.

Sexual harassment: Our society keeps on changing and sexual harassment training is needed in every organisation, this should include a clear description of the organization’s policies and principles on sexual harassment. This training involves self-defence in an event sexual harassment occurs and how to protect the evidence when it occurs. Health officials or the law enforcers or even trained personnel.

Quality initiatives: Some initiatives such as benchmarking, quality Circles and total quality management may require basic yet fundamental training about the standards for quality, the guidelines and the quality concepts. Quality initiative trainings can involves training of importance of offering quality services to your client and even getting training from bureau of standards officials on how to maintain the best quality.

With these trainings they come with their own advantages, these advantages can be individual or for the organisations so as to be able to achieve greater things.

Some of these advantages are:

Reduction in learning time: When the employees get training from a trained instructor where the instructor takes them through each and everything they need to learn. This in turn saves time and reduces greatly the period required for the employees as opposed to a scenario where the employees have to use trial and error to learn where they may take a longer time to learn a single thing which they may even end up not learning at the end of the day.

Increased productivity and efficiency: Trainings will always improve the productivity, accuracy and efficiency of the employees directly. Employees are constantly up to date with emerging trends in technology and therefore will use the existing ones in efficiently. Well trained employees will always show quality and quantity in their performance. A lot of money, resources and time will be saved when employees are trained properly.

Helps in optimum utilization of resource: Training at a greater extend helps to create the opportunity and platform for the employees to better their technical skills and also their behavioural skills. This in turn will lead to the employees utilising the available resources to the maximum which will lead to the experiencing individual growth as the organisation will in turn grow.

Lessened supervision: Training promotes independency as it improves the necessary skills that the employee possesses and this empowers them to tackle tasks freely and independently. A well-trained employee will be at a better place and well acquainted with the job that they are supposed to handle and therefore there will be less or no need of supervision.

Uncover employee potential: In many circumstances many companies usually over look at the hidden talents that their employees possesses and it is during trainings that the employees can always get the platform to unearth their talents and also share their ideas with the management. Allowing the employees to attend trainings is usually a good thing as it acts as an avenue where we can spot budding leaders of tomorrow as it has been proved that most employees are usually yearning for the opportunity to show case their leadership roles in the organisation but due to the fact that there is no proper leadership training and development programs within the organisation it makes it hard for them to prove their leadership prowess.

Reduction in accidents and errors: Many errors usually occur due to the fact that most of the employees lack the right skills and knowledge to enable them perform a given task at hand. But with continuous training the employees are able to acquire the desired skills to enable them do the given job to perfection and this reduces the chances of them committing errors and submitting substandard work.

Job satisfaction: One thing that makes an employee more satisfied is the fact that they can do their work to perfection. They have a feeling that they are valuable in the organisation and also have a sense of belonging within the organisation. This is only possible when there is a proper and continuous training and development programs that will enable them to perform their work with a lot of confidence.

Creating a talent pool: With continues training we are able to create a pool of cross-trained employees which in turn helps to reduce the gaps when one employee unexpectedly leaves the organisation or if a transfer occurs or even when they get a promotion to another position. Employees can always be trained on additional skills such as in operations, sales, marketing, administration and customer service. Cross training usually bring about the team spirit, as the employees are able to appreciate different challenges faced by their colleagues.

Reduction in absenteeism: Usually employee turnaround costs the an organisation a lot of money and time which can be reduced with training as training usually creates a greater feeling of high self-esteem, confidence and security in the minds of every trained employees. It gives them a security at the workplace. The result we get from here is that we get a reduction in absenteeism and labour turnover.

Addressing employee weaknesses:  Everyone is not the same and that also applies in the every organisation every employee has his or her weaknesses in their place of work and this can hinder them from exploiting their full potential so as to give their best outputs. With a well-structured training these weaknesses can be eliminated by improving their self-esteem, strengthening employee’s skills and eliminating their inner barriers. A good training program which is well-organized will help the employees acquire the best knowledge and skills which will make them to be at per with each other and therefore eradicating the a situation where only one person is trusted and depended on in doing a given task in the organisation.

Increased consistency: Employees will always have a constant knowledge and experience from a well-organized training program. Regular training will ensure that majority of the employees will always have a consistent knowledge of the tasks and the procedures which is usually of great concern when it comes to the basic policies and procedures of an organization. By making sure that majority of the employees acquire consistent knowledge also assists to ensure that deadline are met, and that there is no room for consultation on how things are supposed to be done with the organisation.

Creating team spirit: During trainings the employees can instil in them the spirit of hard work, transparency, accountability and teamwork which will in turn foster inter-team engagements which will facilitate or help the employees to learn amongst themselves.

 Having skills Development: Training in general always helps to increase the job knowledge and the skills of workers in different levels. This also helps to build the individual and the overall personality of the employees and have a greater understanding of things.

Keep up with industry changes

There are a lot of changes in the world that we are living in today these changes also stretch to the Industries which are regularly changing and therefore it is of great importance for an organization to grow so as to avoid being left behind. There are always new regulations that will always come up and  It is important to ensure that your organisation is playing by the new regulations set or with any other regulations, this can always be achieved by conducting regular training and ensuring that your employees skills and knowledge are top notch and are also up to date.

Be informed about the latest technology trends

Every hour that passes a new technology is developed which requires training and these training cannot be done in a single training session hence there is the need for regular training in the organisation so that the employees can be able to comfortably use these new technologies. Another way of achieving this can be through integrating employee training with the IT department.

Getting ahead of the competitors
Having a well trained staff will ensure that you stand ahead of your competitors as your service delivery will be exceptional given that you will be having people who understands what needs to be done and how it is supposed to be done to perfection. This will give you an edge to your competitors in the same industry.

Advance employee skills

Having employees who know what is required of them means that the business will stand to gain since the employees will have a lot to offer in the table. This can only be possible when the organisation has taken their employees through a form of training to enable them to better themselves.

 Providing an incentive to practice and learn

Employees can always practice their new skills they have acquired and this is usually possible if at all training has been provided as part of a long term development pathway. They will then have more incentive to learn.

Provide internal promotion opportunities

The good thing with regular training is that you will be preparing you employees in your organisation for promotions that may occur in the organisation. This will in turn save you from high recruitment costs and hiring fees. Again you will have people who know how your organisation operates therefore you have some trust and guarantee that the work will be done to perfection since the employee have the complete knowledge on what needs to be done.

Comply with Regulations

Rules and regulations always keep on changing and organisations are required to abide them so as to avoid penalties or any other consequences that may follow if they are not followed to the latter. These laws can be industry regulations or even the state laws. Due to the ever changing nature of technology has forced major industries and various governments to come up with strict new regulations or even modify the existing ones so as to be able to accommodate the rapid changes. Continuous training of employees can always be used to benchmark and ensure an organization complies with the new regulations.

Safety is one of the key areas that require continuous training. It is deemed important that the employees know and understand all the risks that they in contact with. The benefits of training employee on safety is that it allows employees to learn how to react in case there is an accident. The training prepares them because it will highlight potential scenarios and appropriate scenarios. It will be difficult for them to respond appropriately if they are only taken through the initial training.

An organization cannot continue to run its operations if it does not comply with regulations. It is important to train your employees on the new regulations that has come in play because failure to do that your organisations may be on the losing end as you will not be in the same playing level with your competitors in the same industry.

Promoting Employee Loyalty and Gain the Real Benefits of Employee Training

Most employees will stay where they believe they have an opportunity to get some sort of promotion, by offering continuous training for employees be it academic or just skill related is a great way to promote loyalty within the organization as they will have feeling of preparedness within them to get any promotion within the organisation. Training programs not only provides an opportunity to get into promotions within the organisations but it also offers the employees knowledge and skills they may require to take their career into the next level or advance their career. These programs usually offer critical additional knowledge that the employees can use in their daily activities to enhance on quality and efficiency.

Training gives the employees an avenue to acquire new skills, skills that they can apply in their organisation so that it can prosper. Each and every organization that offers regular and continuous training to its employees will always have low turnover due to the fact that its employees and the entire workforce is loyal to it.  Trainings does not necessarily mean that they have to be within the organizations premises at time it decide to offer training outside the workplace. At times employees can be given the opportunity interact with other employees of other organisations but who are in the same industry as that of your organisation. When you give this avenues to your employees they will be grateful and this will increase their loyalty to the organisation.

It is important to note that regular and continuous training of employees has a lot of benefits to both the organization as a whole and the individual. Improved productivity is one of the rewards that organizations can get from developing skills and training their workforce regularly. On the other hand it is easier to retain employees when they feel much more like an asset rather than a liability and this is only possible when they are well trained. Employee also have a chance to improve and better their skills and somehow advance their careers through the training.

On the other hand with regular training the organisation also benefits in various ways like:

Market Growth

Training of employee is very critical for any organization that needs to stay relevant and competitive in the market today. Even though it is costly for the organizations to spend all that the money on their employees inform of trainings the investment is usually positive for the organization as it enables it to stay relevant in the market other than just holding its place in the market. According to the American Society for Training and Development mentioned two things that are of great importance for employees’ understanding and knowledge, to begin with the employees tend to identify the worth of trainings and that which is marketable by organization. To add on to this the managers of the organisations will be able understand how fast information is being transferred in current business environment. Greengard (2000) has also described that it’s upon the organizations to train and develop their employees while trying to create a conducive environment where they can learn and expand their knowledge for the sake of the organisation and its competitive ability. Despite training of the employees being expensive at times, its return is what matters at the end of the day as there is always a positive impact on return on investment. This can be supported by the fact that some organisations such as Microsoft are highly effective by the fact that they invest more on training their employees.

Improving organizational Performance

Training of employees has been seen over the years as a major factor that bring about organisational effectiveness and success. This is for the fact that whenever training of employees occurs there is always an increase in capacity building. This will in turn improve the performance of the organisation as it will have individuals to handle different tasks. This brings about trust from the clientele that organisation is serving, with increased trust comes increase in clientele which will result to increase in profitability. At the end of the day there will be a high profit margin for the organisation and if at all there it’s a non-profit organisation then it means there will be improved ratings on its service delivery.

Employee Retention

Retaining of employees is usually a difficult task to every organisation as there is no particular formula or technique to retain employees. It has however been unveiled by several organisations that one of the methods that has proved to be effective is when you offer your employees an opportunity to learn and to train so as to better their skills.

Experienced employees are usually considered as assets of organisations that the organisations should realize that fact and in turn try to do everything within their reach so as to ensure that they have retained their experienced employees. Organisation that are providing trainings to their employees have an easier time retaining their employees as compared to thos who are not offering any form of training to their employees. It hass also been established that in organiisations where managers avail help to their employees so as to grow professionally the turnover is always lower compared to those who do not avail any form of training to their employees.

Organizations that have a well-structured employee training and development programs usually have a higher success rate with retaining their experienced employees. Having an effective training program can help the organisation in retention of employees among themselves.However, the organisations must try to create evironmment that can enable them to retain their employees in which the employee will feel no need for leaving the organisation because of the environment that has been put in place for them that makes them feel comfortable to work.

Every organisation must think over and over again on its employees training, this is for the fact that it will create an avenue to build on their self-esteem and their individuality. This will not only help the individual organisation to experience growth in their performance in their industry but also they will be boasting of a well trained workforce that is sort for by other competitors in the same industry. It is also important to note that the best way to retain employees is when an organisation provides an avenue where individual employees can better their education and skills by inviting people to train their employees. It is advisable for organisations to embrace regular and continuous training of their employees.

In conclusion having regular training have its own benefits to the organisation and to an employee. Training of employees is one of the best investments an organisation can ever make as it betters with time and it has no depreciation cost. The trained employees will be good at what they are doing, they will have a greater knowledge of the job and there will be a greater return to the organisation not only will the organisation experience great profits but it will be able to stand out with its exemplary service delivery to its clientele.

References

Arthur WJ, Bennett WJ, Edens P, Bell ST. (2003). Effectiveness of training in organizations: a met-analysis of design and evaluation features. Journal Applied Psychology. 88:234–45.

Barber J. (2004). Skill upgrading within informal training: lessons from the Indian auto mechanic. International Journal of Training and Development, 8:128–39.

Bartel, A.P. (2000). Measuring the Employer’s Return on Investment in Training: Evidence from the Literature. Industrial Relations, 39, 3, 502–524.

Bartlett, K.R. (2001). The Relationship between Training and Organizational Commitment: A Study in the Health Care Field. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 12, 4, 335–352.

Becker, G. S. (1993). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis with special reference to education(3rd Ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press

Blundell, R., Dearden, L., Meghir, C. and Sianesi, B. (1999). Human Capital Investment: The Returns from Education and Training to the Individual, the Firm and the Economy. Fiscal Studies, 20(1): 1-23.

Blau, G. J., and Boal, K. B. (1987). Conceptualizing how job involvement and organizational commitment affect turnover and absenteeism. The Academy of Management Review, 12(2): 288-300.

Bryman, A. (2007). Business Research Methods. Oxford; Oxford university press.

Callahan, B. (2000, May). Life-long learning pays off. Industrial Distribution, 89 (5), 116.

Cavana, R. Y., (2001). Applied business research: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods. London; John Wiley.

Chaminade B (2007). A retention checklist: how do you rate? Www.humanresourcesmagazine.co.au. Accessed, 28 November, 2007.

Colarelli, S. M., and Montei, M. S. 1996. Some contextual influences on training utilization. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 32(3): 306-322.

Cuniff, J. (2000, July 26). Lifelong education has become the norm. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 35Q.

Dillich, S. (2000, August 4). Corporate universities. Computing Canada, 26 (16), 25.

Dobbs, K. (2000, April). Tires Plus takes the training high road. Training, 37 (4), 56-63.

Feldman, D. (2000, May). The Dilbert syndrome: How employee cynicism about ineffective management is changing the nature of careers in organizations. American Behavioral Scientist, 43, 1286-1301.

Fenn, D. (1999, February). Corporate universities for small companies. Inc, 21 (2), 95-96.

Garger, E. M. (1999, November). Goodbye training, hello learning. Workforce, 78 (11), 35-42.

Greengard, S. (2000, June). Going the distance. Workforce, 79 (6), 22-23.

Garrow, V. (2004). Training and Development and the Psychological Contract. Training Journal, April 8–10.

Gerbman, R. V. (2000, February). Corporate Universities 101. HR Magazine, 45 (2), 101-106.

Jurkiewicz, C.L. (2000). Generation X and the public employee. Public Personnel Management, 29 (1), 55-75.

Goldstein IL, Ford JK. (2002). Training in Organizations. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. 4th ed.

Holton EF III. (2003). Cycle time: a missing dimension in HRD research and theory. Hum. Resour. Dev. Rev.2:335–36.

Kraiger K. (2002). Decision-based Evaluation. In Creating, Implementing, and Maintaining Effective Training and Development: State-of-the-Art Lessons for Practice, ed. K Kraiger, pp. 331–75. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Kozlowski SWJ, Brown KG, Weissbein DA, Cannon-Bowers JA, Salas E. (2000). A multi-level perspective on training effectiveness: enhancing horizontal and vertical transfer. In Multilevel Theory, Research, and Methods in Organizations, ed. KJ Klein, SWJ Kozlowski, pp. 157–210. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Kottke, J. L. (1999). Corporate universities: Lessons in building a world-class work force (revised). Personnel Psychology, 52, 530-533.320.

Leonard, Bill. (1998). HR Magazine, July 1998, vol. 43 Issue I, p. 22-25.

Logan, J. K. (2000, April). Retention tangibles and intangibles: More meaning in work is essential, but good chair massages won’t hurt. Training and Development, 54 (4), 48-50.

Meister, J. C. (1998, November). Ten steps to creating a corporate university. Training and Development, 52(11), 38-43.

Melymuka, K. (2000, April 3). Keeping your star performers. Computerworld, 34 (14), 44.

Moses, B. (1999, February 1). Career planning mirrors social change. The Globe and Mail [On-Line]. Retrieved January 18, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.bbmcareerdev.com/careerplan.html

Mel Kleiman (2000, January). What happens if you don’t train them and they stay? Occupational Health and

Safety, 69 (1), pp. 18, 70.

Nunn, J. (2000, September/October). Career planning key to employee retention. Journal of Property

Management, 65 (5), 20-21.

O’Herron, P., and Simonsen, P. (1995, May). Career development gets a charge at Sears Credit. Personnel

Journal, 74 (5), 103-106.

Petrecca, L. (2000, May 1). Agencies teach skill building. Advertising Age, 71 (19), 12.

Paradise A. (2007). State of the Industry: ASTD’s Annual Review of Trends in Workplace Learning and

Performance. Alexandria, VA: ASTD

Rosenwald, M. (2000, October 15). Working class: More companies are creating corporate universities to help

employees sharpen skills and learn new ones. Boston Globe, H1.

Satterfield JM, Hughes E. (2007). Emotion skills training for medical students: a systematic review. Medical

Education, 41:935–41.

Schuler, R.S., and MacMillan, I.C. (1984). Gaining Competitive Advantage through Human Resource

Management Practices. Human Resource Management, 23, 3, 241–255.

Settoon, R.P., Bennett, N., and Liden, R.C. (1996), Social exchange in organizations: Perceived organizational

support, leader-member exchange, and employee reciprocity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 219-227.

Tung, R.L. (1987). Expatriate Assignments: Enhancing Success and Minimizing Failure. Academy of

Management Executive, vol.1; issue.2: pp 117-25.

Wagner, S. (2000, August). Retention: Finders, keepers. Training and Development, 54 (8), 64.

Wilson, C. (2000, July 26). More companies recognize the impact of learning centers. St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

C8.

Zikmund and William, G., (2002). Business research Methods. London; Thomson Learning.