Training increasing the knowledge and skills of an employee while doing job. It is job – oriented. Training is a practice – based and company specific. Training is essential for job success. The benefits accrue to both the trainee and the organisation, if manager understand the principle behind the training process.
Training should be as real as possible so that trainee can successfully transfer the new knowledge to their job. The training situation should be set up so that trainee can visualise – and identify with – the types of situation they can come across on the job.
Areas of Training
Knowledge
The training learns about a set of rules and regulations about the job, the staff and the products or services offered by the company. The aim is to make the new employee filly aware of what goes on inside and outside the company.
Technical Skills
The employee is taught a specific skill so that he can acquire that skill and contribute meaningfully.
Social Skills
The employee is made to learn about him and others, and to develop a right mental attitude towards the jobs, colleagues and the company. The principle focus is on teaching the employee how to be a team member and get ahead.
Techniques
It involves the knowledge and skill to various on the job situations. It improving the skills and knowledge, training aims at moulding employee attitude: when administered properly, a training programme will be going a long way in obtaining employee loyalty, support and commitment to company activity.
Types of Training
● Skill training: This type training is most common in organisation. The process is fairly simple. The need for training is basic skills is identified through assessment. Specific training objectives are set and training content is developed to meet those objectives. Several methods are available for imparting these basic skills in modern organisation.
● Refresher training: Rapid changes in technology may force companies to go in for this kind of training. By organising short term courses which incorporate the latest developments in a particular field, the company may keep its employee up – to – date and ready to take on emerging challenges. It is conducted at regular intervals by taking the help of outside consultants who specialise in a particular descriptive.
● Cross function training: Cross functional training involves training employees to perform operation in areas other than their assigned job. There are many approaches to cross functional training. Job rotation can be used to provide a manager in one functional area with a broader perspective than he would otherwise have. Departments can exchange personnel for a certain period so that each employee understands how other departments are functioning. High performing workers can act as peer trainers and help employees develop skills in another area of operation.
● Team Training: Team training generally covers two areas: content task and group processes. Content tasks specify the team’s goals such as cost control and problem solving. Group processes reflect the way members function as a team.
● Creativity training: Companies like Mudra Communications, Titan industries, Wipro encourages their employees to think unconventionally, break the rules, take risks, go out of the box and devise unexpected solutions.
● Diversity training: Diversity training considers all of the diverse dimensions in the workplace – race, gender, age, ideas and background – while designing a training programme. It aims to create better cross – cultural sensitivity with the aim of fostering more harmonious and fruitful working relationships among a firm’s employee.
● Literacy training: Inability to write, speak and work well with others could often come in the way of discharging duties, especially at the lower levels. Workers, in such situations, may fail to understand safety messages, appreciate the importance of striking to rules, and commit avoidable mistake. Functional illiteracy may be a serious impediment to a firm’s productivity and competitiveness. Function literacy programmes focus on the basic skills required to perform a job adequately and capitalise on most worker’s motivation to get help in a particular area. Tutorial programmes, home assignments, reading and writing exercises, simple mathematical tests, etc. are generally used in all company in house programmes meant to improve the literacy levels of employees with week reading, writing or arithmetic skills.
Checklist to Avoid Pitfalls in Training
● Attempting to teach too quickly: Trying to teach too quickly results in frustration. It is not wise to push employees beyond their learning limits.
● Trying to teach too much: There are limits to the amount that one can learn. It is recommended to teach segments of the job in sequential fashion in order to develop a greater appreciation and understanding the whole job.
● Viewing all trainees as the same: All employees are different. This must be recognised when it comes to training. Since some workers learn faster or slower than others, these differences’ must be accounted for in the training programme.
● Not providing time to practise: Practice make perfect. There is no such thing as natural born skilled workers. Adequate practise time must be provided for employees to develop their skills.
● Providing the pat on the back: It is always a good idea to reinforce employees during the learning process. Encouragement, praise, and reward are highly recommended.
● Not frightening the employee: As a supervisor, it is possible to know the job for which the employee is training so thoroughly that a new employee may feel inadequate or intimidated.