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6raining and Development is the framework for helping employees to develop their
personal and organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities. 6he focus of all aspects
of Human Resource Development is on developing the most superior workforce so
that the organization and individual employees can accomplish their work goals in
service to customers. All employees want to be valuable and remain competitive in
the labor market at all times. 6his can only be achieved through employee training
and development. Employees will always want to develop career-enhancing skills,
which will always lead to employee motivation and retention. 6here is no doubt that
a well trained and developed staff will be a valuable asset to the company and
thereby increasing the chances of his efficiency in discharging his or her duties.

6rainings in an organization can be mainly of two types; Internal and External

training sessions. Internal training involves when training is organized in-house by
the Human resources department or training department using either a senior staff
or any talented staff in the particular department as a resource person. On the other
hand External training is normally arranged outside the firm and is mostly
organized by training institutes or consultants. Whichever training, it is very
essential for all staff and helps in building career positioning and preparing staff for
greater challenges. Employers of labor should enable employees to pursue training
and development in a direction that they choose and are interested in, not just in
company-assigned directions.

Companies should support learning, in general, and not just in support of knowledge
needed for the employee's current or next anticipated job. It should be noted that
the key factor is keeping the employee interested, attending, engaged, motivated
and retained. For every employee to perform well especially Supervisors and
Managers there is need for constant training and development. 6he right employee
training, development and education provides big payoffs for the employer in
increased productivity, knowledge, loyalty, and contribution to general growth of
the firm. In most cases external trainings for instance provide participants with the
avenue to meet new set of people in the same field and network. 6he meeting will
give them the chance to compare issues and find out what is obtainable in each
other's environment. 6his for sure will introduce positive changes where necessary.
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6raining employees do have a significant role in modern business era. Not just to
equip them with latest tools your company has implemented, there is a lot more to
it. I have sorted down them in a list. 6his is a must read if you employ or mean to
employ in future at least one person.

6raining in an organization is mainly being conducted for three reasons:

Jc Improving the quality or the business excellence

Jc Improving the performance
Jc Developing the human capital for future growth to achieve the vision through
employee satisfaction.

6raining your employees is important because

1.c Rapid technological innovations impacting the workplace have made it

necessary for people to consistently update their knowledge and skills

2.c People have to work in multidimensional areas , which usually demand far
more from their area of specialization.

3.c Lack of proper and scientific selection procedure.

4.c For career advancement.

5.c For higher motivation and productivity.

6.c 6o make the job challenging and interesting

7.c For self and development

8.c For employee motivation and retention

9.c 6o improve organizational climate

10.cPrevention of obsolescence

11.c6o help an organization to fulfill its future manpower needs.

12.c6o keep in pace with times

13.c6o bridge gap between skills requirement and skills availability

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Is investment in the area of training and development linked to the bottom line
within the business? Increasingly, high performing organisations today are
recognising the need to use best training and development practices to enhance
their competitive advantage. 6raining and development is an essential element of
every business if the value and potential of its people is to be harnessed and grown.
Many studies have highlighted the clear links between well designed and strategic
training and development initiatives and the bottom line within the business. 6he
image of an industry and of individual employers is also influenced by the extent
and quality of staff training and development. Potential employees in such an open
labour market will assess the track record of prospective employers in this vital
area. Career progression and development is an increasingly attractive or even basic
requirement for many such employees. In todayǯs business climate where all
industries are experiencing staff and skills shortages, companies are faced with stiff
internal and external competition for quality employees. Each employer who invests
seriously in the area of 6raining and Development will reap the benefits of an
enriched working environment with higher levels of staff retention as well as
increased productivity and performance.

Before investing in training we must consider the need of the training as per
matching with the strategic goals of the organization to prove itself as an
investment. Before doing that we need to assess the need of the training. A large
body of research, accumulated over decades, has firmly established that education
delivers a variety of benefits at many levels. 6hese include benefits for individuals,
benefits for companies, and benefits for society as a whole. Individuals profit from
investment in education through higher wages. No less important are the lower
probability of unemployment and higher rates of labour force participation for more
highly educated individuals. Firms reap benefits from education via the higher
productivity of their employees. Better-educated employees are not only more
productive, but also raise the productivity of their less-educated colleagues.
Societies benefit from education through the direct effect of higher productivity on
growth. A number of additional benefits including better public health and greater
social cohesion have also been found. A commonly used measure to determine
whether investment in education, or in any other project, is worthwhile is the
internal rate of return. 6his measure compares the current and future value of costs
and benefits arising from education Both private and social rates of return can be
calculated to judge the returns of further investment in education for individuals
and governments. 6he main objective of the sent study is to estimate the rates of
return of the investments necessary to achieve the education targets.
6he top three were health and safety, technical changes and customer service. In
other words, organizations are now using training and development as an incentive
to retain and motivate their people and to be recognized as an employer of choice as
well as giving staff the skills and knowledge needed to keep up with technological
change and customer service. A further key finding in this survey was that the vast
majority of companies surveyed (9 out of 10) stated they provided support to
employees to pursue outside educational programmes. 6his support consisted of
both financial aid as well as time off for both study and exam leaves. Both of these
initiatives may have benefits which are difficult to quantify, but areas such as staff
turnover and morale are clear indicators of success in this field. While research
indicates an increased interest in and awareness of the benefits of training, the
question needs to be asked as to whether this translated into Irish organizations
establishing training policies and / or increasing their spend on training? A National
Survey of 6raining and Development in Ireland conducted by Garavan and Heraty in
2003 outlined a number of key trends which are emerging in the 6raining arena in
Ireland. Some of the key ones include the following: 2 Irish organizations spend on
average 3.55% of payroll on training which does not compare favourably with other
EU member states. (6he IBEC HR Benchmarking Survey indicates a figure of 3.15%).
6he average number of days training provided per employee per year in 2004 was
5.35. (IBEC HR Benchmarking Survey indicates an average figure of 3-5 days).
6here is evidence of a positive attitude to training and development among those
surveyed with many viewing it to be an important component in the organizationǯs
strategy. Smaller firms are more likely to deliver training in an ad hoc way with
larger companies applying a more formal approach to managing training. Line
managers and employees seem to have a greater role in the organization and design
of training and development. 6here is still a strong usage of the traditional forms of
learning strategies including classroom teaching and subject driven courses,
although there is a growth in the use of new technology to deliver training. Learning
in teams is an increasingly popular form of learning in the workplace. Employees
are now taking more personal ownership for their own development. However, the
percentage spend and number of days spent training staff may be useful in order to
get an overview of the companyǯs commitment to training and development, but it is
the manner, approach and content of the training initiatives as well as their
assessment and follow up which determine success. It is all too easy to throw money
at a performance problem and assume that a training course will sort it out, when
this may well be just putting a plaster over an open wound. 6raining initiatives need
to be strategically aligned to the overall company mission and goals. 6hey need to
be designed and delivered with the aim of helping staff to achieve their
departmental as well as personal goals, so the trend of increased involvement by
line managers and employees is a positive development in terms of ownership of
the training and learning. By adopting a strategic approach to training and
development rather than an unplanned and ad hoc one, training and development
initiatives become more targeted, measurable and effective. However, increased
flexibility in terms of training delivery may need to be expanded in the future to
facilitate participantǯs different learning styles as well as lifestyles. 6hey also need to
be assessed in terms of reaction, learning, behaviour change and results to
determine the added value to the organization. 6his area of evaluation is one
whereby many organizations simply evaluate the effectiveness of the training
intervention based on the initial reaction of participants, an area which clearly
needs to be expanded. A sample training and development approach is outlined
below describing the essential elements in a strategic approach:

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In order to remain competitive and to ensure excellent staff are attracted to and
remain within the organization, companies need to ensure that the training and
development of all employees is an issue which is taken seriously. By investing in 4
the development of the people who are the face of the business, companies can get
ahead of the competition and excel in what they do. One of the most important
aspects of managing people lies in helping employees become more effective at their
jobs and being able to adapt to that job or another job as he/she matures within the
organization. 6his requires a high level of co-ordination between employee training
and development and the range of other personnel functions, such as recruitment
and selection, performance appraisal, reward systems and employee relations.
Identification of a companyǯs training needs, designing a relevant training plan,
selecting and implementing the resulting training programme and evaluating its
success are therefore integral elements of the overall Human Resource process.
However, for any of these functions to be effective, the 6raining plans and policies
must be in line with the organizationǯs strategic objectives. 6he 6raining function is
increasingly considered to be a key player in helping the organization to achieve its
goals through its people as it is becoming more generally accepted that there is a
strong correlation between organizational success and investment in training and
development. 6here is now a growing awareness of the importance of a planned
approach to training and development as a tool for competitive advantage, staff
recruitment, selection, retention and motivation. 6he whole 6raining and
Development function has increasingly acquired status as the instrument for
breaking new ground and bringing about change through its developmental
activities. 6raining managers must provide expert advice to top level management,
usually about the value to the organization of a particular kind of training.
Furthermore, they must have the means to persuade management as to a systematic
approach to training outlining for example, the extent to which changes in structure
and procedures will be necessary to support training. 6he training must take place
within a framework of partnership between the trainer, employer and employee.
6his relationship must be characterized by trust between all stakeholders so that
training does not simply reflect the views of the employer. 6his commonality of
interest must be identified and worked towards. 6raining and development is about
making a difference to the bottom line, both in terms of how people feel about their
jobs as well as in the area of performance and productivity. Ultimately, it is about
adding real value to the organization and those who comprise it.

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Evidence from macro-level research suggests that formal training is a good
investment that can possibly yield higher returns than investments in physical
capital. Studies also suggest that increasing the level of skills development leads to
increases in wages for employees as well as enhancing an organizationǯs
productivity. At the firm level, much of the case study evidence from around the
world demonstrates that companies can reap substantial returns from investing in
training. In some research, the benefits for companies with higher levels of training
investment was shown to extend beyond improving business outcomes to include
driving higher total shareholder returns by comparison to those firms with lower
levels of training investment. Much of the macro-level research and the growing
body of case study research indicate convincingly that investment in training yields
value to companies, employees, and the economy as a whole. Such evidence
suggests that formal training is a good investment with the potential to yield higher
returns than investments in physical capital. 6hese findings are especially
significant in light of Canadaǯs comparatively weak track record in investing in
workplace training, productivity, and economic growth. Further, combining the two
lines of inquiryȄmacro- and firm-levelȄsubstantially enriches the evidence base
making it more useful to a wider community.

6he KSA of an employee is the measurement of his working productivity and overall
performance to contribute to achieve the organization its vision. 6raining is the only
way to Achieve, attain, retain and develop the KSA. So companies should
strategically invest on training to increase the KSA of its Human capital to grow
more to Achieve the Vision.
 
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