Training Functions, Training Needs Assessment, Action Research, Organizational Objectives and Training

2.  Training Functions
 Training Needs Assessment
 Action Research
 Organizational Objectives and Training

3. Lecture - 1

4.  Training function covers many bases.
 Training involves from –
New employee orientation to leadership
training
What training can do?

5. According to,
Society of Human Resource Management
(SHRM),
The functions of Training are -
 Retain employees and
 Creates a productive workforce.

6.  Orientation prepares the employees for new
roles, and get used to, to the company.
 Employees who undergo an orientation
process feel more connected to their job.
 The length of orientation sessions are
varying by the employees' positions in
the company.

7. Compliance training is highly recommended by the
Department of Labor.
This encompasses –
 workplace violence,
 sexual harassment,
 drug and alcohol, and
 safety in the workplace.
Offering this type of training puts employees on alert,
and helps the company avoid costly lawsuits.

8.  This Training prepares employees for the
challenges of management, and begins
the succession planning process.
 Succession planning helps fill high-
level positions by molding current
employees. Retirement is inevitable,
and some positions are difficult to fill.

9.  Counseling employees is an effective way
to determine their career goals, and
can help them remain a part of the
organization for years to come.
 Companies that offer career
counseling show they care about their
employee's future. It is an important
component of succession planning.

10. A large component of the HR training
function is research.
Skill development programs are ever-
changing. Conducting research should
be an on-going training activity.
 It will assure the programs are fresh
and relevant.
 Assessing the needs of incumbent
employees will better shape them for
future success.

11.  Training and development is potentially a
powerful strategic function.
 It can make a major contribution to
organizational, group and individual
effectiveness, efficiency, growth and
success.

12. Maintaining Training standard is useful
to:
• A specialist who sees the management of
training and development as a career route
• A manager for whom a period managing
training and development activities is part of
a career path
• A senior practitioner operating as a
consultant in a training organization.

13. 1. A clear vision of the goal and mission of training
2. Activities tightly linked to organizational objectives
3. Line management commitment and involvement
4. Excellent management practice within the training
function
5. An emphasis on reality and practicality

14. 6. Use of multiple sources to assist them
7. Consistency of delivery
8. A strong sense of urgency
9. The achievement of critical mass – real impact
10. Thorough evaluation of results and attribution of
outcomes

16. Training Need
Assessment

17.  Effective training practices involve the use of
an Instructional systems design
process
 The instructional systems design process begins by
conducting a needs assessment
 Before choosing a training method, it is important
to determine:
 What type of training is necessary? and
 Whether trainees are willing to learn?

18.  Refers to the process used to determine whether
training is necessary or Not?
 As needs assessment is the first step in the
instructional design process:
 If it is poorly conducted, training will not achieve the
outcomes or financial benefits the company expects i.e.
training will be failure.

19. Reasons or “Pressure
Points”
Outcomes
What is the Context?
•Legislation
•Lack of Basic Skills
•Poor Performance
•New Technology
•Customer Requests
•New Products
•Higher Performance
Standards
•New Jobs
•What Trainees Need to
Learn
•Who Receives Training
•Type of Training
•Frequency of Training
•Buy Versus Build
Training Decision
•Training Versus Other
HR Options Such as
Selection or Job
Redesign
•How Training Should Be
Evaluated
Who Needs the
Training?
In What
Do They
Need
Training?
Organization
Analysis
Task
Analysis
Person
Analysis

20.  Organizational Analysis – Involves determining:
 The appropriateness of training, given the business strategy
 Resources available for training
 Support by managers and peers for training
 Person Analysis – Involves:
 Determining whether performance deficiencies result from a lack
of knowledge, skill, or ability or from a motivational or
work design problem
 Identifying who needs training
 Determining employees’ readiness for training
 Task Analysis – involves:
 Identifying the important tasks and knowledge, skill, and
behaviors that need to be emphasized in training for employees to
complete their tasks

21. Upper-Level Managers Midlevel Managers Trainers
Organizational
Analysis
Is training important to
achieve our business
objectives?
How does training support
our business strategy?
Do I want to spend money
on training?
How much?
Do I have the budget to
buy training services?
Will managers support
training?
Person Analysis What functions or business
units need training?
Who should be trained?
Managers?
Professionals?
Core employees?
How will I identify which
employees need training?
Task Analysis Does the company have
the people with the
knowledge, skills, and
ability needed to compete
in the marketplace?
For what jobs can training
make the biggest
difference in product
quality or customer
service?
What tasks should be
trained?
What knowledge, skills,
ability, or other
characteristics are
necessary?

23. Needs Assessment Techniques

24. Interviews
Focus
Groups
Documentation
Observation Questionnaires

25. Technique Advantages Disadvantages
Observation Generates data relevant to
work environment
Minimizes interruption of
work
Needs skilled observer
Employees’ behavior may be
affected by being observed
Questionnaires Inexpensive
Can collect data from a large
number of persons
Data easily summarized
Requires time
Possible low return rates,
inappropriate responses
Lacks detail
Only provides information
directly related to questions
asked

26. Technique Advantages Disadvantages
Interviews Good at uncovering details
of training needs
Good at uncovering causes
and solutions of problems
Can explore unanticipated
issues that come up
Questions can be modified
Time consuming
Difficult to analyze
Needs skilled interviewer
Can be threatening to small
organizations
Difficult to schedule
Few organizations/ Employee
only provide information they
think you want to hear
Focus Groups Useful with complex or
controversial issues that one
person may be unable or
unwilling to explore
Questions can be modified
to explore unanticipated
issues
Time consuming to organize
Group members provide
information they think you want
to hear
Status or position differences
may limit participation

27. Technique Advantages Disadvantages
Documentation
(Technical Manuals
and Records)
Good source of information
on procedure,
Objectives
Good source of task
information for new jobs
and jobs in the process of
being created
You may not be able to
understand technical language
Materials may be obsolete

28. The Needs Analysis Process

29. Do We Want To Devote
Time and Money For
Training?
Person Analysis
Person Characteristics
• Input
• Output
• Consequences
• Feedback
Task Analysis or Develop a
Competency Model
• Work Activity (Task)
• KSAs
• Working Conditions
Organizational
Analysis
• Strategic Direction
• Support of
Managers, Peers &
Employees for
Training Activities
• Training Resources

32. Needs assessment analyze present problems and
future challenges to be met through training and
development.
Organizations spend vast money on training and
development (6% to 15% of the budget or
30 days to 58 days training annually)
So, before committing such huge resources,
organizations that implement training programs
without conducting needs assessment may be
making errors.

33. The first step in the training process in an organization
assessment i.e. Study about objectives and strategies of the
organization
1. What business are we in?
2. At what level of quality do we wish to provide?
3. Where do we want to be in the future?
It is only after answering these related questions that the
organization must assess the strengths and weaknesses of
its human resources.

34.  How does this program align with the strategic needs
of the business?
 How might the training content affect our employees’
relationship with our customers?
 What might suppliers, customers, or partners need to
know about the training program?
 Should organizational resources be devoted to this
program?

35.  What do we need from managers and peers for this
training to succeed?
 What features of the work environment might interfere
with training?
 Do we have experts who can help us develop the
program content and ensure that we understand the
needs of the business as we develop the program?

36.  Will employees perceive the training program
as:
 an opportunity?
 reward?
 punishment?
 waste of time?

37.  Whether Employees have the personal characteristics
necessary to learn program content and apply it on the job?
 Whether the work environment will facilitate learning and not
interfere with performance?

38.  Person Characteristics
 Ability and skill
 Attitudes and motivation
 Input
 Understand need to perform
 Necessary resources (equipment, etc.)
 Interference from other job demands
 Opportunity to perform

39.  Output
 Standard to judge successful performers
 Consequences
 Positive consequences/incentives to perform
 Few negative consequences to perform
 Feedback
 Frequent and specific feedback about how the job is
performed

40.  Self-efficacy - the employees believe that they can
successfully perform their job or learn the content of
the training program
 The job environment can be threatening to many
employees who may not have been successful in the past
 The training environment can also be threatening to
people who have not received training or formal education
for some length of time

41.  The purpose of the training is to try to improve performance
rather than to identify incompetent areas.
 Providing as much information as possible about the training
program and purpose of training prior to the actual training
 Showing employees the training success of their peers who are
now in similar jobs
 Providing employees with feedback that learning is under their
control and they have the ability and the responsibility to
overcome any learning difficulties they experience in the
program

42.  Provide materials, time, job-related information, and other
work aids necessary for employees to use new skills or
behavior before participating in training programs
 Speak positively about the company’s training programs to
employees
 Let employees know they are doing a good job when they are
using training content in their work

43.  If employees lack the knowledge and skill to perform and the
other factors are satisfactory, training is needed
 If employees have the knowledge and skill to perform but input,
output, consequences, or feedback are inadequate, training
may not be the best solution

44. 3. Task Analysis

45.  Task analysis includes –
 Description of work activities,
 Tasks performed by the employee
 Knowledge, skills, and abilities required to complete the
tasks
 It should only be undertaken after determined from
the organizational analysis that the company
wants to devote time and money for training

46. 1. Select the job(s) to be analyzed
2. Develop a preliminary list of tasks performed by the job
3. Validate or confirm the preliminary list of tasks
4. Identify the knowledge, skills, or abilities necessary to
successfully perform each task

47. 1. Task analysis should identify both what employees are
actually doing and what they should be doing on the job
2. Task analysis begins by breaking the job into duties and tasks
3. Use more than two methods for collecting task information to
increase the validity of the analysis

48. 4. For task analysis to be useful, information needs to be
collected from subject matter experts (SMEs)
SMEs include:
 Job incumbents
 Managers
 Employees familiar with the job
5. In deciding how to evaluate tasks, the focus should be on
tasks necessary to accomplish the company’s goals and
objectives

49. Scope of Needs Assessment

50. a. Time constraints can limit the length and detail
obtained from needs assessment
b. The scope of the needs assessment depends on the
size of the potential “pressure point”
c. You will be able to anticipate training needs if you are
attuned to the:
i. Business problems
ii. Technological developments
iii. Other issues facing the organization

51.  Know the objectives of the organization towards training
 Decide on the data needed and how to collect it
 Prepare and execute a project plan
 Turn the data into usable information
 Isolate performance improvement potential
 Develop and execute learning or change solutions

52.  Surveys
 Individual Interviews / Focus Groups
 Existing Standards / Procedures
 Statistics / Records
 Past suggestions
 Meetings, Reports, and Newsletters

53.  Your sales director complains that her
representatives are not making their monthly
quotas. She is convinced they need more sales
training to address this issue and asks you to
design something by the end of the week.
 What would you do?

54. 1. Discuss the role of a training needs assessment
to address performance issues.
2. Discuss the reasons to complete a training needs
assessment.
3. Discuss the three steps to conduct a training
needs assessment: organization, person/learner,
and task analysis.
4. Describe the methods available to collect needs
assessment data.
5. Design a needs assessment plan based on a
performance issue.

55. Perform the training need assessment for Final
year students in M.B.A. program. Considering
their immediate need to face interviews and to
enter into corporate world.

57. Action Research

58.  “Professionals studying their own practice in order
to improve it.
 Applied to training, it involves gathering and
interpreting "data" to better understand an aspect
of your training that interests or concerns trainee.
 Action research is an important recent
development in the broad territory of "trainers'
professional development.“

59.  Action Research is an inquiry-based
research conducted by trainers that follows
a process of examining existing practices,
implementing new practices, and
evaluating the results, leading to an
improvement cycle that benefits both
trainees and trainers and organization as
well.

60. Models for Action Research :
1. Kurt Lewin’s Action Research
2. Carr & Kemmis approach:

61. / Inspection

62. “Action research is simply a form of self-
reflective enquiry undertaken by participants
in social situations in order to improve the
rationality and justice of their own practices,
their understanding of these practices, and
the situations in which the practices are
carried out.”

63.  Philosopher, researcher, professor of MITmade
significant contributions to the theory and practice
of learning. Concerned with professional learning,
learning processes in organizations, and with
developing critical, self-reflecting practice
Donald Schon has written a book :
The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals think
in Action

64.  Latin “reflectere” : To bend back
 Involves “shuttling back and forth between
thinking and action”
A reflective thinker is aware of his/her own knowledge
and lack of knowledge and recognizes that there may not be
only a single correct solution to a problem or interpretation of
a situation, knowing that this understanding may change, as
he/she gains more information and insight into the matter.

65.  1. Knowing in Action - The sorts of
knowledge we reveal in our intelligent action –
publicly observable, physical performances
like riding a bicycle and private operations like
instant analysis of a balance sheet. In both
cases, the knowing is in the action. We reveal
it by our spontaneous, skillful execution of the
performance…”
 Knowing in action: knowing more than we can
say, the capacity to do the right thing (tacit knowledge).

66.  Reflection takes place in the midst of action
 Capacity to respond to surprise through
improvisation on the spot
 Involves a surprise (an unexpected outcome/
behaviour that challenges one’s knowing in action),
a response to surprise …conducting an action
experiment on the spot by which we seek to solve
the new problems …
 This is not method but art and a talent.

67.  Pausing after an activity to see how it went –
what went well, what did not, what could be
changed;
 We develop sets of questions and ideas
about our activities and practice.

68. A professional developed a framework for trainers-
Based on Action Research.
Action Research Process
A professional developed a framework for trainers-
Based on Action Research.
Action Research Process
EXPLORE
(Develop)
EXPLORE
(Develop)
PRACTISE
(Check)
PRACTISE
(Check)
PERFORM
(Action)
PERFORM
(Action)
PLAN
Quality
Training
EEnquirynquiry
RReflectioneflection
Process
Product
Habits

69. Teaching effectiveness
Classroom management & discipline
Use of information technology
Training Material innovation
Assessment methodologies
Development of trainee

70.  “Trainer research will force the re-evaluation
of current practices and will significantly
influence what is known about organization,
job, organizational culture, objectives of the
organization etc.
 Through the process and products of
action research trainer will do –
‘T0 leave a mark on their trainee, and
leave a mark on their profession.’

72. Organizational objectives
&
Training

73.  Training cannot DESIGNED without objectives
 Objectives are your Legal CONTRACT with the
organizations
 Everything you do in your session MUST support the
accomplishment of the objective.

74.  The objective is NOT how you are going to do it, but
what will be the Outcome or result when training is
completed.
 Training success and training impact cannot be
evaluated without objectives.
 What the participant will be able to know
(knowledge), do (skill), or value (attitudes)
after successfully completing instruction.
This is called as “KSA” or “ASK” model.

75. A – Audience (by specific job title)
Not “students, participants, or audience”
B – Behaviour desired in observable and
measurable way
C – Cognition under which the task is
performed (optional)

76.  Money and time is invested hence Expectations
are high.
 Productive work time lost hence Expectations
are high
 Return on Investment (ROI) is calculated to
measured.

77. Mr. Laborde states –
 Many classic training programs fail because they are
inevitably focused on what the trainer—or
management—wants.
 Training program managers are given a budget and
a mandate to spend these funds in training that
cover specified topics.
 Management and trainees frustration with the results
often does become a contentious subject of
disagreement.

78.  “Focus on learning more than on training.”
Admitting that transferring knowledge to trainees’ brains is not
akin to recharging a battery.
 Knowledge is developed by the person, not by the
trainer.
It requires the employees’ efforts and energy.

79.  Encourage employees to open their minds,
change their “mental models,” and
perceive learning as good and beneficial for
them.
 Convince employees to embrace learning
resources, be willing to change their
views and be open to increasing their
knowledge base.

80.  Infuse these new attitudes toward training that
matches your organization’s goals and Training
objectives.
 If company hasn’t sufficiently defined its
objectives, take the lead and do so.
 Convey a sense of “we,” not “they,” to your
employees about corporate objectives.
 Have a clear vision of what the organization
wants to be and achieve. Convey this, with
clarity, to your staff.

81.  Mr. Laborde, offers three simple tips and
suggestions to eliminate most training program
problems and help employees to achieve
organizational objectives -
1. Training is a vehicle for employee to develop
skills.
2. Training is a process, not an event.
3. Focus, not on training activities, but on improved
performance and increased employee knowledge.

82.  Given a cash flow forecasting spreadsheet,
the financial officer will specify loan
requirements for the next period.
Cash flow forecasting spreadsheet [condition],
Financial officer [target]
Specify loan requirements for the next period
[outcome behavior].

83. When confronted with a conflict situation the
customer service representative will calm the
client and resolve their problem

84. Given the geographical coordinates, the
surveyor will locate the construction site
reference point.

85. Teaching/ Training is not the equal of learning,
you can offer your employees the opportunity to
become more valuable to you, the organization
—and, themselves.
Training programs aligned with company
objectives and focused on learning useful skills
will achieve the objectives of the organization
and the individual.

86.  To determine behavioral outcomes
 To be a reference point in determining: structure,
content, instructional/learning methods, and
assessment & evaluation design
 A communications tool to explain the course to
students, trainees, other facilitators, examiners,
employers, registrars, and other stakeholders
 A motivational device for students/trainees in setting
expectations and targets
 A framework to help develop student’s/trainee’s ability
for self-assessment
 A selling tool for course marketers

87. Model for writing training objectives

88. In 1956, Bloom developed a continuum of the levels of
learning from the low level, simple, concrete to the higher
level, complex, abstract learning. He theorized six levels:
1. Knowledge - identification and recall of information
2. Comprehension - understanding (not parroting)
3. Application - use of knowledge, concepts, rules,
principles to solve problems
4. Analysis - breaking down the whole into its parts
5. Synthesis - pulling together divergent pieces to
create a new “whole”
6. Evaluation - judgment of value based on criteria or
standards

90. LEVEL STUDENT BEHAVIOR
Knowledge • Responds, Absorbs, Remembers,
Recognizes
Comprehension • Explains, Translates, Demonstrates,
Interprets
Application • Solve Problems, Demonstrates, Uses
Knowledge, Constructs
Analysis • Discusses, Uncovers, Lists, Dissects
Synthesis • Discusses, Generalizes, Relates,
Contrasts
Evaluation • Judges, Disputes, Debates, Forms
Opinions

92. Training of engineering students in an industrial environment is an
alternative to projects undertaken within the institute. The
approach becomes more challenging as it puts them in a new
environment with the generally accepted goal of improving their
application skills. To implement such a scheme requires a
coherent effort from students, faculty members and industry
supervisors. Conduct formal need assessment of engineering
students' training, which forms the basis of training's, evaluation
and effectiveness. The need assessment should include inherent
attributes, generic attributes, technical skills and students' basic
needs of training. Also access the information related to students'
reaction, evaluation and relevance of training to job prospects.
(Generic attributes are qualities, skills, and abilities that are
valued in study, social situations and employment. They include
problem solving ability, teamwork, ...)

93.  Ramesh has joined his first job after doing his
MBA. For his own development he wishes to
conduct action research. As HR manager, how
will you help Mr. Ramesh?

94.  In a Medium scale Industry , most of the
workers are HSSC or ITI qualified. Company
decided to provide training to workers to
improve their performance. You are asked to do
training need assessment. How will you do it?