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... to achieve, an opportunity to perfect the skill, feedback on how well the trainee is progressing, and praise for transferring the acquired skills to the job. These recommendations should guide the human resource manager in designing, implementing, and operating any employee training development program. Now that we have an understanding of what training should include, we tan look at how we assess whether there is a need for training. We propose that management can determine this by answering four questions: 1 What are the organization's goals? (9) 2 What tasks must be completed to achieve these goals? 3. What behaviors are necessary for each job incumbent to complete his or her assigned tasks? 4 What deficiencies, if any, do incumbents have in the skills, knowledge, or attitudes required to perform the necessary behaviors?
What kind of signals can warn a manager that employee training may be necessary? Clearly, the more obvious ones relate directly to productivity; that is, inadequate job performance or a drop in productivity. The former is likely to occur in the early months on a new job. When a manager sees evidence of inadequate job performance, assuming the individual is making a satisfactory effort, attention should be given to raising the worker's skill level.
When a manager is confronted with a drop in productivity, it may suggest that skills need to be "fine-tuned. " In addition to productivity measures, a high reject rate or larger than usual scrap page may indicate a need for employee training. A rise in the number of accidents reported also suggests some type of retraining is necessary. There is also the future element, the changes that are being imposed on the worker as a result of a job redesign or a technological breakthrough. These types of job changes require a training effort that is a preparation for planned change rather than a reaction to immediately unsatisfactory conditions. If deficiencies in performance are uncovered, it doesn't necessarily follow that the manager should take corrective action. It is important to put training into perspective It has costs, which are often high, ranging from $ 350 to $ 1400 per employee trained; (10) and training should not be viewed as a panacea.
Training will be judged by its contribution to performance, where performance is a function of skills, abilities, motivation, and the opportunity to perform. Managers must compare the value received from the increase in performance that can be attributed to training with the costs incurred in that training. The desire for improved worker productivity cannot be approached in a vacuum. The benefits that accrue from training must exceed the costs incurred. We must guard against those who rush about with $ 100, 000 solutions to $ 10, 000 problems.
When inadequate performance results from a motivation problem rather than a skills problem, the rewards and disciplinary actions discussed in the next section may be of greater relevance. Nor is training the answer if the problem lies outside the job activity itself. For example, if salaries are low, supervision is poor, worker benefits are inadequate, or the physical work layout is deficient, spending on employee training may have little or no effect on productivity, since inadequate performance is due to conditions that training cannot remedy. Once it has been determined that training is necessary, training goals must be established.
Management should explicitly state what changes or results are sought for each employee. It is not adequate merely to say the change in employee knowledge, skills, attitudes, or behavior is desirable; we must clarify what is to change, and by how much. These goals should be tangible, verifiable, and measurable. They should be clear to both management and employee. For instance, a firefighter might be expected to jump from a moving fire truck traveling at 15 miles per hour, successfully hook up a four-inch hose to a hydrant, and turn on the hydrant, all in less than 40 seconds. Such explicit goals ensure that both management and the employee know what is expected from the training effort.
The most popular training and development methods used by organizations can be classified as either on-the-job or off-the-job training. In the following pages, we will briefly introduce the better-known techniques of each category. The most widely used training methods take place on the job. This can be attributed to the simplicity of such methods and the impression that they are less costly to operate. On-the-job training places the employees in actual work situations and makes them appear to be immediately productive.
It is learning by doing. For jobs that either are difficult to simulate or can be learned quickly by watching and doing, on-the-job training makes sense. One of the drawbacks of on-the-job training can be low productivity while the employees develop their skills. Another drawback can be the errors made by the trainees while they learn. However, when the damage the trainees can do is minimal, where training facilities and personnel are limited or costly, and where it is desirable for the workers to learn the job under normal working conditions, the benefits of on-the-job training frequently offset its drawbacks.
People seeking to enter skilled trades become, for example, plumbers, electricians, or ironworkers are often required to undergo apprenticeship training before they are accepted to expert status. Typically, this apprenticeship period is from two to five years (11). For instance, a cosmetician's apprenticeship is two years, a bricklayer's is three years, machinists and printers spend four years, and a pattern maker requires five years. During the apprenticeship period, the trainee is paid less than a fully-qualified worker. Apprenticeship programs put the trainee under the guidance of a master worker. The argument for apprenticeship programs is that the required job knowledge and skills are so complex as to rule out anything less than a long time period where the trainee understudies a skilled master.
Programmatically, long apprenticeships may also create barriers to entry and help keep wages high. During World War II, a systematic approach to on-the-job training was developed to prepare supervisors to train operatives. This approach, called job instruction training (JIT), was part of the Training within Industry program. JIT proved highly effective and became extremely popular. JIT consists of four basic steps: (1) preparing the trainees by telling them about the job and overcoming their uncertainties; (2) presenting the instruction, giving essential information in a clear manner; (3) having the t trainees try out the job to demonstrate their understanding; and (4) placing the workers into the job, on their own, with a designated resource person to call upon should they need assistance (12). Use of JIT can achieve impressive results (13).
Higher levels of employee morale can be witnessed, as well as decreases in employee accidents (14). Off-the-job training covers a number of techniques classroom lectures, films, demonstrations, case studies, and other simulation exercises, and programmed instruction. The facilities needed for each of these techniques vary from a small makeshift classroom to an elaborate development center with large lecture halls, supplemented by small conference rooms with sophisticated audio-visual equipment, two-way mirrors, and all the frills. The seminar or conference approach is well adapted to conveying specific information rules, procedures, or methods. The use of audio-visual or demonstrations can often make formal seminar presentations more interesting while increasing retention and possibly clarifying more difficult points. Films can be a useful training technique.
Whether purchased from standard video distributors or produced internally by the organization, they can provide information and explicitly demonstrate skills that are not easily presented by other techniques. Videos and seminar discussions are often used in conjunction to clarify and amplify those points that the video emphasized. Any training activity that places the trainee in an artificial environment that closely imitates actual working conditions can be considered a simulation. Simulation activities include case exercises, experiential exercises, complex computer-based training (CBT), and vestibule training. Cases present an in-depth description of a particular problem an employee might encounter on the job. The employee attempts to find and analyze the problem, evaluate alternative courses of action, and decide what course of action would be most satisfactory.
Experiential exercises are usually short, structured learning experiences in which individuals learn by doing. For instance, rather than talk about interpersonal conflicts and how to deal with them, an experiential exercise could be fused to create a conflict situation where employees have to experience a conflict personally and work out its resolution. After completing the exercise, the facilitator or trainer typically discusses what happened and introduces theoretical concepts to help explain the members' behaviors during the exercise. Complex computer-based training simulates the work environment by programming a computer to imitate some of the realities of the job. Computer (modeling is widely used by airlines in training pilots. The computer simulates critical job dimensions and allows learning to take place without the risk or high costs that would be incurred if a mistake were made in a real-life flying situation.
An error during a flight simulation offers an opportunity to learn through one's mistakes; a similar error under real-life conditions could cost a number of lives and the loss of a multimillion-dollar aircraft - quite a high price for a learning exercise. Obviously, complex computer modeling is expensive and can be justified only where programs are formal, a significant number of trainees will be developed, and the costs of allowing the individual to learn on the job are prohibitive. In vestibule training, employees learn their jobs on the equipment they will be using, but the training is conducted away from the actual work floor. Many large retail chains train cashiers on their new computer cash registers which are much more complex because they control inventory and perform other functions m addition to ringing up orders specially created vestibule labs that simulate the actual checkout-counter environment. While expensive, vestibule training allows employees to get a full feel for doing tasks without "real-world" pressures. Additionally, it minimizes the problem of transferring learning to the job, since vestibule training uses the same equipment the trainee will use on the job.
The programmed instruction technique can be in the form of programmed tests, manuals, or video displays, while in some organizations teaching machines are utilized. All programmed instruction approaches have a common characteristic: They condense the material to be learned into highly organized, logical sequences, which require the trainee to respond. The ideal format provides for nearly instantaneous feedback that informs the trainee if his or her response is correct. For example, popular today with the purchase of computer software is an accompanying tutorial program. This tutorial walks the user through the software application, giving the individual opportunities to experiment with the program. These tutorials, then, form one basis of programmed instruction.
As technology changes continue to evolve, we can expect programmed instruction to become more dominant. Two noticeable versions, interactive video disks (IVD) and virtual reality, are gaining momentum in corporate training. Interactive video disks, as the name implies, allow users to interact with a personal computer while simultaneously being exposed to video pictures. The "motion picture'' enables the trainee to experience the effect of his or her decision in a real-time mode (15). A number of companies like Pitney Bowes, Applied Learning, and IBM have begun using IVDs (16). In fact, it is estimated that approximately 16 percent of all companies that train use them (17).
In many of these organizations, employees experience greater learning in such areas as mathematics, interpersonal skills, and marketing skills (18). Virtual reality is a relatively new concept in corporate training (19). Virtual-reality systems simulate actual work activities by sending various messages to the brain. For example, one type of virtual reality requires an individual to place a helmet over his or her head. Inside this helmet are sensors that display both visual and audio simulations of an event. For instance, skiers can be taught to ski through virtual reality.
Under the system, an individual standing on dry land can be made to feel like he or she is actually skiing downhill, with the speed, obstacles, and weather being simulated. This sophisticated simulation allows for individuals to inte
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Research essay sample on Virtual Reality Job Training
