(Human Resource Management)
Effective training depends mainly on knowing the target audience. Organizations should ensure that the resources invested in training are targeted at the right fields.
There is no doubt about the need of assessment for training to be efficient.
Training need assessments assist in identifying, where training is precisely needed. In other words in which field, functional area, or department it is needed. Often after identificaion of training needs, the human resource department designates the persons to be trained. The outcome of such training can only be determined by the characteristics of the employees to be trained. Thus, the resources invested for that purpose are expected to have some form of return in the form of increased efficiency and effectiveness for both the persons trained, and the added value to the organisation that results from such training.
I would say that it is the first per-requisite of imparting effective training.
In a large number of cases the top management and/or HR department do not bother about if t all, or what kind of, training is required by an employee; and people are sent on training at random. It might well be a waste of resources of the organization. That is often seen to be happening in many public sector organizations in India.
A training needs assessment is the process of identifying performance requirements and the gap between current and required performance. It should be the first step to establish a training and development program. The results will help in identifying the correct training program to tailor to the needs of the employees. It should be used to determine the instructional objectives, select/design training programs, implement the programs and evaluate them after the training is provided.
Agree with all comments. Without assessment training, the outcomes will be mislead the organization objectives.
Training should be mandatory for organizations that aim to be competitive and that need Human Resources to develop their tasks. However, training is not all there is to improve your business benefits such as selecting your target audience. Training may increase productivity but you also need to realise that every individual has different work patterns and some may perform better than others at specific tasks. As a leader you should see which individual fits best a specific taks and therefore focus on a training programme that will teach everybody how to develop their tasks in a more efficient way.
Dear Mahfuz, yes I suppose such assessment is even the key point in effective training process and in administrative duties too.
Agree, training should be based on needs assessed in the analysis phase, the training itself should be assessed (content wise, delivery wise-trainers, and facilities) in the evaluation stage to make sure that it fulfilled the needs. Thank you @Lijo for reminding us with the different training phases.Thanks. @AlDmour.
Dear Mahfuz
Of course !
Helps focus attention on the most intense problems allowing justify the choices made and facilitating change ineffective practices for more effective practices
Yes of course.
Tow situations should be considered:
(1) New training needs may be identified during a training session;
(2) Trainees may think they what they need but actually they do not.
Particularly, in Govt institutions, very rarely you will find a "Training need assessment" w.r.t. an employee or an organisation. . Perhaps, most common thing I observed is " "Favored Training Need assessment". Only very few and close to power are blessed with their real TNA.
During 1990s I have seen TNA at institutional level, where, I organised, conducted Basic and advance courses (2-3 months long) on Computer technology and programming for the scientific and administrative staff of the institution (450 nos). Those were the days, computers were introduced in work place. It was a very successful project with 100% output.
But after that I never saw any TNA of "general" employees.
In corporate environment, they go for TNA of "an employee", only if it becomes very much essential for a target activity/project
Dear Mahfuz,
I affirm your proposal.In business and industry in house training and evaluation are norm. Training is necessary for innovation in technology and ideas so that employee may be more efficient in their work. Assessment becomes necessary to know whether training has been effective or not and what is needed to make training more effective. Same applies to academia. In every field, there are emerging new ideas, concepts and theories. Earlier, extension lectures served this purpose wherein academicians use to come across new development in their respective fields. But, situation as completely changed. Breakneck competition and cutting-edge technologies, the world is racing towards a ‘knowledge economy’. This situation in turn means, a nation’s economic growth and progress in the contemporary world is directly in proportion with the skill-set, technological know-how and competitive edge of its human resources. In this race, new ideas, concepts and theories are ever coming up. The result is an unprecedented demand of highly specialised teachers in different fields to impart them to the students, next generation of academicians, professionals, engineers and technologists. In this emerging scenario, it is absolutely imperative to empower our human resources with world class knowledge base, education and training. In view of this changing scenario, in my country there has emerged a new institution meant to train and introduce these innovations to college teachers and teachers from state universities. Different big or central universities are identified for different fields to run refresher courses in their respective area. After end of the course, participants are evaluate as a gauge of success of training but also asked for feedback. The evaluation and feedback determine mode of training, areas which needs more stress and instructors for their specialisation and teaching skills or way of imparting knowledge to keep participants abreast with new development in their fields.
Yes of course.
- Training should be offered according to level of expertise (basic, intermediate,
advanced),
- A training steering committee should be set up to guide the training development
- Estimate the development costs which is usually varied in an unusually wide range; therefore a competitive procurement is advised to obtain the best balance of quality and cost.
I totally agree with the point of assessment is an important pre-requisite of any training. There are some reasons behind it; different trainings approach to different working level people. A managerial level training would be totally useless for shop floor workers.
Secondly, people working and sharing same responsibility level didn't have same mental approach and thinking level. A good leader of an organization should have knowledge about their employees mental approach. And organization should invest accordingly on their workers for being providing different trainings to them.
Recently, I came across this interesting empirical study on Training Needs Analysis. this study may be useful for you..
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/__data/assets/file/0008/180197/phdSimp2012AliGhufli.pdf
I think it is positively associated with and is a key factor to the effectiveness of the training process. Other factors, however, such as the actual performance of the trainers, moderators, facilitators, venue in-charge, facilities, caterer, secretariat, and the participants must not be discounted
Yes, it is a very important component which leads to the success of any training program. Moreover, if proper persons are trained, they can prove to be an asset to the institution.
Very true, however, the personal biasness in terms of aversion to training or casual approach must also looked in before calling the participants for training.
Assessment is the most important part of learning procedure. It makes students/learners/trainee aware of their understanding of the subject matter.
So a training, with complete assessment at the last makes it an effective training process.
Regards,
Niitsh
Yes, of course!Training Need Assessment lead to effective training processes!
Yes, Training needs are first identified through structured performance appraisal system. HR department is required to analyze the performance appraisal report and finalize the type of training to the imparted to an individual or group of individuals, in consultation with the concerned departmental head so as to make the training fruitful and result oriented. Training , being the part of human resource development, should be in tune with the corporate strategy.
I agree with you Jaharkanti that training , being the part of human resource development, should be in tune with the corporate strategy.
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