Training Methodology free essay sample

Points to Remember: (i) Write legibly or type your answers on A-4 size sheets. (ii) Your answer to a question should consist of not more than 500 words (iii) Write your Registration No. Name, Paper No. , and Response Sheet No. Question No. at the top of each sheet. (iv) Self-addressed and sufficient postal stamped envelop of 8† x 10† size must be sent along with response sheets – for each paper separately. (v) Answer any two questions. Questions 1. What is a ‘training need’ and how does it get recognized? 2. Discuss the various methods of training needs identification. Reference to suitable case studies may be made. 3. Discuss the various steps involved in designing training program. 4. Discuss the role of a trainer in the conduct of a training program and the logic by which he should select training aids. Question 1: What is a ‘training need’ and how does it get recognized? Answer 1: What is a Training Need? A training need is nothing but a gap between desired level of knowledge/ skill or attitude and its existing level, where an individual, department or the whole organisation is either falling short of expected performance or the organization is planning a change. There are a number of reasons for perceiving such a gap. Reasons for a Training Need. Change – The Mother of Training Need. The only permanent entity in today’s world is change. And it is happening at ever increasing speed. Inability to change is sure to lead to extinction of any organisation. The training need comes in to play either because a change has either already happened or it is likely to happen or it is intended to be caused. Change in any form and for any reason is bound to generate training needs. Types of Possible Change. The change could be either technological, environmental, legislative or manpower composition. Technological. In order to either reduce cost of the products and services or to reduce the time frame or some other resource, organizations often have to adapt a different technology than the one they currently had. Change of technology necessitates change in the methods of work, procedures and at times even policies. Prior subjecting the organization to a technological change therefore the affected employees need to be trained. Introduction of computers/ I. T. in banks and government offices in 1990s is an excellent example. In armed forces, the weapon systems, surveillance equipment and platforms that carry them get upgraded from time to time. Prior any such change however a large manpower needs to be trained. Even a commander who deploys his forces needs to be trained about strengths as well as limitations of the new technology for him to have necessary situational awareness. Environmental. Change in customer taste and habits, is the biggest environmental change. Before availability of digital technology people would print photographs they clicked. With hand held digital devices capable of stowing and displaying the photographs, the need to print diminished. For the industry involved in photo printing it was a major change. When an organisation ventures into new business or new product, the current employees may be required to be trained to meet the new competencies/ skills required. When there is a change in environment, e. g. resource availability, entry or exit of a major competitor, etc the organisation may have to change the way things are done. The whole ambit of national coastal security mechanism had to change not only the way it conducted its business but also the equipments and platforms when the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack proved that the attack could be launched in such a manner. The coastal security environment had actually changed long ago. The attack forced the powers that be to wake up to this reality and then take corrective actions. Legislative. A change in legislation, government regulations, or policies could be a game changer in many ways. The government in early 70’s promoted trawling as a recommended method for fishing. Easy finance was made available for the purpose and all regulations were aligned with this policy. Today India has a largest population of trawlers both on east as well as west coast. Trawling is now recognized as a destructive method of fishing as it is indiscriminate. It kills large quantity of marine life which is not called for. Under pressure of larger fishing associations, the government is unable to bring about a change to a better method such as line or pole fishing. It is only a question of time though, when the international community will induce pressure over government to bring about the change. Training to fishermen in new methods of fishing will thus be identified due to national or international legislation. Manpower Composition Changes. In recent past, the Coast Guard started induction of Commercial Pilot License holders to fly its aircrafts. With induction of these young and otherwise inexperienced pilots, the senior Coast Guard pilots were transferred to ships. The manpower compositions of all the squadrons changed substantially threatening flight safety. A huge training need was identified as a result. Sudden changes in manpower composition of an organization thus create training needs. The need could be felt due to below expectation performance of a department or a business unit or it could be due to role or function change. The gap could be perceived at organizational, departmental/ project or individual level. How is the Training Need Recognized? There are a number of ways in which the training need gets recognized. Some of them are as follows. Operational Failure. The last and the worst means of recognizing a training need is an operational failure of the organizational objectives such as serious loss or an accident. 1962 Attack by China, Kargil intrusion and 26/11 attack are examples of some such failures. Many serious accidents have occurred due to human error as well as material failure. The human error occurs due to prior inability of the organization to recognize an existing training need. The material failure also occurs for the same reason. It is someone’s inability to recognize the real stress vis-a-vis real strength of material. Which means that that person’s training need went unrecognized. Continuous monitoring of quality and safety issues bring out training needs and avert large and dangerous failures. When safety and quality is pushed to take a back seat, the accidents/ failures bring out the training needs! Reports and Data Crunching or Analysis of Primary Source. The monitoring of the operational situation can mainly be undertaken with regular data collection and its manipulation to provide health reports of the system. Thorough understanding of the system over a long period of time provides the experts criteria to be set for generating alarm. A tendency thus can be detected in time before it proves critical. This is one of the best ways to detect deviations (read training needs) from expected performance as it is proactive. Monthly stock taking, account closing, audit, etc are some such occasions. Some deviation could be due to say lack of discipline or due to dishonesty at some level. Though it may not fall under the conventional meaning of training, encouraging people to inculcate discipline and honesty also form part of training. Is an armed force unit not trained to be disciplined? Expert reading of routine reports thus help in recognizing training needs. The data sources that are available may include: Interviews/surveys with supervisors/managers Interviews/surveys with employees Employee performance appraisal documents Organizations strategic planning documents Organization/department operational plans Organization/department key performance indicators Customer complaints Critical incidents Product/service quality data Work Problems. As in the case of reports and data crunching, work problems when monitored and placed in correct perspective help in recognition of training needs. Frequent squabbles in the work place may be addressed with teamwork training. It could also be addressed by sending the members to a sensitivity or T Lab or a course on meditation. Work problems could also be caused by incorrect organizational structure or inability of the members to manage material or documentation or some other aspect of the work, which may bring out a training need in that particular field. Direct Observation . A faulty work method, ignorance of safety precautions or flouting of recommended procedures are often directly observed by a good supervisor and can be either addressed right then and there or the SOPs can be amended to prevent such deviations. In both cases the training need is recognized. Interviews. Interview with the stake holders from the person on job to the customer (internal or external or both internal and external) can help in recognizing the training needs. The TQM believes that the person who is doing the job know the best. Seldom is he consulted in the conventional management system. Structured Questionnaire. The structured questionnaire can also be used for recognizing training needs. The questionnaire could be filled up in person during an interview or on telephone or even as a remote exercise. Appropriate questions trigger thinking in the responder and bring out quality information provided the questionnaire is drafted effectively. Performance Evaluation. The training needs particularly for individuals can become evident on performance evaluation. They can be recognized from the succession plan or from the career plan. In many organizations, each employees manager discusses training and development needs during the final part of the performance appraisal discussion. This method suits where training needs are highly varied amongst individual employees. Typically, the manager constructs an employee Performance Development Plan in collaboration with the employee being appraised. The Plan takes into consideration: The organizations strategies and plans Agreed employee goals and targets The employees performance results The employees role description Feedback from internal/external customers and stakeholders, and The employees stated career aspirations The employees completed Performance Development Plan should document the area that requires improvement, the actual development activity, resource requirements, expected outcomes and an agreed time frame in which the development outcome will be achieved. We may find some commonality amongst individual training and development needs identified in the various performance appraisals. In this case, it may pay the organization to review and classify each of the needs and convert them into appropriate training courses (or other interventions). The next step is to prioritize their importance and aggregate the results so that we end up with a list of courses and participant numbers against each. Then negotiate a delivery schedule that fits in with managers/supervisors and employees whilst keeping an eye on the training budget. Human Resource Information System. A well designed (customized) HRIS can also help in bringing out the training needs. Induction System. In my units persons coming on transfer from another unit were interviewed during their induction to know about their competencies and weaker areas. Depending their seniority and responsibility, training needs were identified at this stage. Question 2: Discuss the various methods of training needs identification. Reference to suitable case studies may be made. Answer 2: Methods of Training Need Identification: a. Review of business objectives and identification of critical activities. b. Setting measurable performance standards, for example, measures of production efficiency or marketing success. c. Monitoring performance to identify problem areas. d. Getting feedback from customers, suppliers and other key business partners; we can consider using interviews or surveys in areas such as customer satisfaction. e. Asking employees to raise concerns and make suggestions; include discussions of training needs in employee performance management. f. Identifying any dependencies, for example, where only one employee has crucial skills or knowledge. g. Review of any legal requirements to be met such as health and safety training. h. Review any change that is planned or expected (e. g. new products, procedures or technologies), identifying potential weaknesses and problems. i. Considering how employees roles may change: for example, the plans to promote individuals and to develop new employees. j. Prioritising problem areas or areas of weakness/improvement. k. Considering how improving systems or equipment could contribute to resolving problems. l. Considering whether poor performance reflects bad management, for example, a failure to agree clear objectives and motivating employees. m. Considering whether there are unrealistic expectations given the caliber or number of employees, and if there is a need to recruit new talent or reassign roles. n. Considering whether training will be an effective solution; assessing employees willingness to learn, and preferred learning style. o. Identifying training options (e. g. job shadowing, distance learning or external training courses); setting of clear objectives for training activities. p. Implementation of a pilot training scheme and review of the outcome before rolling the programme out. q. Regularly reviewing the outcome of training to identify further training needs and to assess the effectiveness of the training-needs analysis. Cardinal rules: Do’s: Focus on critical activities Anticipate change Analyse the causes of poor performance Identify alternatives to training Review outcomes Don’ts: Assume different employees have the same needs Expect employees to achieve unrealistic goals, with or without training Ignore other factors contributing to poor performance Organise training without clear objectives Impose inappropriate training on unwilling employees Case Study: TNI method used onboard Indian Coast Guard Ship Vijaya. Indian Coast Guard Ship Vijaya Captain decided to bring in best practices onboard with an aim to improve ship’s operational efficiency very significantly. A frontline ship with deployed all along the west coast earned numerous kudos for her operational success, superior material performance and availability for operations despite being one of the oldest ships of ICG (24 years) and for maximum number of below officer rank personnel being elevated to the officers rank. She became the Best Search and rescue ship as she saved more than 120 lives in one year. Personnel who worked onboard took immense pride and those posted on sister ships jokingly called it a ‘training ship’ even though there were no trainees onboard in conventional sense. Induction System. The ship practiced what is called an induction system with two main aims – To earn commitment of the personnel and to improve their competence. The job description of each job onboard was revamped. The knowledge level required and the skill level required was well documented. During induction interview of the personnel they were asked questions pertaining to these criteria, which helped in identifying individual training needs. In addition the personnel were introduced to goal setting as the ship practiced ‘management by objectives’. Goal Setting. All the personnel were encouraged and assisted to set goals, quarterly and annual. The junior hands who did not have freedom to chose their work or its direction were asked to set only learning goals. The senior hands were asked to set learning as well as teaching goals. The two – a senior with strength in a certain area and the junior who had to master the same area became a pair to jointly meet their respective goals. Continual learning thus became part of MBO, with its progress being reviewed every month. Boarding Ops. The Coast Guard’s main task is to identify suspicious people lurking in the sea. The main method available for identifying a vessel as suspicious is to physically board it, inspect it, interrogate the crew and check her documents. This is called the boarding operation of Coast guard. Larger the number of vessels boarded, larger is the probability of finding the ‘suspicious’ vessel. This being the strategic activity, more training effort was devoted to boarding operations. Review and Implementation of Standard Operating Procedures. The ship carried out a large number of boarding operations. This required high level of legal knowledge, leadership skill, a strong team spirit, risk taking ability, quick decision making and physical agility. The time required for the boarding party to muster and to lower the boat had to be minimized. The weapons needed to be brought to higher level of readiness in quick time. The ship reviewed all the SOPs and included the maximum permissible time and target time for each evolution. Achieving these time targets became the training needs for various teams. They organized themselves and their tools and equipment in such a manner as to carry out the task in time less than stipulated. Direct Observation and Feedback. All these boarding operations were video shot from the mother ship. On return of these boarding parties they were debriefed with help of these videos. The direct observation and the video recording of it brought out many training needs related to the manner of boarding, handling of weapons, movement of troops, boat handling, etc Professional Qualification Tests. The ship’s staff was given professional qualification boards every month. The test was on pre announced topics. The results were stored in a customized software, which highlighted general areas of weakness of personnel and specific personnel who were weak in specific areas, thus identifying training need. Divisional Record Sheets. The ship’s staff is divided in divisions for better administration. Each division is headed by a divisional officer who plays a role of their leader, a father and a friend all rolled in one. The ship started a system where the divisional officer spent some private time with each of his divisional men and noted down his strengths, achievements, goals and areas needing attention. Jointly goals were reviewed and set. The system of goal setting established during induction was thus taken forward. These were best opportunities for re-identification of training needs and to review progress of training previously planned. Each man and his divisional officer as a result became aware of where he stands. The annual performance evaluation thus had no surprises. People were helped to identify meet their training needs throughout the year. Qualification Boards. Safety critical tasks were identified and listed in the ship. A board of officers conducted direct observation/ obtained feedback from the persons on job from time to time to identify training needs so also to obtain constructive suggestions for change/improvement in procedures. As a result of all this effort, the ship’s staff became highly competent and committed. The personnel excelled in all departmental/ promotion boards. Many critical operations were conducted smoothly leading to many lives being saved and many criminals being apprehended. The morale and self esteem of the personnel sky-rocketed, the team became tighter than ever, the esprit-de-corps reached levels never before achieved. The proactive training need identification and rigorous follow up action help in changing many a life.