Training and development

Introduction to orienting and training employees

Carefully selecting employees doesn’t guarantee they’ll perform effectively. Even high-
potential employees can’t do their jobs if they don’t know what to do or how to do it.
Making sure your employees do know what to do and how to do it is the purpose of
orientation and training. The human resources department usually designs the company’s
orientation and training programs, but the rubber hits the road with the department
supervisor. He or she does most of the day to-day orientating and training. Every manager
therefore needs to know how to orient and train employees. We will start with orientation.

The purposes of employee orientation/Onboarding

Employee orientation (often called onboarding today) involves more than what most people
realize. Employee orientation still provides new employees with the information they need to
function (such as computer passwords and company rules); ideally, though, it should also
help new employee start getting emotionally attached to the firm. You want to accomplish
four things by orienting new employee:
1. Make the new employee feel welcome and at home and part of the team.
2. make sure the new employee has the basic information to function effectively, such as
e-mail access, personal policies and benefits, and what the employer expects in terms
of work behavior.
3. Help the new employee understand the organization in broad sense (its past, present,
calculate, and strategies and vision of the future).
4. Start the person on the process of becoming socialized into the firm’s culture, values,
and ways of doing things.
Getting the new employee to appreciate the company’s culture and values
distinguishes today’s onboarding programs from traditional orientation. For example, the
mayo clinic’s new heritage and culture program now emphasizes core diversity, customer
service, and mutual respect.

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The orientation process
The length of the orientation program depends on what you cover. Traditional orientation
programs take several hours. the human resource specialist (or in smaller firms, the office
manager) usually performs the first part of the orientation by explaining basic matters like
working hours, benefits, and vacations. That person then introduces the new employee on his
or her new supervisor.The supervisor continues the orientation by explaining the
organization of the department and by introducing the person to his or her new colleagues,
familiarizing the new employee with the workplace, and helping or reduce first-fay jitters.
Supervisors need to be vigilant. Follow up on and encourage new employees to engage in
activities (Such as taking break with current employee) that will enable each to learn the
ropes and become productive.

The employee handbook

Note that under certain condition, courts may find that the employee handbooks contents
represent legally binding employment commitment. of company policies, benefits, and
regulations do not constitute the terms and conditions of an employment contract, either
expressed or implied. Also companies generally do not insert statement such as No employee
will be fired without just cause or statements that imply or state that employees have tenure.

Informal orientation
Alongside the formal orientation, many organizations also attempt to introduce an air of
informality. The informality helps newly hired people to open up and be relaxed. Many
firms, including Infosys a TGS, have modeled their facilities (at Mysore and
Thiruvananthapuram respectively) where campus hires join for orientation and initial
training, just like in a university campus. Informal activities like get-togethers, celebration,
competitions, movie screenings, outdoor games, quiz competitions, etc. are held regularly.
Informal meetings with the senior management are arranged by many companies.

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Orientation Technology
Employers use technology to support orientation. For example, some provide
incoming managers with preloaded personal digital assistants. These contain information
such as on key contacts, and even digital images of key employees. Other employers put all
or some of their orientation media on the Web. At the University of Gincinnati, new
employees spend about 45 minutes online learning about their new employers mission,
organization, and policies and procedures. IBM uses virtual environments like seconds life to
supports orientation, particularly for employees abroad. The new employees choose virtual
avatars, which then interact with other company avatars, for instance to learn how to enroll
for benefits.

The Training Process

Directly after orientation, training should begin. Training means giving new or current
employees the skills they need to perform their jobs. This might mean showing a new Web
designer the intricacies of your site, a new salesperson how to sell your firms product, or a
new supervisor how to complete the firms weekly payroll sheets. It might involve simply
having the current jobholder explain the job to the new hire or a multi-week training process
including classroom or internet classes.
Aligning Strategy and Training Employers today want to make sure their training
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programs are supporting their firms’ strategic. As one trainer said, “We sit down with
management and help them identify strategic goals and objectives and the skills and
knowledge needed to achieve them.” 15
One survey found that “establishing a linkage between leaning and
organizational performance” was the number-one pressing issue facing training
professionals. Training experts today increasingly use the phrase “workplace learning and
performance” in liew of training to underscore training’s dual aims of employee learning and
organizational performance, Training has an impressive record of influencing performance
scoring higher than appraisal and feedback and just below goal setting in its effect on
productivity.

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 The Four-Step Training Process Training programs consist of four steps.
1. In the first, needs analysis step, you identify the specific knowledge and skills the job
requires, and compare these with the prospective trainees’ knowledge and skills.
2. In the second, instructional design step, you formulate specific, measurable knowledge
and performance training objectives, review possible training program content
(including workbooks, exercises, and activities), and estimate a budget for the training
program.
3. The third step is to implement the program, by actually training the targeted employee
group using methods such as on-the-job or online training.
4. Finally, in an evaluation step, you assess the program’s success (or failures).
Training Learning and Motivation
Municipalities running driver education programs for traffic violators know there’s often no
better way to get a learner’s attention than by presenting a terrifying filmed accident. In other
words, they start the training, not with a lecture but by making the material meaningful. They
know that driver training is futile if the driver either cannot or will not benefit from the
program.
Make the learning Meaningful Learners are always more motivated to learn something
that has meaning for them. Therefore
1. At the start of training, provide a bird’s-eye view of the material that you are going to
present. For example, show why it’s important, and provide an overview.
2. Use a variety of familiar examples.
3. Organize the information so you can present it logically, and in meaningful units.
4. Use terms and concepts that are already familiar to trainees.
5. Use as many visual aids as possible.
6. Again, create a perceived training need in trainees’ minds. In one study, pilots who
experienced pretraining, accident-related events subsequently learned more from an
accident-reduction training program than did those experiencing fewer such events.
Similarly, “before the training, managers need to sit down and talk with the trainee
about why they are enrolled in the class, what they are expected to learn, and how they
can use it on the job,”
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Make Skills Transfer Easy Make it easy to transfer new skills and behaviors from the
training site to the job site;
1. Maximize the similarity between the training situation and the work situation.
2. Provide adequate practice.
3. Label or identify each feature of the machine and / or step in the process.
4. Direct the trainees’ attention to important aspects of the job. For example, if you’re
training a customer service rep to handle calls, explain the different types of calls he or
she will encounter.
5. Provide “heads-up” information. For example, supervisors often face stressful
conditions. You can reduce the negative impact of such events by letting supervisory
trainees know they might occur.
6. Trainees learn best at their own pace. If possible, let them pace themselves.

Performance Analysis: Assessing Current Employees’

For under-performing current employees, you can’t assume that training is the
problem : It is lack of training, or something else? Performance analysis is the process of
verifying that there is a performance deficiency and determining whether the employer
should correct such deficiencies through training or some other means (like transferring the
employee).
The first step in performance analysis is usually to compare the person’s actual
performance to what it should be. Doing so helps to confirm that there is a performance
deficiency, and may also help the manager to identify to manager to identify its cause.
Examples of performance deficiency might be:
I expect each salesperson to make 10 new contracts per week, but John averages only six.
Other plants our size average no more than two serious accidents per month; we’re averaging
five.

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There are several ways to identify how a current employee is doing. These include
reviewing:
 Performance appraisals.
 Job related performance data (including productivity, absenteeism and tardiness,
grievances, was, late deliveries, product quality, downtime, repairs, equipment
utilization, and customer complaints)
 Observations by supervisors or other specialists.
 Interviews with the employee or his or her supervisor.
 Tests of things like job knowledge, skills, and attendance.
 Attitude surveys.
 Individual employee daily diaries.
 Assessment center results.
 Special “performance gap” analytical software, such as from Saba software, Inc.
Can’t Do / Won’t Do The heart of performance analysis is determining why
performance is down. It is futile to train an employee whose work actually is deficient
because of insufficient motivation. Distinguishing between can’t-do and won’t-do problems
is therefore crucial.
First, determine whether it is a can’t do problem and, if so, its specific causes. For
example : The employees don’t know what to do or what your standards are; there are
obstacles in the system such as lack of tools or supplies; there are no job aids (such as Color-
coded wires that show assemblers which wire goes where); you’ve hired people who haven’t
the skills to do the job; or inadequate training.
On the other hand, it might be a won’t-do problem. Here employees could do a good
job if they wanted to. One expert says, “Perhaps the biggest trap that trainers fall into is
[ developing ] training for problems that training just won’t fix.”

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 Designing the Training Program
Armed with the results analysis, the employer or manager can design the training
program. This entrails setting training objectives, working out a training program budget,
and deciding what the actual content and training methods will be.
Requests for training often start with line managers presenting problems or concerns,
such as “we’re getting too many complaints from call center callers. “Training, development
or (more generally) instructional objectives then specify in measurable terms what the
trainee should be able to accomplish after successfully completing the training program.
For all but the most trivial training programs, the employer will also want to see and
approve a training budget for the program. Typical costs include the development costs (of
having, say, a human resource specialist working on the program for a week or two), the
direct and indirect (overhead) costs of the trainers’ time, participant compensation (for the
time they’re actually being trained), and the cost of evaluating the program.
In turn, the budget will help determine the actual design of the program. In this case,
“design” means deciding on the actual content (the courses and step-by-step instructions, for
instance) as well as on how to deliver the training  on-the-job or via the Web, for instance.
Some employers create their own training content, but there is also a vast selection of
online and offline content from which to choose. You’ll find turnkey, off-the-shelf programs
on virtually any topic  from occupational safety to sexual harassment to Web design 
from tens of thousands of thousands of online and offline providers

IMPLEMENTING TRAINING PROGRAMS

With the program designed and budgeted and objectives set, you can turn to
implementing the training program. This means actually doing the training, using one or
more of the training methods we turn to now. We’ll start with simpler, low-tech methods and
proceed to computer-based ones.

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 On-the-Job Training
On-the-job training (OJT) means having a person learn a job by actually doing it.
Every employee, from mailroom clerk to CEO, gets on-the-job training when he or she joins
a firm. In many firms, OJT is the only training available.

Types of On-the-Job Training

The most familiar on-the-job training is the coaching or understudy method. Here, an
experienced worker or the trainee’s supervisor trains the employee. This may involve simply
acquiring skills by observing the supervisor, or (preferably) having the supervisor or job
expert show the new employee the ropes, step-by-step.
Perhaps most importantly, don’t take the success of an on-the-job training effort for
granted. Train the trainees themselves (often the employees’ supervisors), and provide the
training materials. Trainers should know, for instance, the principles of motivating learners.
Because low expectations on the trainer’s part may translate into poor trainee performance,
supervisor / trainers shoul emphasize the high expectations they have for their trainees’
success.
The OJT Process Here are some steps to help ensure OJT success.
Step-1 : Prepare the Learner.
1. Put the learner at ease.
2. Explain why he or she is being taught.
3. Create interest and find out what the learner already knows about the job.
4. Explain the whole job and relate it to some job the worker already knows.
5. Place the learner as close to the normal working position as possible.
6. Familiarize the worker with equipment, materials, tools, and trade terms.
Step-2 : Present the Operation.
1. Explain quantity and quality requirements.
2. Go through the job at the normal work pace.
3. Go through the job at a slow pace several times, explaining each step. Between
operations, explain the difficult parts, or those in which errors are likely to be made.
4. Again, go through the job at a slow pace several times; explain the key points.
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5. Have the learner explain the steps as you go through the job at a slow pace.
Step-3 : Do a Tryout.
1. Have the learner go through the job several times, slowly, explaining each step to you.
Correct mistakes and, if necessary, do some of the complicated steps the first few
times.
2. Run the job at the normal pace.
3. Have the learner do the job, gradually building up kill and speed.
4. As soon as the learner demonstrates ability to do the job, let the work begin, but don’t
abandon him or her.
Step - 4 : Follow-Up
1. Designate to whom the learner should go for help.
2. Gradually decrease suervision, checking work from time to time.
3. Correct faulty work patterns before they become a habit, Show why the method you
suggest is superior.
4. Compliment good work.

Programmed Learning
Whether the medium is a textbook, PC, or the Internet, programmed learning (or
programmed instruction) is a step-by-step, self-learning method that consists of three parts:
1. Presenting questions, facts, or problems to the learner.
2. Allowing the person to respond.
3. Providing feedback on the accuracy of answers.
Generally, programmed learning presents facts and follow-up questions frame by
frame. When the learner responds, subsequent frames provide feedback on the answer’s
accuracy. What the next question is often depends on how the learner answers the previous
question.
Audiovisual – Based Training
Audiovisual-based training techniques like DVDs, films, PowerPoint, and audiotapes
are widely used.49 The For Motor Company uses videos in its dealer training sessions to
simulate problems and reactions to various customer complaints, for example.

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Some firms use real incidents for audiovisual training. Thomas Cook India Limited (TCIL)
and Jet Airways record actual calls made by customers to its call centers (with the
permission of the caller who is informed that calls are being recorded for training purposes)
and uses the same for training purposes. Many business school faculty members use video
recording and playback as teaching aids in communication, negotiation, and behavioral
science classes.
Audiovisuals are more expensive than lectures but offer advantages. Of course, they
usually tend to be more interesting. In addition, consider using them in the following
situations:
1. When there is a need to illustrate how to follow a certain sequence over time, such as
when teaching machine repair. The stop-action, instant replay, and fast-or slow-motion
capabilities of audiovisuals can be useful here.
2. When there is a need to expose trainees to events not easily demonstrable in live
lectures, such as a visual tour of a factory or open-heart surgery.
3. When you need organization wide training and it is too costly to move the trainers
from place to place.
Vestibule Training
Vestibule training is a method in which trainees learn on the actual or simulated
equipment they will use on the job, but are trained off the job (perhaps in a separate room or
vestibule). Vestibule training is necessary when it’s too costly or dangerous to train
employees on the job. Putting new assembly-line workers right to work could slow
production, for instance, and when safety is a concern – as with pilots  simulated training
may be the only practical alternative.
Teletraining and Videoconferencing
 With teletraining a trainer in a central location teaches groups of employees at
remote locations via televised hookups. Honda America began by using satellite
television to train engineers. Now its Ohio-based subsidiary purchases seminars
from the National Technological University. This is a provider of satellite
education that uses courses from various universities and specialized teaching
organizations.

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 Videoconferencing allows people in one location to communicate live with people in
another city or country, or with groups in several cities. This may simply involve using PC-
based video cameras and several remote trainees, or a dozen or more learners taking a class
in a videoconference lecture room. Here, keypads allow audience interactivity.

Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS)

EPSS are computerized tools and displays that automate training, documentation, and phone
support.52 When you call a Dell service rep about a problem with your new computer, he or
she is probably asking questions prompted by an EPSS; it takes you both, step-by-step,
through an analytical sequence. Without the EPSS, Dell would have to train its service reps
to memorize an unrealistically large number of solutions. Aetna Insurance cut its 13-week
instructor-led training course for new call center employees by about 2 weeks by providing
the employees with performance support tools.
Performance support systems are modern job aids. A job aid is a set of instructions,
diagrams, or similar methods available at the job site to guide the worker.
Computer-Based Training
With computer-based training, trainers use interactive computer-based and / or DVD
systems to increase knowledge or skills.
We’ll see the computer-based training (CBT) is increasingly interactive and realistic.
For example, interactive multimedia training integrates the use of text, video, graphics,
photos, animation, and sound to produce a complex training environment with which the
trainee interacts. In training a physician, for instance, an interactive multimedia training
system lets a medical student take a hypothetical patient’s medical history, conduct an
examination, and analyze lab tests. Then, by clicking the “examine chest” button, the student
can choose a type of chest examination and even hear the sounds of the person’s heart. The
medical student can then interpret the sounds and draw conclusions upon which to base a
diagnosis.
Simulated Learning
“Simulated learning” means different things to different people. A recent survey asked
training professionals what experiences qualified as simulated learning experiences. The
percentages of trainers choosing each experience were.
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  Virtual reality-type games, 19%
 Step-by-step animated guide, 8%
 Scenarios with questions and decision trees overlaying animation, 19%
 Online role-play with photos and videos, 14%
 Software training including screenshots with interactive requests, 35%
 Other, 66%

Internet-Based Training
Internet or Web-based learning is rapidly replacing other types of training. Thus, Delta
Air Lines customer service personnel receive much of their annual required FAA training via
the Internet. Prior to online training, employees had to travel to one of five training centers,
keeping them away from their jobs for at least the day.67
There are basically two ways to make online courses available to employees. First, the
employer can encourage and / or facilitate having its employees take relevant online courses
form its own online (interanet) offerings, or from the hundreds of online training vendors on
the web. For example, the employer might arrange with www.puresafety.com to let its
employees take one or more occupational safety courses from those puresafety-com offers.
Learning Portals
The second main approach is to arrange with an online training vendor to make its
courses available via the employer’s intranet-based learning portal. A learning portal is a
section of an employer’s Web site that offers employees online access to many or all of the
training courses they need to succeed at their jobs.
The Virtual Classroom
Conventional Web-based learning tends to be limited to the sorts of online learning
with which many college students are already familiar-reading PowerPoint presentations,
participating in instant message type chat rooms, and taking online exams, for instance.
The virtual classroom takes online learning to a new level. A virtual classroom uses
special collaboration software to enable multiple remote learners, using their PCs or laptops,
to participate in live audio and visual discussions, communi- cate via written text, and learn
via content such as PowerPoint slides.

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 Using Internet-Based Learning

In practice, many employers opt for "blended learning." Here, the trainees make use of
several delivery methods (such as manuals, in-class lectures, self-guided e-learning
programs, and Web-based semi Intuit nars or "webinars") to learn the material (which makes
software such as TurboTax) uses instructor-led classroom training for bringing in new
distributors and getting them up to speed. Then, they use their virtual classroom systems to
provide addi- tional training, for monthly meetings with distribu- tors, and for short classes
on special software features.
Lifelong and Literacy Training Techniques
Lifelong learning means providing employees with continuing learning experiences
over their tenure with the firm, with the aims of ensuring they have the opportunity to learn
the skills they need to do their jobs and to expand their horizons. For example, one senior
waiter at the Rhapsody restaurant in Chicago received his undergraduate degree and began
work toward a master of social work using the lifelong learn- ing account (LILA) program
his employer offers. Somewhat similar to pension/Provident Fund or 401(k) plans in the
United States, employers and employees contribute to LILA plans (without the tax
advantages of 401 (k) plans), and the employee can use these funds to better himself or
herself. Lifelong learning may thus range from basic remedial skills (for instance, English as
a second language) to college.

Voice and Accent Training in BPOs

International call centers or customer contact centers in India required Indian employees to
interact over telephone with their international customers. However, the Indian accent was
different from the West, where the customers were based. Indian employees were trained to
alter their accent to a neutral one, so that customers could understand the conversation with
ease.

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 HR in Practice: Creating Your Own Training Program
Although it would certainly be ideal if supervisors could tap into their companies'
packaged training programs to train the new people that they hire, the fact is that many times
they cannot. Often, you hire and are responsible for the performance of a new employee,
only to find that your company provides little or no specialized options. training, beyond the
new person's introductory orientation. If so, you have several options.
First, there are (as we noted earlier) hundreds of suppliers of prepackaged train- ing
solutions.
Second, managers can create their own training programs, using the following process.
Step 1 : Set Training Objectives First, write out the training objectives. Be specific
objective. and specify the conditions under which the employee should
achieve the
Step 2 : Use a Detailed Job Description A detailed job description is the heart of any
training program. It should list the daily and periodic tasks of each job, along
with a summary of the steps in each task.
Step 3 : Develop an Abbreviated Task Analysis Record Form You can use an abbrevi
ated version of the Task Analysis Record Form containing just four columns.
In the first column, list tasks (including what the employee is to perform in
terms of each of the main tasks, step-by-step).
Step 4 : Develop a Job Instruction Sheet Next, write a job instruction sheet. As
explained on pages 275-276, this sheet shows the steps in each task as well as
key points for each.
Step 5 : Compile Training Program for the Job At a minimum, your training package
should include the job description, abbreviated Task Analysis Record Form,
and job instruction sheet, all compiled in a training manual. The latter should
also contain a summary of the training program's objectives, and a list of the
trainable skills required for the trainee. The manual might also contain an
introduction to the job and an explanation of how the job fits with other jobs in
the plant or office.
A simple but effective on-the-job training program using employees as trainers
requires only the materials we just listed. However, the nature of the job (or the number of
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trainees) may require purchasing special media, or a PowerPoint slide presentation, for
instance.
Off-the-Job Management Training and Development Techniques
There are also many off the job techniques for training and developing managers.
The Case Study Method As most everyone knows, the case study method presents a trainee
with a written description of an organizational problem. The person then analyzes the case,
diagnoses the problem, and presents his or her findings and solutions in a discussion with
other trainees,
Integrated case scenarios expand the case analysis concept by creating long-term,
comprehensive case situations.
Management Games With computerized management games, trainees divide into five- or
six-person groups, each of which competes with the others in a simu lated marketplace. Each
group typically must decide, for example, (1) how much to spend on advertising, (2) how
much to produce, (3) how much inventory to main tain, and (4) how many of which product
to produce. Usually, the game compresses a 2- or 3-year period into days, weeks, or months.
As in the real world, each company team usually can't see what decisions (such as to boost
advertising) the other firms have made, although these decisions do affect their own sales.

Outside Seminars Many companies and universities offer Web-based and traditional
classroom management development seminars and conferences. For example, the American
Management Association provides thousands of course in areas ranging from accounting and
controls to assertiveness training, basic accounting and controls to assertiveness training,
basic financial skills, information systems, and total quality management.

University-Related Programs Many universities provide executive education and

continuing education programs in leadership, supervision, and the like. These can range from
1- to 4-day programs to executive development programs lasting 1 to 4 months.
The Advanced Management Program of Harvard's Graduate School of Business
Administration is a well-known example.95 Students are experienced managers from around
the world. It uses cases and lectures to provide them with the latest manage- ment skills.
When Hasbro wanted to improve its executives' creativity skills, it turned to Dartmouth
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University's Amos Tuck Business School. Tuck provided a "custom approach to designing
a program that would be built from the ground up to suit Hasbro's specific needs.

Role Playing The aim of role playing is to create a realistic situation and have the trainees
assume the parts (or roles) of specific persons in that situation.When combined with the geral
instructions and other roles, role playing can trigger spirited discussions among the role
player/trainees. The aim is to develop trainees' skills in areas like leadership and delegating.
For example, a supervisor could experiment with both a conside and an autocratic leadership
style, whereas in the real world the person might not

Training Effects to Measure

You can actually measure four basic categories of training outcomes:
1. Reaction. Evaluate trainees' reactions to the program. Did they like the program? Did
they think it worthwhile?
2. Learning. Test the trainees to determine whether they learned the principles, skills, and
facts they were supposed to learn.
3. Behavior. Ask whether the trainees' on-the-job behavior changed because of the
training program. For example, are employees in the store's complaint department
more courteous toward disgruntled customers?
4. Results. Probably most important, ask, "What results did we achieve, in terms of the
training objectives previously set?" For example, did the number of cus- tomer
complaints diminish? Reactions, learning, and behavior are important. But if the
training program doesn't produce measurable results, then it proba- bly hasn't achieved
its goals.
Evaluating any of these four is straightforward. For example, Figure 8-7 presents one
page from a sample evaluation questionnaire for assessing trainees' reactions. Similarly, you
might assess trainees' learning by testing their new knowledge. The employer can assess the
trainees' behavioral change directly or indirectly.

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