Lesson 3.Training and Staff Development

Introduction
The issue of staff training or development has been given important attention as a function of personnel or Human Resources management by various organisations in present day Nigeria.The pride of place given this kernel function of personnel management underscores its role only as a palpable mechanism to cushion the effect of biased recruitment and selection procedures in organisations of the developing world, but also as a veritable source of human capital investment.

Definition |Concept Clarification
Training could simply be defined as the process of ensuring that employees acquire relevant and necessary skills,behaviour and knowledge for better -on-the -job performance in their interest and that of the organisation.other experts and practitioners of personnel and human resources management define training in their own ways .However,an objcetive analysis of some definitions show that they differ merely in semantics or use of words. Also they have a consensus that training is for a short time and specifically tailored for the general improvement and realisation of emplopees and organisational goals.

Lesson Content
Training involves the process of developing skills learning concepts, rules or attitudes to increase the effectiveness of doing a particular job. Emplopee Development, on other hand ,is concern with the improvement and growth of the capabilities of individuals and groups with the organisation. Byars & Rue,(1979) French (1979) stated that while training means skill needed for an immediate or relatively narrow application, management and employee dvelopment emphasise concepts, theory and future intellectual and emotional growth. These two concepts have some differences.Education is a broader term which emphasises the general acquisition of knowledge for purposeful job performance. It has a more general objective, covers more courses or disciplines and of longer time frame or duration. Generally, there are three major phases of training and development .They include;
 * Education and Training
 * phases of Training and Development
 * Assessment
 * Implementation and
 * Evaluation

Assessment Phase
No organisation trains for the fun of it.Also ,it is important to do some home work or proper planning before engaging in the training programme. The organisational needs job and employee need or goal must be taken into consideration and analyse.

Implementation phase
This is when the actual training programme begins. For better result, it is importan to ensure that right programmes are selected for the right people at an equally appropriate period.

Evaluation Phase
At the end of any training programme, efforts should be made to find out if desired goals or objectives were achieved or not .Reports from this phase will show whether to continue or jettion some training programmes.Also areas of improvement could be identified and positively addressed. {{Summary|McMurray suggested eight tests or needs that a successful management development and training programmes should meet. They are summarised as follows;
 * 1) Train candidates for specific positions eg Personnel, Accounting, Marketing etc (ie. job specification}
 * 2) Define relevant and necessary qualities/skills needed for the job
 * 3) only trainees with adequate potentials and capabilities should benefit from the training programme (i.e Developable trainees). organizations should not waste their training funds for not developable employees
 * 4) Find out which qualities that could be developed through training.
 * 5) Use tested and approved techniques, methods or procedures for the training programme
 * 6) There should be an assumed method or motivation or incentives derivable from the training programme
 * 7) Ensure that there are qualified and experienced trainers
 * 8) Demonstrate the result of the training programme}}