Lesson 4.Training and Staff Development

Lesson 4: Training and Staff DevelopmentItalic text

Introduction

The issue of staff training or development has been given important attention as a function of personnel or Human Resources management by various organizations 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 organizations 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, behavior 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 objective 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 realization of employees and organizational

Lesson Content

Training involves the process of developing skills learning concepts, rules or attitudes to increase the effectiveness of doing a particular job. Employee Development, on other hand, is concern with the improvement and growth of the capabilities of individuals and groups with the organization. Byers & Rue,(1979) French (1979) stated that while training means skill needed for an immediate or relatively narrow application, management and employee development emphasize concepts, theory and future intellectual and emotional growth. • Education and Training These two concepts have some differences. Education is a broader term which emphasizes 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. • phases of Training and Development Generally, there are three major phases of training and development.

Phase1:Assessment Phase No organization 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 organizational needs job and employee need or goal must be taken into consideration and analyze.

Phase 2: Implementation phase This is when the actual training programme begins. For better result, it is important to ensure that right programmes are selected for the right people at an equally appropriate period.

Phase 3: 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.