Need for T & D Department, andFunction & role of T & D manager

By: Supreet Ahluwalia Joshi

Training refers to a plan effort by a company to facilitate employees learning of job-related competencies. Training is seen as one of several possible solutions to improve performance.

T&D occurs only after business strategies for achieving growth are identified by the company.

So the role of T&D department also becomes vital for the successful working of the organization.

• Trainers can hold many jobs, such as instructional designer, technical trainer, or needs analyst, & each job has specific roles or functions.

For e.g.: one role of the needs analyst is to summarize data collected via interviews, observation, & even surveys to gain an understanding of training needs of a specific job or job family (a grouping of jobs).

• Special knowledge, skills, or behaviors – also called competencies – are needed to successfully perform each role, for e.g., the needs analyst must understand basic statistics & research methods to know what type of data to collect & to summarize data to determine training needs.

Importance of the Training departments

• Training departments are important for the attainment of the organizational goals, for solving performance problems, for bringing variety in the working etc.

• There are lot of organizations where director does the entire operations i.e. he decides WHAT training will happen & WHEN & WHERE & HOW. Such a person designs the visuals & creates the lesson plan, leads the learning experiences & handles the follow –up. This happens again & again in a single office, single shop or a branch office– this is true T&D manager/ specialist all rolled into one, & there are other organizations so large & so complex that the T & D department, like all the other departments, is specialized.

Why have a T & D department?

Because to achieve desired results, organizations need to appoint employees responsible for:

• Training people to do their present tasks properly.• Educating certain employees so that they can use

assume greater responsibilities in the future.• Developing people & entire organizations for the

foreseeable & unforeseeable future.• Training to facilitate both individual & organizational

performance. WHY? Because someone needs to be responsible for human

growth if the status quo is to be maintained satisfactorily - & if the future is to be met.

Who are the trainees?• Trainees should be selected on the basis of self nomination,

recommendations of supervisors or by the HR department itself. Whatever the base, it is advisable to have two or more target audiences. Bringing several target audience together can also facilitate group processes such as problem solving and decision making, elements useful in quality circle projects.

 Who are the trainers?Training and development programme can be conducted by several

people, including the following:• Immediate supervisors.• Co-workers as in buddy systems.• Members of the personnel staff.• Specialist in other parts of the company.• Outside consultants.• Industry associations• Faculty members at universities.

Function & role of T & D Managers

Competencies needed:T & D functions requires T & D professionals to

wear multiple hats i.e. they must be managers/ administrators, consultants, designers of learning experiences, &instructors.

A broad range of skills is required for the T &D specialist to perform the multiple functions associated with the role American society for Training & Development (ASTD) has given 35 competencies that are applicable today these are:

35 competencies given by ASTD

• Adult learning understanding• Career development knowledge• Computer competence• Electronic system skills• Industry understanding• Facilities skill• Organization behavior understanding • Objectives preparation skills• Subject matter understanding• T&D theories & techniques understanding• Research skill• Performance observation skill• Business understanding cost- benefit analysis skill

35 competencies given by ASTD cont’d.

• Delegation skill• Organization development theories & techniques

understanding• Organization understanding• Project management skill• Records management skill• Coaching skill• Feedback skill• Negotiation skill• Group process skill• Presentation skill• Questioning skill• Relationship building skill

• Writing skill• Data reduction skill• Information search skill• Model building skill• Intellectual versatility• Observing skill • futuring skill• self- knowledge• Competency identification skill

35 competencies given by ASTD cont’d.

The T & D officer’s key areas of responsibility

ADMINISTRATOR:• Sets policy: Scope of services: Training; Education; Development; Feedback systems; Contingency management; Job

engineering; Organization development Scope of useful methods Scheduling Participant selection Participation norms Evaluation criteria• Communicates policy• Sets program objectives• Establishes budget• Monitors expenditures• Sets facilities standards• Provides facilities• Selects staff• Manages staff• Develops staff• Evaluates T& D effort

WHO PROVIDES TRAINING?

• T&D activities are provided by trainers, managers, in-house consultants & employee experts.

• T&D can be outsourced – it means that T&D activities are provided by individuals outside the company, which includes colleges & universities, consultants, professional organizations, government organizations etc.

WHO IS INCHARGE OF TRAINING?

• In small companies training is the responsibility of the founder & all the employees. When organizations grow to 100 employees, then someone within the company is in charge of human resources, either as part of that person’s job or as his or her sole responsibility. At this point, training becomes one of the responsibilities of the employee in charge of human resources. In mid to large organizations training can be the responsibility of human resource professionals or can come from a separate function known as human resource development or organizational development.

• As companies grow & / or recognize the important role of training for business success, they form an entire training function.

• The relationship between HRM & the training function varies across companies. Some organizations include training as part of the human resources function, believing that this provides strategic partnerships with other business functions & consistent company wide training.

Cont’d..

• Other companies separate training from the human resource function because it allows the training function to be decentralized to better respond to unique needs in different business units.

Cont’d..

Preparing to work in training:

• Some people learn to train by trial & error, but the best way is to take courses in training & development. To be a successful training professional requires staying up-to-date on current research & training practices.

How Trainers Can Make the Training Site and Instruction Conducive to Learning:

Creating A Learning Setting

Preparation

Classroom Management

Engaging Trainees

Managing Group Dynamics

Program Design

Course ParametersObjectives

Detailed Lesson PlanLesson Plan

Overview

• Trainer brings an adequate standard of competence in the field of training, be it health, accounting, or training methodologies

Personal needs of trainers

• He is supposed to introduce favourable climate which includes an absorbing interest & excitement in the subject and work, eagerness to share the task & help participants grow into taking more responsibility for it, acceptance of participants as people with differing needs & personalities, & empathy toward them, and finally self trust & confidence in others. As skill increases with experience & practice trainers communicate these positive feelings more effectively.

Personal needs of trainers cont’d..

• When devoid of personal roots, trainers skills will soon be experienced by participants as manipulative, calling for submission or opposition, & as increasing their dependence on the trainer.

Trainer’s role three hidden functions

Training oriented as here incorporates three functions in the trainers role in addition to the well recognized one of conducting training sessions. Each of 3 hidden functions is a complex one, they are:

(1) Providing guidance & support to individual participants – mentoring, designing & helping to implement organisational change strategies to provide scope for trained personnel – intervention, & preparing & running an entire training program- a managerial function.

Trainer’s role three hidden functions cont’d..

(2) Trainer’s also have the function of intervening in the participant’s work , organisation(s), to ensure that newly gained competencies will be effectively used there. Trainer’s themselves in the course of their work with participant organisations, trainers also learn what to incorporate in order to make training even more effective.

Trainer’s role three hidden functions cont’d..

(3) The third function of the trainer is to plan, organise, & run effective training programs. Staff, materials, facilities, participants have to come together on schedule & within budget limits. Even the trainer knows that managing the different aspects of training & integrating them effectively generates fresh creative ideas & field data for the training program.

Attempt all four

• Define & explain the term training & development along with its significance.

• In detail explain the term adult learning

• Differentiate between education, training & development.

• Explain the role of a trainer in detail.

The end