ACCA F1 Accountant in Business - 2010 - Study text - Emile Woolf Publishing
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Chapter 12: Learning, training and development and performance appraisal
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The role of training and development
Definitions: education, training and development
Benefits of training and development
Role of the training manager
2 The role of training and development
2.1 Definitions: education, training and development
The terms ‘education and training’ and ‘training and development’ are often used.
Education and training have some similarities, and education can be an element
in training.
There are also similarities between training and development, and training can
be an element in the development of an individual.
Training is a planned process to improve knowledge or skill, or to amend attitudes
or behaviour through learning experiences. The aim of training is to improve work
performance in an activity or a range of activities. Training therefore has a work
focus.
Training differs from education. Training is related to a work environment and
improving performance at work. Education improves basic knowledge, skills and
attitudes, but does not have an immediate work-related purpose.
Examples
An individual must have basic abilities in reading, writing and mathematics to
perform non-manual and skilled tasks. The teaching of basic skills is education.
Student accountants are required to learn a range of subjects before they can qualify
as professional accountants. Some of the topics they study are directly related to
their work: this aspect of their studying can therefore be called training. However,
some of the topics they study are not related to the work they do. This studying
might therefore be considered as education rather than training.
Development is concerned with gaining experience and providing career
development. Individuals learn and develop through experience in different work
situations and by having extra responsibilities or opportunities to use their own
initiative. However, one of the ways that individuals can develop their skills and
abilities is through training.
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Together, training and development improve the abilities of individuals in their
immediate job and longer-term career, and they enable individuals to learn through
their work.
2.2 Benefits of training and development
Training and development have benefits for both the employer and the employee.
Benefits for the employer
The benefits of training and development for the organisation are as follows:
Training and development create a more talented and skilled work force. The
benefits of a better work force may include:
- higher productivity, therefore lower costs of output
- less waste
- better performance by employees in their jobs; therefore higher standards of
achievement
- less need for close supervision of subordinates by their managers
- an ability to compete more effectively with business rivals.
Providing employees with training and planned development will improve their
morale, and increase their commitment to the organisation. It should be easier to
retain talented staff. If employees are not given the training and development
they want and expect, they may resign and go to work for a different employer.
Organisations that offer training and career development should find it easier to
attract external applicants for job vacancies.
Benefits for the employee
There are also benefits of training and development for the individual:
Learning through training and development improves the motivation of the
individual, and gives him or her a sense of being more valuable.
Career development increases job satisfaction.
Training and development, by raising the level of skills and abilities, improve
the individual’s prospects for promotion and higher pay.
Since an individual gains personal benefits, and at the same time there are benefits
for the organisation, training and development can help to create compatibility
between the personal objectives of individual employees and the corporate
objectives of the organisation.
2.3 Role of the training manager
Many large organisations employ training managers. These might work in the
human relations (HR) department. Alternatively, they may be line managers with
added training responsibilities for a group of employees.
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The role of the training manager is to plan, implement, monitor and control the
training and development process.
Identify the training needs of the organisation. The purpose of the training
manager is to identify the objectives of training for the employer, so that
training programmes can be designed or selected that will help these objectives
to be achieved. The analysis of training needs is discussed in more detail later.
Plan training programmes. Training programmes should be planned that will
enable the organisation to meet its training needs. This involves deciding the
nature and the amount of training required and the training methods that
should be used. Where formal training programmes are used, these must be
designed (if the programmes or delivered in-house or as an outsourced contract
to a training organisation) or selected (if the ‘standard’ courses of external
training providers are used).
Implement the training programmes
Monitor the implementation of the training programmes
Evaluate the benefits of the training and consider whether the objectives of the
training programme have been achieved. This might be referred to as the
validation of the training.
Consider ways of improving the training.
The training manager is also responsible for the training budget, and achieving the
objectives of the training plan with the available resources for training and within
the budgeted spending limits.
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Training needs
Analysing training needs: the training gap
Meeting training needs
3 Training needs
3.1 Analysing training needs: the training gap
A responsibility of the training manager (or human relations manager) is to analyse
training needs. This analysis of training needs should be linked to the human
resources plan for the organisation, which provides a forecast of the numbers of
employees the organisation expects to have through the planning period, and the
types of job that they will be doing.
Training needs are the training requirements to ensure that the organisation has an
appropriate number of employees with the required level of skill, knowledge and
ability to do the jobs in the HR plan.
The training gap
Training needs can be estimated by comparing:
the skills, knowledge and abilities that the organisation will require from
employees in all its jobs, with
the skills, knowledge and abilities that the organisation’s employees will have if
there is no training, and allowing for:
- the promotion of some employees to more senior positions
- movements of employees between jobs in the organisation
- staff turnover, as existing employees resign or retire and are replaced.
- changes in the job structure and total employee numbers
- recruiting employees from outside the organisation, who already have the
required skills and abilities.
The training gap is the difference between the skills that the work force will have if
there is no training and the skills that the organisation expects that it will need.
A responsibility of the training manager is to plan how to eliminate the gap.
In addition, there might be some legal requirements to provide particular types of
training. For example, it might be a legal requirement for employers to give all
employees regular training in fire drill and the procedures to follow in the event of a
fire in the premises. Similarly, there might be a legal requirement for banks to give
employees training in anti-money laundering procedures.
Legal requirements for training must be included in the training needs analysis.
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3.2 Meeting training needs
Training needs can be met by a combination of a ‘top down’ and a ‘bottom up’
approach. However, the training plans must be kept within the spending limits
allowed for training in the organisation’s budget, and total spending on training
should not exceed the budgeted spending limit.
Top-down planning
Top-down planning involves planning training programmes by the training
manager or training department, with the intention that all employees in each
category of employees should go through a particular training programme.
For example, it might be a policy that all employees in the accounts department
above a certain rank or grade must become qualified accountants. If so, the training
plans should include plans for training accounts staff for their professional
qualifications.
Similarly, it might be the organisation’s policy that a certain number of ‘high flying’
young managers should be sent on an MBA course to develop their management
skills and abilities.
With top-down planning, the training department or training manager provides
training programmes and may also identify the individuals who must be given the
training.
Bottom-up applications for training
Employees may be encouraged to apply for training.
The need for training might be identified from the appraisal process (described
later). Managers might notify the training manager of training requirements for
each of their employees, and ask whether the required training can be provided.
Individuals might be responsible for their own personal development plan. This
should identify gaps in their development that might be filled by training. If so,
individuals might discuss training needs with their boss on the basis of their
own training needs analysis in their personal development plan.
Alternatively, the training manager may notify employees and their managers
about training programmes that will be available, and invite applications from
individuals to attend any of the programmes.
The training manager can try to meet requests for training from a mixture of in-
house courses, external training and possibly CBT.
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Methods of training and development
Methods of training
Methods of development
Job design: job enrichment and job enlargement
Self-development
Skills development programmes
4 Methods of training and development
4.1 Methods of training
Methods of training can be grouped into the following categories:
Formal training in a training room environment:
- ‘in house’, where all the trainees are from the same organisation
- external, where the training is provided by an external trainer or training
firm, and the trainees come from different organisations
Computer-based training
Training in the work place. Training in the work place is a method of
development of individuals, as well as a method of training. Work place training
is training in technical or practical skills, whereas work place development helps
the individual to gain experience and develop personal skills, such as skills of
management and leadership.
Induction.
In-house training may be provided by the organisation’s own trainers and experts.
Alternatively, in-house training may be provided by an external trainer or training
firm, hired to deliver the training programme.
Formal training may end in an examination, leading to a qualification or certificate –
such as a professional accountancy qualification or an MBA degree (Master in
Business Administration) with a business school.
Formal training
Formal training within a training room environment can take any of the following
forms:
Lectures or talks, often with projectors and screens, and possibly electronic
whiteboards. Formal lectures are well-suited to training in which the trainees
have to learn large quantities of technical detail (such as accountancy training).
Group discussions
Training films. Training films might provide practical training, for example of
health and safety regulations and procedures. However, training films might
also be used to teach ‘soft’ skills, such as interpersonal skills and management
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skills. When films are used for training ‘soft skills’, watching the film is usually
reinforced by group discussions afterwards.
Case studies. Case studies can be used as a basis for group discussions. For
example trainees might be divided into several groups, and each group asked to
consider their views on a case study. The differing views of each group then
form the basis for subsequent discussions by the entire class.
Role-play activities. Role play activities are particularly useful for the
development of interpersonal skills, including selling skills, negotiating skills
and counselling skills.
Business games. Business games are used to provide training in team-building
as well as management skills.
Using CCTV to film delegates and then playing back the film. This is
particularly useful for training in presentation skills and selling skills.
Training programmes may be delivered in a single form, or as a mixture of several
of these different forms.
Some formal training may be reinforced by testing. For example, it is common to
use tests to reinforce learning in training courses for accountancy examinations.
Computer based training (CBT) and e-learning
Computer-based training (CBT), also called computer-assisted learning (CAL) is
training delivered through the trainee’s computer. The term ‘e-learning’ refers to
computer-assisted learning that is downloaded from the internet.
In its simplest form, CBT is little more than a training book displayed as pages on
the computer screen. Many CBT programmes involve some inter-activity, where the
trainee is required to input responses to prompts or questions that appear on screen.
Some CBT programmes include sound, or sound and film.
An advantage of CBT is that the trainee can access the training material through a
desk-top computer or a laptop/portable, at a time to suit his or her convenience. It
can therefore be used for learning in the work place, learning at home or learning
while away from the office on business trips.
Training in the work place
Training in the work place is directly related to the work that the trainee will be
doing. It helps the individual to acquire technical or practical skills for doing
particular jobs. Work place training might be provided by a coach (a skilled and
more experienced colleague) or the supervisor.
Work shadowing. The individual learns by watching an experienced colleague do
the work, and asking questions about what he or she sees and hears. The trainee is
‘shadowing’ or following the experienced colleague in order to learn how the job is
done. An example of work shadowing is training traders in the financial markets by
getting them to watch an experienced trader at work.
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Induction
Induction means ‘leading in’. An induction training programme might be given to
individuals who have just joined an organisation. The purpose of induction is to
teach the individual about the organisation and its business operations, and about
the work that is done in each division or department of the organisation.
An induction programme might consist of talks by senior managers in different
divisions or departments, and site visits to see operations in action.
4.2 Methods of development
Development improves the skills, knowledge and abilities of an individual through
experience in working. Unlike on-the-job training, however, development is not so
much concerned with teaching the individual how to do a particular task or job. It is
more concerned with giving the individual more experience and responsibilities, so
that he or she is able to improve and become a more valuable employee.
Development programmes are commonly associated with managers. They benefit
from development to become better managers, capable of moving on to more senior
positions.
Methods of development include the following:
Job rotation. Job rotation means moving an individual from one job to another
at fairly regular intervals, so that the individual gains familiarity with the work
done in each job. For example, a trainee accountant in the accounts department
might be given a job for three months or six months in the payables ledger
section, before being moved to the receivables ledger, then to the payroll
department, then to the costing department, and so on. Job rotation gives the
individual a broad range of experience in the activities of the organisation. This
should be useful when he or she is eventually ready for promotion to a more
senior position.
Secondment. An individual might be ‘seconded’ to work somewhere else for a
period of time. Secondments are periods of time spent away from the normal
working environment, in another department or as part of a project team. For
example, an accountant might be seconded from the accounts department to
work with the sales team for a while. Similarly, an accountant might be
seconded to join a project team that has been set up to design and implement a
new computer system. Individuals benefit from secondments because they gain
experience from working with people from different parts of the organisation, or
with external consultants.
Deputising for a manager or supervisor. An individual may be given the
opportunity to deputise for his or her boss when the boss is absent from work
for an extended period, on holiday or due to illness. The individual gains
experience by doing the job of the boss for a period of time.
Delegation. A boss who wants to develop individuals will give the individuals
additional responsibilities, and delegate authority to the individuals to make
their own decisions. Individuals will gain experience from their additional
authority and responsibility, and will be accountable to their boss for how they
have carried out their additional responsibilities.
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Mentoring. An individual might be given a ‘mentor’. The mentor provides
guidance and assistance to the individual, and may occasionally discuss the
individual’s work and work problems.
Appraisals. Formal appraisals are a part of a system of development. Appraisals
are described in a later chapter.
4.3 Job design: job enrichment and job enlargement
Employees can be given opportunities for development through careful job design.
Job design involves looking at the current jobs in an organisation or department,
and considering whether they can be altered (designed) in a way that gives more
fulfilment and greater experience to the job holder.
Two methods of re-designing a job are:
job enrichment, also called ‘vertical job enlargement’
job enlargement, also called ‘horizontal job enlargement’.
Job enrichment
Job enrichment means making the job ‘richer’ by building more responsibility into
it. When a job is enriched, the job holder is given more authority (authority for a
higher level of decision-making).
Example
An editor in a small publishing company may be responsible for preparing the ‘final
copy’ artwork for a book, to send to the printer. The editor might also be responsible
for sending the artwork to the printer and checking the delivery date for receiving
the printed books from the printer.
This job might be enriched by giving the editor the additional responsibilities for:
negotiating printing prices with the printer, to obtain the best prices, and
ensuring that the printer meets the agreed dates for delivery of the printed
books.
The additional responsibilities might enrich the job by giving the job holder a higher
level of authority, that the job did not have before.
Job enlargement
Job enlargement means giving the job holder more tasks to do, but without any
additional authority. All the additional tasks are at the same ‘level’ as the existing
tasks in the job.
For example, in a school the job of a mathematics teacher might be altered, to
include responsibility for teaching a sport and for running a ‘homework club’ in
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mathematics after school. All the work is still at the same level of ‘teacher’, but there
is more variety in what the teacher is required to do.
Job enlargement might be used:
to increase the work load in a job where the job holder is under-worked, or
to give the job holder a greater variety of tasks, in order to reduce the monotony
and dullness of carrying out the same repetitive tasks.
Job enrichment promotes the development of individuals in their work. Job
enlargement may provide some development by giving the job holder experience of
more varied tasks. However, there is a risk that job enlargement will simply mean
giving the job holder several boring tasks to do instead of just one boring task!
4.4 Self-development
Many individuals have some ambition and want to develop their career. Some
individuals have a lifelong career with the same employer, but many individuals do
not. They move from one employer to another during the course of their working
life. Many individuals change their job to advance their career.
Individuals who want to develop their careers cannot always rely on their managers
to promote them, or to give them jobs that will help with their development. If a
person wants to be successful, the main responsibility for achieving success is his or
hers. (This is one of the benefits of having personal development plans.)
‘Self development’ is a term for the activities and learning that provide lifelong
personal development, and at the same time contribute to the individual’s
professional competence or the achievement of the organisation’s goals.
The goal of self-development is to increase your readiness and potential for a
position of greater responsibility.
Enhancing self-development
There are several ways in which individuals can try to achieve more self-
development:
They should use the staff appraisal system to agree targets for achievement and
initiatives for training and development.
They should follow up on their appraisal interview. They should try to achieve
the objectives they have been set, or try to ensure that they get the training or
development that they agreed with their manager.
If they do not get the training they want from their employer, they could arrange
for some training in their own out-of-work time – for example, some individuals
in senior management positions might pay for their own MBA degree
programme at a business school.