Skill Enhancement Influenced by Effective Training

 

Mr. V. Subramanian¹, Prof. Dr. A. Ananda Kumar²

¹Assistant Professor, Senior Grade, Department of Management Studies, Christ College of Engineering & Technology, Pondicherry – 605010, India

²Professor & Head, Department of Management Studies, Christ College of Engineering & Technology, Puducherry, India.

 

ABSTRACT:

In an ever changing and fast paced corporate world, training is an indispensable function. Training is one of the lowest things on the priority list of most companies. It is enormous value in organizing proper training sessions for employees. Training allows employees to acquire new skills, sharpen existing ones, perform better, increase productivity and be better leaders. The purpose of this study is that how skill enhancement influenced by effective training for the adoption by the human resources development executives in their planning, designing and implementing training programs. The findings of this study suggest many factors which affect training effectiveness like motivation, attitude, emotional intelligence, support from management and peers, training style and environment, open-minded of trainer, job related factors, self efficiency and basic ability, etc. Since this skill enhancement results in their worth enhancement for the firm’s rivals, there is a greater likelihood that it will ultimately result in employees’ increased.

 

 

 

1. INTRODUCTION:

Training has increased its importance in today's environment where jobs are complex and changing. There for to have the best use of Human resource, training must provide to the employees. Measuring the impact of training on workplace performance and its contribution to organizational results is a matter of great concern for management in all types of organizations. Human resource managers and training professionals have to justify training expenses by providing some evidence about the positive impact of training dollars upon business results. Consequently, the issue of measuring training effectiveness has gained a lot of importance over the last few years.

 

During the past four decades, workplace learning and development professionals have done lots of work in the area of evaluating training effectiveness. Kirkpatrick (1976) did some pioneering work in this field and introduced the well known “four level evaluation model”, which is still widely used in the training industry. Later, some other experts also made a contribution in this direction and made a modification in the existing models.

 

According to Flippo (1971) “training is an act of increasing the knowledge and skill of an employee for doing a particular job”. Similarly Beach (1980) viewed that "training is an organized procedure by which people learn knowledge and/or skills for a definite purpose”. In fact, it is the training that bridges the gap between job requirement and employee present specifications. A training program is not complete until you have evaluated methods and results. A key to obtaining consistent success with training programs is to have a systematic approach to measurement and evaluation. Recognition of the training methods and measurement techniques are crucial for the organization’s training success (Kalemci, 2005)”. Thus, training and development function is considered as a significant function in any organization. In India, more importance is given to the conduction of a training program to enhance human assets of the firm. This can happen only when organizations have highly skillful employees as their assets. And those employees should be trained on contemporary issues to meet the present world techno-customers expectations. Thus, significance of training and development function is conspicuous.

 

The study is entitled “Skill Enhancement Influenced by Effective Training” at Azimuth Software Company, Puducherry. In this study, the researcher is to find the level of effectiveness and satisfaction of training implemented by the organization. And the study is to find the suitable training methods which are more adopted with the organization. The study is to clearly to identify the level of employee’s skill enhancement with the help of training.

 

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

The influence of factors beyond the immediate training context only recently has been considered in research on training effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the work environment on pertaining motivation, and the subsequent impact of pertaining motivation on two training effectiveness criteria: knowledge acquisition and training reactions. J. Bruce Tracey et al (1995) data collected from two food service safety training programs, the results of correlation and regression analyses showed that trainee perceptions about managerial support for training, as well as perceptions about the availability of equipment necessary to utilize training, had a direct influence on pertaining motivation. The results also showed that pertaining motivation was directly related to knowledge acquisition and positive reactions to training.

 

According to Jeffrey D. Factual, Ro-Bert T. Ladd present study was conducted to determine whether trainees’ general beliefs about training affect pertaining motivation and transfer of training in a large-scale training curriculum. In addition, the influence of social support for training from four organizational constituents (top management, supervisors, peers, and subordinates) and task constraints in the work environment on pertaining motivation and training transfer were evaluated. Nine hundred sixty-seven managers and supervisors completed a questionnaire that assessed 14 constructs. Structural equations analysis with LISREL VII indicated that the overall reputation of training, intrinsic and compliance incentives, organizational commitment, and three social support variables (subordinate, supervisor, and top management support) were predictive of pertaining motivation. Training is the process of imparting knowledge, skills and abilities of employees. Training is considered as a technical skill enhancement program for employees. Training is defined as a planned learning experience designed to bring about permanent change in an individual‘s knowledge, attitudes, or skills (Campbell et al 1970).

 

The result produced from evaluation of training will enable the organization to determine precisely whether the training is effective or not. Broad and Newstrom (1992) argued that for a training to be effective, the employee must actually transfer the knowledge and skill learnt during training to the job. Hung pointed out that in most studies related to training effectiveness, the focus was on developing the linkage between training practices or factor (individual and organization) with training effectiveness. Evaluation research is defined as ‘’the systematic application of social research procedure to assess the conceptualization, design, implementation and utility of program’’. Further definition of training evaluation comes from Boulmetis and Dutwin (2000), they defined evaluation as a deliberate attempt of collecting and analyzing data in order to determine whether and to what extent the objective of the training program were achieved.

 

Haywood (1992) noted that in a real world situation, there are many factors that influence the effectiveness of training and development in an organization and training is one out of many factors that could enhance individual and organizational performance. Mayer and Pipe (1983), suggests that the reasons for a strategic plan for training evaluation is to evolve a careful method of assessing and reporting training effectiveness, so that the finding can be used to improve training and training related activities (such as mentoring and other transfer of learning support).

 

Definitely, employee’s competence is specialized knowledge and skill that often enhanced by continuous training and development (Cascio, 1998; Beardwell, Holden, Claydon, 2004). Training evaluation is further defined as a systematic process of data and information collected to examine whether training really achieved its intended purpose Goldstein and Ford (2002). Kirkpatrick (1998) referred to training evaluation as an evaluation of four different parts these include; reaction, learning, behavioral changes and return on investment.

 

3. FACTORS AFFECTING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS:

In the real world, there are many factors that influence the effectiveness of training and development in an organization. One similar factor, i.e. the human resource policy of training and development has been identified by Haywood (1992). He mentioned that too many training programs place emphasis on ease and the purpose behind the design of programs, namely learning, skill development and behavioral change, has defeated the original purpose and goals of training are lost. Everything is affected by its surrounding weather directly or indirectly and similarly training effectiveness is also affected by many factors. Birdi (2005) found that poor managerial support or an unfavorable departmental climate could limit the impact of creativity training with regard to influencing idea implementation. Unfavorable environment affects the training effectiveness. According to him training will be affected negatively if there is less support from the department or there is an unfavorable condition for training.

 

4. NEED FOR THE STUDY:

·       To evaluate the current strategy implemented in the effectiveness of training in the organization.

·       Increase the success rate of the training process.

·       This study aids the company in getting the feedback of the training program.

·       Determine the present and future effectiveness.

·       Attract and encourage more and more employee to attend training in the organization.

 

5. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

·       To study the level of effectiveness of existing training programs.

·       To identify the suitable training methods adopt in the organization.

·       To study the satisfaction level of employees regarding training programs.

·       To find out the level of development of employees with regards skill enhancement.

·       To study whether training activities have brought any changes in the level of productivity.

 

6. SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

This study is done in Azimuth Software Company, Puducherry. The variables include in this study are effectiveness of training, training methods adopted satisfaction of employees, are improving the level of productivity. The result thus obtained can be used in this software company. This variable plays a major role of operation and trainee of work life.

 

7. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

Effective training is the primary goal of all business ventures. Without training the business will not survive in the long run. So measuring current and past training and projecting future training is very important. The primary objective of a business undertaking is setting goals.  Training is considered essential for the survival of the business. A business needs training not only for its existence, but also for expansion and diversification the employee wants an effective trainee on their organization. Effective training has specific goals of improving one’s capability of capacity and performance. This study inferred that most of the trainer and trainees agree with the training. HR professional is having a big responsibility of training for all kinds of employees, it is the biggest for an HR manager to conducting the training.

 

8. HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY:

McConnell (1999) that effective training and skills enhancement programs have measurable impact on employee knowledge. Kalleberg and Rognes (2000) noted that investment in employee development is positively associated with turnover. As the notion of investment in employee development means equipping employees with new knowledge and skills, it can certainly enable people to anticipate and be ready for new job requirements (Rothwell and Kazanas, 1989). Hence, the following hypothesis is proposed:

 

NH₀: Organization training programed and the content of the training program. Training will be positively related with their intentions to training programmes.

 

NH₁: Organization training programed and the content of the training program. Training will be no significant change with their intentions to training program.

 

9. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

9.1 Research:

The concept of methodology relates to the methods adopted for the research work. It also includes the process of collection of data from different sources. Methodology is the basis for the systematic performance, unless the work is pre-planned and organizes the result. Methodology is a science of systems and methods of conducting the research work. It includes proper thinking of devices prior to the commencement of work performance.

 

9.2 Research Design:

Research design means the exact nature of research work in a systematic manner. It involves the information about the research work in view of the framework of the study, availability of various data, observations, analysis, and sampling.

 

9.3 Types of Research:

The type of research used in this project is descriptive in nature. Descriptive research is essentially a fact-finding related largely to the present, abstracting generations by cross sectional study of the current situation. The descriptive methods are extensively used in the physical and natural science, for instance, when physics measure, biology classifies, zoology dissects and geology studies the rocks. But its use in social science is more common, as in socio economic surveys and job and activity analysis.

 

9.4 Sampling Technique:

The sampling technique chosen for the study is Simple Random Sampling. In statistics, a simple random sample is a group of subject chosen from a larger group. Each subject from the population is chosen randomly and entirely by chance, such that each subject has the same probability of being chosen at any stage during the sampling process. This process and technique are known as simple random sampling.

 

9.5 Statistical Tool Used for Analysis:

The statistical tests used in the study include Correlation and Chi-square. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 16.0 was used to compute and analyze the data.

 

10. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS:

10.1 Correlation Analysis:

10.1.1 Correlation Analysis between Organization Training Programs and the Content of Training Programe

 

Table 10.1 Variable analysis of mean and standard deviation

Table 10.2 Correlation between Organization Training Programs and the Content of Training Programe

 

It is to analysis of correlation between organization training programed and  the content of the training program. From that table, it is clear that organization training programed and  the content of training program are highly correlated (positively) with a correlation coefficient of 0.852 and there is no negative relationship. From the correlation analysis, it is inferred that, when the HR is approachable to organization training programed and  the content of training program activities is good.

10.1.2 Correlation Analysis between Organization Training Programs and Satisfied with Study Material provide based on Training

 

Table 10.3 Variable analysis of mean and standard deviation

 

Table 10.4 Correlation between Organization Training Programs and Satisfied with Study Material provide based on Training

 

The correlation between organization training programed and Satisfied with study material provide based on training. From that table, it is clear that organization training programed and  Satisfied with study material provide based on training are highly correlated (positively) with a correlation coefficient of 0.378 and there is no negative relationship. From the correlation analysis, it is inferred that, when the HR is approachable to organization training programed and satisfied with study material provide based on training and  are good.

 

10.1.3 Correlation Analysis between Organization Training Programs and Agree that Training is essential of Enhance Skill and Knowledge

 

Table 10.6 Variable analysis of mean and standard deviation

 

 

Table 10.7 Correlation between Organization Training Programs and Agree that Training is essential of Enhance Skill and Knowledge

 

The correlation between organization training programed and agree that training is essential of enhance skill, knowledge. From that table, it is clear that organization training programed and agree that training is essential of enhance skill, knowledge are highly correlated (positively) with correlation coefficient of 0.244 and there is no negative relationship. From the correlation analysis it is inferred that, when the HR is approachable to organization training programed and Agree that training is essential of enhance skill, knowledge.

 

10.2 Chi-Square Analysis:

10.2.1 Chi-Square Analysis Towards Content of Training Programe:

Table 10.8 Chi-Square Tests between the Age Group and Satisfaction towards Content of Training Programe

 

Table 10.9 Chi-Square Tests Analysis with Satisfaction towards Content of Training Programe

 

To test whether the association between the age and the content of the training program. The value of the degree of freedom is 3 and level of significance is 042. Since the significance value is lesser than 0.05, hypothesis H1 is accepted. Hence it as been referred that there is a significant association between the age and content of training programs.

 

10.2.2 Chi-Square Analysis Towards Training is Essential to Enhance Skill and Knowledge

 

Table 10.10 Chi-Square Tests between the Age Group and Agree towards Training is Essential to Enhance Skill and Knowledge

	Observed N	Expected N	Residual
Above 25	17	20	-3
25-35	25	20	5
35-45	27	20	7
Above 45	11	20	-9
Total	80

 

Table 10.11 Chi-Square Tests Analysis with Agree towards Training is Essential to Enhance Skill and Knowledge

 

To test whether the association between the age and agree that training is essential of enhance skill, knowledge. The value of the degree of freedom is 3 and level of significance is.042.Since the significant value is lesser than 0.05, hypothesis H1 is accepted. Hence it as been referred that there is a significant association between the age and content of training programs.

 

11. SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

For the study that the majority of the respondents attends regular training in the organization, the company can provide exclusive training opportunities. The need and importance of the training should be communicated properly. Advanced technical aids can be used to make the training effective. The effectiveness of training can improve the performance and helpful in gaining new knowledge about work. Few of trainees have responded negatively also that the company needs to look after it. The training is provided for employees, gradually increase employee skill enhancement and performance. So training is the essential to make positive attitude employee.

 

12. CONCLUSION:

The study is examining to know about the effectiveness of training in the company. The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skill, and competencies which occurs as a result of teaching of practical skills and knowledge that relate to the specific useful competencies. Effective training has specific goals of improving each employee’s knowledge and performance. This study inferred that most of the trainer and trainees agree with the training. HR professional is having a big responsibility of training for all kinds of employees, it is the biggest for an HR manager to conducting the training.

 

 

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