An Essay on Training & Development

The old adage says, ‘If you train your employees they will leave.’ If you do not train your employees, they will stay.’ Author unknown.

? Circa, 1990 newspaper employment (job) listings required 5 to 8 year and occasionally over 10 years of experience required for technology related positions. A small number of technology related vendors (e.g., IBM, Cray and Xerox) dominated the information technology (IT) space and provided hardware, software and application level trainings. The employer sponsored training was expensive, coveted and reserved for legacy and committed employees.

?Today's unprecedented (marketplace) turmoil related directly and/or indirectly by COVID-19, high inflationary rates, an aging workforce, migration, underemployment (or working below one’s skill-level), constantly changing technologies, is ultimately requiring private sector, trade schools and governmental agencies to foster and offer job-specific training programs (Sales, 2012).

? The terms Training and Development are often times combined to represent a single action or function. Training refers specifically to activities that provide immediate tools, knowledge, exposure and/or insight to performing a particular task or demonstrated skill set. In comparison development(al) concepts are strategic, long-term and associated to an organizations mission and value statements. Further representing the entire employee population, and not limited to a particular job function (i.e., training, finance, and IT).

? Long term employees possess tacit knowledge that is acquired over long periods of time and include a potpourri of job related, organizational related and cultural aspects. The underlaying question and challenge is ‘how to convert tacit information / knowledge into transferrable information and skills amongst the larger workforce.’ Whereas explicit knowledge is codified, formatted and replicated via numerous adult learning modalities (e.g., computer aided instruction, and classroom delivery).

Economic uncertainty shifts our notions of stable and successful careers, as no organization can guarantee long-term employment and a linear career path anymore (Haenggli and Hirschi 2020). Further complicated by work from anywhere (post COVID-19) conditions impacting work, family and home considerations (e.g., multi-generational home settings, child rearing and physical/logical boundary separations between work and home).

? Individually and/or commingled tacit and explicit knowledge provide organizational wisdom, congruence, wisdom and practical (often times firsthand) practices and techniques that foster a sense of belonging, corporate or tribal knowledge, and job security. Those elements provide a positive framework, architecture and organizational climate to sustain elevated levels of employee satisfaction, motivation and long term service. Resulting in increased profits, customer adoption, popularity and awareness (e.g., Starbucks).

? Private sector organizations may acquire customer loyalty (capital) by directly and indirectly developing relationships beyond transactions related to the exchange of goods and services. Rather, the nurturing of relationships based upon human elements of kindness, compassion, empathy and inclusion (Noe, 2023). Well trained employees have a degree of latitude to support their stated and/or inferred requests for promotion and pay increases. Plus, possessing explicit skills, knowledge and training to seek alternative employment opportunities.

? The modern (training) classroom is rout with conflicting training, teaching motivational techniques, practices and challenges. For example, a Pedagogy approach refers to the examination of teaching systems, methodologies and approaches countered with the delivery approaches and the impact/effect on students. Conversely, Andragogy refers specifically to training and enabling adult learners to the method and practice of teaching adult learners on one or more specific objectives (e.g., steps to perform medical procedures, operation of battle field equipment for military personnel and/or operating procedures for technological computers, etc.). In other words, andragogy assumes an adult is capable and interesting in acquiring a new skill; versus (pedagogy) which teaches ‘how to learn’ inclusion (Noe, 2023).

This essay was written in conjunction with an assignment at Liberty University related to my matriculation in a Masters of Industrial-Organization in Psychology.

Reference:

Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S. I., Kraiger, K., & Smith-Jentsch, K. A. (2012). The Science of Training and Development in Organizations: What Matters in Practice. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13(2), 74–101. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612436661

?Haenggli and Hirschi, 2020 M. Haenggli, A. Hirschi Career adaptability and career success in the context of a broader career resources Framework Journal of Vocational Behavior, 119 (2020), Article 103414,?10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103414

Noe, R. A. (2023). Employee Training and Development (Ninth Edition). McGraw Hill LLC. (US). https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/reader/books/9781265925802

?Enache M., Simo P. José Maria Sallan J.M. Vicen? Fernández V. (2008) Examining the impact of protean and boundaryless career attitudes upon psychological career success. II International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Industrial Management XII Congreso de Ingeniería de Organización September 3–5, Burgos, Spain?