What is happening with training in organizations?

When I was pursuing my second BS degree in an US university, in one of the management courses the teacher sent us an article to read, and it changed my view of how organizations should treat their employees. Such article is entitled Putting people first for organizational success, by Jeffrey Pfeffer and John Veiga, and it was published in 1999. Although this article was written 19 years ago, it is applicable today in the employment conditions where we are live in. On it, the authors expose what are the seven practices of successful organizations, related with dealing and treating employees as the most important asset. This article also provides empirical evidence about the correlation between how companies manage people and their economic performance. Those practices are the following:

-         Employment security: the sense that employees will not lose their jobs.

-         Selective hiring: Recruiting the right people.

-         Self-managed teams and descentralization: empowering employees

-         High compensation based on performance: pay employees according with the job performed.

-         Extensive training: Knowledge and skills are critical for job performance.

-         Reduction of status differences: Everyone in the organization is equal, despite hierarchies.

-         Sharing information: let the employees that they are trusted.

Then, the authors explain why organizations do not act accordingly with the practices exposed, even they are easy to implement. Short term pressures, managers that don’t delegate enough, distorted views of what is good management, and organizations that tend to destroy competence are the meaningful barriers that do not let organizations to put people in first place.  

Concerning extensive training, I want to stop here and share my opinion. Training is a learning process, where a complex set of principles based on the framework of pedagogy and education is put in practice. How many of the people in organizations who are in charge of the training department have this knowledge? Do they know that training is a learning process? Do they know the science behind learning process? How do they develop a plan where there is a need in training? How they justify the method of training used for a certain need? These questions are related with one of the practices above written: selective hiring. How many companies have someone who has a professional degree in education in charge of the training department? By this I′m not saying that other professionals can lead effectively the training processes in companies. They can, but if they gain knowledge about the principles of learning and pedagogy, they can develop the best and effective training plans for their organizations.

Sadly, training process in organizations (mostly) has been just a bureaucracy process, where employees just sign paperwork to acknowledge that was “trained” in certain topics, skills, policies, etc., and to show such paperwork in audits for compliance. But, how do we know that training is really impacting positively organizations? It is good for management to understand the role of education knowledge, and apply it in every training process. So, I invite trainers and managers to check out information related with theory of learning, teaching, psychopedagogy, methods, and learning materials. It is not just “I will show this PowerPoint presentation and everyone understood the topic” that makes a good trainer. It conveys more effort and dig in unknown waters of knowledge and wisdom.

Reference

Pfeffer, J., & Veiga, J. (1999). Putting people first for organizational success, Academy of Management Executive, 1999, 13, 2, 37-48.