Training Development

Training, Development & Education Within The Management Process Essay, Research Paper

a) Distinguish between the concepts of training, development and education. b) “Training is a management process intended to ensure that control is effectively maintained and that the position of management is confirmed”. Discuss this statement.a) Education : activities which aim at developing the knowledge skills , moral values and understanding required in all aspects of life rather than a knowledge skill related to only a limited field of activity (Armstrong ; 1991;p414) Training : planned on the part of an organisation to increase job knowledge and skills, or to modify the attitudes and social behaviour of its members in ways consistent with the goals of the organisation and the requirements of the job (Lardy & Trubo, 1976, p.222). Development: the growth or realisation of a person’s ability, through conscious or unconscious learning (Armstrong, 1991, p.414). All three, although they are different they contain certain common characteristics. For example, they all include learning. The way to differentiate them is to understand to which degree they are job orientated and how broad or specific is the range of skills they refer to. Starting with education it is less orientated and more general. Education is also, concerned with a long-term prospect of the person involved. It is concerned with all aspects of life rather than a specific skill or activity. Whereas training although it is offering knowledge, it is more skill orientated and it is directed to specific activities or range of activities. Therefore, it is concerned with the short-term prospects of the person. On the other hand, development is less specific and is concerned with the long-term view. It has to do not only with the “acquisition of broader knowledge and skills” (Brown & Moburg, 1980, p.397), but also with the individual growth as essential distinguishing feature of development as Warren is putting it (Warren, 1969). So, we see that education, training and development are overlapping and contain each other partially. A way to understand this concept better is to use an example. In a Master Degree, the student is educated, learning through lectures on different subjects. Then, he/she is going through learning experiences, like case studies, and directed, specialised to achieve effective performance in certain tasks. But he/she also, has to achieve “individual growth” (Warren, 1969). This is happening through the necessity to be creative and construct his/her own ideas and critique for certain thoughts. For example, every student has to write essays describing his/her own ideas rather than copying somebody else’s work. So, as in the Master Degree in the other parts of the persons’ progress all of the three exist, but probably in different proportions. For example, primary, secondary and undergraduate education put more weight on education and training and less in development. As the person is going through the process of self improvement, the balance is changing towards training and development rather than education, as it happens in the Master Degrees. Therefore, education, training and development can be seen as parts of one process, which puts appropriate weight on every part, depending on the situation of the individual.b) In order to see if the statement “Training is a management process intended to ensure that control is effectively maintained and that the position of the management is confirmed” is true, we have to try to understand how training is seen from the point of employees, the organisation, and the management ;furthermore, try to emphasise the political side of the statement as there is little doubt that politics in an organisation plays a very important role. As we said in the first part, training is “planned activities on the part of the organisation to increase job knowledge and skills, or to modify the attitudes and social behaviour of its members in ways consistent with the goals of the organisation and the requirements of the job” (Lardy & Trumbo, 1976, p.222). And according to the Oxford Dictionary of current English Control is “the power of directing or restraining. Generally, in my view, there are certain factors which are taken into consideration in order for training to take place. The ability of the subordinates to be trained, the motivation of them to be trained, the potential benefits to them it can provide and motivation; for example, new qualifications can give promotion and financial rewards to the individuals paired with prestige. And for the firm, his/her higher performance can bring higher returns to the organisation. Also, the prestige that the organisation is offering high quality training and is looking after its employees is beneficial to the company. Another very important result of training is the stabilisation of the organisation through the teaching of the expected behaviour patterns. From the employees point it can be said that training can be a self satisfying experience giving the sense that the employee can still learn and through training and he/she can contribute to the organisation. The training’s main purpose is supposively to make the employees perform more effective. Of course, one can argue that the trainee is expecting that higher performance is followed by higher financial rewards. In order for the employees to take part in the training, which will lead to this