Training and Development One of the most important functions of human resource management is training and development, which mainly focuses on organizational activity that is geared toward improving the performance of individuals and groups with the organization. The component is commonly known as organizational learning and development as well as human resource development. The significance of this component in human resource management is attributed to its direct link to organizational productivity. Generally, organizational productivity and success is mainly influenced by the contributions of individuals and/or groups within the organizational setting. As a result, organizations are constantly faced with the need to enhance employees' contributions to their business objectives in order to become profitable and successful. Employee training and development is regarded as the most suitable way of enhancing employees' contributions towards realization of organizational objectives.

History of Training and Development

Employee training and development is not necessary a new topic or concept in the field of Human Resource Management. The first training and development program for employees for established in 1927 by General Motors through its first corporate universities (Shelton, 2001). However, the idea did not grow rapidly until the 1950's when several organizations followed this example and established employee training programs. For instance, General Electric created Crotonville Management Development Institute while Walt Disney established Disney University in the 1950s. The establishment of Hamburger University in early 1960s by McDonald's was also a step towards employee training and development. Regardless of the progressive step towards employee training and development, the growth of the concept was accompanied with several challenges.

One of the most significant periods in the growth of employee training and development was in the 1970s when career planning and development initiatives were centered on young employees with huge potential. This model was not only a way for organizations to groom young employees to senior management positions but also fit the conventional commitment that these workers would give to the organization. In essence, employees were given job security and training in exchange with loyalty and commitment to the organization. However, the trend changed in the 1980s when organizations shifted to flattened hierarchies that had minimal opportunities for promotions, which contributed to the death of career advancement opportunities.

In the past few years, career planning and development has become more meaningful to individuals and organizations because of the unreliability of long-term commitment. This change has also been brought by enormous changes in the job market, which has culminated in significant changes in employee development programs. Training and development has become an important aspect of modern human resource management because of the death of job security and organizational loyalty. Consequently, employee training and development no longer focuses on promotion and job security but rather skill development (Shelton, 2001). The shift in focus has in turn resulted in the creation of employee development programs that differ in shape and sizes and are associated with varying advantages and disadvantages.

Essentials of Training and Development

Generally, the goal of training and development is to enhance human resource machinery in a manner that contributes to the advancement of the organization in terms of its objectives (Stuart, 2013). This is mainly because the role of human resource in an organization is to promote its growth, which is the foundation of training and development. The input into organizational training and development programs include unskilled employees, new employees, and potential managers. Through undergoing the programs, the output becomes skilled employees, motivated and committed workers, and competent managers. This output is achieved through imparting required knowledge and skills to the organizational employees.

Given the significance of human resource to an organization, they need to constantly enhance their knowledge, skills, and attitudes in a way that contributes to professional growth and moving the organization forward. Through training and development, an organization ensures that its employees are at par with the organization's goals and up-to-date with industry trends and changes in the market. In most cases, employee training and development takes the form of on-the-job training, which is training conducted at the job site (Sleight, 1993). This mode of training is very popular because of the numerous advantages associated with it and the fact that it focuses on direct instruction on how to perform a task and necessary tools and mechanisms to perform the task. In this case, the organization does not need to organize for special training other than to allocate an experienced employee to train an inexperienced colleague. However, organizations also arrange for off-the-job training or special training for employees. This method of training not only focuses on performance of certain tasks but also entail various...

training, education, and development. Training basically focuses on the specific job that an employee or group of employees currently holds within the organization. In contrast, education is centered on jobs or skills that a person may hold in the future. On the contrary, development entails activities that the organization may undertake in the future.
The success of training and development programs and activities is dependent on effective communication between staff, supervisors, and human resource personnel (Martson, 2010). This implies that an organization's employees and management need to be comfortable with one another in order to promote effective communication that will in turn contribute to the success of training and development programs.

Importance of Training and Development

As previously mentioned, training and development has become an important part of today's human resource management. This is basically because training provides a major opportunity to enhance employees' knowledge base. Some of the reasons for the significance of training and development include addressing weaknesses of employees in their workplace skills (Frost, n.d.). Training and development enables an organization to strengthen necessary skills required by employees in order to improve. Secondly, training and development improves employee performance since those who receive required skills are able to perform their job in a better way. In addition to enhancing employees performance of various tasks, training and development enhances employees' confidence and job satisfaction. Training programs create a supportive environment or workplace where employees' contributions are enhanced and valued. Third, training and development enhances organizational productivity and success by improving the contributions of workers towards achievement of organizational goals and objectives. The improved productivity and success is also achieved through feelings of appreciation and challenges employees experience during training and development.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Training and Development

Training and development programs are usually associated with different advantages and disadvantages given their differences in shape and sizes, focus, and nature. One of the advantages of training and development is that it provides a major opportunity to enhance employees' knowledge base and skills. Secondly, training and development contributes to enhanced employee performance through enhancing their knowledge and skills. Third, training and development contributes to consistent experience and background knowledge in relation to the organizations policies and processes. The other advantage of training and development is that it contributes to improved organizational productivity and success, which is the main goal of human resource management.

However, despite these advantages, training and development training programs are associated with several disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that these programs are sometimes very expensive, especially special training that are conducted off-the-job. The high costs make it difficult for some organizations, particularly small organization to provide the trainings to their employees. Secondly, control of the training is a major disadvantage given that organizations sometimes do not have control of what new employees are learning in certain programs. As a result, new employees undergoing the training may end up acquiring some bad habits if the trainer does not conduct the training as it should be done (Arthur, n.d.). Third, training and development is sometimes difficult to carry out because of the need for more time to impart certain knowledge and skills. Since organizations may only allocate a small amount of time for training, employees may not acquire a wide scope of knowledge and skills that may be essential for their contributions to the organization. The limited time also affects the ability of the trainer to go through all important aspects of job and may skip other necessary tasks that should be understood by the employee.

Application of Training and Development

As a major component of human resource management, training and development is applied or utilized as part of employee compensation and benefits. Actually, employee training and development is one of the non-monetary benefits that organizations provide to their employees for their contributions towards the profitability and success of the organization. In the modern working environment, employees are not only looking for salaries and wages in exchange for their input in an organization but are also in pursuit of non-monetary but essential benefits.

Conclusion

Training and development is a concept that has a long history that can be traced back to 1927 when the first training programs were established. Since inception, the concept has developed to become an important aspect of human resource management. The significance of this topic is attributed…