The Future of Employee Training and Development - Essay Example

Describe the Future of Employee Training and Development Introduction A paradigm shift is being d in the organizational environments and businessenvironments across the globe. The transformations taking place in the activities, ways of operating, communication and information transfer across organizations and industries have started a transformation in the employee training and development practices in different organizations across all industry sectors. Organizations are striving to improve the existing methods and to introduce new methods of learning and development of individual employees in order to reduce attrition rates and retain skills and talents within the respective organizations. Investing in the employees is considered to be the best investment on the part of the modern organizations. Discussion The increasing levels of competition and sustainability issues in the business environments have created a pressing need for companies to manage their assets well. The human resources in an organization are the most valuable resources. Investing in the human resources is seen as a profitable investment with massive returns in terms of organizational improvement, value creation and competitive advantage creation. Learning is a process by which the employees gather information and use this information in their daily job roles. This often leads to the overall development of the employees in terms of skills and knowledge. Many businesses are focusing on developing talent pools within the organizations to ensure efficiency and competitive advantage of their businesses. The future trends of employee learning and development are expected to be innovative and dramatically different from the conventional ways of training and development. One of the main trends expected to play a dominant role in the future of employee learning and development is that learning will assume a central role and evolve beyond mere training and development practices. In the present situation, training is seen as a main medium of imparting knowledge to the employees with the training instructor playing an influential role as the center of all information. This involves a traditional classroom setting. However, it is expected that in the future, the role of the employees would be more established in the training settings with the employees emerging as the seekers of information and knowledge (Wilson, 2005). The focus would be on the employees trying to tap in various resources to satisfy their learning and development needs. The employee training processes are likely to become blended in the future which will encompass training in a classroom setting as well as online coaching and learning. This is done by major companies in the world like Deloitte LLP, HSBC Holdings PLC etc. with the aim of cutting down costs and saving time while investing adequately in improving the knowledge and skills of the employees. Mentoring, use of knowledge repositories and communicating and learning from the experts are likely to dominate the blended learning formats for employees in major organizations. The new trends of learning and development will see a change in the modes and places of learning. Earlier the learning places were different from workplaces with training being imparted to the employees in pre-defined classroom settings. However, the evolution of the role of training and learning would open up new mediums of imparting knowledge. The new scopes of training and knowledge management would ensure that the employees are provided with opportunities to learn and enhance their skills in the workplaces so that their work patterns are not disrupted. This is expected to add more value to the overall learning and training processes of the employees. Companies like Deloitte LLP are already moving towards combining workplace activities with work focused learning and development. Deloitte LLP is adapting new practices and approaches to the training and development of employees to improve talent development which is a major part of enhancing the value proposition for the customers of the business (Forbes Magazine, 2014). The patterns of the learning and development process would shift to a knowledge centric approach from being a course centric approach. The learning, training and development processes of employees would move beyond the scopes of learning based on course curriculums. The training and development processes would include multiple strategies and sources of knowledge , include virtual communities, experts, information and knowledge repositories, webcasts and live events along with the conventional training and development processes. This will be aimed at improving the practical application of knowledge and at transforming the knowledge management processes of organizations to reach new heights. The future trends of training and development of the employees would be segregated on the basis of the level of experience and knowledge of the employees. The organizations have identified that the requirements of an experienced employee and a novice employee are not same. They are likely to have different knowledge, learning and development needs according to their level of experience and their cadre. While an experienced employee is likely to benefit from an informal and performance supportive learning and development methods, a novice employee is likely to benefit more from a formal and guided process of training and devilment. Thus, an efficient learning system should be flexible enough to accommodate the needs of the experienced as well as the inexperienced learners. Thus, the training and development strategies followed by the organizations are likely to become more focused, detail oriented, innovative and multi-dimensional. The use of multiple sources and methods for training is critical to improve the prospects of training and development in an organization. Maximum benefits from training and development practices can be achieved by ensuring that the transformation of the business needs in the external environmental are tapped in the internal training and knowledge management for the employees. Conclusion The right level and procedure of employee training, employee development and knowledge management is critical to create and retain a pool of talented and skilled human resources within the organization. This in turn increases the overall performance, productivity, profitability and talent level in the organization. Along with the implementation of suitable practices, the organizations should also maintain the scopes for improvement and evolution of the training and development processes to keep up with the changing dynamics of the global business environment. Therefore, many organizations are moving on to newer dimensions of employee training and development in order to achieve competitive advantage by managing their human resources in the best possible manner. References Forbes Magazine. (2014). Want Your Company To Succeed In The Future? Invest In Employee Skills Training Like Deloitte LLP. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2012/05/14/want-your-company-to-succeed-in-the-future-invest-in-employee-skills-training-like-deloitte-llp/. Wilson, J. P. (2005). Human Resource Development: Learning & Training for Individuals & Organizations. London: Kogan Page. Read More