Training and Development: A Brief history

Source: (huronconsultancy.com)

A Brief History of Training and Development

Training and development in public and private enterprises is a vital department to the organization. Organizational challenges today appear unparalleled in history (Tracey, 1974 Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004). According to Tracey (1974) Cited in Somasundaram & Egan (2004), the oldest form of training in the industry in Western society is the apprenticeship system which was developed in the Middle Ages by the trade guilds and during the Elizabethan period, apprenticeship began to decline. The industrial revolution speeded the decline of the apprenticeship tradition.

The popularity of the training laboratory and other forms of sensitivity training increased tremendously in the 1960s and the need for management training was recognized more than ever (Miller, 1987 Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004). In the 1970s organization development became more popular and most talked about training techniques or practices. Introduction to competency-based learning came into popular use in the last half of the 1970s (Miller, 1987 Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004).

Training became more popular by the 1980s through behavior modeling which was used in the early 1970s and its greatest use was for management training, and skills training. There was a renewed emphasis on career development in the first half of the 1980s (Miller, 1987 Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004). It was noted that employers spend $30 billion on formal training and approximately $180 Billion on informal 0n-the-job training each year (Carnevale, Gainer & Villet, 1990 Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004).

Now the demands of industry and commerce are continually changing and are reflected in the activities of the training department and the training and development programs. New approaches, skills, competencies, operations, and procedures require either new training terms or modifications of existing ones as the term “training” is very complex (Rae, 1997 Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004). These changes indicate the importance of renewing and/or clarifying the focus not only of specific training efforts, but of training and development overall. One way to reinvigorate dialogue regarding HRD-related areas such as training and development is to explore related definitions (Swanson, 2001).

Exploring Definitions

Swanson (2001) emphasized the importance of theory building as essential to the growth and ongoing viability of HRD and related enterprises. “Seemingly elementary investigations into definitions and documentation of a range of ideas within a single realm of HRD are fundamental to theory-building stepping-stones. Recent examples in the literature (articles focusing on HRD-related definitions) …add to our understanding of the HRD phenomenon” (Swanson, 2001, pp. 301). Swanson emphasized the increasing demand for HRD-related theory that can expand the current horizons of scholarship and practice, and that can prevent practitioners and scholars from wallowing in a theoretical explanation and practice. From this point of view, refinement and exploration of HRD-related definitions, like training and development, can make important contributions to the field (Swanson, 2001).

McLean and McLean (2001) Cited in Somasundaram & Egan (2004) support the concept of HRD and related definitions while, at the same time, emphasizing that the increasingly global and complex nature of HRD does not support a single definition, but multiple perspectives. From this point of view, influences such as government and legislation, national contexts, religious belief systems, and other cultural factors play an active and varied role in framing HRD and related definitions around the world. McLean and McLean (2001) and McLean (2000) Cited in Somasundaram & Egan (2004) support the notion of ambiguity in HRD and related definitions as well as the notion forwarded by Mankin (2001) Cited in Somasundaram & Egan (2004) that “practitioners and academics should embrace HRD as an ambiguous concept as it is this ambiguity that provides HRD with its distinctiveness” (p. 80). McLean and McLean’s (2001) Cited in Somasundaram & Egan (2004) introduction of their own definition of HRD affirm the importance of HRD definitions while, at the same time, emphasizing the notion that attempts to remove ambiguity from definitions is “futile and cannot happen” (p. 323)

Although many have engaged in the practice of exploring HRD-related definitions, (Chermak & Lynham, 2002; Egan, 2002; Holton, 1998; McLean, 1999; McLean & McLean, 2001; Upton, Egan & Lynham, 2003; Watkins & Marsick, 1995; Weinberger, 1998 Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004), not all are in agreement that this practice or “approach does a particular disservice to the development of those who wish to become HRD professionals, as the notion of HRD practice is dynamic, ambiguous and ill determined” (Lee, 2001). From this point of view, definitions are viewed as “scientism”—a conviction to the notion that reductive rationalistic scientific thinking has supremacy over other paradigms or ways of thinking. In refusing to define HRD and related areas, Lee (2001) seeks to be absent from the reinforcement of a particular, limited worldview. Lee’s narrative emphasized the importance of individuals coming to experience HRD and related areas without control or influence from a dictatorial professor or a power structure which could limit the manner in which those participating in the phenomena from providing language and description to their own experiences.

Table 1. Training and Development Definitions, Areas Focus, Core Element and Dependent Variable (Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004)

YEAR	AUTHOR	DEFINITIONS	AREAS OF FOCUS	CORE ELEMENT	DEPENDENT VARIABLE
1993	Sugar	Training is defined as instruction geared towards developing a specific group of skills or tasks.	Skills	Instruction	Developing a specific group of skills
1993	Kirkpatrick	Training refers to the teaching of specific knowledge and skills required on the individual’s present job. The term development refers to the growth of the individual and preparations for higher-level jobs.	Knowledge & Skills	The teaching of specific knowledge and skills
1996	Smith	Training is a planned process to modify attitude knowledge or skill behavior through learning experience to achieve effectively performance in an activity or a range of activities	Knowledge Skills, Learning Performance	Planned process	Effective performance in an activity or range of activities
1998	Davis & Davis	Training is a process through which skills are developed, information is provided and attributes are nurtured in order to help individuals who work in organizations to become more effective	Skills	Process	Help Individuals to become more effective.
1998	Pots	Training is the gaining of skills with short term output measurements and Development is the extension of skills and in synonymous with long-term growth of individuals.	Skills	Gaining of skills	Gaining of skills
1999	Fuller & Farrington	Training is designed to increase the skills and knowledge of people.	Skills & Knowledge	Design	Increase the skills and knowledge of people
2000	Kleiman	Training and development are planned learning experiences that teach workers how to perform their current or future jobs effectively.	Learning & Performance	Planned learning experience	Perform current or future jobs effectively
2001	Armstrong	Training is the formal and systematic modification of behavior through learning which occurs as a result of education, instruction, development and planned experience. Development is improving individual performance in their present Roles and preparing them for greater responsibilities in the future.	Learning, & Performance	Formal & Systematic modification of behavior	Modification of behavior, Improving individually Improved performance.
2001	Gomez-Mejia Balkin & Cardy	Training is the process of providing employees with specific skills or helping them correct deficiencies in their performance and development is an effort to provide employees with the abilities the organization will need in the future.	Skills & Performance	Process of providing	Providing employees with specific skills or correct deficiencies in performance, Abilities the organization will need in future
2001	Kremple & Pace	Training and development is defined as managing knowledge to develop the organization’s culture, to enhance individual performance and to strengthen the organization’s capability	Knowledge, Performance	Managing knowledge	Develop organization’s culture, enhance individual performance, Strengthen the organization’s capability
2001	Swanson & Holton	Training and development is defined as a process of systematically developing work-related knowledge and expertise in people for the purpose of improving performance.	Knowledge, Performance	Process	Improved performance.
2002	Goldstein & Ford	Training is defined as the systematic acquisition of skills, rules, concepts, or attitudes that result in improved performance in another environment.	Skills, performance	The systematic acquisition of skills	Improved performance.

To understand the three major areas of focus-knowledge, skills and performance and their contribution to training and development has been discussed below

👉Knowledge

According to Swanson and Holton (2001) Cited in Somasundaram & Egan (2004) knowledge is defined as the intellective mental components acquired and retained through study and experience. The definition of knowledge is complex and can be interpreted in many different ways. Knowledge is the cognitive capacity of the organization (Wang, Hielmervik, & Brendel, 2001 Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004). Knowledge is the understanding of relations and is therefore essential in making operations effective, building business processes, or predicting the outcomes (performance) of business. Finally, Goldstein’s (1986) Cited in Somasundaram & Egan's (2004) definition of knowledge refers to “an organized body…factual or procedural nature, which, if applied makes adequate job performance possible” (p. 22).

👉Skills

Sims (1998) Cited in Somasundaram & Egan (2004) classified Skills into three types’ technical skills which are an understanding of and proficiency in a specific kind of activity, particularly one involving methods, process, procedures, or technique. It is occupation-related, concrete, and functional. The second type is Human skills which is the ability to work effectively as a group member and to build cooperative effort within the team/group. And the third type is conceptual skills which involve the ability to see the enterprise as a whole; it involves recognizing how the various functions of the organization depend on one another and how changes in any one part affect all the others and it extends to visualizing the relationship. Goldstein (1986) Cited in Somasundaram & Egan (2004) refers to skills as “the capability to perform job operations with ease and precision” It usually refers to the psychomotor types of activity. Like all fields, Training and development is affected by demographic, political, economic, and social trends. So training needs to focus on the development of skills and human relations (Sims, 1998 Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004).

👉Performance

Although many training and development departments have been activity-oriented, focus on enhancing human performance is important as it is implicitly result-oriented. “Out of workplace upheaval emerged the high-performance work organization – a catchall phrase for companies in a perennial search for better results” (Galagan, 1994 Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004). For trainers that should signal an important message: shift focus from training activities (input) to the performance of individuals and organizations (output) (Galagan, 1994 Cited in Somasundaram & Egan, 2004). Goldstein (1986) Cited in Somasundaram & Egan (2004) refers to ability as cognitive capabilities necessary to perform a job function. Ability cannot function alone but require the application of some knowledge base.

 

REFERENCES

Armstrong, M. (2001) A handbook of human resources Practice. 8th edition.London: Kogan Page.

Chermack, T.J., & Lynham, S.A (2002) Definitions and outcome variables of scenario planning. Human Resource Development Review,1(3) 366-383.

Egan, T. M. (2002). Organization development: An examination of definitions and dependent variables. Organizational Development Journal, 20(2) 59-71.

Huronconsultancy.com, Online Image, viewed 12 May 2021, 
< https://huronconsultancy.com/service/training-development/ > 

Lee, M. (2001) A refusal to define HRD. Human Resource Development International, 4(3), 327-341. [Online] Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240530979 [Accessed 25 March 2021].

Somasundaram, U. V. and Egan, T. M. (2004) Training and Development: An Examination of Definitions and Dependent Variables. [online] Texas A & M University: ERIC Institute of Education Sciences. Available from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED492440.pdf [Accessed 29 March 2021].

Swanson, R. A. (2001) Human resource development and its underlying theory. Human resource Development International, 4(3), 299-312. [Online] richardswanson.com. Available from http://richardswanson.com/publications/Swanson(2001)HRDandits.pdf [Accessed 29 March 2021].

Weinberger, L. A. (1998) Commonly held theories of human resource development. Human Resource Development International, 1(1) 74-94.