Introduction by Way of Q & A
Question: Why the focus on tra ining techniques?Answer: Training is a key pillar of investment in human resource. Alternatively, it can be viewed as a key function of management; the other functions being: Directing (Leading), Coordinating, Motivating, Planning, Recruiting and Procuring.
To answer the
above question, we should first
recall that it is widely acknowledged and stated in management and development circles -- to the point of turning an important notion into a cliche -- that people
are the most valuable resources [or ‘assets’] that an
organization, community or society has. Indeed, it is this value to society which people represent that led, in the Sixties, to the term Human Capital. This was later widely replaced by the term HR, and
now HRM and HRD are among the most common acronyms around.
If HR are so
valuable, it follows that we must invest in them quite deliberately in order to maximize their potential. Certainly,
we shouldn’t let HR go to waste or lie idle. We can invest in HR in a number of
ways: We can improve on nutrition, or ensure first and foremost that there is enough of basic food requirements to go
around. We can invest in health: child, public, occupational and the like. We can provide adequate or improved shelter.
We can provide requisite security. We can recruit people into into specific 'jobs' or roles in our various
organizations and enterprises. And we can allow or facilitate HR’s migration to
elsewhere: from rural to urban or other rural areas, from one country to
neighbouring ones, or to overseas. Above all, perhaps, we can educate and train people – and employ them.
Secondly, if we opt to educate and train, we are compelled to decide how best to do it; and to do so we must (a) explore how humans learn -- i.e. the nature of learning, or how Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (skills, competences and competencies) are learned and acquired; (b) interrogate the various ways in which training is (or should be) effectively conducted and the trainer’s/facilitator’s role is (or should be) construed or constructed; and, (c) discover ways in which humans can be made to learn or train more effectively. We are compelled, in other words, to examine the various training techniques to decide which ones are most appropriate in/to given situations [ for the learners and for the sponsoring entities].
Secondly, if we opt to educate and train, we are compelled to decide how best to do it; and to do so we must (a) explore how humans learn -- i.e. the nature of learning, or how Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (skills, competences and competencies) are learned and acquired; (b) interrogate the various ways in which training is (or should be) effectively conducted and the trainer’s/facilitator’s role is (or should be) construed or constructed; and, (c) discover ways in which humans can be made to learn or train more effectively. We are compelled, in other words, to examine the various training techniques to decide which ones are most appropriate in/to given situations [ for the learners and for the sponsoring entities].
Discovering and implementing those ways is the broad purpose of this course – Advanced Training Techniques. “Advanced”
because we seek to go beyond mere descriptions of form (of categories and types of training techniques) in order to
look in some detail at content (the
‘how tos’ of specific techniques) and method; and because we seek to look into
the interplay between theory and method in a broad TOT context.
We will
encounter many training techniques (or methods) in this course – over 35
(thirty five)[1] in
fact. However, there is frequently close interweaving among apparently dissimilar
(or disparate) techniques or sets/clusters of them. Indeed, it has been argued
that, in practice, training techniques have been “adapted and combined in an
almost infinite variety of ways”; and “even the most widely used and
well-known” techniques “show wide variation in use depending on factors
[external to the techniques themselves] such as instructors and trainees
involved and the task being learned” (Arnold, Robertson and Cooper, 1996: 254)[2].
Among these best-known techniques are: Lectures, Case Studies, Demonstration
and Practice (Arnold, Robertson and Cooper, 1996: 254). Lectures, such as today’s. Case
Studies, such as Harvard Business School is famous for. Demonstrations, as in Mke Nyumbani, but not as in the
demonstrations that the students of the University of Nairobi “have been known”
for. And Practice, as in the
learning by doing that is characteristic of apprentice training, on the job
training, delegation, assignment, extension workers demonstrations, teaching
practice, doctors’ internship or lawyers’ pupilage, high school laboratory
work, and so on. Other well-known techniques not immediately related to the
above are: Classroom Instruction, Coaching (though many observes do not
take it as such, for example the football coach – who is only supposed to win
matches), Use of Audio-Visual Methods,
Games and Meetings of various kinds.
1.4. There is
a very strong TOT (Training of Trainers) element in this course. How does the TOT approach come in?
This question is addressed at various points in the course, if often obliquely.
But, very briefly, the answer to that question is as follows: The course will deliver K and, hopefully (directly and indirectly), an enhanced or reconfigured set A – which should lead to (translate into) enhanced P. The same process should cascade to the trainees you will subsequently train. We know we are training experts – even champions. But we also want
to have a multiplier effect. We thought we could best achieve that via a TOT format.
END OF ANSWER
Click on This Link to find the Course Outline for the May-August 2013 Semester
[1] (1) Apprenticeship
(2) Shadowing (3) On-the-job experience (other than apprenticeship) (4)
Attachment/Placement (5) Induction/Orientation (6) Demonstration (7) Coaching
(8) Mentoring (9) Job/Position Rotation or Secondment or Externship (10)
Delegation (11) Job Enrichment/Enlargement (12) Project Guided/Selective
Reading (13) Guided Experience (14) Programmed Instruction/ Learning (15)
Computer-Based Training (CBT) or E-Learning (16) Computer-Managed Instruction
(CMI) (17) Use of Audio-Visual Methods (18) Use of Interactive Video (19) Use
of CCTV (20) Team Learning or T-group Training or Laboratory Training or Group
Dynamics Training or Group Methods (21) Leadership/Management
Training/Development (22) Lectures (23) Classroom Instruction (24) Seminars
(25) Workshops (26) Conferences (27) Meetings (28) Panels (29) Case Studies or
Case Method (30) Role Play (31) Games such as Management and Business Games
(32) Simulation (33) Drills and Exercises (34) Behaviour Modelling Training
(BMT) (35) Correspondence Study or Independent Study or Self-Directed Learning
or Training By Objectives (36) Scenario Building or Vision-Building and (37)
Sensitivity Training.
Human Behaviour in the Workplace. New Delhi: Macmillan India.
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