The business context for training can be negative (e.g., high turnover or poor performance, absenteeism or conflict, compliance issues like sexual harassment) or positive (, e.g., rapid growth, merger/acquisitions, new product development, new business opportunities). .
Figure 1 (Neiger & Churilov: Website visited 2003-08-25) to the right depicts the activities involved in the management of training in an organization. The foundation for all training activities is the training strategy and the training needs assessment. .
2. Problem definition .
According to Sacht (Sacht: Website visited 2003-08-25) the means to rigorously design, develop, deliver, assess, and quality assure training and learning in a company have been around for years. What has not been around for years is taking these basics seriously. XYZ is no exception.
XYZ's view of training education is presented below: .
To a lesser extent use is also made of mentoring.
XYZ's training is aimed at developing: .
Professional skills - these are the standards that XYZ expect of professional people in the department. .
Technical skills - these are the skills required to perform the job, to keep knowledge up to date, to enhance skills and learning about the latest thinking in the profession.
Non-technical skills - these are improving personal effectiveness, including general management and personal development skills. .
The question is however, is the investment in training enough and does XYZ know what they are getting in return for their training investment.
To answer these questions, this document will specifically focus on XYZ's training activities related to training needs assessment, setting training targets (budgeting) and evaluating training outcomes (measuring return on training investment).
3. Training needs.
XYZ's practices with regard to training needs analysis have been evaluated using the framework provided by NSW Government (NSW Government: Website visited 2003-08-25):.
