Study Notes: People Management

Training (introduction)

Training can be defined as:

The process of increasing the knowledge and skills of the workforce to enable them to perform their jobs effectively

Training is, therefore, a process whereby an individual acquires job-related skills and knowledge. 

Training costs can be significant in any business. However, many employers are prepared to incur these costs because they expect their business to benefit from employees' development and progress.

Training takes place at various points and places in a business.  Commonly, training is required to:

• Support new employees (“induction training”)
• Improve productivity
• Increase marketing effectiveness
• Support higher standards of customer service and production quality
• Introduction of new technology, systems or other change
• Address changes in legislation
• Support employee progression and promotion

Effective training has the potential to provide a range of benefits for a business:

• Higher quality
• Better productivity
• Improved motivation - through greater empowerment
• More flexibility through better skills
• Less supervision required (cost saving in supervision)
• Better recruitment and employee retention
• Easier to implement change in the business

Effective training starts with a “training strategy”.  The three stages of a training strategy are:

• Identify the skills and abilities needed by employees
• Draw up an action plan to show how investment in training and development will help meet business goals and objectives
• Implement the plan, monitoring progress and training effectiveness

Given the costs involved, you might not be surprised to learn that many businesses do not invest enough in training. 

Some firms don’t invest anything in training!  Here are the most common reasons for under-investment in training:

They fear employees will be poached by competitors (who will then benefit from the training)

• A desire to minimise short-term costs
• They cannot make a justifiable investment case
• Training takes time to have the desired effect – management are impatient!
• Sometimes the benefits of training are more intangible (e.g. morale) than tangible – so they are harder to measure

HRM Strategy

HRM introduction  HRM objectives  HRM influences  Hard & Soft HRM  

Organisational Structure

Org charts  Delayering  Span of control  Centralisation & decentralisation  Matrix structures  

Motivation at work

What is motivation?   Theory - Maslow  Theory - Herzberg  Theory - Taylor  Theory - McGregor  

Financial motivation  Pay Package  Time rate  Piece rate  Commission  Performance pay  

Share options  Job rotation  Job enlargement  Delegation & empowerment  

Recruitment & Training

Recruitment intro  Internal / external  Job descriptions  Interviews  Job analysis  

Job advertising  Person specification  Training - intro  Induction training  On-the-job training  Off-the-job training  

Workforce planning

Workforce planning  Flexible working  Benefits & issues  Labour supply  Workforce roles & workload  

Annual hours  Job sharing  Temporary staff  Teleworking   Flexible hours  

Communication

Overview  Barriers  Benefits  Employee Representation