Skill Management Is The Practice

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Skill management is the practice of understanding, developing and deploying people and enhancing their skills which are the ongoing process where employees update their acquired skills on a regular basis to improve their efficiency. These updates should occur at least as frequently as employees' regular line manager reviews, and certainly when their skill sets have changed. Skill development program is the training and development which includes on the job training, coaching, mentoring and also includes the training given by external training organizations to their employees in the workplace for skill growth, to improve their performance, to increase the productivity and retention rate and also to encourage promoting from within. While developing skill development programs, manager must communicate clearly regarding skills requirement to the employees and show the path for improvement once they are involved in skill initiative whether they are developing new skills or achieving goals with one skill which can be done with continuous development and participation from them. When employees are developed, they would be more committed and as a result, their performance will have a great improvement. The main objectives of the study is to examine whether the additional skill development is needed or not, to assess the existing skill development programs of the companies under study, to evaluate the various methods of providing additional skills required to employees and to assess what are the impact of skill development program on employee performance.

Data collection has been done through a survey of the 6 selected manufacturing companies of 3 different sectors (FMCG, Pharma and Furniture), out of which 2 companies were studied from each sectors which are conducting skill development program. Data are collected through questionnaire from skill development facilitators (6) and employees (114) and an interview schedule was used to interview HR concerned people. Through data collection, it has been analyzed that existing skill development programs are in - house training and sending for seminars and workshops (if necessary) and training as per requirement to develop skills and after attending skill development program they are highly satisfied as there has been a great deal of improvements in their work performance. Leadership skills, concentration on repetitive tasks, team work, active learning and feedback are few very important skills as rated by the employees. To keep abreast with the information and update their knowledge related to skill development field, skill development facilitators read relevant documents and attend workshops and seminars.

It has been found that skill development programs are generally focused on young and middle aged employee. 1 year and less of work experience have attended 1 skill development program, 1–4 years of work experience have attended 2–3 skill development programs and 4.1 years and above work experience have attended more than 4 skill development programs. Trainees are highly satisfied with the training program because they perceive that their job is secure because of various factors like career development opportunities, feeling safe in working environment, better communication, etc. Various skills like technology design, system analysis and management of financial resources are not imparted through skill development program but should required for the organizations are which are identified as skills gaps. Mainly in - house training and sending the employees to attend seminars and workshops (if needed) are the found to be companies’ predominant existing skill development program for trainees.

Some of the recommendations for both the employees and facilitators are that the main objective and aim of skill development program should be clearly defined to the trainees. Skill development program should be more flexible to adopt the changes and modify it accordingly. Employees should learn to prioritize the entire task effectively and avoid the attitude of procrastination to improve time management skills. A sense of community within the workplace should be built by an effective leader as employees are more willing to follow them. Facilitators should read the relevant documents and attend workshops and seminars to be more knowledgeable and informative than trainees. A proper documentation of training needs analysis, scheduled plan and mode of imparting training should be recorded and maintained by the human resource manager.

Organization of chapters is presented into five chapters. First chapter is the introductory chapter explaining the background, objective and scope and limitation of the study. Second chapter explains about the review of literature related to skill development programs under conceptual review, empirical review and contextual review. Third chapter presents research methodology used in this study including the brief profile of the selected companies. Fourth chapter presents the analysis and interpretation of data collected through a survey which was carried out on 6 manufacturing companies of 3 different sectors, out of which 2 companies were studied from each sectors. Fifth chapter explains about the findings, conclusion and recommendation after the study given to the participants, skill development facilitators and also to human resource manager.

Chapter – I

Introduction

Background

The Manufacturing Industry

The manufacturing industry is one of the major sectors of production that processes industrial and agricultural raw materials. These industries include food, textiles, chemicals, machines and equipment. Tyler et al., (2000), based their research on Nepalese manufacturing companies, state that the firms have relatively higher productivity than other firms which have access to technology transfer or "learning mechanisms’ like training, foreign licensing, foreign ownership and technical agreements. They point out that those firms which provide training to their workers show the largest differential in efficiency than those that do not.

Management is a challenging job. It requires certain skills to accomplish such challenges. Due to globalization, change in technology as well as work processes, there is an increasing demand of skilled labour. One of the most important ways to maximize productivity is through learning, applying, and maintaining good organizational skills. In any organization, skills management plays a vital role. Basically, it means the practice of understanding, developing and deploying people and enhancing their skills. Well implemented skill management identifies skills as per the job requirements, the skills of individual employees and any gap between the two. Skill management must be an ongoing process to be more effective where employees can update their acquired skills on a regular basis to improve their efficiency.

Dale (2009) stated that training has a positive benefit for the betterment of employees by encouraging them to improve their performance through training. Employees tend to be more loyal when companies value their growth and development which leads to better employee performance and higher retention rate. The kind of training that employees receives is very important so giving right kind of training to right people is a crucial task. The results after training would be more effective if the organization value their employees and consider them as an investment by providing excellent training programs by emphasizing a relation between personal development and official evaluation and allowing the employees to determine that career growth and success means developing their expertise with training. Coaching and Mentoring are the two types of on the job training methods. On the job training is basically provided when the employees have to learn relevant knowledge, skills and abilities at the actual working place.

Rao (2010) had explained about the concept of both coaching and mentoring. Coaching is an informal, unplanned and a continuous process of learning which can be consider as a daily training where an immediate supervisor gives feedback to their employees. In coaching, the supervisor explain things in detail, conduct meetings with trainee regarding decision making, and trainees are allowed to make enough mistakes while learning.

Mentoring is a relationship where the senior manager in the organization has the responsibility to groom the junior person. Here, the most experienced person has technical, political and interpersonal skills. Mentors can be a teacher, developer of skills, trainer, guide, spouse, and anyone who people look for in his/her life. In workplace, mentoring can be both formal and informal levels. In formal mentoring, management spends time or money to strengthen the relationship which can be fruitful for the employees.

Good Mentees

Listen

Act on advice

Show commitment to learn

Check ego at the door

Ask for feedback

Are open minded

Are willing to change

Are proactive

Good Mentors

Listen and understand

Challenge and stimulate learning

Coach

Build self confidence

Provide wise counsel

Teach by example

Act as role model

Share experiences

Other encouragementFigure 1.1: Mentoring Functions

Successful

Mentoring

Source: VSP Rao, "Human Resource Management (2010)", Third Edition, Pg.249

According to Harvard Business Review (2010), some of the benefits of coaching to the company when employees are coached. They are:

More responsibilities can be delegated to employees as it strengthens employee’s skills;

Increase in productivity;

Huge improvement in retention as it increases employee loyalty, commitment and motivation towards their job;

Coaching costs relatively less than formal training

Exforsys Inc. (December 2010) in the article "why coaching and mentoring is important" stated that coaching and mentoring is the common practice in many organizations where coach/mentor leads to positive change in individuals, transfer of knowledge and career development of employees. There are various benefits of coaching/mentoring to coach/mentor, learner as well as organization as a whole.

Benefit to the coach/mentor:

Coach/mentor plays a crucial role in employees’ career development and in transferring the knowledge. Some of the benefits of coaching/mentoring which explains why it is important and why people are conducting are:

It increases job satisfaction;

It improves the skill level;

It leads to their professional growth and development;

Development of self esteem

Helps to develop problem analysis and strategic thinking skill

Benefits to the learner:

It increases self esteem and self confidence of the employees;

It leads to career development of employees;

Enhances skills;

It identifies the weakness of the employees and turn it to strength for the success;

Develops good communication skill and relation with the co workers;

Emphasis more on the aspect of training and development

Benefits of the Organization:

Employee retention will increase;

More skilled employees will leads to competitive advantage for the company;

High chances of achieving goals effectively with skilled workers;

Better succession planning;

Better communication within the organization;

Full utilization of human resources

Kate (2012) had identified some of the benefits of giving training to the employees. They are:

Increased productivity:

Training and development and leadership development leads to increase employee productivity. When employee’s skills are developed properly, they become more confident to do their task in the organization.

Understand the expectation:

It is important to understand the expectations of the employees towards their company and managers which may arise after training and development program. Clear understanding of expectation of employees may lead to increase in satisfaction level and employee loyalty.

Lifelong learning:

As technologies changes rapidly and also due to the change in business in competitive world, there is always something to learn for the employees. Skill development leads to lifelong learning which encourages independent learning and self development.

Out with the old:

Training the employees helps to keep updated about the new changes in the market which as a result makes the company more competitive in the market. The employees will be getting the knowledge about the latest developments and trends in the industries. It allows the employees to accept the challenge task with new machinery tools and with new strategies.

Abdul and Aamer (2011) states that employee development plays a crucial role in human resource management. Employee development basically means the development and overall growth of employees or individual which leads to increase in employee performance. When employees are developed, they would be more committed and satisfied with their job and as a result, their performance will also increase which may lead to organization effectiveness. Hence, employee development and employee performance have direct relationship.

Employee development is an independent variable and employee performance is a dependent variable. Organizations are investing huge amount of money on employee development as employees are considered as an assets of an organization where success and failure of any companies hugely depends of employee performance. Relationship between employee development and employee performance is explained in figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2: Relationship between Employee Development and Employee Performance

Employee Development

Skill growth

Employee learning

Self directed

Employee attitude and behavior

Organizational Effectiveness

Employee Performance

Source: Abdul Hameed and Aamer Waheed (2011) Employee Development and its Affect on Employee Performance, International Journal or Business and Social Science, Vol.2 No. 13 [Special Issue: July 2011]

Employee development is classified into various other variables.

Skill growth is only possible by giving training to their employees and also by coaching and mentoring. The skill level affects the performance of the employees and as result employee performance affects organizational effectiveness.

Employee learning means acquiring knowledge and getting information. Employee learns when they are curious. Employee learning increases competency level among the employees.

Self directed means when employees are really keen to get more knowledge and information, they would further participate in seminars, workshops and other training sessions which will develop them more and leads to increase in employee performance.

Employee attitude and behavior explains how serious employees consider the training and development programs when they are nominated to attend workshop, seminars and different sessions. Learning new skills increases employee performance which will affect the organizational productivity directly.

Employee performance is measure through employee development depending upon the output and employee productivity which will affect the organizational productivity.

Organizational effectiveness means achieving the overall organizational goals. Organizational effectiveness has a direct relationship with employee performance which is leaded by employee development.

Skill development program is the training and development that the employees/management provides to their employees in the workplace which includes on the job training and also includes the training which is provided by external training organizations. It has become very important in today’s fast paced and competitive environment. Employees’ role changes with designation changes/role changing are recruited to the company. This involves continuous participation for the success for any employee skill improvement initiative. Once an employee is involved in a skill initiative, the most important aspect is to ensure that there is a direction for improvement. A clear direction for improvement will ensure continued participation in achieving a certain assessment score in one skill, or developing a new skill.

According to the report of Skill measurement (2002), three ways of promoting skill development with employees are establish and communicate clear skills requirements, create milestones for continuous development and recognize achievement and enhance morale.

Establish and Communicate Clear Skills Requirement:

It is important for any organizations to communicate skills requirement to their employees clearly. Managers may have set a benchmark for the skills required within the organizations and they may have assigned the skills to the employees based on their job profiles. Committed participation is needed from the employees to convey that skill measurement leads to achieving skills improvements. So it is important that there should be proper flow of periodic communication to every employee within the organizations to gain an effective result through skills improvement program.

Create Milestones for Continuous Development:

It is important for the employees to show the path for improvement once they are involved in skill initiative whether they are developing new skills or achieving goals with one skill and creating milestones of improvement with continuous development and participation. Here, milestones can be considered as a due date to complete an assessment. An organization should also encourage employee participation for their development.

Recognize Achievements and Enhance Morale:

This is considered as one of the crucial aspects of a skills inventory program. Recognition generally can be viewed as a reward and award of achievements that may leads an employees to view skills measurement as a tool for skills improvement. Author had stated that some of the other recognition which comes from skill assessment score are above average score, personal high scores, certification of skills or significant levels of improvement. Further, manager also does an online comparison through database of employee skills with larger industry’s database of assessment results.

Steve (2006) had identified some important benefits of offering skill-based training to the employees. They improved employee morale, increased productivity, decrease in attrition rate and self promotion.

Skill- based training improves morale of the employees:

Providing training on technical equipments and other difficult task will allow the employees to perform better and confidently which makes them happy and comfortable to perform their jobs.

Skill-based training increases productivity:

The objective of training is to increase productivity making less human errors and accidents and perform the jobs more efficiently taking less time.

Skill-based training decreases employee turn-over:

Skill based training will reduce employee turn over as employees will have greater understanding of their duties and responsibilities and they will be comfortable and confident to perform the assigned task.

Skill-based training encourages to promote from within:

Any organization prefers promoting trained employees from within the organization itself rather than hiring from outside. As a result, employees will be willing to say and will be loyal to the company that offers various opportunities to them.

Skill Development Program is training and development of the skills for employees in the organization. Teaching specific skills and behavior related to the job, is the main focus of such programs. Development is more individual oriented aiming of improving the total personality of individual. Skill development can be considered as one of the type of training which is very common in any organizations. Various methods are used for imparting the different skills in the organizations like job instruction training, coaching, mentoring, job rotation, etc. While developing skill development programs, it is important that the managers establish and communicate clear skills requirement to the employees. Managers may establish benchmark levels for a variety of skills within their organizations or they may focus on one particular skill. A basic level of participation need to be ensure while assigning skills assessments to employees.

Subarna (2010) in his article "Secretarial skill development and institutional arrangement for assistant staff training in Nepal" stated that secretarial and clerical training is basically given to the government offices, public enterprises and other organizations to develop skills needed for assistant level staff. It is one of the crucial training developments for most government district administration, ministries and departments in Nepal and mostly the talk of the town at the conferences of administrative reforms in many numbers of countries. With the goal to improve the job performance for organizational effectiveness, the Assistant Staff Training Centre which is presently known as the Centre for Secretarial Skill Training was established in order to offer secretarial and clerical training to the government staff of Nepal in 1991 under the guidance of the Nepal Administrative Staff College (NASC). Here, the nature of training needed for assistant level staff and the management training required by officer level staff are not related at all and are completely different from each other. The government, public enterprises and other organizations had offered a distinguish institute of secretarial training at national level by the Training, Consulting and Research Committee (TCRC).

Author had also included about the training attendance stating that about 31% of assistant level and staff level are receiving training at NASC. Detail training attendance by officer level and assistant level is given in table 1.1.

Table 1.1: Training Attendance by Officer Level and Assistant Level

Year

Number of Training

Number of Participants

Officer Level

Assistant Level

Total

Officer Level

Assistant Level

Total

1991-1996

171

115

386

3749

2922

6671

1996-1997

37

21

58

769

444

1213

1997-1998

51

21

72

1470

417

1887

1998-1999

48

15

63

605

363

968

1999-2000

64

23

87

808

519

1327

2000-2001

38

23

61

778

596

1347

2001-2002

34

19

53

701

415

1116

2002-2003

43

19

62

883

400

1283

2003-2004

67

20

87

1903

467

2370

2004-2005

74

23

97

2013

472

2485

2005-2006

70

12

82

1820

324

2144

2006-2007

47

15

62

1256

374

1630

2008-2009

53

16

69

1201

415

1652

Total

846

353

1199

19055

8452

27507

Source: NASC Annual Reports 1991-2009

In order to deal with secretarial and clerical skill development training for assistant level staff as Nepal is still lacking in a single training agency at national level, the government of Nepal is expected to come up with a separate NASC strategic plan for 2009/2010 to 2013/2014 because there was a high impact on the work performance of assistant level staff in all the country. Following are the strategies to be followed by the up coming institute using NASC facilities are:

Curriculum development and design:

While developing the training, following issues need to addressed and they are:

A policy framework for training and development at national and ministerial level;

Identifying and reducing the performance gaps;

Post course action plans need to be undertaken and follow up in all the training courses should be done;

Assessing training and performance;

Training and development should lead to career development

Proper training instructors should be developed from NASC for the instructors

CSST building located at NASC should provide proper accommodation

Equipment and furniture

Practical exercise like clerical jobs leads to greater effectiveness in office management. Additionally, following approach should be taken into consideration to design the courses.

Participants’ learning expectations and the course contents are interrelated to meet the goals of the course;

Proper job structure leads to greater job satisfaction

Practical contents are given more emphasis. For instance, interviewing, feedback, etc.

Much emphasis is basically given to those methodologies which are often used in learning process leading the participants to be actively involved with the process

Pre course and post course dealing with participants’ knowledge, skills and attitude should be properly assessed.

As management is a challenging job, three main essential managerial skills identified by Robert L. Katz (1986) which every manager should have in order to improve employee performance and accomplish various challenges include conceptual skills, human relation skills and technical skills.

Conceptual Skills:

Conceptual skills involve gathering information and data which can be used to find out the solution to complex problems and situations such as an issue between two co workers. In order to solve such complex problems the managers should be analytical, creative, and intuitive in problem solving. They must be able to analyze the solution and provide the best suitable solution to the problem. These skills can also be helpful to identify opportunities for the employee as well as company development by understanding company’s business model and company’s use of technology.

Human Relation Skills:

Human skills involve the ability to interact with people. This is one of the crucial skills which are required by the entire manager at all level of management because they deal directly with people by interacting, motivating, leading, inspiring, and building trust and team spirit. It also involves maintaining employee performance and promoting authority to meet customer satisfaction. When the manager directs its workforce, certain change of the performance behavior of the employees can be seen. Hence building a good relationship within the employees enhance team work, brain storming, respect and integrity which is reflected through improved performance.

Technical Skills:

Technical skills implies an understanding of a specific kind of activity that involves methods, processes, procedures, techniques and an employee having knowledge in any type of process or technique in a certain specialized field, such as engineering, computers, accounting or manufacturing which has more importance at lower level of management as they are dealing with employees within the organization.

For a team to provide high quality production and good result, it needs to have someone who can take higher responsibility and control the outcome of the activities and the work required to be performed. So the organization do not only gives much emphasis at conceptual skills or human relation skills while hiring potential managers, but it is also necessary for any organization to ensure that depending on the line of business of the company, applicants of managerial positions should have the right amount of technical skills and proficiency in order to be qualified.

1.2 Problem Statement:

A managerial skills gap exists when an employee finds himself/herself in a position where he/she does not have the requisite managerial knowledge or skills necessary to perform at a high level. This skills gap is frequently exposed by rapid organizational change, structural realignments, promotions or the addition of new responsibilities, all of which are common occurrences in modern enterprises. However, very few HR executives realize the need for skill development program and revise the training module for skill development programs.

1.3 Purpose of the Study:

This study aims at assessing impact of skill development program on employee performance.

Objective of the Study:

To examine the needs for additional skill development

To assess the existing skill development programs of the companies under study

To evaluate the methods of providing additional skills required to employees of the companies concerned

To assess the impact of skill development program on employee performance

1.5 Research Questions:

How do the companies identify the needs of additional skill development?

What are the existing skill development practices of the company?

What are the methods of providing additional skills to employee?

What has been the impact of skill development program on employee performance?

1.6 Scope and Limitation:

This study is confined to selected manufacturing companies located in Nepal. Due to time constraint only few manufacturing firms were considered under 3 different sectors which includes 2 organizations from each sectors (total number of organization is 6). Only those firms which are conducting skill development program have been considered for the study. These skill development programs focus more on non technical skills (technical skills are imparted only when it is required). Hence, the study result may not be generalized for all manufacturing units. Given, the technological changes and changes in skill requirements, the results may be valid only for the study period.

Chapter – II

Literature Review

This chapter explains the review of literature related to skill development programs as well as various factors related to it like management skills, skill gaps, training and development, employee performance, employee productivity, coaching and mentoring, etc.

2.1 Conceptual Review

The articles/research papers focusing on various skill concepts, skill training and theories are included in this section.

2.1.1 Concept of Managerial Skills and Designing Skill:

Janakiran (2007), in his paper on managerial skills considered various skills like leadership skills, strategic planning skills, networking, project management, mentoring, coaching, skill for managing change and goal setting skills. He stated that it is a challenge for the trainer to ensure success within the available resources and within the light budget which will test their management skill.

The author states that the trainer is an important part of the organization and they should have an appropriate skill to collect and consider the following factors and information while designing the training program.

The trainer should have required skills to design the proper training program to targeted training group.

The trainer should design such training program so that the interest of the trainees will retained throughout the program.

The trainer should have the skill to organize effective monitoring of the program.

The trainer should have skill to select a good team consisting of the expertise and experience to deliver the successful program.

The trainer should have good administrative and management skills to deliver effective program.

The trainer should maintain such training design that should skillfully facilitate transfer of training to on the job performance.

The trainer should include various training methods, techniques used, allocation of time, different equipments used, etc while designing the training program.

Training basically means ‘learning’ and learning means getting new knowledge, skills and competencies, so it here the trainer plays very crucial role in designing effective training programs for the trainees.

2.1.2 The Needs for Skills Training:

Stephen and Phillip (2007) state that interpersonal skills are a key to managerial success which includes effective managerial behaviors, communication, employee development, motivating employees and handling conflicts. Human and political skills are also necessary at all levels of management.

The authors opined that business schools must teach basic skills to prepare the students for managerial careers. If they have poorly developed interpersonal skills, they are ill equipped for the future as the skill requirements for most jobs are increasing. They should involve the students to learn about workgroup behavior by experiencing it based on their courses through case studies, projects, role play, work simulation, etc.

Govinda (2009) points out that the major two factors which have the tendency to lower the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers are productivity and skill intensity. The study has found that unskilled workers comparatively shows declining efficiency by the organizations as compared to skilled workers which show the crucial reason of why the wage rate of unskilled workers was dropped which had led to wide gap between skilled and unskilled workers. Skill training plays an important role in defining wages in organizations, according to this author.

Brendra (2008) argues that skills training for women in Nepal was not much provided specifically in rural areas and do not give much emphasis as well. Several women who worked in manufacturing industries said they had only the basic training on how to use the machine and nothing more than that. So the study states that to develop the women’s capabilities in organization, management models and technical skills training should be provided to them by various institutions and organizations and such training should be inexpensive and accessible.

2.1.3 Theory explaining about different stages of learning:

The Four Stages of Learning:

According to Malcom (2003), there are four important stages of learning and people progresses in these stages sequentially, as per the increase in their understanding. The stages are:

Figure2.1: The Four Stages of Learning

Unconscious Knowledge

Conscious Knowledge

Conscious Ignorance

Unconscious Ignorance

Source: Malcom Carlaw and Peggy Carlaw: Managing and Motivating Constant Centre Employees (2003), Pg.131

Unconscious Ignorance is the first stage where the learner is not aware of a certain skill. This is the phase where the learners are not concerned or inclined about the knowledge and skill requirements of a job.

Conscious Ignorance is a second stage where the learner is aware about the lack of knowledge on a certain skill. This is the phase one knows that he/she does not know the skill and the possibility of making the mistakes is high.

Conscious Knowledge is a third stage where the learner is aware of knowledge on certain skill and knows how to do. Here it requires heavy concentration and conscious involvement to execute the new skill.

Unconscious Knowledge is a fourth stage where with practicing a new skill over and over again, the learner is habituated with this new skill and can perform the task effortlessly. Here, the learner can teach a learned skill to other individual as well.

Model explaining about the concept of learning:

Lewin’s Change Model (Stages of Learning):

Bhatia (2003) presents the model in which knowledge, skills and attitude can be changed by performing this process. This model includes three stages of learning as unfreezing, freezing and refreezing which is shown in the figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2: Lewin’s Change Model (Stages of Learning)

Change in organization and behavior of individuals involves

1. Unfreezing

2. Change

3. Freezing

Source: S.K. Bhatia: "Management of Change and Organization Development" (2003) Pg. 14

Unfreezing is the first stage and is the process of breaking down, reducing or eliminating habits that may hinder new learning. Once the old habits have been eliminated, then the change efforts, the attempts to assist in the adult learning can begin which is called freezing because of attempt to freeze the new change efforts. The third stage is called refreezing where the learner will try to adopt the new changes into their regular routine by making them as a habit.

Role of Communication in the Organization:

John et al., (2001) states that 90% of a top management used communication skills in their working days. Five important communication skills are:

Visual skills

Written skills

Spoken skills

Reading skills

Visual elements and written communication are considered to be mostly neglected in the business organizations. As visual stimuli hold 85% of learning; enhanced learning can be occurred when visual stimuli and spoken are combined. A particular study by the author done on 218 executives have found out that 79% had identified writing skill as one of the most neglected business skills. As per a survey of business communication, it has been found that employees and employers have given higher emphasis to oral communication and to listening and reading skills determine reading emails, reports, memos, letters etc by business people. So each communication skills play an important role in any organizations and business people should not neglect these aspects.

Raymond and Marie (2002) based on their nationwide survey stated that 96% of the employees must have good communication skills in the organizations to get ahead. 85% of recruiters reported that communication skill is the most important skills for MBA applicants. In similar studies, business communication was ranked first among all the subjects by 500 undergraduates and graduate business students.

Herta et al., (2008) points out seven important C’s for effective communication. They are:

Completeness:

Message is complete when the reader or listener reacts to the given message.

Conciseness:

Conciseness means cropping the message and giving the important message in such a way that the receiver understands it properly.

Consideration:

Consideration means trying to put oneself in receiver’s place on analyze how they would prepare the message in their mind.

Concreteness:

Concrete means being definite, specific, and vivid rather than general.

Clarity:

Clarity means to be accurate.

Courtesy:

Courtesy means being aware of perspective the audience while making a statement.

Correctness:

Correctness means using proper spelling, grammar and punctuations.

These seven Cs plays a vital role to become a good and better communicator. These communication skills, both oral and written are the basic foundation to help people express themselves clearly.

Wim (2005) states that change is inevitable. The author focuses mainly on the role of communication with their goals during the organizational change. This author has presented six propositions to understand the role of communication during organizational change. The six proposition leads to the model of communication during organizational change which deals with the information regarding change, feeling of community within organization which may face change, and uncertainty leads to readiness for change. Conceptual model of communication during organizational change is shown in figure 2.3.

Figure 2.3: Conceptual Model of Communication during Organizational Change

Communication to inform

Uncertainty and job insecurity

Effective change

Readiness for change

Communication aimed at creating community

Source: Wim J.L. Elving (2005), "The role of communication in organizational change". International Journal, Vol.10 No. 2, pp. 129 to 138, DOI: 10.1108/1356280510596943, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

The author opines that information regarding change can be measured by questioning employees about how they are informed about the forthcoming changes in the organization and how well are they aware of the objective of the change and the results expected from them.

Feeling of belongingness can be reviewed by asking the employees about the commitment and loyalty towards the organization and by measuring the bonding and feeling of trust between the employees and the management.

Uncertainty and job insecurity can be measured as per the standard questionnaires which will leads to readiness for change.

The effectiveness of the change is very crucial to measure which can possibly be done by asking employees and management to rate how successful is the change which had occurred in the organization. Effective diagnosis of the problems plays an important role here.

The author concludes by stating that the organizational change is permanent and communication plays an important role. Here, given model is more like an applied organizational research which is difficult to find such organizations where they are more interested to participate.

2.1.6 Employee Training and Development Across the Generations:

Cam (2010) in his article states that with diverse workforce which includes people of different age groups and backgrounds, an effective training and development is needed for everyone. Communication and human resource personnel are two important aspects which staff training and development relies to be successful. Sharing of comfort level and feeling to be expressed in the phrases like "we speak the same language" plays an important role here. In the diverse workforce, there could be different generations and it is important to understand their generational point of view and perspective as well rather than allowing generational differences that may be the cause of communication gap.

The author has also mentioned that each generation has different needs, attitudes, and approaches to careers and work. So advice and information should be customized in such a way that helps to generate a mutual long term relationship. Therefore, generalization context is one of the very vital parts of human resource professional’s ability to provide effective training and development to their employees.

2.1.7 Factors that Determine an Effective Employee Training Program:

Kyla (2012) states that various skills like communication skills, leadership skills, management skills, team building, change management, organizational skills, goal setting and time control, presentation skills, etc. plays an important role in any company. Factors like constant and effective communication within each and every department is vital where the trainer make the employees understand how the training is directly related to the work they do and how the goals of the company are aligned with. Hence, specific and measurable goals helps to keep employee training programs towards the track of success and also make improvements and performance easier to track which helps to deliver effective feedback.

Titus (2004) in his article had explained the influence of leadership style in terms of leader’s age perspective. Author states that younger and older managers have different approach to leadership styles and has found out that older managers prefer more participation in compare to younger managers. The author cites that both the group of managers practice both directive and delegative leadership styles.

Wayne (2006) states that the success of any training program is determined by not only the quality of training but also by the individual’s readiness for training, motivation and support given by the organization for the training. Organization work environment as well as characteristics of individual greatly influences before training (motivating to participate), and after training (transfer of learning, skills and knowledge from the training to the job situation).

Benton (2010), states that to be a true leader, he/she should possess of four important C’s. They are confidence, constant communication, craftsmanship and coworker collaboration

The author explains that it is vital to keep learning those four C’s and growing along with it to start developing leadership abilities in professional work place and his/her career as it is important to motivate, empower and lead like the CEOs of the organizations.

2.1.8 Identifying, Minimizing and Filling Employee Skill Gaps:

Pierre (2009) in his article ‘identifying employee skill gaps’ states that it is most important for any organization to first identify those areas where the organization need to improve their skills. By identifying those areas, limited training resources will be used to minimize the critical skill gaps which will also be helpful for the organization in terms of cost cutting. However, many numbers of organizations are yet failed to meet their targets and objectives as they are launched without the sufficient knowledge of where the gaps in employee skill actually are exist.

Ilya (2012) in her article ‘plugging the manufacturing skills gap’ states that due to recession, manufacturing industries are struggling to find right employees with the right skills and experience for unfilled positions which as a result these companies are struggling to deal with high level of technical and complexity involved in today’s industrial processes. However, by increasing the working hours of current workers, and also by outsourcing the contract and temporary workers, most manufacturing companies have been able to minimize the gaps.

The author stated that more than 50% percent of manufactures report that the maximum number of staffing shortage is in skilled production which includes mechanists, operators, distributors and technicians, followed by production support including manufacturing engineers and industrial engineers. Companies should invest in training program for enhancing skills among existing workers and can be helpful for the manufacturers to develop employees with the needed skills that match the job requirements by training with the right aptitude.

Dana (2002) states investing in employee training not only benefits companies by increasing team effectiveness but it also pushes individual to higher levels of achievement. The author has mentioned about an IT management training and consulting company in Atlanta, Sisco about how they identify employees’ skill gaps. The company has developed skills assessment and training program which includes:

Training to improve skill level of the team;

Hiring outsiders could be avoided when new skills are needed for new projects by boosting team’s overall skills;

Training strengthen each members and can help out in other projects if needed;

By adding assessment procedure and employee’s training initiative in performance review will help to analyze employee’s training progress

The author in conclusion emphasizes that training plan overall should boost team’s skills and allow other organization’s departments and IT department to become much substantial and stronger unit of the organization.

2.1.9 Training as Continuous Performance Improvement:

Stephen and Phillip (2007) state that training is an important part of organization’s performance improvement system. Basically experienced trainers have the knowledge about how the effective training structured as a continuous performance improvement process is linked with other systems and business strategies. The author has mention that effective training is continuous performance improvement process and has given common Training Process Model below:

Identifying performance improvement opportunities and analyzing causes of existing gaps

Identifying and selecting the most beneficial solution to the opportunity from different alternative solutions (training is consider as one of the solution)

Design and implementation of solution

Evaluating the results of the solution

The author in conclusion states that training programs leads to improvement in performance of the employees. With effective training function, there arises performance opportunities, create and implements solutions and measures the effectiveness of the solution.

2.1.10 Importance of Employee Assistance Programs:

Cynthia et al., (2007) state that the organizations now have started to realize how the employees’ life can have an effect on their job performance which may distract concentration and motivation. They identified many organizations offering Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to solve personal problems in order to improve their performance and retention.

For instance, one of the major oil companies offers EAPs like counseling and referral for various difficulties like stress, family and martial problems, drug and alcohol dependence and other similar difficulties. Generally, larger firms tend to offer counseling to their employees through their EAP.

2.1.11 On the Job Training (OJT) is Relatively Inexpensive and Winning Investment for the Organization:

Gary (2005) defines on the job training as any person learning by actually doing it. Coaching and understudy methods are the most common method of on the job training. This technique is widely used in lower level as well as top management levels. In lower level, trainees may need skills by observing their experienced worker or supervisors but, to be on the position of top management level, a potential future CEO might spend a year as an assistant to the current CEO.

The author has mentioned few benefits of on the job training. They are as follows:

It is inexpensive and trainee learns through practice and observation

It is economical as it does not require any expensive off site facilities like classroom or programmed learning

Trainees get quick feedback on their performance which helps them to learn and rectify their mistakes quickly

Diane (2002) states that on the job training method is suitable for any size of organization whether a small organization that trains for single task or a large organization that trains a huge number of employee or entire workforce.

Hakan (2002) states that employees who work longer hours in jobs that requires on the job training earns greatly more than those employees in jobs who requires short training. Basically, in a country like Sweden, this kind of training has a positive effect on wage for employees. General and specific on the job training has significant wage effect, however, general training has significantly larger wage effects which are given to the private sector employees as compared to specific on the job training which are given to public sector employees.

Rao (2010) states that on the job training is given to the trainees when they are required to perform task with relevant knowledge, skills and abilities at the actual workplace. Here, author has explained about some of the common training methods like job instruction training, job rotation, apprenticeship training and committee assignments.

Job Instruction Training (JIT):

This method is widely popular where supervisor, trainers or a co worker acts as the coach to teach workers how to perform their current jobs. It involves the process of preparation, presentation, performance try out and lastly, follows up. It is mostly suitable for unskilled and semi skilled jobs where the job operations are simple and takes less time to expose.

Job rotation:

Job rotation means rotation of trainee from one job to another to have general perspective and greater understanding of how different functions in the organization works.

Apprenticeship training:

In this training, high level of commitment and participation is demanded from the trainee. These trainees are assigned with an experienced guide, coach or a trainer. This type of training is very similar to an internship which is one of the requirements of the college or universities.

Committee Assignments:

In this method, trainees are required to work together to solve the actual problems of the organization which will help them to understand the issues, policies, and processes involved in the organization.

In conclusion the author states that on the job training methods are very cost effective and employees learn quickly. Trainees are motivated to learn the right way of doing things. As feedback is immediate, there arise fewer mistakes as employees learn in actual work environment where they use their skills which they have learnt.

2.1.12 Designing a Learning Environment for Training:

Bernardin (2003) points out that a trainer should design a training program and review the basic principles of how employees can learn. The revised learning principles should be connected with the design of training program which will lead to meet the needs of employees as learners. Learner wants to apply the training they had learned in their day to day experience. So it is important that the trainers should design such program which learners can understand and relate it to their work as learners would not be much interested with the program if they cannot apply directly with their work situation.

2.13 The Problem of Youth with a Skill Gap:

Stephen and Phillip (2007) state that with the introduction to advanced technology and development of service sectors demand for the workers have significantly increased in many companies. Demographic shows that many of the individuals who are willing to enter the organization are likely to be under skilled and undereducated youth and these individuals will be the member of culturally diverse groups which the society has not yet completely linked with the workforce. Authors have also stated that in future, society will severely need the talent of member of minority groups in the workplace who are successful in their professional and technical careers respectively.

2.1.14 Knowledge, Skills and Attitude (KSA) Is A Learning Outcome:

Stephen and Phillip (2007) have explained Knowledge, Skills, and Attitude as three different outcomes of learning.

Figure 2.4: Classification of Learning Outcomes

Skill Based Learning

> Compilation

> Automaticity

Learning

Attitudinal Learning

> Affect/ Feelings

Cognitive Knowledge

> Declarative Knowledge

> Procedural Knowledge

> Strategic Knowledge

Source: Stephen P. Robbins and Phillip L. Hunsaker: Training in Interpersonal Skills (Tips for managing people at work) (2007) Pg. 17

Knowledge:

Knowledge means facts, information, principles, and procedure acquired by the employees. This type of learning basically refers to declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge and strategic knowledge.

Declarative Knowledge: The information that we get and place into memory. This information is factual information which can be legal policies or safety rules, etc.

Procedural Knowledge: This refers to how and when to apply the factual information which have been learned.

Strategic Knowledge: This refers to awareness of how, why and when those information are useful and should be should accordingly. This is used for planning, mentoring and goal directed activity.

Skills:

According to the authors, skills mean "capabilities needed to perform a set of a set of tasks that are developed as a result of training and experience."

Compilation (lower level) means a learning stage where the learner is learning a particular skill or has just recently learned.

Automaticity (higher level) means a stage where learner has already the knowledge and has mastered the skill and uses quite often.

Attitude:

Attitude, the author perceives to be important to training because it affects motivation. Motivation basically means an effort they put to achieve the goals which is influenced by attitude (how a person feels about things which are related to those goals). Since person’s attitude influences behavior, it is crucial that attitude that motivate employee to learn and perform need to be communicate through training.

2.1.15 Using the Evaluation to Improve Training Programs:

David and Stephen (2005) state that information evaluated from the training program plays a crucial role in decision making about whether to modify the training programs or continue it or whether to improve it. With the information and results and scores in learning, additional modifications of the training can be suggested if training evaluation is done properly. These authors opines that if the insufficient learning has occurred due to unclear information or lack of practice or inadequate time, training presentation will not be effective as expected. It is vital to give appropriate training to make use of new skills of employees. If need assessment are not performed effectively and work environment is not very good then job performance may not improve as expected despite learning it.

In conclusion author states that if there is no improvement in employee performance and there is no impact, then the training is not appropriate in teaching the new skills which are due to poor need assessment. So, it is important to evaluate the training program effectively in order to have improved results for the organizations.

Harshit (2012) states that evaluation of training and development is the most important aspect which measures how well the trainee’s performance and behavior is improved through training programs. Training is an investment to employee development, productivity and retention which leads to employee career development and job satisfaction. So thorough proper continuous evaluation, organization analyze if their investment is spent effectively or not and whether the targeted objectives and goals are properly achieved or not.

The article also contains few common training evaluation models used by the organizations according to the nature and budgets of the organization to evaluate training effectiveness are as follows:

Kirkpatrick Model:

Kirkpatrick model has divided the training evaluation model into four categories and they are reaction, learning, behavior and results.

CIPP Evaluation Model:

It has divided the training model into four categories for evaluation and they are context evaluation, input evaluation, process evaluation, and product evaluation..

Phillip’s Evaluation approach:

This approach deals with the return on investment (ROI) generated by the training from the perspectives of human performance and business outcomes. ROI is considered as quite difficult and expensive process so, most of the human resource department conducts evaluation in order to measure satisfaction level.

The author has also stated about Kaufman’s five level evaluation model in his article stating how training impact its evaluation defining the benefits towards the society and environment in the organizations through training which is shown in table 2.1.

Table 2.1: Kaufman’s Five Level Evaluation

Level

Evaluation Area

a.Enabling

Quality input availability like human, financial and physical resources

b.Reaction

Methods, means and process acceptability and efficiency

Application

Individual and small group utilization within the organization

Organizational Output

Payoff to the organization

Societal Outcomes

Payoff to the society

Source: Dipak Kumar Bhattacharyya, Human Resource Research Methods, Ganga. Saran & Grand Sons. 2007. Pg. 266

In conclusion author states that training evaluation is the most vital part of training and development where Kirkpatrick model is considered as widely used model. Since there are many numbers of models to evaluate training, author suggested that it should be further modified and explained properly which leads to proper evaluation of training for greater effectiveness.

2.1.16 Coaching and Mentoring For Employee to Provide Better Results For The Organization:

Wendell and Bell (2004) state that coaching is done by the immediate supervisor which is moreover focused on job performance, where as mentoring focuses on general career and personality development of the employee. Successful mentor is like a good teacher who shares experience, acts like a role model and provide advice and guidance in the organization. Coaching and mentoring can be upgrade by the training group experience where employee learns by listening carefully to the instructions, receives quick oral feedback, and understands what is going on a group.

Clare (2004) in her article states that with an effective application of workplace coaching methods, employee’s skills will raise significantly which will improve individual and organizational performance. Through a proper coaching at workplace, employee competence level will be improved which significantly will lead to consistency at work performance and as a result customer satisfaction will improve as well.

2.1.17 Creating value for employees: investment in employee development:

Chay and Norman (2003) examine how perceived investment in employees’ development (PIED), job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intent to leave are can be related with each other and what are its consequences. As employee development is considered as one of the most important functions of human resource practice, it is crucial to develop and maintain the overall capabilities of both the organization and individual employees. Basically, PIED creates a situation where the employees have faith on their organization as it value their contribution and care about their employability which as a result will leads to high employee retention and loyalty.

The author states that the main objective of this study is to understand the perceived investment in employee development globally with the possible consequences which they have explained in figure 2.5.

Figure2.5: The hypothesized model of the interrelationships between perceived investment in employee development (PIED), and the various work attitudes, and intent to leave constructs

Affective Commitment

+

Intent to leave

Job Satisfaction

Perceived Investment in Employee Development +

+

Continuance Commitment

Source: Chay Hoon Lee and Norman T. Bruvold (2003), "Creating value for employees: investment in employee development", International journal of Human Resource Management, ISSN 0958 5192 print/ISSN 1466-4399 online, DOI: 10.1080/095851903200010 6173, Taylor & Francis Ltd

Perceived investment in employee development (PIED):

It refers to equipping their employees with necessary skills and new knowledge which leads them to be prepared for the new job requirements. By developing the current skills and gaining the new ones through continuous learning will leads the organization to gain competitive advantage in the market.

PIED and Organizational Commitment:

It reflects the employees’ beliefs that the organization care about their employability and highly committed towards providing them the necessary training skills and competence which they needed.

Affective commitment means employees emotional attachment and involvement towards their organization.

Continuance commitment means employees’ loyalty and bond to the organization.

PIED and Job Satisfaction:

When the organization offers employee dev