Vision general de las practicas de capacitacion en Peru.
| Autor | Hernández Pozas, Olivia |
| Cargo | Artículo en inglés |
A snapshot of training practices in Peru
Visao geral das práticas de treinamento no Perú
Introduction
The success and survival of any organization depends on how well it can maintain and gain market share in a particular industry. In order to achieve this goal, organizations constantly need well prepared employees. Only those employees with the right and updated knowledge, skills and behaviors can make a real difference for the companies where they work. Thus, appropriate employee training becomes a critical component in any organization's strategy.
Forces such as, changes on demographics and the diversity of the work force, globalization, as well as an increased value placed on knowledge and new technology, are currently influencing the workplace and training (Noe, 2002). Upon these challenges, how ready are Peruvian companies? How much attention are these companies giving to training? What are current practices of training? And, how much of the current theory on training is being applied by these organizations?
Although training has proved to be important for organizational survival and growth, very little research has been found to answer these questions on training practices in Latin America. Therefore, more information is needed to better understand this phenomenon, as well as the causes and effects of its deviations from theory.
This paper attempts to contribute to the literature and the practice of training in Latin America examining current practices in the region. In this research, revision was done particularly in Peru. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to describe current practices of training in Peru and the delivery of recommendations that can improve organizational performance. This paper also aims to set priorities for future research.
The structure of this paper is as follows: First, the theoretical framework is presented. Second the methodology is explained. Third, results are exhibited and discussed. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are developed.
1 Theoretical framework
Training and development refer to a set of activities, planned by a company, to improve employees' capacities, skills and behaviors. Gilley, Eggland & Maycunich (2002) define training as "identifying, assessing and arranging planned learning efforts that help in the development of the essential competencies that enable individuals to perform current jobs" (p.9). While training focuses on a current job, development looks for the future job (Harris & DeSimmone, 1994). The purpose of training is for employees to master certain knowledge, skills and behaviors and apply them to their day-to-day activities (Noe, 2002). The purpose of development is for employees to get prepared, with knowledge, skills and behaviors, to new challenges and opportunities in their workplace.
Theoretical foundations of Human Resource Development include Economics, Psychology and Systems Theory (Lynham, Chermack and Noggle, 2004). In the 1950's, attention to human capital increased when development theories shifted away from physical capital and infrastructure (Blunch & Castro, 2007). According to Human Capital Theory (hct) created by Schultz (1960) and popularized by Becker (1962, 1964, 1993) organizations should consider employee expenditures, such as education and training, as an investment. Lately, it has been theorized that the ability to learn faster than your competition may provide competitive advantage (De Geus, 1997).
Nowadays, organizations use training and development to increase value to their human capital and to gain competitive advantage. The state of the industry report, published in 2011 by the American Society of Training and Development, showed that organizations are committed to the delivery of knowledge and the development of their employees. This means, companies believe the appropriate and effective use of training & development becomes crucial for their business growth and success.
According to Truelove (1995) every organization has training policies, however, not all are in a written form, and some of those organizations which have them in a written form, do not widely publish them. The value of having a set-down policy statement helps to maintain a consistency throughout the organization (Truelove, 1995). Typically, a training policy includes the aims and objectives of the training function, responsibilities for identifying training needs, training budgets and the training plans, among several descriptions of types of training the organization is considering.
Once a training policy has been established, the training design process starts. A training design process typically includes four steps (Noe, 2002). Step 1 is to conduct needs assessment. Step 2 involves the design of the step 3 implementation plan. Finally, step 4 refers to the evaluation and improvement of the training plan.
1.1 Needs assessment
Needs assessment usually is the first step in the training design process. According to Noe (2002), typical outcomes of needs assessment include (1) what trainees need to learn, (2) who receives the training, (3) type of training, (4) frequency of training, (5) buy versus build training decision, and (6) training versus other human resource options such as selection or job redesign. If needs assessment is poorly conducted or not conducted at all, the company will not receive training benefits.
It also usually consists of McGhee & Thayer's (1961) three-level analysis: organizational, task and person analysis. Organizational analysis links strategic planning with training. According to Goldstein (1986), it is in organizational analysis where organizational goals and strategy are identified, as well as, where the allocation of resources and the environmental constraints are determined. The next level of analysis--task analysis-- identifies the content of training is needed for a particular task or job. Basically, task analysis includes (1) development of an overall job description, (2) identification of the task, (3) description of Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes (ksa), needed to perform the task, (4) identification of those areas that can benefit from training and (5) establishment of priorities among areas (DeSimmone & Harris, 1998). Finally, person analysis identifies who should be trained and what kind of training they need (Anderson, 2000). According to McGhee & Thayer (1961), person analysis is divided in two: summary person analysis and diagnostic person analysis. While the first one determines the overall success of an employee's performance, the last one searches the main reasons for such a performance. Person analysis may be difficult and costly (Herbert & Doverspike, 1990).
A variation of needs assessment is Gilbert's Exemplary Performance Improvement Chart (epic). In this approach, desired performance outcomes are defined first; then, barriers are identified. In this approach performers do most of the analysis (Anderson, 2000).
Needs assessment can be conducted using competency-based approaches too. A set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, called competencies (McLagan, 1997), are specified for each specific position in a particular company. Each competency has a set of behaviors classified by levels of development (e.g. level one to five). Then, employees are evaluated (e. g. by observation of behaviors and impact on performance) and located in a specific level of development for each competency. The difference between their current level of development for a competency and the one needed for their position is the gap where the employee should receive immediate training.
Several techniques are used to conduct needs assessment, including observation of employees, questionnaires, reading of information on technical manuals and records, as well as, interviews with subject matter experts. Since no one technique is better than the others, multiple techniques are usually used (Noe, 2002). Main differences among techniques include the time they consume, the expert knowledge or skill they need, the precision of recorded data, and cost.
1.2 Plan of training
Once the need for training has been established, it is time to outline the training plan. Training plans are normally organized asking questions such as what kind of content is going to be included in training? Who is going to be trained? How are they going to be trained? When are they going to be trained? Who is going to train them? Where is training going to happen? At this point, when the training plan is been outlined, it is important to determine the boundaries of training. According to Truelove (1995), typical constraints which bound a design include (1) the training proposal: must job performance be achieved or can standards be relaxed?; (2) organizational support for training; (3) constrains related to those to be trained: their entry behavior, the numbers, availability for training, how many trainees at a time, for how long they can be released; (4) available resources: trainers, accommodations, aids, technical support, equipment; (5) training budget: preparation and running the training; (6) time to develop the design and materials; (7) duration of the event; and, (8) assessment: will individual assessment be required? What methods are acceptable? Who will access the results?
Variables which need to be considered when designing a training plan include content, sequence, place, trainers, time, methods and media. Truelove (1995) explains that decisions about these variables will be made within the previously described constrains.
According to Noe (2002) for learning to occur in training programs several conditions are required. Main conditions include meaningful material and content, clear objectives, skilled trainers, appropriate learning environment and opportunities for practice and feedback. For those to be trained, particularly for adults, it is important to know why they should learn. Employees may learn through many different...
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