European Journal of Education and Learning, Vol.11, 2011 ISSN(paper)2668-3318 ISSN(online)2668-361X www.BellPress.

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TRAINING HUMAN RESOURCES: An evidence from Pakistan

Saadat U. Kirmani Associate Professor, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan INTRODUCTION The scope of training in developing countries is enormous. The objective of any training program should be improvement in the quality of output obtained from human resource. Accordingly the objective of this paper is to highlight the grey areas which hinder development of this resource and which have been identified through this research. DEFINITION OF TRAINING Training is a continuous process of imparting knowledge and skill relating to job performance and encompasses human traits such as aptitude, behavior and motivation. Training is an educational process. People can learn new information, re-learn and reinforce existing knowledge and skills, and most importantly have time to think and consider what new options can help them improve their effectiveness at work. (Siddheshwar S. Salvi, Amherst College). Training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relates to specific useful skills. (Wikipedia). CURRENT SCENARIO The concept of training is unfortunately not very popular in this country. Employers are generally not keen to invest in training. One reason for this lax attitude could be the fear that after acquiring training the employee may switch over to a competitor at a higher compensation package. This fear of investing in training and then loosing an employee prevents employers from developing a culture of training. This attitude has two pronged outcomes. One where the employer fails to obtain quality output and two where the employee has no chance to improve his skills. The result is that quality of performance is not up to the mark. There is no doubt that quality in performance leads to quality product. Since quality product is the ultimate objective of an employer, a solution has to be found in order to come round the dilemma. The solution, in the best interest of an employer, is investment in training. There are no two ways about it. The fear of loosing a trained employee to competitors can be overcome by adjusting his / her compensation in line with the going rate in the market for trained worker. To do this properly will require conducting survey of compensation packages offered by competitors.

TRAIN THE TRAINER A major issue relating to training is that we do not have many professional trainers in the country. It is realized that any person cannot be a good trainer. It can be argued that the ability to train is an inborn quality. It may be correct to some extent. However, it is believed that through formally structured programs peoples can be adequately trained to become good trainers. There is vast amount of literature available providing techniques on how to become a good trainer. Again it requires serious commitment from the top management to provide resources, all sorts, to develop the training culture in the organization. No doubt this investment in training culture will generate high returns in the shape of higher productivity, less wastage, improvement in quality, lower costs leading to increased profitability. RECRUITMENT CRITERIA

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European Journal of Education and Learning, Vol.11, 2011 ISSN(paper)2668-3318 ISSN(online)2668-361X www.BellPress.org
It is noted with concern that not much attention is given to the evaluation of candidates at the recruitment stage in terms of their aptitude, comprehension, interpersonal skills, teamwork, ability to accept challenges and reaction to work pressures. One factor mainly responsible for this lax attitude is the absence of a long-term strategic criteria for hiring manpower. This makes the case for having professionally qualified and experienced HR personnel in the organization. Apparently every company should develop such a plan to guide the recruitment mechanism. The outcome of this situation is that instead of hiring on merits, favorites are selected who normally are counter-productive. It is believed that by paying more attention to the recruitment process an organization can hire right persons for the jobs and as well as minimize labor turnover rate later. INDUCTION OF NEW RECRUITS It is noted that employees are generally not properly inducted in the jobs. Job Descriptions and Job Specifications are not prepared. The Job Objectives are not discussed with the employee and targets are not assigned. Reporting lines are not defined. All this leads to confusion all around. Employee do not know what is expected of them while the employer is disturbed because employees are not meeting his expectations. What is required here is that documentation on the lines as mentioned above should be in place and employee duly informed of it. This is an area where the human resource department can play a pivotal role. Again it depends if the HR department itself is manned by qualified HR personnel who understand the modern practices and are duly empowered to organize the induction. COMMUNICATION It is observed that communication in organizations is either missing altogether or not effective. It should be noted that effective communication is an essential requirement for the smooth functioning of an organization. Communication is a two-way traffic. Top down and bottom up. If information is not communicated or if it is withheld, it may lead to chaos and loss of business. It should be the responsibility of managers to keep the communication channels open. It is a general observation that certain employees deliberately hold back information. The idea is to make others dependent upon them and to make themselves indispensible. There is general reluctance to document systems and procedures for the fear of impairment of importance. It is well established that unofficial communication in an organization called grapevine is a useful means of obtaining information and managers ought to nurture it. An effective grapevine mechanism provides valuable information which leads to pre-emptive actions to plug unwanted developments. FEEDBACK It is noted that generally employees are not trained to provide feedback on the progress of the assignments given to them. Even if delays or bottlenecks are identified, employees prefer to keep quite and never bring it to the knowledge of their superiors. The idea is not to embarrass the manager and also to let the manager himself discover the problem. By adopting this tactic employees cause loss to the organization since time is money and any time lost cannot be recouped. It is important that the significance of prompt feedback should be pointed out to the employees through in-house staff development programs. DEVOLUTION OF AUTHORITY An important grey area, that generally persists, is the concentration of decision making authority in one position. This situation is counter-productive. If adequately educated and trained employees are recruited then they can be involved in certain decision making. What is meant here is delegation of authority throughout the organizational hierarchy. At the same time there should be mechanism in place to detect any deviation from the planned course of action. It is believed that organizations wishing to function smoothly ought to prepare authority levels, systems and procedures and controls built in the systems to ensure implementation and to detect any variations promptly. Employees should be given training in following the systems to avoid any possibility of misunderstanding.

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European Journal of Education and Learning, Vol.11, 2011 ISSN(paper)2668-3318 ISSN(online)2668-361X www.BellPress.org
TRAINING PLAN Since training is taken lightly so there is dearth of short-term and long-term planning for training. As a matter of fact, and like any other activity plans, there ought to be plans for training as well. Training budgets should be prepared. If in-house trainers are not around then the services of outside trainers should be hired. Training should not be a single point agenda. Rather it should cover several aspects of business such as technical, quality awareness, preventive maintenance, budgetary controls and report writing. At the same time training should be an on-going exercise involving every level of the hierarchy. Through the process of training an organization can mould employees attitudes and behavior to match with its culture, values and goal.. BUREAUCRATIC CULTURE One strange problem identified in the corporate environment is the prevailing bureaucratic culture as against commercial culture. Managers are reluctant to use their own knowledge, imagination and expertise but rather prefer to sit tight and wait for instructions from their seniors. This is due to the fear that their seniors will reprimand them for taking the initiative. This attitude has its origin from government, the feudal system and the mian saab culture. As a result problems, deviations and inconsistencies persist without being addressed at appropriate management levels. It is believed that a change in this mindset can be achieved by hiring the services of professional management trainers who can drill into the minds of the apex body and that of managers, the concept of devolution of authority. It has to be stressed that managers and the supervisory staff should act as troubleshooters and be ready to take the initiative whenever and wherever it is required. Managers should develop grapevines for flow of informal information within the organization. DIVERSITY OF CULTURES Peoples come to work place with diverse goals of their own with little concern for the goals of the organization. As employees are one of the several stakeholders in an organization, management ought to recognize their desires, ambitions and goals. This includes career planning, progression, compensation and environment at work place. Those employers who pay attention to these traits have low employee turnover rate. Another concern is that peoples come to work place from different areas of the city. They carry with them different cultures, values and mindsets as prevailing in the area where they live. However, they are supposed to work as a well coordinated and cohesive team for the good of the organization. This poses the challenge for the top management. One way to achieve coordination among peoples having diverse mindsets is through counseling, educating and training. GOAL CONGRUENCE At the same time employees should be educated through training to clearly understand the significance of their labor and how it impacts the achievement of organizational goals. This two way realization and matching of each others goals is called goal congruence which is an important concept in management. It is believed that the first step should be identification of the goals of individuals through counseling and thereafter designing staff development training programs. Employees should be given career progression plans so that they can be motivated to direct their efforts towards achievement of not only their personal goals but also those of the organization as well. APPRAISAL SYSTEM The employee appraisal system is not very popular in this part of the world. Even those organizations which adopt appraisal system are not fully conversant with its protocols. Simply going about appraisals without any prior training may fail to produce any results. What is needed here is proper training workshops for managers and supervisory staff so as to prepare them to conduct appraisals adequately. Again due to acute shortage of skilled HR personnel one has to refer to outside professional HR trainers to conduct these workshops.

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European Journal of Education and Learning, Vol.11, 2011 ISSN(paper)2668-3318 ISSN(online)2668-361X www.BellPress.org
CONCLUSION The grey areas highlighted above generally exist in business organizations to some extent. Some organizations experience acute problems while some other face lesser problems as a result of lack of adequate training programs for the human resources. It is hoped that top management will take note of the points raised above and initiate training programs for the betterment of skills of human resources and in turn improve the financial results of their organizations. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Commitment from Board level. Creation of a training master plan. Creation of specific training plans for each segment of the organization. Allocation of funds for training activity. Engage the services of outside specialist trainer professionals. Train the trainers. Monitor the smooth functioning of the training activity throughout the organization. Managers to provide feedback on training activity in their respective areas. Develop criteria for measuring the impact on performance. Consider financial incentives to encourage employee active participation.

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