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Lecture Outline
Chapter 11: Training and Development: Issues and Human Resource
Information Systems Applications
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
❖ Discuss how training can be used as a source of competitive advantage
INTRODUCTION
The nature of work and the structure of organizations are rapidly changing. Internationalization,
globalization, changing customer expectations of service and quality standards require firms to
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distribution and use of knowledge and information. Knowledge is now recognised as the driver
of productivity and economic growth, leading to a new focus on the role of information,
technology, and learning in economic performance.”
Most large organizations utilize human resource information systems (HRIS) to collect, store,
and analyze training and development information. This information is generally contained in
specialist talent management modules, training and development modules, and/or learning
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT: STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS AND LEARNING
ORGANIZATIONS
● Education is aimed at developing, usually as part of a formal program of study, general
knowledge, understanding, and moral values.
● Training refers to the planned acquisition of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) to
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● The knowledge of employees is a tacit commodity, an intangible asset. It is associated
● Andragogy, or the study of adult learning, purports that adults learn best when the
following hold true:
1. They know the reason(s) for learning a new concept or skill.
2. They are actively involved in creating and setting the learning activity.
● A learning culture is one of the key levers for organizational learning, training, and
development. Transfer of training is far more likely to occur in an environment where the
basic assumptions, shared values, norms, and artifacts of an organization espouse
successful LT&D, where employees are encouraged to create, process, and share
information and knowledge (Cummings & Worley, 2001). A T&D intervention can only
be considered successful if transfer of training has occurred and a permanent change in
behavior has taken place.
● Learning at an individual or organizational level is ineluctably linked to the creation and
● Competencies consist of KSA and the underlying characteristics of a person that allow
the jobholder to perform a task effectively. The knowledge of employees is a tacit
commodity, an intangible asset. It is associated with an understanding of and a
constructive application of information.
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● Whereas knowledge is generated by individuals, organizational knowledge and learning
are the result of the combined learning of everybody in the organization and the
acquisition of knowledgeable individuals.
● The sharing, codifying, storing, and replicating of knowledge within the organization is
● One of the most influential proponents of the learning organization is Peter Senge. In his
book, The Fifth Discipline, he puts forward five interrelated disciplines that an
organization should cultivate among its employees to engender learning and success
(Senge, 1990):
o Personal mastery: individual growth and learning
o Mental models: deep-rooted assumptions that affect the way in which employees
perceive people, situations, and organizations
Systems Model of Training and Development
● One of the most frequently cited models is the systems or systematic approach. This
formal or planned approach to workforce T&D consists of four interrelated and
connected steps.
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1. Identifying T&D needs. The first step of the systems model is concerned with the
identification of the learning and development needs of organizational members. The
training needs analysis (TNA) is the key activity of the systematic approach and
essentially serves to identify any discrepancies, the T&D “gap,” between existing KSA
2. Developing T&D initiatives. The second stage of the cycle focuses on the development of
T&D initiatives, objectives, and methods, which should be capable of meeting the three
levels of needs identified during the first phase, the TNA.
e-learning. e-Learning (also elearning, Elearning, or eLearning) is an umbrella term and
broadly refers to any learning facilitated using electronic means. E-learning can capitalize
on a variety of delivery media depending on the approach taken:
Printed media (including textbooks but also online text and online magazines and journals)
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The key advantage of e-learning is flexibility—that is, it affords learners with the choice over
what, when, where, and how much is learned. The key disadvantages center on the lack of
human contact and technological issues.
● While standard e-learning solutions can take months to develop, rapid e-learning (REL)
or just-in-time learning solutions may be developed in weeks, days, or even hours
depending on the complexity of materials to be created. Essentially, REL allows
REL should be ideally used to deal with
o urgent and training needs,
o short shelf life of training,
Salas et al. (2005) offer several research-based guidelines for designing e-learning packages.
Even though these guidelines pertain to distance-based learning, they are relevant and useful
for other e-learning methods as well:
● Only provide e-learning when you are sure it meets the organization’s specific learning and
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of training.
To ensure that the implementation phase runs smoothly, organizations ought to formulate an
Training Transfer
Positive and long-lasting changes in employee behavior and ultimately increased shareholder
value can only be attained if training (or learning) transfer occurs. Training transfer is the
continuous application of the KSA acquired during the training exercise. Various classifications
of transfer of training exist depending on the context.
● Near versus far (How close is the training task to the actual job task?)
● Specific versus general (transfer of skills vs. transfer of principles)
Evaluating T&D. In order to assess whether a particular training initiative, method, or solution
has met the training needs and objectives of the firm and whether transfer of learning has taken
place, organizations must evaluate their T&D efforts.
● Training evaluation is not an isolated activity. It is part of the T&D cycle and must be
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● Lateral transfer is about the application of training to similar tasks at the same level of
complexity while vertical transfer implies analysis and synthesis—that is, the ability to
apply training to more complex tasks (Gagné, 1985). Training transfer depends on a
number of variables, which can be summarized under five headings (Baldwin & Ford,
1988):
1. Trainee characteristics (the trainee’s predisposition to training)
Training Outcomes
● Training outcomes fall into a number of distinct categories. The number of training
evaluation models in the literature seems almost infinite.
TRAINING METRICS AND COST–BENEFIT ANALYSIS
The costs involved in training can be established relatively easily. These overheads can be
substantial and involve direct costs and indirect costs (see Chapter 6 for cost–benefit analysis)
(Noe, 2002).
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Benefits
However, the actual benefits to the firm may be much more difficult to ascertain, as many of the
benefits take a long time to materialize or can often be of an intangible nature. Russ-Eft and
Phillips’s (1996c; 2005) ROI methodology (or ROI process) produces six types of data, which
are based on Kirkpatrick’s (1960) evaluation taxonomy:
1. Reaction, satisfaction, and planned action
The ROI method advocates five useful steps for converting hard (tangible) data and soft
(intangible) data into monetary values:
1. Focus on a single unit of improvement in output, quality, or time.
HRIS APPLICATIONS IN TRAINING
Today, firms place much greater demands on training applications in terms of compatibility with
existing systems, analytical functionality, and accessibility to meet business needs. The primary
demand on any system, however, must be that it furnishes usable information to key decision
makers in order to achieve both administrative and strategic advantages.
HRIS information should possess three key characteristics:
1. It must be presented in a user-friendly manner.
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HRIS / Learning Management Systems: LMS
The vast majority of large organizations rely on fully integrated enterprise-wide systems, called
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, to satisfy their information needs. An ERP
amalgamates the management information systems (MIS) compatibility from all functional areas
(LMS), range from training administration to training management to talent management.
The degree to which LMS can assist strategic decision making may be assessed using Beckers
and Bsat’s (2002) decision support system (DSS) classification. Their model consists of five
levels:
management information systems (MIS)
decision support systems (DSS)
Bonadio (2009) puts forward five key issues that could enhance a learning management system:
1. Employee development should be linked to learning delivery.
HRIS Training and Development Applications – Implementation Issues
● Many HRIS T&D projects fail to meet the expectations of key decision-makers.
● Some firms introduce new TMS only because competitors have done likewise, without
having the necessary expertise to operate the system.
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● A number of authors have suggested success factors for the introduction of HRIS T&D
applications and for increasing e-learning completion rates:
Align e-learning strategy with T&D strategy, HR strategy, and overall business strategy.
Create a corporate learning culture that fosters e-learning and the use of HRIS T&D
applications.
Assess HRIS T&D projects by their suitability to meet the T&D strategy of the organization
rather than the technical sophistication and elegant features of the system.
Carefully plan HRIS T&D projects to guarantee compatibility with legacy systems and
CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter highlighted the strategic importance of learning, training, and development in an
increasingly knowledge-intensive global economy. This chapter identified and explained a range
of e-learning methods, their role in knowledge acquisition, and their advantages and
disadvantages.
As many LT&D outcomes are of an intangible nature and/or take a long time to materialize (note
the definition of development in this context), it is inherently intricate to determine appropriate
training metrics that may be employed to perform any meaningful cost–benefit analysis. A
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Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e
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variety of HRIS T&D applications exist. Learning management systems may be embedded in a
HRIS or ERP. The choice of system is contingent on the T&D needs of an organization, its
budget, and its ICT capabilities.