Training to drive productivity and efficiency

Training occupies an important place among the activities aimed at boosting productivity and efficiency and improving the means and methods of work. Through training, a positive change can be made in the skills and capabilities of individuals on the one hand, and in their behavior and attitudes on the other hand. Therefore, all countries are interested in training, because of its effective impact on workers, organizations and society as a whole. In order for the institutions to reap the training objectives, it was necessary to pay attention to the various training axes (the training process), and the axis of assessing the training needs comes as a basic axis in the process and as a focal point for the entire process.

The training literature shows that assessing training needs is the basic step in the training process, and all steps are based on this initial step. The content of the training programs, the methods used in training, the quality of training, the type of trainees, their job level, the time and the entity that will be spent all depend on the assessment of training needs.

Training concept

Training is defined as “a learning process in which individuals acquire skills and knowledge that help them achieve goals, and training must be related to the nature of the business and consistent with the policies and plans of the organization.” Either, the employee needs to constantly update his information as long as he remains at work, which is reflected in his personal performance and the performance of the organization in general.

There is confusion about the concept of training and development, as training is limited to providing the worker with specific skills and knowledge related to the nature of his work in order to increase his ability to perform and change his attitudes and behavior at work in a positive way, while the concept of employee development has broader dimensions than that, as the focus is on the long-term development of workers intangible, as it includes the following:

Changing workers’ attitudes about their participation in decision-making.
– Improving capabilities and communications.
Make decisions about innovative methods of work.

The researchers are currently tending to emphasize the need for the worker to have full knowledge of the best methods of performing the work (the technical side), in addition to developing the behavioral aspect of his work in terms of his ability to work as a member of a team, establish relationships with customers, analyze and develop the business continuously.

We can identify the basic pillars of the concept of training as follows:

– Training is a basic requirement to increase the capabilities and effectiveness of workers.
Training begins from the moment the individual joins his work in the organization.
Training is a continuous process as long as the individual remains employed in the organization.
– Training focuses on refining individual capabilities and on continuously updating information and knowledge of the individual.
– By training the employees of the organization and raising their efficiency and effectiveness, the organization can raise the level of its general performance, efficiency, profitability and distinction in the labor market.

Training objectives:

Training is an investment in human resources because it brings many benefits to the organization and the employee in the short and long term. It is designed to achieve its educational and skill goals in order to then help the employee to solve work problems, develop his skills and intellectual and analytical capabilities, and increase the skills of dealing with superiors and subordinates. Training objectives include )

1. Increasing administrative efficiency and productivity and improving performance.
2. Individuals acquire professional and functional knowledge and refine skills and abilities to complete the work to the fullest.
3. Reducing the burden on supervisors and superiors.
4. Preparing workers for higher positions.
5. Motivating employees.
6. Raising the level of workers in solving problems they face at work.
7. Reducing labor costs.
8. Helping each employee understand and realize the relationship between his work and the work of others and the objectives of the entity in which he works.

Benefits of training for individuals and organizations:

Good training leads to benefits both for the individuals who receive the training and for the institutions in which these individuals work. Among the benefits for the trained individuals are the following:

1. Performance improvement.
2. Increasing the financial compensation.
3. Increasing the chances of being promoted to higher positions or obtaining a better job in another institution.

As for organizations, the benefits of training include:

1. Leads to increased productivity and output through improved skills and job performance.
2. Increasing the quality of products, which increases the satisfaction of customers’ needs.
3. Improving the image of the organization, which leads to attracting more potential customers and employees.
4. Reducing costs, and thus increasing profits, through improving and defining roles and powers for employees in the organization.
5. Training has an applied effect, as successful training encourages others in the organization to acquire new knowledge, skills, ideas, and techniques.

Stages of the training process (training life cycle):

There are four basic phases of the training process:

Determining training needs.
Design and implementation of training.
Implementation of training.
Follow-up and evaluation of training.
The following figure shows these four stages:

Training planning:

In order for training to be effective and achieve the goals, it must be based on an accurate and actual study of the training needs in the organizations, which are translated into programs and strategies that achieve the goals and meet the targeted needs.

Proper planning for training is the way to benefit from all energies in order to contribute effectively to the training activity, and it is what shows the workers the various solutions to the problems that they encounter when performing their duties within the limits of the available capabilities and energies.

On the other hand, the organization’s senior management must give the required priority to training and be convinced of its importance so that training plans require the availability of accurate and complete information on each element of the training-related parties.

Assessment of training needs:

The process of estimating and defining training needs is the most important component of planning and training needs, as it is a set of specific skills, knowledge and trends that are needed.

An individual in a specific institution or job in order to perform certain tasks more efficiently and effectively, a training need occurs when there is a gap between the actual performance of the individual or institution and the specific trends that an individual needs in a particular institution or job in order to perform certain tasks more efficiently and effectively Training needs refer to any development processes that need to be positively effected in the knowledge and skills of employees, either in order to improve their level of work performance, or to face their weaknesses. The analysis may occur to prepare employees to face new change or development processes that the organization intends to undertake.

Therefore, identifying training needs represents the main and structural element in the training industry, as all the pillars of the training process and human resources development are based on it. The organization exerts efforts in order to raise the level of skills and competence of its employees, and includes the process of estimating the training needs on ():

• Determine the target group for training.
• Definition and identification of needs.
• Measuring the level of deficiencies and performance obstacles.
• Arranging needs according to priority.
• Define training objectives based on the results of the needs assessment.

Through the training needs assessment process, the following can be concluded:

The type and level of training required.
Individuals who need training.

The benefits and importance of assessing the training needs of individuals and institutions:

Provides basic information upon which the training plan is developed.
Leads to the precise identification of training objectives.
Helps design results-oriented training programmes.
It leads to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of training through better targeting.
Determines who will be targeted for training.
Determine the quality of training.
Provides information about workers in terms of number, age, interests, academic and practical backgrounds, jobs, responsibilities and attitudes regarding training.
– Identifies the difficulties and performance problems experienced by the organization’s employees.
Provides documentation and materials for training.
– Increases the participation of employees in discussing work-related matters.
– Helps trainers to design programs that accurately meet the needs of the trainee.

Important information provided by a training needs assessment:

Determine the type of training required and the location of the training.
– Schedule of training activities.
– The resources required for training (human, financial, etc.).
Selection and design of appropriate training materials and methods.
Facilitate communication between the institution and the training authorities.
Promote new areas of training.

Effective assessment of training needs:

The effectiveness of training depends on the organization’s ability to use it in the right situation. Effective training is what directs to achieve a precisely defined goal. To achieve this, human resources management must resort to identifying training needs in a scientific manner. It is understood from this that there is a shortage or a gap in a certain part of the parts of that institution, and that the planned and organized training in a scientific manner can avoid that and develop the existing situation into a desirable one. to come (what ought to be).

What is a need object = difference or lack of what ought to be

If we apply this concept to a trainee, this defines the (capabilities gap), which is the lack of knowledge, experience, behavior and attitudes that prevent the performance of job tasks at the required level.

The advantage of this model is that it differentiates between two types of possible actions upon completion of the needs assessment process as follows:

Qualifying the employee for the job: by selecting and providing appropriate training.
Detailing the job for the employee: by re-defining the job description (the tasks and responsibilities of the incumbent), to suit the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the employee.
– Knowing the level of need: There is a real problem that appears when measuring the capabilities gap, due to the difficulty of determining the current level of knowledge, skills and attitudes of a person, in whole or in part, to facilitate this matter. There are (5) levels that can be used to reach the level of a person:

Lack of knowledge of the person in this subject is completely non-existent.
The deficiency is some general knowledge, but it is not enough.
Adequacy is an appropriate amount of knowledge and skills to carry out the tasks, but the performance is ineffective.
Accuracy The level required to achieve accurate and regular performance.
Mastery combines accuracy and speed in performance.

The type of training can be determined based on the level of performance required on performance levels as follows:

(5) Proficiency is the perfect amount of knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
(4) Accuracy Knowledge, skills, and directions for accurate performance.
(3) Adequacy is an appropriate amount of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to carry out specific job tasks.
(2) Lack of sufficient knowledge, skills, and attitudes on the subject.
(1) The null has no information on the subject.

Most of the time, training is directed at addressing the performance gaps between the second and fourth levels.

Training levels:

After identifying the training need gap comes the treatment stage, which is determining the level of training required for the individual to bridge that gap. There are three levels of training:

Enlightenment training:

The first level of training that is provided and its purpose is to raise awareness among the target audience regarding the importance of a subject or matter. This type of training aims primarily to bridge the gap between the first and second levels of training needs.

operational training:

This type of training includes two types of trainees:

• The first type: they are the trainees who do not have a sufficient amount of knowledge, skills and attitudes on a subject.
• The second type: They are those who have an appropriate amount of knowledge and attitudes

necessary to carry out specific job tasks, and this type of training aims to raise the level of performance of those in the first level to the third level.

Applied training:

It is specialized training in the field of work of the trainee, and this type may be useful in following up the operational training as it aims to improve the performance capabilities of the trainee in an environment similar to the conditions required by his job responsibilities, and this type of training aims to raise the level of performance from the third level to the fourth level.

Possible Perception Concepts of Training Needs:

There are two types of perception concepts:

A – Unrealized Needs:
 Unrecognized performance problem (the person lacks all knowledge of the performance gap).
 A perceived performance problem, but there is no awareness that this problem is due to a lack of training (the person needs to be made aware of the role of training in addressing performance problems).

B – perceived needs:
A perceived performance problem, as there is awareness of the type of training required, but there is no ability to determine the amount of training required (the person is aware of the field in which he needs training, but he cannot be relied upon to determine the quantity and level of training required).
 A perceived performance problem with him having the ability to determine the type and amount of training required (a person who is fully aware of his training needs), which is the rarest in all cases.

Techniques for identifying training needs:

The methods that researchers follow in order to identify the training needs differ. Some of them call for the need to do the following:

– Studying and analyzing the periodic reports of the employees’ competency to identify weaknesses and strengths in performance.
– Review job descriptions for jobs to determine the duties and responsibilities of jobs.
– Conducting a detailed review and reality analysis of the organizations to determine the effectiveness and adequacy of the organizations.
Conducting a survey of the human resources to find out employee attitudes survey, through which employees at all levels are asked to describe the problems and difficulties that they face during the performance of their work and the solutions they propose. This survey also aims to identify the attitudes of employees.

Others say that there are two methods of gathering information to determine needs:

1. Preparing questionnaires to be filled out by supervisors and employees alike about training needs.
2. Requesting superiors and managers to regularly do the following:
Analyze the training needs of the business, duties and functions.
– Setting performance standards and evaluating the actual performance of the employees in conjunction with the two years who supervise them.

It is clear from the foregoing that the identification of training needs can be summed up in the need to focus on three areas, namely:

Enterprise analysis.
Job analysis.
Individual analysis.

The following are the most important steps to conduct these analyzes for the organization:

A – Analysis of needs at the level of the organization Organization analysis:

Since training is linked to other policies in the organization, and contributes to achieving its goals efficiently and effectively, therefore, it is necessary for the Human Resources Department to conduct an analysis of the organization as a whole in terms of its goals, resources and plans, and the time stages required to achieve its goals and the effectiveness of the available resources (human and material) in achieving those goals. Objectives.

The Human Resources Department can take into account the indicators that it collects about work and workers, such as the obsolescence of work methods, equipment and means used, the low level of performance, the large number of absences from work, the delay in the attendance of workers to work, the low morale and job turnover, in order to diagnose the situation, find out the causes and take the steps to address A situation that may require reconsideration of the existing conditions, amendments to the organization’s plans and strategies, its organizational structure, work methods, and so on.. as these indicators shed light on the training needs. This type of analysis also helps in determining the general framework for the content, trends, priorities and locations of training.

B- Job Needs Analysis:

The job analysis in a scientific manner would give specific facts about the requirements of each job by breaking it down into its primary elements, and defining the nature and tasks of each element in a way that enables the identification of its overall requirements, skills, qualifications, and capabilities that are required to be available in the one who occupies it. It helps to define work standards in a particular job, as well as analyze the minimum qualities, skills, abilities and qualifications required in the incumbent in order to be able to achieve good performance.

Accordingly, in this step, the method followed by the individual in performing his work is compared with the description and specifications of the job, as well as the opinion of the line manager in the manner in which the employee performs his work and whether it needs improvement and what are the details of that.

As well as taking the opinion of the employee himself in the manner in which the work should be performed, and the management compares all this information to arrive at the appropriate method and determine the training required to do so, it is necessary to do the following:

1. Determine the nature and focus of the tasks and operations covered by the specific job (job analysis): The job includes many tasks that the incumbent is required to perform, and the purpose of job analysis lies in:

Define the tasks listed under the assigned job title.
Help the employee identify the most important of these tasks.
This process results in a list of tasks that the incumbent is required to perform, after which a level of performance is determined for each of these tasks in order to set the appropriate training program framework.

2. Determining the tasks that are given priority in the training program: The assessment of the training need for these tasks depends on three considerations:

The relative importance of each task.
The frequency of doing the task.
How difficult or easy the task is to learn.
Therefore, the importance of job analysis is that it helps the trainer to exclude some relatively unimportant tasks and focus on the mostImportant and most frequent, which can be learned.