CHAPTER-1

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT METHODS

1. Classroom Lecture Method:

This is the most commonly used, simple, cost effective and conventional method. It is time saving
because it covers maximum number of people in a short period of time. It involves a speech by the
instructor with very limited discussions. Clear and direct methods of presentation.

Weaknesses of the method are that, lecture time is more than the normal human attention span of
fifteen minutes and the contents of the lecture could be easily forgotten. Since the method does not
provide for active participation on the part of the trainees, the extent of take-home learning is not to
be known clearly. Moreover, lecture might be useful only if the presentation is made skillfully. While
lecture is a useful method in so far as information dissemination is the objective, it has not been
highly successful in modifying human behavior or in building commitments in the audience’s minds.
An improvisation of this method is the lecture-cum-demonstration method in which the lecturer
reemphasizes a skill or information by displaying the same in action.

2. Group Discussion Method:

It is a method used to knowledge and attitudinal development of trainees. In this method, sets of
people examine several empirical studies to find out commonalities to derive the underlying general
principles. They then combine their ideas and focus their attention on a given problem at a time,
speaking from multiple points of view within a group. An instructor is optional, while a leader is
necessary in this method. The various advantages of the method are that more ideas can be
generated from each session. Moreover each member gets an opportunity to present one’s own
ideas and get feedback from members of the same group. Peer pressure and commitments made to
groups serve to ensure adherence to decisions jointly taken in the group. As a precaution, care must
be taken to secure the participation of all members and make sure that a few members do not pre-
determine the course of discussions or dominate the whole proceedings.

3. Simulation Exercises Method:

Simulators are a group of training devices of varying degrees of complexity that model the real
world. They range from simple paper mock-ups of mechanical devices to computerized creations of
total environments. In fact, some argue that case-study, roleplay and a host of other methods can be
brought under the category of simulation. The advantage of simulation methods is that they
improve the possibility of learning without damaging the equipments or human life or facing the
numerous risks involved in actual performance. For example, most of traffic rules, signals and
procedures of driving could be taught in a park that resembles main road or through a video game
featuring car or two wheeler driving. Piloting planes are taught using more complex simulations. The
methods are indirect but could also be expensive. The method calls for a certain level of grasp and
information processing capability and transfer of learning on the part of the trainees.
4. Role Playing Method:
Role is a set of expectations around a given position and is determined by the role partners. Roles
are always reciprocal and described in pairs such as trainer-trainee, buyer seller, and interviewer-
interviewee and so on. Playing roles would entail practical problems like inter-role conflicts, intra-
role dilemmas, role overloads and role under loads. As a result of these hurdles, role confusion
ensues. In order to be trained to perform roles, trainees must attain role clarity. This may involve
negotiation among the role senders and role receivers with regard to their expectations with
counter expectations upon one another. Participants in role-play method are required to respond to
specific problems and expectations of people that they might actually encounter in their jobs. Role-
playing is often used to teach such skills as interviewing, negotiating, grievance handling,
performance appraisal, and buying and selling and effective communication. It promotes healthy
human relations skills among people.

5. Case Study Method:

It is a written down, narrative description of a real situation or incident relating to an organization
and its business, depicting any problem that participants could face in their employment. Participant
trainees are required to propose any number of viable solutions or decisions that match the
variables represented in the case. Case study can be interest creating and thought stimulating for
the participants. It helps to develop analytical, reasoning and problem-solving skills of the
participants. As it shows and reduces gaps in understanding, a holistic understanding of reality is
made possible through case study method. It also helps to reemphasize messages provided during
lectures, group discussions and other methods. The disadvantage of the method might be the
difficulty in drawing adequate number of stimulating cases that actually represent the real life
situations of the trainees.

6. Sensitivity Training or T Group Training or Laboratory training Method:

It is a set of experiences in unstructured agenda-less groups designed to make people aware of
themselves (self-insight), their immediate situation and their own impact on others. Unlike many
other programs, T-groups are concerned with the real problems existing within the group itself.
People are helped to become more responsive to others’ sensitivities and work more harmoniously
and responsibly together by encouraging them to interact freely and actively. The members are
enabled to recognize group dynamics and diagnose human relationship problems. The participants
are encouraged to communicate thoughts and feelings with each other in an open, unstructured,
warm and honest manner than is typically done in the usual work or social situation. A beneficial
outcome of the method is that participants find better means of behavior for effective interpersonal
relationships without the aid of power or authority over others. The method has to be used carefully
as people may resent negative feedback and show anger in response. People have to be first
prepared well to accept criticism in a constructive manner so that conflicts could be managed
properly.

7. Management Games Method:

Games are used as a training tool, than as mere pastimes or amusement. Trainees are divided into
teams and are given common tasks on which they would be competing to arrive at decisions, and
then jointly implementing and evaluating the decisions taken with regard to the games. For example,
blocks of wood would be supplied to every team and one of the members would be blind-folded
with a piece of cloth. The person would have to arrange the blocks one above the other, as per the
instructions and guidance of the other members. As they set on to reach greater target heights, the
rewards would also grow exponentially. This game is used to bring out the nuances of teamwork,
leadership styles and communication patterns exhibited by the members while playing the game.
The demerits of the method are that, at times, games might result in lack of seriousness in some
trainees and that the learning is indirect and slow. But it helps to convey messages in a non-
threatening and fun-filled manner.

8. Outward Bound Training (OBT) Method:

As part of OBT, managers and other staff members meet and cohabitate as teams at unfamiliar
wilderness out of the workplace and away from the hustles and bustles of daily life, where they
would live in cabins or tents for a certain number of days. They test their survival skills and learn
about their own personality and hidden potentials for creativity, cooperation and leadership.
Participants get opportunities to learn their limits and capabilities. Participants irrespective of their
official position and seniority would have to learn to be natural in their behavior and get rid of masks
worn in an office situation. It is an expensive method and the learning might not be transferable to
others or to other situations.

9. in -basket Training (IBT) Method:

IBT is a method where the trainee is required to examine a basket full of papers and files relating to
his area of work and make recommendations on problems contained in them. This method is meant
for trainees in a managerial level to improve their decision-making and problem-solving abilities.
This is a form of simulation training designed around day to- day business situations and hence is
transferable to the job experiences. The participant is usually asked to establish priorities for and
then handle a number of office papers, such as memoranda, reports, telephone messages and
emails that would typically cross a manager’s desk. The method has at least two main stages. At the
outset, the participant starts by working through the case within a specified time limit all by himself
without discussing the details with anyone. Subsequently, other participants analyze and discuss the
questions of who’s, which’s, how’s, what’s, where’s, why’s and when’s of each decision or step. The
merits of this method include the best of traditional case study at the same time combining the
refinements to allow greater flexibility, realism and involvement.

The emphasis here is to understand things thoroughly, which is an opportunity too rarely presented
during busy working days. It is done in a permissive atmosphere of experimenting and learning,
rather than within the confines of a boss subordinate relationship.

10. Vestibule Training Method:

This kind of training takes place away from the production area on equipment that closely resembles
the actual ones used on the job. It is a type of off-the-job training in which employees get training in
a realistic job setting but in a location different from the one in which they would be working. For
example, a group of lathes may be located in a training center where the trainees will be instructed
in their use. The method is used frequently for training typists and bank tellers, among others. The
word ‘vestibule’ means entrance. Thus vestibule training serves to facilitate full-fledged entry into
job. A primary advantage of vestibule training is that it removes the employee from the pressure of
having to produce while learning. Disturbance of production or supervisor during training is
minimized. The disadvantages include the extra investment on equipment and additional persons to
be employed as trainers.

11. Apprenticeship Training Method:

It combines classroom instructions with on-the-job training. It is a method in which trainees at a
novice stage called ‘apprentices’, work under the guidance of skilled, licensed instructor and receive
lower pay than workers. The method is a combination of education and employment and is aimed at
preparing workforce with certain levels of qualification to meet the growing needs of the industry.
The method develops special skills like mechanical, electronic, tailoring, etc. Apprenticeship is
traditionally used in skilled jobs, such as those of plumber, carpenter, machinist and printer. The
extensive nature of the training assures quality outputs, though time consumed is long. Employees
recruited from the apprenticeship program are expected to hit the ground running, implying that
they would have to start performing with efficiency. But uniform duration of apprenticeship training
does not permit slow learners to reach the levels of mastery like others.

12. Work shadowing Method:

This training method is chosen while preparing a second-line leader to take up the role of the
headship, in which case, the candidate could not benefit by sending them to any other formal
training program. The best way to be trained for a future executive position would be through direct
participant observation of the crucial events that take place in the present incumbent’s work life.
The trainees are made to remain in the company of the role model whose work is to be learnt by the
trainees. Trainees learn the intricacies of a job of high level, by physically being in the presence of
the job-holder. Closely following the styles of working permits greater degree of learning besides
helping the trainee to imbibe the values and principles adhered to by the model. Yet, care needs to
be taken to avoid situations wherein trainees are not warmly welcomed and are seen by supervisors
in the department as obstacles to their routines.

13. Programmed Instruction Method (PIM):

PIM provides instruction without the face-to-face intervention of an instructor. To ensure a

sequential approach to learning, instructions are designed in such a way that all future learning
depends on acquisition and retention of previous learning. With this method, information is broken
down into small portions called ‘frames’. The learner reads each frame in sequence and responds to
questions designed to verify learning. Based on the answers given by the trainees they are provided
with immediate feedback on response accuracy. If the learners have got all the answers right, they
proceed to the next frame. If not they repeat the frame. Primary features of this approach are
immediate reinforcement and the ability of learners to proceed at their own pace. Programmed
instructions may be presented in a book or in computers.

14. Large Scale Interactive Events (LSIE) Method:

The method has a lot of unique advantages when compared to other methods. First, this method
stresses upon the sharing of expertise by all the participants, unlike other methods where the
instructor supplies most of the inputs and might even look down upon trainees as people who are
ignorant or unskilled in the topic being covered. LSIE is based on the belief that all the participants,
by virtue of being in their job for a certain period of time, possess some degree of expertise that
need to be shared and combined with that of others.

Second advantage is that this method transcends the limitation of other methods in terms of the
number of people who could be trained per batch. The major advantage of this method is that a
group as large as 300 – 400 members could be trained simultaneously without losing the
effectiveness of other training methods. The third advantage is the use of group processes. While
the trainer limits his role with a brief but inspiring presentation to stimulate thinking of the
participant, the methods paves way for active involvement of all the participants who are assigned
various roles such as sub-group leader, recorder, summarizer, presenter etc. A fourth advantage of
the LSIE is that the group emphasizes on extensive on-the-spot documentation of viewpoints
expressed by people. Finally, the method culminates in the entire large group addressing to the
common issues. At this stage, priority is to be set on areas of intervention and a plan of action is
drawn and accepted based on voting by members, thereby building commitment of all the
participants to implement the agreed upon plans. A disadvantage of the method could be that it
requires a lot of volunteers to assist the proceedings.

15. Personal Coaching Method:

It is an on-the-job approach in which a manager has the opportunity to teach an employee, usually
his immediate subordinate, on a one-to-one basis. Coaching is helping self and others gain new
perspectives their intentions and behaviors, to understand what’s possible and how to access inner
resources such as motivation, commitment, passion, etc. as a coach, the supervisor gently confronts
employees with their shortcomings and makes suggestions for corrective actions. The supervisor is
also alert to encouraging good performance. Coaching is considered to be one of the most effective
management development techniques. Constant guidance makes the trainee learn quickly.

16. Mentoring Method:

Mentoring is an on-the-job approach to training in which the trainee is given an opportunity to learn
on a one-to-one basis from more experienced members of the organization. The mentor is usually
an older, experienced executive who serves as a host, friend, confidant and advisor to a new
member of the firm. The mentor is given the charge of protecting and responsibility of helping the
new employee. The relationship may be formally planned or it may develop informally. For
mentoring to be productive, the parties’ interests must be compatible and they must understand
each other’s learning styles and personalities. If mentors form overly strong bonds with trainees,
unwarranted favoritism might result. A highly successful mentor-protégé relationship might create
feelings of jealousy among other colleagues who are not able to show equally good results out of the
mentoring process.

17. Job Rotation Method:

This method of training involves the shifting of trainees from one job to another so as to widen their
exposure and enable them to obtain a general understanding of the totality of the organization.
Besides helping them to overcome boredom, job rotation permits direct interaction with a large
number of individuals within the organization, thereby facilitating future working relationships. The
method should be used at sufficient gaps to permit the development of a strong degree of expertise
in the trainee in an assigned position. Care should be taken by the organization to ensure that work
efficiency does not suffer when a few trainees are rotate into new jobs where they would be taking
time to learn and perform. There could be some disadvantages of using the method of Job Rotation.

Trainees have to be prepared to face contrasting styles of operation and standards that vary
according to superiors. Some trainees might feel more like visiting casual observers in the
departments than being a part of the workforce, which would negate the purpose of job rotation.
Employees who are looking for more challenging assignments might feel frustrated when asked to
perform different kinds of simple jobs at the same level.

18. Computer-Based Training (CBT) Method:

CBT is a technology-driven training method that takes full advantage of the speed, memory and data
manipulation capabilities of the computer for greater flexibility of instruction. It involves the trainee
sitting in front of a computer terminal rather than listening to an instructor. Learning is enhanced
through presentations combining automation, stereophonic sound, full motion video and graphics.
Increased speed and decreased dependence on instructor are the strengths of this method.
Computer-Managed Instructions (CMI) is a system that automatically generates and scores tests,
tracks trainees’ performance and prescribes activities for students. An orderly, step-by-step manner
is possible by using this method. As additional advantages, CBT allows reuse of the program for any
number of time and allows for varying time for fast and slow learners.

But CBT method cannot reduce the learner’s anxiety and fear, which can be done only by a trained
instructor. CBT is well suited for teaching facts but is less useful for teaching human skills or changing
attitudes.

19. Behavior Modeling Method:

This method involves emulation of behavior from a reference group or a role model whose behavior
is shown live before the trainees or by using videotapes or Compact discs (VCD). The method entails
recording and producing events or situations with clear descriptions in order to cover certain
subjects. The footage could be viewed, reviewed and discussed to enhance learning quality. The
advantages of using this method are many. Many events and discussions can be put on one tape or
CD. It is a handy method for small firms that cannot afford more expensive approaches. It is
particularly helpful for first-line supervisors.

Observing a powerful model in the audiovisual form could help learn activities like mediating during
conflict situations, handling customer complaints and grievances. The challenges involved in using
the method include the high level of one-time production costs in the initial stage. Moreover,
projectors and other expensive gadgets would be required along with continuous power supply.

20. Internship Method:

Internships involve placing young college and university students in temporary jobs in which they
can earn while they learn, with no obligations towards any regular employment from the side of the
employer or from the trainee. Such an arrangement enables to provide a fresher the much-needed
exposure to an organization and also to determine the person organization fit. Students divide their
attention between academic activities and practical work assignments, which help them to
internalize the theory and practices. However, care must be taken to prevent the whole process
from getting reduced to the fulfillment of merely an academic requirement rather than being
treated as a stepping-stone towards an illustrious career.

21. Development Centre Method:

This method is designed based on the structure, styles and contents of assessment centers used to
assess the potential of an individual to meet the demands of a higher-level managerial position.
Multiple facilitators observe the members performing multiple tasks according to multiple criteria,
using multiple methods. However, the difference in development centers is that they focus their
attention on helping to improve the potential of the persons participating in the sessions. This
method of training is found effective in building leadership, decision-making, goal setting and
counseling skills in experienced trainees.