Page 299 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

284 enhancing performance through training
the philosophy of the organisation and that the needs of newly appointed managers were
being sufficiently met. All organisational aspects of the programme were handled by the
internal training department for reasons of cost-effectiveness. The trainer was responsible
for running the training course with an eye to developing and improving future courses
through an analysis of his/her own experiences and participant feedback on the programme.
To this effect, meetings were held twice annually to discuss possible improvements to the
existing course.

APPLICATION PROCESS AND COURSE ORGANISATION

A sound application process is necessary if the right people are to be chosen for a train-
ing course. During the appraisal interview the employee and manager might agree on
measures to respond to existing training needs. Most companies have internal training
departments or external training providers who act as consultants and give advice on how
to best match training needs and the right training programme. Normally a description of
the format and content of the most important in-house and external training courses are
available through training brochures or the intranet. In-house training courses are often
organised by the internal training department. This involves organising hotels, technical
equipment, training material, scheduling the training programmes, inviting the partic-
ipants and contracting the internal or external trainer—in a cost-effective manner. A
formalised application process with clear terms and conditions ensures that staff get the
right training at the right time. In recent years awareness of training as a major cost factor
hasincreased.Thereforemosttrainingdepartmentsactasaninternalcostcentreandmake
managers pay for their staff’s training activities. Most training departments suffer as a
result of training being cancelled by participants at short notice due to illness or increased
workload. To avoid such cancellations, they invoice the manager for the training activity,
even if their staff have not participated in the training. These terms and conditions are
normally printed on the application form itself. The following example shows the appli-
cation process chosen for the firm’s introductory-level leadership training programme.

INTRODUCTORY-LEVEL LEADERSHIP TRAINING:APPLICATION PROCESS
In the annual appraisal interviews at the firm a development plan is agreed upon by em-
ployees and their managers. In the case of staff seeking to become managers, it is highly
recommended that they participate in a management training course (during the pioneer-
ing days of this programme, attendance for newly appointed managers was mandatory, and
although obligation to attend has since been lifted the popularity of the course has in no
way suffered). In the appraisal interview, both employee and manager fill out the requisite
training application form and the manager then puts his/her signature to it, thereby making
a commitment to invest both the time and money required for the employee’s development.
The internal training department does its part to quickly accommodate the employee. Once
placement in a course has been arranged, the supervisor receives an invitation on behalf
of his/her employee and he/she then goes over the preparatory material with the employee
and together they set some specific goals to be achieved by the end of the course.

MEASURING COSTS AND BENEFITS
Training costs need to be carefully planned and calculated. Training is a relatively ex-
pensive solution for performance problems. It contrasts sharply with the cost of other