EDUC 317 Training and Development in
Organizations Review questions chapter 1 4
Athabasca University
,EDUC 317 Review questions Chapter 1-4
1. What are training and development? How do they differ from one another? How do they
relate to one another?
Training and development are all about managing performance through the process of
designing goals and interventions and programs to motivate and develop their employees and
their performance, hopefully to the betterment of organizational goals.
*Training is formal and planned efforts to help employees acquire knowledge, skills and abilities
to improve performance in their current job and usually has a short-term focus. It can consist of
OTJ training, workshops that will help you do your current job well.
*Development is formal and planned efforts to help employees acquire the knowledge, skills
and abilities to perform future job responsibilities, generally looking to (and working with) long
term employee and organizational goals. This might consist of extensive programs in leadership
development, seminars and workshops, job rotations and coaching. It’s designed to prepare the
employee for future organizational positions to the company’s betterment.
While both T&D are both formal planned efforts to increase employee skillset, development
also considers employee (and company) growth and retention. Training alone should allow an
employee to do their current job correctly, and hopefully, well without considering or preparing
the employee for any other. Development determines the employee’s future within the
organization and develops the skillset the employee will need to continue to succeed, not only
in their current job but also in future roles that the company sees them excelling in.
2. Who benefits from training and development, and how do they benefit?
Both employees and employers benefit from a training and development program. For
employers, by investing in their workforce, they will have employees that can do their jobs
correctly and safely – producing a high-quality product or service, giving them a competitive
advantage. It also demonstrates a far-sighted business plan that looks to the future growth of
the company and prepares its current employees and attracts new employees to meet future
growth demands and technologies.
Society also benefits from T&D in organizations. There are safety implications for public health
and safety, as it can reduce life-threatening errors in high risk environments and improve the
safety of employees and the public. Additionally, it helps create a better educated and skilled
, population, that not only benefits the economy and reduces unemployment, but also helps
decrease skills mismatch.
A company that invest in T&D benefits in many ways. Organizations with T&D plans will more
easily attract new and sought-after talent, as more people entering the workforce are looking
for more than just a paycheck. To attract and retain talent, overall job satisfaction that includes
developing their skills and keeping their work interesting is essential. With T&D organizations
can do more than survive, they can prosper, achieve organizational goals and objectives. T&D
can lead to higher revenues, profits and productivity growths. Studies show the in addition to
these benefits, satisfaction of employee and customers also increases in organization that invest
in T&D. Employees can do more and better work with training, in addition to making fewer
errors, requiring less supervision, having improved positive attitudes, less attrition. The higher
quality of products and services they produce increases the organization’s competitiveness and
performance, leading to an increase in profits.
For employees, training and development has both extrinsic and intrinsic benefits. Employees
that receive T&D make fewer mistakes, do better work, require less supervision, have lower
attrition and better attitudes. Additionally, intrinsically, employees with a T&D focused
organization state that they feel more confidence, have increased self-efficacy and sense of
usefulness and belonging. Extrinsically, an employee may see higher earnings, better
marketability, job security and opportunities for advancement appear as a result of
organizational T&D.
3. Why might employers be reluctant to offer training to their workers?
In Canada many companies don’t consider Learning and training a priority. Others may see T&D
as a cost in both time and money, rather than an investment. An employer may not believe
there is any benefit in providing training to their employee or maybe they know about the
training benefits claim, but don’t believe them.
Employers might be hesitant to train their workers due to the type of work (precarious), seeing
no return on their investment of time or money. Additionally, they may hesitate to train and
develop talent believing that once they invest in their program and employee, another company
will come along and poach them or the employee will take their newly acquired knowledge and
seek better opportunities elsewhere.
Additionally economic downturns might cause some organizations to rethink their T&D plan.
They may have to cut programs down to legal minimums or rethink their ability to outsource
