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ADVANCED TRAINING AND TRAINING OF STAFF FOR BUSINESS: THE STATE OF THE ISSUE, PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
S. V. Ivanova
This report covers the state of the field of advanced training and training of staff for the areas of production and business, and studies the problems and ways of their solutions during the last ten years. The report shows the specific forms of a solution for lifelong education problems in the area of business management, and developing a system of corporate training in Russia. The report substantiates the need for interaction between the corporate training system and the system of professional training.
It is well known that at the present time employees are getting older, and there is a lack of staff, especially in the area of production and manufacturing. It is necessary for several reasons to pay special attention to the advanced training of specialists. According to the results of recent surveys, “HR managers consider advanced training to be one of the most important instruments to overcome the deficit. Under the severe deficit of qualified staff, 70% of companies consider personnel development to be priority number one, whereas only 11% think that attracting staff from the outside will help to solve the problem. The following instruments were mentioned as instruments that can help to fight with the deficit in the work force: development of necessary qualifications inside the company - 67% of HR directors, attracting employees from the market - 56%”. [1]. According to the opinion of one Russian researcher, “in several large corporations specialists, tutors, teachers, coaches, etc. are chosen among highly qualified workers, group leaders, foremen, and engineers, and are prepared for the purpose of training, advanced training and support of qualifications of general professional occupation staff” [2]. These specialists are professionals who are involved at preparation of personnel at the job places. In western countries special attention is also paid to training at job places: “Our research revealed that on-the-job training (68%) and corporate training (50%) are considered to be the most efficient ways of training. Almost half (45%) of applicants received prior training before employment at the expense of the employer” [3].
According to the above-mentioned opinion of the author, “interaction of the system of education with the employers is difficult and contradictory. At the present stage these relations are built in different way. First of all, positive interaction of a higher educational institution and a company is expressed in the following: (а) interest of the company in the staff prepared by the higher educational institution; (b) organization of practical training of students; (c) support of the scientific research work in labs of the higher educational institution; (d) improvement of the material base of the higher educational institution for organization of scientific research and preparation of young scientists; (e) implementation of the scientific research results of specialists of the higher educational institution into production, etc. There are many examples of this kind, and they need to be understood, to convert into the smoothly running mechanism. Secondly, mutual requirements and
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claims: the employer is unsatisfied with the system of preparation at the higher educational institution, but the employer does nothing to change this situation. However, even in this situation we can see the move away from the theoretical claims, more and more often representatives of higher educational institutions and of the employer try to negotiate. The positive trend is that the third component is disappearing - lack of any interaction at all. More and more large employers have become less indifferent: they understand that the quality of work of a higher educational institution will influence the future of such and such production field. This understanding encourages a more active switch of representatives of the labor market from the position of outside observers and critics to a position of active participants in the full-fledged improvement of conditions for training and creation of strict requirements for graduates. Employers should be invited by higher educational institutions for participation in developing standards of higher education, in detailing the list of specializations and professions, and in development of the list of necessary competences” [4].
The problem of creation of a professional qualifications system is mentioned as being important in V.V. Putin’s article “Rightful organization of society and economics - the main condition of our sustainable development at the present time” [5], but is not solved. Solving this problem will be a real input into the development of the higher education system and development of commercial production and economics.
It is obvious that advanced training is an acute problem due to the specific character of modern economics, and due to the present state of the system of professional training. Let us look at this problem in retrospective. To some extent we can see a tendency towards improvement. Analysis of the situation in the 90s -early 2000s provides an indication about the existence of problems in organization of training, advance training at state and non-state institutions, and in the system of preparation of staff in general. The role of systematic advanced training and lifelong education was underestimated by businesses, and the educational institutions and organizations were not ready to provide the sophisticated advanced training of specialists of that category. Generally speaking, there was a gap between the demand, which, however, was not clearly articulated, and possibilities of educational institutions that were operating according to the old patterns, and did not receive clear signals about their role in the new conditions. Several years ago the author mentioned that “there is no system of lifelong education in an organized and steady form <...> various systems of training at large production and other commercial structures were not universally developed, and were not widely used in mass practice of lifelong education. Unfortunately, professional training institutions have not yet found their rightful place” [4]. The research made by Coulso-Thomas in 1999-2000 that covered 69 companies was also evidence of the fact that “corporate training is now standing at the parting of two ways” in world practice. The existing courses and programs have almost run out of steam, and that is why it is necessary to look for new methods and techniques. <...> in many cases the companies do not have a clearly defined opinion about what and how needs to be done in the area of education” [6]. The previous opinion of business managers that the traditional system of advanced training was not capable to deal with this problem, turned out to be incorrect. Under
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the influence of the spirit of the times, the industry-specific systems of advanced training that used to work according to the old pattern and suffered a deficit of financing started looking for the sources for their existence, and consequently, started solving the problems connected with the requirements of the real labor market. Below you will see that educational structures still more efficiently solve the issues of organization of the lifelong education system than production itself.
Changes in solutions of problems of selection of staff for the system of extended education have also become noticeable. In many cases this drift relates to the outflow of teachers with doubtful qualifications from the perspective of practical knowledge of one’s field of teaching. Nowadays managers originated from governmental structures, top managers of state corporations and commercial companies often become department chairmen, and supervise different degree programs at state and industry-related educational institutions and organizations in the systems of advanced training (and also other systems). This is a good solution, especially if such specialists have degrees and academic titles. We may say that the market of educational services in the business area nowadays is long-standing, and that successful business coaches and consultants have their own educational organizations, while some of them become freelancers, and those who were not successful, do not withstand the competition. Corporate systems of training have become popular nowadays, however the question of whether they are assigned more priority than they deserve is still open.
So, here the tasks are clearly defined: to make a choice between short-term training sessions and systematic lifelong education. Probably, this is the reason for the foundation of corporate universities. Their founders believe that the corporate training system not only provides training, but, if done right, helps to develop the universal corporate ideology, the image of the company and its employees, creative approaches, the conditions for development of strategic ideas and their accumulation. What are the preconditions for the choice of the corporate system of training? They are learning subjects relevant for a specific commercial structure, daily practical activities (“case” studies), development of skills necessary for a certain company by means of organization of training sessions, and team-building and receipt of information about activity of all business units by each student. Besides, there are quite ample opportunities for a “network” or “cascade” approach to the forms of organization of corporate training. Previously, the author already noted that “the efficiency of its use depends on several factors: the quality of training at upper levels, the quality and availability of training and methodological materials, unified system of preparation of all coaches and trainers, possibilities of academic interaction of students of the upper level with students of the lower level”
[4]. The main problem is the quality of educational programs and their correspondence to technologies, and to the level and requirements of students. In general, everything looks quite positive.
Now let us look at what really happens with educational institutions that were founded by large private companies and state corporations. Large amounts of money spent off-target proved in the majority of cases their value only to a certain degree. The in-company employees receive training “in a circle”, and it is a crushing burden for the budget of an enterprise, so there are legitimate claims to corporate educational systems - they need to earn their own money. Business is
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quite pragmatic in its solutions, and education is expensive. An expert study of opinions of students of two categories (top managers and middle-tier managers) in the systems of corporate training and in several organizations (anonymous poll) demonstrated a variety of opinions, however, a negative tendency can clearly be seen: from full dissatisfaction (“waste of time”) to expectation of results in future (“maybe it will be useful for some purposes”). Despite the search of modern educational techniques and the quite large amounts of money spent for material and technological maintenance of such an educational process, students sometimes don’t approve it, since the case study that simulates the real production process does not satisfy employees who wish to upgrade their qualifications. Their life in the working environment is much more difficult than games like “Monopoly” and other “performances” and “simulacra” that are part of the case study. This is also a reason why the involvement of managers and experts is efficient and in high demand. We need dichotomic decisions that make it possible to combine information about the new tendencies in the development of science and production with real practice during advanced training, which is a complicated mechanism, although mediated with the simplistic approach.
Nowadays great attention is paid to the following area of work with regard to upgrading the qualifications of staff. Top managers and middle-tier managers and experienced employees undergo training which considerably upgrades the level of their qualifications (MBA, postgraduate studentship, doctoral program, etc.), and specialists receive training in the form of training sessions and on-the-job training. In certain circumstances it may really create the cumulative effect of efficiency of work of the whole structure. Let us again pay attention to the results of the research of Hays global recruiting agency: “...applicants highly appreciate the efficiency of on-the-job training and think that companies should actively develop and promulgate the probation programs. More than 1,000 young people took part in the research. The following answers were received to the question “what kind of training will be able to help them to succeed in their career in the most efficient way”: on-the-job training - 93%, training as an “apprentice” - 90%, probation -84%, study at a higher educational institution - 78%” [2]. It should be noted that according to various data, in different countries of the world on all continents there is a combination of corporate (through tutorship, sharing of experience, exchange of functions and change of functions under the guidance of highly experienced employees) and long-distance (at different external educational organizations and institutions) advanced training [7].
The above-mentioned state of affairs mainly relates to large corporations. So, what is happening in the mass practice of small and medium-sized businesses? The changes are not so significant. Often items of expenses for training are quite moderate, training is seldom systematic, and is often organized in case of a production necessity (supply of new equipment, problems with clients, etc.). Company managers, who rarely upgrade the level of their qualifications, do not consider education through the lens of a professional vision of the role and place of education. Two cases should be specifically mentioned: the first one is when upon hiring an expensive trainer for two days, managers of the operating structure expect to receive an effect the very next day; the second case is when through systematic training which nevertheless does not allow managers to see the
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direct input of this training to the distant successful results of work. In many organizations, depthless approaches to the issue of professional training and education prevail that do not correspond to modern requirements [1, p. 3]. Of course, a reasonably serious commercial structure from the small business sphere organizes training for its employees, and an individual entrepreneur from the market looks for courses and business training in the Internet. According to the research of the educational services market, short-term events are more demanded here, especially in sales training. But we should remember that a two-day workshop cannot give quick and “long-playing” effects (although any education is useful!), and that systematic training has a direct impact upon the quality the staff’s work, and has its own serious share in the percentage of solid long-term success. Short-term training events are useful when we talk about the daily tasks and activities of a team, provided there is a certain periodicity of organizations of such events. It is important and possible to solve the following issues with the help of short-term training sessions: short-term management issues, organization of document circulation, daily regimen, administration, current reporting system, business protocol, etiquette, daily regimen, and internal code of conduct.
To give sufficient evidence, let us look at the results of research made by the National Personnel Education Quality Assurance Center (USA): a 10% increase of expenses for advanced training of employees increases their productivity by 8,6%. At the same time, a 10% increase in investments into machinery and equipment results in an increase of productivity by only 3,4%. According to information of the Chicago Profit Institute, training programs have a direct impact upon an increase of a company’s rate of return [quotation from 4].
A lack of personnel is one of the most serious problems. The forecasts made according to the results of the research made by the Amplua Insights Center of Research and Analytics and the web portal Trainings.ru in December, 2011 proved true. At that time, representatives of 81 companies which were service customers took part in the research (HR and T&D-specialists), as well as 45 companies which were service providers (representatives of training and consulting companies). The following data was demonstrated: on average, in Russian companies one coach of a corporate training system covers 377 company employees. On the contrary, in the USA this index is 187 persons (according to the information of Bersin&Assosiates) per one training specialist. It was mentioned that this tendency will continue to be the same. Companies are focused on the development of the staff reserve, and this task, together with attraction and retention of talents, is quite a pressing challenge, and it will remain important in subsequent years. This can also be explained by the economic situation, lack of social stability, and lack of qualified and loyal personnel. An increase in the budget for education may be insignificant, provided there is a tendency towards an increase in the amount of tasks in the field of personnel management. The majority of large companies that took part in the research try to solve such issues through a search for the most efficient training technology, a decrease in expenses for education, and training “per capita”, independently. Opportunities of a corporation remain unutilized, and efforts and specialization are not joined together based on a comparative advantage, which could give acceptable solutions to these problems. More attention should be paid to joint planning, joint personnel solutions and joint use of resources. Based on
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our research, we made the conclusion that many companies will continue to “finish” improving their system [8].
Thus, it is obvious that many business structures aren’t ready to manage knowledge, or to use this resource for efficient and “breakthrough” development of their businesses, and do not consider education to be an instrument and factor of innovative development. On the other hand, the system of professional training and advanced training can still hardly find points of interaction with businesses, and does not meet the requirements of businesses, or is incapable of demonstrating its opportunities. Business structures do understand that they need competent specialists with relevant knowledge and high motivation to solve specific organizational tasks. This is a good reason for foundation of the ongoing institutional training unit within a large commercial organization. Would a system of professional training be able to propose such a format? This considerably changes the essence of advanced training; it is a serious appeal to a change of approaches, to a change of the “training offer” made by professional training institutions.
The educational sphere in all countries of the world is quite a thoroughly studied field, both as a part of society and as a branch of scientific knowledge. To a certain extent the results may be quite predictable, and are determined by the use of certain approaches, technologies, methods, forms and functions. The most efficient and rational ways can be found in organization of a training unit or an institution with a clearly defined structure and its own zone of responsibility, or in cooperation with the existing stable professional educational institutions as with long-standing partners, like-minded entities that perform scientific enquiry, and test new approaches.
References
1. О чем думают директора по персоналу. URL: http://ibs.ru. 26 апреля 2012 г.
2. Силкина Н.В. Компетентностный подход в условиях корпоративного профессионального образования. Практико-ориентированная монография. Новосибирск, 2006.
3. Чарльз Логан (Charles Logan). Обучение на рабочем месте - верный путь к карьерному развитию. Источник: http://www.hays.co.uk. 21 марта 2012 г. Перевод редакции Trainings.ru. URL: www.trainings.ru
4..Иванова С. В. Новые вызовы системе подготовки профессионалов в бизнесе и политике. Вестник Российского философского общества, 2009, №4.
5. Путин В. В. «Справедливое устройство общества, экономики - главное условие нашего устойчивого развития в эти годы». Комсомольская правда, 2012, 12 февраля.
6. Разработка стратегии корпоративного обучения. URL: www.trainings.ru/ со ссылкой на /www.e-xecutive.ru/career/adviser/337696/
7. Маленкова Л. О. О зарубежном опыте организации корпоративного обучения педагогов. URL: http:www.emissia.50g.com/offline/2007/1176.htm.
8. Тенденции обучения и развития персонала 2012. Центр исследований и аналитики Amplua Insights, редакция Trainings.ru. 19 января 2012 г. URL: www.trainings.ru/
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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