Human Resource

As the training plays a vital role in improving the capacity of the organization (Denby, 2010), it has attracted a lot of people’s attention. Therefore, some specialists have already begun to explore how to make the training more effective. Among all the topics the design of the training occupied the headline. In the essay, with the analysis of several examples which were the author’s own experience, the relationship among learning objective, learning styles and the design would be discussed.
The training needs, easily to tell literally, are the reason why the trainers hold the training and trainees attend it. Generally the training is to grant the trainees some kinds of power so that they could help deal with the confronting problem. In Grace’s (1998) idea, the problem must be identified in advance by training need analysis. As Anderson (1994) argued, the trainers should collect kinds of data from managers and trainees. However, the trainee’s goal may be different from the trainer’s since their position and problem are different. That means, just as Garrett (1997) argued, the analysis should separately target on trainer and trainee. After identifying the goal, the corresponding theories should be picked. The theories which could mostly meet the majority’s need should be chosen. Moreover, an appropriate learning style could enable the learners learn effectively and efficiently. There is not a fit-all style since the training context and trainees may not be similar. While knowing the theories is far from being enough, the training should also provide the chance for trainees to apply the knowledge so they will not just remember it. A good design of train should cover all the sectors.
Tutorial we had is an excellent example. As is known to all, tutorial is a typical training method in all the universities. According to the theory, after we identify the objective; we could decide which learning style and training design should be applied. The tutorial we have could be given as an example. In the tutorial, generally the tutor will show us the PowerPoint， hand out some questions. And four people study groups would form so that everyone got partners. After around few minutes reading, we would discuss the problems with our partners. For example, in week three tutorial, tutor gave us a game to evaluate our learning styles, students are separate into different cause they have the same learning style. I have chosen the Theorists group, and our group has discussed with the Reflectors group, we give our opinions and exchange the advantages or disadvantages of each learning styles. Besides the discussion, the tutor would also high light some critical points for us. In this example, we could figure out some relationships. In the eyes of the leaders of university and tutors, the objective of the tutorial is evident that it should help students sort out the knowledge the lecturer told. Moreover, just remember them is not enough since how to use them in the real life is also critical. Some students, however, just do not share the same goal with the tutors; they attended to get some information so that they could get good achievement or even just to get the points for attendance. This followed Ferdinand (1988) argument that the goals of trainees and trainers should be combined. The rumor that the questions might be similar with the ones in the final exam really joint the tutor’s and some students’ goal. To satisfy the goals, an appropriate learning style is needed. According to Anonymous (2006), as the university students are adults, it is needless to emphasis the importance of concentrating or use the army style. A relatively normal but effective method could be employed. First, the tutor would emphasis the key points such as the theories, helping students build the structure of the knowledge. And because the principles are the basement of the coming analysis and important for the exam, it would be better off to review them in advance. And it also will offer more chance for the students to get a higher mark. Then in order to apply the theories into the reality, some case studies are given. The discussion would not only help us absorb the context, but also share group members’ ideas. The informal and relaxed learning style was employed as the relaxing atmosphere could contribute to the learning efficiency. As Adl (2007) argued, compared with people in the tight learning situation, people who were put in the relaxing group could digest the knowledge. In addition, since the students who felt pleasant were more willing to continue the learning, the author believed that the efficiency may go on in the future. Furthermore, the discussions of the cases also provided a chance to the students to really employ the knowledge. Just as stated in the theory, the trainer should establish a stage in which the trainees could apply the things they learned. If the learners could just use them in the exam, no doubt they will not be enthusiastic to learn. Moreover, no matter their opinions were received or rejected, the students would know the points better. People who made the right answer could reinforce their idea while the others who made mistakes could find out their shortcomings and understand them in the right way so they would not make it again. Based on Kolb’s learning cycle and the explanation of Vince (1998), learning is a continuous process creating knowledge. So the discussion help learners to remember them better and generate some new knowledge via sharing ideas. It is noticeable that the tutor did try to let students from different countries air their opinion, which may get praised by Graf (2004)
The analysis of the example helped in revealing the relationship among training need analysis, learning objective, learning situation and the design of training. The training need analysis should firstly figure out the knowledge the trainees need, based on which the learning objective must be settled. After taking the trainees’ characteristics, an appropriate learning style should be picked up so that the learning effectiveness could be guaranteed. At last, the design should combine all the important elements mentioned above.

Reference:
Adl, R 2007, “Situation Training”, Sales and Marketing Management, Volume 159, Issue 2, p. 46
Anderson, G 1994, “A Proactive Model for Training Needs Analysis”, Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 18 No. 3, 1994, pp. 23-28
Anonymous, 2006, “Management Training, Army Style”, Money, Volume 35, Issue 1, p. 109
Denby, S 2010, “The importance of training needs analysis”, Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 42, Issue 3, pp. 147 - 150
Ferdinand, B 1988, “Management training needs analysis”, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol 20, p5
Garrett, T 1997, “Trainer-trainee bullying”, JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Volume 7, Issue 3, pp. 227 – 232
Grace, M 1998, “Training needs analysis”, BRITISH DENTAL JOURNAL, Volume 184, Issue 6, p. 259
Graf, A 2004, “Assessing intercultural training designs”, Journal of European Industrial Training, Volume 28, Issue 2-4, p. 199
Vince, R 1998, “Behind and beyond Kolb’s learning cycle”, Journal of Management Education, vol. 22 no. 3 304-319