Training, Learning and Development of People

Introduction to Training, Learning and Development

Training, Learning and Development are key functions and activities in any organization. This page highlights the history and principles of effective employee development.

History of Training and development

While there is much debate about when formal training begun, the development of managers is a little clearer.

Training for effectiveness began back in the time of the ancient Chinese, Greeks and Romans. Each civilisation had their own craft and skills based apprenticeships. Even in the darkest of the British middle ages knights were trained to fulfill a role.

Modern management training began at the beginning of the last Century.
In the past, organisations developed managers, first by recognising an individual’s knowledge about the organisation’s products or services.

These knowledgeable individuals were promoted to first-level positions that included work direction. They did not supervise in the current sense of the word, i.e. they didn’t delegate, support or guide as we would now regognise.
They told workers what to do and workers did it. These supervisors had little or no training about supervision skills.

In the 1950s to 1980s, management training focused on covering certain standard topics or types of activities in the organisation, e.g., planning, organising, finances, sales, accounting, etc.

Trainees would immerse themselves in the current course, then leave that course to immerse in the next. Training was often residential in nature, usually 3-5+ days in duration.

Much of the training was based on the early individual and group psychology research of the 1950s – Hertburg, Maslow etc.

Few of the leading management schools provided opportunity for management trainees/ students to integrate and apply information from their various courses.

Traits of Progressive Management Development Programmes
With the Human Relations movement, many training programmes recognised the need to cultivate specific supervisory skills, e.g., delegating, career development, motivating, coaching, mentoring, etc.

The most progressive management schools engage students to review a wide body of management topics and learn those topics by applying that knowledge in the workplace and reflecting on that application.

To maximise transfer of training and learning to the workplace, learning activities incorporate learners’ real-world activities in the workplaces or their lives.

Assignments and project work include reflection and analysis on real-world experience. Learning is enhanced through continuing dialog and feedback among peer learners as well as 360 degree feedback.

Excellent management and leadership schools manage to include forms of self-development,recognising that the basis for effective management is effective self-management.

On many effective management development programmes learners take a system’s view of their organisations, including review of how major functions effect each other. A holstic approach.

Assignments include recognising and addressing effects of individual actions on the entire organisation.

For an excellent reference to a history of training and development visit Don Clarke website

New page content

This page on Training, Learning and Development is currently on our plan for development. bookmark this page and visit again soon.

New topics including:

• the difference between training and development
• the difference between learning and development
• the difference between training and learning

based on research from the Develop the Developers Survey