Human Resource Management

Knowledge and skills development is vital to the health of organisations. We live in an information age today, and organisations are routinely valued not just on their physical but on their intellectual capital. Training is one of the chief methods of maintaining and improving intellectual capital, so the quality of an organisation’s training affects its value. Untrained or poorly trained employees cost significantly more to support than well-trained employees do. Training affects employee retention and is a valuable commodity that, if viewed as an investment rather than as an expense, can produce high returns.
Training is organisational effort aimed at helping employees to acquire the basic skills required for the efficient execution of the functions for which they are hired. Development, on the other hand, deals with activities undertaken to expose employees to perform additional duties and assume positions of importance in the organisational hierarchy.
The benefits of training and development to employees and organisations alike are numerous and include (but are not limited to) the following: 1. Workers are helped to focus, and priority is placed on empowering employees. 2. Productivity is increased, positively affecting the bottom line. 3. Employee confidence is built, keeping and developing key performers, enabling team development and contributing to better team/organisation morale. 4. Employees are kept current on new job-related information, thereby contributing significantly to better customer service. 5. Employees are updated on new and enhanced skills, with a view to aligning them to business goals and objectives. 6. After a downsizing, remaining workers are given the technical and management skills to handle increased workloads. 7. Companies with business problems are given a fresh or unbiased professional opinion or exploration, evaluation, or critique. 8. Job satisfaction, employee motivation and morale are