Training and Development with popular Methods

Organizations employ several training methods. Each method has its unique characteristics which can be an advantage or disadvantage concerning the quality and effectiveness of the training, depending on the content of the training programme, the professional background, and the experience of the learners. Upon these factors, the trainer selects an appropriate method of training and executes his program. As shown by Raheja (2015), methods followed are commonly used by organizations for performing training and development sessions.

Figure 1: Methods of training and development

Source: yourtrainingedge, 2017

Bellow table 1.0 gives a clear idea of the examples-based training methods in practice today.

Table 1.0: Training methods used by organizations.

Training method	Definition	Example	References
Case study	Provides the participants with an opportunity to develop skills by presenting a problem for them to solve, without a solution, or with a solution as an example of how to solve it.	Used in student law training, where students learn about past legal cases and the resulting in judicial decisions. (with a solution) A course in bank administration has students selecting a bank from a list, then a hypothetical situation is given to them and they are asked to apply their financial analysis to the situation. (without a solution)	Elam & Spotts, 2004; Menkel-Meadow, 2000; Bruner, Gup, Nunnally, & Pettit, 1999
Games-based Training	Trainees compete in a series of decision-making tasks that allow them to explore a variety of strategic alternatives and experience the effects that affect other players, but with no risk to individuals or organizations.	The hit American reality television show The Apprentice has contestants working in teams that compete with each other in business-related tasks and a contestant is "fired" each week, leaving only one winner at the end.	Gentry, 1990; Brown, 2004
Internship	Involves supervised, practical training while on the job where the trainee is allowed to work in the position for which they are being trained, but with some restrictions and significantly less pay or no pay.	All clinical and counseling psychology students in the United States are required to successfully complete a 1-year internship; this internship is supervised by an experienced psychologist and is supervised by the Association of Postdoctoral Psychology and Internship Centers.	Stedman, 1997; Ballard & Carroll, 2005
Job rotation	Involves training for a job by working for a limited period in the job, while maintaining the original job.	At Micro Ingram. Employees involved rotate their jobs between five different process areas so that they can perform in all five distribution centers of the company at the end of the programme.	Ho, Chang, Shih, & Liang, 2009; Barbian, 2002;  Wilson, 2000
Job shadowing	Involves a trainee closely watching someone perform a particular job in the natural work environment for the purpose of witnessing the job details firsthand.	Choice Hotels International in Silver Spring, Maryland , USA, offers staff at all levels the opportunity to work in the shadow of one of their franchise hotels for a day to experience what it is like to be an operator hotel.	Tyler, 2008
Lecture	Involves the dissemination by a trainer of training material to a group of trainees, through verbal instruction.	The Interactive E-classroom allows students to watch and listen to the lecture presented by the instructor, while the corresponding slides and/or lecture notes are automatically displayed on a single web-interface.	Zhang, Zhao, Zhou, & Nunamaker, 2004
Mentoring and apprenticeship	Involves training delivery through instruction delivered by a program via some electronic device without an instructor being present; the electronic device can be a computer, DVD player, CD player.	In pronunciation training using a computer program with built-in automatic speech recognition component, trainees at word and sentence level get automatic feedback.	Neri, Mich, Gerosa, & Giuliani, 2008; Gist, Rosen, & Schwoerer, 2006; Russ-Eft, 2002
Programmed instruction	Involves training delivery through instruction delivered by a program via some electronic device without an instructor being present; the electronic device can be a computer, DVD player, CD player.	In pronunciation training using a computer program with built-in automatic speech recognition component, trainees at word and sentence level get automatic feedback.	Neri, Mich, Gerosa, & Giuliani, 2008; Gist, Rosen, & Schwoerer, 2006; Russ-Eft, 2002
Role-modeling	Involves the presentation of skill(s) live to a trainee audience.	A Wheelchair Skills Training Program has been developed to train manual wheelchair users in order to achieve the important but dangerous and difficult skill of curb climbing.	Verma & Singh, 2010; Wang & Hsu, 2008; Kirby, Bennett, Smith, Parker, & Thompson, 2008
Role play	Requires trainees to assume a character and play the role in a make-believe scenario or set of scenarios; learning comes through play reflection.	Training of reference assistants at a library, has the trainees play out scenarios that is then followed by a discussion led by a trainer.	Sheets, 1998
Simulation	Involves the use of a simulator, where specific skills are developed with a multisensory experience of imitated conditions through repeated practice. Virtual Reality Training is a special form of simulation training which involves total sensory immersion.	The Harvey Simulator is a life-sized mannequin that can simulate 27 different heart conditions, allowing trainees to conduct various physical tests, including blood pressure, pulses, impulses, and respiration, to train on diagnostic skills.	Kneebone, 2003
Stimulus-based Training	To motivate the learner to learn, some type of stimulus (i.e., music, art works, narratives) is used. The training induces a state of being (e.g., relaxation or awareness) to attain learning in the participants.	Using music to eliminate or lessen signs of failure, and to induce a state of relaxation or signs of success in students to promote mathematics learning.	Zemke, 1995; Lam, Kolomitro, & Alamparambil, 2011; Kumagai, 2008
Team-training	Exclusively intended for groups of individuals who behave interactively, either to improve mutual knowledge within a team or to train the team on a specific team skill.	An exercise that has each member of the team write opinions on a prompt question and then reach consensus in the team.	Craig, 1996; Wheelan, 2005

While some methods may have two or more of these features, we readily agree that each has at least one primary nature. In addition, we noticed that some methods, such as lectures, inherently only had one. Learning by doing refers to situations in which the trainees acquire a content of training through the task execution action. Learning through doing is aligned with the educational philosophy referred to as experiential education, which claims that learning comes through experience transformation (Kolb & Kolb, 2005). To that extent, Schank (1996 ) suggested that "we must transform all education and training so that it looks, feels, and is like doing" (p. 300).

List of References

Ballard, S. M., & Carroll, E. B. (2005). Internship practices in family studies programs. Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences, 97(4), 11-17.

Barbian, J. (2002). A little help from your friends. Training, 39(3), 38-41.

Brown, D. (2004). What do apprentices think of the apprentice? CBC News [Online] Available at http://www.cbc.ca/arts/features/apprentice/ [Accessed on 20 May 2020]

Bruner, R. F., Gup, B. E., Nunnally, B. H., Jr., & Pettit, L. C. (1999). Teaching with cases to graduate and undergraduate students. Financial Practice and Education, 9, 138-146.

Craig, R. L. (1996). The ASTD training and development handbook: A guide to human resource development.4th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional.

Elam, E. L. R., & Spotts, H. E. (2004). Achieving marketing curriculum integration: A live case study approach. Journal of Marketing Education, 26, 50-65.

Gentry, J. (1990). Guide to business gaming and experiential learning. London, England:

Nichols Publishing.

Gist, M., Rosen, B., & Schwoerer, C. (2006). The influence of training method and trainee age on the acquisition of computer skills. Personnel Psychology, 41, 255-265.

Ho, W. H., Chang, C. S., Shih, Y. L., & Liang, R. D. (2009). Effects of job-rotation on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. BMC Health Services Research, 9(8), 1-10.

Holtbrügge, D., Schillo, K., Rogers, H., & Friedmann, C. (2011). Managing and training for virtual teams in India. Team Performance Management, 17, 206-223

Kirby, R. L., Bennett, S., Smith, C., Parker, K., & Thompson, K. (2008). Wheelchair curb climbing: Randomized controlled comparison of highly structured and conventional training methods. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 89, 2342-2348.

Kneebone, R. (2003). Simulation in surgical training: Educational issues and practical implications. Medical Education, 37, 267-277.

Kolb, A. Y., & Kolb, D. A. (2005). Learning styles and learning spaces: Enhancing experiential

learning in higher education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4, 193-212.

Kumagai, A. K. (2008). A conceptual framework for the use of illness narratives in medical education. Academic Medicine, 83, 653-658.

Lam, T. C. M., Kolomitro, K., & Alamparambil, F. (2011). Empathy training: Methods, evaluation practices, and validity. Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 7(16), 162-200.

Neri, A., Mich, O., Gerosa, M., & Giuliani, D. (2008). The effectiveness of computer assisted pronunciation training for foreign language learning by children. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 21, 393-408.

Russ-Eft, D. (2002). A typology of training design and work environment factors affecting workplace learning and transfer. Human Resource Development Review, 1, 45-65.

Schank, R. C. (1996). Goal-based scenarios: Case-based reasoning meets learning by doing. In D. Leake (Ed.), Case-based reasoning: Experiences, lessons & future directions (pp. 295-347). AAAI Press.

Sheets, J. (1998). Role-playing as a training tool for reference student assistants. Reference

Services Review, 26(1), 37-41.

Stedman, J. M. (1997). What we know about predoctoral internship training: A review. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 28, 475-485.

Tyler, K. (2008, September). 15 ways to train on the job. HR Magazine, 105-108.

Verma, A., & Singh, A. (2010). Webinar—Education through digital collaboration. Journal of

Emerging Technologies in Web Intelligence, 2(2), 131-136.

Wang, S. K., & Hsu, H. Y. (2008). Use of the webinar tool (Elluminate) to support training: The effects of webinar-learning implementation from student-trainers’ perspective. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 7(3), 175-190.

Wheelan, S. (2005). Promoting effective team performance through training. In D. E Sims,

E. Salas, & C. S. Burke (Eds.), The Handbook of Group Research and Practice (pp. 407-426).

Sage.

Wilson, H. C. (2000). Emergency response preparedness: Small group training: Part 2. Disaster

Prevention and Management, 9, 180-199.

Zemke, R. (1995, October). Accelerated learning: Madness with a method. Training, 32, 93-96.

Zhang, D., Zhao, J. L., Zhou, L., & Nunamaker., J. F., Jr. (2004). Can e-learning replace classroom learning? Communications of the ACM, 47(5), 75-79.