This is the sixth in a series of articles which originally appeared in Tappi Journal in 1995-96, to introduce methods addressing the development of individuals and organizations through the field of Human Resource Development. The education and training of the workforce in the pulp and paper industry now requires the involvement of the entire organization, not just a training department, if training is to be effective in improving the performance and profitability of our organizations. Effective training uses an instructional systems design process and operates as a high performance work team in partnership with the rest of the organization. Education is a process involving others as facilitators of learning. These others may be subject matter experts, instructional designers, or deliverers of instruction.
Training is a learning process directly tied to specific situational results.
In the case of training, the focus is usually based on improving individual and group behavior and performance, and on results to the organization. Beginning with the end in mind, let's examine the results desired from training. It is imperative to determine if training is the appropriate solution, and if it will be cost-effective. Developing training should include analyses of the characteristics of the learners, the setting in which the work will be performed, and the tasks and duties which the trainees will be expected to perform. Goals and performance objectives must be set, and a plan to evaluate the training should be developed.