SECTION II

TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT

Introduction

While the importance of training and development is widely recognised, many employers in the UK still prefer to leave this task to others rather than incur the costs of training their own employees. Fortunately most successful companies realise the benefits of investing in their human resources in a manner which enhances their competitive advantage, quality of service, and the motivation of their employees. Recent years have seen a range of new approaches to training and development. These include competency-based training, team working, an extended range of national vocational qualifications, a move from standard packaged training programmes to tailor-made courses, and the development of work-based learning. Other recent trends include support for continuous professional development (CPD), flexible and distance learning packages, renewed emphasis on the benefits of creating ‘learning organisations’, computer-aided learning (including use of CD-ROMs), and measures to encourage employees to take ‘ownership’ of their own development.

The chapters in this section describe and comment on these and other recent developments. Building on modern principles of training and their application within manufacturing and the service sector, this section progresses to an in-depth examination of contemporary approaches to organisation development, and concludes with new and exciting ways of creating ‘learning organisations’, and the possibilities opened up by transformed cultures and those enriched work-based value systems which can lead to the personal growth of employees as well as enhanced organisational effectiveness.