DISTINGUISH THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ON-THE-JOB AND OFF-THE-JOB TRAINING METHODS BY REFERRING TO REAL-LIFE EXAMPLES FROM THE WORKPLACE

Introduction

The business world is witnessing rapid changes when it comes to the domain of information and technology. These changes will eventually have an influence on the evolution of political and economic structures across the world, with a resulting influence on the modern global environment. Therefore, this brings about enhancement to the concept of globalization and aids in having business processes restructured. To respond to these changes, practitioners and top-level management are focusing more on human resources and organizational performance, viewing them as critical tools for achieving short- and long-term organizational goals.In many modern-day enterprises, human resources (HR) are viewed as one of the most pivotal assets that a company can have because there is a correlation between the effectiveness of human resource management (HRM) practices and the resulting performance of an organization (Purcell et al., 2003 cited in Bouris & Sahinidis, 2007). One of the ways that companies can utilize their human resources to attend to these changes is through training. Training represents a significant part of human resource development, coupled with other HR activities like compensation, recruitment, and selection.

"To train" is a verb that is derived from "trainer", an old French word that means "to drag". Therefore, this gave birth to certain English definitions as: to allure; to drag along; to cause; to prepare for performance through instruction; to grow in the desired manger; to practice exercise, and so on. Therefore, training can be defined as making available the necessary conditions for people to effectively learn. By learning, what it implies is to acquire skills, knowledge, and ability (Chen et al., 2004). In view of this, knowledge is used to reference the information that is acquired and placed in the memory, thereby enabling it to be structured in an organized way to enable the understanding of when and how it is used. Therefore, knowledge comes in three different types: procedural, declarative, and strategic (Kraiger and Salas, 1993). In declarative training, what is implied is the person’s store of actual information about a given subject matter; procedural knowledge entails the understanding that the person has about how and when to apply the stored information; while strategic knowledge consists of the person’s awareness of what is known and the internal rules that are used for accessing the necessary facts and procedures that would be applied towards attaining a given corporate goal. No matter the kind of knowledge, the source is through training as it equips the employees with information about what to know, when to use it, and how to use it (Blanchard and Thacker, 1998).

Therefore, training is very pivotal in the corporate setting. However, to understand the function of training in a given corporate setting, it is necessary to ask questions in relation to what kind of training is required in the company. In essence, training is an opportunity that is employed by corporate systems to enhance learning, and it is made possible by providing the employees with the necessary opportunities to learn how to undertake their designated tasks effectively as well as be prepared for the changes that might occur in their jobs. The focus of training is on the acquisition of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are necessary for undertaking one’s job effectively in the current state. In view of that, this research will discuss the different kinds of training (on-the-job and off-the-job), differentiating between them, and recommending the best within a corporate setting.

On-the-job training

As can easily be conceptualized from the name, "on-the-job" training goes to imply a training method that covers the employees when they are undertaking their jobs in the workplace. That is to say, they are trained in the course of going about their daily designated tasks (Surbhi, 2019). The objective of this kind of training is to ensure that the employees familiarize themselves with the normal working conditions, which implies that, in the course of the training, the employees will have first-hand experience of how to make use of equipment, machinery, materials, tools, and so on. On the same note, it also helps the employees to understand how they can tackle the challenges that they experience while undertaking their jobs.

Figure 1: On-the-Job Training Methods

Source: Surbhi (2019).

Basically, the main theme of this kind of training is learning by doing, where a supervisor or another experienced employee provides instructions, through demonstrations, to the trainees on how to undertake a given task. The trainee instantly follows the instructions as offered and performs the task as the training is going on for the instructor to confirm that the trainee has learned how to do the task. As a result of its simplicity, this kind of job training is widely adopted by companies in order to train their present and future employees.

Based on figure (1) above, it is clear that there are different kinds of on-the-job training methods. One of them is job instruction, and it is a structured training approach that requires the trainee to go through different kinds of steps in a sequential way. These techniques make use of behavioural strategy that is focused on the skill being developed, but it also comes along with some procedural and factual objectives as well. This is a kind of training that is considered good for duties that are task-oriented, such as operating machinery and equipment. In this kind of training, a job breakdown is prepared on the job, and the trainees watch as an experienced worker performs the job. When it comes to job instruction techniques, four major steps are featured as: preparation, presentation, try out, and follow up (Blandchard and Thacker, 1999). For example, if an instructor is making use of job instruction to teach how to operate equipment on a construction site, the instructor will prepare the training (such as getting the machines ready), present it (where the instructor operates and the trainees watch to learn), then instruct the trainees to try out the operation, and finally follow up in order to see if they have learned how to operate it. The main advantage of this is that it is less expensive than other training methods. However, it comes with the disadvantage of not being able to allow practical learning.

Internships and apprenticeships are two of the oldest types of training that are used to provide planned, practical instruction over a long period of time.Previously, apprenticeship was the major approach to learning a craft. In this case, the apprentice works with a recognized master craftsperson who continually puts the apprentice through the work process until the master craftsperson is confident that the apprentice can work independently (McNamara, 2000). Therefore, there is no specific timeframe for learning with this type of training method as the apprentice continues to learn until the person is able to work independently. The process can be gradual or fast, depending on the ability of the apprentice. The main advantage of this is that enough time and resources are allocated to qualitatively train the trainee to the stage where the trainee ends up becoming a professional. The disadvantage is that a lot of resources (time, expertise, etc.) are invested in order to bring about the desired result. Besides the two methods discussed above, there are other methods as shown in figure (1) above, but for the word count requirement of this work, only two will be considered.

Off-the-job training

On the other hand, off-the-job training entails a training method in which the employees are trained at a site that is away from their actual workplace for a given period of time. The reason for training them outside of their workplace is to ensure that they have access to a stress-free environment where they can concentrate only on the learning process and not be distracted by factors within their workplace (Surbhi, 2019). This kind of training is normally developed for complete theoretical knowledge and study materials are applied.

Figure 2: Off-the-Job Training Methods

Source: Surbhi (2019).

During the training process, the trainees are free to express their perceptions and views about the training. On the other hand, they can explore innovative and new ideas. However, it is one of the most expensive training methods. This is because it covers selecting the place for training, arranging the facilities that will be used to train the workers, hiring an expert that will train the workers, and so on.

Just like in-the-job training, there are also different kinds of training methods in this case. The first is classroom lecturing, which is a method that is used to train managerial-level or white-collar employees in a firm. In this kind of training method, the employees are called into a room that is similar to a classroom and receive their training from a trainer in the form of a lecturer. Normally, this method is used to teach the administrative aspects of the work or management subjects that employees need to familiarize themselves with in order to be aware of procedures to undertake their work process (Whatishumanresource.com, n.d). For instance, the HR manager can receive a classroom lecture on how to motivate the employees. The advantage of this kind of training is that it can be used for large groups, and, as such, the cost per trainee is low. The disadvantage is that the interest of the employees can be low because it doesn’t cover learning by practice and communication can be one-way.

Simulation is another type of off-the-job training. Among all of the job training methods, the simulation method is the most famous and core. In this training method, the trainee will be trained on the skills with a specially designed machine or equipment that looks like what is used in the real setting. That is to say, this equipment is designed specifically for training the trainees in such a way that they will be able to handle them in the real job or field. This method of training is mainly used in cases where the equipment or machinery that is used for undertaking the job is expensive. A good example is training aeroplane pilots on how to operate an aircraft. The main advantages are that it is less expensive than using the actual machines, and trainees still get the same skills to acquire the actual machines (Whatishumanresource.com, n.d). The disadvantage is that the feel might be different when operating the actual machines at the end of the day. Besides the two methods discussed above, there are other methods as shown in figure (2) above, but for the word count requirement of this work, only two will be considered.

Recommendation

At the start of this research (introduction level), one might actually be thinking that one kind of training method is sufficient for all kinds of training. However, the supporting discussions have shown that this is not the case. This is because the nature of the job is what determines the kind of training. For instance, a trainee learning how to operate a machine would best do so through on-the-job training, where the person is given job instruction and learns through apprenticeship until the person is able to undertake the said job. However, there are also factors that might limit the ability to adopt them, just like when the required machine for training is too expensive (in the case of training pilots) and the trainer is forced to adopt simulation. Clearly, it can be seen that while talking about the same job, the trainer can actually adopt any of, or combination of, the two training methods depending on what the trainer has at his disposal.

Therefore, it is recommended in this research that in the course of choosing the best training method, the trainer should consider the objectives of the training and develop what is right for the company based on the job design and management’s expected performance from the employees.

Conclusion

From the above discussions, training is all about equipping the trainees with the necessary skills required to undertake a given job description. This can be on-the-job training, which is undertaken at the trainee’s place of work, or off-the-job training, which is undertaken outside the trainee’s place of work. However, the kind of training that an instructor decides to adopt is determined by the objective of the training in terms of what the management expects the trainees to do with the new skill.

References

Blanchard P.N and Thacker, J., W. (1998). Effective Training: Systems, Strategies and Practices, Prentice Hall, New Jersey

Bouris, J. & Sahinidis, G. (2007). Employee Perceived Training Effectiveness Relationship to Employee Attitude. Journal of European Industrial Training, 32(1), pp. 62-76.

Chen, T.Y., Chang, P.L., & Yeh, C.W. (2004). A study of career needs, career development programs, job satisfaction and the turnover intensity of R & D personnel. Career Development International, 9(4), pp. 424-37.

Kraiger, F and Salas, E. (1993). Application of Cognitive, Skill based and Affective Theories of learning Outcomes to New Methods of Training Evaluation. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 78, No. 2, pp. 42-56.

Mcnamara, C. (2000). Various Ideas for Learning Activities and Documentation Results. Retrieved from: www.mapnp.com [Retrieved on: 21-07-2019].

Surbhi, S. (2019). Difference between on-the-job training and off-the-job training. Retrieved from: https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-on-the-job-and-off-the-job-training.html [Retrieved on: 21-07-2019].

Whatishumanresource.com (n.d). Off-the-job training methods. Retrieved from: http://www.whatishumanresource.com/off-the-job-methods [Retrieved on: 21-07-2019].