Approaches to Training and Development

by Dugan Laird, Elwood F. Holton III, Sharon S. Naquin

This celebrated book, newly revised and updated, is a comprehensive treatment of organizational training and development: its basic ideas, organizational goals, and practical techniques. Dugan Laird, noted trainer, consultant, and author, shares his considerable experience in the whole field of human resource development and job-related training. The key to this book's ongoing popularity is its practicality: Laird's concern with the real-life problems and needs of T&D professionals. When and how should training be used, and what methods and techniques have worked and will work? The author's answers are supplemented by simple-to-follow process charts that outline each step of an effective training system. For this Second Edition, Laird has added material on new training technologies such as video and computer assisted instruction, explaining how and when they should be used to supplement traditional instructional techniques. How do you find training needs? What do you do when you don't give training? Learning objectives: who needs them? How do people learn? How important is teaching technique?

352 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 1978

Reviews

[Paul Signorelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dugan Laird's "Approaches to Training and Development," updated in this edition by Sharon Naquin and Elwood Holton III, is tremendously useful not only as a primer for anyone interested in workplace learning and performance, but for its consistent focus on an often overlooked issue: training is not always the solution to workplace challenges. Leading their readers through a variety of topics, the authors examine the functions and roles of training and development managers; provide guidelines and responses to training needs; review learning theories and instructional methods within the overall context of how people learn; and provide tips on assessing and evaluating workplace learning and performance efforts without ever losing sight of the fact that some issues simply aren't going to be resolved through even the best-designed and most-effectively-delivered learning opportunities. Chapter 7 ("Training Isn’t Always the Solution") offers explicit reminders that we need to "know the difference between an ability-related problem and a motivation-related one" (p. 97) since motivation may need to be addressed in a larger context outside of face-to-face and online learning venues; it also reminds us of a challenge we continue to face: "Today’s T&D manager is expected to solve performance problems--not just to run training programs" (p. 112). Our ability to recognize when we can be effective and how effective we can be through workplace learning and performance is enhanced by what Laird, Naquin, and Holton offer.

[Beth Melillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the time I read this in grad-school (2013), I hated this book. I thought it was extremely dry, prescriptive, and poorly formatted.

4 years after taking that class and 2 years into a training/HR generalist role, I can say that of all the books I read this is the one that I turn to most frequently to review, annote, and revisit. My copy is now full of sticky notes, underlines, and I use it as a reference for planning team meetings, considering how effectively I've set up training evaluation, and to gain more insight into training approaches to see if I've considered alternatives. I love the flow charts included in the text (Chapter 7, Training isn't always the Solution is a favorite) and have photocopied them to explain to colleagues my reasoning for proposing certain solutions.

[Koko Nata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buku tentang seluk beluk pelatihan. Panduang yang tepat bagi Anda yang ingin menjadi pelatih (trainer) yang ingin mengubah perilaku, bukan sekadar untuk bergembira atau pelatihan cari duit semata