Training: A Study of Evolution & Trends

I was quiet intrigued and impressed by what Thomas Friedman presented in his book – The World is Flat.  It is a comprehensive, brief and very well researched account of the complex world, allowing the readers to make sense of the often bewildering global scene unfolding before their eyes. Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to  the world at large, to countries, companies, communities, and more importantly to individuals; and how we all  should and must, adapt.

The title The World is Flat is a metaphor, to look at the world, as a play ground for companies and individuals, in terms of commerce, where all competitors have an equal opportunity. It talks about how companies need to bring about a shift in their paradigm to survive and thrive in the competitive world today.

This led me to reflect - how did training evolve...  How did this extremely critical function, especially in times like these, get influenced and reach where it is today.  Which factors worked as flatteners for the field of training? To understand this, it might be helpful to briefly look through the history of training.

The Ancient Age

The need for training was first felt in the ancient times, when human beings started creating tools. The need for sharing with other members, the knowledge of how to use a particular tool, was pressing. Thus, teaching others to use a tool to perform a task was one of the initial goals of training.

In ancient times, the kind of work that people did was mainly unskilled or semiskilled not requiring specialized knowledge. The experienced members of the group usually knew the tricks for survival and would pass on their knowledge to the junior members through instruction. There wasn’t a particular skill which was required. Only the knowledge of how to use a particular tool was sufficient.

The Middle Ages: Apprenticeship

As the tools became more advanced, the knowledge and skills required to use them became more specialized. The skilled members could not transfer the complete knowledge to the other group members as easily as they were able to do it earlier. Thus there was a need required to bring about a change in the way the knowledge had to be shared. This gave rise to the next level of training -  apprenticeship. A representative population, which was considered to be better at grasping knowledge were then apprenticed to the skilled personnel who had the knowledge of the specialized. In exchange for work, the craftsman would teach the person the craft / skill at which she/he was an expert.

The Industrial Revolution: The Classroom

The coming of industrial revolution in a way changed the way training was imparted.  The advent of machinery increased the capacity of the factories to produce more in a comparatively lesser time. More number of workers were required to be trained as quickly as possible. The old-style apprentice system was clearly unable to meet the demands. To make the most of the opportunity, consequently, the training method needed to undergo a paradigm shift and thus the concept of classrooms got introduced.  The classroom method of imparting knowledge and upskilling people resulted in more number of people getting trained with lesser “trainers”

The Information Revolution and Individualized Instruction

The kind of skills the jobs required (unskilled, semiskilled, or skilled), and the demand for the goods impacted the training methodology. The changes in work were caused by political situations, war, natural calamities, advances in technology, or by other changes in societies (global, etc).

The instructor led training (ILT) in the class room, became one of the  most popular methods of training.  The reason for this was communication, sharing of ideas and the interaction generated between the participants and the instructor.  A lot more ideas and experiences are shared in an ILT than any other mode of training.

The next phase in training was the introduction of CBT (Computer-based training). Individualized instruction led to computer-based training, which is used extensively in many companies today. It is a natural progression from individualized instruction and teaching machines to the computer with its speed and visual display.

CBT can be used in teaching almost any kind of subject matter, as long as the design of the instruction is sound. Displaying information in audio, graphic, and motion video form, has made the teaching of skills and processes more effective than ever before. Individualized instruction delivered over the World Wide Web is a further development of computer-based training. Web-based instruction can be used with any type of computer that can access the internet and has web browser software.

Apart from how training evolved with the economic changes, there are also some other flatteners – Andragogy – the adult learning theory, Instructional Design, Principles of Brain Research, Kirk Patrick model training effectiveness model, Advent of e learning / podcasts, Assessment Centers, and so on.

I would be talking about them in my next series of posts.