Professional training as a strategy for staff development

Abstract

Purpose -Research studies on training-job relevance continuously discuss the extent of transfer being found limited. This study aims to focus on exploring trainees' perceptions about the effects of a "Western" professional training program on their skill development and how cultural factors specific to Lebanon influence the learning. Design/methodology/approach -This research adopted a mixed method study design. It was conducted in the context of a training services program offered by an HRD department in a large Lebanese financial institution. The sample frame consisted of service employees who were conveniently selected after enrolling in the professional training program. The sample was composed of 120 participants. A total number of 107 questionnaires were completed and 101 questionnaires were usable (82.5 percent response rate). Analysis of the quantitative data was through descriptive statistics. Qualitative data collection was included to corroborate the quantitative data in answering the research questions. The researcher conducted 15 interviews with participants and stakeholders in the training program to get their perceptions of how well the training workshops were helping them develop new skills. Findings -This study yielded a broad perspective on issues related to formal training and training transfer in the Lebanese context. The issues explored are related to trainees' attitudes towards the training activities they were exposed to, their perceptions of the impact of training activities on their career development, and their attitudes towards work environment that might predict the transfer of training. Practical implications -While professional training programs may lead to motivating trainees to become more committed to work, and enhancing learning skills relevant to individual career development and life-long learning, such trainings fail to tackle problems specific to a trainee's organizational or cultural needs. In particular, it is often hard to integrate generic training ideas into specific workplace settings. Originality/value -This paper provides original information on a topic that is not well researched in the Lebanese context. It identifies needs and offers practical help to HRD practitioners and international consultants, and provides theoretical insights to HRD scholars to better understand the field of HRD in international contexts.

Women and training: an empirical investigation in the Arab Middle East

“…As such, the interviewees had very little control or say in how often they accessed training or the content of the training workshops. These findings support Dirani's (2012) claim that training and development initiatives in Lebanon are mostly short-term, and based on decisions made by upper management. When asked about coaching, which is considered one of McLagan's (1989) training and development activities, the interviewees agreed that men and women managers do not have access to coaching opportunities.…”

“…The theory of a learning organisation -the ideas of which range from continuous learning and transformation to the sharing of new information (Watkins and Marsick 1993) -has attracted the attention of scholars over the past three decades (Baldwin and Ford 1988;Marsick 1993, 2003;Tracey and Tews 2005;Watkins and Dirani 2013). However, this attention has focused on Western economies (Watkins and Marsick 2003) and has not been matched, either theoretically or empirically, in other parts of the world with different social and organisational environments, and Lebanon is no exception (Dirani 2012). This gap in our knowledge posits an important question of whether such concepts have indeed been applied in non-Western contexts, and if applied, how successful their application has been?…”

“…Al-Kazi (2011) looked at social change and women in Kuwait; and AlAhmadi (2011) looked at the challenges facing women leaders in Saudi Arabia. Empirically based HRD studies in the AME are few and far between (see, for example, Stalker and Mavin 2011;Dirani 2012;Tlaiss 2014a), with the majority being theoretical in nature or providing literature-based overviews.…”

“…While this paucity of HRD research could be attributed to the lack of a universally accepted meaning or definition of HRD (McGoldrick and Stewart 1996;Mankin 2001) or to the variations in HRD terms from one country to another (Dirani 2006), it is clear that the majority of HRD-related research is 'written from the North American and, more specifically, the US-American point of view ' (McLean and McLean 2001, 313). Hence, several scholars have called for more HRD research in developing countries, particularly in the AME region (Achoui 2009;Al-Kazi 2011;Dirani 2012;Tlaiss 2014a).…”

“…In response to these calls, the current study draws on qualitative data from a group of Lebanese women managers and explores their experiences with professional training within the broad framework of HRD and the context of learning cultures. In the context of this study, we lean on Dirani's (2012) definition of professional training in Lebanon as formal learning and support activities that are initiated by organisations to develop their employees.…”