8 Different Off-the-Job Methods of Training Employees are described below:
1. Lectures:
Through lectures, participants are motivated to learn. Lectures focus on the understanding rather than enriching knowledge and skills through reading assignments and experience.
However, empirical studies on the effectiveness of training through lecture methods indicate that this is not effective for the obvious inability of participants to retain the information. Often, trainers also fail to make such sessions more interesting relating to on-the-job experience.
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2. Conference Method:
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It is a participative group-centred method through which participants develop knowledge and understanding by small group discussions and active participation.
3. Group Discussions:
Group discussion is also a very useful method of training and is usually based on papers prepared by trainees on a given subject. The trainees read their papers, which are usually followed by critical discussions. It may, however, be a follow-up discussion on some statement or on a paper presented by an expert.
4. Case Study:
Case study helps students to learn on their own by independent thinking. A set of data or some descriptive materials are given to the participants asking them to identify and analyse the problems and also to recommend solutions for the same.
5. Role Playing:
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This training method particularly helps in learning human relations skills through practice and imbibing and also through insight into one’s own behaviour. Trainees of such programme are informed of a situation and asked to play their roles in such (imaginary) situation before the rest of the class. This, therefore, helps in enriching interaction skills of the employees.
6. Programmed Instruction:
This method is prearranged desired course of proceeding to the learning or acquisition of specific skills or knowledge. Information in such programmes are conveniently broken into different units, to allow the trainees to learn at their convenient pace.
7. T-Group Training:
T-group is sensitivity training. It takes place under laboratory conditions and is mostly instructed and informal kind of training. Trainer in such a training programme plays a role of a catalyst. He helps the individual participants to understand how others perceive his behaviour, how he acts to others’ behaviour and how and when a group acts either in a negative or in a positive way.
8. E-learning:
Training programmes delivered via intranet have now been considered as the most cost-effective route. It is not only cost effective but also caters to the real-time information need of employees. However, it involves convergence of several technologies like, hardware, software, web designing and authoring, instructional design, multimedia design, telecommunications and finally Internet-Intranet network management. Organizations can outsource e-learning training modules at relatively cheaper rate. Even though training through e-learning is globally increasing, we do not have adequate empirical evidence to justify this.