Training Interventions (6th ed.)
Training Interventions (6th ed.)
H. Barrington and M. ReidInstitute of Personnel and Development(IPD)1999£19.95
Keywords Training, Training techniques
This book feels as if it has been updated one time too many without attempting to challenge the assumptions which underpinned the first edition of 1986. Reviewing the book in 2000, I felt that it must have been long in the writing before publication, as so many references are from the 1970s and early 1980s. Quotes throughout the book are from over two decades ago and, although still pertinent, in some cases they certainly feel dated.
The layout of the book is like a very traditional textbook in format and feel. There are pages of dense type with the occasional visual taken from other sources – not an appealing look to a book of 400 pages of rather small text.
The feeling of coming from an earlier era is reinforced by the use of abbreviations that are outdated in the text. City and Guilds and BTEC are still in business, but I think of them as CGLI and Edexcel today. I was familiar with them but feel that those new to training and development will be learning unhelpful titles. The suggested reading is recent but limited and the bibliography is over 50 per cent pre-1990. The demise of TECs and the introduction of Learning and Skills Councils gets a mention in a single paragraph inserted on the second page.
There are some features that I liked about the book. There is an introductory reflective piece on the differing perspectives towards training and development. A topical issue, given the recent setting-up of the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning, is the definition of training, and including training and development and human resource development as a sub-set of personnel and human resource management. The University Forum for HRD argues that human resource development is a separate discipline, which the authors obviously do not support. I have noticed that people management seems recently to have presented IPD members as human resource management professionals, ignoring the independence of HRD, which this book seems to endorse.
The index is quite good and comprehensive. I also liked the questions for reflection at the end of each chapter. However, some do present big and time-consuming activities with limited opportunity to review the outcomes. One example is to outline a plan for training and development activities for a bank or supermarket.
I was intrigued to find that Chapter 6 was stated to introduce the first mainstream theme, after 120 pages!
The use of the term "training officer" in the text seems very dated. I have been working with trainers who have been in employment for the past 20 years. Today very few, if any, have job titles that include the term "training officer" and this adds to the old-fashioned feel of the book for me.
The training methods appendix is based on a training board publication from the 1960s. Not a criticism in itself as there is a lot of good training board material which is neglected and it can be built on. However, the addition of the technologically based methods seems superficial. I also feel that there is a confusion of ideas between delivery methods and training methods. Technology can be used to deliver a lecture, demonstration or case study, so it is not a method. Computers, video, CD-ROM are not methods in themselves; they are a vehicle for storage and delivery of training methods selected by the designers.
There is an example given in the text of the benefits of the Internet. In it someone searches for geological rock formations in Scotland. They find something about Scottish rock bands and start exploring that. This is presented as a positive benefit of the Internet, while I see it as an example of how the Internet can distract and undermine learning by diverting attention away from the objective. I agree that the Internet is interesting and a potentially powerful learning tool, but not in the way used in the example.
Where NVQs are mentioned in the text, negative views seem to be emphasised. They are presented as having few redeeming features. There is no reference to attempts to address the identified deficiencies of NVQ implementation. The authors apparently believe that nationally-set examinations, as in France and Germany, are less bureaucratic than local assessment! Recently, when I was talking to someone about her work on the impact of NVQs in social work, I asked if she had received any negative responses. She reported that her over 100 respondents all viewed the introduction of NVQs as positive. The authors do not appear to concede any benefits. They do recognise that national standards are a very useful resource which can be used by trainers and others for a variety of purposes.
The approach to identifying individual training needs presents the "empty vessel" view. The jobholder is not expected to have any existing expertise and the analyst defines everything they have to learn. I think it is vital that learning needs to start from what the jobholder already knows and can do. Training design is presented as a linear sequence and ignores the interactive nature of the various design elements and the creativity a training designer needs to display.
I feel the authors are complacent about key issues facing the HR profession. One example is the reference to knowledge management. The authors express the view that "personnel staff" are delegating knowledge capture to the IT department. My own view is that the IT department is running away with knowledge management because it is seen as hardware and software driven and the implications are ignored by all HR staff.
The back cover of the book asserts that it has been updated "to take account of the growing emphasis on self-managed learning and the developing role of the training specialist as facilitator and adviser". I was surprised to find that neither adviser nor facilitator appears in the index.
This introductory text is not directed at any particular level and does not attempt any great depth. It presents material drawn from a variety of sources and is quite prescriptive. The density of the text makes it a demanding read and I doubt that anyone would attempt to read it from cover to cover. It does offer a broad, if dated, overview as a basis for further study, although I do not feel that it directs the reader to the best material to take their studies further.
Some significant topics get scant treatment, with two pages on training policy and three further pages on developing such a policy. There are the same number of pages on job analysis techniques, which illustrates the ambition and limitations of the book in claiming to address needs for everyone in the IPD Professional Qualification Scheme, Training & Development NVQs at all levels and other first degree and postgraduate courses.
John RoscoeFaculty of Business and Law, Thames Valley University
