- Industrial/organizational psychology applies psychological principles to business problems like hiring, training, and management. I/O psychologists help improve company performance through practices like training programs. - Effective training includes all employees, teaches new skills related to performance, and can result in increased productivity and satisfaction. Training methods include orientation, on-the-job, and technical training. - Learning is the acquisition of knowledge through experience and being taught. Learning principles that maximize efficiency include knowledge of results, distributed practice, transfer of training, motivation, and part vs. whole training.

1. Training and
Learning
Prepared By: Raghav Singhal

2. I/O Psychology
• Draws upon facts, generalizations, and principles of psychology.
• Because it applies the techniques of psychology to the industrial scene and the problems
confronting it, industrial psychology formulates and modifies procedures to meet the
conditions found in business rather than in the laboratory.
• Simply defined :
”It is the application or extension of psychological facts and principles to
the problems concerning human beings operating within the context of business
and industry.”
• It recognizes that scientific conclusions must be objective and based upon facts gathered
as a result of a defined procedure.

3. I/O Psychologist
• I-O psychologists are able to recommend or create:
 improved hiring practices
 training programs
 feedback systems and management techniques to boost company’s
performance.
• Their knowledge and skills are applicable to almost any organization, including
corporations, factories, nonprofits, government agencies and the military.

4. Training
• Training is a
“process that develops and improves skills related to performance.”
• Effective training programs can result in increased production, reduced labor turnover,
and great employee satisfaction.”
• They should include all employees, from factory workers to executives, and apply not
only to inexperienced workers but also to experienced workers new to the company.
• A training program should include those who are promoted to higher level jobs and the
periodic retraining of present employees by means of “refresher” courses.

5. Learning
• “The acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or
being taught.”
• Learning became a major focus of study in psychology during the early part
of the twentieth century as behaviorism rose to become a major school of
thought.
• Today, learning remains an important concept in numerous areas of
psychology, including cognitive, educational, social, and developmental
psychology.
• Learning can involve both beneficial and negative behaviors.

6. Principles of Learning
Learning principles are those principles which are conducive to gaining
maximum efficiency in a learning situation.
• Knowledge of Results
• Schedules of Training
• Transfer of Training
• Part vs Whole Training
• Motivation
Extrinsic vs Intrinsic Feedback
Primary vs Secondary Feedback
Augmented vs Summary Feedback
Specific vs General Feedback

7. Knowledge of Results
• Knowledge regarding one’s own performance is a necessary condition for
learning. The explanation for this fact is generally attributed to either the
informational characteristic or the reinforcing characteristic of the
knowledge of results.

8. • Extrinsic vs Intrinsic Feedback – Knowledge about task performance can come
from cues internal to the organism, such as muscle tension, general body
equilibrium, etc. – Intrinsic Feedback. Extrinsic Feedback, refers to the cues
about performance which come from sources outside the organism.
• Primary vs Secondary Feedback – Any knowledge of results which can be
considered as being an internal part of the task itself is referred to as primary
feedback. Information about performance from a source outside the task is called
either secondary or supplemental feedback.
• Augmented vs Summary Feedback – The primary differentiation is time.
Augmented feedback is used to describe information about performance that
occurs almost concurrently with the actual performance; there is a minimal time
lag between the “ doing” and the secondary feedback. Summary feedback
involves a delayed overall summary of task performance.
• Specific vs General Feedback – Specific feedback refers to very precise primary
feedback, while general feedback refers to rather global primary feedback.

9. Schedules of Training
• Distributed or spaced practice is superior to continuous or massed practice.
• This seems to be true for both simple laboratory tasks and for highly
complex tasks. Actually, schedules for learning can be manipulated in 3
different ways:
 (1) Duration of Practice Sessions
 (2) Duration of Rest Sessions
 (3) Positioning of Rest Sessions
• It is usually much more effective to have short practice periods interrupted
by short, frequent rest periods than to have only one or two long rest periods
and one or two long practice periods.

10. Transfer of Training
• Very few training situations represent the actual job with perfect fidelity.
• Therefore, it becomes of real importance to understand something about the
processes involved when one takes a skill learned in one setting and
attempts to “transfer” this to a somewhat different skill in perhaps a
somewhat different setting.
• Transfer of training may be either positive or negative. Positive transfer is
said to occur when something previously learned benefits performance or
learning in a new situation.
• Negative transfer is said to occur when something previously learned
hinders performance or learning in a new situation.

11. Part vs Whole Training
• The goal of training is usually the achievement of a desired level of
competence in the performance of a particular task or job.
• In seeking the best possible training procedures to accomplish these
objectives, the question of the size of the unit to be learned becomes one of
extreme interest to many individuals.

12. Motivation
• The role of motivation is very important in learning.
• Effective motivation is the essence of learning.
• Motivation directs behavior toward particular goals.
• Motivation leads to increased effort and energy.
• Motivation increases initiation of and persistence in activities.
• Motivation affects cognitive processes.
• Motivation determines which consequences are reinforcing and punishing.
• Motivation often enhances performance.

13. Kinds of Training
• A number of different types of training have emerged in industrial situations:
 [Tiffin and McCormick (1958)] classify training into the following seven
categories –
 Orientation Training
 Vestibule Training
 On-the-job Training
 Apprentice Training
 Technical Training
 Supervisory Training
 Other Training

14. Systems Approach to Training
In this approach,
the development of training program is likened to the development of a weapon system.

15. Steps to Systems Approach Training..
• The application of the systems approach to training involves seven major
steps :
 Step 1: Define training objectives.
 Step 2: Develop criterion measures for evaluating training.
 Step 3: Derive training content.
 Step 4: Design methods and training materials.
 Step 5: Integrate training program and trainees.
 Step 6: Compare graduates to criteria standards set in step 2.
 Step 7: Modify steps 3 and 4 based upon results of step 6.

16. Special Training Areas
• Most important and challenging areas in training today are management
(executive) training and team training.
 Executive Training
 Team Training

17. Executive Training
• The executive training has two separate components associated with it – a
technical skill component and a human relations component.
Decision-making skill
Technical Knowledge
Human relations or
interpersonal knowledge
1. On the Job Training
2. Simulated Training
3. Classroom Instruction
1. Simulated Situations
2. Group Discussion

18. Summary of Methods
Method Technical Decision
Skills
Human Relations
Decision Skills
In-basket Training Yes Yes
Sensitivity Training No Yes
Gaming Yes No
Role Playing Yes Yes
Summarization of the different executive training methods
and illustration of their relative effectiveness

19. Team Training
• The results of modern day technology seems to be an increased frequency in
tasks which involve a team effort rather than an individual one.
 “A team is a group of individuals who are working together toward a common
goal. All teams are really defined by their purpose or goal.”
• There has been a related increase in the importance of team training
within the larger training complex with the increased frequency of
team tasks.

20. • Group vs Individual Training of Team Members
• Feedback in Team Training
• Prediction of Team Performance from Individual Performance
• Influence of Changes in Team Membership upon Training
… Continued

21. Evaluation of Training Effectiveness
• Before we can be certain that our industrial techniques lead to positive
results rather than wishful thinking, we must be able to obtain a measure of
the training accomplishment.
• The criteria suggested by Lindhal (1949) for checking the results of training
are :
 Better quality of production
 Increase in the number of operators able to meet job standards
 Reduction in time required to do a specific job
 Decrease in breakable supplies or tools
 Decrease in absenteeism
 Reduction in separation rate
 Reduction in operational costs
 Better Performance on personnel tools such as tests, rating scales, and attitude
surveys.

22. Example:
Illustration of method to determine the effectiveness of training using a
control group which did not receive training.