Abstract:
Changing business environment demands organizations to develop managers to face
future challenges. In this context the topic, management development has received a
prominent place in human resource management and as such training institutions have
to play a significant role as most o f the organizations depend heavily on external
training for management development. This study examines the effectiveness o f the
training institution in management development. It attempts to study the effectiveness o f
external training by examining a sample o f training institutions that conduct diploma in
management program and relate the results o f the study to the effectiveness o f the
training institution. National Institute o f Business Management, National Institute o f
Plantation Management, Sri Lanka Institute o f Development Administration and
University o f Colombo are selected for this study. Having reviewed literature
extensively on training and development and evaluation o f training, a conceptual model
is developed taking training institution, client organization and trainee into
consideration. In this model course design and training needs analysis are defined as
the two independent variables and the effectiveness o f training as the dependent
variable. Three hypotheses are developed to study the relationship between the
dependent variable and independent variables. To study the relationship a
questionnaire has been developed and administered among 216 successful participants
o f the diploma program. The questionnaire consists o f 24 statements that are divided
into three main categories o f course design; training needs analysis and effectiveness
o f training. The likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (one point) to strongly
agree (five points) is used to rate responses. Formulated hypotheses are analyzed and
tested for statistical significance and correlation and coefficient. The results indicate
that the course design has a moderate positive linear relationship with the effectiveness
o f training while training needs analysis has a weak positive linear relationship. A
sample o f 10 respondents to the questionnaire are subjected to unstructured interviews
to obtain further clarifications and structured interviews are conducted among a
sample o f 15 HR academics and professionals to obtain expert opinion on important
issues with a view to validate some o f the findings o f the questionnaire. Findings
suggest that effectiveness o f training in training institutions is moderate and the role o f
the training institution in management development is not very effective. Findings have
important implications for both training institution and client organization. The
implication for the training institution is that they need to focus on developing demandbased
training programs tailor-made to meet the requirement o f the client
organizations. A major drawback revealed in the study is non-consideration o f the
adult learning concepts in delivering training. From the perspective o f the client
organization, it has been revealed that there is a necessity to assess training needs
objectively and to provide continuous feedback to the training institution with a view to
improve both design and delivery o f training programs.
