To train or not to train : is training in public service organizations role specific or affected by status and gender?

Abstract

Training is seen as a means of achieving better outcomes in Organizations. It means more people with better skills. Training, however, needs effective policies, effective programmes and effective implementation. Public Organizations may not have the ‘competitive stance’ that Business Organizations have and may not organize training in the same way. The study examines, through a triangulation form of information gathering, documented data at source, data collected by means of semi-structured interviews from 2 decision makers and data collected by means of structured interviews from 48 employees of different gender and categorised in different strata, according to their status in the Organization. The investigation covered issues related to budget and training activities, strategic issues, delivery of training and evaluation. The data were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively and were organized in such a way as to examine the effect of gender, and status with regards to training and the extent the training provided was role specific. The underlying assumption is whether Public Organizations, which are ‘not for profit’, ensure that training is specific to achieve better outcomes and whether equal opportunities is an issue in such Organizations. The results obtained lend support to the hypothesis in that training is more directed to employees of high status and most of the training provided is not job specific and hence effects negatively the cost-benefit relationship. However, training does not seem to be gendered. From this study, it is clear that the current system of training provision seems to be affected by institutional lack of planning. The organization is trapped in its very bureaucracy. It means to plan training and the documented policy supports this, however, implementation of policy is somewhat different. This impairs the outcome of training. The study makes a number of recommendations, which attempt to ensure that employees from all strata acquire the necessary skills, training and support they need.