Impact of Training and Development

Programmes on Indian Banks

Abstract:

Training and development are continuous process in improving the knowledge ,skills and attitudes of
employees. It is necessary to improve their current and future performance. The organization should keep
a track on their performance after training, it means training needs assessment it is a systematic process
of altering the behavior of employees in a direction to achieve the organization’s goals. A training
program is an effort by the employer to provide opportunities for the employees to acquire job related
acumen.

There have been many changes in India, especially in the banking sector. The merging of banks now
include non-traditional areas like merchant banking, mutual funds, newer financial services, personal
investment counseling, factoring, venture capital and possible consultancy and research services. This is a
step in the direction of consolidation of the remaining state-owned banks as part of banking reforms,
which has been on their agenda for some time now. The employees of these banks are scared of losing
their jobs, as well as any adverse impact on their careers. But if proper training is provided as per the
banks requirement, the problem can be addressed. Therefore most of the commercial banks either private
or public adopt training and development programs at the time of induction, promotion and other
situation. In this research paper an attempt is made to learn that training and development exist in banks
and their impact to generate efficiency of employees to cater to the need of their customers.

Introduction:

Training and Development (T&D) being a core technique of HRD is the vital tool which contributes
effectively towards the competencies of the employees and a remedy for poor performance. Training
bridges the gap between the actual performance and the desired level of performance .Training equips the
employee with required skills not only to do justice to the current profile but also prepares him to seek
responsibility for higher levels in the organization. The business environment today and intense
competition globally have made it mandatory for the business entities to train their human resources
constantly and as per the emerging challenges. The training programs have to be designed strategically to
meet the business needs, prior to that the training needs must be identified methodically with the use of
the appropriate tools so that the training program helps in meeting the current competitive market
scenario

Banking and financial services have always been the most preferred employment sector for students
across the world. Over 10 international banks such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, American Express,
and more than 30 Indian banks such as ICICI, Yes, Axis, IDBI, Kotak, HDFC, Citi and many more are
regularly seen scouting for talent at Indian campuses. A Deloitte survey on “popularity of working in
banking”, conducted in 2013, found that students seeking banking jobs are motivated by learning and
earning prospects of banking sector.
India is rising as an economy much prepared to acknowledge the demands from outside condition being
one of the most reliably called Developing nations. With landing of real strategy changes as deregulation,
privatization, dereservation, , foreign investment, export promotion and import substitution so on these
policies no lesser than a boon to Indian economy. Prime concern areas like industry, instruction and HR
as yet trusting that the real changes will occur and to remain at standard with universal models. As human
resource are the most profitable resource of any foundation in 21st century, all the factors of production
capital, land and labors being the most active factor of production it exploits other passive factor of
production though India has the population increasing like jungle fire resulting in increased consumption
and production to fulfill its need but on the other hand failing policies as growth rate with keeping pace
with population is dissatisfactory what can be possible way out if education be made vocational which
will be like an early training for students to easily pick their career options and unskilled labor made
skilled with global requirement can sort out certain issues.

New programs like training the trainee helps learn new habits, refined skills and useful knowledge during
the training that helps in improving performance. Nowadays, banking is no more conventional sector
because many private and public banks are mushrooming with providing the best of banking under one
roof. With drastic growth of banks it calls for efficient and well trained staff members to handle/deal with
the consumer needs. Banks are shaping up as financial hub for their clients to grow in size and well
recognized in the world market.

Research Methodology:

The imformation has been collected though reliable sources. The information about the area is collected
from the Research Journals, Trade Magazines, Annual Reports of Banks and the Internet. For evaluating
“The Impact of T&D in Banking Industry‟, we have focused on as recent material as possible. In order to
get access to the latest developments in this area, a number of articles published in academic journals and
trade magazines are used.

Findings:

Listed are some of the issues on which corporate HR consult field HR and vice-versa:

 Feasibility of the implementation of a particular policy

 Relevance of the policy at the particular region
 Implementation issues faced
 Modification needed in the current training and development program
 Conversion rate of the learning during the program into practice
 Conflicts between various regional and national level goals

Selection of Learning and Training Methods:

Most of the banks consider two approaches for selection of learning and training methods:
 1. Operational-Reaction decision making:
This approach is required to bridge shortfalls in expected levels of services like quality, customer service,
etc. These are identified through Training need analysis, evident through feedback and quality data by
using feedback surveys, focused managerial discussion, focus scores.

The design is:

 Impact of a problem: Small and localized versus large and representative.
 Learning Technology: Best blend of delivery channels such as e-learning, classroom, virtual
classroom, gaming, simulation, mobile learning.
 Executive: Delivery time-lines and coverage.
 Measurement: Results measured on suitable model.

2. Strategic-Proactive Decision making:

Organizations capitalize on potential and emerging business opportunities by building their capabilities
for the long term goals. Indian banking industry as a whole has taken initiatives in this areas to build their
capabilities.

Learning and Training Methods:

E-learning courses covering areas of banking, acts as knowledge for every business group.

 Leadership Mentoring Program :For building Leadership bench strength of the organization
they have introduced Leadership Mentoring Program for all high potential employees.
 Behavioural Programs in line with the competency framework (DNA) ensure cultural alignment
of all employees. This shows the Learning Continuum.Investment in building innovative and
cutting edge learning channels like Gaming and Simulation for technology based skill practice
and Mobile learning for real time performance support to the sales team.Banks decided to make
structural interventions in education by addressing the issue of supply of skilled manpower:
 Vocational Training: To offer vocational training in the financial services domain banks have
entered into partnerships with 172 educational institutions. Curriculum and pedagogy
development, faculty development and up-gradation of infrastructure help banks to involve in
capital infrastructure.
 Investment in Higher Education: Bank offered wealth management, risk management and
treasury operations by entering into partners. Bank has also started offering new courses like 6
months banking diploma to increase the supply of trained manpower not just for the bank but also
for entire industry.
 “Probationary officers Program” has been started to provide employment to young graduates
primarily from rural and semi-urban areas by training them through a 9-months course in various
specialized areas in building.
Current Trends:

1. ICICI Bank: Gaming and Simulation Engine:

This is considered to be an innovative learning medium to skilling employees on process and operation
skill which had a development lead time of ten weeks and the interesting part is, a fresh training game to
be developed for every training process.

I-Voice: The communication with all the company stake holders (i.e. shareholders, customers or
employees) is always timely and transparent in ICICI bank. A video magazine called I-Voice is the source
of information in ICICI which is published quarterly. This video magazine is 90 mints duration it is
screened to employees across banks through town hall meetings facilitated by senior members of bank for
two and half hours in duration.
In the last one year, continuous communication with the employees has become difficult due to the global
financial crisis and the market turmoil. For this, ICICI has addressed queries and concerns in an informal
and timely manner by using the channel of I-Voice extensively to communicate with employees.

2. Axis Bank Young Bankers Program

The Axis Bank Young Bankers program provides young graduates with a head-start towards a career in
banking. The program identifies young bankers and equips them with necessary banking knowledge and
skills through Learn-Earn-Grow model. The curriculum is a mix of classroom sessions, role playing and
internships which helps students develop a comprehensive understanding of banking. On successful
completion of the program, students are awarded a Post Graduate Diploma in Banking Services along
with an opportunity to join Axis Bank.

3. HDFC Training Centre- Centre For Housing Finance (CHF)

CHF, HDFC's Training Centre, was established in the year 1989. The centre presents a unique focal point
to hold your training programmes/ workshops /conferences /strategy meetings etc. It is a synonym for
convenient and hassle-free service.

4. State Bank of India

State Bank of India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Banking Institute
(NBI), Kathmandu (Nepal) to set up a strategic alliance for development of NBI’s human resources in
education, training and research.
Under this MoU, State Bank of India’s strategic training unit (STU) will educate, train and develop NBI’s
HR department to transform it. Among other things, SBI and NBI will share their experience and
expertise — faculty and research and development wing —as well as the infrastructure and administrative
facilitates available to hold press conferences, seminars, workshops, and study and group discussions. The
two organisations will collaborate to assist research scholars and faculties in undertaking project work and
conducting various studies.

5. JP Morgan:

In 2017 alone, we invested over $300 million globally in employee training and development. Leadership
Edge offers a best-in-class training program to develop great leaders and strengthen culture across the
firm. We provide skills re-training programs to help those transitioning into new roles at the firm.Through
our mentorship programs and everyday work, managers and senior leaders coach colleagues and their
teams, and share their expertise.

Inferences:

As per the study findings there are significant differences between public sector banks and private sector
banks regarding the sex composition, education levels, the rural-urban proportion of branches, the age
profile of employees, banking experience, the clerical officer composition of the staff, availability of
online training etc. but the number of training programs provided there are almost similar. It is found that
in the case of public sector banks more number of women are working, the employees are having more
banking experiences. They attend more training programs and they are more interested in the bank tests.
Most of the private banks' branches are in urban area, large number of management graduates is working
in them. Their employers are younger. They do not have clerical staff and they get more online training.
The two categories of respondents agree that the bank training should not be a onetime affair. But it
should be continuous. They do not think that it is over with one training program. According to the
respondents "retraining" is "missing". Training is not systematically planned according to the need of the
situation and through training employees is able to gain expertise only in few banking areas. In the case of
public sector banks, the most favored training objective is to familiarize with new work practices like
computerization etc. But for the private banks it is to equip the staff with more skills to meet the future
challenges. A majority of the respondents believe that there is significant extent of integration between
business goals and training objectives. There are no statistically significant differences. Manpower
planning department think that comprehensive man power planning system exists in the organization.
Private Sector Banks Operatives, sales and marketing are the three major divisions of activities in private
banks. Even though it varies according to position, test and interview are the most common recruitment
mechanism. Direct recruitment from other organizations is another method used for recruitment and
selection of employees. Degree is the entry level qualification for the private sector bank employees. An
MBA is preferred, more than consistent above average academic and career performance is the most
important aspect. The employee supervision system is very effective as most of the elements are
automatic and online. It is usually said that if you achieve your targets, everything else is okay. Some of
the different categories of training provided are on the job, class room training and online. In one of the
banks a specialized on line learning matrix is being developed. In some of the banks, class room training
is provided and online test is conducted once in every three months. Behavioral Sciences training is
usually provided by 118 Salb.al Roy outsourced staff and product training by senior officers. There is a
mixture of own training and training outsourcing. As far as private banks are concerned, it is refreshing
fact that there is a promotion possibility all the way up to chairman of the bank. An employee who is
consistently performing well will have the chance to go up in the ladder. Such a non bureaucratic context
which encourages efficiency and merit turns oul to be extremely motivating to the employees. The work
lime in the private banks is not as rigid as we see in the case of public sector banks. However, it seems
that in most of the situations, the flexible work time turns out to be detrimental to the employees.
Generally, it can be said that the work atmosphere in private banks is more stressful but that depends on
the nature of the employees. One should be ready to bear with the targets, results, and the pressure of time
and constant appraisals. The private banks claim that they do not have any clerical staff. It is not because
that there is no clerical work but because the work is not divided into clerical and non-clerical. The person
who is responsible to do something will have to do everything related to it and all the work related to it is
considered to be the normal banking work. The focus is on the specific work to be done. The private
banks definitely provide a fast track growth for dynamic young professionals besides providing a
challenging work environment; one gets to have a cross-functional exposure along with remuneration par
with the industry. The absence of trade unions and associations is a feature of the new bank work culture.
Facilities like trekking club, photography club, Saturday kids club for the children of the employees
which turns out to be a place to learn, to unwind and have a lot of fun, fitness centre, health services,
homes in the better known vacation spots all over the country, scholarship schemes for the children of the
employees are provided in important centers. Computerized internal control systems are developed so that
the work done by the subordinate is monitored by the superior in private banks. Private Banks encourage
and focus on innovations and it is frequent and open to all. ·Any employee can give his/her own
innovative ideas but will be implemented only if it ensures positive financial results. The new
competencies possessed by an old banker include knowledge of market and product, excellent
communication and interpersonal skills, anticipation, innovation, quick action, reliability, integrity and
quality of work. Current trends and changes coming up especially with mergers of banks , the focus will
shift:

Old Competencies
1. Ability to operate in well defined and stable environment
2. Capacity to deal with repetitive, straight Capacity to deal with non-routine forward and concrete
work processes
3. Ability to operate in supervised work Ability to handle decisions and environment.
Responsibilities
4. Isolated work.
5. Ability to operate within narrow
6. Broad unspecified knowledge
7. Procedural competencies

New Competencies
1. Ability to operate in ill defined and ever changing environment
2.Capacity to deal with non-routine and abstract work processes
3. Ability to handle decisions and environment.
4.Group work and interactive work
5. System wide understanding, ability to operate within expanding geographical and time horizons
6. Specified knowledge
7. Customer assistance oriented competencies
Conclusion:

Employees who are trained on a regular basis are the ones who provide a higher quality services to
the customers. To develop an integrated and proactive training and development strategy there is
requirement of coherent corporate culture rather than ad-hoc programs. In a service oriented
industry such as banking, people are among the most important assets and a bank must efficiently
manage its employees during every phase of employment in this competitive arena. It is concluded
that public sector banks undertake training and development programmes for their employees to
increase their efficiency. Banks provide training programmes to enhance their knowledge and skills
to satisfy the customers. Growth of banking sector in India is the result of skilled manpower which is
the outcome of training and development. Decentralization of training will make the training
convenient for employee. Managers who are at high levels are trained in restricted numbers of
training centres which are located in few states of India that makes training inconvinient for
employees living far off regions. To update employee’s knowledge and skill suitable training must be
provided at regular intervals i.e. in a year or as per the requirement to keep the employees updated.
Training and development should also include more of upgrading their social behavior as they
connect to various clients belonging to various social backgrounds of society. As they need to
intermingle with different colleagues during transfers and delegations. All the banks whether private
or public should share their training and learning techniques as a separate body it should provide
standardized and uniform training so that young people will not get tangled up in ``different bank
different training’’ strategy.

References:
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Banks”, International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research.
 Suhasini, Dr. T. Suganthalakshmi (2 015), “Emerging Trends in Training and Development”,
International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications
 R.Karthi (2010), “Impact of Training in Indian Banking Sector – An Empirical Investigation”,
 International Journal of Business and Management
 Harvey, A.(1997). "Building a learning library", International Journal of Manpower
 "Good Bank Train", Bank Marketing. Mukhopadhyay, K.K. (2000). "Challenges Before the
Public Sector Banks in the Next Millennium", SBI Monthly review, January