Benefits of Training and Development for Individuals,Teams and Organizations

Abstract

This article provides a review of the training and development literature since the year 2000. We review the literature focusing on the benefits of training and development for individuals and teams, organizations, and society. We adopt a multidisciplinary, multilevel, and global perspective to demonstrate that training and development activities in work organizations can produce important benefits for each of these stakeholders. We also review the literature on needs assessment and pertaining states, training design and delivery, training evaluation, and transfer of training to identify the conditions under which the benefits of training and development are maximized. Finally, we identify research gaps and offer directions for future research. The present review is organized as follows. In the first section, we describe benefits of training activities. First, we focus on benefits for individuals and teams, separating these benefits into job performance and factors related to job performance (e.g., tacit skills, innovation, communication), and other benefits (e.g., empowerment, self-efficacy). Second, we describe benefits for organizations. We also separate these benefits into organizational performance, factors related to organizational performance (e.g., effectiveness, profitability, sales), and other benefits (e.g., employee and customer satisfaction, improved organizational reputation). Third, we describe benefits for society. Overall, a review of this body of literature leads to the conclusion that training activities provide benefits for individuals, teams, and organizations that improve a nation’s human capital, which in turn contributes to a nation’s economic growth. The second section reviews research addressing how to maximize the benefits of training activities at the individual and team, organizational, and societal levels. First, we focus on the activities that take place before training is implemented—needs assessment and pretraining states. Then, we focus on training design and delivery, followed by a discussion of training evaluation. We review research regarding transfer of skills and knowledge acquired in training to work settings. In the third and final section, we address conclusions, including implications for practice, and suggestions for future research.