Training and Development - Human Resource Management

Training and development is a key component of project management, specifically in human resource management.

Importance: It's crucial for enhancing the skills, abilities, and knowledge of the team members, which leads to improved performance, productivity, and motivation. It helps to minimize gaps in team capabilities and ensures that the project continues smoothly without any hiccups resulting from a lack of necessary skills or expertise. Moreover, it also contributes towards increasing job satisfaction and retaining valuable team members.

What it is: Training is a process of enhancing the employees' skills to meet the job requirements effectively while development aims at overall personality development of the employees for future assignments and roles. Both of them are part of an organization's learning & development (L&D) program.

How it works: It begins with identifying the training needs, setting learning objectives, designing the training program, delivering the training, and ends with evaluating the effectiveness of the training program. It can be done through various methods like on-the-job training programs, workshops, seminars, e-learning platforms, etc.

Answering Questions on Training and Development in an exam: When confronted with a question about training and development in a PMP exam, it's important to remember it’s critical role in human resource management and it’s benefits for both the individual team members and the project as a whole. Think about the training cycle, i.e., identification of needs, setting objectives, designing and delivering the training, and assessing its effectiveness. Be familiar with different training methods and their benefits.

Exam Tips: Stay focused on the principles of effective training and development and their impact on project success. Always remember, PDUs (Professional Development Units) are mandatory for PMP, thus questions may arise on this. Most importantly, practice scenario-based questions as much as possible since these are the key to cracking PMP exams. Familiarize yourself with the terminology used in HRM, especially in the context of training and professional development. Remember, the goal is to improve the competencies of your team members and hence, respond to the questions with an underlying aim of overall team and project success.