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Abstract
This article discusses the way in which employers provide training and how it has an impact on individual, organisational, and industry skill development. It uses findings from a research study ofthe relationship between training and development and employee turnover. The study uncovered three training and development models that had likely consequences for employee turnover. These models were labelled Individual Development, Team Development, and Organisational Development. Individual Development contributed to higher employee turnover when it was adopted in a work environment which lacked employment-growth opportunities, and where employees perceived more external job alternatives. Team Development was likely to contribute to lower employee turnover if adopted in conjunction with other high-performance work practices, or if there was evidence of job embeddedness in the organisation. Finally, the Organisational Development model appeared to contribute to higher employee turnover when the training activities contributed to a lack of role clarity and to poorer employee commitment to the organisation.
1. Introduction
Employers expect their investment in training to raise the capacity ofthe organisation's collective skills and thereby to improve its productivity. This assumption may rely on trained workers remaining within the investing organisation. The standard belief is that investment in certain forms of training and development has costs and economic benefits forthe individual and the organisation (Becker 1962,1964,1993; Elliot 1991). An individual may decide to stay or leave an organisation after considering the costs and benefits ofthe training and development that they receive.
Investment in trainingand development benefits individuals by equipping them with skills that improve their productivity, thereby increasing their likelihood of promotion and making them more attractive to employers (Altonji and Spletzerl991; Barron, Black, and Lowenstein 1989; Brown 1989; Blundell et al. 1999; Duncan and Hoffman 1979; Lynch 1991; Mincer 1988).
Many studies have suggested that organisations benefit from training by being more productive, more competitive, and consequently more profitable in the future (Becker 1993; Blundell et al. 1999; Lynch 1992). Generally, the body ofwork suggests that investment in human capital can improve an organisation's productivity by improving the knowledge, skills, and abilities of its employees (Beckerand Gerhart 1996; Ichniowski, Shaw and Prennushi 1997; Youndt, Snell and Lepak 1996). Research suggests that an increase of 10 hours peryear in the amount of training per employee leads...