Difference between Training, Development and Education

Learn about the key differences between training, development, education.

Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skills of an employee for doing a particular job.

Development, in contrast, is considered to be more general than training and more oriented to individual needs in addition to organizational needs and it is most often aimed towards management people.

Education is the process of increasing the general knowledge and understanding of the employees in an organization.

Difference between Training, Development and Education

Difference between Training, Development and Education

Education is another term that needs to be understood here. Education is the process of increasing the knowledge and understanding of employees. It is the understanding and interpretation of knowledge. It does not provide definite answers, but rather develops a logical and rational mind that can determine relationships among pertinent variables and thereby understand a phenomenon.

Educations impart qualities of mind and character and understanding of the basic principles and develop the capacity of analysis, synthesis and objectivity. Education is broader in scope than training which is related to the goals of organisation more than to the goals of the individual.

Education, Training and Development- Distinction and Inter-Relationship:

Education is broader in scope though both education and training are concerned with learning. By education we generally mean formal instruction in a school or a college, whereas training is vocationally oriented and is imparted to do a particular job only. Thus, training has a more immediate utilitarian purpose than education.

Actually, the distinction between training and education is not precise because in many cases both training and education occur at the same time. Some formal vocational school programs are only job-oriented, whereas some employee development programs are quite wider in scope and they may be viewed as education.

Particularly, where the emphasis is given on off-the-job training, the objective is to increase the knowledge and understanding of the employees about the working environment. In this way, business enterprises are involved indirectly in educational process when they organise training of their employees.

The concept of development is intimately related to education. In other words, development may easily be transformed into education since it is more individual oriented rather than organisation oriented as in case of training. In the words of Bass and Vaughan, “Development implies the nature and direction of change induced among the employees through the processes of education and training.”

Development concerns the means by which a person cultivates those skills whose application will improve the efficiency and effectiveness, with which the anticipated results of a particular organisational segment are achieved.

Learning about the skills takes place in training situations, whether in a classroom, in a conference or in a managing experience; skill in actual managing can be developed only by managing, and thus manager development is basically self-development.

As emphasised by Dale Yoder, “The use of the terms ‘training’ and ‘development’ in today’s employment setting is far more appropriate than ‘training’ alone since human resources can exert their full potential only when the learning process goes far beyond simple routine.”

‘Training’, ‘education’ and ‘development’ are three terms frequently used. On the face of it, there might not appear any difference between them, but when a deep thought is given, there appears some differences between them. In all ‘training’, there is some ‘education’ and in all ‘education’, there is some ‘training’.

And the two processes cannot be separated from ‘development.’ Precise definitions are not possible and can be misleading; but different persons have used these activities in different ways.

1. Training is a process of learning a sequence of programmed behaviour. It is application of knowledge. It gives people an awareness of the rules and procedures to guide their behaviour. It attempts to improve their performance on the current job or prepare them for an intended job.

2. Development is a related process. It covers not only those activities which improve job performance but also those which bring about growth of the personality; help individuals in the progress towards maturity and actualisation of their potential capacities so that they become not only good employees but better men and women.

In organisational terms, it is intended to equip persons to earn promotion and hold greater responsibility. Training a person for a bigger and higher job is development. And this may well include not only imparting specific skills and knowledge but also inculcating certain personality and mental attitudes. In this sense, development is not much different from education.

3. Education is the understanding and intervention of knowledge. It does not provide definitive answers, but rather it develops a logical and rational mind that can determine relationships among pertinent variables and thereby character, and understanding of basic principles and develop the capacities of analysis, synthesis and objectivity.

Usually, education is outside the scope of an organisation’s functions. It involves a range of skills and expertise which can be provided only by educational institutions. An organisation can and does make use of such institutions in order to support and supplement its internal training and development efforts.

Difference between Training, Development and Education

Most of us use the phrase ‘training and development’ without much thought. But the terms, although they have some overlap, have quite different meanings – and so does the term ‘education’.

i. Education is a process of which the prime purposes are to impart knowledge and develop the way mental faculties are used. Education is not primarily concerned with job performance.

ii. Training endeavours to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to perform job-related tasks. It aims to improve job performance in a direct way.

iii. Development is a process whereby individuals learn through experience to be more effective. It aims to help people utilise the skills and knowledge that education and training have given them – not only in their current jobs, but also in future posts.

It embodies concepts such as psychological growth, greater maturity and increased confidence.

Difference between Training, Development and Education – Explained!

According to Flippo, training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skills of an employee for doing a particular job. Training can also be defined as any organizationally planned effort to change the behaviour or attitudes of employees so that they can perform jobs on acceptable standards.

Development, in contrast, is considered to be more general than training and more oriented to individual needs in addition to organizational needs and it is most often aimed towards management people. Usually the objective of development is to provide knowledge and understanding that will enable people to carry out non-technical organizational functions more effectively, such as problem solving, decision-making and relating to the people.

The term “education” is wider in scope and more general in purpose when compared to training. Education is the process of increasing the general knowledge and understanding of the employees in an organization. It is a person-oriented, theory-based knowledge whose main purpose is to improve the understanding of a particular subject or theme or conceptual learning. Education is imparted with the help of schools or colleges and the contents of such a program generally aim at improving the talents of an individual.

‘Training’, ‘Education’, and ‘Development’ terminologies are often used interchangeably. It is very difficult to differentiate as apparently it seems that these are similar. However, some authors have found out the differentiating aspects and have made distinction between them.

Leonard Nadler (1979) has discussed main points of differences between training, education and development. According to him, training involves learning that relates to present job, and the purpose of training is to improve performance on the present job, of the individual, while the focus of education is on learning, to prepare the individual for a different but identified job.

The purpose of education is preparation of an individual for an identified job, in the not too distant future. Nadler defines development as learning for growth of the individual but not related to a specific present or future job. The main objective of development is for general growth not related to any specific job.

Michael Armstrong (2000) discussed the three areas of activities of human resource development in the following ways:

1. Training – The planned and systematic modification of behaviour through learning events, programmes and instruction which enable individuals to achieve the levels of knowledge, skill and competence to carry out their work effectively.

2. Education – The development of the knowledge, values and understanding required in all aspects of life rather than the knowledge and skills relating to particular areas of activity.

3. Development – The growth or realization of a person’s ability and potential through the provision of learning and educational experiences.

So, from the above it is clear that the three terms have distinguishing characteristics. However, it is felt pertinent to make distinction elaborately between ‘training’ and ‘development’ and also between ‘training’ and ‘education’ to find out the differentiating areas of training from development and from education in organizational context. So, the differences between ‘training’ and ‘education’ and also between ‘training’ and ‘development’.

Difference between Training, Development and Education – Key Points of Differentiation

Distinction between Training and Education:

Difference # Training:

1. Concept – It is a mechanism enhancing knowledge and competences of an employee to perform present job.

2. Example – When a mechanic repairs his machine better than an engineer, it means, he is trained.

3. Process – It is one-time Process.

4. Area of learning – Its area of learning is to acquire knowledge, skill to perform the assigned task i.e., getting technical skill/ knowledge.

5. Application – It is practical oriented and applied.

6. Nature – It is specific and relates to present job.

7. Objective – Its objective is to prepare the employee to perform his present job.

8. Duration – It is of short duration.

9. Result – It gives quick results.

Difference # Education:

1. Concept – It is a mechanism of increasing knowledge, skill, abilities, values and understanding of employee’s total environment.

2. Example – Engineer if he is not trained may not be able to repair his machine better than a mechanic, but he has knowledge and understanding of the whole course of engineering.

3. Process – It is a continuous process.

4. Area of learning – It involves learning on whole subject, that is, totality of the area of the subject.

5. Application – It is generally theory based.

6. Nature – It is broad. Learning does not relate to present job.

7. Objective – Its objective is to prepare the employee to perform different job.

8. Duration – It is of long duration. The whole process takes much time to raise the level of understanding and knowledge of the employee.

9. Result – It takes some more time to generate results.

Distinction between Training and Development:

Difference # Training:

1. Concept – It is a mechanism of enhancing knowledge and competencies of an employee.

2. Target group – Target group is usually non-executives.

3. Objective – The objective is to prepare the employees to perform his present job.

4. Process – It is for a stipulated period or one time process.

5. Nature – It is specific and to present job.

6. Need satisfaction – It helps to satiate employees’ lower level need.

7. Cost perspective – It is less expensive.

8. Urge factor – Urge for giving training comes from management personnel.

9. Focus – It focuses on present job performance.

10. Result – It gives quick result.

11. Skill – It improves technical/ operative skill.

Difference # Development:

1. Concept – It is a mechanism of improving the overall personality of the employee.

2. Target group – Target group is usually executives.

3. Objective – The objective is to prepare the employee not to perform any kind of future job.

4. Process – It is a continuous process.

5. Nature – It is broad. It involves total development of the employee.

6. Need satisfaction – It helps to satiate employees’ psychological need.

7. Cost perspective – It is much expensive.

8. Urge factor – Urge for development comes from the individual himself.

9. Focus – It focuses on future job performance and involves personal growth of the employee.

10. Result – It takes some more time.

11. Skill – It improves technical, human and conceptual skill.