Page 99 - DMGT518_TRAINING_AND_DEVELOPMENT_SYSTEM

Training and Development System

Notes 6.4.2 Programmed Learning

The rapid industrial and economic expansion resulting in administrative complexities of
commercial, industrial and financial organisation has created the need for a larger number of
persons to man different positions in the expanding hierarchy. Further methods of yesterday
have become obsolete today because of technological and other advances.

According to the behavioural scientists, effective learning takes place through active participation.
The learner has to respond. If the response given is correct, the learner gets a success experience.
Because of the success experience, the learner is motivated to learn further by steps. Learning is
psychological, and does not depend on the trainer’s logic in presentation of information or
knowledge. Learning takes place only when the trainee can see for himself that what presented
meets his personal needs. If it does not affect him or if its relevance is doubtful, he switches off
his mind and learning is thwarted.

Individual training (one teacher, one student) which prevailed in ancient India under the ‘guru-
shishya’ system of education is the ideal situation because this would promote the orderly,
controlled development of an individual’s skills. Unfortunately, this type of individual training
by tutorial relationship is just not possible today as the number of trainees is far too large. Dr.
B.F. Skinner developed a technique called ‘Linear’ programming. Later on, other learning theories
have modified Skinner’s technique and perfected the Programmed Learning (PL) method.
Programmed instruction means breaking down the subject matter, process or skill into small
steps; presenting the information in a carefully arranged sequence; requiring the learner to
make some kind of active response before allowing him to go to the next step; providing him
with immediate reinforcement (knowledge of results); ensuring that he makes as few errors as
possible; and leaving him to work at his own pace.
In quite a few advanced countries of the world like USA, UK, Japan and Soviet Russia, programmed
learning is being utilised in the formal educational system starting from the pre-school education
to the university.

Example: The designing of various courses in the Indira Gandhi Open University provides
excellent illustration of applying such an approach to different kinds of objectives.



Caselet LIC

rogrammed learning method has been used with considerable success in the training
of agents by the Life Insurance Corporation of India. LIC has a large number of
Ppart-time agents (nearly 1,40,000) who, usually have some other occupation and
therefore find it difficult to come to any class room course. Because of the inadequate
training, many agents are not aware of the various schemes and plans of Insurance,
formulated to cater to the diverse needs of the people. This leads to poor individual
business and heavy turnover of agents. When it was found that many agents could not
come to the lectures and quite a few of those who came found the reading material to be
difficult, LIC decided to prepare programmed learning texts in book format. They were
tried out on a large number of agents and revised. It was found from these try-out
experiments that agents find it easier to go through these programmed texts and learn
about the insurance schemes etc. The programmed texts in the book format could be given
to the agents to be read at their own convenient time and place.

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