Annotation: Education is a process during which new knowledge, skills and attitudes are acquired and developed. The goal of employee education is to ensure qualified, educated and capable workers, necessary to meet the needs of the organization. In order to achieve this goal, employees must be willing to learn and able to take responsibility for their own education. Education thus becomes a lifelong process.

INTRODUCTION

The present is full of new information, therefore the continuous development of employees is the basis for ensuring the efficient functioning of the organization. Employee development, as part of an organization's overall human resources strategy, means the useful contribution of workplace learning experiences to the organization so that performance can be improved, work goals can be achieved, and thus, through increasing the skills, knowledge, learning abilities and enthusiasm of people at every level, the continuous growth of the individual can be ensured in the company. Employee development must therefore be part of a broader business strategy, aligned with the company's mission and corporate goals.

Adult education as a subsystem of education is also a supersystem of corporate education. Every employee has the right to obtain the necessary qualifications and adequate education for work in the profession, but also the knowledge necessary for the development of one's own personality. (1) Achieving the desired level of education is a continuous long-term process with a number of mutual and continuous ties during the active period of employment.

According to Act no. 386/1997 Coll. on further education and on the amendment of the Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic no. 387/1996 Coll. on employment as amended by Act no. 70/1997 Coll. §2 paragraph 1) for the purposes of this Act, further education is considered to be education that allows everyone to supplement, expand and deepen their acquired education, requalify or satisfy their interests, or by which they prepare to obtain a degree in the school system. (2)

EMPLOYEES EDUCATION

Organizations with a positive philosophy of education understand the fact that the development of human resources, through education, is the best investment, even if it is very difficult to clarify the return on these investments. (3)

Education is a process during which new knowledge, skills and attitudes are acquired and developed. Education means acting on a person with the aim of forming habits, attitudes, ways of behaving, intellectual and physical readiness. Through educational activities, we develop the knowledge, abilities and attitudes of a person, which are required in his working and personal life.

Employee training can be characterized as a permanent process in which the adaptation and change of work behavior, the level of knowledge, skills and motivation of the company's employees occurs by learning based on the use of various methods. As a result, the difference between the current competences of employees and the requirements placed on them is reduced. (4) Education must fit into the overall human resource management system. Employee education is understood as part of their personal development. By the term personal development, we mean a set of processes that positively change qualifications, attitudes, methods of negotiation, etc. individual employees. (5)

OBJECTIVES OF EDUCATION

The goal of employee education is to ensure qualified, educated and capable employees necessary to meet the needs of the organization. In order to achieve this goal, employees must be willing to learn and able to take responsibility for their own learning. Education thus becomes a lifelong process. The goals of education can be divided into four categories: (6)

  1. Knowledge – obtaining and reproducing facts,
  2. Understanding – explaining the relationships between different types of information,
  3. Skills – practical application of what the participant has learned, - cognitive (problem solving skills), - physical (skill to handle tools), - social - communication (communicate with employees about their performance), 4. Attitudes - behavioral aspects of people.

Educational goals should not be formulated only on a general level, they should be formulated in the form of measurable outputs for individual goals. Thus, goals are a concrete formulated idea about the form of behavior of the participant in education or his dispositions towards certain behavior, obtained through teaching. (7) They are important because they help create clear programs and fulfill them. The basic goal of corporate education is to create the conditions for the effective performance of the company's tasks and its competitiveness on the market through purposeful and permanent formation of work potential. (8)

The main goal of employee education and development is to provide the necessary knowledge and information, mainly of a professional nature, to perform certain activities. And by training in human resources management, which increases the value of production capital, it is necessary to develop mainly human abilities and creativity by the most effective means, including education. (9)

TYPES OF EMPLOYEE EDUCATION

The procedure for identifying and determining the requirements for professional training and further development of employees is primarily based on the analysis of basic problems and necessary skills. The choice of means of professional and personal development of employees in organizations depends on the amount of costs. In practice, there are generally four types of employee training:

  • Instrumental education – is aimed at better performance of work, after the basic level of performance has been achieved. This education is facilitated if it is carried out during the performance of work.
  • Cognitive (cognitive) education – the aim is to improve knowledge and understanding of the context, which will be reflected in improved results.
  • Emotional (emotional) education – results are based on the formation of attitudes and emotions.
  • Self-reflective education – serves to create new knowledge as a result of forming new perspectives, thinking and behavior.
  • Formal education - is carried out using educational programs that are characterized by defining educational goals, creating a culture of education, using the right approaches to education, applying a systematic, planned and balanced approach to education, identifying educational needs.
  • Informal education - the essence is learning from experience. Most knowledge is acquired through processes that are not organized or supported by the organization, but emerge naturally from the work process itself. It goes, for example o observation of more experienced colleagues, conversation, cooperation and mutual help on tasks, which can speed up the learning process. This type of learning is effective in increasing expertise as a method of formal education.

Other forms of education programs are also used in practice:

  • Instruction - this is the simplest way of training a new or less experienced employee, in which an experienced employee or a superior demonstrates the work procedure and the employee learns the work procedure for the performance of his own work tasks through observation and imitation. (10)
  • Coaching - primarily refers to a certain type of relationship between the coach and the coachee and the means and style of mutual communication. Coaching means long-term planned stimulation and direction of the trained employee to initiative and desired performance, through existing or modified opportunities at work. (11) Coaching releases a person's potential and allows him to maximize his performance; coaching helps learning rather than teaching. (12)
  • Mentoring - mentoring is rooted in the concept of learning, that is, in a state where an older and more experienced person passes on their knowledge of how the task was solved and how to function in the business world. (13) Mentoring directly affects the immediate improvement of functioning and development of skills through education, training, consultation or coaching. Mentoring is always one step further and refers to the long-term acquisition of skills in the course of a career through guidance and consultation. (14) Mentoring uses specially selected and trained individuals to guide and advise, thereby helping to develop the careers of their protégés. The purpose of mentoring is to complement on-the-job learning, which is always the best way to acquire specific skills and knowledge that the holder of a certain job needs.
  • E-learning - is education using computer, network and Internet technology. It is a form of individualized education and is a manifestation of educational technology. It uses the computer's ability to help in the continuous formation of the qualification and retraining of people, regarding new processes and procedures. It has an important role in distance learning in the field of vocational education or higher education provided by some institutions. Most computer-aided learning systems direct learners to study text on a screen. It is also possible to use the Internet or intranet. It is a good alternative if employees are far from each other, it can be combined with electronic coaching. The disadvantage is that the organization of e-learning activities requires investments, and learning only through e-learning requires considerable self-discipline from the participant. A good alternative is combined education, that is, combining e-learning with learning in groups that are related to the employer organization. (15)

EMPLOYEE EDUCATION PROGRAM

The training need identification phase precedes planning. In organizational education plans, needs are identified, priorities are determined, and based on these, proposals for programs and budgets are formulated and it is determined which employees will be covered by education. (16)

The individual sub-plans for the development of human resources reflect the decisions of managers when creating work potential. The sub-plans also include an employee training program, which should ensure alignment of the qualification structure of the employees with the goals and tasks of the company.

The educational program is characterized as "a comprehensive program of determining, fulfilling and verifying the goals, content, methods and forms of the educational process, its evaluation, organization and management; the educational program can be divided into modules. The module of the educational program is understood as a separate, comprehensive, binding, time and content educational unit of the educational program." (17)

The content of the employee training program is the definition of training areas, the number and categories of employees who will be involved in training, the methods and time schedule of the training entities that will take care of training, as well as the corresponding amount of financial costs for training.

Individual training programs take into account the specific needs of a given category of employees. Designing the educational program: (18)

  • Starting points for the preparation of the educational program.
  • Needs identified in the stage of educational needs analysis.
  • Human resource management strategy.
  • Constraints and resources.
  • Preparation of the educational program.
  • Determination of the target group of education participants, creation of study groups.
  • Defining the content of the educational program.
  • Choice of education methods.
  • Selection of subjects for program implementation.
  • Selection of lecturers,
  • Preparation of literature and didactic aids, determination of the time range of education,
  • Choosing a place of education.
  • Refinement of the budget.
  • Preparation of evaluation questionnaires, other services – accommodation, food and transport.
  • Implementation of the program

The content of the educational program and the group of participants is determined by the need for education and specific educational goals. Considering the effectiveness of the educational program, smaller groups of 10 to 25 people with a homogeneous composition are recommended. The length of the employee training program should be proportionate to the difficulty of its content and can be positively influenced by effective training methods - for example, computer-based training and self-training of employees.

Education can be carried out in the company directly at the workplace during the performance of work or outside the workplace in premises intended for teaching. Realized externally, i.e. outside the company, through various educational institutions. Sometimes a combination of the previous two options can be used, when the training is carried out in the company and external lecturers join the training program.

If the company decides to train its employees by an external organization, it should select it based on a selection process according to the following criteria: (19)

  • Previous experience of the company.
  • References from other companies about the level and conditions of provided educational activities.
  • Price level of education.
  • Possibility of obtaining a course completion certificate.
  • The possibility of cooperation with an educational organization in the design of the educational program, as well as in the application of acquired knowledge in practice.

CONCLUSION

Special training and many years of experience are necessary to perform a managerial function, which enable the acquisition of the necessary knowledge and skills. Character traits of a person are also important. Education is considered to be an important means of forming the skills needed to perform managerial functions, especially leading managers. Education is a necessity for the management profession, with education one can reach high management positions much sooner than without it, although this cannot be absolute either. This means that the necessary skills to perform managerial functions can be acquired based on a combination of study and experience based on many years of practice.

Author: PhDr. Mgr. Eva Dirgová, PhD.

LITERATURE

  1. GAJDOŠOVÁ, B., TIMČÁK, M.G., ZEĽOVÁ, A. 2002. Managerial skills and development of human resources. Module 4. Košice: Technical University of Košice, Institute of Lifelong Learning, 2002. 209 p. ISBN 80-7099-868-7.
  2. JACOBS, C., VAN DEN BERG, F. 2006. Education of public administration employees. Bratislava: Institute for Public Administration, 2006. 84 p. ISBN 80-968308-8-0.
  3. KACHAŇÁKOVÁ, A. et al. 2007. Human resource management. Bratislava: Sprint vfra, 2007. 207 p. ISBN 978-80-89085-83-5.
  4. KOUBEK, J. 2007. Personnel work in small and medium-sized companies. 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Prague: Grada Publishing, 2007. 261 p. ISBN 978-80-247-2202-3.
  5. LEJSKOVÁ, P. 2006. Personnel management: for the combined form of study. Pardubice: University of Pardubice, Jan Perner Faculty of Transport. 2006. 94 p. ISBN 80-7194-912-4.
  6. Regulation no. 568/2009 Coll. Law on Lifelong Education and Amendments to Certain Laws. From 1 December 2009. Effective from 1 February 2010 [online]. [cit. 14.02.2012]. Available online: .
  7. PRUSÁKOVÁ, V. 2000. Systemic approach to further education. Bratislava: Institute for Public Administration, 2000. 125 p. ISBN80-968308-2-1.
  8. STÝBLO, J. 1993. Personnel management. Prague: Grada Publishing, 1993. 334 p. ISBN 80-85424-92-4.
  9. VOJTOVIČ, S. 2006. Personnel management. Historical connections of origin and development. Iris, 2006. 288 p. ISBN 80-89018-98-X.
  10. WITHMORE, J. 1994. Coaching. Handbook of developing own skills and increasing performance. Prague: Management Press, 1994. 125 p. ISBN 80-85603-75-6.

(1) GAJDOŠOVÁ, B., TIMČÁK, M.G., ZEĽOVÁ, A. 2002. Managerial skills and development of human resources. Module 4. Košice: Technical University of Košice, Institute of Lifelong Learning, 2002. 209 p. ISBN 80-7099-868-7. with 196. (2) §2, paragraph 1, Act No. 386/1997 on Further Education and on Amendments to Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 387/1996 Coll. on employment as amended by Act no. 70/1997 Coll. (3) PRUSÁKOVÁ, V. 2000. System approach to further education. Bratislava: Institute for Public Administration, 2000. 125 p. ISBN80-968308-2-1. with 11. (4) KACHAŇÁKOVÁ, A. et al. 2007. Human resource management. Bratislava: Sprint vfra, 2007. 207 p. ISBN 978-80-89085-83-5. with 106-107. (5) STÝBLO, J. 1993. Personnel management. Prague: Grada Publishing, 1993. 334 p. ISBN 80-85424-92-4. with 217. (6) JACOBS, C., VAN DEN BERG, F. 2006. Education of public administration employees. Bratislava: Institute for Public Administration, 2006. 84 p. ISBN 80-968308-8-0. with 37. (7) PRUSÁKOVÁ, V. 2000. System approach to further education. Bratislava: Institute for Public Administration, 2000. 125 p. ISBN80-968308-2-1. with 60. (8) KACHAŇÁKOVÁ, A. et al. 2007. Human resource management. Bratislava: Sprint vfra, 2007. 207 p. ISBN 978-80-89085-83-5. with 107. (9) VOJTOVIČ, S. 2006. Personnel management. Historical connections of origin and development. Iris, 2006. 288 p. ISBN 80-89018-98-X. with 258. (10) KOUBEK, J. 2007. Personnel work in small and medium-sized companies. 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Prague: Grada Publishing, 2007. 261 p. ISBN 978-80-247-2202-3. with 152. (11) KACHAŇÁKOVÁ, A. et al. 2007. Human resource management. Bratislava: Sprint vfra, 2007. 207 p. ISBN 978-80-89085-83-5. with 115. (12) WITHMORE, J. 1994. Coaching. Handbook of developing own skills and increasing performance. Prague: Management Press, 1994. 125 p. ISBN 80-85603-75-6. with 12. (13) WITHMORE, J. 1994. Coaching. Handbook of developing own skills and increasing performance. Prague: Management Press, 1994. 125 p. ISBN 80-85603-75-6. with 15. (14) WITHMORE, J. 1994. Coaching. Handbook of developing own skills and increasing performance. Prague: Management Press, 1994. 125 p. ISBN 80-85603-75-6. with 15. (15) JACOBS, C., VAN DEN BERG, F. 2006. Education of public administration employees. Bratislava: Institute for Public Administration, 2006. 84 p. ISBN 80-968308-8-0. with 44. (16) LEJSKOVÁ, P. 2006. Personnel management: for a combined form of study. Pardubice: University of Pardubice, Jan Perner Faculty of Transport. 2006. 94 p. ISBN 80-7194-912-4. with 42. (17) S-EPI s.r.o. 2010 - 2012. Regulation no. 568/2009 Coll. Law on Lifelong Education and Amendments to Certain Laws. From 1 December 2009. Effective from 1 February 2010 [online]. [cit. 14.02.2012]. Available online: . (18) KACHAŇÁKOVÁ, A. et al 2007. Management of human resources. Bratislava: Sprint vfra, 2007. 207 p. ISBN 978-80-89085-83-5. with 113 (19) KACHAŇÁKOVÁ, A. coll. 2007. Human resource management. Bratislava: Sprint vfra, 2007. 207 p. ISBN 978-80-89085-83-5. with 113 - 114.