MGT 352 Chapter 7

Training

An effort initiated by an organization to foster learning among its members

Focus: current job

Time frame: provide skills to benefit the organization quickly

Goal: fix a current skill deficit

Development

An effort to provide employees with KSAs needed by the organization in the future

Focus: current and future jobs

Time frame: benefits to the organization in the long run

Goal: prepare for future work demands

Needs assessment phase

1st phase

Determining whether training is needed, do you have the funding to pursue it, what content is needed, and who needs the training

Organization analysis:

• An examination of the environment, strategies, and resources of the organization to determine where training emphasis should be placed

Task analysis:

• The process of determining the content of a training program should be based on a study of the tasks and duties involved in the job

Person analysis:

• A determination of which individuals need training

Training Design phase

2nd phase

Developing a training strategy and preparing instructional plans

Developing instructional objectives: formally stated as behavioral objectives

• Behavioral objectives: the hoped-for training outcomes that are used to determine if the overall training goal has been met

• ex: Overall training goal - increase productivity - Behavioral objective - analyze 50 letters per minute

Learning principles:

• Training will be more effective to the degree to which you take into account learning principles

Transfer of training:

• The ultimate criterion of success in training is whether what is learned in training is transferred over to the job

Learning principles

Goal setting

Feedback and reinforcement

Modeling

Practice and repetition

Massed vs. distributed learning

Massed vs. distributed learning

Concerns the spacing out of training - it is better to do shorter and multiple training sessions compared to one longer training session

Whole vs. part learning

Easier to break training into smaller parts

Transfer of training

Do employees transfer what they learned in training to the job

Ways to facilitate:

1. Demonstration of concepts (modeling)

2. Training practice or simulation

3. Practice back on the job

4. Fidelity of the training situation

Physical fidelity

similarity between equipment/environment used in training and on the job

Psychological fidelity

Similarity between behaviors required in training and behaviors required on the job

Training Implementation phase

3rd phase

Determining the appropriate modality for delivering the information/skills to be learned in training

On the job training

Mentoring

Peer training

Job rotation

Off the job training

Classroom

Simulation

E-learning

Evaluation phase

4th phase

Determining whether training worked

For criteria for measuring training program effectiveness: Reactions

Determining trainee reaction to the training program

Just because you liked it didn’t mean you learned it

For criteria for measuring training program effectiveness: Learning

Examining whether trainees actually learned anything

Designs for measuring learning:

• Post-test design (good): Train thenTest

• Pre-test post-test design (better): Test then Train then Test

For criteria for measuring training program effectiveness: Behavior

Determining whether what was learned in training actually got incorporated on the job

For criteria for measuring training program effectiveness: Results

Calculating the benefits derived from training

Possible questions to ask:

• How much has it contributed to profits?

• What reduction in turnover did the company get after training?

• How much has productivity increased?

Return on investment (ROI)

Viewing training in terms of the extent to which it provides knowledge and skills that create a competitive advantage and a culture that is ready for continuous change

ROI = Training Results/Training Costs

• If ROI is > 1, the benefits of the training exceed the cost of the program

• If ROI is < 1, the costs of the training exceed the benefits