Training Methods and Effectiveness Quiz

Chapter 9: Training for Improved Performance

• Training is a planned effort by a company to help employees learn job-related knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
• Most organizations offer some type of training in various formats, including large group lectures, on-the-job training, simulations, small group projects, and online discussions.
• Firms train employees if the net benefits from training exceed the costs of training. Costs are generally incurred upfront, while value added and payments to employees are net present values.
• The gross benefits (B) that training provides to employers will always exceed the cost (C) of training and increases in employee salary (S). Thus, B - S > C.
• Factors that influence the gross benefits from training include employee tenure, pre-existing skills, the training's effect on employee effort and loyalty, spillovers to other employees and the impact on recruitment.
• The ability to capture the returns from training depends on employee/employer bargaining strength, firm-specific vs. general-purpose training and a potential "lemons" problem for attracting the employee from other employers.
• Visible costs of training include development (purchasing off-the-shelf programs or from the government) and delivery (trainee travel, facility costs, training materials). Hidden costs include trainee compensation and lost productivity during training, and wasted investments.
• OJT is sometimes relatively cheap, and the apprentices can sometimes be employed for less than the value they provide to the organization.
• Evaluating the costs of training can also leverage training programs to turn them into general training institutes, which both amortizes the cost of the program and allows the organization to attract high-quality trainees.
• Public support can help keep training costs low.

Strategic Framework for Employee Training

• The framework posits different strategic orientations (internal/external and cost/differentiation) with corresponding employee training strategies.
• Bargain Laborers (External/Cost) have more emphasis on hiring new employees than training, and training focuses on reducing costs and improving efficiency.
• Loyal Soldiers (Internal/Cost) emphasize training existing employees and also focuses on reducing costs and improving efficiency
• Free Agents (External/Differentiation) have more emphasis on new employee hiring with training focusing on providing superior services and innovation.
• Committed Experts (Internal/Differentiation) is similar to Free Agents but train current employees, focusing on providing superior service and innovation.
• Companies pursuing cost leadership focus on training employees to improve efficiency and lower costs. This involves training on quality control principles to enable efficiency.
• Differentiation strategy companies, using training, work to offer customer-focused service

Internal vs. External Labor Orientation

• Internal labor orientation companies spend time and money on employee training.
• External labor orientation companies hire new employees instead of training to lower training costs.

Designing Training Programs

• Training can be on-site or off-site, provided internally or by an external vendor, and focused on specific organizations or multiple organizations.
• Training can be vocational, focusing on specific job competencies, or general, focusing on personal/intellectual development
• Training can be designed for individuals or groups/teams.

Stages of Instructional Design

• A systematic process consists of assessing training needs, ensuring readiness for training, planning the training program (objectives, trainers, methods), implementing the program and evaluating the results.

Key Principles for Getting Benefits from Training

• Transferring training (applying learned skills/knowledge on the job) is essential for achieving benefits.
• Training should function as a partnership among employees, managers, and HR professionals.
• Clear expectations, support, useful feedback, appropriate consequences, and knowledge/skill capacity are needed for potent job performance.
• Training should be developed systematically. Assess needs to determine who and what. Ensure appropriate design/delivery to maximize learning and transfer. Evaluate to ensure improvement and to determine if the training should continue.

How Are Training Needs Determined?

• Training needs can be determined by needs assessment (proactive or reactive).
• Proactive assessment is a systematic process for determining and prioritizing training programs; organization analysis, task analysis and person analysis make up the three steps.
• Reactive assessment is a problem-solving process used to determine if training is necessary to address a performance problem. It leads to the needed solution via problem definition, causal analysis, and solution implementation.

Proactive Needs Assessment

• Organization analysis identifies organizational characteristics impacting training effectiveness (strategic goals, resources, management support) and environmental factors supporting training, as well as management/coworker attitudes/actions (policies, rewards).
• Task analysis details job tasks and necessary knowledge/skills. Common processes involve groups of job incumbents listing tasks, grouping tasks into clusters, generating knowledge/skill statements, and verifying with other incumbents. Task analysis has variations such as competency modeling (includes broader, worker-focused training needs) cognitive task analysis (examining goals, decisions), and team task analysis (coordination of group activities).
• Person analysis focuses on identifying those requiring training and characteristics influencing the effectiveness of training, answering three questions: necessary training for employees to correctly perform tasks, who needs the training, and are potential trainees ready for training.

Evaluating the Training Program

• Evaluating training effectiveness determines the extent to which trainees benefited from training.
• The evaluation process includes these stages: determining the purpose of the evaluation, deciding on relevant outcomes, choosing and evaluation design, and collecting and analyzing the data and reporting the results.
• The purpose of evaluating training can be to improve training design/delivery, to aid decisions on whether to continue the training or not, or to provide marketing/promotion information.
• Internal criteria for evaluation include reactions (attitudes & satisfaction), learning (knowledge acquisition), and transfer (applying learning on the job). External criteria include a look at results (profits, quality, customer satisfaction.) Evaluators assess training designs (post-test only or pre-test/post-test with control group)

Takeaways

• Training complements a work environment supporting individual progression.
• Employees value competency growth and appreciate training from their organization.
• Training demonstrates an organization's commitment to employees.
• Training has positive effects beyond the trained individuals.

Training Methods

• Various methods include classroom instruction, action learning, team training, experiential programs, behavior modeling, business games & cases, simulations, computer-based training, and on-the-job training.
• Active methods like case studies, discovery and role playing allow for discussion, analysis, and application of new skills.
• Passive methods rely on presentations.
• Simulation is used to recreate work events/processes/circumstances.
• Behavior modeling has multiple steps to help employees learn and demonstrate new skills.

Test your knowledge on training methods and their effectiveness in the workplace. This quiz covers various aspects of training objectives, presentation characteristics, interactive versus non-interactive methods, and the impact of training on employee performance. Assess your understanding of how different training strategies influence learning and organizational outcomes.