8-1. Performance problems seem all too common in your workplace. People do not seem to be putting forth the needed effort, and interpersonal conflict on the work teams seems to be a constant. Is training the answer? If so, what kind of training should be done? What other actions may be appropriate?

8-2. How effective do you think training can be in raising employee motivation?

8-3. Illiterate workers can suffer from embarrassment and fear that keeps them from admitting their problem. Instead, they may cope by asking questions, observing others, and relying on informal assistance from others. If illiterate workers can effectively cope with a work environment, do you think there is still a problem? Explain. How would you go about identifying workers who should receive literacy training?

8-4. How important is it that the effectiveness of a training program be measured in dollar terms? Why is it important to measure training effectiveness in the first place?

8-5. Training provides workers with skills needed in the workplace. However, many organizations have dynamic environments in which change is the norm. How can training requirements be identified when job duties are a moving target?

8-6. Simuflite, a Texas aviation training company, expected to whip the competition with FasTrak, its computer-based training (CBT) curriculum for corporate pilots. Instead, the new venture sent Simuflite into a nose dive. In traditional ground-school training, pilots ask questions and learn from “war stories” told by classmates and instructors. With FasTrak, they sat in front of a computer for hours absorbing information. Their only interaction was tapping the computer screen to provide answers to questions, and that novelty wore off very quickly. Pilots grew bored with the CBT ground school.

1. a. What does Simuflite’s experience suggest about the limitations of interactive media and CBT?

2. b. In what situations is CBT most likely to be beneficial to trainees?

8-7. According to one survey, trainees list the following as some of the traits of a successful trainer: knowledge of the subject, adaptability, sincerity, and sense of humor. What other traits do you think trainers need to be successful in the training situation?

8-8. Auto-Valve was an example in this chapter of an organization that used a simple spreadsheet to determine which skills were most critical and should be taught to employees first. Using the general spreadsheet approach, how could you determine which training topics should be covered? For the rows on the spreadsheet, list the potential training topics (for example, technical skills, soft skills, ethics). For the columns, generate your criteria. For example, one criterion could be strategic importance and another could be operational importance (getting the job done each day).

1. a. How could you use this matrix to determine which training options should be offered and which ones should not?

2. b. Identify additional criteria. Should the criteria receive different weights? Describe how you could do that and why it might be useful.

3. c. Consider your criteria from both short-term and long-term perspectives; that is, which criteria might be most important over the short term, maybe a year or less. Which ones are more important over the longer term? Would you weight the criteria differently based on these two perspectives?

8-9. Areas in need of performance improvement, such as better customer service and more sales, can be easily identified as training goals. What can be wrong with simply assigning these objectives as goals in a training program? How would you recommend a training program be developed based on these goals?