Managing the Training Process
Poor, inappropriate, or inadequate training can be a source of frustration for everyone involved. To maximize the benefits of training, managers must closely monitor the training process.
As Figure 8.2 shows, the formal training process consists of three phases: (1) needs assessment, (2) development and conduct of training, and (3) evaluation. The needs assessment phase involves identifying the problems or needs that the training must address. In the development and conduct phase, the most appropriate type of training is designed and offered to the workforce. In the evaluation phase, the training program’s effectiveness is assessed. In the pages that follow, we provide recommendations for maximizing the effectiveness of each of these phases.
FIGURE 8.2 The Training Process
In large organizations, surveys of workers and input of managers can be important for determining what training is needed (phase 1), but the actual training (phase 2) is usually provided by either the organization’s own training department or an external resource (such as a consulting firm or a local university). After the training program is complete, managers may become involved to determine whether it has been useful (phase 3). In small businesses, the manager may be responsible for the entire process, although external sources of training may still be used.
The Needs Assessment Phase
The overall purpose of the needs assessment phase is to determine whether training is needed, and if so, to provide the information required to design the training program. Needs assessment consists of three levels of analysis: organizational, task, and person.
The Levels of Needs Assessment
Organizational analysis examines broad factors such as the organization’s culture, mission, business climate, long- and short-term goals, and structure. Its purpose is to identify both overall organizational needs and the level of support for training. Some of the key issues to be addressed at the organizational level of analysis are the external environment and the organization’s goals and values.12 An analysis of the external environment may indicate a shortage of skilled workers and changes in technology. Training can help the organization to meet these challenges. The goals of an organization are the targets it is trying to achieve—perhaps increased market share or expansion into a new market. Training may be needed to give employees the skills to achieve the organizational goals. Similarly, values can be the core of how an organization operates. Employees should understand these values and have the skills to work within them. In sum, the organizational level of needs assessment looks at external influences and the direction and principles of the organization to determine whether training is needed.
Task analysis is an examination of the job to be performed. A recent and carefully conducted job analysis should provide all the information needed to understand job requirements. These duties and tasks are used to identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) required to perform the job adequately (see Chapter 2). The KSAs are then used to determine the kinds of training needed for the job.
Person analysis determines which employees need training by examining how well employees are carrying out the tasks that make up their jobs.13 Training is often necessary when there is a discrepancy between a worker’s performance and the organization’s expectations or standards. Often a person analysis entails examining worker performance ratings and then identifying individual workers or groups of workers who are weak in certain skills. The source of most performance ratings is the supervisor, but (as we saw in Chapter 7) a more complete picture of workers’ strengths and weaknesses may be obtained by including other sources of appraisal.
As we noted in Chapter 7, p erformance problems can come from numerous sources, many of which would not be affected by training. The only performance problem that training can address is a deficiency that is under the trainee’s control.14 For example, sales training will improve sales only if poor sales techniques are the source of the problem. If declining sales are due to a poor product, high prices, or a faltering economy, sales training is not going to help.
Training is not the only option available for responding to a worker deficiency. For example, if decision makers determine that the training needed would be too costly, transferring or terminating the deficient workers may be the more cost-effective course. Strict KSA requirements can then be used to select new employees and eliminate the performance gap. The obvious drawbacks of terminating or replacing employees deemed deficient are that these options are likely to harm commitment and morale in the workforce.
Training needs are an important consideration whenever employees are assigned new tasks. The importance of assessing training needs is heightened when the new tasks involve international assignments that can be expensive and strategically important to the organization. The Manager’s Notebook, “Expatriate Assignments and Training Needs,” identifies some important factors that should be taken into account when determining the training needs for workers given international assignments.
Source:bikeriderlondon/Shutterstock.
MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK Expatriate Assignments and Training Needs
Global
Expatriates, employees assigned to work in other countries, can determine whether a firm’s international efforts succeed or fail. Expatriates who might control operations in the foreign location transfer knowledge and play other important roles. Obviously, it is important that employees given international assignments have the needed competencies, and training may be needed. What has been less recognized is that training may also be needed to help the transition when the employee returns to the domestic operation. The return of an expatriate to their home country is called repatriation. Difficulties in making this transition back to the home country have resulted in employees with valuable international experience deciding to leave their organizations. As illustrated in the following figure, there may be training needs that an employee faces in order to be prepared for the transition to being an expatriate as well as to prepare for repatriation.
As a manager, there are three basic categories to consider when looking at possible training needs for expatriates and repatriates: (1) the country, (2) the job, and (3) the worker. In the following, we consider each of these categories and how they may prompt training needs.
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▪ Country characteristics How different is the country from the one where the employee currently resides? In terms of expatriates, the greater the difference between their home country and the country to which they are being assigned, the more there can be a training need. For example, is a different language spoken in the foreign location and is the employee conversant in that language? Is there a large difference between the countries in terms of values, customs, and practices? Is the employee aware of and comfortable with these differences? The answers to these and similar questions can indicate whether cross-cultural training might be needed for expatriates. However, these types of issues can also apply to repatriation. If, for example, a foreign assignment has been long term and the person was immersed in a very different culture, training that sensitizes the employee to the cultural differences when she or he returns home can make for a smoother transition.
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▪ Job characteristics Characteristics of the international assignment can have training implications. The international assignment may pose challenges such as difficulty in obtaining supplies, the quality of the materials, and how smoothly the work process operates. At repatriation time, the nature of the job that the employee will be taking on could also call for training. Repatriates sometimes return to jobs that are different from the one they left. Providing job training to repatriates can help refresh their competencies and provide information on any changes.
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▪ Worker characteristics The worker’s competencies can have obvious implications for training needs. If the expatriate doesn’t have a competency needed to adequately perform the foreign assignment, there is an obvious training need. Similarly, lack of a competency to perform the job at repatriation time is a training need. In addition to having the competency to perform the jobs, another important worker characteristic is adaptability.
Overall, training may be needed for both expatriates and repatriates. In addition to addressing potential deficits, offering training to expatriates and repatriates provides support to workers when they may need it to successful make these transitions. In addition to the content of the training, it can be important to these employees to know that there is support from their organization to make the needed adjustments.
Clarifying the Objectives of Training
The objectives for a training program should be based on the assessment phase. Each objective should relate to one or more of the KSAs identified in the task analysis and should be challenging, precise, achievable, and understood by all.15 It only makes good business sense for organizations to focus training on the competencies that have been identified as being important to the job.
Whenever possible, objectives should be stated in behavioral terms and the criteria for judging the training program’s effectiveness should flow directly from the behavioral objectives. Suppose the cause of a performance deficiency is poor customer service. The overall objective of the training program designed to solve this problem, then, would be to improve customer service. Although “improving customer service” is a noble training goal, the term is ambiguous and does not lead to specific content for a training program or to specific criteria by which the training’s effectiveness can be judged. Stating this objective in behavioral terms requires determining what an employee will know, do, and not do after training.
Figure 8.3 shows how the overall objective of improving customer service provides a starting point that can be broken down into dimensions (specific aspects of job performance) for which managers can develop specific behavioral goals. The overall objective reflected in the figure is to improve customer service. This overall objective then is divided into the job tasks that are relevant to customer service. In the case of our example, there are two relevant job areas: providing the product/service and responding to questions and complaints. Then specific behaviors that are part of these dimensions are identified, both to guide the training effort and to help evaluate whether the training has been successful.
FIGURE 8.3
Example of Development of Behavioral Training Objectives
The Training and Conduct Phase
The training program that results from assessment should be a direct response to an organizational problem or need. Training approaches vary by location, presentation, and type.
Location Options
Training can be carried out either on the job or off the job. In the very common on-the-job training (OJT) approach, the trainee works in the actual work setting, usually under the guidance of an experienced worker, supervisor, or trainer. OJT provides hands-on experience that is based on the actual job. If more experienced employees provide guidance, the OJT can also help the new worker to be part of the social network in the workplace. For example, on-the-job training is a focus at Brady Ware, a CPA firm in the Midwest.16 The firm has determined that its young accountants must quickly and thoroughly learn through hands-on experience that is guided by an experienced accountant. In addition to improved learning and performance, the guided on-the-job training approach helps build relationships between the experienced and newer accountants, which can help develop loyalty in the new employees.
Job rotation, apprenticeships, and internships are all forms of OJT.
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▪ Job rotation , as we saw in Chapter 2, allows employees to gain experience in different kinds of narrowly defined jobs in the organization. It is often used to give future managers a broad background.
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▪ Apprenticeships, OJT programs typically associated with the skilled trades, derive from the medieval practice of having the young apprentice learn a trade from an experienced worker. In Europe, apprenticeships are still one of the major ways for young men and women to gain entry to skilled jobs. In the United States, apprenticeships are largely confined to adults wanting to work in certain occupations, such as carpentry and plumbing. These apprenticeships generally last four years, and the apprentice’s pay starts at about half that of the more experienced “journeymen” workers.
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▪ Just as apprenticeships are a route to certain skilled blue-collar jobs, internships are a route to white-collar or managerial jobs in a variety of fields. Internships are opportunities for students to gain real-world job experience, often during summer vacations from school (see Chapter 2 for further discussion of internships). Although many internships offer low pay, student interns can often gain college credits and, possibly, the offer of a full-time job after graduation.
OJT has both benefits and drawbacks. This type of training is obviously relevant to the job because the tasks confronted and learned are generated by the job itself. Very little that is learned in the context of OJT would not transfer directly to the job. OJT also spares the organization the expense of taking employees out of the work environment for training. On the negative side, OJT can prove quite costly to the organization in lost business when on-the-job trainees cause customer frustration. (Have you ever been caught in a checkout line that moves like molasses because a trainee is operating the cash register?) Even if only a handful of customers switch to a competitor because of dissatisfaction with trainee service, the cost to the organization can be substantial. Errors and damage to equipment that occur when a trainee is on the job may also prove costly. Another potential drawback is that trainers might be top-notch in terms of their skills but inadequate at transferring their knowledge to others. In other words, those who can, cannot always teach.
Finally, the quality and content of OJT can vary substantially across organizations. This variability makes it difficult for employers to judge the skill level of a potential worker from another organization. A new worker may claim that he or she received OJT for operating a piece of machinery or conducting a task, but the employer can be left wondering what the worker really learned and what skill level she or he brings to the operation.
Consider how the woodworking industry is trying to relieve the problem of variability of OJT. The woodworking industry is developing national standards for worker skills. The intent of the development of these skills standards is to have the ability to train, test, and score employees using a common set of standards for woodworking skills. The effort began with wood manufacturers in the state of Washington performing a task analysis (see “The Needs Assessment Phase” in this chapter) to identify the skills needed by woodworkers. The goal of the national woodworking standards project is a credentialing process for workers who demonstrate that they meet the skills criteria. The existence of a common set of skills standards will assure both employers and employees that they have the skills needed to effectively and safely operate woodworking machinery. Without a common set of standards, assessment of skills can differ across employers and can be assumed based on past experience. Thus, without common standards, a worker who has developed efficient, but unsafe, work habits at a previous employer could be assumed to be a skilled and desirable woodworker by another employer. The project has resulted in the development of standards and a set of evaluators that are now in place to evaluate the skills levels of woodworkers in the use of common tools and machines.17
Off-the-job training is an effective alternative to OJT. Common examples of off-the-job training are formal courses, simulations, and role-playing exercises in a classroom setting. One advantage of off-the-job training is that it gives employees extended periods of uninterrupted study. Another is that a classroom setting may be more conducive to learning and retention because it avoids the distractions and interruptions that commonly occur in an OJT environment. The big disadvantage of off-the-job training is that what is learned may not transfer back to the job. After all, a classroom is not the workplace, and the situations simulated in the training may not closely match those encountered on the job. Also, if employees view off-the-job training as an opportunity to enjoy some time away from work, as was illustrated in the opening of this chapter, not much learning is likely to take place.
Presentation Options
Trainers use a variety of presentation techniques in training sessions. The most common presentation techniques are slides and videotapes, teletraining, computers, simulations, virtual reality, classroom instruction, and role-plays.
Slides and Videotapes
Slides and videotapes can be used either off-the-job or in special media rooms in an organization’s facility. Slides and videotapes provide consistent information and, if done well, can be interesting and thought provoking. However, these presentation media do not allow trainees to ask questions or receive further explanation. Many companies prefer to use slides, film, or tapes to supplement a program led by a trainer, who can answer individuals’ questions and flesh out explanations when necessary.
Teletraining
A training option that can be useful when trainees are dispersed across various physical locations is teletraining.18 Satellites are used to beam live training broadcasts to employees at different locations. In addition to the video reception, the satellite link can allow trainees to ask questions of the instructor during the broadcast.
Two disadvantages of teletraining are the need for an expensive satellite connection and the difficulty of scheduling the broadcast so that everyone will be able to attend. A company can solve the scheduling problem by videotaping the presentation and then offering the videotape to people in locations where schedules conflicted with the live broadcast. The training instructor can be available via phone or computer to respond to questions. This method makes the trainer’s expertise available to trainees without requiring him or her to redeliver the entire training program. The reality is that Web-based technology, such as web conferencing, can be a more attractive choice for delivering training when people are geographically dispersed.
Computers
Computer-based training can range from the use of a CD-ROM to training over the Internet. A number of companies are still exploring what type of computer-based training works best for them. However, Web-based training is fast becoming the training method of choice.
Both small and large businesses are finding computer-based training to be a cost-effective medium. In particular, if a job requires extensive use of computers, then computer-based training is highly job related and provides for a high degree of transfer of training back to the job. Computers also have the advantage of allowing trainees to learn at a comfortable pace. As a trainer, the computer never becomes tired, bored, or short-tempered. Further, computers can be a multimedia training option in which text can be combined with film, graphics, and audio components.
Using the Internet or company intranet for training, e-learning has been increasing in popularity for obvious reasons. This approach not only offers the content but also administers the training. E-learning also offers a way to standardize training across far-flung employees and centers of operation.19 Perhaps the most apparent reason is the elimination of travel and lodging costs. A general estimate is that companies can reduce their training costs by 50 to 70 percent by using electronic courses rather than traditional classroom-style training.20 Because individuals can access training at any time and from any place where an Internet connection is available, it is not surprising that e-learning is a success story at many organizations.
Although e-learning offers cost savings and convenience over traditional face-to-face training, most organizations have found that e-learning is most effective when it is combined with other forms of training.21 Simply having online training content available doesn’t mean that it will be learned and influence performance in the organization. Likewise, having sophisticated technology to deliver training can’t be expected to be effective if the content being delivered is poor.
Simulations
Particularly effective in training are simulations , devices or situations that replicate job demands at an off-the-job site. Organizations often use simulations when the information to be mastered is complex, the equipment used on the job is expensive, and/or the cost of a wrong decision is high. The performance of jobs in the military, law enforcement, and security can sometimes mean life or death. Simulations can be particularly effective at safely training people to handle these situations. Firearms Training Systems Inc. (FATS) provides simulation training for military organizations around the world.22 The training includes simulated weapons that realistically portray the real things, including recoil. A FATS simulation for training police officers uses a computer and a 10-foot video screen to confront police officers-in-training with the sights and sounds of a number of situations commonly encountered in police work. For example, a dangerous suspect is fleeing on a crowded street. Should the officer shoot at the suspect and risk injuring or killing innocent bystanders? The FATS system offers a variety of scenarios for police-officer training, ranging from domestic violence situations to dealing with agitated people with weapons.23 Simulation systems, such as FATS, give police trainees the opportunity to practice making such snap decisions in a safe but realistic setting.
The airline industry has long used simulators to train pilots. Flight simulations often include motion in addition to visual and auditory realism. This aspect substantially increases the cost of the simulation but makes the training even more realistic. The NASA Ames Research Center has, for example, developed a virtual control tower simulator with a price tag of approximately $10 million. Viewers can see any airport in the world outside the control tower’s 12 glass windows in a 360-degree view. The tower can simulate any time of day or night, any weather pattern, and the movement of up to 200 aircraft and ground vehicles.
Traditionally, simulators have been considered separate from computer-based training. With advances in multimedia technology, however, the distinctions between these two methods have blurred considerably.
A product called CathSim is an example of the melding of computerized and simulator types of training. The CathSim AccuTouch System gives medical personnel the chance to practice giving shots before giving them to a real patient. The training system combines computer software with tactile-feel robotics so that students, nurses, and doctors can get a realistic experience without practicing on animals or humans.24 In addition, the CathSim provides trainees with report cards on their effectiveness and allows supervisors to track trainees’ progress.
The CathSim works with a PC and includes a small robotic box, called the AccuTouch, which is about the size of a paperback book. A computer program allows users to select from a variety of options, such as whether the patient is an elderly woman or a drug user. The program then presents on screen a number of materials and needle sizes to choose from. After that, the trainee inserts a real needle into the AccuTouch box. The box has a rubber-like substance and mimics resistance and other factors of a real patient’s arm. If the needle is inserted improperly, the computer program may yell “ow” in response. Immersion Medical, the company responsible for CathSim, provides a similar simulation with touch feedback so that surgeons can improve their suturing and knot-tying skills.25
Research supports the effectiveness of simulation training. For example, one study found that pilots who trained on simulators become proficient at flight maneuvers nearly twice as fast as pilots who trained only in the air.26 The importance of this difference is underscored by the fact that the cost of simulator training is only about 10 percent of the cost of using the real equipment to train pilots. In a very different domain, simulation training for call-center operators was found to have the greatest impact on performance.27
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality (VR) uses a number of technologies to replicate the entire real-life working environment rather than just several aspects of it, as do simulations. VR immerses a participant in a computer-generated virtual environment that changes according to head and body movements.28 Within these three-dimensional environments, a user can interact with and manipulate objects in real time.
The military uses VR training and continues to invest in the technology. Immersing soldiers in the types of situations they may face on the battlefield can provide valuable experience and can help them to be better prepared for combat. Additionally, VR may provide a stress inoculation for military personnel and lower their chances of developing psychological problems when placed in actual combat.29
Virtual reality technology is also being used to help maintain military equipment. The 3D software developer NGRAIN helped to develop a virtual reality system used by the Canadian military to maintain its C130 Hercules aircraft.30 With the virtual system, a technician can generate a 3D view of the engine of the aircraft and focus on subsystems. A technician can also view a quick demonstration of a maintenance task and rehearse the procedure before actually performing it. The virtual system eliminates the time and difficulty of going through lengthy manuals, because everything is presented through the computer system. The Canadian military has also found that students complete maintenance training more quickly with the virtual-training approach than with the traditional book-based method.
Tasks that are good candidates for VR training are those that require rehearsal and practice, working from a remote location, or visualizing objects and processes that are not usually accessible. VR training is also excellent for tasks in which there is a high potential for damage to equipment or danger to individuals.
For example, VR training is becoming the method of choice for training physicians in how to implant carotid stents—devices that hold open the carotid arteries.31 In the VR training, physicians thread a catheter through an artificial circulatory system and view angiograms of the human mannequin. The improved skills were obtained without putting individuals at risk.
Classroom Instruction and Role-Plays
Although widely viewed as “boring,” classroom instruction can be exciting if other presentation techniques are integrated with the lecture. For example, a video could complement the discussion by providing realistic examples of the lecture material. In-class case exercises and role-plays (both of which are found throughout this book) provide an opportunity for trainees to apply what is being taught in the class and transfer that knowledge back to the job. Solving and discussing case problems helps trainees learn technical material and content, and role-plays are an excellent way of applying the interpersonal skills being emphasized in the training. If done well, role-plays give trainees the opportunity to practice the skills they’ve been studying via books, video, computer, or some other medium.32
Types of Training
We focus here on the types of training that are commonly used in today’s organizations: skills, retraining, cross-functional, team, creativity, literacy, diversity, crisis, and customer service.
Skills Training
Skills training is probably the most common in organizations. The process is fairly simple: The need or deficit is identified via a thorough assessment. Specific training objectives are generated, and training content is developed to achieve those objectives. The criteria for assessing the training’s effectiveness are also based on the objectives identified in the assessment phase.
Skills training is often approached as a separate task that provides the needed knowledge to employees. The reality is that specifics and steps are sometimes forgotten. What can be helpful for employees trying to apply the training back on their jobs is a means of reminding them of key information or steps. A performance support system33 is an electronic means for employees to quickly access information that can help them quickly determine the correct step or process to follow. A performance support system can supplement the skills learned in a training program and provide employees with a way to remind themselves of specifics that they may have forgotten since the training was delivered. At a more simple and low-tech level, trainees can be provided with materials such as pamphlets and reference guides to ensure that the training results in improved performance. These sorts of materials, job aids , are external sources of information that workers can access quickly when they need help in making a decision or performing a specific task.34
A performance support system or job aids offer the advantage of reducing errors and increasing efficiency by allowing workers to quickly access key information instead of memorizing details. Although performance support systems and job aids can’t replace training, they can be an effective supplement to help ensure that the training transfers back to the job. Job aids, in particular, offer a relatively inexpensive approach that can be developed and delivered quickly.
Retraining
A subset of skills training, retraining gives employees the skills they need to keep pace with their job’s changing requirements. For instance, however proficient garment workers may be at a traditional skill such as sewing, they will need retraining when the company invests in computerized sewing equipment. Unfortunately, even though retraining is much cited in the media as an item at the top of the corporate agenda, many companies rush to upgrade their equipment without taking comparable steps to upgrade their employees’ skills. They erroneously believe that automation means a lower-skilled workforce when, in fact, it often requires a more highly skilled one.
Unfortunately, retraining efforts are not always as effective as hoped. Over 4,000 workers in North Carolina lost their jobs when Pillotex, a textile manufacturer, closed its doors.35 However, after five years less than half of those workers had sought retraining. The Pillowtex example makes clear that retraining can only be effective if people take advantage of it. In addition, even if pursued, retraining doesn’t work for everyone. Despite the retraining, some people will not be able to find jobs. Of course, not being able to find a job may not be the fault of the retraining; it could be due to general economic conditions or a worker’s unwillingness to move to take a new job, among other factors.
Cross-Functional Training
Traditionally, organizations have developed specialized work functions and detailed job descriptions. However, today’s organizations are emphasizing versatility rather than specialization.
Cross-functional training teaches employees to perform operations in areas other than their assigned job. Cross-training offers value to employers because it makes current workers more versatile, and this flexibility can be more efficient than hiring new workers. For employees, cross-training can add variety to their work and can be a welcome break from doing the same thing over and over again.
A job rotation program can be a useful way to expose workers to other areas of an operation and allow them to learn new responsibilities in another area. Peer trainers can also be useful in developing needed skills. A peer trainer can provide instruction and model tasks for workers who are being cross-trained into the peer’s area. If the cross-trained positions require unique or additional knowledge, then a formal training program, such as a blended approach of e-learning with hands-on experience, may be the most efficient means to provide the cross-functional training.
For cross-training to work effectively, managers need to know what skills each area of an operation requires and which employees have those skills. In large operations, software can be used to assess workers and to store skill data. However, it is instructive to see how a smaller operation has handled cross-training. Auto-Valve, Inc. is an aviation valve manufacturer in Ohio with about 40 employees.36 The operations manager realized that it was difficult to complete daily tasks when a worker was absent. The manager then developed a spreadsheet of the necessary job functions (150 of them) and rated each one according to how critical it was to the organization. The manager then offered cross-training (a mixture of electronically available information and hands-on experience), starting with the most critical functions. Auto-Valve now has at least three people who can perform each job function, and an electronic list identifies those employees who can perform the functions of a missing worker. Skills assessment and the development of a training plan are now annual events for each employee. Daily operations are now carried out more smoothly due to the flexibility provided by the cross-training. Further, the operations manager reports that employee turnover has decreased, perhaps due to the variety and challenge offered by the cross-training.
Team Training
Teams have become a common fixture in organizations, with many operations involving empowered teams of workers. Team structure can be effective, but team-level issues, such as communication and trust, can be stumbling blocks and stop teams from reaching their full potential. Thus, just as with individuals, teams can be in need of training.
Team training can be divided into two areas based on the two basic team operations: content tasks and group processes.37 Content tasks directly relate to a team’s goals—for example, cost control and problem solving. Group processes pertain to the way members function as a team—for example, how team members behave toward one another, how they resolve conflicts, and how extensively they participate. Unlike traditional individual training, team training goes beyond the content skills and includes group processes.38
One innovative approach involves moving work teams into the kitchen as a means to improve team processes.39 Culinary team-building programs can be competitive and involve recipe competitions between teams. Or, they can be designed as collaborative efforts, such as when teams need to work together to prepare a multicourse meal. One culinary team-building company assigns teams various dishes to prepare and culinary coaches provide basic instructions. The teams are given 30 minutes to prepare their dish, but after 25 minutes everyone is told to stop and move to the next station on the left! At the new station, no one knows what to do. The team-building company has seen a wide array of responses to this problem, ranging from teams just walking away from their stations to teams leaving one person behind to help the new group through the recipe. The exercise focuses on how teams can better communicate to support each other and improve overall performance. This lesson is certainly pertinent to the workplace, where dynamic changes and unanticipated problems may be encountered at any time.
The reality in many organizations is that teams often involve members who do not regularly interact in a face-to-face fashion. These “virtual teams” involve members from around the country or the globe who are collaborating on common tasks or goals. Virtual teams allow organizations to capitalize on the diverse skills and backgrounds of workers, no matter where they are physically located. Virtual team members can communicate using technologies such as e-mail, teleconferencing, and videoconferencing, among other options. These means of communication can eliminate the cost of travel involved in bringing people together for face-to-face meetings. Although reduced expenses can be an important benefit, the virtual nature of these teams can present difficulties. For example, the teams might experience difficulties in communication, cultural differences, technological problems, and lack of trust when team members do not know each other.
Some organizations have been proactive in trying to reduce these barriers to the effective operation of virtual teams.40 For example, Sabre Inc. holds team-building sessions with new virtual teams that are focused on setting team objectives, clarifying roles, and building team identity.
A survey of virtual team practices in organizations identified a common set of recommended virtual team training topics:41
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▪ Initial face-to-face team-building session
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▪ Use of technology
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▪ Communication
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▪ Team management
An initial face-to-face physical meeting can help to build trust among team members and help establish team norms and the team’s mission. In terms of use of technology, training may be needed to ensure that all virtual team members can use any relevant software and teleconference or videoconference technology. Training in communication could address cultural sensitivity, electronic etiquette, and decision-making processes when people are geographically dispersed. Team management training can help virtual team members to define team members’ roles, determine how to resolve conflicts, and create a method to track the team’s progress.
Creativity Training
Creativity training is based on the assumption that creativity can be learned. There are several approaches to teaching creativity, all of which attempt to help people solve problems in new ways.42 One common approach is the use of brainstorming , in which participants are given the opportunity to generate ideas as wild as they can come up with, without fear of judgment. Only after a good number of ideas have been generated are they individually submitted to rational judgment in terms of their cost and feasibility. Creativity is generally viewed as having two phases: imaginative and practical.43 Brainstorming followed by rational consideration of the options it produces satisfies both phases. Figure 8.4 presents some other approaches to increasing creativity.
Creativity can be learned and developed. The following techniques can be used to improve a trainee’s skill in generating innovative ideas and solutions to problems.
Analogies and Metaphors Drawing comparisons or finding similarities can improve insight into a situation or problem.
Free Association Freely associating words to describe a problem can lead to unexpected solutions.
Personal Analogy Trying to see oneself as the problem can lead to fresh perspectives and, possibly, effective solutions.
Mind Mapping Generating topics and drawing lines to represent the relationships among them can help to identify all the issues and their linkages.
FIGURE 8.4
Techniques to Increase Creativity
Source:Based on Higgins, J. M. (1994). 101 creative problem solving techniques: The handbook of new ideas for business. Winter Park, FL: New Management Publishing Company.
Critics of creativity training argue that its effectiveness is hard to measure and that any effects are short-lived. Although the effectiveness of creativity training continues to be debated,44 there can be little doubt that poor management support can negate any impact of creativity training.
Literacy Training
The abilities to write, speak, and work well with others are critical in today’s business environment. Unfortunately, many workers do not meet employer requirements in these areas. U.S. companies spend more the $3 billion annually for remedial training for employees.45
The term literacy is generally used to mean the mastery of basic skills—that is, the subjects normally taught in public schools (reading, writing, arithmetic, and their uses in problem solving). It is important to distinguish between general literacy and functional literacy. General literacy is a person’s general skill level, whereas functional literacy is a person’s skill level in a particular content area. An employee is functionally literate if he or she can read and write well enough to perform important job duties (reading instruction manuals, understanding safety messages, filling out order slips). The most pressing issue for employers is not the general deficiencies in the workforce, but rather their workers’ ability to function effectively in their jobs. For example, a generally low level of reading ability may be cause for societal concern, but it is workers’ inability to understand safety messages or fill out order slips that is the immediate concern for business. Functional illiteracy can be a serious impediment to an organization’s productivity and competitiveness. For instance, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (see Chapter 16) believes that there is a direct correlation between illiteracy and some workplace accidents.
Functional literacy training programs focus on the basic skills required to perform a job adequately and capitalize on most workers’ motivation to get help or advance in a particular job. These programs use materials drawn directly from the job. For example, unlike a reading comprehension course (which teaches general reading skills), functional training teaches employees to comprehend manuals and other reading materials they must use on the job.
Different approaches can be taken to literacy training. A company can, for example, offer its own in-house literacy training program. McDonald’s, for example, offers a variety of e-learning opportunities for its employees, including a literacy module.46 Another option for conducting literacy training is for a firm to partner with a local school to provide the needed literacy training. Whatever the approach, providing training to bring employees up to acceptable functional literacy levels is a concern of and a cost to employers. A survey of over 700 organizations in England found that the majority reported concerns about the literacy levels of new employees. However, the majority of the employers also felt that it should be up to the government to address literacy problems.47
Diversity Training
Ensuring that the diverse groups of people working in a company get along and cooperate is vital to organizational success. As we saw in Chapter 4, d iversity training programs are designed to teach employees about specific cultural and sex differences and how to respond to these in the workplace. Diversity training is particularly important when team structures are used. To be successful, it must include and be sensitive to all groups, including white males who may perceive that the training is directed at or against them.48 Diversity training that focuses on individual strengths and weaknesses rather than on differences between groups can be a positive experience for all employees. Making the link between diversity and the business is also important. For example, effective organizations are moving their diversity training beyond debunking stereotypes to the need to engage employees from diverse backgrounds.49 Kodak includes training for all its employees that addresses the importance of diversity for its business.50 (See Chapter 4 for additional information about diversity training.)
Crisis Training
Unfortunately, accidents, disasters, and violence are part of life. Events such as plane crashes, chemical spills, and workplace violence can wreak havoc on organizations. Yet many organizations are ill prepared to deal with these tragedies and their aftermath. Consider the criticism leveled against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for its response to the devastation of the New Orleans area due to Hurricane Katrina. The agency was accused of delay and inadequacy and the agency director resigned amid criticisms of how the catastrophe was managed.
In addition to after-the-fact crisis management, crisis training can focus on prevention. For example, organizations are becoming increasingly aware of the possibility of workplace violence, such as attacks by disgruntled former employees or violence against spouses. Prevention training often includes seminars on stress management, conflict resolution, and team building.51
Ethics Training
Due to widely publicized ethical breaches at organizations such as Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco, ethics in business has taken on increased importance. Although ethical guidelines can be helpful, ethics training can clarify the policies and help employees apply them to their everyday work. According to a survey of HR professionals, approximately one-third of organizations offer ethics training.52 If there is to be a meaningful effect, it is important that ethics training make the translation from company’s guidelines or principles to actual on-the-job behavior. Creating an ethical and productive workplace environment means that people need to be equipped to deal with unethical behavior when they encounter it. The Manager’s Notebook, “That’s Not Right: Training to Help Workers Confront Unethical Actions,” looks at how training can help give workers the skills they need to challenge unethical situations.
MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK That’s Not Right: Training to Help Workers Confront Unethical Actions
Ethics/Social Responsibility
Despite the best efforts of an organization, unethical practices will occur. The unethical behavior could take many forms, such as cutting corners by engaging in unsafe work practices, bullying and intimidating others, or stealing from the employer. For example, bullying behaviors at work (e.g., name calling, false allegations, and taking undue credit) are all too common, with one survey finding 62 percent of respondents reporting that they had experienced bullying at work. Bullying and other unethical behaviors can have a negative impact on workers. If the offensive behavior continues, employee satisfaction and productivity can suffer. Sometimes incidents of unethical behavior are not reported because workers are concerned about possible negative repercussions, particularly if the offender is in a superior position to them in the organization. Helping to provide workers with skills to challenge unethical actions can help eliminate offending behaviors and can send a clear signal to workers that the organization is taking a strong, proactive stance on ethics.
Training that focuses on recognizing unethical behavior and, most import, addresses how to challenge such behaviors can be helpful for workers. For example, covering communication techniques and exploring how to challenge inappropriate behavior effectively can improve skills and raise awareness. However, understanding and improved communication skills can still leave workers lacking the confidence to actually challenge someone who is engaged in unethical behavior, such as bullying others. Providing opportunities to practice challenging unacceptable behavior can be effective. For example, using role plays that incorporate how to challenge an offender and feedback on performance can improve both skill and confidence levels.
Customer Service Training
Organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of meeting customers’ expectations. In addition to establishing philosophies, standards, and systems that support customer service, many companies are turning to customer service training to give employees the skills they need to meet and exceed customer expectations. Customer-service skills, particularly for frontline workers, can determine the very survival of a business. Better customer-service skills can impact the business by influencing sales and customer loyalty. In addition to improving customer service, customer service training for frontline workers also appears to improve employee job satisfaction and retention.53 Helping frontline workers to develop the skills to do their jobs may not only improve how well they perform their jobs, but may make for happier and potentially more loyal workers. The goal of customer service training is, of course, to improve customer service. In order to achieve that goal, it can be important to look at how a product or service is provided to a customer from the perspective of the customer. An organization might, for example, emphasize the speed at which it can deliver a product or service and train employees to maximize efficiency and speed. However, if its customers are more interested in the quality of the product or service and how it is presented, the company, despite trying very hard, could miss the mark. The Manager’s Notebook, “Customer-Based Training,” considers employee training from the customer perspective.
MANAGER’S NOTEBOOK Customer-Based Training
Customer-Driven HR
If an organization doesn’t have customers, it can’t stay in business long. This obvious statement highlights the importance of including the customer perspective in the content of employee training. But what are customers looking at when they judge the performance of a company they are dealing with, and how can employee training improve performance as defined by customers?
Research with customers has found that how a service interaction is carried out is an important determinant of how the customer evaluates the performance. For example, how friendly and helpful a worker was could be a critical factor in how a customer assesses the experience of interacting with the company. The tasks could have been performed adequately, but customers are likely also considering how the process of providing the product or service was carried out. When looking at performance from the customer’s perspective, interpersonal aspects could be just as important as more technical aspects of a product or service.
To be effective, employee training needs to go beyond simply telling workers that how they interact with customers is important. Concrete examples of successes and failures from customers can be very helpful for directing employees toward improved customer service. Customer-provided incidents of good and poor performance can be the basis for training that meaningfully improves customer service. For example, the incidents could be used to develop role-plays so that employees can practice dealing with the various issues and concerns brought by customers. Because customers are the source of the content of the training, the efforts at improvement would result in improvements from the customer perspective.
The Evaluation Phase
In the evaluation phase of the training process, the effectiveness of the training program is assessed. Companies might measure effectiveness in monetary or nonmonetary terms. Whatever the terms, the training should be judged on how well it addressed the needs it was designed to meet. For example, it would make sense for a business to evaluate a training program designed to increase workers’ efficiency by assessing its effects on productivity or costs, but not in terms of employee satisfaction.
All too often the evaluation phase of the training process is neglected. This is tantamount to making an investment without ever determining whether you’re receiving an adequate (or any) return on it. Calculating a return on investment can require a study of the costs and benefits of training, and funding such a study can be difficult if funding for the training was barely adequate to begin with. Granted, collecting the necessary data and finding the time to analyze training results may be difficult. But at the very least companies should estimate the costs and benefits of a training program, even if these cannot be directly measured. Without such information, training’s financial value cannot be demonstrated, and upper management may feel there is no compelling reason to continue the training effort.
Assessing the effectiveness of training is more than simply estimating financial costs and benefits. A four-level framework for evaluation54 has been widely accepted in the training area. Level 1 refers to the reaction of the trainees, and it may consist of ratings on a satisfaction scale that assesses how happy trainees are with the training. Level 2 refers to how much the trainees learn, and it may be assessed with a skill exercise. Level 3 refers to the trainees’ behavior, and it may be measured by observers of the work operation. Level 4 refers to the results, which are generally assessed through the financial measure of return on investment (ROI). Evaluating the results, the highest level of measurement, seems to be the most desirable way of assessing the success of a training program. However, other levels of measurement, particularly level 3, behavior, can also be important.
Applications of the four levels of evaluation to measure training effectiveness are illustrated in the following example. Employees attend a training program offered by their company that is focused on improving skills to operate as a team. Following the team training, the employees complete a questionnaire asking for evaluations of how useful they felt the program was and how knowledgeable the trainers were. After returning to work, the employees are asked to complete an online assessment regarding the team training. The assessment is a set of items that test knowledge about concepts and procedures covered in the training. A week after the training, observers are in the workplace and take notes about work processes and how employees are interacting with each other. A month later the training numbers are pulled together into a spreadsheet that reflect aspects such as the number of jobs completed and the number of errors.
As summarized in Figure 8.5, each of the above measures relates to one of the four levels of evaluation. The first level of evaluation focuses on the reaction of trainees to the program. Although a positive reaction can be important, the second level of evaluation assesses the extent to which trainees learned material covered in the program. And although learning key concepts and procedures can be important, the third level of evaluation addresses the question of whether the training had an impact on how people perform their jobs. Finally, the fourth level of measurement looks at whether there was a financial return on the investment made in offering the training.
Level Type of Measurement 1
2
3
4
Subjective reactions to training, such as perceived usefulness.
Objective measure of learning, such as a test of concepts covered in training.
Application of training back on the job, such as behaviors and decisions made on the job.
Financial impact of the training, such as an ROI estimate.
FIGURE 8.5
Training Effectiveness: Four Measurement Levels
Although the financial return on training expenditures is important, it is not always the most appropriate measure of effectiveness. A better measurement might be whether the training resulted in attaining the business goal.55 In a competitive fight for survival, achieving business goals may be more important than a cost/benefit analysis.
Also, the purpose of evaluation may be more than assessment.56 For example, measures of training effectiveness might serve as a source of learning and motivation if they are provided as feedback to trainees. A business could use data on behavioral change, for instance, to give workers feedback about their work-related improvements.
Legal Issues and Training
Like all other HRM functions, training is affected by legal regulations. The major requirement here is that employees must have access to training and development programs in a nondiscriminatory fashion. Equal opportunity regulations and antidiscrimination laws apply to the training process, just as they do to all other HR functions.
As we discussed in Chapter 3, d etermining whether a training program has adverse impact is a primary means of deciding whether a process is discriminatory. If relatively few women and minorities are given training opportunities, it would appear that there is discrimination in terms of development offered to different groups of employees. This situation could trigger an investigation and the company may have to demonstrate that development opportunities are offered on a job-relevant and nondiscriminatory basis.