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Human Resource ManagementGaining a Competitive Advantage

Chapter 7

Training

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved.

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Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:• Discuss how training can contribute to

companies’ business strategy.• Explain the role of the manager in identifying

training needs and supporting training on the job.

• Conduct a needs assessment.• Evaluate employees’ readiness for training.• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of

presentation, hands-on, and group training methods.

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Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:• Explain the potential advantages of e-learning

for training.• Design a training session to maximize learning.• Choose an appropriate evaluation design based

on training objectives and analysis of constraints.

• Design a cross-cultural preparation program.• Develop a program for effectively managing

diversity.

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Training can...

• Increase employees’ knowledge of foreign competitors and cultures.

• Help ensure that employees have the basic skills to work with new technology,

• Help employees understand how to work effectively in teams to contribute to product and service quality.

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Training can...

• Ensure that the company’s culture emphasizes innovation, creativity, and learning.

• Ensure employment security by providing new ways for employees to contribute to the company when: – their jobs change

– their interests change

– their skills become obsolete

• Prepare employees to accept and work more effectively with each other, particularly with minorities and women.

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Training

• Training is a planned effort by a company to facilitate the learning of employees.

• High-leverage training:– is linked to strategic business goals and

objectives, – has top management support,– relies on an instructional design model, and – is benchmarked to programs in other

organizations.• Continuous learning is a learning system that

requires employees to understand the entire work process and expects them to acquire new skills, apply them on the job, and share what they have learned with other employees.

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Designing Effective Training Activities

1. Needs Assessment• Organizational Analysis• Person Analysis• Task Analysis

2. Ensuring Employees’ readiness for Training• Attitudes and Motivation• Basic Skills

3. Creating a Learning Environment• Identification of learning objectives and training outcomes• Meaningful material• Practice• Feedback• Observation of others• Administering and coordinating program

The Training Process

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Designing Effective Training Activities (cont.)

4. Ensuring Transfer of Training• Self-management strategies• Peer and manager support

5. Selecting Training Methods• Presentational Methods• Hands-on Methods•Group Methods

6. Evaluating Training Programs• Identification of training outcomes and evaluation design.•Cost-benefit analysis

The Training Process

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Needs Assessment

Organizational Analysis

Person Analysis

Task Analysis

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Ensuring Employee Readiness for Training

• Motivation to learn is the desire of the trainee to learn the content of the training program.

• Self-efficacy is the employees' belief that they can successfully learn the content of the training program.

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Ensuring Employee Readiness for Training

• Managers can increase employees' self-efficacy level by:– Letting employees know that the purpose of training is

to try to improve performance rather than to identify areas in which employees are incompetent.

– Providing as much information as possible about the training program and purpose of training prior to the actual training.

– Showing employees the training success of their peers who are now in similar jobs.

– Providing employees with feedback that learning is under their control and they have the ability and the responsibility to overcome any learning difficulties they experience in the program.

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SKILLS

Basic Skills

Cognitive Ability -verbal

comprehension,quantitativeability, and

reasoning ability

Reading Ability -the difficulty

level of written

materials

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Creating a Learning Environment

• Employees need to know why they should learn.

• Employees need meaningful training content.

• Employees need to have opportunities to practice.

• Employees need feedback.

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Creating a Learning Environment

• Employees learn by observing, experiencing, and interacting with others.

• Employees need the training program to be properly coordinated and aadministered.

• Employees need to commit training content to memory.

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Transfer of Training

Transferof

Training

Climate fortransfer

Opportunity to uselearned capability

TechnologicalSupport

Self-managementskills

Manager support

Peer Support

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Selecting Training Methods

• Presentation Methods– Instructor-led classroom

instruction– Distance learning– Audiovisual techniques– Mobile technologies

• Hands-on Methods– On-the-job training– Self-directed learning– Simulations– Business games and case studies– Behavior modeling– Interactive video– E-learning

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Outcomes Used in Evaluating Training Programs

OUTCOME

Cognitive Outcomes

Skill-based Outcomes

Affective Outcomes

Results

Return on Investment

WHAT IS MEASURED•Acquisition of Knowledge

•Behavior •Skills

•Motivation•Reaction to Program•Attitudes

•Company Payoff

•Economic value of Training

HOW MEASURED•Pencil and paper tests•Work sample

•Observation•Work sample•Ratings

•Interviews•Focus groups•Attitude surveys

•Observation•Data from information system or performance records

•Identification and comparison of costs and benefits of the program

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• Pretest/Posttest with Comparison Group

• Posttest only with comparison Group

• Pretest/Posttest

Evaluation Designs

• Posttest Only

• Time Series

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Determining Return on Investment

• Cost-benefit analysis is the process of determining the economic benefits of a training program using accounting methods.

• Determining costs• Determining benefits• Making the analysis

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Cross-Cultural Preparation

• An expatriate is an employee sent by his or her company to manage operations in a different country.

• To be successful in overseas assignments, expatriates need to be:– Competent in their area of expertise.– Able to communicate verbally and nonverbally in

the host country.– Flexible, tolerant of ambiguity, and sensitive to

cultural differences.– Motivated to succeed, able to enjoy the

challenge of working in other countries, and willing to learn about the host country’s culture, language, and customs.

– Supported by their families.

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Three Phases of Cross-Cultural Preparation

Phase One:Predeparture Phase

Phase Two:On-Site Phase

Phase Three:Repatriation Phase

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Managing Workforce Diversity

• Managing Diversity is the process of creating an environment that allows all employees to contribute to organizational goals and experience personal growth.

• Types of diversity training:– Attitude awareness and change programs– Behavior based programs

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• Organizational socialization is the process used to transform new employees into effective company members.

• The three phases of socialization are:

Socialization and Orientation

AnticipatorySocialization

Encounter

Settling In

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Three Phases of Socialization

• Through anticipatory socialization, expectations are developed about: – the company– job– working conditions– interpersonal relationships

• The encounter phase occurs when the employee begins a new job.

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Three Phases of Socialization

• In the settle-in phase, employees start to feel comfortable with job demands and social relationships.

• Orientation programs play an important role in socializing employees. It involves familiarizing new employees with: – company rules,– policies,– procedures