Human Resource Management:Gaining a Competitive Advantage

Chapter 7

Training

Copyright © 2010 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Learning Objectives

Discuss how training can contribute to companies’ business strategy.

Explain the manager’s role 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

Explain potential e-learning training advantages.

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 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 when their : jobs change or interests change 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, supported by top management, relies on an instructional design model, and benchmarked to programs in other organizations.

Continuous learningrequires employees to understand the entire work process, expects them to acquire and apply new skills, and share what they have learned.

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Strategic Training & Development Process

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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

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 Process

Organization Analysis

Person Analysis

Task Analysis

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3 Factors Used to Choose Training

Company’s Strategic Direction

Available Training Resources

Support-Manager and Peers

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5 Factors that Influence Employee Performance and Learning

1. Person characteristics Ability and skill Attitudes and motivation

2. Input Understand what, how, when to perform Necessary resources (equipment, etc.) Interference from other job demands Opportunity to perform

3. Output Expectations for learning performance

4 Consequences Positive consequences/incentives to perform Few negative consequences to perform

5. Feedback Frequent and specific feedback about how the job is performed

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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

To increase employees' self-efficacy level:1. Let employees know that the purpose of training isto

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

2. Provideas much information as possible about the training program and purpose prior to actual training.

3. Show employees their peers’training success.

4. Provideemployees feedbackthat learning is under their control they have the ability and responsibility to overcome

learning difficulties experienced in the program.

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SKILLS

Basic Skills

Cognitive Ability–verbal comprehension,

quantitativeability and

reasoning ability

Reading Ability –level of difficulty of written materials

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Creating a Learning Environment

7 Conditions for Learning

1. Need to know why they should learn.

2. Meaningful training content.

3. Opportunities to practice.

4. Feedback.

5. Observe experience and interact with others

6. Good program coordination and administration

7. 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, teleconferencing &

webcasting 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 inEvaluating Training Programs

OUTCOME

Cognitive Outcomes

Skill-based Outcomes

Affective Outcomes

Results

ROI

WHAT IS MEASUREDAcquisition 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 systemor performance records

•Identification& cost comparison& program benefits

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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 a training program’s economic benefits using accounting methods.

• Determining costs• Determining benefits• Making the analysis

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Cross-Cultural Preparation

An expatriate is an employee sent bya company to manage operations in a different country.

To be successful overseas,expatriates need to be:1. Competent in their area of expertise.2. Able to communicate verbally and nonverbally in the

host country.3. Flexible, tolerant of ambiguity, and sensitive to cultural

differences.4. 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.

5. Supported by their families.

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3 Phases of Cross-Cultural Preparation

Phase One:Predeparture

Phase

Phase Two:On-SitePhase

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.

2 Types of Diversity Training:1. Attitude awareness and change programs2. Behavior based programs

2 Goals of Diversity Training:

1. Eliminate values, stereotypes, and managerial practices that inhibit employees’ personal development

2. Allow employees to contribute to organizational goals regardless of their race, sexual orientation, gender, family status, religious orientation, or cultural background.

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

3 Phases of Socialization:

Socialization and Orientation

AnticipatorySocialization

Encounter

Settling In

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Summary

Technological innovations, new product markets, and a diverse workforce have increased the need for companies to reexamine how their training practices contribute to learning.

The key to successful training is choosing the training method that best contributes to effectiveness.

Managing diversity and cross-cultural preparation are two training issues relevant to capitalize on a diverse workforce and global markets.

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