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Chapter 8: Training Human Resources

Table of Contents

Chapter Summary

Learning Objectives

Lecture Outline

Critical Thinking Challenges

Case: Bloomingdale’s Uses Interactive Platform to Improve Safety

Supplemental Cases

Extra Teaching Video

Chapter Summary

Chapter 8 focuses on short-term training. Training is viewed as a tool to help an

organization accomplish its strategic goals. The major categories of training are discussed

next, followed by a brief introduction to instructional systems design. Training needs

assessment introduces the diagnostic phase of a training plan. Establishing training

Learning Objectives

After students have read this chapter, they should be able to accomplish the following

objectives:

• Define training and discuss why a strategic approach is important.

• Explain the major categories of training and describe instructional systems design.

• Identify three types of analyses used to determine training needs.

Lecture Outline

Chapter 8: Training Human Resources

HR Headline: Patagonia’s Multifaceted Training Program

Patagonia is an organization that has expanded worldwide primarily owing to its

commitment to its core values and its employees. In 2008, it contracted lyndaPro, a firm

that offers a library of online-based video training, to help upgrade their training program

with training modules. However, it discovered that the modules could not be accessed

simultaneously by all workers owing to the licensing agreement. It resolved this issue by

creating a new Learning and Development team and by buying lyndaEnterprise. The

success that Patagonia has had with this strategy has motivated it to create a learning

management platform that provides more customized training targeting the needs of its

employees.

8-1. Organizational Strategy and Training

8-1a. Strategic Training

• For maximum impact, HR and training professionals should get involved with the

8-1b. Investments in Training

• Just over 60 percent of spending is dedicated to internal training efforts in

Teaching Tip: Use Figure 8-1 to note that the amount spent on training has generally

increased over time.

8-1c. Organizational Competitiveness and Training

• Companies invest in training with the expectation that competitiveness will

increase through improved results.

• Organization-wide improvements should be seen in lower employee turnover,

improvements in effectiveness and productivity, more profitability and reduced

Chapter 8: Training Human Resources

• Training allows an organization to improve over time by increasing employees’

knowledge and skills. Training also boosts retention of employees.

Teaching Tip: Use Figure 8-2 to demonstrate how organizational strategies can lead

directly to training activities. Ask students to suggest additional strategies and the training

activities that could help accomplish them.

• A learning strategy can be created that outlines a company’s training approach for

continuous learning, which supports the development of a learning organization.

• Knowledge management is the way an organization identifies and leverages

knowledge to be competitive.

HR Perspective: “3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . Lift Off!” NASA’s Knowledge Management

Approach Aims for the Stars

Managing knowledge in an organization such as NASA could be a huge challenge.

Nevertheless, NASA realized the need for a knowledge management system especially

after events such as the Mars mission failures and the Challenger disaster. It revised its

policy for knowledge management so that there could be greater information sharing

through networking and collaboration. It also created an Agency Knowledge Map that

included online information, an information search engine, published materials,

specification of best practices, information sharing networks, and social exchange efforts.

1. How do you think NASA managed to enhance its knowledge management policy?

Do you think it was effective? If so, how?

Students’ answers may vary. NASA would have analyzed the issues that each of its

departments had with regard to sharing knowledge and would have addressed those

issues. If required, it may have put policies in place to protect information that was

deemed confidential so that departments and their stakeholders are at ease

regarding knowledge sharing.

Chapter 8: Training Human Resources

• Orientation is the planned introduction of new employees to their jobs,

coworkers, and the organization.

• Effective orientation achieves several key purposes:

o Establishes a favorable employee impression of the organization and the job.

• Electronic resources can be used to make orientation more efficient.

Discussion Starter: Use Figure 8-5 to discuss activities that could be used in effective

onboarding.

8-2d. Orientation: Evaluation and Metrics

8-3. Instructional Systems Design

• Instructional systems design (ISD) is a step-by-step process to ensure that the

8-4. Training Needs Assessment

• Assessing organizational training needs is the diagnostic phase of a training plan.

8-4a. Analysis of Training Needs

• The sources used to analyze training needs include organizational analysis,

job/task analysis, and individual analysis, as shown in Figure 8-7.

8-4b. Establishing Training Objectives and Priorities

• A “gap analysis” indicates the distance between employees’ current capabilities

8-5. Training Design

• Training design begins when the objectives have been established.

8-5a. Learner Characteristics

• For training to be successful, learners must be ready and able to learn.

• Learners must possess basic skills, such as fundamental reading or math

proficiency, and sufficient cognitive abilities.

• A person’s desire to learn training content, referred to as motivation to learn, is

influenced by multiple factors.

Discussion Starter: Discuss why usefulness is important in training. Relate it to the age-

old cry of students asking, “Why do I have to learn this?”

• People learn in different ways (such as auditory, visual, and tactile methods).

• Adult learning (also known as andragogy) refers to the ways in which adults

Chapter 8: Training Human Resources

centered approach to learning; and (5) are motivated by both extrinsic and

intrinsic factors.

HR Competencies & Applications: Training a Multigenerational Workforce

Key Competencies: Consultation, Global & Cultural Effectiveness; HR Expertise:

Workplace/Diversity & Inclusion, Organization/Workforce Management,

People/Employee Engagement

Today, it is common to have workers from several generations in the workforce. The most

common groups are the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. There are

differences and similarities among all the groups.

1. What are the rewards and challenges of managing a workforce composed of workers

from different generations?

Students’ answers will vary. Workers from different generations will have different

skills, communicate in different ways, and need different training. Having a variety

of generations in a company’s workforce ensures that a worker will be available for

almost any type of task.

2. How can HR professionals assist line managers in dealing with workers from

different generations? What HR programs should be customized to meet the diverse

needs of workers from each generation?

Students’ answers will vary. Students should consider training line managers to deal

with workers from different generations. Training is an HR program that should be

customized to meet the needs of workers from each generation.

8-5b. Instructional Strategies

• Instructional strategies include practice/feedback, overlearning, behavioral

modeling, error-based examples, and reinforcement/immediate confirmation.

• In active practice, trainees perform job-related tasks and duties during training.

• Feedback provided during practice helps learners establish their competence level

and adjust their efforts.

8-5c. Training Transfer

• Effective transfer of training occurs when trainees use knowledge and information

they learned in training.

• Effective transfer of training meets two conditions:

8-6. Training Delivery

• Once training has been designed, the actual delivery of training can begin.

• The growth of training technology continues to expand the available choices, as

Discussion Starter: Ask students if formal or informal training is more effective. They

may discover that effectiveness depends on what you are learning and the situation in

which it is learned. For example, casual cooking may be learned effectively in an informal

situation, but a surgeon should receive formal training before operating.

8-6a. Internal Training

• Internal training addresses topics specific to the organization and its jobs.

• Informal training occurs through interactions and feedback among employees.

8-6b. External Training

• External training takes place outside of the organization.

8-6c. Combination Training Approaches

• Cooperative training approaches mix classroom training and on-the-job

experiences.

HR Perspective: Building Talent

In the United States, some industries are having trouble finding workers. Manufacturing is

one of those industries. Apprenticeship is one solution. Students enter an apprenticeship

immediately after high school graduation and remain an apprentice for about three years.

Using apprenticeships, manufacturers can build their own talent.

1. Why do you think many U.S. companies are reluctant to implement apprenticeship

programs? What arguments would you make to overcome their hesitance?

Students’ answers will vary. Apprenticeships do not have immediate benefits for the

employer. It requires additional time from the trainer, and a new apprentice is paid

even though the apprentice is not yet skilled. To overcome hesitation, emphasis must

be placed on the long-term benefit of skilled workers who have graduated from the

apprentice program.

management, and elevator installer.

8-7. Technology in Training Delivery

8-7a. E-Learning: Online Training

• E-learning is the use of web-based technology to conduct training online.

8-7b. Simulations and Games

8-7c. Mobile Learning

• M-learning is the use of mobile technology to conduct training.

8-7d. Pros and Cons of Technology-Supported E-Learning

8-8. Training Evaluation

• Training evaluation compares post-training results to pre-training objectives.

8-8a. Levels of Evaluation

• Levels include reaction, learning, behaviors, and results.

Chapter 8: Training Human Resources

o Evaluating reaction levels can be accomplished by conducting interviews or

8-8b. Training Evaluation Metrics

• Cost-benefit analysis is the comparison of costs and benefits associated with

training.

• A cost benefit analysis includes four stages:

8-8c. Training Evaluation Designs

• Internal evaluations of training programs can be designed in many ways.

• The post-measure design determines whether the employees can perform

Critical Thinking Challenges

1. Identify training needs for a group of entry-level workers in a fast food restaurant.

The students should begin with a study of the organization as a complete system. The

existing knowledge, skills, and abilities of present employees need to be recognized.

The analysis should also include a determination of future goals of the organization

2. Why is evaluating training an important part of strategic training?

Training represents a significant expenditure of time and money in most

organizations. Strategic training enables HR to get involved with the business,

3. Develop an orientation checklist on the basis of one first-day session and a second

session of four hours 30 days later.

4. Create a briefing for division managers showing the advantages and disadvantages of

using MOOCs. Use websites, including www.td.org, www.coursera.org, and

www.mooc-list.com.

Chapter 8: Training Human Resources

Most students will refer to the information in the text (Figure 8-12):

Advantages:

• Self-paced—trainees can proceed at their own speed

• Interactive—taps multiple trainee senses

Disadvantages:

• May cause trainee anxiety

• Trainees must have easy, reliable access to technology

5. Because of rapid growth of your technology company, the executive team has asked

HR to develop an internal training program. The purpose of the program is to help

employees recently promoted to supervisory positions develop the leadership skill

sets they need to be successful as supervisors. This will be the first formal training

program for your small company. As part of the process, you want to consider the

learning styles of the new supervisors. To help you develop a successful, results-

oriented program, review various training websites, including

www.agelesslearner.com.

A. What training techniques should be implemented to meet the needs of the

varied learning styles and maximize the learning potential of the participants?

B. Identify the content topics that you will recommend be included in the program

to ensure the development of successful leaders.

Chapter 8: Training Human Resources

Students might come up with various topics to ensure development of

successful leaders. Some examples would include leadership styles,

communication, motivation, team building, resolving conflict, etc.

Case: Bloomingdale’s Uses Interactive Platform to Improve Safety

Knowledge

Bloomingdale’s tremendously improved its safety records by abandoning its traditional

employee training tools for workplace safety and transitioning to an interactive platform

that allowed it to appropriately schedule learning in small and regular doses, customize

learning based on different employee and store outlet requirements, gauge the impact of

training modules, and most importantly, perform all of this without eating into employees’

work hours.

1. What is your opinion of Bloomingdale’s learning approach? What elements do you

think motivated employees to learn more about safety on the job?

2. Do you agree with the various stages employed to implement the system? Could this

approach be improved? If so, what improvements would you recommend?

3. What kind of incentives might be used to encourage further learning?

Chapter 8: Training Human Resources

the level at which they have identified safety threats and averted mishaps.

Supplemental Cases

Saving Lives through Effective Training

This case highlights the use of live instructor-led classroom sessions at G4S, an integrated

1. How might the learning and development team determine which training content to

create and deliver internally? How would you recommend evaluating potential

external providers? What criteria would you use to decide which third-party

providers to partner with?

2. What might motivate employees to share their skills and knowledge on a personal

profile on the company’s social networking intranet portal? What kind of incentives

might you provide to encourage employees to share this information?

Using Performance Support to Improve Learning

This case illustrates the process of performance support that employees use to improve

1. The case introduces a rather complex information-based approach to encourage

learning on the job. How is this approach different from traditional training? Are

there any similarities?

2. How would you implement a Performance Support system?

Performance Support systems can be implemented as a way to make learning occur

3. What are the challenges and opportunities associated with a Performance Support

informational network with regard to individual learning?

The challenges and opportunities associated with a Performance Support

Training Crucial for Hotels

This case illustrates the increased role training is playing in large U.S. hotel chains. (For

1. Discuss how these hotels are using a strategic and performance consulting approach

to developing training efforts.

The framework for developing a strategic training plan contains four major stages—

2. Identify how the effectiveness of Ritz-Carlton’s Mystique program might be

measured several years later.

It is important to measure effectiveness of training so that there is always continuous

improvement of it. Content, as well as delivery method and frequency, are all areas

New Payroll Clerk

This case shows the frustration that often accompanies the first day at work, and why

orientation is important in reducing turnover. (For the case, visit MindTap® at

1. What problems can you identify with the orientation activities experienced by Irene?

2. How would you make changes in the orientation process? What changes would you

make?

Answers will vary. However, the following points can be covered:

Without good planning, new employee orientation sessions can come across as

Comments

This case represents an all-too-common occurrence—unplanned and poorly handled

orientation. The personnel assistant will be quite lucky if Irene remembers one-third of

what was explained. In addition, the lack of an escort to the department further created the

Onboarding in the Twenty-First Century

Chapter 8: Training Human Resources

This case outlines orientation efforts of Sun Microsystems, El Paso Corporation, and

1. The case introduces three companies of very different sizes. What differences do you

see in their approaches? What similarities?

2. Are there important things missing from all three approaches? If so, what are they?

3. Which approach sounds best to you? Why?

Extra Teaching Video

On the Job Video: The Ocean House—Training & Development

This short video will help reinforce key points and may prompt additional discussion from

the class.