Employee training is a key to long-term strategic organizational success in the 21st Century. Whether managers are overseeing the tasks of established company employees or new hires, it is important to monitor performance and ensure that workers complete tasks as efficiently and effectively as possible. To that end, knowledge, skills, and abilities of staff must be up to date and aligned with organizational goals and objectives. Formal training programs are the best way to ensure that learning takes place in a standardized fashion and yields the best results, due to the relative ease of measurability of outcomes and subsequent comparisons to industry benchmarks. After the HR department and managers of the various business units of a firm conduct performance appraisals, they must undertake four steps in a systematic process that is used to formulate employee-training programs. They are in the following order: needs assessment, design, implementation, and evaluation.
The first step, needs assessment, consists of figuring out the deficiencies in performance that must be addressed, and this step is broken down into three distinct parts: organizational analysis, task analysis, and person analysis. A SWOT analysis can help pinpoint internal and external factors such as new software applications introduced into the marketplace that impact current or future operations. Task analysis involves pointing out the differences between the tasks employees need to attain to properly use the software and their current KSAs. A person analysis allows managers to pick the individuals who require the program, specifically those who will be assigned to use the new application.
The second step, the design phase, involves coming up with instructional objectives, writing a lesson plan, understanding the principles of learning, and selecting the optimal location to conduct training sessions. Setting instructional objectives gives participants a roadmap for where the course is headed and what they can expect to learn. Trainers must make sure to provide variety in the methods in which they present materials, so that people with different learning styles including visual, tactile, auditory, and kinesthetic, all benefit equally. To generate interest, trainers would be well advised to incorporate entertaining and fun experiences that maintain participant interest throughout the program. Last but not least, the location that is chosen to conduct sessions is crucial to success. Companies must decide whether to conduct training onsite or offsite depending on the duration of meetings, size of the class, and possible distractions at each location. Environmental conditions such as temperature, lighting, and room size are also examined.
The third step, implementation, involves choosing whether training will be low tech or high tech, and high touch or low touch. For example, in the case of new software applications, the program would certainly require interface with a computer as the primary way to educate. This web-based learning could be either synchronous, meaning it would take place at the same time, or asynchronous, meaning that participants could log in at anytime provided all sections of the course are completed within a certain time. In this case, sessions would probably be low touch, meaning that instruction can be provided online with electronic documentation, as opposed to significant face-to-face interaction, although sessions could take place in classroom lab settings.
The fourth and final step, evaluation, is measured on five levels: reaction, learning, behavior, results, and return on investment. Individuals are sent surveys that seek to gauge their reaction and satisfaction with the presentations and trainers. They are then given written or oral tests that determine the extent to which knowledge has been retained. Next, behavior is viewed to witness the application of skills on the job and subsequent improvement in individual performance. Finally, the impact on organizational productivity, efficiency, quality, and cost reductions are accounted for. A financial return on investment provides objective metrics for the firm to calculate money gained or saved based on already established accounting practices.