1. 7 Training Employees What Do I Need to Know?
Chapter 7
Training Employees
What Do I Need to Know?
1. Discuss how to link training programs to organizational needs.
 2.  Explain how to assess the need for training.
3.  Explain how to assess employees’ readiness for training.
Describe how to plan an effective training program.
Compare widely used training methods.
Summarize how to implement a successful training program.
Evaluate the success of a training program.
8.  Describe training methods for employee orientation and diversity management.

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Introduction
Training: consists of an organization’s planned efforts to help employees learn job-related knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors, with the goal of applying these on the job.
A training program may range from formal classes to one-on-one mentoring and it may take place on the job or at remote locations.
No matter what its form, training can benefit the organization when it is linked to organizational needs and when it motivates employees.
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3. Training Linked to Organizational Needs
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Training Linked to Organizational Needs
The nature of the modern business environment makes training more important today than it ever has been.
Rapid changes, especially in the area of technology, requires that employees continually learn new skills.
Training programs may:
Prepare employees for future positions
Enable the organization to respond to change
Reduce turnover
Enhance worker safety
Improve customer service and product design
Meet many other goals
Instructional design: a process of systematically developing training to meet specified needs.
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4. Stages of Instructional Design

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Needs Assessment
Needs assessment: the process of evaluating the organization, individual employee, and employee’s tasks to determine what kinds of training, if any, are necessary.
A variety of conditions may prompt an organization to conduct a needs assessment:
Management observes that some employees lack basic skills or are performing poorly
The organization has decided to produce new products, apply new technology, or design new jobs
Outside forces such as customer requests or legal requirements
The outcome of the needs assessment is a set of decisions about how to address the issues that prompted the needs assessment.
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6. Organization Analysis
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Organization Analysis
Organization analysis:
Usually begins the needs assessment
The process for determining the appropriateness of training by evaluating the characteristics of the organization
The organization analysis looks at training needs in light of the organization’s strategy:
Resources available for training
Management’s support for training activities
Training needs will vary depending on whether the organization’s strategy is:
Based on growing or shrinking
Expanding to serve a broad customer base
Focusing on the specific needs of a narrow market segment
Managers increase the success of training when they support training through actions such as helping trainees see how they can apply their new knowledge, skills, and behaviors on the job.
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Person Analysis
Person analysis: a process for determining individuals’ needs and readiness for training.
Person analysis is critical when training is considered in response to a performance problem.
The primary variables that can influence performance include:
Person’s ability and skills
His or her attitudes and motivation
Organization’s input
Performance feedback
Positive consequences to motivate good performance
Of these variables, only ability and skills can be affected by training.
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8. Readiness for Training
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Readiness for Training
Readiness for training is a combination of employee characteristics and positive work environment that permit training.
The necessary employee characteristics include:
Ability to learn the subject matter
Favorable attitudes toward the training
Motivation to learn
Readiness for training also depends on two broad characteristics of the work environment:
Situational constraints
Social support
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9. What Managers Should Do to Support Training
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What Managers Should Do to Support Training
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10. Planning the Training Program
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Planning the Training Program
The planned training program should directly relate to the needs identified by the needs assessment.
Planning begins with establishing objectives for the training program.
Formally establishing objectives for the training program offers several benefits.
Effective training objectives have three components:
What the employee is expected to do
The quality or level of performance that is acceptable
The conditions under which the trainee is expected to apply what is learned
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11. Choices of Training Methods
Presentation methods: trainees receive information provided by instructors, computers, or other media.
A wide variety of training methods are available and fall into two broad categories of presentation methods:
Hands-on methods: actively involves the trainee in learning by trying out the behaviors being taught
Group-building methods: help trainees share ideas and experience, build group or team identity, understand how interpersonal relationships work, and get to know their own strengths and weakness as well as those of their coworkers
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Training Methods
A wide variety of methods are available for conducting training:
Classroom training
Training videos
Role-plays
Case studies
Computer-based training
Learning games
Experiential programs
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13. Overview of Use of Instructional Methods
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Team Training
Team training coordinates the performance of individuals who work together to achieve a common goal.
Cross-training: team members understand and practice each other’s skills so that members are prepared to step in and take another member’s place.
Coordination training: trains the team in how to share information and decisions to obtain the best team performance.
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15. Training Conditions That Help Employees Learn
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Training Conditions That Help Employees Learn
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16. Measuring Results of Training
Measures of training success include:
Trainee satisfaction with the program
Knowledge or abilities learned
Use of new skills and behaviors on the job
Improvements in individual performance
Improvements in organizational performance
Evaluation of training should look for transfer of training or on-the-job use of knowledge, skills, and behaviors learned in training.
Assessment of training should also evaluate training outcomes.
Economic measures are an important way to evaluate the success of a training program.
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17. Applications of Training
Two categories of training that have become widespread among U.S. companies are:
Orientation of new employees
Training in how to manage workforce diversity
Orientation: training designed to prepare employees to perform their job effectively, learn about the organization, and establish work relationships.
Diversity training: training designed to change employee attitudes about diversity and/or develop skills needed to work with a diverse workforce.
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