Chapter 8- Training and Onboarding

EMPLOYEE TRAINING
 What is Training?
o Planned programs to improve performance at individual, group, org levels
 Implies measurable change in knowledge skills, attitudes, social behavior
o Training issues are addressed from two perspectives
 Structural (macro-level)
 Aggregate level of expenditures by training providers / Econ impact
 Degree of cooperation among providers
 Incentives (lack of) for training
 Who gets training
 Micro level
 What types of training yields positive outcomes
 Is training needed? What type?
 Delivery of training programs
 Evaluation of training outcomes
o Orgs emphasize techniques and methods, but not defining what employees need
o Fewer than half of all orgs try to measure value of training
 5% calculate return in monetary terms
 Training Trends
o Time and money budgeted for training will increase in next decade
o Major challenges
 Hypercompetition
 Domestic and international level competition, due to trade agreements and
technology (internet)
 Constant reinvention of business strategies/models and org structure
 Growth of labor intermediaries
 Temporary help services, social media sites, executive search firms,
outplacement firms
 We can no longer assume that “workers” in an organization are all
employees
 Rise of “temps” under contract, employed by a “Professional employer
organization,” or work for vendors
 Collab across org and geographic boundaries
 Suppliers collocated with manufacturers, share access to inventory levels
 Outsourcing, geographical dispersion of work, strategic alliances
 Orgs face cultura and language issues
 Need to maintain high levels of talent
 Because products and services can be copied, workforces have to innovate,
refine, solve, and form relationships to have sustainable advantages
 Developing people is key
 Changes in workforce
 Shifting demographics, need to promote diversity
 Changes in knowledge management and its transfer
 Changes in tech
 Training and retraining requirements are constantly changing
  Teamsm
 More team involvement in the workplace
 Need to enforce asking for ideas, offering unwanted help, listening and
providing good feedback, proper collaboration
o Training budgets have increased since 2013
o Bottom line: orgs with superior opportunities for learning and growth have distinct
advantage when competing for talented employees
 Org is responsible for providing supportive, change-embracing environment
 Individual responsible for deriving max benefit from learning opportunities
o Retraining is more cost effective than hiring new employees, especially as it boosts morale
 Impact of training on Individuals, Teams, Organizations, and society
o 13 benefits @ individual and team levels
 meta-analyses say that training has overall positive effect on job-related behaviors
or performance
 average effect size (d) = 0.62
o standard deviations better than performance without training
 training leads to greater innovation and tacit skills
 tacit skills- behaviors acquired through informal learning
o i.e. physician who requires right touch or feel when probing
 training can improve technical skills
 improvement in declarative (facts) & procedural (how to perform)
knowledge
 training can improve strategic knowledge, when to apply specific skill
 training, esp practice, helps maintain consistency in performance
 enhancing self-efficacy & self-management increases consistency
 enhance ppl’s belief that they can accomplish a task, and give them
autonomy to help maintain desired behaviors
 management development programs show positive effects
 affect two types of outcomes: knowledge (principles, facts, and skills; 0.96-
1.37) and changes in on-the-job behavior (0.35-1.01)
 cross-cultural training improves expatriate adjustment and performance
 study concludes that timing of training, spouse’s adjustment, job attributes,
and cultural distance between home and host countries determines
effectiveness of training
 leadership training enhances attitude and performance of followers
 positive effect on motivation, values, self-efficacy
 training in team comm and team effectiveness have positive effects on team
performance
 affect nontechnical skills, situation awareness, decisionmaking
 many fewer studies tocument effects of training but show positive outcomes on
employee/customer satisfaction, owner/shareholder satisfaction, and productivity
 links between training and org outcomes tend to be weak
 training is key enabler of e-commerce
 training improves quality of labor force
 which in turn enhances economic growth in the country

CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE TRAINING PRACTICE

  four characteristics distinguish companies with most effective training
o top management is committed bc training is part of corporate culture
o training is tied to business strategy & objectives, linked to bottom-line
o org environments are feedback rich
o commitment to invest necessary resources
 The training paradox
o Most businesses shy away from training bc upgrading skills means employees are
marketable to competitors
o BUT if employee takes charge of her own employability by updating and varying her
skillsets, she builds more security with current employer
o Money only does so much what keeps people excited is growing and learning
o Large number of training and learning  more retention (assuming employer creates
challenging job and exciting work environment
 How training relates to competitive strategy
o Comp strat- decisions, processes, choices to position oneself for sustainable success
o HR strat- “” to manage people
o Training is important to HR strat, and is tied to strat of business
o I.e. 3M sets goals to reduce product-development cycle time, and creates a course on
how to do it
 Emphasize in training that problem solving, conflict resolution, negotiation, and
team building is KEY
o Hefty returns, but requires considerable planning and evaluation

WHAT DETERMINES EFFECTIVE TRAINING?

 Quality of training, individual readiness for training, degree of org support for training
 Characteristics of the individual influence before (motivation to participate), during (affecting
learning), and after (transfer of learning to job situation) training
 Trainability (ability to learn content of training) and personality are difficult to influence
o But org can increase self-efficacy and attractiveness of training + work environment
ASSESSING TRAINING NEEDS AND DESIGINING TRAINING PROGRAMS
 Assessment phase is foundation for training
o Define what it is the employee should learn in relation to desired job behaviors
o If not done well, training program will not achieve what it is intended to do
 Training & development phase and evaluation phase depend on inputs from assessment
o Design environment in which to achieve objectives
o Choose methods and techniques and deliver systematically in supportive environment
 Evaluation phase
o 1) Establishing indicators of success in training, as well as on the job
o 2) Determining what exact job-related changes have occurred bc of training
o Continuous feedback
 An alaternative approach: rapid prototyping
o Pressure to developing training has resulted in more streamlined models, “Fast HR”
o Rapid protoyping- process models used in software development
 Three-phase approach
 1) assessing needs and objectives
 2) constructing protoytpes and testing with users
 3) implementing and refining the training
  relies on parallel work efforts, minimal ocmmitments, user testing
 Assessing Training needs
o Four levels of analysis
 organization (strategic direction, company support of training)
 demographic (special needs of particular group @ org level, bus level or individ
 operations (ID the content of training—how to perform competently)
 individual (ID employees who need training and what kind of training)
o Pre-employment training programs (PETs)
 Alignment btwn org needs and training curricula
 Industry-specific, community based
 Contribute time, money, expertise to designing training AND employees to
teach courses
 Common in aviation, health care, information technology, customer service
o Analyze external and internal environments
 E.g. strategic priorities, judicial decisions, civil rights laws, union activity,
turnover, absenteeism, employee behavior, etc.
o Relate training needs to strategic objectives
o Demographic analysis important to add perspective to operations and person analyses
o Operations analysis – careful examination of work after training
 1) systematic collection of info about how work is done
 2) determining standards of performance
 3) how to meet standards
 4) competence necessary for effective task performance
 competency models are helpful with job analysis
 interviews, performance appraisals, analysis of operating problems
o individual analysis defines training needs in terms of difference between desired
performance and actual performance
 perf standards constituted desired perf
 use individual perf data, diagnostic ratings of employees by peers or
supervisors, attitude surveys to see actual performance
 gaps between actual and desired can be filled by training
 combine perf-management systems with individual development plans
 IDPs- statement of aims (changes in KSAO), definitions (descriptions of
study, search, testing, activites, experiences to help get these aims),
ideas about priorities (urgency about what to learn first)
 Blueprint for self development
PRINCIPLES THAT ENHANCE LEARNING
 Four essential ingredients to skill learning
o Goal setting
o Behavior modeling
o Practice
o Feedback
 Four ingredients of learning facts
o Goal setting
o Meanfulness of material
o Practice
o Feedback
 Motivating the Trainee: Goal setting
o Person who wants to develop herself/himself will do so, while person who wants to be
developed rarely is
 Motivation is key to training
 Personality characteristics of conscientiousness (striving for excellence) and
internal locus of control (strong belief that one controls fate)
 Couple with support from supervisor/peers
o Best way to raise motivation is setting goals
o Goal Theory – individual’s conscious goals regulate his/her behavior
 Difficult but attainable goals result in higher performance
 Three implications
 Make objectives clear
 Set challenging and difficult goals but not impossible ones
 Supplement goal with subgoals using evals, tests, quizzes
o Be wary of expectations of the trainer, which can be self-fulfilling prophecies in which
the higher the expectations, the better the trainees perform
 Pygmalion effect
 Behavior Modeling
o Much learning is acquired by observing and imitating others when they have desirable
outcomes (model)
o Behavior modeling increases when model is rewarded for behavior with things imitator
wants to have
o Maximize trainee’s identification with a model with 4 things
 Model is similar in age gender race (similarity = more likely imitate)
 Portray behaviors to be modeled clearly and in detail
 List of key behaviors to observe, and facilitate expression of behavior in
comfortable language
 E.g. focusing on problem, not person; ask for suggestions; listen openly;
agree on steps that each person takes to solve the problem ; follow up
 Rank behaviors from least to most difficult
 Have several models portray the behaviors
 Meaningfulness of material
o Meaningfulness- material that is rich in associations for trainees, and easily understood
o to structure material to maximize meaningfulness…
 provide overview of material to help understand how each unit fits together
 present material with examples and concepts familiar to trainees
 teach simpler skills before complex ones
 Practice (makes perfect)
o Active use of training content: active practice, overlearning, length
o Active practice
 Trainer oversees practice directly
 Error-management training encourages employees to make errors and engage
in reflection as to why they made them, and teaching how to prevent for future
o Overlearning
 When trainees practice beyond the point where they have performed correctly
several times, the task is “overlearned”
 critical—e.g. performing CPR on a patient is useful to be overlearned
 o Length
 You have one week and 12 hours to practice
 Should you practice two hours a day for six days (distributive practice) or six
hours for the final two days (massed practice)??
 Evidence says learning is better when distributed
 Feedback
o Essential for learning and motivation
o Trainees are to understand what leads to good and poor performance
o Increase specificity of feedback to teach good performance, BUT it might hurt the
responses to poor performance
o E.g. learning to operate equipment with less specific feedback may lead to errors, but
give you opportunity to fix problems and learn why they happened
o Emphasize team implications when providing feedback
o Provide feedback ASAP after good performance
 Transfer of training
o Extent to which competencies learned in training will be applied to job
o Positive or neutral or negative
o To maximize, consider doing the following before, during, and after training
 Maximize similarity between training and actual job situations
 Provide trainees with as much experience as possible to deal with situations
that are not textbook examples (adaptive expertise)
 Provide strong link btwn training and job content
 Team-based training maximizes transfer when teams are given unrestricted
acces to info, and members are diverse
 Ensure what is learned is used and rewarded @ the job
o Action learning: participatns focus on real business problems to learn through
experience and application
 Team training
o Team: 80% of US corporations using teams of one sort or another
 Group of individuals who are working together, with shared responsibility,
toward a common goal
o Four steps for team training
 Conduct needs analysis to identify interdependencies & coordination, and
identify cognitive skills and knowledge needed for interaction
 Develop objectives for task-work and teamwork skills; effective teamwork is
characterized by adaptability, awareness, performance monitoring,
management, interpersonal skills, communication, and decisionmaking
 Sequence training so trainees an master task work before teamwork
 Design exercises and training events based on objectives
 Include team-coordination training (*focusing on teamwork skills that
facilitate information exchange and cooperation) and cross-training
(exposing to other teammates’ tasks and responsibilities to increase
understanding and knowledge) and guided team self-correction
(providing guidance to identify errors)
 Design measures of team effectiveness, evaluate effectiveness, and guide future
training
o Two principles
 Individual skills are necessity but not sufficient
  Individual training is only a partial solution bc it doesn’t focus on team
interaction
 Managers of effective work groups monitor team regularly
 35% of variability in team performance can be explained by frequency
of use of monitors and consequences
 Selecting Training methods
o Methods are classified in three ways
 Information-presentation techniques
 Lectures, conferences, online courses, videos, interactive media
 Organization development
 Simulation methods
 case method, role-playing, behavior modeling, simulations
 on-the-job training
 orientation training, apprenticeships, job rotation, committee
assignments, understudy assignments
o three objectives
 promoting self-insight and enviiornmental awareness
 improving decisionmaking to solve job-related problems
 maximize desire to perform well
o to choose, define carefully what you wish to teach

EVALUATING TRAINING PROGRAMS

 systematically document outcomes of how trainees behave in jobs, and relevance of behavior to
objectives of organization
o have trainees achieved a specific skill?
o Did change occur?
o Is change due to training?
o Is change positively related to achievement of org goals?
o Will similar changes occur with new participants in the same training program?
 Distinguish targets of evaluation from data-collection methods
o Targets and methods are linked through focus, and all three are linked to feedback,
decisionmaking, and marketing
ADDDITIONAL CCONSIDERATIONS IN MEASURING OUTCOMES OF TRAINING
 Goal is to make meaningful inferences and rule out alt explanations for results
 Design a plan for evaluation that includes before AND after measurement of performance
relative to that of UNTRAINED control groups
o When it’s costly, after-only measurement of trained and untrained groups is best
 Match members of untrained control group as closely as possible to trained group
 Post-training appraisal should not be done sooner than three months (or more) following the
training so trainees practice what they learn
 Impact of training is most difficult effect to demonstrate, and most significant
o Measures are bottom line of training success
o Utility formulas used to evaluate dollar value of single training program compared to
control group, readministered program, and comparison between two different progs

NEW EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION: ON-BOARDING

 Most turnover occurs during first few months of job bad orientation is expensive mistake
  Orientation – familiarization with and adaptation to situation or environment
o 8/10 orgs that have more than 50 employees provide O, but time and effort to design,
conduct, and evaluate O’s are inadequate
o displaced worker is like a new college graduate—everything is foreign
 orientation is designed to lessen the impact of shock
 must include period of socialization—learning to function as contributing member of “family”
 cost of hiring, training, and orienting a person is so high
o Merck & Co says turnover costs are 1.5-2.5 times the annual salary paid for the job
o Turnover rate among college hires can reach 50% in first 12 months
 First experiences have major impact on career
o New hires want to reduce stress of not being embraced by those within
o They are more receptive to cues from the org environment than they will ever be
 Cues from official literature, senior people, instructions, peer examples, rewards
and punishments, degree of challenge in assignments
o Grads may feel motivated 100% by personal creativity
 Information rich but experience poor, eager to apply knowledge to problems
 But environments stifle the urges
o Problems entering a group
 Employee is doubtful about whether she will be liked and free from harm
o Naïve expectations
 It’s easier to communicate info about pay and benefits, vacations, company
policies… rather than employee norms
 Employees need to be taught about the intangibles because being honest
produces better results
o First-job environment
 Does new environment help or hinder new employee?
 Can peers be trusted to socialize new employee?
 How and why was first job assignment chosen, and is it clear to the employee
what he/she can get out of it?
 First year is crucial period during which employee will or will not learn to be a high performer

PLANNING, PACKAGING, AND EVALUATING AN ONBOARDING PROGRAM

 Time between acceptance and actual starte date is often used to begin orientation
o Sending handbook, info about geographical area, ongoing projects, and follow-up call
for any questions the employee may have
 Employee needs the following
o Company standards, expectations, goals, history, politics (formal and informal power
structures) , language (jargon, slang, acronyms)
o Social behavior, work climate, fellow workers
o Technical aspects of job
 IBM uses virtual world platform to teach interns and new hires about corporate culture and
business processes by having avatars attend meetings, view presentations, and interact with
other avatars
 ION Geophysical has simuilation called RedCarpet in which hires can see photos and profiles of
peers, set up voice mail, and access career-development information
o Also expose info on local amenities and tailors to everyone’s specific language
  Drawbacks: orientation that is individualized reduces seeking feedback and information,
relationship-building, and socialization
 Gaming tech effectiveness depends on well-defined business objectives
 Orientation follow up
o Worst mistake is ignoring new employee after orientation
o Almost as bad is informal open-door policy: “come see me sometime if you have q”
o Employees are not assertive enough to seek out supervisor or HR, for fear of looking
dumb
o Formal and systematic orientation follow up
 Explain topics covered in orientation until employee experiences them first
hand
 Regular checkups and surveys to communicate what the employee has retained
from orientation
 Evaluation of orientation
o Comprehensive feedback needed from everyone
 Through interviews with random employees/supervisors, questionnairs for all
recent hires
LESSONS LEARNED
 Impression of new employees within first 2-3 months is slasting
 Day one is crucial-new employees remember it for years
 Learning about total organization—how everyone fits into big picture—is just as important as
individual job information
 Give new employees responsibility for own orientation—guided self-learning with direction and
support
 Avoid info overload
 Recognize that social aspect is critical
 Make immediate supervisor responsible for success of orietntation
 Thorough orientation is a MUST—vital to total management system and any effort to increase
productivity as a whole