Training & Developing Employees Chapter 7. Gaining Competitive Advantage Xerox needed to improve drastically the quality of its products and services

Training & Developing Employees

Chapter 7

Gaining Competitive Advantage

• Xerox needed to improve drastically the quality of its products and services– Behavior of employees needed to change – Implemented a five year program “Leadership

Through Quality”• Customers must always be satisfied• Quality is the job of every Xerox employee• Employees were told why Xerox was undertaking

this training initiative, what every upper management employee thought quality meant and what each employee’s role would be

Gaining Competitive Advantage

• Behavioral competencies (effective teamwork and problem-solving skills) were important to ensure quality initiatives were met/exceeded– Cost $125 million with 4 million work hours– Ees were working as teams to identify and correct

quality production and service problems—customer perception of Xerox improved dramatically—customer satisfaction increased by 40% and customer quality-related problems decreased by 60%

Xerox retained it top position in the U.S. copier market

Linking Training & Development to Competitive Advantage

• All employees need additional training even if the firm hired only very qualified individuals

• Training—focuses on current jobs, whereas Development prepared employees for future jobs

• Training and Development practices contribute to:– Enhancing recruitment– Building worker competence– Reduce turnoverPrograms need to be cost-efficient

Linking Training & Development to Competitive Advantage

• If an organization has excellent training programs they will attract top notch candidates:– Motorola University—requires 80 hours of training for

every associate– GE requires a minimum of 80 of training for all

associates• One needs to build on their skills in order to be happy in their

career• Brings changes in their knowledge base, attitudes, and skills

Increasing Competencies of New Employees

• Three types of training:– Technical—employees fill entry-level jobs may not

have needed technical skills (i.e., firefighter duties)– Orientation—learn about their jobs, the company,

and its policies and procedures– Literacy—basic skills to perform their entry-level jobs

(i.e., writing, basic arithmetic, listening/following oral instructions, speaking, and understanding manuals, graphs, and schedules

Increasing the Competence of Current Workers

• All selection processes are not perfect and eventually many ees are deficient in some skills:– Remedial training—supervisor who has good

technical skills but has trouble communicating with subordinates

– Change-related training—keep up to date with various kinds of changes—technological advances, new laws or procedures, or a change in the organization’s strategic plan

– Developmental Programs—to prepare employees with the appropriate skills to higher level positions for which they may eventually be promoted

Reducing The Likelihood of Unwanted Turnover

• Reduce unwanted turnover:– Building ee job skills, thereby improving job

performance– Improving supervisors’ capabilities for managing

“underperforming” workers– Reeducating people whose skills have become

obsolete, allowing the organization to assign them to new job responsibilities

Effective training programs can strengthen ee morale (also effective mentoring programs)

Cost Efficiency of Training and Development Practices

• Average ee receives 15 hours of training a year; total amount of hours spent in U.S. is 15 billion per year

• Average company spends $527,000 per year on training and development; the average small company spends $218,000

• Nationwide, $55 billion is spent annually on formal training programs

• Number of ees receiving employer-sponsored education has risen from 6 to 20 million between 1983 and 1995

Training & Development programs have failed so miserably that they have contributed to low productivity growth in the U.S.

The Instructional Process

• Step 1–Deciding What to Teach– Training material and content must be relevant– Material and exercises to help participants learn the

knowledge, skill, and abilities necessary for effective job performance

– Assessing training needs—problem, such as poor job performance or inadequate skill level, that can be rectified through training

– Drill down—performance analysis—managers identify their employees’ performance deficiencies and determine which of these deficiencies can be effectively remedied through training


• Training needs are prioritized based on these criteria:– Number of ees experiencing a deficiency in a

particular skill and the severity of the deficiency

– Importance of the skill for meeting organizational goals

– Extent to which skill improvement can be achieved through training


• Once a firm has identified training needs training program designers must specify training objectives—statements describing what the trainees should be able to do as the result of training


• Step 2—Deciding How to Maximize Participant Learning– “Adults can be ordered into a classroom and prodded into a

seat, but they cannot be forced to learn”– Program needs to:

• Gain and maintain trainees attention• Provide the trainees with an opportunity to practice the skills being

taught• Provide trainees with feedback on their performance

– Learner attention:• Trainees must realize the importance and relevance of the training• How content of program relates to their jobs• Trainers need to vary the pace and kind of material presented

(Discuss Exhibit7-2)


• Practice needs to occur to become proficient at a skill—people remember 25% of what they hear, 45% of what they see and hear, and 70% of what they hear, see, and do– Practice is essential to effective learning—stimulus-response

bond—situation becomes more automatic with practice– Distributed practice—training procedure in which trainees

practice a skill over several sessions (preferred do to better long-term retention) (Whole method—simple material—more complex divide material up)

– Mass practice—training procedure in which trainees practice a skill in one session

– Feedback to know whether their behavior is correct


• Step 3—Choosing the Appropriate Training Method (Discuss Figure 7-3 page 200)– On-the-Job Training—new ees receive on the job—

often conducted haphazardly—watch an experienced worker and ask appropriate questions

• Job instructional training—World War II—job breakdown, which is a step-by-step listing of how the job should be performed

– Trainer first explains and demonstrates the task, and then allows the trainee to perform it, one step at a time—Correct feedback is given when necessary

– Training is complete when the trainee is able to perform the task, without feedback, two consecutive times


• Lecture—training method in which the trainer teaches a topic by verbally communicating the information (one way communication)– Good method where simple acquisition of

knowledge is the goal– Not good for teaching motor skills—no

feedback or opportunity for practice


• Case Method—trainees analyze cases depicting realistic job situations– Questions are posed at the end of the case that ask

the trainees to analyze the situation and recommend a solution

– Utilize guided discovery so they will retain what they learn—doesn’t teach a right or wrong answer—helps teach them how to identify potential problems and recommend realistic actions

– They do not practice their skills!!!!!!!


• Role-Playing—training method in which trainees spontaneously act out some problem involving human interaction– used to develop skill in any area that involves

interaction between people (i.e., teaching human relations skills and sales techniques)

• Little guidance beforehand on how to handle the transaction and thus may make mistakes—done never get a chance to do it correctly


• Behavior Modeling—trainees are shown how a task should be performed and then practice the task with feedback until they are competent– Teaches the right way to perform a task– Program consists:

• Present an overview of the material (brief lecture on objectives)

• Describe the procedural steps (one best way)• Model or demonstrate the procedural steps—model

presented in the form of a videotape or live demonstration• Allow guided practice—similar to role-plays, except the

trainees are given feedback from the instructor (or classmates) during the skill practice session—forces trainees to correct mistakes


• Computer-Based Instruction (CBI)—uses a computer to instruct students through drills/tutorials, games and simulations– Interactivity-trainees’ responses to questions cause

different screen sequences to appear—move to next screen based on proficiency

– Self-paced learning—proceed at your own pace– Simulation training—not done on actual equipment

(pilots, air traffic controllers– Negative side it is very expensive—some

computer simulations cost hundreds of thousands of dollars

– Some suffer from “computer phobia”


• Video Training—present prerecorded content to demonstrate a point—particular sales approach; surgeon shown a new type of operating procedure– Interactive capabilities—viewers can skip

some portions, and repeat others—well suited for self-study instruction

– Use to record and play back trainees’ performance during the program


• Interactive video training—combines computer and video technology (IVT)– Works especially well when human error has grave

consequences– Federal Express advantages:

• Training time reduced• Large numbers of ees could be trained in remote locations• Travel expenses reduced• Greater learning took place compared to traditional

classroom because instruction was individualized


• Step 4—Ensuring That Training is Used on the Job– For transfer to occur, the trainees must

generalize the learned behavior from the classroom to the job context and maintain those behaviors over time on the job

• This doesn’t occur typically due to:– Productivity pressures– Lack of supervisory support– Pressures to do the job just like everyone else


• Other reasons why transfer of learning doesn’t occur:– Failure to learn the material in the first place– Inability to understand how to apply the

training information to “real life” situations– Lack of confidence in one’s ability to perform

the newly learned skill correctly– Forgetting the material– Regress back to old, more familiar behaviors

What Can Companies Do to Help Ensure Transfer of Learning?

• Overlearning—learning material so well it will be long remembered

• Matching course content to the job—ensure link between training and the job setting

• Action Plans—plan developed by trainees at the end of a session that indicates the steps they will take on the job to apply the new skills

• Multiphase Programming—training program administered in several sessions in which trainees are given homework that requires them to apply that lesson back on the job and to discuss this experience in the next session

What Can Companies Do to Help Ensure Transfer of Learning?

• Performance Aids—devices given to trainees to help them remember training material when they return to their jobs (i.e., checklists, decision tables, charts, and diagrams)

• Posttraining Follow-Up Resources—hot line number and instructor visits

• Building a supportive Work Environment—need support of their supervisor and peers to change their behavior back in their work environment—they must be encouraged to apply what they have learned to their jobs


• Step 5—Determine Whether Training Programs Are Effective– Training evaluation—assessment of the effectiveness

of a company’s training program—MUST KNOW WHETHER TRAINING PROGRAM HAVE MET THEIR GOALS

– What to evaluate:• Trainee reactions—express opinions either verbally or in

writing regarding the effectiveness of training at the conclusion of the program and/or when back on the job (i.e., course evaluations students fill out on professors)


• Testing– Provides a good measure of learning—content of test

should reflect the training objectives

• Performance Appraisal—ratings can measure postraining job behavior and thus help an organization determine whether trainees have applied what they learn when performing their jobs

• Records of organizational performance—turnover, productivity, sales volume, number of grievances


• Evaluation design:– Pretests—show the trainees’ base or

pretraining level of knowledge, skill or performance

– Posttest—to show the trainee's posttraining level of knowledge, skill or performance

– Control group—a control group is identical to the makeup to the group trained, except that these people have not received the training

Management Development

• Management effectiveness has an enormous impact on competitive advantage as a company grows and matures, high-quality management talent is crucial to its success

• Long been an important component of the strategic plan in many organizations

• Many times people move into management with little or no training


• Succession Planning—systematic process of defining future management requirements and identifying candidates who best meet these requirements– Luthans found that promotions within the

management ranks are often based on employee behaviors that have no bearing on managerial effectiveness (socializing, politicking and interacting with outsiders had the greatest influence on managerial promotions)


• First step in succession planning is human resource planning– Define managerial requirements– Assess managerial potential—identify those

with high potential– Identify career paths– Developing replacement charts

Designing the Instructional Program: Timing & Content

• Timing—before or after candidate in job• Content—bridge gap in what individuals already

know and what they need to know for their new positions– Classroom instruction– Career resource centers—in house library with

relevant reading material– Job rotation– Mentoring– Special Projects

Documents

Training & Developing Employees Chapter 7. Gaining Competitive Advantage Xerox needed to improve drastically the quality of its products and services