Process of Evaluating Training Programme, Essay Example

This essay is to describe the processes of evaluating the effectiveness of a training programme. It will address learning, transferring and effectiveness of the program. Models like the quasi-experimental and Kirkpatrick model will be mentioned in the essay. Measures within the process will also be analyzed if they are subjective or objective. Training evaluation is an important component of instructional design model (Kirkpatrick and James 1-2).

Training evaluation is the process of determining the effectiveness of a training program (Kraiger, Ford, and Salas 315). In corporate training, it is important to interlink the employees training with the company’s result. This is because we have metrics of the program that can validate the success of learning, the effectiveness and being able to deliver per the learners’ needs.

The reasons as to why we evaluate a training program are also the benefits of evaluating. These are to justify the training budget, expand training funds, select the best training strategies, and tie organization and training objectives (Brinkerhoff 10).

There are risks that are associated with not evaluating the training program; thus, the organization might end up with a training program that does not meet the objective. It will be hard for the administration to assess employee development, wastage of funds with ineffective programs, and some training programs are discontinued (Friedlander, Greenberg and Robins 1809).

In evaluating a training program, according to Kirkpatrick, there are ten steps to follow when evaluating a training program (3). These are:-

Determine the Needs

For a training program to be effective, the needs of the target participants should be meet. This is because they are the ones who require the training.  These are the Participants, the supervisors, and other related staff.  Apart from that, a test can be carried out on the participants and studying the performance appraisal well. This stage is like the learning stage, which has three possible outcomes that is cognitive, skill-based and affective outcomes (Kraiger, Ford, and Salas 312).

A survey instrument can be used although it is limited in information but can be designed in a way that most of the required data can be availed. The managers and supervisors are also in a situation to point out the training need of his/her junior officers. By involving the participants, we will be able to know the content of training and involve them in planning for training (Kirkpatrick 3-7).

Setting the Objectives

After identifying the needs for training, the objectives should be set. These can be done in the following order, first ask yourself what are we to accomplish?  The results should be in terms of quality, sales, morale, profit and production. Second, what behavior pattern is required to attain the results and lastly, what knowledge, skills ad attitude is necessary to meet the target. Diversity should also be noted here for the purpose of attitude change (LaLonde 606).

Determine Subject Content

After having the needs and objectives in place, the subject content is easy to get because it depends on them. A qualified trainer should be able to ask the participants the topics they wished to be handled on the various objectives. The content will also aid in ensuring that the trainer is available for all the topics selected, for example, stress management and managing workload (Kirkpatrick 9).

Selecting Participants

When selecting the participant, one should consider the training to be offered to avoid a circumstance where a training program is wasted by offering it to the wrong group. For example, training on middle level management and supervisory cannot be offered to subordinate staff.  There are difficult decisions that should be considered to who should benefit on the training, should it be mandatory and should they be divided by levels? (Kirkpatrick and James 6).

Determining Appropriate Schedule

A trainer should be able to determine the best schedule to his participants. This will depend on the nature of training, is it on the job training or off job? If it is on a job then, time scheduled should be drawn out clearly to avoid having pending workloads. For example, one can attend from 8.30 to 10.30 a.m. for a week.

Selecting the Best Facilities

When selecting the facilities to use, availability and convenience of the facilities should be considered. This is because training cannot be done without a spacious training room, comfortable furniture and other required Stationery for writing. In addition, provision of meals should be a consideration because it helps in boosting the participant’s morale (Worthen, Sanders and Fitzpatrick 8).

Choosing the best Instructor

When choosing the instructor, the trainer needs to be very careful to provide an instructor flexible with the topics. The instructor should be knowledgeable and has information about the organization of concern. He should be able to work with the budget provided and not demand a lot (Kirkpatrick and James 7).

Choosing and Having Audiovisual Aids

An instructional material is very important in training personnel. This is because it is easy to follow and grasp knowledge. A digital instructional material like audiovisual aid is perfect because it has both sound and images. This creates interest and positive learning environment (Kirkpatrick and James 9).

Coordinating the Program

A well-laid program cannot work on its own it need a coordinator.  This is vital to ensure that we have positive results and that the participants are getting what they need.  The instructor should create a rapport with the participants during training to get their views. Negative comments should be taken in to improve other training needs in the future (Ashenfelter 333).

Evaluating the Program

In evaluating the program, the view of the participants is very significant. This can be done by issuing a small questionnaire to the participants on how their training has been conducted; was it according to their expectation, and what improvements would they recommend (Kirkpatrick and James 10). According to Kraiger, Ford, and Salas “Training evaluation refers to a system for measuring whether trainees have achieved learning outcomes” (312).

The most popular tool for evaluating training programs is the four levels of learning evaluation (Kirkpatrick’s 4 levels) developed by Kirkpatrick (Alliger, George and Elizabeth, Janak 331).  It has four levels done in a sequential way from level one to four that is Reaction, Learning, behavior, and result s respectively (Kirkpatrick 119).

In reaction stages, the needs are to be identified, and here measure and standards are developed.  In the learning level, it extends to include the participants attitude change and increase in knowledge after undertaking the training (Manski  and Garfinkel 10). We should be able to discern what was learned, the skills improved, and the attitude changed (Kraiger, Ford, and Salas 318). In behavior, we look at what change in behavior is visible in an individual after attending the training program, is the change desirable if so the he should be rewarded. To evaluate behavior, we give time for the change to occur then do repetitive evaluation. In the last level of results, the result that occurred after completing the training session is measured (Kirkpatrick 120).

The quasi-experimental design is subject to random assignment (Lucasey 56), where the participant does not have the chance of selecting different conditions. It, however, uses time series analysis for the experiments and lacks complete control (Campbell and Julian 1). For Quasi-experimental to obtain optimal solutions, randomize the occasions in order to achieve balance (Campbell and Julian 14).

In conclusion, evaluating a training program is beneficial to the organization because it enables them to discern what kind of training they require in the future, and to which group should the training be offered. This will justify the training budget because the staff will have the needed skills and the company will improve on its processes.

Works Cited

Alliger, George and Elizabeth, Janak. “Kirkpatrick’s levels of training criteria: Thirty years later.” Personnel psychology 42.2 2006: 331-342. Print.

Ashenfelter, Orley. “The case for evaluating training programs with randomized trials.” Economics of Education Review 6.4 1987: 333-338. Print.

Brinkerhoff, Robert O. “Evaluating Training Programs in Business and Industry.”New Directions for Program Evaluation 44 1989: 1-104. Print.

Campbell, Donald and Julian, Stanley. Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1963. Print.

Friedlander, Daniel, David Greenberg, and Philip, Robins. “Evaluating government training programs for the economically disadvantaged.” Journal of Economic Literature 35.4 1997: 1809-1855. Print

Kirkpatrick, Donald L. “Techniques for evaluating training programs.” Classic writings on instructional technology 1 Tata McGraw-Hill Education, Noida. 1979: 231-241. Print.

Kirkpatrick, Donald L. Evaluating training programs. Tata McGraw-Hill Education, Noida 1975. Print.

Kirkpatrick, Donald L., and James D. Kirkpatrick. Implementing the four levels:  A practical guide for effective evaluation of training programs. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco, 2007. Print

Kraiger, Kurt, Ford, Kevin and Eduardo Salas. “Application of cognitive, skill-based,

and affective theories of learning outcomes to new methods of training evaluation.” Journal of applied Psychology 78.2 (1993): 311-328. Print

Lucasey, Beth. “Quasi?experimental Design.” Orthopaedic Nursing 21.1 2002: 56-57. Print

LaLonde, Robert J. “Evaluating the econometric evaluations of training programs with experimental data.” The American Economic Review 1986: 604-620. Print.

Manski, Charles and Irwin, Garfinkel. Evaluating welfare and training programs. Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1992. Print.

Worthen, Blaine R., James R. Sanders, and Jody L. Fitzpatrick. Program evaluation. Longman, 1997.