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Measurements for Evaluation and Management of the Training Department
April 20, 2009
You've heard of Kirkpatrick? He's not the last word on evaluation, according to one researcher. There's another way to approach evaluation that most of you have never considered.
By Dan Klein, Ph.D.
The following article presents a comprehensive evaluation framework "based on a regular managerial rationale, i.e., improvement of effectiveness and efficiency based on four types of data: effectiveness, efficiency, cost, and quality. This concept differs from the current evaluation framework (Kirkpatrick, which deals mainly with effectiveness, and is based on learning rationale (i.e., the first three levels of Kirkpatrick's model are measures of changes in learner's behavior as a consequence of the learning solution)." The article will be presented in four parts. The following is Part One. The other three parts will follow in the coming weeks.
Introduction
Achieving an organization's goals depends largely on the performance of its employees. During the last decade, a great deal of effort has been invested in improving employees' performance.
Approaches such as performance management, talent management, or knowledge management, suggests ways to improve the professional capabilities of employees. All such efforts are based on one major factor: human learning. When learning processes are managed effectively and efficiently, employees will quickly acquire the professional capabilities required for their success. By definition, the training department (see definitions 1-4 in Appendix 1) is in charge of learning processes in the organization. Proper management of learning processes requires that decision-making be accomplished based on the systematic collection of data.
Currently, most training departments have difficulty showing a well-structured set of data that represents their respective performance. Finance departments sometimes require the training department to collect operational and financial data; however training departments will only rarely show data regarding their effectiveness or efficiency. Many training managers prefer to regard training as a form of art that cannot be measured systematically. As a result, many organizations do not consider the training department to be a serious partner in the attempt to improve the organization's human factor.
The purpose of the current article is to present a framework for the measurement and evaluation of the performance of training departments. The paper presents a clear measurement rationale that helps the manager to identify the required effectiveness and efficiency data to manage the training department. The framework presented in the article has been successfully used for the last two years as a basis for measurement and evaluation activities in a large high-tech organization.
1. Evaluating the Training Department's Effectiveness
The Oxford English Dictionary defines effectiveness as the ability to produce a desired or intended result. In a corporate environment, the results required from a department are specified by its goals. What are the goals of the training department?
The main goal of any department in a business environment is supporting achievement of the organization's goals. Figure 1 below illustrates the manner in which the Training Department supports attainment of the organization's goals. In order to achieve its goals the organization must define roles. A list of competencies is defined for each role. "Competence" is the capability to perform a job in a required professional standard (see definition number 5 in Appendix 1). When an employee lacks all, or part of these capabilities, "competence gap" occurs. Competence gaps impair employees' performance and reduce likelihood that the organization will reach its goals.
The only way to achieve competence is through learning. Learning processes are complicated and require special processes to facilitate learning. These processes are called "training processes."
Figure 1: How training supports the attainment of organization's goals
The contribution of the training department to the organization, therefore, is effective and efficient management of training processes in order to minimize the damage caused by competence gaps. Based on this statement, one can derive the following two basic goals:
a. Improving competence level. Fewer competence gaps means greater chances employees will succeed in their jobs and the organization's goals will be achieved. The first goal of the training department is to train as many employees as possible in performance that best supports the organization's goals.
b. Better exploitation of the time to achieve competence. The longer it takes to achieve competence, the greater are the damages to the organization. The second goal of the training department is to develop training solutions that will teach the employees as quickly as possible at the lowest cost.
Appendix 1 - Definitions
1. Learning process - An experiential cognitive process during which the learner's behavior changes as a consequence of acquiring knowledge and/or skill and/or attitude.
2. Teaching process - Planned processes that facilitate learning processes.
3. Training process - Teaching that is carried out in a business organizational environment. Following are the main characteristics of a training process:
• Aims to acquire a defined business goal
•Created by planned exposure to structured stimuli
•Financed by the organization to which the learner belongs
4. Training department - The organizational body that is responsible for the training processes. The training department, as any other department, is based on cost-effectiveness considerations. In many organizations, the training department has various customers, e.g., the organization’s employees, customers, or distributors. The current paper focuses on the organization's employees as the training department's customers.
5. Competence - Competence does not have a clear accepted definition. For our purposes, competence is the ability to perform a job at the required professional standard. In the current context it is important to differentiate between two types of competences: "acquired competence" and "not acquired competence." Acquired competence is a change in the behavior as a result of acquiring new skill, knowledge, or attitude. For example, learning to program in Java. Not acquired competence is a personality trait or physiological characteristics such as patience or coordination. In the current paper the term "competence" refers to acquired competence.
6. Certification - Formal organizational approval that an employee has acquired a competence that was defined by the appropriate manager. The approval is based on assessing the employee's capability to independently perform parts of the role.
7. Efficiency- Producing maximum output with minimum input.
Dan Klein is a specialist in learning and training strategies and consultant to the high-tech business sector. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Educational Psychology - the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and currently lectures at the department of Instructional Systems Technologies at the Holon Institute of Technology in Israel. He previously served as a major in the research and development section / training department of the Israeli Air Force. For more information, e-mail Klein at kleindr1@netvision.net.il.
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