Training and Development: Building Effective Employee Programs

By any measure, developing, implementing, and measuring the effectiveness of a training program at an organization is a challenging but important enterprise. According to training consultant Sabine Sonnentag (2002), "It is certainly not easy to transfer competencies gained in a training setting to daily routine, especially considering short-lived qualifications and knowledge and quickly changing work demands" (p. 398). Although the importance of training for improving employee performance and job satisfaction is well documented, there does not appear to be a one-size-fits-all approach, and it is therefore vital to tailor training initiatives to the ability, readiness, and capabilities of the trainees involved. In this regard, Sonnentag adds that "Employee-centered training programs optimize transfer by realizing the optimal fit between the personality and performance characteristics of the employee and training contents and methods" (p. 398).

A model of the factors found to influence learning and transfer is presented in Figure 1 below. This model is based on an analysis of twenty years of empirically supported studies concerning training motivation (Kraiger, 2002). Figure 1 illustrates relevant individual characteristics — including trainability, personality, age, and attitudes — that tend to influence employee motivation, as well as learning, transfer of training, and job performance. Likewise, work environment characteristics (i.e., climate, opportunity to perform trained tasks, manager support, organizational justice, and an individual versus team context) have also been found to influence every step of the training model (Kraiger, 2002).

According to Kraiger, "The model therefore illustrates that individual and work environment characteristics are critical factors before training (by affecting motivation), during training (by affecting learning), and after training (by influencing transfer and job performance)" (p. 59).

Figure 1. Training Model and Work Environment.
Source: Based on model presented by Kraiger, 2002, p. 59.

As can be readily discerned from Figure 1, while an organization may experience some difficulty influencing various individual characteristics of targeted trainees through corporate policies and practices — for example, the level of trainability and type of personality — it can influence job and career attitudes, pretraining self-efficacy, valence of training, and the work environment (Kraiger, 2002). The individual elements of the training model are described further in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Individual Elements of the Training Model
Source: Excerpted in part from Kraiger, 2002, pp. 63–64.

Trainability. The term "trainability" refers to the ability to learn the content of a training program. Individuals are trainable depending on their general cognitive ability — that is, intelligence — and their possession of basic skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics.

Cognitive Ability. Cognitive ability — the capacity to process information actively — includes verbal comprehension, quantitative ability, and reasoning ability. Cognitive ability has been shown to relate to successful job performance and is a critical resource for learning in novel situations, such as in training.

Basic Skills. This term refers to trainees' abilities to complete the requisite training. Many organizations' selection processes — including interviews, tests, and work samples — either directly or indirectly measure cognitive ability and screen out applicants whose ability falls below what is required to perform the job successfully. In those cases where an employee struggles to complete a training regimen, companies have several realistic options: they can provide remedial basic skills tutoring in reading and math before training, or use video or on-the-job training, both of which emphasize learning by watching and practicing rather than by reading.

Personality. Personality factors include conscientiousness, goal orientation, and anxiety. Personality is a reliable predictor of individual behavior across a wide variety of situations.

Conscientiousness. Conscientious individuals are dependable, organized, persevering, thorough, and achievement oriented.

Goal Orientation. Goal orientation may be understood as the individual's mental framework, which influences the interpretation of and behavior in learning activities.

Anxiety. Anxiety is an acquired or learned fear that can result in physical arousal and a disruption of cognitive functioning and performance. While anxiety is frequently a product of the instructional environment being used, certain individuals have a predisposition to reacting anxiously in learning contexts.