Needs Assessment
The first phase of developing the training plan is assessing the needs of Mr. Stonefield’s company and determining the goals he wants to achieve through implementation of the plan. This assessment begins with an environmental assessment which will aim to determine what skills and behaviors Mr. Stonefield wants his employees to learn in order to support job performance in his company. This will help ensure that the overall training plan adequately prepares employees in the necessary job behaviors and create high performing employees. Since this is a luxury transportation company, the objectives of the training program will likely focus on customer service and etiquette, maintenance, proper driving techniques, etc.
These strategies are:
• Criteria for evaluation
• Pretests
• Monitoring and observation
• Collecting feedback
• Implementing feedback
Criteria
There are four criteria that are measurable in evaluation of the effectiveness of training; reactions, learning, behavior and results. Reactions refer to the attitude adopted by the trainees with regards to the training itself. If trainees seem to have a positive attitude towards the method of training and the information acquired through the training, it can be interpreted that the training was successful in that it was accepted by the trainees. However, this is only one of the criteria. It is important to evaluate the trainees learned from the training. The question of “Has the trainee gained the knowledge and skills to successfully perform his or her job effectively?” must be answered. Whether retraining current employees or initially training new hires, positive behavior in the work environment is a good indication that the training has been successful. And finally, what are the measurable indications of training success? Has productivity improved? What are the goals of the training? Such indicators as improvement in quality of production, lower turnover rates, lower costs and more positive attitude at work are all measurable signs that the training has been successful.
Pretest