Instructions:

In the online lectures in Module 3 and your textbook readings (“Training and Development”, Leadership”, and “Motivation, Job Satisfaction, and Job Involvement”) you learned about the importance of training your employees.  However, training is only effective when employees can retain the information and incorporate what they learn to improve their job performance.

You have just learned that your company is looking for ways to cut back expenses.  One of the cost cutting measures being considered is to terminate the training department, as the company considers this an expense and they do not believe training is contributing to the profitability of the company.  As the head of the training department it is your job to defend the value of the department.  You realize that well trained employees perform their jobs more efficiently and consequently can contribute to higher productivity and profits for the company. One way to show the value of training is to have tools that will allow a manager to track the performance of an employee both before and after they have received training.  

• Report
  Write a report that will be shared with senior management on why training is a very important part of the company’s overall financial success.  Discuss the advantages of having well-trained employees.
• Evaluation Tool
  Using what you have learned about transfer training and the evaluation of training programs create an evaluation tool which can be used to evaluate how effective any given employee training program is in terms of:
  • Increasing the level of transfer of knowledge (knowledge retention)
  • Monitoring the effectiveness of the skill performance in the job performance improvement
  • Include common attributes in your evaluation tool which could be applicable to most employees at the organization such as: employees showing concern for saving the company money or consistently turning in error free work.  Your training tool should contain a minimum of 10 evaluation criteria.

Your training evaluation tool must be included with your report defending the value of the training department.  You know that your report will be shared with senior level managers and eventually to the board of directors.  However, you are uncertain whether or not you will be allowed to present your work at a later time or in a different manner.  Therefore it is important that your report is well written and professional.

Report Details
The report should be 5-7 pages in length and include:

• Executive Summary highlighting all the factors in the scenario.
• Justification of the importance of retaining the training department in the company and explanation of how the training department is important to the overall success of the company.
• Training Evaluation Tool to evaluate knowledge retention and job performance improvement (10 criteria minimum).
• Explanation of how the evaluation tool will be implemented.
• Describe how the evaluation tool will help evaluate the level of transfer of knowledge and skill performance for current training programs as well as, monitor and improve planning for future training effectiveness.
• Summary and conclusion of tool’s effectiveness.

Grading Rubric: 

Executive Summary highlighting the scenario.24

Justify why a training department is an important part of a company’s overall success, structure and culture. Discuss the advantages of having well-trained employees.28

Create an Evaluation Tool to evaluate the effectiveness of a training program. Tool should evaluate knowledge transfer and performance of skills (10 question minimum).32

Explain how the tool will be implemented at the company.24

Describe how the evaluation tool will help evaluate knowledge transfer and skill performance of current training programs and monitor/ improve planning for future training effectiveness.28

Write a Summary and Conclusion that highlights the tool’s effectiveness.20

Writing Components (20% of LASA 1 grade)

Organization (12 points): Introduction, Thesis, Transitions, and Conclusion.

Usage and Mechanics (12 points): Grammar, Spelling, and Sentence structure.

APA Elements (16 points): Attribution, Paraphrasing, and Quotations.

Style (4 points): Audience, and Word Choice.

44Total:200