BC Assessment

Case Incident

BC Assessment

BC Assessment is a provincial Crown organization whose 350 to 400 professional appraisers determine the market value of land and improvements for taxation purposes. Each year, about 2 percent of property owners file a formal complaint or appeal with the agency.

Complex appeals that are not resolved might proceed to an appeal board, which could lead to a formal hearing. The appeal process represents a significant cost, mainly in staff time. To help cut back, the agency decided to train appraisers to develop the skills needed to resolve appeals earlier.

Thirty-six appraisers took part in a two-day, face-to-face workshop that included group discussions, team summaries, case studies, and mock role-playing exercises. Before training, 20 percent of the trainees rated their knowledge and skill levels as high. After training, that number rose to 56 percent. In addition, 69 percent of the trainees said they had a high level of confidence in applying the learning to their jobs effectively.

However, six months after the training the value of the course was significantly diminished at the transfer of learning stage. More than one-half of respondents saw little or no improvement in tasks associated with appeals management.

Questions

1. What effect did the training have on trainees? What should the trainees be able to do on the job after attending the training program?

2. Use Baldwin and Ford’s model of the transfer of training process (Figure 9.1) to explain why so many of the trainees reported little or no improvement in tasks associated with appeals management.

3. Discuss some of the strategies you would recommend before, during, and after training to improve trainees’ performance of tasks associated with appeals management. Be sure to indicate strategies for the trainer, trainees, and managers.

Source: Dobson, S. (2010, March 22). Logitech, BC Assessment fine-tuning training. Canadian HR Reporter, p. 8. Reprinted by permission of Canadian HR Reporter.  Copyright Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd., (2010), Toronto, Ontario, 1-800-387-5164. Web: www.hrreporter.com