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MADS6609Lecture7-TrainingandDevelopment.pptx
Impact of Training and Development on Performance
Lecture 7
Performance Management
Performance management is not a single event, like a performance appraisal or a training program;
rather, it is a comprehensive, ongoing, and continuous process that involves various activities and programs designed to develop employees and improve their performance.
SMART Goal Setting
Managers can do this by setting SMART goals—goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and have a time frame.
Once the manager and employee have set SMART goals, it is important for managers to monitor employee performance and provide ongoing feedback so that employees know whether they are accomplishing their goals.
At First West Credit Union, employees identify their performance goals and then discuss them with their manager, who ensures that the goals tie back to the company’s core strategic objectives.
Employees obtain feedback from colleagues during the year, which is then used as part of the review and assessment with their manager.
In addition to informal feedback, a key part of the performance management process is a formal performance evaluation.
This usually involves the use of a standard rating form on which the manager and employee (self-appraisal) evaluate the employee’s performance on a number of behavioural/performance dimensions and review the extent to which the employee has accomplished his/her goals.
The performance evaluation also involves performance consequences to reward employees for accomplishing their goals and serves to reinforce employee behaviour and performance.
The process then repeats itself with the setting of new or revised performance expectations and goals for the upcoming year.
Employees who are not performing, will either be terminated or placed on probation.
The probation may involved a training program designed to increase the knowledge of the employee.
The employee is then assessed in one month or three months and management determines if there has been improvement in performance.
If no improvement, the employee is terminated based on case Low Performance
Training
A critical component of the performance management process is employee training and development and the creation of a development plan for employees.
This involves programs and activities that are designed to help employees achieve their goals and improve their performance.
This, of course, is where training and development fits into the performance management process.
Employee training and development can include formal training and development programs in the classroom as well as on-the-job training such as coaching and mentoring.
Training refers to formal and planned efforts to help employees acquire knowledge, skills, and abilities to improve performance in their current job.
Training usually consists of a short-term focus on acquiring skills to perform one’s job.
Example: Company sends you to a workshop to learn a software package or to learn how to better serve customers, or develop effective communication skills, learn excel etc.
What type of training have you received so far?
Why was this type of training necessary?
Was the training based on efforts to improve your performance or was it mandatory training for everyone?
Work Engagement
Training and opportunities for learning and development also have implications for employees’ work engagement.
Work Engagement is a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigour, dedication, and absorption.
Absorption refers to being fully concentrated and engrossed in one’s work.
Investing in the development of the workforce through training and development is considered to be a primary means for the economic development of nations.
Countries with higher education levels have more and better employment opportunities and lower unemployment rates.
Training investments and a skilled workforce also attract employers and lead to job creation, more job opportunities, and higher paying jobs.
The most skilled workers earn 60 percent more than the lowest skilled.
The federal government spends billions of dollars annually on education and training because it sees a strong link between an educated workforce and a high-wage economy.
In 2013 the Canadian government made skills training a centerpiece of the federal budget and introduced the Canada Job Grant.
The Canada Job Grant is a program to help employers train new or existing employees so that employees have the skills needed to fill vacant jobs and to address Canada’s skills mismatch.
Another solution is to provide students with work-integrated learning in which they acquire work experience as part of their education through internships, apprenticeships, and cooperative placements.
In 2017, the federal government introduced the Student Work-Integrated Learning Program, which provides employers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and business sectors with payroll subsidies for hiring students.
The goal is to ensure that post-secondary students have the skills required by organizations when they graduate which will help to close the skills gap.
Canadian organizations have not been leaders when it comes to investing in training and development.
For example, a recent survey found that less than half (47 percent) of Canadian organizations provide training to their employees.
According to the Conference Board of Canada, Canadian organizations have for many years underinvested in training and development.
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In 2017, the average direct investment in training and development per employee was $889, which is up from $800 in 2015.
By comparison, organizations in the United States spent on average $1,075 per employee in 2017.
Canadian organizations spend on average 81% for every dollar spent by organizations in the United States on learning and development.
Canadian Employer Survey
A survey of 800 Canadian employers found that the most strategically relevant skills for a business are: thinking/problem solving, customer service, essential skills, and oral/communication.
However, less than 50 percent of the employers indicated that they are willing to provide training in these areas.
The results show a large gap between the skills that employers value and their willingness to provide training to improve these valued skills.
Value of Skills Vs. Willingness to Provide Training
Training Bond
Some organizations try to ensure that they benefit from their training programs by having employees sign a training bond.
A training bond is a contract between the employer and employee that states that the employer will pay for the employee’s training as long as the employee remains with the organization for a minimum period of time upon completion of a training program.
If the employee fails to remain for the agreed-upon period of time, then he/she must reimburse the organization for the cost of the training.
North York General Hospital
North York General Hospital (NYGH) is a community and academic hospital that primarily serves north-central Toronto and southern York Region.
It is one of the largest Family and Community Medicine programs in Canada, and its emergency department is one of the most visited in the country.
Several years ago, the manager of the emergency psychiatric consultation team recognized that newly hired nurses with English as a second language (ESL) had problems writing their assessments, which were often sparse or incomplete.
They missed key points, lacked attention to significant details, reflected difficulty using and under-standing common vernacular or idioms, and showed limited awareness of behavioural norms common in diverse cultures.
The assessments lacked sufficient depth for the emergency department’s on-call psychiatrist, who relies on the assessments to determine a patient’s follow-up treatment.
To address the problem, a specialized, innovative orientation component for nurses with ESL was added to the requisite one-month orientation for all new nurses hired by the psychiatric unit.
During this orientation, the nurses work directly with an experienced mental health nurse at the hospital who specializes in crisis assessment.
Using a variety of teaching techniques, the nurse identifies and addresses gaps in the new nurses’ communication skills, and provides one-on-one role modelling and mentorship.
The role-modelling and mentorship are essential because mental health nurses in the emergency department work autonomously and have to make on-the-spot recommendations, referrals, and decisions in collaboration with the on-call psychiatrist.
They work under extreme pressure and require strong crisis resolution skills.
Therefore, in addition to improving communication skills, the training with the crisis nurse was designed to help the new nurses become more comfortable working independently.
Role plays were also used , in which the experienced nurse demonstrated how to gently probe patients to elicit detailed responses.
Because some of the nurses come from cultures where all decision making is left up to the doctor, this training is essential to develop the nurses’ ability to make rapid, well-founded, and confident decisions independently.
During their orientation, new hires with ESL also shadow staff in related mental health programs at the hospital, enabling them to make better recommendations for follow-up treatments.
Upon completion of their enhanced orientation, the nurses have reported increased confidence in their ability to prepare comprehensive assessments.
Colleagues have reported increased satisfaction with the new nurses’ assessments as well as improved confidence resulting in a more cohesive working team and optimal patient care.
Training Content in Canadian Organizations
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The Société des Transports de Montréal
The Société des Transports de Montréal (STM) is Montreal’s public transit organization that runs buses and subways throughout the city.
As with most such organizations in Canada, it is financed by the public purse and by the fares paid by users.
For environmental and financial reasons, increasing ridership is a top priority.
Senior management believed it could be achieved through service and performance improvements
Consequently, the STM’s top leadership decided on a strategic plan designed to meet that challenge.
The strategy focuses on improved technology (modernization of subways and user-friendly information technology applications) and on the employee–customer relationship.
Whereas the employee–customer relationship has been a priority for many years, the STM thought it was important to emphasize this element further.
Achieving that goal is contingent on the employee’s engagement with the strategy—their buy-in.
This brings into focus management and leaderships role in training and development.
Based on the general premise that employees are more likely to engage in and adopt particular values when they are active participants in them, senior management believed it was critically important that supervisors adopt leadership behaviours that are more collaborative, with open communication that encourages joint problem solving.
As part of an overall multi-facetted organizational development strategy that includes the development of future managers, performance management, and continuous support, a major management development project was launched.
Top management, the HR specialists, and university academics collaborated to create and implement a training program compulsory for all supervisors at all levels of the organization.
This integrated program was designed to help managers adopt the communicational and participative attitudes and behaviours needed to ensure employee engagement in the required customer service and performance orientations..
Cohorts of 12 to 15 managers at similar organizational levels but drawn from different functions were assembled.
Each cohort stayed together for the entire year-long program that involved five specific steps.
The first step was conducted at the STM, but the groups met at the university for the other four steps.
The trainers were academics who, through preliminary work including site visits and orientations, had become very familiar with the STM.
Step 1: In a preparatory two-hour meeting, the HR personnel and senior executives discussed the overall strategy and explained the specific aims of the development program.
At that time supervisors self-rated them-selves on the required behaviours and developed their own specific development goals.
Step 2: Some time later, each cohort met with an external trainer in a day-long session designed to help managers develop a personal understanding of the plan.
Following preliminary presentations by the trainer who proposed techniques and tools, the bulk of the training session was devoted to discussions that helped managers define the implementation strategies and goals applicable to their specific work environments.
Managers then returned to their jobs to put into practice the elements developed that day.
Step 3: Several weeks after completing and practicing Step 2 on the job, the cohorts returned to the university for a two-day session that focused on the development of cooperation and teamwork.
It followed the usual format.
Trainers explained the relevant principles and specific useful tools.
This was followed by extensive discussions aimed at enhancing comprehension and helping participants develop strategies for implementing these skills in their own work groups.
The trainees then returned to the job and practiced them.
Step 4: A similar process was pursued at this stage in a two-day session dealing with leadership and effective communication.
Lectures that introduced the concepts and explained relevant tools were followed by extensive discussions.
Finally, trainees returned to the job and practiced the skills.
Step 5: The final step of the program was the follow-up, which included the evaluation of participants’ reactions to the training program and self-reports on the degree to which the training participants used the new skills at work.
Throughout all training sessions participant practice was prevalent and both participants and instructors worked hard to provide constructive feedback to each other.
Each trainee was encouraged to plan and implement the training objectives in a manner with which he or she was comfortable and that was adapted to their specific work context.
To foster on-the-job application of the trained skills, a coordinated support structure was implemented.
Organizational development (OD) specialists attached to the HR department were assigned to the project full-time.
They acted as liaison officials to inform, support, and encourage all—from top management to first-level supervisors—to engage in the project, and to help all actors play their expected supportive role at the right time and in an appropriate manner.
The reactions to the training program and the degree of usefulness formed the basis of the self-reported evaluation of the program.
The results were extremely positive (with well over 90 percent approval and enthusiasm for the program).
Structured interviews conducted with training participants indicated that they held the attitudes and behaviours consistent with the goals of the development program.
Pricewaterhousecooprs Story
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is one of the largest professional services organizations in the world.
PwC takes the development of its people seriously.
It has instituted widespread coaching and mentoring programs for managers, and has gone one step further.
As part of the performance management program, all managers must indicate the steps they have taken to develop their own subordinates.
The performance assessment—and the rewards and bonuses paid out to managers based on it—is determined, in part, by the degree to which they have helped their employees achieve higher levels of competencies, both managerial and technical.
Moreover, all partners in the firm are offered a series of workshops delivered by leading professionals to help them gain a deeper understanding of the help they can provide to their employees and the importance of that function for the organization.
Recently, Michael Beer and his colleagues identified several common organizational situations that prevent transfer of training in organizations.
They identify six such situations that they label the “silent killers.”
unclear organizational priorities and strategies
lack of commitment to change by upper management
a reluctance to allow honest discussions of problems
lack of coordination across different elements of the organization
inability to identify and nurture talented individuals
managers’ reluctance (fear?) to tell the truth about barriers to behaviour change on the job
Future of Training
Social constructivism in which, the goal of instruction should be to create interactive learning environments in which training participants learn from instructors, participants learn from each other, and the instructor learns from participants.
Technology and Web-based instruction is especially well suited for fostering such interactive learning environments.
TELUS communications has adopted this model
Learning is becoming a more continuous, fluid, and employee-driven collaborative process.
In the United States, the Association for Talent and Development (ATD) has developed a competency model for talent development professionals that indicates the skills and knowledge that training and development professionals require now and in the future.
The competency model can be used by learning professionals to identify their own skills gaps and guide their development, as well as by those who want to enter the field and become a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance.
