Beyond ROI?

Chapter 8 : Training the workforce

Presented by:
• Fatma Ismail
• Rania Farouk
• Radwa Mansour
Beyond ROI?

The four levels of training effectiveness:

1. Reaction
2. Learning
3. Behaviors
4. Results
have been accepted as the training evaluation framework by most training
professionals.

Numerous books and articles have been written on calculating the return on
investment (ROI) for training programs.

However, there is growing recognition that ROI may not be the penultimate
measure of training effectiveness.
Beyond ROI?

The ROI of a training program may seem like an important measure because from a
business perspective we want to be assured that the financial benefits exceed the costs
of a program.

However, in many situations ROI estimates for training may not be all that important or
useful.

Often times, training is a means for a company to achieve a strategy.

For example,
an organization may decide that having a customer orientation is how it is going to
compete in its industry.

Employee training may be the critical key for realizing this new strategic advantage.

Given this purpose, the ROI of the training may not be useful or of immediate concern
.
Beyond ROI?

The primary issue would be whether the training increased the customer-service skills
of employees.

In other words, it is the behavior level of evaluation that is a key concern when the
purpose of training is to execute a strategy.

If the training delivers the needed behaviors, then the strategy should, in the longer
term, provide the bottom-line payoff.

Whether the training successfully executes the strategy may determine the very
survivability of the organization.

How much the training costs and its short-term cost-effectiveness may not be
concerns of management.

What may be critical is determining whether the training is helping the organization to
achieve its strategic goals.
Beyond ROI?
1. When would the ROI of training be a useful
measure? Explain.

• ROI is essentially a financial calculation used by organizations to determine

the efficiency of the investment they’ve made in their training initiatives.

• Using it may depend on management concerns and the purpose of the

evaluation:

Do we need to evaluate cost-effectiveness of the training

OR

Do we need to evaluate the training contribution to the

behavioral aspects (for example: customer/employee satisfaction).
Beyond ROI?
1. When would the ROI of training be a useful
measure? Explain.

• It also may depend on the organization strategy and the type of

business (industrial organizations /service organizations), ROI may be
more efficient in industrial.

• It also may depend on the training type (is it more behavioral or more
technical/operational), using the ROI with technical/operational trainings
may be more efficient.
Beyond ROI?
2. When would measures of training effectiveness
other than ROI be useful? Describe.

Training effectiveness can be measured by many means and levels, one of

them is ROI. From those means :

Level 1 refers to the reaction of the trainees, and it may consist of ratings
on a satisfaction scale that assess how happy trainees are with
the training.

Level 2 refers to how much the trainees learn, and it may be assessed
with a skill exercise.

Level 3 refers to the trainees’ behavior, and it may be measured

by observers of the work operation.

Level 4 refers to the results, which are generally assessed through

the financial measure of return on investment (ROI).
Results, the highest level of measurement, seems to be the most desirable
way of assessing the success of a training program.
Beyond ROI?
2. When would measures of training effectiveness
other than ROI be useful? Describe (Continue).

Although ROI evaluation is desired or even in some cases mandatory,

however it is not always the right, neither the useful conduct to use in
many situations.

For example, an organization may decide that having a customer

orientation is how it is going to compete in its industry.
Employee training may be the critical key for realizing this new strategic
advantage. Given this purpose, the ROI of the training may not be useful,
in this case the behavior level of evaluation is the better approach to use.

So we conclude that we can choose the training effectiveness approach

according to the organization or department’s orientation and purpose of
the training.
Beyond ROI?

3. Behaviors have been described as the forgotten

level in the measurement of training effectiveness.
Despite the fact that behaviors are the key to executing
strategy, measurement of training effectiveness at the
behavioral level is not often done.
Behaviors occur outside the training program and after
it has been delivered.
Behavioral standards need to be developed and
evaluations of these standards need to be collected,
perhaps from managers and subordinates.
All these reasons can lead managers to ignore the
behavioral level of training evaluations.
 Beyond ROI?
What steps would you suggest be taken to ensure
that behavioral level of measurements is conducted?
How would you get the support of others to
measure behaviors after the training?
We suggest following the below steps in order to make sure that the behavioral level
of measurements is conducted:

• Questionnaires about the effectiveness of a training course are to be carried out.

• The immediate manager should discuss with the employee the skills and knowledge
gained from the course and how the trainee will apply those skills and knowledge
back on the job.

• Feedback from an employee's subordinates, colleagues, as well as a self-evaluation

by the employees themselves is to be gathered about the training course(s) which
has/have been delivered; their perception on behavior changes and skill improvement

• Observing and interviewing the trainees over time to assess change, the
relevance of change, and its sustainability - assessments have to be ongoing to make
sure that the desired change(s) has/have taken place which will show whether the traini
ng course(s) has/have been rewarding and actually affected the trainees or not.
3.What steps would you suggest be taken to ensure
that behavioral level of measurements is conducted? How
would you get the support of others to
measure behaviors after the training? (Continue)
It might not be easy to get support of others to measure behaviors after
the training because whenever there is a change taking place there will
always a resisting force which might take the form of:

• Learners being reluctant to embrace change and carry out their job duties
• depending on the conventional traditional manner.
• Upper management may not offer enough support either in terms of morale
or materials.
• Trainees may lack enough motivation or incentive.
• Newly trained employees may not have enough time to practice the new
acquired skills and achieve a comfort level.
• Coworkers may apply peer pressure against changing methods.
3.What steps would you suggest be taken to ensure
that behavioral level of measurements is conducted? How w
ould you get the support of others to
measure behaviors after the training? (Continue)
However, the below solutions might come in handy to solve the problem of
getting the support of others to measure behaviors after the training by:

•Giving the trained employees ongoing support. An open-door policy with empl
oyees will let them know that they can talk with their managers at any point
about any issues that come up as they transfer learning to the job.

•Establishing group support. At the end of the training sessions, trainees can be
assigned to small groups that will meet regularly for a while after training.
Participants can use these groups to discuss common problems and concerns,
how they are doing in applying the new skills, and to perform practice sessions.
A group support gives members a sense of unity and security, which they can
fall back on when they run into problems.

•Setting up a coaching program. The point to this method is to have someone

on call to answer questions, give feedback, give support, and to be a role
model for proper behavior; coaches can be trainers, qualified experienced
employees, or members of upper management.

•Also, pay-for-good performance and recognition for a job well done

•Convince leaders that evaluation is a significant driver of strategy, inspiring

them to participate and be active in the coming training in the organization
Irrelevant Training Case

At the Bibliotheca Alexandrina we sometimes face the problem of having training

programs that are too generic and not customized enough for specific roles or
skills.

Unfortunately, generic training can drain the employees’ time and patience by
forcing them to participate in a content that simply isn’t relevant to them or to
the organization actual work process.

Example,
HR course that had some topics which were not relevant to the organization’s
processes and workflow.
Even though these were very useful topics and will lead to a huge leap and
improvements in the department and consequently in the BA, these
topics/practices were not applicable in the actual work process/environment.
So, eventually, investing time and money in such training topics was a waste for
for the organization as well as the trainees.
Case analysis

Here are some suggestions that may help avoid the problem
of irrelevant trainings:

• Before providing a training course a “needs assessment

analysis” should be carried out carefully so as to make sure that
the training program is beneficial enough and applicable to the
employees and the organization as a whole.

• The organization may guide trainees to use relatable case

studies and scenarios during the training to reinforce the
relevance of the training program to employees’ jobs.

• Conduct feedback surveys after training to find out what

learners found most useful, and where the training program
needs refining.
Thank You!