Essay About Development Phases Of The Training Plan And Training Programs

Training Evaluation Strategies
Training Evaluation StrategiesFollowing the Assessment and Training and Development phases of the training plan is the Evaluation phase.  This phase provides feedback (to trainers and trainees), aids in decision making, and facilities marketing (Cascio, 2013, p.331).  Organizations evaluate their training programs to identify strengths and weaknesses, assess the program’s effectiveness, and track employee performance.  However, in light of Landslide’s tight financial situation—at least for the first couple years of operations—perhaps the most important reason to evaluate the training program is costs.  Evaluation measures the costs associated with training and can assist management in determining Return on Investment, or ROI.  Since the company is just starting up, this should be a focal point as it dives into the competitive limousine market in Austin, Texas.  Figure 1 below depicts the Training Evaluation process and its phases.  Note how feedback loops back to Needs Assessment.  The information derived from feedback provides new input to the assessment phase and initiates a new cycle (Cascio, 2013, p. 317).Figure 1.[pic 1]Figure 1. Model of the training and development process. Retrieved from Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits, 9th Edition, p.317.CriteriaAs shown in the model above, the objectives feed the criteria, which are the established measures that determine not just whether a trainee met the objective, but how well at what level the trainee performed.  The criteria should match the ratings used for the evaluations in the performance management plan; in this case, a five-point rating scale from unsatisfactory (lowest) to exceptional (highest).  According to Cascio (2013), “Measures of results are the bottom-line of training success” (p. 332), thus it is imperative that the measures align with the organization’s objectives.  The motivation for employees to not only meet but also exceed expectations are the incentives and bonuses based on appraisal ratings (which link to the criteria), as previously recommended in the compensation and benefits package.Figure 2.[pic 2]Figure 2. Sample five-point rating scale. Retrieved from