Why is training evaluated?
Make decisions about future use of training
Demonstrate costs & benefits
Show job-relatedness
Feed into performance-related decisions about individuals
Political & public relations
Contribute to scientific understanding of training process & evaluation models
What are some barriers to evaluation?
Top management resistance - unwilling to financially support
Lack of skills - training to conduct evaluation
Lack of clarity surrounding criteria - no initial objectives (skip TNA)
Evaluation is risk - don’t like what you find
What is Kirkpatrick’s (67,76) model?
- Reaction - thoughts, feelings
- Learning - what was learnt?
- Behaviour
- Results
Must achieve previous level before you move to the next level
What are some strengths of Kirkpatrick?
Simple
Hierarchy structure makes intuitive sense
Foundational model
What are some weaknesses of Kirkpatrick?
Can have negative reaction to step 1 and still achieve learning
Assumption of behaviour change - culture predicts new behaviour, gap between learning & application
Learning behaviour is cyclical but model doesn’t account
Little evidence to say levels are causally/ sequentially linked (Alliger & Janak, 1989)
Ambiguity on how to operationalise measurements
Too simplistic & unidimensional
Focus on outcomes & ignores process (Birdi & Reid, 2013)
What is Alliger et al (1997)’s response to Kirkpatrick?
Split reactions into affective & utility
Split learning into immediate, skill & retention
What is Kraiger et al (1993)’s response to Kirkpatrick?
Split learning into 3 outcomes
Cognitive - verbal knowledge, knowledge organisation & cognitive strategies
Skill based outcomes - compilation & autonomacy
Affective outcomes - attitudinal & motivational
How can you evaluate
