Exam 1

Question 1

What is the primary goal of training?

Answer 1

Learning

Question 2

What is the difference between training and development?

Answer 2

Training is learning for the sake of your current position, whereas development includes training, as well as education, job experiences, relationships, etc. that help you prepare for future positions.

Question 3

What are the 3 ways learning occurs in an organization?

Answer 3

Formal, Informal, Knowledge Management

Question 4

Define and explain Formal Learning

Answer 4

Focuses on explicit knowledge. Classroom traning, online training, etc.

Question 5

Define and explain Informal Learning

Answer 5

Focuses on tactic knowledge. Is learner initiated, involves action and doing, and does not occur in a formal learning setting. Involves employee interactions in personal relationships with collegues. Tactic knowledge is shared between people through these interactions.

Question 6

Define and explain knowledge management

Answer 6

The process of enhancing company performance by designing tools, systems, structures, cultures, etc. to improve the creation, sharing, and use of knowledge.

A knowledge management tool can look like how IBM has a continuous learning platform that allows for employees to take advantage of learning whatever it is that they want. The knowledge management tool is the continuous learning platform itself.

Question 7

What is the difference between tactic and explicit knowledge?

Answer 7

Tactic knowledge is personal knowledge based on an individuals experiences that is difficult to articulate. Whereas explicit knowledge is easy to articulate, and also easy to transfer to another person.

Question 8

What does ISD stand for and what is the ISD principles?
(7 Steps)

Answer 8

ISD= Instructional System Design

ISD is one process you can use to design training.

1. Needs assessment
2. Training readiness
3. Learning Environment
4. Transfer of Training
5. Evaluation Plan
6. Training Method
7. Monitor and Evaluate

Question 9

What is the ADDIE Model?

Answer 9

ADDIE is another process you can use to design training.

A nalysis
D esign
D evelopment
I mplementation
E valuation

Question 10

“In many organizations, learning occurs on-the-job, primarily through observing others in the workplace. Which theory is most relevant for this type of learning?”
A. Reinforcement Theory
B. Social Learning Theory
C. Goal Theory
D. Expectancy Theory

Answer 10

B. Social Learning Theory

Question 11

” _____ ____ ______ Refers to factors that will lead to an evaluator to question the believability or generalizability of training evaluation results.”

Answer 11

Threats to Validity

Question 12

“______ refers to the extent to which training outcomes measure inappropriate capabilities or are affected by extraneous conditions.”

Answer 12

Contamination

Question 13

“_______ refers to the failure to measure aspect of training outcomes that were emphasized in the training objectives.”

Answer 13

Deficiency

Question 14

“It is critical for organizations to address certain forces that influence work and learning, and training plays an important role in this process.”
a) List 2 forces that influence work and learning.
b) Describe how each force might impact an organization
c) identify how training could help address the issue

Answer 14

a) New Technology and Economic Cycles
b) New Technology can impact an organization by giving the org different ways to streamline their processes, making the org more efficient.
Economic Cycles can impact an organization by influencing the number and quality of candidates who are applying to the job.
c) Training can help address new technologies by brining opportunities for employees to learn the new technology and how they can apply it to their job to make it more efficient.
Training can help with different economic cycles by informing employers on the level of quality of training that their new employees will need coming into the job. For example, those who paid more attention to their training before the 2008 recession had better performance than their competitors during the recession. Better training allowed them to be resilient in hard economic times.

Question 15

Typical training and development roles in organizations (4)

Answer 15

1. Learning Strategist (determines how workplace learning can be best used to help meet the companies business strategy)
2. Business Partner (creates training that is aligned with the business to improve performance)
3. Project Manager (plans obtains, and monitors training)
4. Professional Specialist (designs, develops, delivers training)

Question 16

3 Key features of a learning organization

Answer 16

1. Supportive Learning Environment
2. Learning processes and practices
3. Managers reinforce learning

Question 17

What is the strategic training and development process (4)

Answer 17

1. Business Strategy (If your training doesnt support your companies business strategy; it wont add any value).
2. Strategic Training and Development Initiatives (A road map to help guide specific training and development activities that support the business strategy)
3. Training and Development Activities (Specific training that enables the initiatives to be achieved)
4. Training Value Metrics (Specific measures that can be used to identify whether or not the training was valuable; ex) measuring changes in employee retention, productivity, quality, satisfaction, etc.

Question 18

List some organizational characteristics that influence training (List 3 but more are listed in the powerpoint)

Answer 18

1. Company Size (might define the scale in which the training needs to be done; might not be able to be as customizable or personalized)
2. Top Management Support (If you dont have management buy-in, training could either go underfunded or under-supported).
3. Business Conditions (If your business isnt doing well, there might not be enough money to invest in training to the extent that your workforce needs the training).

Question 19

“Alexis is the Chief Learning Officer for her organization. A director tells Alexis that the sales team has been struggling to meet their goals and performance standards. Alexis begins to consider whether the sales team might benefit from a training program. This scenario is an example of which of the following concepts?
A. Pressure Point
B. Training Evaluation
C. Learning Outcome
D. Transfer of Training

Answer 19

A. Pressure Point (Instances that suggest training might be necessary).

Question 20

Give 3 examples of a “Pressure Point”

Answer 20

1. Poor Performance (Employees not performing to standards may indicate that they need training in a certain area to improve performance)
2. New Technology (If the company is introducing a new technology internally and employees need to start using it, they may benefit from being trained on how to use it).
3. Customer Dissatisfaction (Not happy customers may be a result of employees not knowing or understanding how to fully meet the customers needs, which may be helped by training them more).

Question 21

What are the 3 types of analysis done in a needs assessment?

Answer 21

1. Organization Analysis (What is the context we are working within)?
2. Person Analysis (Who needs the training)?
3. Task Analysis (What is the focus of the training)?

Question 22

Name at least 3 outcomes of a needs assessment.

Answer 22

1. What trainees need to learn
2. Who receives training
3. What training method is appropriate
4. Frequency of training
5. Figured out if it is training that is needed or if it requires another area of HRs attention just as job redesign, performance management, etc.
6. How training should be evaluated

Question 23

Define a gap analysis

Answer 23

A part of a person analysis in the needs assessment process. “The process of determining the reasons for the difference between employees current and expected performance.”

Question 24

Define a rapid needs assessment.

Answer 24

Refers to a needs assessment that is done quickly and accurately, but without sacrificing the quality of the process or the outcomes. This is done by selecting the needs assessment methods that will give you results you can have the greatest confidences in while using the fewest resources possible (time, money, subject matter experts).

Question 25

Define competencies

Answer 25

Competencies are another way of saying KSAOs (Knowledge, Skill, Ability, other (personal characteristics). What an employee needs to perform their job successfully.

Question 26

Define a competency model.

Answer 26

A competency model provides descriptions of competencies that are common for an entire occupation, organization, job family, or specific job.

Question 27

What is the difference between learning and transfer of training?

Answer 27

Through training, you learn things. Transfer of training is your ability to utilize what you learned and apply it to your day to day job.

Question 28

List the 5 types of learning outcomes (VACIM acronym)

Answer 28

1. Verbal Information (State, tell, or describe previously stored info)
2. Attitudes (change in beliefs, feelings, intentions)
3. Cognitive Strategies (managing your thinking process)
4. Intellectual Skills (able to generalize concepts and rules to solve problems and generate novel products)
5. Motor Skills (Ability to physical actions)

Question 29

Define Reinforcement Theory

Answer 29

Emphasizes that people are motivated to perform or avoid certain behaviors because of past outcomes

Question 30

Goal Setting Theory

Answer 30

Goal Setting Theory (assumes that behavior results from a persons conscious goals and intentions)

Question 31

Define Social Learning Theory

Answer 31

Emphasizes that people learn by observing others that they see as credible and knowledgeable.

Question 32

Adult learning theory

Answer 32

Emphasizes that adults learn differently than traditional students.
1. They have the need to know why they are learning something.
2. Need to be self-directed
3. Bring more work-related knowledge to the table
4. They are focused on problem solving
5. They are both extrinsically motivated and intrinsically motivated.

Question 33

Information Processing Theory

Answer 33

Emphasizes the fact that a lot of internal processing happens when learning something. There is a process in which we learn something.

Question 34

Expectancy Theory (EIV acronym)

Answer 34

Suggests that a persons behavior is based on 3 factors;

1. Expectancy (The link between trying to perform a behavior and actually performing it well)
2. Instrumentality (Belief that performing a behavior is associated with a particular outcome) Ex) Me going to training is associated with better performance.
3. Valence (The value that a person places on an outcome) Ex) how important do I think it is to improve on my performance.

Question 35

Closed vs. Open Skills

Answer 35

Closed skills are skills learned in training that needs to be replicated identically on the job. There is a specified right and wrong way to do the skill. Ex) Handling money at a register.

Open skills are more subjective skills that doesnt have a single correct way of being done. Ex) Providing good customer service.

Question 36

Near vs. Far transfer

Answer 36

Relates directly to transfer of training.

NEAR - Transfer of training is more likely to happen if the skills learned in training are similar or identical to the work. The transfer of training is very close to each other or “near.”

FAR - Transfer of training is less likely to happen if the skills learned in training are more subjective or depends on the situation. What you do perform at work vs. what you learned may be less similar or, “far.” Ex) customer service training cannot prepare you for every single type of customer that you will come in contact with.

Question 37

List 3 phases of the program design process (PLP Acronym)

Answer 37

1. Pretraining (prepare, motivate, and energize trainees to attend the training and ensure the work environment supports transfer of training)
2. Learning event (prepare instruction and the physical environment to facilitate learning and transfer of training)
3. Post-training (encourage learners to apply what they learned to their work)

Question 38

Curriculum vs. Course

Answer 38

Curriculum - program of study designed to meet a complex learning objective. Includes several courses.

Courses - Within a curriculum. Designed to cover more specific learning objectives.

Question 39

Terminal vs. enabling learning objectives

Answer 39

Terminal learning objective - your “end goal,” learning objective. Ex) The terminal learning objective in this MHR program is to have a well-rounded knowledge in the HR profession.

Enabling learning objective - what you need to learn in order to enable yourself to achieve your “end goal.” Ex) In order to be well-rounded in HR I need to learn about Compensation.

Question 40

Why should organizations evaluate training?

Answer 40

• Its costly
• Provides a way to understand the impact that the training has had
  -Provides information needed to improve training
  -Involves formative and summative evaluation

Question 41

Formative vs. Summative evaluation

Answer 41

Formative - Evaluation that takes place during the formation of the training.
- helps ensure that the training is organized and runs smoothly.

Summative - Evaluation that takes place after the training.
- Helps evaluate the extent to which trainees have changed as a result of the training.

Question 42

6 types of training outcomes (CRRRAB acryonym)

Answer 42

1. C ognitive (facts)
2. R eactions (satisfaction)
3. R esults (payoffs)
4. R OI
5. A ffective (motivation)
6. B ehavior (interpersonal or technical)

Question 43

Four factors that should be considered when determining the appropriateness of training outcomes (DRRP acronym)

Answer 43

Training outcomes must be:
1. D iscriminiative
2. R eliable
3. R elevant
4. P ractical

Question 44

In measuring the relevance of a training outcome; what does it mean when the outcome is contaminated or deficient?

Answer 44

Contamination - the extent to which the training outcomes were irrelevant or disrupted by external factors.

Deficient- The extent to which the training just missed the mark and didnt meet any of the training objectives.

Question 45

Define threats to training outcome validity: Internal and External

Answer 45

Factors that will lead an evaluator to question either
1) the believability of the outcome results (Internal)
2) the applicability to other groups of employees (external)

Question 46

List 3 primary methods used to minimize threats to training outcome validity (PCR acronym)

Answer 46

Pre-post test designs (establish baseline and assess afterwards)

Comparison groups (control group)

Random assingment (employees assigned to the training is completely random)

Question 47

Factors that should be considered when choosing a training evaluation design

Answer 47

you need to consider the cost, time, and how accurate you want your evaluation to be.

Question 48

The types of training programs for which calculating ROI is most appropriate

Answer 48

Programs that are expensive, propose permanent change, or involve a ton of employees.
(more are listed in powerpoint)

Question 49

List 2 Traditional and 2 technology based training methods

Answer 49

TRADITIONAL
1. Presentation (lecture)
2. Group building (adventure learning)

TECH
1. E-learning
2. Computer Based Training (CBT)

Question 50

Advantages and disadvantages of on-the-job training

Answer 50

PRO - very realistic - most learning is done by doing
CONS - not everyone will recieve the exact same training
- the trainer might not be doing the tasks correctly, which means they are teaching the wrong stuff

Question 51

Blended learning

Answer 51

Combines online learning, face-to-face learning, and other methods. (think flipped classroom which is where you work online through reading content and then come to class for face-to-face instruction)

Question 52

Massive open online courses (MOOCs)

Answer 52

Online learning that consists of a large numbe of learners. Its open to anyone on the internet and is structured.

Question 53

How to pick which training method to use:

Answer 53

Look at your overall learning objectives and compare the training methods. Pick which training methods that will best help to achieve your learning objectives.