Lesson 5: Transfer of Training

Question 1

What is Transfer of training?

Answer 1

Transfer of training is the application of the knowledge and skills acquired in a training program on the job and the maintenance of acquired knowledge and skills over time.

Question 2

There are two conditions of transfer of training. What are they?

Answer 2

Generalization and Maintenance

Question 3

What is generalization?

Answer 3

Generalization refers to the use or application of learned material to the job

Generalization involves the application of knowledge and skills learned in training to different settings, people, and situations,

Question 4

What is maintenance?

Answer 4

Maintenance refers to the use or application of learned material on the job over a period of time.

Maintenance reflects the fact that some trainees will increase their use of trained skills over time while other trainees will decrease their use of trained skills over time

Question 5

Figure 9.1: Types of Transfer training.

Answer 5

Question 6

What is a positive transfer?

Answer 6

When transfer is positive, trainees apply new knowledge, skills, and attitudes acquired in training on the job.

Question 7

What is a Zero transfer?

Answer 7

If transfer is zero, trainees are not using new knowledge and skills on the job.

Question 8

What is a negative transfer?

Answer 8

When transfer is negative, training has had a negative effect and trainees are performing worse as a result of a training program.

Question 9

What is a near transfer?

Answer 9

Near transfer refers to the extent to which trainees apply what was learned in training to situations that are very similar to those in which they were trained.

Question 10

What is a far transfer?

Answer 10

Far transfer refers to the extent to which trainees apply what was learned in training to novel or different situations from those in which they were trained.

Question 11

What is a horizontal transfer?

Answer 11

Horizontal transfer involves the transfer of knowledge and skills across different settings or contexts at the same level.

Question 12

What is a Vertical transfer?

Answer 12

Vertical transfer refers to transfer from the individual or trainee level upward to the organizational level.

Question 13

What percentage of organizations indicate that employees apply learning immeadiately after a training program?

What does this number drop to six months/one year after training?

Answer 13

According to a study by the Conference Board of Canada, only 46 percent of organizations indicated that employees apply learning immediately after a training program to a large extent or completely.

This number drops to 18 percent six months after training and to 16 percent one year after training

Question 14

What are some of the reasons that training does not always transfer?

Answer 14

One of the things you will notice is that many of the barriers have to do with factors in the work environment, such as the culture in the work group.

Furthermore, many of the barriers have to do with a lack of support from supervisors and the organization.

Question 15

Table 9.2: Transfer of training in Canadian Organiizations

Answer 15

Question 16

Table 9.3: Barriers to the Transfer of Training.

Answer 16

Question 17

What is the number one barrier to transfer of training?

Answer 17

As you can see in Table 9.3, the number one barrier to transfer of training is the immediate manager’s lack of support for training.

Question 18

What is Supervisor support?

Answer 18

Supervisor support has to do with the extent to which supervisors reinforce and encourage the use of learning on the job.

Supervisor support has been found to be one of the most important factors for transfer of training, along with the social support system in an organization.

Question 19

One way to understand the transfer of training is to identify the factors that contribute to positive transfer of training. A good place to start is Baldwin and Ford’s model of the transfer of training process.9

As shown in Figure 9.1, Baldwin and Ford’s model of the transfer of training process consists of three main factors.

What are they?

Answer 19

Trainee characteristics,
Training design
The work environment

Question 20

Baldwin and Ford’s Model of the Transfer of Training Process

Answer 20

Question 21

What factors have a direct effect on learning and retention?

Answer 21

According to the model, trainee characteristics, training design, and the work environment have a direct effect on learning and retention.

Question 22

What factors have a direct effect on transfer generalization and maintenance?

Answer 22

Trainee characteristics, the work environment, and learning and retention have a direct effect on transfer generalization and maintenance.

Question 23

What factor is necessary but not a sufficient condition for transfer?

Answer 23

An important implication of the model is that learning and retention are a necessary but not sufficient condition for transfer. This is because trainee characteristics and the work environment also have an effect on whether trainees apply on the job what they learn in training.

Question 24

What are Trainee Characteristics?

Answer 24

Trainee characteristics are trainees’:

Capabilities (e.g., cognitive ability)
Personality traits (e.g., locus of control)
Motivational factors (e.g., self-efficacy)
Values and interests (e.g., occupational interests) Attitudes and emotions (e.g., motivation to learn) Perceptions (e.g., climate for learning).

Question 25

Trainees with higher what are more likly to transfer?

Answer 25

trainees with higher cognitive ability, higher training motivation, higher self-efficacy, and a learning goal orientation are more likely to transfer.

Question 26

Trainees with a higher what are more likely to apply on the job what they learn in training?

Answer 26

trainees with an internal locus of control and a high need for achievement are more likely to apply on the job what they learn in training

Question 27

Employees with higher what are more likely to learn and transfer?

Answer 27

Employees with higher job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment are more likely to learn and transfer.

Question 28

Which trainee characteristic has been found to be the most stronly related to transfer?

Answer 28

Among the trainee characteristics, cognitive ability has been found to be the most strongly related to transfer.

Question 29

What is Motivation to transfer?

Answer 29

Motivation to transfer is a trainee’s intended efforts to use on the job skills and knowledge learned in training.

Question 30

A number of design elements that are known as learning principles also affect the transfer of training. These learning principles include…

Answer 30

Identical elements
General principles
Stimulus variability

Question 31

What are Identical elements?

Answer 31

Identical elements involve providing trainees with training experiences and conditions that closely resemble those in the actual work environment.

Identical Elements theory states that transfer will occur only if identical elements are present in both the old (training course) and new situations.

Identical elements are especially important for near transfer, and they have been shown to increase trainees’ retention of motor and verbal behaviours.14

Question 32

What exactly is identical?

Answer 32

To be most effective, simulations should have physical and psychological fidelity.

Question 33

What is Physical fidelity?

Answer 33

Physical fidelity involves making the conditions of a training program, such as the surroundings, tasks, and equipment, similar to those in the work environment.

Question 34

What is Psychological fidelity?

Answer 34

Psychological fidelity has to do with the extent to which trainees attach similar meanings to the training experience and the job context.

Question 35

What are general principles?

Answer 35

Teaching trainees the general rules and theoretical principles that underlie the application of trained knowledge and skills is called general principles.

In other words, the training program provides trainees with an explanation of the theory and principles behind a skill or a task that they are learning to perform.

On-the-job application is more likely when trainees are taught the general rules and theoretical principles that underlie training content.

Question 36

What is stimulus variability and what is its use?

Answer 36

Incorporating stimulus variability into a training program involves providing trainees with a variety of training stimuli and experiences, such as multiple examples of a concept or practice experience in a variety of situations.

The idea is that trainees’ understanding of training material can be strengthened by providing several examples of a concept because they will see how the concept can be applied in a variety of situations.

This enables greater generalization of the new skills and prevents the potential problem of learning being limited to a narrow range of situations

Question 37

How can Stimulus variability be incorporated into a traing program?

Answer 37

Stimulus variability can be incorporated into a training program by:
- Using different models that vary in their characteristics (e.g., gender or age),
- By modelling different situations (e.g., different types of negotiation scenarios for a training program on negotiation skills)
- By using models with different levels of competence in performing the training task (successful and unsuccessful).
- Describing a variety of examples and experiences related to the training content, and by asking trainees to discuss their own work experiences in relation to the training material.

Question 38

What is the importance of a good pre-training environment?

Answer 38

Management actions prior to a training program send signals and messages to employees about the importance of training and the extent to which the organization supports training.

These messages can influence employees’ training motivation.

Question 39

What is the importance of the post-training environment?

Answer 39

Events that occur after a training program in the post-training environment can also influence transfer.

Factors in the post-training environment can encourage, discourage, or prevent employees from applying new knowledge and skills on the job.

Question 40

What is one of the most important characteristics of the post-training environment?

Answer 40

As indicated earlier, one of the most important characteristics of the post-training environment is the amount of support provided by trainees’ supervisors and co-workers.

Question 41

What is Opportunity to preform?

Answer 41

Another key factor in the post-training environment is the opportunity to perform trained tasks on the job.

Opportunity to perform refers to the extent to which a trainee is provided with the opportunity to perform trained tasks on the job. Training programs that include opportunities to practise newly learned skills have been shown to have higher rates of transfer.

Question 42

What is a training transfer climate?

Answer 42

A training transfer climate refers to characteristics in the work environment that can either facilitate or inhibit the application of training on the job.

Question 43

What are the characteristics of a Positive Transfer Climate?

Answer 43

A positive transfer climate is one in which there exist cues that remind employees to apply training material on the job, positive consequences such as feedback and rewards for applying training on the job, and supervisor and peer support for the use of newly acquired skills and abilities.

A positive and supportive transfer climate has been shown to result in greater learning, retention, and transfer of training. Further, a review of transfer research found that among the work environment factors, a positive transfer climate was the strongest predictor of transfer.

Question 44

What is a Continuous Learning Culture?

Answer 44

A continuous learning culture is a culture in which members of an organization believe that knowledge and skill acquisition are part of their job responsibilities and that learning is an important part of work life in the organization.

Question 45

When can barriers to the transfer of training occur?

Answer 45

Barriers to the transfer of training can occur before, during, and after training.

Question 46

9.4: Transfer training strategies before training. (During for Management as well)

Answer 46

Question 47

Figure 9.2: Transfer of training during and after

Answer 47

Question 48

What is the function for Readiness to learn? (Are you fucking kidding me?)

Answer 48

Readiness to Learn and Trainabiltity = (Ability × Motivation × Perceptions of the Work Environment)

All three of these components are important and they are not additive. In other words, being high on one factor will not make up for or compensate for a low rating on another factor.

Question 49

What should managers do before training in order to increase motivation?

Answer 49

First, they can meet with employees to discuss their training needs and decide on a training plan to meet those needs.

Prior to actually attending a training program, managers should discuss the program and its benefits with employees and set goals for learning and applying what they learn on the job.

They should also discuss the objectives of a training program so that employees know what is expected and what they will be accountable for in terms of learning and using new knowledge and skills on the job.

Question 50

What is WIIFM?

Answer 50

Employees also need to know why they are attending a training program and the potential benefits. It is up to management to inform trainees about the importance and relevance of a training program and the benefits of learning and transfer. Trainees need to know what’s in it for them, or what is sometimes called WIIFM (Whats in it for me?)

Question 51

How is WIIFM related to Valence.
What is Valence?

Answer 51

WIIFM (What’s in it for me?). This is best represented by what is known as valence, which refers to trainee beliefs about the desirability of outcomes obtained from training.

Valence has been found to be strongly related to motivation to learn and transfer.

Thus, managers should emphasize the benefits that trainees will receive from training (e.g., improved performance, promotions, career mobility) in an effort to strengthen trainees’ valence.26

Question 52

What is the evidence that exists in what may increase a trainees motivation?

Answer 52

Some evidence exists that trainees are more motivated and more likely to learn when they are given the choice of attending a training program than when attendance is mandatory.

Question 53

What is the argument for maing training mandatory

Answer 53

The idea behind this argument is that by making attendance mandatory, managers communicate the importance of training and ensure that all employees are using the same skills.

One study found that a mandatory training course resulted in higher intentions to transfer.

However, this appears to be the case when training is highly valued in an organization.

When training is not so highly valued, providing employees with some choice is beneficial.

Question 54

What are some ways that a maneger can show their support for someones training?

Answer 54

One way to do this is to have them complete a survey and respond to questions about the need for and potential application of training material.

Having managers complete a contract can also commit them to a training program and ensure their support for it

Supervisors can also demonstrate their support for training by providing employees release time to prepare for training and by providing encouragement.

Question 55

What are the the four things a trainer should do before training?

Answer 55

One of the first things a trainer should do before training is ensure that the training system is operating according to the instructional systems design (ISD) model.

Second, the trainer should ensure that supervisors and trainees are prepared for the training program.

Third, the trainer should know what supervisors and trainees expect from the trainer and the training program.

Finally, the trainer should ensure that trainees have taken any required prerequisite courses and have the necessary readings, assignments, and/or pre-training exercises.

Answer 56

First, trainees should find out why they are being asked to attend a training program, what the training objectives are, and what is expected of them in terms of learning and on-the-job behaviour and performance.

Second, trainees should meet with their supervisor to discuss the training program and develop a plan of action for learning and transfer. Trainees should also ask their supervisor about the support they can expect while they are away from work and attending a training program, and the support they will receive when they return to work.

Finally, trainees should prepare for the training program to ensure that they are ready to learn and that they will benefit from the training.

Question 57

What are some reasons that a trainee may not be motivated to use their new skills on the job?

Answer 57

Some will stop trying after a few attempts because they receive no support or reinforcement for the use of their new knowledge and skills on the job. Others will give up because they encounter barriers and obstacles that make it difficult if not impossible for them to apply their new knowledge and skills. Still others will give up just because the old ways of doing things are easier and faster.

Answer 58

Ensure that employees have immediate and frequent opportunities to practise what they learned in training on the job.

Managers should also encourage and reinforce the application of new skills on the job.

Provide trainees with positive feedback about their use of new knowledge and skills on the job.

Question 59

What should managers do after training to facilitate sucessful transfer?

Answer 59

meet with trainees for a follow-up session to review the training program and discuss transfer problems and solutions

Question 60

In terms of training, what is the buddy system?

Answer 60

Trainees might also benefit by establishing a “buddy system,” or a network of peers who have attended a training program and can provide assistance and support and reinforce each other for using their trained skills on the job.

Question 61

What are transfer of training interventions?

Answer 61

Transfer of training interventions are provided at the end of a training program after all of the training content has been delivered.

Question 62

What are the three types of transfer of training interventions:

Answer 62

• Relapse prevention
• Self-management
• Goal-setting

Question 63

What is Relapse prevention (RP)?

Answer 63

Relapse prevention (RP) is an intervention that instructs trainees to anticipate transfer obstacles and high-risk situations in the work environment and to develop coping skills and strategies to overcome them.

Relapse prevention sensitizes trainees to the possibilities of a relapse and “immunizes” them against obstacles in the environment that might cause one.

RP sensitizes trainees to barriers in the workplace that might inhibit or prevent successful transfer of training.

Question 64

What is a relapse?

Answer 64

A relapse occurs when trainees revert back to using the old skills or their pre-training behaviour.

Question 65

Figure 9.6: Relapse prevention Intervention

Answer 65

Question 66

What are self-management interventions?

Answer 66

Self-management interventions focus on behavioural change and have their basis in self-regulation and social cognitive theory.

Self-management interventions teach trainees to perform a series of steps to manage their transfer behaviour.

Question 67

What are the steps of self-management interventions?

Answer 67

The steps of self-management interventions include anticipating performance obstacles, planning to overcome obstacles, setting goals to overcome obstacles, monitoring one’s progress, and rewarding oneself for goal attainment.

Research has found that self-management interventions result in greater skill generalization and higher performance of a transfer task.

Question 68

What are goal-setting interventions and what do they involve?

Answer 68

Goal-setting interventions teach trainees about the goal-setting process and how to set specific goals for using trained skills on the job.

This usually involves a discussion of why goal-setting is important and a definition of goals; a description of the goal-setting process; characteristics of effective goals (specific and challenging); an explanation for the effectiveness of goals; examples of how goal-setting has been used in organizations; and a discussion of how goal-setting can be effective in one’s own organization.

Question 69

What are Post-training supplements and what steps do they include?

Answer 69

Post-training supplements are transfer interventions that take place on the job following a training program and include booster sessions, self-coaching, and upward feedback.

Question 70

What are Booster sessions?

Answer 70

Booster sessions are extensions of training programs that involve a review of the training material.

Question 71

What aer debriefs?

Answer 71

A booster session can also involve debriefs, which are discussions about trainees’ transfer experiences as well as transfer obstacles and problems they are having using trained knowledge and skills on the job.

Question 72

What is self-coaching?

Answer 72

Self-coaching involves reflecting on one’s performance and setting transfer goals for several weeks following completion of a training program.

Question 73

What is an Upward feedback supplement?

Answer 73

An upward feedback supplement involves providing trainees with data on the frequency with which they engaged in the trained behaviours along with written comments from subordinates on their performance. Trainees then establish performance maintenance and improvement goals.

Question 74

What is the transfer system?

Answer 74

According to Elwood Holton and colleagues, the transfer system is all factors in the person, training, and organization that influence transfer of learning to job performance.

Question 75

What is The Learning Transfer System Inventory?

Answer 75

Holton and his colleagues have developed a diagnostic instrument called the Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) to assess the transfer system in organizations.

The instrument consists of 16 factors that have been found to be the most important in transfer research.

The LTSI can be used by organizations to diagnose their transfer system.

Question 76

Let’s now return to the model of training effectiveness that was presented in Chapters 2 and 4. Recall that the model shows that:

Answer 76

(1) training and development has a direct effect on learning and retention;

(2) trainee characteristics (cognitive ability, training motivation, personality, goal orientation, self-efficacy, and attitudes) and training design (training methods, active practice, conditions of practice, active learning, and error-management training) have a direct effect on trainee learning and retention;

(3) learning and retention have a direct effect on individual behaviour and performance; and

(4) individual behaviour and performance have a direct effect on organizational effectiveness.

Question 77

What are the other factors that we can add to the model of training effectiveness in this chapter?

Answer 77

First, we can add the work environment, which includes the training transfer climate and a continuous learning culture.

Second, we can add the learning principles (i.e., identical elements, stimulus variability, and general principles) and transfer of training interventions to the training design factors.

Question 78

What are the new linkages that we can add to the model of training effectiveness in this chapter?

Answer 78

In terms of the linkages, we can add a direct link from trainee characteristics and the work environment to individual behaviour and performance. This follows from Baldwin and Ford’s model of the transfer process.

We can also add a direct link from training design to individual behaviour and performance given that the learning principles and transfer of training interventions are important for transfer.

The final linkage in the model is from transfer behaviour and performance to organizational effectiveness. Recall that this linkage is called “vertical transfer.” Vertical transfer refers to the link between individual-level training outcomes and organizational outcomes.

Question 79

Figure 9.2: Model of training effectiveness

Answer 79