An Evaluation Plan For A Training Program - Assignment Example

? Contents Development of an evaluation plan 3 Choosing an evaluation design 4 Choosing a data collection method 5 Sampling 5 Analyzing the evaluation data 5 Estimating the Return on Investment and the Cost Benefit Ratio 6 References 8 Development of an evaluation plan The rationale and purpose of evaluation A training program has been designed for providing efficient service and improvement of handling customer objections for the service department of a highly reputed airlines company. The service department has 50 senior managers, 150 supervisors and 750 workers who are paid on an hourly basis. This Training program has been conducted throughout the branches of the eastern zone of USA. The training program lasted for 2 months. After the successful conduction of the training program, the management decided to devise an evaluation method to measure the success of the training provided. An evaluation plan is an essential part of a proposal that offers feedback about the success or failure of a project after it has been developed and implemented. The purpose of evaluation of the training program is different for the person who conducted the training and for the people who participated in the program. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the views of both of the associated participants. In simple terms, the purpose statement helps in making decisions about the future of the overall organization or monitoring the program procedures to ensure continuance and improvement. A purpose statement is necessary to obtain relevance of a training program and for learning the impact of the training program on certain groups. Developing program logic model A basic program logic model is shown below: Source: www.sagepub.com Program logic models exhibit what a presented plan, new agenda, or focused transformation effort might include from start to finish. The elements in a program logic model consist of the resources, activities, outputs, short-term outcomes, intermediate-term outcomes, long-term outcomes and impact. In this case, the resources are the organizational infrastructure and financial investment. Activities are the detailed actions that make the program happen. Here the computers, internet connection, various software and training manuals are considered as activities. Outputs are the results of the activities, which is the delivery of the lectures and slideshow in this case. Outputs are often measured in terms of quantity and quality. Outcomes are the changes that take place within the awareness, skill, behavior, and knowledge level of the employees after the conduction of the training program. Impact is the final proposed change in an organization or community. Stakeholders The stakeholders related to the training program include the employees, the managers, the supervisors, and the trainers. These people have direct link with the training method. Stakeholders are people who have interest in the evaluating procedure and can utilize the results of evaluation for further improvement, both self-development and organizational development. Key evaluation questions 1. How was the trainer in terms of communication? 2. Did the trainer answer all your questions? 3. How much helpful was the training session? 4. How did the management cooperate in the successful completion of the session? 5. Was the allocated time sufficient for the entire learning procedure? Choosing an evaluation design Evaluation design can be of three types: Exploratory evaluation designs help us in the starting of a training program to recognize which training to provide and the methods that should be implemented. Descriptive designs help us to determine whether the program is being conducted as per plan, provide us with response about the programs offered, and decide whether the program is creating the desired output. Causal evaluation designs help to present more information regarding the relationship between the training imparted and the outcomes obtained. It presents a cause and effect relationship. For this specific purpose, we need to consider a design which will support both quantitative and qualitative information. Thus, we choose field experiment where the data available will be both quantitative and qualitative. In field experiment, we apply the causal design where the performance of a group of employees who have not undergone training will be compared with groups who have attended the training program. This will bring out the answer whether the training was effective or not (United States General Accounting Office, 1991). In general, validity is a sign that shows how sound the research is. There are two types of validity, namely, internal and external. Internal validity defines the extent to which the data proves to be successful in answering the question that is being evaluated. The data collection and evaluation process are based on some assumptions regarding the question being addressed. If the assumptions are proved to be wrong, then the results obtained through the evaluation process become meaningless. A major challenge to the internal validity of a program refers to the confounding variables. Confounding variables are the effect of the factors that were unintentionally measured during evaluation. For evaluating a training program, the previous knowledge about the subject matter might affect the trainee’s understanding level which accounts for the difference between the impacts of the program among the employees (Russ-Eft & Preskill, 2009). If a study reveals a high extent of internal validity, then it can be concluded that we have strong confirmation of causality. The reverse is true in case of a low extent of internal validity. External validity is the degree to which the findings can be generalized to a larger cluster or other context. If the study lacks external validity, the results cannot be used to the contexts except the one in which the research has been conducted. It deals with the representativeness of a population. A major threat to the external validity includes the researcher’s confidence in presenting whether the survey outcomes are relevant to other groups. Choosing a data collection method The simplest and most popular form of data collection is the questionnaire tool. Questionnaire can be pen-and paper-based or web-based. Also, questionnaires help to collect data from a large group of people. Focus group is also an excellent tool for collecting data. A focus group generally consists of 5 to 15 people and helps in gathering feedback when the target population is large in number. In the given case, the survey method also proves to be useful. In the survey method, it becomes easier to gather a large scale data and helps the researcher to determine the perceptions and ideas of different people. The methods of observation and archival data have not been employed in getting feedback regarding the success of the training session as it was necessary to gather primary data, and the data was required directly from the people who experienced the training sessions. Any archival data or observation would present an assumption and not the exact perception of the employees. Interviews are avoided in this case as it will require huge time if we start interviewing all the 750 workers who underwent the training session. Sampling It is the procedure used in statistical study in which a prearranged number of finding is drawn from a larger population. In simple terms, sampling is the method of selecting a group of people from the entire population to conduct research. This process saves time and prevents complications as it is not feasible to conduct survey on the whole population. Here we have selected a group of 50 employees from the eastern zone who have undergone the training session, and we have chosen a group of 50 employees from the northern zone where the training was not conducted. This was done to find out whether the training program was successful in imparting required skill and knowledge to the employees. Thus, we took the help of sampling. This sample was random as the group of employees from both the zones included efficient and non-efficient workers. Each group was given equal tasks so that the measurement of the efficiency level becomes easier. Analyzing the evaluation data For analyzing the collected data, we have formed the table below which exhibits the procedures to be used. Qualitative data Quantitative data Case Study Analysis- In this method, the data collected is transformed into a case which requires detailed study. Case studies present enormous data to help the process of analysis. Mean, median and mode- In case of quantitative data we can create pie diagrams which exhibits the data and the calculation technique will be significantly based on the mean, median and mode. This process will prevent complication of data and will be easy to interpret. Estimating the Return on Investment and the Cost Benefit Ratio Cost summary Training costs for 2013= $ 40000 Revenue (2012) Revenue (2013) Total Increased efficiency in customer service will result in increased yearly turnover which is estimated at 15% over the previous year $ 10,00,000 $ 10,00,000 + $ 15,0000 $1150000 Cost of production (2012) Cost of production (2013) Savings Expertise in service delivery reduced wastage over cost of production. $95500 $90000 $5500 Employee Turnover (2012) Employee Turnover (2013) Cost of recruitment saved Training enhanced the motivation among employees and reduced employee turnover 20 7 $ 62000 Benefits: 1. Reduced absenteeism 2. Efficient service 3. Highly satisfied customer base 4. Reduced cost of production 5. Retaining motivated workforce The benefits together saved $ 67500 of the Airlines Company. Cost incurred for the training was $ 40000. Cost Benefit Ratio = $ 67500/ $ 40000 = 1.69 (approx) ROI= (benefit- cost / cost) * 100= 27500/40000 * 100= 68.75 %. References Russ-Eft, D., & Preskill, H. (2009) Evaluation in organizations: A systematic approach to enhancing learning, performance and change. Boston, MA: Perseus Books. United States General Accounting Office. (1991). Designing Evaluations. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/ Read More