Running head: EVALUATING TRAINING Evaluating Training Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation 1 EVALUATING TRAINING 2 Evaluating Training Training and development of an employee are essential for the employee to improve their skills and beneficial for the organization. Human resource evaluation can be defined as the "systematic collection of descriptive and judgmental information necessary to make effective training decisions related to the selection, adoption, value and modification of various instructional activities" (DeSimone, Werner, Harris, 2003). Evaluating training should begin before the training program is set into motion and after completion of the training program. The evaluation process takes into consideration the needs analysis, measurable training objectives, outcome measures and the impact of the training program on the organization depending on how it applies to the job. Evaluation of training is carried out to determine whether the program's objectives were achieved, to determine the changes in capabilities of the trainees' came about as a result of the training and to determine the cost-benefit ratio of the training. With the information collected from the evaluation, the organization can decide if the program was beneficial, additionally, using the information gathered the organization management can create a database which can be useful in future decision making. The objectives of the team communication and development training was to improve communication between the low level-managers and the people they work with; the other goal was to enhance and develop teamwork among employees hence creating a favorable work environment. Through the training the managers are made aware of ways through which people learn, develop their skills to cope with the growing demands of the clients. The manager needs to be able to communicate effectively and be a good listener. Team building is aimed at training the employees to understand the individual difference and the importance of diversity in a team. EVALUATING TRAINING 3 Through the training the employees learn to develop their strengths and balance their weaknesses(Mullins,2010) Typologies for evaluating training The Return on investment(ROI) is the net benefit of an investment made on a training program for an organization. It is essentially a restatement of the investment's benefit-cost ratio. In this case, comparisons are made between the monetary benefits of the training and the cost of training. There are two types of expenses an organization may incur when carrying out a training program. Direct and indirect costs. The direct costs are such as salaries for the instructors, consultants and employees involved in the training program, costs of equipment and learning rooms. The indirect costs include general supplies, travel expenses and development of the training program (Kirkpatrick, 1998). When evaluating training costs, there is a comparison of the value of the training and the benefits in monetary terms. The common assumption is that any form of exercise carried out by an organization is bound to result in a profit, however, there are some training programs, if not properly evaluated, lead to cost with no returns. An organization only benefits from a training program if there is an excellent ratio of results to cost. Learning is a method of evaluating training that focuses on what the learner has retained form the training program(Kirkpatrick,1998). Knowledge retention can be assessed through learning tests that ensure that the trainee absorbed the content and has mastered how to apply the learned information on their job. Learning could be determined by testing pre and post-training knowledge. This method looks to identify a positive change in the trainee. If the trainee had little experience, at the end of the training, it is expected that the employee learned a lot of information on the skill taught during the training. This evaluation could also use a control group of employees who were not trained to compare their knowledge with that of the trained group. EVALUATING TRAINING 4 The expected result is that the control group does not have any specialized experience in the training, and the trained group does. However, if the results from both groups are similar, then the objectives of the training program were not achieved. This evaluation method is essential in determining that the goals of the program are met. Knowledge retention and Return on investment are essential in evaluating this training program to determine the cost/ benefit ratio and the achievement of the objectives of the program in the organization. Methods of trainee performance Evaluation The training could be successful and the learner masters the skills learned in the program; however, this is no guarantee that the learner will apply the new expertise on the job. Therefore, it is vital to evaluate the individual trainee to determine the impact of training on their job and get their reactions to the training program. For a training program to be successful, the participants ought to be engaged in the session and motivated. To get a perception of their reception of the program, you must observe their reactions during the session. Through observation, it is possible to get unbiased feedback from the trainees. The information gathered through observation can be used by the instructor to learn of the specific areas they need to improve on to make the training a success. Additionally, observation can be used to determine how the trainee is applying the skills learnt from the training on their job. This can be effective in teamwork, observing how the trainee works together with other employees before and after exercise. To see if the trainee is applying skills learned in cooperation on their jobs. Questionnaires can be used to evaluate trainee performance, and mastery of the content learned in during the training program. Using close-ended questions that only require yes or no for an answer to determine the overall impression of the trainee on the application. There can be EVALUATING TRAINING 5 the use of open-ended questions in the questionnaire; the trainee is required to give more information on the training program other than Yes or No. This way there is detailed feedback on the session and the things that the trainee feels worked well and those that require improving Evaluating Training Design For this evaluating training, there will be the use of two types of designs geared towards assessing the two objectives. The objectives training was improving communication between lower-level managers and the people around them and the development of teamwork among employees. The lower-level managers were teamed up with two supervisors for the training in communication skills. Evaluate if the practice is successful, there is the implementation of the pre and post evaluation. In this case, the group that is getting trained gets assessed on communication skills before and after the training. The objective here is to look for an improvement in the scores. The case scenario here is that before the training they had less knowledge and skills in communication, but after the specialized training, there is a significant improvement in their communication. When there is a positive change in the scores, then it shows learning has occurred, and hence the objective for this specific training has been achieved. Another objective of the training program is to develop teamwork among the employees of the organization. For practical evaluation, there will be implementation group evaluation; the goal is to see a difference in skills and knowledge between the groups. Green will be the placebo group, the one that does not receive any form of training while Black is the group that receives specialized training. Both groups will be evaluated and observed for knowledge and skills in teamwork. If in any case both group Green and Black show improvement in team working, then the conclusion will be that there is change but not as a result of the training. However, the EVALUATING TRAINING 6 expected outcome will be that Green does not show any improvement, while Black is expected to show a significant increase in team working. We can conclude, therefore, that the training caused the development and consequently, the objective is achieved. Evaluating a training program of an organization provides information on whether the exercise is successful or not. Training evaluation can be achieved through assessment of the costbenefit ratio and the knowledge retention of the cohort that underwent training. Evaluation is meant to check the success of training, hence the confidence of the organization in the group and future monetary benefits of the practice. EVALUATING TRAINING 7 Reference DeSimone R. I., Werner J.M., (2003). Human Resource development (pp 10- 21). Retrieved from https://www.yyu.edu.tr Kirkpatrick D L., Kirkpatrick J. D., (2012). Evaluating Training Programs (pp 21-63). Retrieved from https://bookconnection,com Mullins J. L., (2010) Management and Organizational Behavior (pp341- 353) retrieved from https://mim.av.mw