Running Head: EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVE: EMPLOYEE TRAINING
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Jordan L. Alkire
McDaniel College
Objective 1B: Educational Perspective on Employee Training and Development
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The importance of employee training and development goes far beyond the first
day of work. Developing a training program that will continuously educate your
employees is a great step in growing your organization.
The training program that I developed in Instructional System Design was a good
example of continuous education because it provided constant follow-up with the
employees working at Merritt Athletic Club to ensure that they were on the right track at
all times.
Using the ADDIE model, which includes the five elements: analysis, design,
development, implementation, and evaluation, I was able to develop a program which
would guide employees through the steps they needed to improve their customer service,
which in turn would be helpful with member retention (Hodell, C. 2006. ISD From the
Ground Up, p.11, 12).
The structure of the ADDIE model made it possible to take employees through a
step-by-step educational process, rather than having them sit in a classroom for a day of
learning. The best part about using this model, in my opinion, is the evaluation portion. I
opted for continuous evaluation and learning, so that employees would know that they
had the opportunity to grow and learn with the organization.
As it says in the book, though, we use evaluation at every step of the ADDIE
model, continuously evaluating our moves as we lead people through our training
program. So instead of just having the five steps of ADDIE, I implemented the
continuous evaluation technique which makes my process a bit longer than some.
Having the HRD information that I now have, I think that I would have spent
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more time interviewing and talking to my potential learners in order to delve deeper into
what their values were. Back to Trait and Factor Theory, it is important to determine a
person’s values before you help to send them on the right career path, and this may have
been something that I didn’t do enough of when I began working through the ADDIE
model with my participants.
“Human Resource Development (HRD) as a concept has come into vogue within
recent years. Administrators have long used HRD-related techniques in order to
maximize the effectiveness of their employees” ( Martell, C., & Daugherty, R. Journal of
Academic Librarianship, p. 4).
Using the tools and techniques that we have been provided with in HRD trainers
should be able to effectively educate employees and continue the process on a day-to-day
basis, whether it is with follow-up coaching sessions, or once-per-month webinars taught
on different subjects, employees should always be learning.
Earlier, when I stated that if I were implementing this training program now I
would spend more time with my potential learners in the beginning, asking questions and
probing their interests I also discovered through various articles that this is a positive
thing to do throughout the entire training process, and beyond.
“Questions represent one of the most important and widely used tools of an
instructor” (Randall, J. Training and Development Journal, p. 32).
As stated by Randall, the questions that the trainer asks should require thinking on
the participants behalf. If the questions are requiring thinking it is going to stimulate
curiosity on the subject at hand.
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In the book titled, “Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business,” written by
Leigh Branham, she talks about adopting a give-and-get-back philosophy when dealing
with your employees and their needs. This is a retention practice that I would use in my
organization if I were an HR manager, or manager of any kind (Branham, L. 2001, p.29).
By giving employees what they need to succeed, such as continuous learning
opportunities and the chance for growth and advancement they are going to give back to
the organization in a positive manner.
“By treating employees as number one, they are creating employees who will
more happily and responsively serve the needs of customers. They have made the
decision that they will give to employees in order to get something in return (Branham, L.
2001, p. 29).
By giving the opportunity for continuous education we are showing employees
that we do care about their future and advancement opportunities with our organization.
One of the biggest problems that I discovered at Merritt was that employees thought that
nobody cared about them being there or growing the company. When I sat down and
talked to several of these employees 85% of them would like to grow with Merritt
Athletic Club, but they didn’t know how to accomplish this because they had never been
given the adequate tools and training that they needed, and deserved.
Employees are the most valuable asset within any organization and without them
and their cooperation the organization wouldn’t run as smoothly. This is why, after
several classes, and several different examples, my opinion has never changed. When I
am an HR manager one day, I will give my employees the continuous tools they need to
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develop and have a open-door policy where they are able to come to me at any time to
discuss needs or concerns.
References
Branham, L. (2001). 24 Ways To Hang On To Your Most Valuable Talent: Keeping the
People Who Keep You in Business. Ney York, NY: AMACON Books.
Hodell, C. (2006). ISD From the Ground Up. A No-Nonsense Approach to Instructional
Design. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.
Martell, C. R., & Doughetry, R.M. (1978). The Role of Continuing Education and
Training in Human Resource Development: An Administrators Viewpoint.
Journal of Academic Librarianship, 4 (3), 151-155. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Randall, J.S. (1978). You and Effective Training, Parts 9 & 10: The Art of Questioning
and Evaluation. Training and Development Journal, 32 (12), 27. Retrieved from
EBSCOhost.