MGMT 436: TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
College of Business Administration
Loyola Marymount University
Spring 2010
Dr. Ensher, Professor, Management
Hilton Building, 351
Office phone: (310) 338- 3037
Email: eensher@lmu.edu
Office hours:
Mondays 2:14-4:15; 7-8; Thurs. 12-3
or by appt.
INTRODUCTION
Corporations in the United States spend more money annually on training than do all the public
school systems in the country. As the gap widens between the knowledge, skills, and abilities of
what entry level employees are required to know and do and what they actually know and do,
training specialists and consultants become increasingly more valuable. However, becoming
skilled at training is no longer a function of just a Human Resources professional. Today, many
managers and professionals are being asked to be responsible for the training and development of
their employees.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this course students will be able to:
 Describe the field of Training and Development and its role in optimizing performance.
 Apply theoretical concepts and models to training design.
 Design training interventions using a variety of methodologies.
 Evaluate the effectiveness of training interventions.
 Assess whether training is a viable career option.
ASSIGNED READINGS
A major portion of learning in this course will come from assigned text readings. You are
expected to have read the assigned materials by the class period in which the reading is listed on
the course schedule. From time to time, additional readings will be required which I will
distribute to you in class.
 Active Training, Mel Silberman, Jossey Bass, 2006 (3rd edition, 2006)
 Employee Training and Development, Raymond A. Noe, McGraw Hill (5th edition, 2010)
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SUMMARY OF LEARNING ASSIGNMENTS
There are a variety of assignments designed to facilitate your learning this semester. These
assignments include: 1) Two team assignments: professional development workshops/training
designs; and 2) Two exams: a midterm and a cumulative final, 3) Learning Reflection paper.
REFLECTION PAPER
At the completion of this course you will have attended several 60-minute student-led training
workshops and conducted two workshops of your own. Of course, you will also have attended
class sessions which also model training concepts. Hopefully, from each workshop and
experience you will learn something valuable in terms of content or process. On the last day of
class, you will turn in a short (i.e. 2 pages double-spaced) paper documenting your key learnings
discussing how to incorporate this learning into your future career and work plans. This paper is
worth 10 points.
TEAM WORK: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS
You will likely have at some point in your professional career a management or supervisory
position. Key to your success will be your ability to manage the learning process and update the
skills and competencies of your employees to achieve desired performance standards. Their
performance will greatly reflect upon you as their supervisor. Even if you recruit only the most
competent employees, their competence will soon turn into incompetence unless you are able to
help them develop and update their skills. This assignment is designed to help you learn to use
training as a vital part of your work as a manager or supervisor.
Early in the semester you will form small (approximately 4-5 person) work teams. This team
will conduct one in-class 60-minute professional skill development training workshop on any
topics identified by your group of which I approve. The time and location of each workshop will
be determined later but will occur during class time.
To help you identify your topics you will need to conduct a needs analysis. One easy way to do
this is to contact the LMU career development center and ask them for suggestions of topics for
workshops that would be helpful for students, but that they do not offer themselves. Or, you may
conduct a needs analysis among a sample of LMU students to help determine what topics would
be helpful to them in their career development. The readings will help you to determine the best
way to do this.
Your group should identify your topics for my approval for the first workshop by date listed in
class schedule of this syllabus. At that time your group will hand in a description of your topics,
and a list of the one or two things that students will be able to do/know differently as a result of
each of your workshops. Your workshop can also be made available to all LMU undergraduate
students as well as members of our class.
Each workshop should result in a) participants' increased awareness and understanding of the
topic, and b) their development and practice of particular behavioral skills related to the topic. In
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other words, in addition to obtaining an increased understanding, students should be able to leave
your workshop being able to do something new, not just know something new.
Please use the following as a checklist for fulfilling this training assignment:
1) Conduct a needs analysis to determine what type of workshop topics would be helpful to the
career development of LMU students. Solicit final approval for workshop topics from me.
2) Create a marketing plan and budget for your workshop. Your total budget is not to exceed
$20.00 as this is not designed to be a financial burden for you. If you need to copy materials, then
our faculty secretary can help you with that. Note- this may not be applicable to all groups.
2) Once your topics have been approved, go to the library and internet to get as much resource
material as you can on your topics. You might also want to interview experts on topics. This is
your time to become a subject matter expert on your specific topic. After you become very
familiar with your subject matter, then begin to focus on how to design and actually conduct the
training. Don't make the mistake of trying to teach your participants everything that you learned
in your research. These are not speeches or typical presentations, but highly involved training
workshops with a narrow, specific focus. Think carefully about room set-up to maximize class
interaction.
3) See me early if you need help or suggestions on the design of your training workshops, or for
assistance in obtaining audiovisual resources. Conduct your first 60-minute workshop. Don't
just lecture to participants or show them media. Reserve 5-10 minutes at the end for participants
to evaluate your performance using an evaluation form that you have designed. Be sure to
instruct students to write their ID numbers on the evaluations instead of their names. Remember,
fun and humor positively affects transfer of learning! Be creative!
4) Hand in at the beginning of class, two class workshops following your training workshop (late
papers are absolutely, positively not acceptable!) a 12-15 page, two-part report (along with your
recorded workshop on DVD, flashdrive or available as LMU podcast). Part One should contain
the following: a) description of needs analysis, b) training objectives (be sure that some are
behavioral), c) training design blueprint which is a detailed delivery outline with clear reasoning
for particular methods used (see sample from class and text), d) marketing plan and budget, e)
Reference list with complete information for journal citations, websites, and/or experts
interviewed, and f) copies of handouts or overheads.
Part Two should include your personal assessment of your training including addressing the
following questions: a) what was most effective about your training workshop and why? b) what
was least effective and why?, c) your analysis of your participants evaluation of your training,
and d) your thoughtful recommendations for improvement if you were to conduct this or another
workshop a second time. You need to include both each individual team member’s assessment as
well as a 1-page group summary. Be sure to also attach at the end of this report your individual
participant's completed evaluation form of your workshop. Each group member will receive the
same points for each workshop. Remember, training workshops will be recorded so be sure to
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include in your self evaluation what you learned from watching yourselves on camera and
what you will do differently in the future.
TRAINING WORKSHOP LOGISTICS
First Training Workshop
The first training workshop will be conducted during class time at least two weeks prior to your
second training workshop. There are several days designated in the syllabus as "team training 1."
You must conduct your first workshop on one of those days. Your performance will be evaluated
based on your own evaluations, assessment of the TA and myself, participant's evaluations.
Remember, you will be evaluated in how effectively you give feedback so your thoughtful
attention and consideration to your colleagues is vital. The first training workshop is worth 100
points. 60% of your grade will be based on your presentation (60 points) and 40% will be based
on your report (40 points).
Second Training Workshop
You have three options to fulfill the second training workshop requirement. I have very high
expectations of this second training workshop. I would like to see you apply what we are learning
in class to a real-world need.
Option 1)
Think about your current place of employment or one that you are familiar with or have
connections with. Could it benefit from some training? If so, then this is your chance to make
things at your work better! Determine a need that employees have and design a workshop to meet
this need. It is your responsibility to conduct a needs analysis, market your workshop, schedule a
room, take care of logistics, and design and deliver a workshop.
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Option 2)
I may have several service learning projects available for interested LMU students. If you choose
this option then your team will work with a non-profit and design a training workshop for this
non-profit. You will be required to have at least two onsite encounters with the agency that you
choose to work with which may include committing to working a short amount of volunteer
hours. Of course, this can be a large part of your needs assessment. Your work can make a REAL
difference to an agency so if you commit to this, you must be prepared to deliver an excellent
product. More information on the service learning projects will be provided in class.
Option 3)
Conduct a training workshop for your fellow LMU students. Determine a need that students have
and design a workshop to meet this need. It is your responsibility to conduct a needs analysis,
market your workshop, schedule a room and take care of logistics. I highly recommend that you
require students to sign up or RSVP to your workshop invitation so that you can plan your
exercises for the appropriate number of people. You need to make sure you have at least 10
attendees. Of course, the class TA and I are here to help you with any barriers you may
encounter. This workshop can be delivered at any time or location that fits into your team, your
audience and mine and/or TA’s schedule.
Repeat the above steps for your second skill development workshop, including the completion of
a report as described above with recommendations for improvement if this workshop were to be
conducted by you again. The quality of your second workshop training should reflect the
learning that you gained in conducting the first workshop workshop.
Regardless of which option you choose, the second training workshop is worth 200 points. Point
allocation will be determined on your final product which may vary by project (i.e. for some of
the agencies, you may only design the workshop and not actually deliver it) Once I am familiar
with the scope of your project, I will let you know the point allocation.
Near the end of the semester by the date listed on the class schedule you will be asked to present
a brief (5-10 minutes) abbreviated version of your team training #2 to the class. More details on
this will be provided.
TESTING
You will be given two examinations, a mid term and a cumulative final on the dates indicated on
the class schedule. Both of these exams are individual effort only and will include multiplechoice, and true-false questions covering reading and class discussions. Study guides will be
provided to you for each exam.
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CLASS PARTICIPATION
Your quality of group and class participation and involvement will have a significant influence
on your final grade (50 points) as well as what you ultimately gain from this course. In fact, your
overall class contribution can have a major impact on the success of this course and on the
learning gains of other class members. Therefore, I will closely monitor your attendance and
participation. Just as it is not acceptable to arrive late for a job, it is not acceptable to arrive late
to class. Your final grade will begin to be seriously jeopardized after two unexcused absences.
To assist me in determining your class participation score, I will conduct an anonymous group
peer evaluation at the end of the semester. Your class participation will be based on the
following components: on-time attendance to class and training workshops (20 points), active
participation in class indicating high level of preparation (20 points), peer evaluations (10
points).
I expect you to be fully present when you are in class so this means all electronic devices should
be turned off and put away (yes, just like the airlines!).
GRADING
The following represents the relative weighting of the various class performance areas that will
determine your final grade.
Training Workshop #1
Training Workshop #2
Workshop #2 Debrief and in-class presentation
Mid term exam
Final exam
Class participation
Reflection paper
Total points
100 points
200 points
20 points
100 points
100 points
50 points
10 points
580 points
Extra Credit Opportunities
There are several ways you can earn extra credit in this class up to 5 points (can only choose
one).
1) Submit a proposal to me of a workplace that students can conduct training in. You must
be able to provide access to this workplace and they must be committed to doing this
project (in other words- just a good suggestion is not enough). In other words, you earn
extra credit for your initiative and connections. If we do this project, then you can earn 5
points.
2) Bring me a 3-10 minute video or TV clip that exemplifies an aspect of Training and
Development that we have discussed in class. Write one to two paragraphs that describes
the learning points.
3) Attend a workshop or professional speaker event and evaluate it using what you have
learned in this class.
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Your final grade, based on your total accumulated points, will be determined by a modified curve
grade distribution procedure. If there is little final total point spread and evidence of
considerable student effort, all final grades can be quite high. However, if there is much final
total point spread, indicating significant performance difference, a more normal curve grade
distribution procedure will be used. Only students who do outstanding work will receive an "A."
In conclusion, this syllabus is accurate the best of my knowledge. However, there may be
inadvertent errors present that need to be rectified or unforeseen circumstances that necessitate
changes. If any aspects of this syllabus change, I will do my best to notify you well ahead of time.
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TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE
DATE
TOPIC
READING
Jan. 25
Course Introduction and
Introduction to Training
Learning theory & Needs
Assessment
Silberman text, pgs. 1-13;
Noe text, Ch. 1
Noe, Ch. 3 & 4 (138-164
only); 30 Things we know
for sure about adult learning
(article provided Jan. 25 in
class) ; Silberman Ch. 1
Silberman, Ch. 2 & 7;
Noe, pgs. 168-178
Noe, Ch. 7;
Silberman, Ch. 6
Feb. 1st
Feb. 8
Feb. 15
Needs Assessment & Training
Design
Training Design
Feb. 22
Training Evaluation
Mar. 1
Mar. 8
Mar. 15
Midterm Exam
Team Training #1
Team Training #1
Mar. 221
Team Training #1
Apr. 5
Creating Opening Exercises &
Preparing Lectures
Silberman, Ch. 3, 4
Apr. 12
Alternatives to Lecture &
Gaining Leadership of the
Training Group
Future of Training & Careers
in Training
Workshop # 2 presentations/
Wrap Up and Summary
Final Exam
Silberman, Ch. 5, 12
Apr. 19
Apr. 26
May 3
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ASSIGNMENTS
Preliminary needs
analysis and
workshop topics for
#1 due
Silberman, Ch. 15-17;
Noe, Chapter 6
Noe, Ch. 11 and articles
provided in class on Apr. 12
Workshop #1 Mar.
8 presenters due
Workshop #1 Mar.
15 presenters due
Workshop #1
March 22
presenters due
Reflection Paper
due
Workshop Report
#2 due
Note- Spring Break is March 29-April 2nd. Be safe and have fun!
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LEARNING REFLECTION PAPER
At the end of the semester, you will be asked to reflect on what you learned from the class and
various workshops you attended. Think about what you learned in terms of process and content.
If relevant, be sure to address how what you learned in this class can be incorporated into
improving your performance in other classes, your current job, and most importantly, future
career. In other words, what are your top ten take-aways from this T&D class?
You may find it helpful to document your key learnings after each workshop. Some of these
questions may aid in your reflection.
— What were the significant strengths of this session?
— Improvement opportunities?
— What would you have done differently and why?
— What did you learn regarding training process?
— What was it about the content of the presentation that you will want to remember in the
future?
— How were concepts related to various theories (reinforcement, social learning, adult, needs
theory) evident? Or not? Could have been used?
— How well was needs assessment described and did it add or detract from design?
— How effective were the learning objectives and why?
— How well did the group apply the prepare-present-practice-evaluate model? Any suggestions?
— How effective was the opening exercise and what technique did they use?
— How effective was the evaluation and did they use any of the active training methods
discussed in Silberman to attend their workshop.
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