Chapter 13
Managing Learning for
Quality Improvement
S. Thomas Foster, Jr.
Boise State University
Slides Prepared by
Bruce R. Barringer
University of Central Florida
©2001 Prentice-Hall
Chapter Overview
• Effective Story Telling
• Individual Learning and Organizational
Learning
• A Model to Guide Training Development in
Organizations
• Adult Learning
• Training Tools
• Evaluating Training
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-2
Introduction
• One major objective of quality management is to
enhance organizational learning.
• To create a learning environment, many firms turn to
training.
• However, many firms find that once they have trained
employees, there is still much work to do.
• Training often does very little to create culture change,
is usually poorly planned, and is often poorly
implemented.
• The result is much activity with little in the way of
results.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-3
Effective Story Telling
Slide 1 of 3
• Importance of Stories
– Analogies, metaphors, and stories go a long
way toward helping workers understand
quality principles.
– An example is Brian Joiner’s whack-a-mole
story told in the textbook (Figure 13.1 and 13.2
). The story tells how an assembly operation
was suppose to work, contrasted against how it
actually worked due to unnecessarily
complexity.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-4
Effective Story Telling
Slide 2 of 3
Figure 13.1 Joiner’s Whack-A-Mole Story: The
Way it Was Suppose to Work
Get a Kit of
parts
A, B, and C
Assemble
A, B, and C
to make D
Move D to
stock area
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-5
Effective Story Telling
Slide 3 of 3
Figure 13.2 Joiner’s Whack-A-Mole Story: The Way it
Really Worked
Real
work
Get a kit
of parts
A, B, and C
Complexity
Assembly
A, B, and C
to make D
Kit
complete?
Yes
No
A
missing?
Yes
No
B
missing?
Move D
to
stock areas
Yes
Assembly
B and C
Store on
Shelf until
missing
parts are
available
Long in
computer
Assembly
A and C
No
C
mission?
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Yes
Assembly
A and B
Transparency 13-6
Effective Story Telling
• Not everyone will understand the statistical
topic of variation and problems caused by
variation.
• However, Joiner’s whack-a-mole story
makes this subject understandable.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-7
Effective Story Telling
• Organizational learning occurs when ideas are
put into action.
• People learned how to get around the process.
• At the same time, greater organizational learning
could not take place until the assumptions of the
original system were questioned.
• Real organizational learning took place only after
Tim questioned fundamental assumptions and
tested his theory by implementing and testing a
process change.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-8
Effective Story Telling
• The educator John Dewey understood
learning and isolated it into four
fundamental stages:
-- Discovery: The formation of new insights.
-- Inventing: Creating new options.
-- Producing: Creating new actions.
-- Observing: Seeing the consequences of the
actions, leading to new discoveries and
continuing the cycle.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-9
Effective Story Telling
• This cycle must be allowed to run its course for
real learning to take place.
• We must be allowed to take risks, make mistakes,
and learn by doing.
• In quality management training, studying or
brainstorming problems in the work environment
is one means to create a business case for quality
improvement.
• This is the process of discovery.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-10
Effective Story Telling
• New options are created during the inventing
stage. As participants become more creative, new
ideas open up to them.
• Producing means implementing change and
testing ideas. People begin to understand how
variables in the work environment interact to
create process outcomes such as defects.
• By observing the effects of implementing change,
the outcomes can be observed and the change
documented.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-11
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
• Recent statistics show that less than 1% of salary is
spent on training in the U. S.
• Employee development is an important ingredient in
retaining employees.
• As long as employment levels remain high, employee
satisfaction and retention will become increasing
important issues.
• According to the Center for Workplace Development,
about 70% of what employees learn about their jobs is
informally learned. Only 30% is learned through
training.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-12
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
• Most companies provide new-employee
orientation, but they offer very little in the way of
training about how the job is really performed in
a formal sense.
• This is the origin of many of the problems
associated with confusing and non-repeatable
work methods in firms today.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-13
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
• Organizational Learning
– Is equal to the sum of the change in knowledge among
its employees.
– In-house training provides greater potential for longterm benefits to an organization.
– Training that is relevant to the immediate work
environment is more likely to be valued and rated
highly by the trainees.
– These results suggest that organizations need to
develop frameworks so that individual learning and
experience can be transferred among employees.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-14
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
• First-rate universities know and appreciate these
facts ( see Quality Highlight 13.1).
• They provide resources so that individual
initiative can be turned into research and
teaching results.
• They also provide colloquia where faculty can
share ideas and research.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-15
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
• Effective Planning Quality Training
– Like other quality efforts, training is a planned
process.
– Prior to beginning training, firms should
embark on a training needs assessment.
– The portion of human resources strategic plan
that identifies training needs and how the
organization will respond to those needs is
called the strategic training plan.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-16
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
• The strategic training plan should be in
alignment with overall company objectives and
an integral part of the process through which
strategic objectives are achieved.
• The assessment consists of two phases.
• The first phase is an employee assessment to
provide an objective basis to determine and
prioritize program goals by directly involving the
employees through personal interviews, surveys,
and focus groups.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-17
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
• The second part is an environmental assessment
to develop an inventory of available resources, to
meet training needs and to determine the
characteristics of existing resources, company
needs, and employee characteristics.
• Training needs assessment lets employees know
that the organization is planning its training and
thus improves employee acceptance of training
programs.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-18
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
• Needs assessment can be provided from within
the firm or from a variety of external
organizations.
• Every firm should begin quality initiatives with
training. Ultimately, the best training should be
performed in-house.
• The goal of internal assessment is to provide
insights that are used to develop the strategic
training plan.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-19
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
• Some firms are afraid of losing employees as a
result of developing them and providing them
with new know-how.
• However, the alternative is to populate the firm
with employees that are ill-prepared to meet
consumer needs.
• Employees appreciate the fact that assessment
involves them in developing future plans related
to training.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-20
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
• Many benefits accrue to employees as a result of
performing training assessment. There are
several benefits for the organization as well.
• Organizations can know what their training
needs are and develop a base for sequencing and
phasing in new knowledge.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-21
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
Slide 3 of 3
• Other benefits to the firm include:
– Knowing what training is being planned and why.
– Justifying costs in relation to training benefits.
– Evaluating training based on measurable, written
objectives.
– Encouraging continuous employee participation and
enthusiasm for training.
– Knowing what resources already exist to meet
training objectives and what resources must be
purchased.
© 2001
Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-22
Individual Learning and
Organizational Learning
• Other benefits to the firm include (continued):
– Discovering what type of employee development is
desired and for which employees.
– Confirming how much time and money are needed to
achieve the objectives.
--- The bottom line of needs assessment is to
determine organizational needs, employees
needs, and organizational resources to provide
needed training.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-23
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
• There is a process for developing training.
• This five-phase process involves needs analysis,
definition of instructional objectives, training
design, implementation, and evaluation ( see
Figure 13.3).
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-24
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
Slide 1 of 11 (
Figure 13.3)
Training needs analysis plan
Organizational needs analysis
Task needs analysis
Individual needs analysis
Instructional Objectives
Training Program Design
Develop training materials
Training Support &
maintenance system
Implementation
Evaluation
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-25
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
Slide 2 of 11
• Training Needs Analysis
– Begins when identifying organizational needs in terms of
capabilities, task needs assessment in terms of skill sets
that are needed in the firm, and individual needs analysis
to determine how employee skills fit with company needs.
– A gap analysis shows what skills are needed in an
organization and leads to a definition of instruction
objectives for the organization.
– Once the instruction objectives have been defined, a
determination is made as to whether the training
resources are available in-house.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-26
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
Slide 3 of 11
• Training Program Design
– Includes the specifics of tailoring a course or
set of courses to the needs of the company.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-27
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
• In Figure 13.4, different needs are shown by level
in the organization.
• Figure 13.5 shows an outline of a hierarchical
training model for the U.S. Army.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-28
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
Slide 4 of 11
Figure 13.4 Hierarchical Approaches to Training
Design --Hierarchical Training Needs
Level
Executives
Needs
General principles
Strategic quality planning
Needs resources
Managers & Supervisors General principles
Facilitator Team management
Employees
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Quality tools General principles
Working in teams Transparency 13-29
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
Slide 5 of 11
Figure 13.5 Training Needs Assessment
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Transparency 13-30
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
• Example 13.1: An example of a hierarchical
approach to quality management training
-- Table 13.1 shows the topics that were delivered
to executives in 2 three-hour sessions.
-- The training module contained in Table 13.2
shows the training that was provided for
managers and supervisors at U.S. West.
-- Table 13.3 shows the training that was provided
to the rank-and-file employees.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-31
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
Slide 7 of 11
Table 13.1 Executive-level Training Topics
Module 1
Quality management philosophy
Executives What is quality? The three spheres of quality
Deming, Juran, and Crosby
The importance of leadership
Shifting paradigms
Services gap model
ISO 9000 overview
Self-assessment
Overview of the improvement process
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Transparency 13-32
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
Slide 8 of 11
Table 13.2 Manager and Supervisor Training
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Transparency 13-33
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
Slide 10 of 11
Table 13.3 Employee-Level Training
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Transparency 13-34
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
• Example 13.2: An example of a real-life
training session
-- Figure 13.6 shows the cover slide for the
presentation ( please see textbook).
-- Figure 13.7 is the overhead that provides a brief
overview of the session ( please see textbook).
-- Figure 13.8 shows the names, divisions within
the organization, and an interesting fact about
the instructor ( please see textbook).
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-35
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
• Example 13.2 ( continued)
-- Figure 13.9, 13.10, 13.11 provide definition of
processes, glows, and business processes ( please see
textbook).
-- Figure 13.12 and 13.13 shows the instructor
provided classroom work on using Microsoft
PowerPoint to draw flowcharts ( please see
textbook).
-- Figure 13.14 to Figure 13.17 show the four step
process for drawing a flowchart ( please see
textbook).
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-36
A Model to Guide Training
Development in an Organization
• Example 13.2 ( continued)
-- Figure 13.18 to Figure 13.20 show the overheads
used in training employees on the basic of
flowcharting ( please see textbook).
-- Figure 13.21 and 13.22 outline the class exercise.
-- Figure 13.23 to Figure 13.25 show the overheads
used in this training ( please see textbook).
-- Figure 13.26 and 13.27 show the actually begin
to flowchart a process within the organization (
please see textbook).
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-37
Adult Learning
• Course design for adult training is fundamentally
different from course design for a college course
or a high school course.
• Malcolm Knowles discusses four assumptions
regarding the adult learner.
• These assumptions help to design and shape
training to meet the needs of the employee and
the organization.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-38
Adult Learning
1. Self-Direction
– Adults like self-direction; they want to take
control or at least have some say in their
training agenda or plan. They want to have
choices and make decisions about training that
affect them.
– Employees like to be asked about their needs,
expectations, and preferences.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-39
Adult Learning
2. Experiential Training Techniques
– Are useful for adults who prefer to learn by
doing. Therefore, training should include
plenty of hands-on-practice.
– This follows the age-old, four-step training
philosophy of tell, show, do, and feedback.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-40
Adult Learning
3. Adults will know when they have to learn
something and when they will be motivated to
learn.
-- Therefore real-life events help in providing
effective training.
4. The final assumption of application is that people
want to learn things they can use.
-- Learning should have some application that is
related to what the employee presently is doing or
will be expected to do in the near future.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-41
Adult Learning
• Adults are motivated to learn what is in their
personal interest.
• Adults can also be motivated to learn by
appealing to personal growth objectives.
• This might be accomplished by putting together a
development plan that identifies the skills that will
be required for the employee to move up in the
company.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-42
Adult Learning
• The training should:
-- consider carefully the assumptions noted
previously.
-- take into account the individual’s personal
needs.
-- be an active, experiential process that keeps the
learner involved and engaged.
-- be transferable to the job or the capacity the
employee will have to fulfill.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-43
Adult Learning
• Some techniques that increase involvement
include question and answer sessions, subgroups,
case studies, debating, and role playing.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-44
Training Tools
Slide 1 of 4
• On-the-Job Training
– Can be used as a part of a structured training
program.
– Even though on-the-job training seems
informal, it can be used to teach a single task or
skill, multiple programs, or work processes, or it
can occur in conjunction with other training.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-45
Training Tools
• On-the-Job-Training
– The most common means of using on the job
training is as a single training program that
addresses a specific set of skills.
– Approaches may include the use of a
supervisor or an experienced employee to teach
a task or skill to a person.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-46
Training Tools
• On-the-Job-Training
– Multiple programs is a package of specific skills
in which an employee choose to become
qualified that can be addressed by developing a
curriculum of several topics.
– On-the-job training can be used to help teach
tasks within a work process as well.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-47
Training Tools
• Cross-Training
– Training employees to do multiple jobs within
an organization.
– Employees can be taught to operate specific
equipment or perform all the tasks involved in
the process, effectively cross-training the entire
group.
• Finally, on-the-job training can be used in
combination with other types of training.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-48
Training Tools
• Five selection criteria can help determine that onthe-job training is appropriate as a training tool
in a given situation.
• These include the nature of the task, available
resources, constraints in the workplace, financial
considerations, and individual differences.
• These variables need to be considered in
conjunction with the task that employees need to
learn ( see Table 13.4).
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-49
Training Tools
• Table 13.4 Five factors to consider in training adults
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-50
Training Tools
Slide 2 of 4
• Internet/Intranet Training
– The Internet provides another approach for
meeting the training needs of an organization.
– The Internet can be easy, convenient, and
affordable way to get information and training
materials out to large groups.
– Table 13.5 show five ways in which the Internet
can be used to deliver training information.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-51
Training Tools
• Table 13.5 Internet training
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-52
Training Tools
• Computer-based training and CD ROM
– Computer-based training uses specialized
software known as courseware that addresses
specific topics.
– This training can be delivered quickly and cost
effectively, reducing training time.
– The disadvantage of computer-based training
is that there is no peer interaction or personal
feedback.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-53
Training Tools
Slide 3 of 4
• Distance Learning
– Incorporates technologies such as videoconferencing
and satellite delivery of courses. This kind of training
still has the drawback of being a passive learning
experience.
• Electronic Performance Support Systems
(EPSS)
– Are a type of just-in-time training. Examples include
Microsoft’s Wizard and technical queue cards..
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-54
Training Tools
• Multimedia
-- Is accomplished by incorporating several of the
tools already mentioned into an interactive
process focusing on several senses.
-- Multimedia productions also can reduce
training time by 40% to 60%.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-55
Training Tools
Slide 4 of 4
• Other Training Tools
-- Training relies on many less formal tools.
-- Competent instructors are required for training to
be effective.
-- Humor is a training tools that some trainers have
learned to use very well. Incorporating humor into
training allows the audience to relax and enjoy the
material being presented.
-- If material is funny, it is likely to be remembered.
-- Finally, games are often used in training to
reinforce
concepts.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-56
Evaluating Training
• An important component of a training program
is evaluation.
• Figure 13.28 shows a sample training evaluation
form.
• These form should measure the applicability of
the training, the relevance to the job, the
materials, and the performance of the instructor
in presenting the materials.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-57
Evaluating Training
• Figure 13.28 sample course evaluation
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-58
Evaluating Training
Slide 1 of 5
• The Learning Curve
– In a nutshell, the learning curve can be
interpreted as, “the more you do something, the
better you become at doing it.”
– It means that “that which we persist in doing
becomes easier, not that the thing has changed,
but that our power to do has increased.”
– An objective of training must be to increase
employee’s “power to do.”
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-59
Evaluating Training
• The Learning Curve
– Improvement occurs as a job is repeated. If
the improvement is repeatable and predictable
after time, it is likely to be the result of
learning.
– Progress depends on the continuation of
learning in an organization.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-60
Evaluating Training ( The learning Effect)
• The philosophy of the learning curve is as
follows:
-- Where there is life, there can be learning.
-- The more complex the life, the greater the rate
of learning.
-- The rate of learning can be sufficiently regular
to be predictive.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-61
Evaluating Training
Slide 2 of 5
• Profound Organizational Learning
– Quality-based learning occurs as people
discover the causes of errors, defects, and poor
customer service in a firm. Once these causes
of errors are discovered, systems are put in
place to ensure that the causes of error never
reoccurs.
– Such learning is termed profound
organizational learning and is permanent.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-62
Evaluating Training
Slide 3 of 5
• The Relationship between Organizational Learning
and Quality Costs
– As learning takes place, various costs of quality are
reduced.
• Prevention costs are reduced as use of preventive
action becomes more efficient and focused.
• Appraisal costs decrease as the need for inspection
decreases.
• External and internal failure costs are decreased by
the fewer number of errors and defects.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-63
Evaluating Training
Slide 4 of 5
• Pay-for-Learning Programs
– Pay-for-learning programs compensate
employees for knowledge and skills rather than
for the job they actually perform.
– Other names of pay for learning include payfor-knowledge, skill-based compensation,
knowledge-based pay, and pay-for-skill.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-64
Evaluating Training
• Pay-for-Learning Programs
– There are two basic forms of pay-for-learning
schemes, knowledge-growth systems and
multiple skills systems.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-65
Evaluating Training
Slide 5 of 5
• Knowledge-growth systems
• Knowledge-growth systems increase
employees’ pay as they establish competence
at different levels relating to job knowledge
in a single job classification. These are
sometimes called technical skills ladders.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-66
Evaluating Training
• Multiple skills systems
• Are much more experimental and use
training for job skills in a variety of job
classifications This promises the advantages
of greater labor flexibility and job mobility
for employees.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-67
Evaluating Training
• The benefits of skill-based pay include:
-- better employee development,
-- increased cross-training,
-- increased labor flexibility,
-- lower levels of staff,
-- improved problem solving, and
-- increased job satisfaction.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-68
Evaluating Training
• The disadvantages of pay-for-learning system
include increased costs in training, salaries, and
administration of the program.
• If there is a lack of focus in implementation, the
quality management program can result in
increased salaries with negligible benefits.
© 2001 Prentice-Hall
Transparency 13-69