Appendix 1
OJT Program Rationale
Workplaces are good places for learning. When starting a new job, workers must learn how to perform required tasks and how to function in the company’s social setting. Experienced workers must continually
learn new tasks and new techniques for performing familiar tasks, especially when new products, processes, and technologies are introduced. Employee training is sometimes formal, as when just-hired workers
participant in orientation sessions or when experienced workers attend courses on new software, equipment or procedures. The vast majority of on-the-job learning, however, is informal—neither planned, monitored, nor recorded.
The push to deliver training over the Internet or intranet gains momentum. If well designed, it is very economical to deliver and it can be updated easily. It has the potential to deliver instruction quicker, better and
cheaper. However, for a very large part of the workforce, Internet education and training holds no value or
promise because they need training in skills that don’t lend themselves to online learning.
Companies rely on on-the-job training (OJT). It is the primary means of learning the job in all companies,
and all workers primarily learn their jobs by OJT. In the United States, according to the US Department of
Labor, seventy percent of job training is on-the-job training. Employer expenditures, in terms of time spent
receiving training, are estimated to be from three to six times as much as classroom courses, or “off-the-job
training.”
The problem is that in most cases, the training is informal and unstructured. Co-workers with inadequate
instructing skills are training the employees. The results can be inconsistent and unpredictable. Quality,
content, and effectiveness may vary greatly. New employees learn conflicting procedures. Mistakes result,
costing time, money, employee turnover, and lost customers.
Structured OJT is very different than informal, or unstructured, OJT. It has the following advantages, none
of which are normally true of informal OJT.
1. Research shows that structured one-to-one training is the most effective, efficient method of teaching job skills to increase productivity and quality.
2. You can follow classroom, web-based, and off-site instruction with structured OJT to ensure that
the knowledge gained is converted to job competency.
3. OJT ensures that performance assessment can be done at Kirkpatrick’s level 3, job performance.
4. Classroom training is usually just-in-case. Structured OJT is always just-in-time.
5. Learning is immediately relevant to the work of the unit, whether it deals with materials, information
or services.
6. OJT reinforces work relationships, especially when the supervisors are involved.
7. Informal peer training—the “hidden OJT” that teaches unsafe and ineffective practices, is reduced
or eliminated.
8. Trained OJT trainers reduce mis-learning and ensure that employees learn the most expert and
current skills.
9. Instructors use training plans to determine the most productive use of time—who needs what skills
to improve efficiency of the unit.
10. Instructors use job aids to ensure learning is most efficient and job performance is most effective.
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There is a problem in justifying structured OJT. The US Department of Labor and such journals as Training
and Training and Development (ASTD) do not use the term and statistics are hard to collect. Structured
OJT does not exist as far as the USDL statistics are concerned. It falls between the cracks in the three
definitions that skirt around it. For example, these definitions are taken from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics report on the amount of formal and informal training received by employees, dated December 1996.

Formal training is defined in surveys as training that is planned in advance and has a structured
format and defined curriculum. Examples include attending a class conducted by an employee of
the company, attending a seminar given by a professional trainer, or watching a planned audiovisual presentation.

Informal training is unstructured, unplanned, and easily adapted to situations or individuals. Examples include having a co-worker show you how to use a piece of equipment or having a supervisor
teach you a skill related to your job.

Job-skills training refers to training that upgrades employee skills, extends employee skills, or qualifies workers for a job.
Therefore, structured OJT contains elements from these definitions. It is planned in advance, has a structured format, is taught by co-workers or supervisors on skills related to the job, upgrades employee skills,
extends employee skills, and qualifies workers for a job.
Corporations embracing ISO 9000 and its siblings count on structured OJT because it contains the required
components of objectives, measurable outcomes, and documentation. However, the DOL has not incorporated the term “structured OJT” in its surveys for three reasons: it doesn’t have to; it would be very difficult
to gather the data; and it would only confuse the long-term trends gathered from the current categories.
According to a 1996 report by the National Center for the Workplace, Training in the US: Under-provided or
Ineffective, firm-based training is often characterized as formal or informal. In the US, formal training means
off-the-job training, and informal training refers to OJT, provided either by co-workers or supervisors.
By comparison, in Japan formal training refers to both off-the-job training and structured OJT, and the latter
comprises by far the largest component of the Japanese training system. While comparisons are not usually made between US and European or Japanese training, one report on Japanese training (Training and
Development, August 1999) showed 39% of Japanese employee learning is through formal OJT versus an
estimate of less than 10% by US employees.
And, while little research has been conducted on the effectiveness and cost of structured versus unstructured OJT, one study by Dr. Ron Jacobs, Ohio State University, gave a comparison. The study of three
tasks in a large truck assembly plant found that structured OJT required only one-fifth of the mastery time
required for unstructured OJT across all three tasks. On average, unstructured OJT ended up costing
twice as much as structured OJT when both direct and indirect (supervisor’s time and reduced output or
quality) costs were included.
TKG’s’ OJT system enables your company to establish a structured on-the-job training program that will
provide superior one-to-one skills training. TKG’s OJT system has the following advantages:
1. OJT trainer selection is superior because the Instructor-Trainers use the Instructor Selection Test
® to verify the OJT trainer-candidates’ ability to explain clearly and accurately, thereby only training
those with the aptitude to cause error-free learning.
2. Instructional skills training is superior because the OJT trainers are taught how to cause error-free
learning using the Content-Free Microteaching ® system. They learn this in three stages as they
teach and critique six lessons. In the first stage, they teach four lessons which focus on the basic
skill of explaining. The second and third stages focus on the skill of coaching, first with given content, and then with the content they will teach on the job. In this way, they are fully prepared to
train employees immediately after training by teaching their first trainee with a refined lesson.
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3. Task competency training is superior because the OJT trainers are taught how to develop training
materials to cause error-free learning using the Show-Tell Training System™. They learn to conduct the most efficient, effective task analysis, and develop and use performance checklists, training handouts and lesson plans directly from the analysis forms. This direct link through all the materials ensures comprehensiveness, validity, and complete documentation.
4. Performance evaluation is superior because the OJT trainers are taught how to develop and use
up to six different formats to verify that their trainees are able to perform error-free, and to provide
documentation and support for your company’s quality system. The formats include process,
product, knowledge, and behaviorally-anchored rating scales.
5. Job performance after training is superior because the OJT trainers are taught how to develop welldesigned job aids. After learning to perform effectively and efficiently during training, the employees
use those job aids to ensure they don’t forget essential steps, decisions, and information while performing their duties.
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