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Training Design Issues

Preface

Traditionally, training and development were not viewed as activities that could help companies create “value” and successfully deal with competitive challenges. Today, that view has changed. Companies that use innovative training and development practices are likely to report better financial performance than their competitors that do not. Training and development also help a company develop the human capital needed to meet competitive challenges. Many companies now recognize that learning through training, development, and knowledge management helps employees strengthen or increase their skills in order to improve or make new products, generate new and innovative ideas, and provide high-quality customer service. Also, development activities and career management are needed to prepare employees for managerial and leadership positions and to attract, motivate, and retain talented employees at all levels and in all jobs. An emphasis on learning through training, development, and knowledge management is no longer in the category of “nice to do”—they are a “must do” if companies want to gain a competitive advantage and meet employees’ expectations.

Businesses today must compete in the global marketplace, and the diversity of the workforce continues to increase. As a result, companies need to train employees to work with persons from different cultures, both within the United States and abroad. Technologies, such as social media, and tablet computers, such as the iPad, reduce the costs associated with bringing employees to a central location for training. At the same time, the challenge is ensuring that these training methods include the necessary conditions (practice, feedback, self-pacing, etc.) for learning to occur. Through the blended learning approach, companies are seeking the best balance between private, self-paced, technology-based training (such as online learning), and methods that allow interpersonal interaction among trainees (such as classroom instruction or active learning). Employees from the millennial generation are well versed in informal learning, especially through collaboration facilitated by social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Also, their gaming experiences lead them to expect that learning experiences will be fun, multidimensional, challenging, and provide immediate feedback and rewards.

The role of training has broadened beyond training program design. Effective instructional design remains important, but training managers, human resource experts, and trainers are increasingly being asked to create systems to motivate employees to learn, not only in programs but informally on the job; create knowledge; and share that knowledge with other employees in the company. Training has moved from an emphasis on a one-time event to the creation of conditions for learning that can occur through collaboration, online learning, traditional classroom training, or a combination of these methods. There is increased recognition that learning occurs informally, outside the boundaries of a formal training course.

Also, the employee-employer relationship has changed. Due to rapidly changing business environments and competition that can quickly cause profits to shrink and skill needs to change, companies are reluctant to provide job security to employees. At the same time, many employees are job hopping to find more challenging and interesting work or to maximize the value that they can get for their skills in the job market, and not making

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a long-term commitment to any company. As a result, both employees and companies are concerned with developing future skills and managing careers. Companies want a workforce that is motivated and productive, has up-to-date skills, and can quickly learn new skills to meet changing customer and marketplace needs. Despite the prevalence of job hopping, companies want to provide a work environment and training and development opportunities that will them the employer of choice for talented employees. Employees want to develop skills that not only are useful for their current jobs, but also are congruent with their personal interests and values. Given the increasing time demands of work, employees are also interested in maintaining balance between work and non work interests.

The chapter coverage of Employee Training and Development reflects the traditional as well as the broadening role of training and development in organizations. Chapter One, “Introduction to Employee Training and Development,” covers the role of training and development in companies. Chapter Two, “Strategic Training,” discusses how training practices and the organization of the training function can support business goals. Because companies are interested in reducing costs, the amount of resources allocated to training is likely to be determined by the extent that training and development activities help the company reach business goals. Topics related to designing training programs are covered in Chapters Three through Six. Chapter Three, “Needs Assessment,” discusses how to identify when training is appropriate. Chapter Four, “Learning and Transfer of Training,” addresses the learning process and characteristics of a learning environment. The chapter also emphasizes what should be done in the design of training and the work environment to ensure that training is used on the job. Chapter Five, “Program Design,” provides practical suggestions regarding what can be done to facilitate learning and transfer of training before, during, and after a course or program. The role of knowledge management in facilitating learning and transfer of training is also discussed. Chapter Six, “Training Evaluation,” discusses how to evaluate training programs. Here, the student is introduced to the concepts of identifying cost-effective training, evaluating the return on investment of training and learning, and determining if training outcomes related to learning, behavior, or performance have been reached. Chapters Seven and Eight cover training methods. Chapter Seven, “Traditional Training Methods,” discusses presentational methods (e.g., lecture), hands-on methods (e.g., on-the-job training and behavior modeling), and group methods (e.g., adventure learning). Chapter Eight, “Technology-Based Training Methods,” introduces new technologies that are being used in training. These technology-based training methods include e-learning, mobile learning, social media, simulations, serious games, massive open online courses (MOOCs), virtual worlds, and blended learning. Chapters Seven and Eight both conclude by comparing training methods on the basis of costs, benefits, and learning characteristics.

Chapter Nine, “Employee Development and Career Management,” introduces developmental methods (assessment, relationships, job experiences, and formal courses). In addition, the use of development plans to help employees succeed in their self-directed or protean careers is highlighted. Topics such as succession planning and on boarding are discussed. Chapter Ten, “Social Responsibility: Legal Issues, Managing Diversity, and Career Challenges,” emphasizes the role that training plays in helping companies improve the communities where they are located by increasing the skill level of the workforce, helping provide jobs, and taking actions to help all employees grow and develop, regardless of their personal characteristics or career challenges. The chapter also discusses compliance with laws that affect training and development, training partnerships,

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managing diversity, cross-cultural preparation, and how companies can help employees deal with career challenges such as balancing work and life, coping with career breaks such as taking time off for family or required military service, job loss, and retirement. Finally, Chapter Eleven, “The Future of Training and Development,” looks at how training and development might be different ten or twenty years from now.

Employee Training and Development is based on my more than twenty-five years of teaching training and development courses to both graduate and undergraduate students. From this experience, I have realized that managers, consultants, trainers, and faculty working in a variety of disciplines (including education, psychology, business, and industrial relations) have contributed to the research and practice of training and development. As a result, the book is based on research conducted in several disciplines, while offering a practical perspective. The book is appropriate for students in a number of programs. It suits both undergraduate and master’s-level training courses in a variety of disciplines.

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

This book has several distinctive features. First, my teaching experience has taught me that students become frustrated if they do not see research and theory in practice. As a result, one distinctive feature of the book is that each chapter begins with a real-life vignette of a company practice that relates to the material covered in the chapter. Many examples of company practices are provided throughout the chapters. Each chapter ends with a real-life case and related questions that give students the opportunity to apply the chapter’s content to an actual training or development issue.

A second distinctive feature of the book is its topical coverage. The chapters included in Part Two, “Designing Training,” relate to training design (needs assessment, training methods, learning and transfer of training, and program design and evaluation). Instructional design is still the “meat and potatoes” of training. Part Three, “Training and Development Methods,” covers the more exciting part of training and development—that is, training and development methods. But as the role of managers and trainers broadens, they are increasingly involved in helping all employees grow, develop, and cope with career challenges, as well as preparing high-potential employees for leadership positions. For example, managers and trainers need to understand generational differences in employees’ career needs, career paths, cross-cultural training, diversity, outplacement, and succession planning—topics that fall outside the realm of instructional design. These topics are covered in Part Four, “Social Responsibility and the Future.”

The book begins with a discussion of the context for training and development. Part One includes chapters that cover the economic and workplace factors that are influencing trends in the training profession. One of these trends is that companies are emphasizing learning through formal training and development, knowledge management, and informal learning. In addition, these chapters discuss the need for training, development, and learning to become strategic (i.e., to contribute to business strategy and organizational goals). Why? In successful, effective training, all aspects of training—including training objectives, methods, evaluation, and even who conducts the training—relate to the business strategy. More and more companies are demanding that the training function and training practices support business goals; otherwise, training may be outsourced or face funding cuts. Although students in business schools are exposed to strategic thinking, students in psychology and education who go on to become trainers need to understand the strategic perspective and how it relates to the organization of the training function and the type of training conducted.

Not only has technology changed the way we live and the way work is performed, but it also has influenced training practice. As a result, one chapter of the book is devoted entirely to the use of technologies for training delivery and instruction, such as online learning, social media, mobile learning, gamification, and virtual worlds.

The book reflects the latest “hot topics” in the area of training and development. Some of the new topics discussed in the book are “flipped classroom,” adaptive training, big data and workforce analytics, learning management systems, competencies, knowledge management, massive open online courses (MOOCs), mobile learning (using smartphones), reverse mentoring iPads and other tablet computers, social media such as blogs, wikis, and social networks, and virtual worlds (such as Second Life) for training. Each chapter contains the most recent academic research findings and company practices.

FEATURES DESIGNED TO AID LEARNING

Employee Training and Development provides several features to aid learning:

Each chapter lists objectives that highlight what the student is expected to learn in that chapter.

In-text examples and chapter openers feature companies from all industries, including service, manufacturing, retail, and nonprofit organizations.

Discussion questions at the end of each chapter help students learn the concepts presented in the chapter and understand potential applications of the material.

Important terms and concepts used in training and development are boldfaced in each chapter. Key terms are identified at the end of each chapter. These key terms are important to help the student understand the language of training.

Application assignments are useful for the students to put chapter content into practice. Most chapters include assignments that require the student to use the World Wide Web.

Cases at the end of each chapter and at the end of each of the four parts of the book help students apply what they have learned to training and development issues faced by actual companies.

Name and subject indexes at the end of the book help in finding key people and topics.

WHAT’S NEW IN THE SEVENTH EDITION

I want to personally thank all of you who have adopted this book! Based on the comments of the reviewers of the fifth edition and training research and practice, I have made several improvements. Some important changes in the sixth edition of Employee Training and Development stand out:

Each chapter has been updated to include the most recent research findings and new best company practices. New examples have been added in each chapter’s text.

All the chapter opening vignettes are new. For example, the opening vignette for Chapter Eight highlights how Nissan is using e-learning that includes a virtual classroom, social collaboration, and virtual learning lab for skills practice to its geographically dispersed workforce.

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This edition offers new and expanded coverage of topics related to learning, program design, training methods, evaluation, development, and the future of training. From the learning and program design perspective expanded and new coverage is provided on the 70-20-10 learning model, adaptive training, the importance of stakeholder involvement in needs assessment and program design, the use of boosters, reflection, and discussion to enhance learning, how to design training from a project management perspective, and the use of incentives and badges to motivate and reinforce learning. The use of new and increasingly popular training delivery and instructional methods, including massive open online courses (MOOCs), the flipped classroom, serious games and gamification, and mobile learning, is discussed. From a development and career perspective, this edition provides new and expanded coverage of career paths that are more common today, including horizontal and cross-functional career paths, reverse mentoring, stretch assignments, and using succession planning to develop bench strength. In training evaluation, the fundamentals remain important but there is also an increased interest in and use of big data and workforce analytics to show how learning, training, and development contribute to talent management and the company’s “bottom line.” As a result, in the evaluation chapter we discuss big data and how companies are using it to answer important questions. Finally, new technologies have the potential to radically alter how and when we learn and substitute performance support for learning. As a result, in the last chapter of the book, we discuss the implications of wearables, artificial intelligence, Tin Can API, and neuroscience research for the future of training and development. The implications of the needs and learning preferences of the multigenerational workforce, especially the millennials, for training and development are discussed throughout the book (e.g., reverse mentoring, increased use of games and social collaboration for learning).

Each chapter ends with application assignments, including new program design and updated web-based exercises. These assignments are also found on the book’s website.

Each chapter concludes with new or updated brief cases that illustrate a training, development, or learning issue faced by a company. The case questions ask students to consider issues and make recommendations based on the chapter content.

To help students better understand the connections between topics, the book is organized into four different parts. Part One focuses on the context for training and development and includes a chapter devoted to strategic training. Part Two includes coverage related to the fundamentals of designing training programs. Chapters in Part Two focus on needs assessment, learning theories and transfer of training, program design, and training evaluation. Part Three focuses on training and development methods and includes chapters devoted to traditional training methods, e-learning, and the use of new training technologies such as social media and mobile learning. The chapters in Part Four cover employee development and career management and the role of training and learning in helping companies increase their social responsibility. This includes following laws and regulations that relate to training, as well as managing diversity and helping employees cope with career challenges such as balancing work and life, career breaks, identifying and moving along a career path, preparing for retirement, and coping with job loss. Finally, this part provides a look at the future of training and development.

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INSTRUCTOR AND STUDENT RESOURCES

McGraw-Hill Connect®: connect.mheducation.com

Continually evolving, McGraw-Hill Connect® has been redesigned to provide the only true adaptive learning experience delivered within a simple and easy-to-navigate environment, placing students at the very center.

Performance Analytics—Now available for both instructors and students, easy-to-decipher data illuminates course performance. Students always know how they’re doing in class, while instructors can view student and section performance at a glance.

Mobile—Available on tablets, students can now access assignments, quizzes, and results on the go, while instructors can assess student and section performance anytime, anywhere.

Personalized Learning—Squeezing the most out of study time, the adaptive engine within Connect creates a highly personalized learning path for each student by identifying areas of weakness and providing learning resources to assist in the moment of need. This seamless integration of reading, practice, and assessment ensures that the focus is on the most important content for that individual.

LearnSmart®

LearnSmart, the most widely used adaptive learning resource, is proven to improve grades. By focusing each student on the most important information they need to learn, LearnSmart personalizes the learning experience so they can study as efficiently as possible.

SmartBook®

An extension of LearnSmart, SmartBook is an adaptive eBook that helps students focus their study time more effectively. As students read, SmartBook assesses comprehension and dynamically highlights where they need to study more.

Instructor Library

The Connect Management Instructor Library is your repository for additional resources to improve student engagement in and out of class. You can select and use any asset that enhances your lecture.

The Connect Instructor Library includes:

Instructor Manual

PowerPoint files

Test Bank

Manager’s Hot Seat: Now instructors can put students in the hot seat with access to an interactive program. Students watch real managers apply their years of experience when confronting unscripted issues. As the scenario unfolds, questions about how the manager is handling the situation pop up, forcing the student to make decisions along with the manager. At the end of the scenario, students watch a post-interview with the manager, view how their responses matched up to the manager’s decisions. The Manager’s Hot Seat videos are now available as assignments in Connect.

Argosy https://digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu/#/books/1260050858/cfi/6/34!/4/2/2/2/2@0:0

Chapter Four

Learning and Transfer of Training

Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

Discuss the five types of learner outcomes.

Explain the implications of learning theory for instructional design.

Incorporate adult learning theory into the design of a training program.

Describe how learners receive, process, store, retrieve, and act upon information.

Discuss the internal conditions (within the learner) and external conditions (learning environment) necessary for the trainee to learn each type of capability.

Discuss the implications of open and closed skills and near and far transfer for designing training programs.

Explain the features of instruction and the work environment that are necessary for learning and transfer of training.

Energizing Training Means Better Learning and Transfer of Training

Boring lectures, lack of meaningful content in e-learning, training that doesn’t give employees the opportunity to practice and receive feedback—all demotivate trainees and make it difficult for them to learn and use what they learned on the job. However, many companies are using innovative instructional methods to make training more interesting and to help trainees learn and apply it to their work.

At PNC Financial Services Group, PNC University provided web-based training to all its employees to aid in the conversion to a new HR system. The training was customized to the employee role and organization within the company to ensure that it was relevant and meaningful. An online help feature allowed employees to use their preferred method of learning through one of four approaches: “See it!” “Try it!” “Do it!”or “Print it!” “See it!” provided a short instructional video showing how a task is completed. “Try it!” let employees practice entering transactions

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with coaching, in a simulated version of the system. “Do it!” allowed employees to enter transactions in the live system with a Help coaching tool, going through the task step by step. “Print it!” allowed employees to print step-by-step procedures for completing transactions.

Feedback about a learning program at Mindtree Limited, a global information technology solutions company, suggested that trainees were not transferring learning to the job. The program was redesigned to ensure that employees would learn skills such as analyzing the impact of change and how to successfully integrate, review, and resolve coding problems. The new program includes four phases, each with clear objectives and expected outcomes. Trainees are actively involved in learning through the use of project simulations in which they work in teams, under the supervision of a more experienced technical employee, to fix defects, address change requests, and implement new features. Trainees are evaluated and provided feedback throughout the program on their analysis, design, coding, and documentation skills, turnaround time, and collaboration skills.

Nemours Foundation, a children’s health system, emphasizes family-centered care. Nemours partners with parents and children to help deliver care in both inpatient and outpatient settings, design facilities, educate staff, and develop and evaluate policies and programs. Nemours provides high-quality educational opportunities for associates: continuing medical education for physicians, nurses, and other allied health professionals through internships, residency programs, fellowship training, and graduate medical education. Its pediatric emergency medical skills course for first-year fellows involves role-playing. The role-playing scenarios often involve patient and family interactions. These can be difficult because they can be emotionally complex such as when difficult news must be provided to patients’ families. Experienced clinicians observe and mentor the fellows and provide feedback on their communications and interpersonal skills.

Sources: Based on M. Weinstein, “PNC invests in excellence,” training, January/February 2011: 48–50; “Mindtree Limited,” T+D (October 2014): 46; “Nemours,” T+D (October 2013): 41.

INTRODUCTION

Although they use different methods, the purpose of the training at the four companies just described is to help employees learn so they can perform their jobs successfully. Regardless of the training method, certain conditions must be present for learning to occur and employees to use what they learned on their jobs. These include (1) providing opportunities for trainees to practice and receive feedback, i.e., information about how well people are meeting the training objectives, (2) offering meaningful training content, (3) identifying any prerequisites that trainees need to complete the program successfully, (4) allowing trainees to learn through observation and experience, and (5) ensuring that the work environment, including managers and peers, support learning and use of skills on the job. For example, feedback from trainers and mentors is provided at Mindtree Limited and Nemours. The meaningfulness of what is being learned is enhanced at both Mindtree Limited and Nemours by having learners work in situations (role plays and projects) that are identical to those they may encounter on the job. Recognizing that employees may

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have preferences regarding how they want to learn, PNC allowed employees to choose how they wanted to learn about the new HR system.

As you may have recognized by now, this chapter emphasizes not only what has to occur during training sessions for learning to occur, but also how to ensure that trainees use what they have learned in their jobs. That is, this chapter discusses both learning and transfer of training. Learning refers to a relatively permanent change in human capabilities that can include knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, and competencies that are not the result of growth processes.1 A key part of learning is that trainees commit to memory (i.e., remember) what they have learned and can recall it. Transfer of training refers to trainees effectively and continually applying what they have learned in training to their jobs.2 As the organizations in the chapter opener illustrate, trainee characteristics, the design of the training program (or what occurs during training), and the work environment influence whether trainees learn and use or apply what they have learned to their jobs. Figure 4.1 presents a model of learning and transfer of training. As the model shows, transfer of training includes both the generalization of training to the job and maintenance of learned material. Generalization refers to a trainee’s ability to apply what they learned to on-the job work problems and situations that are similar but not necessarily identical to those problems and situations encountered in the learning environment, i.e., the training program. Maintenance refers to the process of trainees continuing to use what they learned over time.

It is important to realize that for training to be effective, both learning and transfer of training are needed. Trainees can fail or incorrectly apply training content (what was emphasized in training) to their jobs, either because the training was not conducive to learning, the work environment provides them with the opportunity to use training content or supports its correct use, or both. Also, it is a mistake to consider transfer of training as something to be concerned about after training because it deals with the use of training content on the job. Instead, transfer of training should be considered during the design or purchase of training. If you wait until after training to consider transfer of training, it is likely too late. Trainees’ perceptions of the work environment and its support for training have likely influenced their motivation to learn and what, if anything, they have learned (recall the discussion of motivation to learn in Chapter Three, “Needs Assessment”).

This chapter coverage is based on the model shown in Figure 4.1. First, we discuss learning. We begin by identifying what is to be learned—that is, to identify learning outcomes. Learning outcomes should be related to what is required to perform the job successfully. As the chapter opener illustrates, this may include selling products, providing services, working with operating systems, or developing and fixing software. As a student, you are familiar with one type of learning outcome: intellectual skills. We also discuss how trainees’ learning style may influence the way they prefer to learn. The influence of other trainee characteristics, such as basic skills, cognitive ability, self-efficacy, age and generation, and interests on motivation to learn and learning, was discussed in Chapter Three.

FIGURE 4.1 A Model of Learning and Transfer of Training

Next, we consider training design. Training design includes consideration of how to create a learning environment to help the trainee acquire the learning outcomes. We discuss various learning and transfer of training theories. Last, we look at how these theories are used to create a learning environment and supportive work environment designed to help the trainee learn the desired outcomes and apply them on the job.

WHAT IS LEARNING? WHAT IS LEARNED?

Understanding learning outcomes is crucial because they influence the characteristics of the training environment that are necessary for learning to occur. For example, if trainees are to master motor skills such as climbing a pole, they must have opportunities to practice climbing and receive feedback about their climbing skills. Learning outcomes are presented in Table 4.1.

TABLE 4.1 Learning Outcomes

Type of Learning Outcome

Description of Capability

Example

Verbal information

State, tell, or describe previously stored information.

State three reasons for following company safety procedures.

Intellectual skills

Apply generalizable concepts and rules to solve problems and generate novel products.

Design and code a computer program that meets customer requirements.

Motor skills

Execute a physical action with precision and timing.

Shoot a gun and consistently hit a small moving target.

Attitudes

Choose a personal course of action.

Choose to respond to all incoming mail within 24 hours.

Cognitive strategies

Manage one’s own thinking and learning processes.

Use three different strategies selectively to diagnose engine malfunctions.

Source: Based on R. Gagne and K. Medsker, The Conditions of Learning (New York: Harcourt-Brace, 1996) ; K. Kapp, “Matching the Right Design Strategy to the Right Content”, T+D (July 2011): 48–52.

Verbal information includes names or labels, facts, and bodies of knowledge. Verbal information includes specialized knowledge that employees need in their jobs. For example, a manager must know the names of different types of equipment as well as the body of knowledge related to Total Quality Management (TQM).

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Intellectual skills include concepts and rules, which are critical to solve problems, serve customers, and create products. For example, a manager must know the steps in the performance appraisal process (e.g., gather data, summarize data, or prepare for an appraisal interview with an employee) in order to conduct an employee appraisal.

Motor skills include coordination of physical movements. For example, a telephone repair person must have the coordination and dexterity required to climb ladders and telephone poles.

Attitudes are a combination of beliefs and feelings that predispose a person to behave a certain way. Attitudes include a cognitive component (beliefs), an affective component (feeling), and an intentional component (the way a person intends to behave with regard to the focus of the attitude). Important work-related attitudes include job satisfaction, commitment to the organization, and job involvement. Suppose you say that an employee has a “positive attitude” toward her work. This means the person likes her job (the affective component). She may like her job because it is challenging and provides an opportunity to meet people (the cognitive component). Because she likes her job, she intends to stay with the company and do her best at work (the intentional component). Training programs may be used to develop or change attitudes because attitudes have been shown to be related to physical and mental withdrawal from work, turnover, and behaviors that affect the well-being of the company (e.g., helping new employees).

Cognitive strategies regulate the processes of learning. They relate to the learner’s decision regarding what information to attend to (i.e., pay attention to), how to remember, and how to solve problems. For example, a physicist recalls the colors of the light spectrum through remembering the name “Roy G. Biv” (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet).

As this chapter points out, each learning outcome requires a different set of conditions for learning to occur. Before this chapter investigates the learning process in detail, it looks at the theories that help explain how people learn.

LEARNING THEORIES

Each theory about how people learn relates to different aspects of the learning process. Many of the theories also relate to trainees’ motivation to learn, which was discussed in Chapter Three. The application of these theories for instruction and program design are discussed later in this chapter and in Chapter Five, “Program Design.”

Reinforcement Theory

Reinforcement theory emphasizes that people are motivated to perform or avoid certain behaviors because of past outcomes that have resulted from those behaviors.3 There are several processes in reinforcement theory. Positive reinforcement is a pleasurable outcome resulting from a behavior. Negative reinforcement is the removal of an unpleasant outcome. For example, consider a machine that makes screeching and grinding noises unless the operator holds levers in a certain position. The operator will learn to hold the levers in that position to avoid the noises. The process of withdrawing positive or negative reinforcers to eliminate a behavior is known as extinction. Punishment is presenting an unpleasant outcome after a behavior, leading to a decrease in that behavior. For example, if a manager

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yells at employees when they are late, they may avoid the yelling by being on time (but they may also call in sick, quit, or fool the boss into not noticing when they arrive late).

From a training perspective, reinforcement theory suggests that for learners to acquire knowledge, change behavior, or modify skills, the trainer needs to identify what outcomes the learner finds most positive (and negative). Trainers then need to link these outcomes to learners’ acquiring knowledge or skills or changing behaviors. As was mentioned in Chapter Three, learners can obtain several types of benefits from participating in training programs. The benefits may include learning an easier or more interesting way to perform their job (job-related), meeting other employees who can serve as resources when problems occur (personal), or increasing opportunities to consider new positions in the company (career-related). According to reinforcement theory, trainers can withhold or provide these benefits to learners who master program content. The effectiveness of learning depends on the pattern or schedule for providing these reinforcers or benefits. Similarly, managers can provide these benefits to help ensure transfer of training.

Behavior modification is a training method that is primarily based on reinforcement theory. For example, a training program in a bakery focused on eliminating unsafe behaviors such as climbing over conveyor belts (rather than walking around them) and sticking hands into equipment to dislodge jammed materials without turning off the equipment.4 Employees were shown slides depicting safe and unsafe work behaviors. After viewing the slides, employees were shown a graph of the number of times that safe behaviors were observed during past weeks. Employees were encouraged to increase the number of safe behaviors they demonstrated on the job. They were given several reasons for doing so: for their own protection, to decrease costs for the company, and to help their plant get out of last place in the safety rankings of the company’s plants. Immediately after the training, safety reminders were posted in employees’ work areas. Data about the number of safe behaviors performed by employees continued to be collected and displayed on the graph in the work area following the training. Employees’ supervisors were also instructed to recognize workers whenever they saw them performing a safe work behavior. In this example, the data of safe behavior posted in the work areas and supervisors’ recognition of safe work behavior represent positive reinforcers.

Social Learning Theory