The Training Program (Fabrics, Inc.)

The Training Program (Fabrics, Inc.)

The Training Program (Fabrics, Inc.)*** Please read in full before bidding*****Label and answer each part** Plagiarism report MUST be attached*** Introduction and conclusion paragraph required**** Paragraphs must consist of at least 5 complete sentences***6 scholarly sources is REQUIRED**** I have numbered each chapter to make easy reading, if you have any questions feel free to ask!! Graduate level work is expected!!!! Follow all instructions,,,,,…..

Presented at the end of chapters 4, 5, 8 and 9 of the Blanchard and Thacker (2013) text, are examples of what would be done in a real situation regarding a small business that requested training (these sections can be found in the electronic text by going to the “Summary” section for each chapter and scrolling down). Review the Fabrics Inc. examples at the end of these chapters. These sections are labeled, “The Training Program (Fabrics, Inc.)”. Blanchard and Thacker (2013) have demonstrated the phases of the Training Process Model, from the needs analysis to evaluation. Notice how the phases build on one another.

Chapter 4 presents the needs analysis, the beginning of a step-by-step process for developing a training program, for this small fabrications company. Chapter 5 continues with a description of the Fabrics, Inc., training program identifying the training design. Chapter 8 provides examples of some of the training outputs, starting with the instructor’s manual and elaborates on the development and implementation steps. Finally, Chapter 9 examines the evaluation phase of the Fabrics, Inc. training.

The paper should use APA formatted headings to identify each of the following required sections:

• Abstract
• Background of Fabrics, Inc.
• Needs Analysis
• Training Design
• Development and Implementation
• Evaluation of Training
• Conclusion
• References

The paper should be 2,000 to 2,500 words in length (excluding the title, abstract, and reference page) and respond to the following prompts for each phase of the training process model:

Needs Analysis (Chapter 4)
Critique the organizational analysis conducted for Fabrics, Inc. and determine if there are other questions that should have been asked. Review the operational analysis done through the interview. Note that it was not completed. Generate some of the other questions that should be asked.

Training Design (Chapter 5)
In the design phase of Fabrics, Inc. Blanchard and Thacker (2013) only developed objectives for conflict resolution. Choose one of the other training requirements and develop three to four learning objectives. Critique the design component and identify areas that were not addressed satisfactorily.

Development and Implementation (Chapter 8)
Note that there is no discussion of Fabrics, Inc. in the development or implementation aspects of the training. List and describe additional training modules that could be developed based on the training objectives that were developed in the design phase of Fabrics, Inc.

Evaluation of Training (Chapter 9)
Evaluate the two evaluation instruments used in the Fabrics, Inc. case. Discuss how the evaluation results should be used. Be sure to address internal and external validity of the measurements.

The paper

• Must be 2,000 to 2,500 words in length (excluding title and references pages).
• Must be double spaced and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of The Training Program
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must include an abstract and the required headings as noted in the prompt above.
• Must use at least six scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center

The Training Program (Fabrics, Inc.) chapter 4

This section is the beginning of a step-by-step process for developing a training program for a small fabrications company. Here, we examine the TNA for the program, and in subsequent chapters, we will continue the process through to the evaluation.

Fabrics, Inc., once a small organization, recently experienced an incredible growth. Only two years ago, the owner was also the supervisor of 40 employees. Now it is a firm that employs more than 200. The fast growth proved good for some, with the opportunity for advancement. The owner called a consultant to help him with a few problems that emerged with the fast growth. “I seem to have trouble keeping my mold-makers and some other key employees,” he said. “They are in demand, and although I am competitive regarding money, I think the new supervisors are not treating them well. Also, I received some complaints from customers about the way supervisors talk to them. The supervisors were all promoted from within, without any formal training in supervising employees. They know their stuff regarding the work the employees are doing, so they are able to help employees who are having problems. However, they seem to get into arguments easily, and I hear a lot of yelling going on in the plant. When we were smaller, I looked after the supervisory responsibilities myself and never found a reason to yell at the employees, so I think the supervisors need some training in effective ways to deal with employees. I only have nine supervisors—could you give them some sort of training to be better?”

The consultant responded, “If you want to be sure that we deal with the problem, it would be useful to determine what issues are creating the problems and, from that, recommend a course of action.”

“Actually, I talked to a few other vendors and they indicate they have some traditional basic supervisor training packages that would fit our needs and, therefore, they could start right away. I really want this fixed fast,” the owner said.

“Well, I can understand that, but you do want to be sure that the training you get is relevant to the problems you experienced; otherwise, it is a waste of money. How about I simply contract to do a training needs analysis and give you a report of the findings? Then, based on this information, you can decide whether any of the other vendors or the training I can provide best fits your needs in terms of relevancy and cost. That way, you are assured that any training you purchase will be relevant,” said the consultant.

“How long would that take?” the owner asked.

“It requires that I talk to you in a bit more detail, as well as to those involved; some of the supervisors and subordinates. If they are readily available I would be done this week, with a report going to you early next week,” the consultant replied. The owner asked how much it would cost, and after negotiating for 15 minutes, agreed to the project. They returned to the office to write up the contract for a needs analysis.

The interview with the owner (who was also the manager of all the first-line supervisors) was scheduled first and included an organizational and operational analysis. What follows is an edited version of the questions related to the organizational analysis.

The Interview

 

The Training Program (Fabrics, Inc.) chapter 5

This continues the description of the Fabrics, Inc., training program that we began in Chapter 4. Recall that Fabrics, Inc., grew quickly and experienced problems with its supervisors. InChapter 4, we described how the consultant completed a needs analysis. From this TNA, the consultant determined a number of areas in which supervisors could use training. A partial list included a lack of KSAs in the following areas:

• Effective listening
• Communication
• Conflict resolution
• Effective feedback
• Measuring employee performance
• Motivating employees

For the purpose of this exercise, we deal with only one, conflict resolution. The first step will be to develop the learning objectives.

The Learning Objectives

Some of the learning objectives are as follows:

• The trainee will, with no errors, present in writing the four types of active listening, along with examples of each of the types,with no help from reference material.
• When, in a role-play, the trainee is presented with an angry comment,the trainee will respondimmediatelyusing one of the active listening types. The trainee will then explain orally the technique used and why,with no help from reference material.The trainee will be presented with five of these comments and be expected to correctly respond and explain a minimum of four.
• The trainee will, with 100 percent accuracy,provide in writing each step of the conflict resolution model, along with a relevant example,with no help from any reference material.
• In a role-play of an angry customer, the trainee/employee will show concern for the customer by listening and providing alternative solutions, using the steps in the conflict resolution model,with help from an easel sheet that has the steps listed on it.The trainee must use all the steps and two types of active listening in the role-play.
• After watching a role-play of an angry person and an employee using the conflict resolution model,the trainee will,without reference to material, immediatelyprovide feedback as to the effectiveness of the person using the conflict resolution model.The trainee must identify four of the six errors.

Reaction Objective

The trainee will, upon completion of training,respond to a 15-item reaction questionnaire withminimum scores of 4 on a 5-point scale.

Transfer of Training Objective

When an angry customer approaches the employee and begins speaking in an angry tone of voice,the employee will,immediately,use the conflict resolution model tocalm the customer down.

Organizational Objective

Three months after training,there will be a 75 percent dropin letters of complaint from customers.

Design Issues

We turn now to design issues. The conflict resolution model has four steps and requires attending to cues at verbal, vocal, and visual levels. From an ET perspective then, it is a complex task. The four steps in the model are as follows:

1. Use active listening.
2. Indicate respect.
3. Be assertive.
4. Provide information.

Further examination of the model reveals that the first part, active listening is a complex task by itself,¹⁰⁰ as is the total model. So the first decision is what mix of spiral/topical sequencing to use in the training of this model. Active listening, being a skill that can also be used on its own, suggests the use of topical sequencing to train employees in active listening first. Then we will use spiral sequencing to train the total conflict resolution model.

Teaching of the cognitive component of each of these skills will be completed before the skills training, but for brevity we will discuss only the behavioral component. Using SCM, as proposed by ET, we first determine the epitome (simplest version of the task that still embodies the whole task). For active listening, it will be to use the skill in an everyday situation, such as discussing which movie to see. In this situation, the initiator (person in the role of disagreeing with the trainee) will simply disagree regarding a movie the trainee wants to see. This situation has minimal emotional content and should require minimal monitoring of the initiator by the trainee, as it will not result in an argument. The same epitome used for active listening can also be used for the conflict resolution model because the latter simply takes the discussion to a different level.

The most complex task will require dealing with a great deal of anger on the part of the initiator of the discussion. Once these two extremes are conceptualized, those in between can be determined.

Let’s now examine this training at a micro level using Gagné–Briggs theory. For the module related to teaching active listening, we want to begin by getting trainees’ attention, as suggested by Gagné–Briggs design theory. This can be accomplished by showing a video of two people in a heated argument and then asking, “Has that situation ever happened to you? Would you like to have a better way of responding in such a situation so tempers do not flare?” This would allow you to introduce active listening. The next step in the theory is to inform the trainees of the goal. Presenting the learning objective related to active listening accomplishes this. The training would continue to be designed paying close attention to the steps in the design theory.

Now let’s turn to the evaluation component as an output from the training design. To consider these, we turn back to the learning objectives, which are as follows:

• The trainee will, with no errors, present in writing the four types of active listening, along with examples of each of the types,with no reference material.
• The trainee will, with 100 percent accuracy,provide in writing each step of the conflict resolution model, along with a relevant example,with no help from any reference material.

These, along with a number of similar objectives not shown, will require a paper-and-pencil test of declarative knowledge.

Regarding the behavioral component of the evaluation, consider these objectives:

• When, in a role-play, the trainee is presented with an angry comment,the trainee will respondimmediatelyusing one of the active listening types. The trainee will then explain orally the technique used and why,with no help from reference material.The trainee will be presented with five of these and be expected to correctly respond and explain a minimum of four.
• In a role-play of an angry customer the trainee/employee will show concern for the customer by listening and providing alternative solutions, using the steps in the conflict resolution model,with help from an easel sheet which has the steps listed on it.The trainee must use all the steps and two types of active listening in the role-play.
• After watching role-play of an angry person and an employee using the conflict resolution model,the trainee will,without reference to material, immediatelyprovide feedback as to the effectiveness of the person using the conflict resolution model.The trainee must identify a minimum of four of the six errors.

These objectives will require carefully developed standardized role-plays. The role of the initiator will be scripted and standardized to provide each trainee with similar situations to respond to. In addition, a standardized scoring key, which will guide the scoring of a trainee in the behavioral tests, will be developed. These scoring keys will provide examples of acceptable and unacceptable behavior of the trainee, and a rating scale for different responses. There will also be a scoring key provided for the explanations (oral test) that follow the behavioral part of the test.

We will return to Fabrics, Inc., in Chapter 8, to provide a look at the development process.

 

Fabrics, Inc., Development Phase chapter 8

Recall that in the design phase for Fabrics, Inc., we developed objectives. The output from the design was an examination of the various methods of instruction and factors that affect learning and transfer. These outputs are now the inputs into the development phase of training. The process is to develop an instructional strategy, which leads to a program development plan. The program development plan includes developing instructional material, obtaining needed instructional equipment and facilities, creating or obtaining trainee and trainer manuals (if applicable) and selecting a trainer. Following are partial examples of some of these outputs, starting with the instructor’s manual.

Instructor’s Manual

First we will provide a section of the instructor’s manual that will take you through the start of the active listening training. This will lead into the practice sessions for active listening followed by an example of that material.

Instructor’s Notes	Timing	Points to be Covered	Reference
The question being asked is to get the trainees’ attention and involvement in determining the need to learn how to listen.	20 min	Ask the question “Why do we need to attend a training session on how to listen? After all, listening is a natural thing, right?”
As you get trainee involvement, record their responses on an easel sheet. When ideas have been exhausted, examine the sheet, compare it to the prepared easel, and discuss any that had not been thought of by the trainees. Tape both to the wall next to each other.	Easel points tend to believe that we have the correct answer so why listen to others; they need to listen to us message overload, too much going on at once >believe that talking is more important listening is the responsibility of the listener listening is a passive activity	Easel
Now ask for a volunteer to play a peer of yours at a meeting. When you have someone, set up the scenario of you two sitting in a room waiting for others to show up for a meeting. Progress on the task has been slow but sure. Ask them to respond to what you say as they would in a real situation.	Say “OK, now it is time for practice. I am handing out instructions for the practice sessions using Person 1, 2, 3; it is titled Handout 1. Now go to Instruction Sheet 1, and read the instructions to the trainees.
The volunteer will answer as most people do in situations like this as they move directly to dealing with the issue. Responses will likely be something like the following: So what should we do about it? We have made some progress. It’s not as bad as all that	After they respond, point out to all that this is a typical response, as most people move toward trying to address the concern in some way. Point out that what you need to do is provide support through active listening first, then move to deal with the problem.
Give volunteer the statement to read, and ask to reverse the roles and say that same statement to you.	When they read the statement, respond something like “So you are saying that we are wasting our time at these meetings?”	Handout with statement on it
Now ask for volunteers. To each one say one of the following statements. Then provide feedback as to its effectiveness regarding active listening. . . .	I do not want to work with Bill on any more projects; he never does his share. You are always giving me unscheduled work. I can’t get it done. We tried that last year, and it did not work, so let’s not go there again.
Now you are going to provide the trainees with the opportunity to practice their new skill. You will need Instruction Sheet 1 to read from and Handout 1 to give to trainees while you read the instructions from Instruction Sheet 1.	Say “OK, now it is time for practice. I am handing out instructions for the practice sessions using Person 1, 2, 3; it is titled Handout 1. Now go to Instruction Sheet 1, and read the instructions to the trainees.
This is the end of the instructor’s manual example

The preceding example is a sample of what should be contained in an instructor’s manual. Now let’s turn to instructional material.

Instructional Material

Part of the training is going to involve trainees practicing active listening skills they have been taught. Following are the instructions for this (Instruction Sheet 1) and a sample of the exercise “Person 1, 2, 3,” which is an exercise designed to provide trainees with practice situations where they can use the new skill.

Instruction Sheet 1 (Instructor reads this to trainees)

“Now that you have seen how to use active listening in your response, we are going to give everyone an opportunity to practice this skill. To do this, we are going to put you into groups of three trainees. Each person in the triad will have a sheet labeled “Person 1,” “Person 2,” or “Person 3.” Now look at the Active Listening Exercise Instructions I have just handed out titled Handout 1, and follow along while I read it out loud.”

The trainer now reads the instructions from the sheet (Handout 1) going down to the third situation (Situation C) and then asks if everyone understands or has any questions. Once the trainer is satisfied that everyone understands their roles, she puts them in groups of three and hands out the Person 1, 2, 3 sheets, one to each of the three person groups, again asking “Are there any questions?”

Following are the instructions that are handed out for the exercise “Person 1, 2, 3.”

HANDOUT 1 Active Listening Exercise Instructions

Initiator: Begins the exercise with a conflict-provoking statement.

Active Listener: Receives the statement from the initiator and provides an appropriate response.

Observer: Watches the interchange between the initiator and the active listener. After completion, the observer gives feedback regarding the appropriateness of the active listener’s comment. NOTE: You have an example of an effective active listening response to that situation, so as an observer you can coach the active listener if necessary.

Each group member will be alternating among the three roles!

Situation	Person 1	Person 2	Person 3
A	Initiator	Active Listener	Observer
B	Observer	Initiator	Active Listener
C	Active Listener	Observer	Initiator
D	Initiator	Active Listener	Observer
E	Observer	Initiator	Active Listener
F	Active Listener	Observer	Initiator
And so forth

Following are the handouts for the three person groups. Each person in a group will receive Person 1, 2, or 3.

Person 1 Situation

Person 2 Situation

Person 3 Situation

We will return to Fabrics, Inc., in the next chapter (evaluation) to complete the example. As you might expect, similar exercises appear in the evaluation chapter that are designed to measure how much learning took place.

 

The Training Program (Fabrics, Inc.) Chapter 9

We are now ready to examine the evaluation phase of the Fabrics, Inc., training. We presented the training, and it is time to do the evaluation. In the design phase of the training process, one of the outcomes was development of evaluation objectives. Although we developed and implemented the training, it is critical to remember that developing the tools for evaluation needs to be done concurrently with developing the training, not after it.

Examination of the output of the evaluation phase of training indicated two types of evaluation: process and outcome. The process evaluation will consist of the trainer, during training, documenting what she covered in each module and the time spent on it. These results will then be compared with what was expected to be covered in each module and the time spent.

For the outcome evaluation, four types are identified. The reaction questionnaire for trainers will model the one that was presented in Table 9-4 of the text. For the training itself, the reaction questionnaire is shown next in “Fabrics Reaction 1”.

For learning, we need to revisit the learning objectives to determine what is required. We need a paper-and-pencil test for measuring knowledge (objectives 1 and 2) and two behavioral tests to measure active listening and conflict resolution skills (objectives 3 and 4). More specifically, the first two learning objectives (and the others related to the training but not developed here) are accommodated using the paper-and-pencil test. The content of this test is partially represented in “Fabrics Paper-and-Pencil Test” on the next page. But first let’s look at the knowledge objectives.

 

 

 

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Abstract

This paper will focus on the company Fabrics, Inc. and the training program that the company implements. This is as a result of problems that were coming up in the work station because of the rapid expansion that the company had experienced due to demand for their services. First it will be looking at the background of the company and the result as to why there was a problem. Second is addressing the need analysis of the organization and addressed the different things that were necessary for the organization. This was followed by training design as well as development and implementation. These are critical parts in determining the success that the whole training program will have on the organization. Lastly is evaluation of training which helps show the effect the training has had on the organization as well as the employees.

Introduction

Training is a very important exercise for any organization. It is notable that good training is a factor that is able to make sure that employees in an organization are able to accomplish the different tasks that they have in the best manner possible. This is something that is done with the aim of making sure that employees are able to accomplish the tasks that are allocated to them in……

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