Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior - Soltanieh ...

4
Design Training
Systematically and Follow
the Science of Training
EDUARDO SALAS AND KEVIN C. STAGL
A national education crisis, employment levels topping 94%, a growing retiree bubble, and
the rapid rise of emerging market opportunities are draining an already shallow domestic
talent pool. And the scarcity of workers with cultural competence, interpersonal savvy,
and technological acumen is not just a US problem as 41% of 37,000 employers across
27 countries report experiencing human capital diffi culties (Manpower, 2007 ).
In response, US employers invest over $ 126 billion annually on training and development
initiatives (Paradise, 2007 ); more than double their $ 55 billion annual investment
just a decade ago (Bassi and Van Buren, 1998 ). Employers make sizable investments in
training because it is a powerful lever for structuring and guiding experiences that facilitate
the acquisition of affective, behavioral, and cognitive (ABCs) learning outcomes by
employees (Kraiger, Ford, and Salas, 1993 ). In turn, learning outcomes can horizontally
transfer to the workplace and over time transfer vertically to impact key organizational
outcomes (Kozlowski, Brown, Weissbein, Cannon - Bowers, and Salas, 2000 ). In fact, systematically
designed training can even help improve entire national economies (Aguinis
and Kraiger, in press).
While trillions are spent annually worldwide on training activities, 52% of employers
still report struggling to rapidly develop skills and only 13% claim to have a very clear
understanding of the capabilities they need in the next three to five years (IBM, 2008 ).
Moreover, only 27% find web - based training, and a mere 17% virtual classroom training,
to be effective at meeting their needs (IBM). Perhaps this is not surprising given that
estimates suggest only 10% of training expenditures transfer to the job (Georgenson,
1982 ) and a meager 5% of solutions are evaluated in terms of organizational benefi ts
(Swanson, 2001 ). It seems now, more than ever before, there is a need for actionable
guidance on designing training systematically.