Page 303 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

288 enhancing performance through training
that a company’s investment is being put to good use. However, evaluations are only a
small fraction of the overall cost of management training and they are not overly difficult
to do. Universities are often very keen to gather research data from practitioners and are
therefore an excellent evaluation resource. Evaluation might be of help in measuring the
results and long-term effects of management training courses.
Taking a baseline measurement before the training course is essential if you are to
derive an accurate understanding of the effects of training from post-training analysis.
Post-training analysis can be done directly after a training session or after a short waiting
period (e.g. 3 months)—once enough time has elapsed allowing for the application of
the acquired skills.
The tools used for evaluations are surveys, interviews and performance data. You could
evaluate the effects of a training course by asking participants, customers, colleagues,
employees, managers and trainers about the results and effects of learning through in-
terviews and surveys.
Although training evaluation can give valuable feedback on the success of a training
programme it is not used throughout each training activity. One of the reasons for the
frequent lack of systematic training evaluations is that it is easier to get funding for a train-
ing programme than for its evaluation. To be able to prove the success and the learning

Time 1 Baseline
Assessment of pre-training performance

Methods: Interviews, surveys of superior´s assessment,
participant´s assessment, performance data, customer feedback,
assessment centre data

Time 2 Course evaluation
Participant´s and trainer´s assessment of the effectiveness of
the training course

Methods: Interviews, survey, feedback workshops

Time 3 Post-training evaluation
Assessment of short-term training effects, e.g. 3 months after
the training course

Methods: Interviews, surveys of superior´s assessment,
participant´s assessment, performance data, customer feedback

Time 4 Follow-up to post-training evaluation
Assessment of long-term training effects, e.g. 6--9 months
after the training course

Methods: Interviews, surveys of superior´s assessment,
participant´s assessment, performance data, customer feedback
assessment centre data

FIGURE 13.5 Framework for evaluation design