Kirkpatrick Rules the Training World

As is true for all human resource management practices used by a company, the value of socialization, training and development activities can be enhanced through continual evaluation and revision. Most experts agree that evaluation should include at least four components:

Reaction of participants. Short questionnaires are a popular way to measure employee’s reactions to their experience. Was the instruction clear and helpful? Did the participants like the program? Do they see how it is relevant to their work? Do they believe they learned something from the experience? These are the most commonly used measures of training effectiveness.

Learning. To assess learning, simple tests can be given to determine whether participants acquired the knowledge and skills of interest. Can participants perform tasks they couldn’t perform before? Eg. Conduct an approval interview, negotiate a contract? Do participants have information they didn’t have before? Cant they talk meaningfully about new issues Eg. Work force diversity, ethics, global strategies.

Behavior or performance change. Effective training does more than give participants new capabilities. It also results in actual changes in behavior. Do participants behave differently than they did before? Do they perform their job better than they did before?

Results. Ultimately the objective of training and development is to produce results. Did the training produce tangible results in terms of productivity, cost savings, response time, quality or quantity of job performance? Have complaints and grievances declined? Are customers more satisfied with the service they receive? Has the bench strength of the management talent pool increased?

The choice of criteria hinges on the level at which the training evaluation is to be conducted. For eg. a short attitude survey could be used to assess the response of the trainees to...