The Effective Content of Lesson Plan for Training Program

               Nothing under the sky is new!!!!!!

Training plays a very important role in both enhancing the employees’ capacities, and remaining the organizations competitive. When the new discovery or change management has been introduced, both public and private organizations have to conduct training program for employees. When training program is set, it is required to arrange the valuable content of lesson plan for training the employees, and these can be:

A. Content to be discovered: Trainers have to identify the content of the training program; why this training has to be done, and what the main purpose of this training is.

B. Sequencing of activities: When the content of training has already been identified, then all the related activities have to be found, and orderly arranged. For example, what should be first, second, and third ect.

C. Selection or designing of training media: This is required to select the appropriate training method used in the training process. For example, it can be instructor-led training method, computer-based training method, multimedia training method, or videotapes. The trainers can use any method that is appropriate and relatively related to the content of training program.

D. Selection or development of experiential exercise: To spark the ideas and help the trainees to understand what the aim of training is, the experiential exercises have to be used. The trainers have to consider of any effective experiential exercises that can assist the employees to easily get the content instructed. For instance, these can be outdoor training, role-playing exercises, games, or simulations.    

E. Timing and planning of each activity: Each activity in every step in training program has to be clearly allocated the time and authentically made a plan before putting it into practice. For example, how many days the training program will last, at what time the guests will check in their names or others.

F. Selection of the method of instruction to be used:  There are many methods that the trainers can utilize such as trainer-centered approach, trainee-centered approach, or umbrella approach. No any method is 100 % effective, but it depends on the situation, time and a number of employees or environment.  

G. Number and type of evaluation items to be used: The trainers should in advance consider of what types of evaluate should be used before and after training, and how to make it work effectively. For example, they can be group evaluation, individual evaluation or other methods.   

Sam Aun (Andy)

Criteria for Evaluating Training

Training program is really necessary for every organization, and its result can be shown and evaluated after training. There are three types of criteria for evaluating training, and these include: internal, external, and participant’s reaction (Ivancevich, 2010, pp. 422-423).

(1). Internal criteria: It is directly associated with the content of the program whether the employees learned the facts and guidelines covered in the program.

(2). External criteria: It is related more to the ultimate purpose of the program especially on improving the effectiveness of the employees, and these include job performance rating, the degree of learning transferred from training and development successions to on-the-job situation, and increase in sales or decreases in turnover.  

(3). Participant’s reaction criteria: It is related to how the subjects about the benefits of a specific of training or development experience that is commonly used as an internal criteria.

Relatively, Kirkpatrick on his view about multiple-criterion evaluation system suggests measuring the following:

            (1). Participant’s reaction: It concerns with the participants whether they like or dislike the program. The participants show their satisfaction about the training program.

            (2). Learning: It is related to the employees themselves whether they get score higher on the tests after training or more developed than before.

            (3). Behavior: It is about the external measure of changes or lack of changes in job behavior, and this can be evaluated by comparing the rates of results tested before and after training.

            (4). Result: It is about the effect of the program on organizational dimension such as employees’ turnover, productivity, volume of sales or error –free letters typed.

Sam Aun (Andy)

Why Training is Necessary for Organizations?

Training is a form of education that is conducted for achieving the standard of the desired goal by introducing or practicing, and it is really necessary for both public and private organizations.  Training has been established in two different forms: (1). On-the-job training: It is one kinds of training that is implemented through transitory experience, coaching, rotation, transferring, or counseling. The trainees are sent to the real places of practice, and they have to join hands and to be trained at the same time of working and (2). Off-the-job training: This form of training has been done through distance learning, interactive video training, programmed instruction, or discussion. The organizations arrange the programs for training, and the employees are sent to be trained. In this situation, it is required for the organizations to keep profound consideration of trainees and training programs.   According to Ivancevich (2010, pp. 434-325), training program can be successfully done when the organizations understand the following principles:

A. Trainees must be motivated to learn.

B. Trainees must be able to learn.

C. Learning must be reinforced.

D. Training must provide for practice of material.

E. Material presented must be meaningful.

F. Material taught must transfer to the job.

Moreover, the organizations have to inform the purposes of training to the trainees so that they can be motivated and understand the main ideas of training. These purposes can be

            A. To improve the quantity of output

            B. To improve the quality of output

            C. To lower the cost of waste and equipment maintenance

            D. To lower the numbers and the cost of accidents

            E. To lower turnover and absenteeism

            F. To prevent employees obsolescence

Indeed, training can be done successfully when both organizations and trainees work and share ideas together.

Sam Aun (Andy)