Chapter 7: Evaluating HRD Programs

University Hospital

Pat Rowe, Vice President of University Hospital, recently attended a conference session that discussed the problems of integrating computer technology into the work practices of health care professionals. The session lecturer argued that implementation often fails because staff do not receive proper training in the use of the new equipment and software. This seemed plausible to Pat. In the last year, the hospitals senior management team had decided to purchase thousands of dollars of equipment that was supposed to redesign the delivery of patient care. However, word was getting around that staff were disgruntled with the new equipment and were not using it.

Upon returning to the hospital, Pat called the director of training and development, Wei Lee, to discuss the insights gained at the conference. Pat said to Wei, I think I know why staff arent using the computer equipment. They didnt receive adequate training.

Wei replied, I seem to recall that the manufacturer did provide training, but Im not entirely sure what was included. Do you want me to look into it?

Yes, thats a good idea. But I still think we need to train them. Why dont you get them in here to do some more training.

Wei immediately called the computer equipment manufacturer and learned that ten months ago, as part of the implementation process, two design engineers had conducted numerous lectures with unit staff on how to work with the new equipment and software. These sessions were poorly attended and were conducted using a lecture and overhead format. Wei decided that the poor attendance was probably responsible for the problems, and so she asked the manufacturer to re-run the training session. This time, staff would be offered free coffee and doughnuts to encourage attendance.

Staff were sent a memo from the training department encouraging them to attend one of the sessions. Unit managers, who were not invited to attend the training, were asked to mention the sessions in staff meetings and highlight the free coffee and doughnuts. Unfortunately, attendance was only marginally better.

The new training sessions were again conducted by design engineers, but this time they used a new teaching devicea laptop computer hooked up to an overhead projector. This allowed them to walk through the various screens and options of the program with staff in a real-time simulation. At the end of the session, staff were given a manual describing the computer hardware and software. It was suggested to staff that they read the manual on their own time and consult it when they had problems. Walking out of the session, one staff member was heard saying, Computers scare the heck out of me. I cant possibly learn this stuff. And to top it all off, I dont think anybody really cares if I do use this new system.

SOURCE: Brown, T. C., Li, S. X., Sargent, L. D., & Tasa, K. What went wrong at University Hospital? An exercise assessing training effectiveness. Journal of Management Education, 27(4), pp. 485496, Copyright 2003. Reprinted by Permission of Sage Publications, Inc.

Questions:

Pat decided to hire your team as consultants to help assess the training intervention and provide suggestions for improvements. You attended the last training session and must now help Pat and Wei assess what went wrong and how they can improve the current situation. As training consultants, what are the training-related problems that you see in this case?

1. Was a needs analysis conducted before the training was started?

2. What was the training method? Were any training principles used in the training?

3. Were the staff members motivated for the training? Did they have high self-efficacy before and after the training?

4. Describe the pre- and post-training environments. Were there any sources of help and support for the newly trained staff?

5. How did the hospital evaluate the training program? Did they use cognitive, skill-based, or affective learning measures? Did they have pre- and post-training measures? Was there a control group?

6. Why has the hospital not done anything in the 10 months since the initial training?

7. How can the hospital increase attendance beyond the use of free coffee and doughnuts?

8. Based on your answers to the preceding questions, what recommendations would you make for improving the training?