Table Of ContentEvaluating Corporate Training:
Models and Issues
Evaluation in Education and
Human Services
Editors:
George F. Madaus, Boston College,
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Daniel L. Stufflebeam, Western Michigan
University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.A.
Other books in the series:
Smith,M.:
Evaluability Assessment
Ayers,1. and Berney, M.:
A Practical Guide to Teacher Education Evaluation
Hambleton, Rand Zaal, I.:
Advances in Educational and Psychological Testing
Gifford, B. and O'Connor, M.:
Changing Assessments
Gifford, B.:
Policy Perspectives on Educational Testing
Basarab, D. and Root, D.:
The Training Evaluation Process
Haney, W.M., Madaus, G.F. and Lyons, R.:
The Fractured Marketplace for Standardized Testing
Wing, L.C. and Gifford, B.:
Policy Issues in Employment Testing
Gable, RE.:
Instrument Development in the Affective Domain (2nd Edition)
Kremer-Hayon, L.:
Teacher Self-Evaluation
Payne, David A.:
Designing Educational Project and Program Evaluations
Oakland T. and Hambleton, R:
International Perspectives on Academic Assessment
Nettles, M.T. and Nettles, A.L.:
Equity and Excellence in Educational Testing and Assessment
Shinkfield, A.I. and Stufflebeam, D.L.:
Teacher Evaluation: Guide to Effective Practice
Birenbaum, M. and Dochy, Filip 1.R.C.:
Alternatives in Assessment ofA chievements. Learning
Processes and Prior Knowledge
Mulder, M., Nijhof, W.I., Brinkerhoff, RO.:
Corporate Trainingfor Effective Performance
Britton, E.D. and Raizen, S.A.:
Examining the Examinations
c.,
Candoli, Cullen, K. and Stufflebeam, D.:
Superintendent Performance Evaluation
Evaluating Corporate Training:
Models and Issues
edited by
Stephen M. Brown
Sacred Heart University
and
Constance J. Seidner
Digital Equipment Corporation
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Evaluating corporate training / edited by Stephen M. Brown and
Constance J. Seidner.
p. cm.
IncIudes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-94-010-6031-8 ISBN 978-94-011-4850-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-4850-4
1. Employees--Training of--Evaluation. 2. Personnel management
-Research--Methodology. I. Brown, Stephen M. (Stephen Michael),
1950- . 11. Seidner, Constance J.
HF5549.5.T7E883 1997
973'.0496073' 0082--dc21 97-36963
CIP
Copyright © 1998 by Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York in 1998
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1998
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photo
copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written perm iss ion of the
publisher, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
Printed on acid-free paper.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface ix
Section I-The Context of Evaluation 1
1 The Changing Context of Practice 3
Stephen M. Brown
2 Organizational Strategy and Training Evaluation 19
Carol Ann Moore and Constance J. Seidner
3 What Stakeholders Want to Know 41
Oliver W. Cummings
4 The Learning Organization: Implications for Training 63
Barry Sugarman
Section II-Models of Evaluation 93
5 The Four Levels of Evaluation 95
Donald L. Kirkpatrick
6 Level 4 and Beyond: An ROI Model 113
Jack J. Phillips
7 Clarifying and Directing Impact Evaluation 141
Robert O. Brinkerhoff
8 Formative Evaluation 167
Wilbur Parrott
vi
9 Assessing Employee Competencies 183
Susan Ennis
10 The Organizational Action Research Model 209
Mort Elfenbein, Stephen M. Brown and Kim Knight
Section III-Issues in Evaluation 235
11 The Ethics of Evaluating Training 237
Patricia A. Lawler
12 Cultural Dimensions of Evaluation 257
Sadie Burton-Goss and Michael Kaska
13 Impact of Technology on Training Evaluation 279
Hallie Ephron Touger
14 Design Team Performance: Metrics and the Impact of
Technology 297
Larry Leifer
15 Using Quality to Drive Evaluation: A Case Study 321
David J. Basarab
16 Certification: Business and Legal Issues 337
Ernest S. Kahane and William McCook
17 Lessons from Education 359
Jean Moon
Subject Index 379
Acknowledgments
We would like to express our appreciation and thanks to a number of people
who helped make this book possible. First and foremost we thank our authors
for sharing their considerable expertise and insights. We appreciate the
professionalism, responsiveness, and commitment of time and energy they have
demonstrated throughout the process.
Zachary Rolnik and Suzanne Rumsey of Kluwer Academic Publishers were
helpful and supportive. Laura Gerhard and Susan Griffith from Lesley College,
and Dr. Howard H. Brown from Bradford College provided much appreciated
assistance. We also thank George F. Madaus and Daniel L. Stufflebeam, editors
of the Evaluation in Education and Human Services series for the opportunity
to edit this book.
Finally, we want to thank our families, Robert, David, and Glen Seidner and
Kathy, Jonathan, and Jared Brown for their support, patience, and
understanding throughout this endeavor.
Preface
We are glad to have the opportunity to work together again in the planning and
preparation of this edited volume on the evaluation of corporate training. Our
respective professional careers have provided us with experience in this area,
both as practitioners and as academicians. It is from both of these perspectives
that we approached the preparation of this volume. Our purpose is to provide
training professionals in business and industry, and students of human
resources development with an overview of current models and issues in
educational evaluation.
The book is organized around three themes: context, models, and issues.
The chapters in the context section are intended to provide the reader with an
understanding of the social, organizational, and interpersonal factors that
provide background and give meaning to evaluation practice. The models
section brings together contributions from some of the most influential thinkers
and practitioners in the field. The chapters in this section provide perspective
on the dominant themes and emergent trends from individuals who have been,
and continue to be, the drivers of those trends. Contributions to the issues
section highlight some pervasive themes as well as illuminate new areas of
concern and interest that will affect how we assess learning interventions in the
organizations of today and tomorrow.
We believe that evaluation is a tool to improve the practice of training and
institutionalization of learning in business and industry. We hope this book will
x
provide students of educational evaluation, practitioners in training functions,
their managers, and other HRD professionals with insights that will advance
the profession and the clients it serves.
SECTION I-THE CONTEXT
OF EVALUATION
The fIrst section of the book is designed to describe the context within which
corporate training programs are evaluated. It presents points of view on the
external environment, the corporate setting, the clients and users of training,
and an organizational learning model to which many corporations currently
aspire. Through these chapters, the reader can develop an understanding of
some of the contextual factors that affect the evaluation of corporate training.
The fIrst chapter, written by Stephen M. Brown, describes the rapid and
signifIcant changes currently happening in the external environment. Dr.
Brown documents these changes and provides an analysis of their ramifIcations
to training evaluation. He then outlines the types of evaluation needed in the
new context.
The role training evaluation can play in organizational strategy, and
particularly a strategy of change, is addressed by Carol Ann Moore and
Constance Seidner in their chapter, Organizational Strategy and Training
Evaluation. They incorporate the thinking of David Norton and Chris Argyris
in their analysis of how training evaluation can be a "strategic lever" in driving
organizational change.
Oliver Cummings represents the stakeholder's view of training evaluation.
Dr. Cummings presents a service management model that provides a
framework for understanding the multiple concerns of the evaluator's clients,
and how client needs can be addressed within the context of sound business
practice and professional evaluation standards.
