Human Resource

Management
On-Boarding and Training in HRM
Learning Objectives

• Know the difference between training, learning, and development.

• Describe the conditions under which training makes sense.
• Describe the ADDIE process for developing training programs.
• Know the four levels of training evaluation.
• Describe the most impactful development activities.
• Describe the survey feedback process and how it is used to
improve organizational performance.
Purposes of On-Boarding
End Results Means To
• Shrink Time-to- • Communicate policies (e.g., compensation/
Productivity benefits)
• Increase Engagement • Handle paperwork
and Retention • Clarify role in team (e.g., performance
• Enhance Recruiting goals)
• Clarify organization (MVV, place in it,
structure, LOBs, etc.)
• Provide a buddy and build a social network
• Communicate company culture
• Initiate training and development
Onboarding – Example Program
Offer
Letter 60 Days 90 Days
1st Day 1st Week 30 Days
Signed

Prepare Enable Support

Engage
Prepare
• Prepare resources (work space, computer, ID, card key, welcome poster, etc.)
• Hiring Manager outlines performance expectations, key contacts, first assignment, and
defines what success will look like.
Enable
• New employee builds key relationships, learns the business and culture, attends training, and
understands how s/he contributes to the success of the team and business.
• Hiring Manager and Onboarding Buddy play execute this part of the plan.
Support
• As the new employee executes and delivers, the Hiring Manager (and HRBP for L5+) continues
to enable and support the new hire and ensure ongoing communication and feedback between
new hire and manager.
 Onboarding – Prepare Phase
Signed Offer Letter to Day 1

 Procure desk space, computer, phone, uID, etc.

 E-mail to team and other applicable parties announcing new hire, background, and
focus of new role (copy new employee, or save to share with him/her on the first
day)
 Provide access to all relevant collaboration sites, distribution lists, etc.
 Assign an onboarding buddy to assist in onboarding
 Identify key contacts for new hire
 Print out team/dept. org charts and phone lists
 Define performance expectations for 30/60/90-day timeframe
 Vision/Mission/Values poster on desk
 Welcome letter from CEO
 (E) Create onboarding plan
 Onboarding – Enable Phase
Day 1 to Day 30 (especially week one)
 Welcome event with co-workers
 1:1 Welcome meeting with hiring manager; review Core Values & performance expectations
 Complete new hire paperwork; set up voice mail; explore New Employee Dashboard
 Introductions and facility tour
 Complete new employee orientation eLearning modules
 Review org charts, time recording, vacation planning, sick leave, dress code, etc.
 1:1 meetings with key business contacts (may be outside of team)
 Weekly check-ins with manager (performance expectations, what’s going well, what’s challenging,
how can I help?)
 Overview of performance management and development planning processes
 Identify training requirements and overview of Talent Builder
 Review 30/60/90 day plan
 30-day check in
 (E) Meet with Rewards & Benefits
 (E) Executive Passport
 (E) The First 100 Days plan
On-Boarding
12-7

• Many companies use cloud-based on-boarding programs to manage

the process.

• Most use the 30-, 60-, 90-day process.

• Ideally it is a group enculturation process.

Terms
• Training: Provides learners with the knowledge and skills needed for
their present jobs.

• Development: Designed to provide knowledge and skills needed for

future jobs.

• Organization Development: Intervention designed to develop more

productive and adaptive organizations.

• Organizational Learning: Systems and culture to support continuous

learning / information sharing; company-wide knowledge management.
Training
• When does it make sense for the organization to provide training?
• When should the firm not provide training (regardless of its HR
strategy)?
When to Train?
Rule 1: When Ability is the Problem – Recall that performance is a
function of (Ability x Effort x Opportunity). Only when the performance gap
is due to ability deficits will training have an impact on closing the
performance gap; only train when people don’t know how to do the
task/job. ____________________________________________.

Performance = Ability x Effort x Opportunity

When is Ability the Problem?
Ability
• Could they do it for a million dollars?
• Were they ever trained how to do it?
• Could they do it in the past?
• Are the tasks performed often?
When to Train?
Rule 1: When Ability is the Problem.
Rule 2: When the Benefits Exceed the Cost – training is paid up front
while the benefits derived from it accrue over time.
• Is the net present value of the benefit greater than the total cost of the
training?
•

•
Factors Affecting Cost and Benefits
• Training Itself (Cost or Benefit) – not all training is equally effective or
costly.

• Salary Costs – once people have been trained, their human capital is
worth more.

• Tenure – an investment in training is more likely to be recaptured the

longer the employee tenure.

• Market Availability/Transportability – if the skills are available on the

open market, it may be cheaper to buy than to make. __________ ___ are
not likely to be easily transported to another employer.
The ADDIE Five-Step Training Process

Analyze the training need

Design the overall training

program

Develop the course

Implement training by targeting

employee groups using methods

Evaluate the course’s

effectiveness
Needs Assessment Process

Organization Analysis Task Analysis Person Analysis

Task Analysis
This identifies the conditions in which tasks are performed:
• Identify jobs.
• Develop task list.
• Validate tasks.
• Identify knowledge, skills, abilities to perform tasks.
Person Analysis
• Readiness for Training includes the employee characteristics that
provide them with the desire, focus, and energy to learn.

• Motivation to Learn is the desire to learn the content of a training

program.

• Self-efficacy reflects ___________________________________.

Learning Preferences
• No best way to learn that suits everyone.
• Need to use a wide range of training methods.
• Adults retain:
• 20% of what they read and hear.
• 40% of what they see.
• 50% of what they say.
• 60% of what they do.
• 90% of what they see, hear, say, and do.
Designing the Training Program
• Determine objectives including what the learner should be able to do
after completing the training.
• Specify Method or how the training will be delivered. A host of factors
are considered at this stage:
•

•
Training Objectives
• A properly constructed objective has three parts:
• Behavior – The behavior the learner should demonstrate must be specific and
observable or measurable. For example,
•
•
• Condition – The conditions under which the learner will demonstrate the
behavior are sometimes implied but often are listed. For example,
•
•
• Standard – how success will be determined should be precisely stated in the
objective. For example,
•
•
Classroom Method
Where the instructor physically stands in front of students:
Advantages:
• Continues to be effective for many types of employee training; very flexible.
• Conveys great deal of information in a relatively short time.
• ______________________________________________.
• Charisma or personality that the instructor brings to class.*
• Disadvantages:
• Expensive if learners are not co-located.
• ________________________________.
E-Learning
T&D method for online instruction using technology-based methods such
as DVDs, company intranets, and the Internet.
• Advantages:
• Takes advantage of technology for greater flexibility of instruction.
• ___________________________________________________.
• Cost efficient once developed.
• Virtual Classroom is variation which uses web-based platform to deliver live,
instructor-led training to geographically dispersed learners.

• Disadvantages:
• Requires technology infrastructure.
• ___________________________________________________.
Case Study
Trainees study the information provided by the case and make decisions
based on it, often with an instructor facilitating discussion.
• Advantages:
• Can be realistic simulations of “real world” issues (e.g., multi-faceted and rich).
• __________________________________, as information is incomplete and
sometimes buried in the case.

• Disadvantages:
• Not applicable to many jobs (e.g., car wash attendant).
• Cases can quickly become dated.
Behavior Modeling
• Trainees learn by copying or replicating behaviors of others:

• Commonly used to teach managers/sales people how to handle various

interpersonal situations. Here is how you:

• Advantages – very effective for non-cognitive tasks involving a process.

• Disadvantages – not suited to teaching “thinking” tasks.
Role-Playing
Participants respond to specific problems they encounter in jobs by acting
out real-world situations and then getting feedback on effectiveness.
• Used to teach interpersonal skills such as:
• Interviewing.
•

• Advantage: teaching interpersonal skills.

• Disadvantage: not suited to “thinking” tasks and some learners.
Corporate Universities
Delivery system provided under umbrella of organization.
• Advantages:
• Focused on creating organizational change and aligned with strategy.
• Attending Corporate U can be a right of passage and cultural symbol.

• Disadvantages:
• Forced to commit to a single location/brick and mortar facility.
• ________________________________________________.
• Recent years have seen decline of corporate universities.
Colleges and Universities
Colleges and Universities:
• Corporate training programs often partner with colleges and universities.
• UTD’s Exec Ed offers bespoke programs for local companies using
JSOM faculty as instructors.
Community Colleges:
• Deliver vocational training and associate degree programs.
• Often develop partnerships with corporations to offer very partner-
specific degrees.
Apprenticeship Training
Combines classroom instruction with on-the-job training.
• Traditionally used in skilled trade jobs (electrician, welder, plumber,
pipe fitter, machinist).
• Apprentice becomes Journeyman becomes Master (see also Academe).
• Earns less than master craftsperson who is instructor.
• Advantages – time tested and widely accepted in some areas.
• Disadvantages:
•

•
Team Training
Focuses on imparting knowledge and skills on individuals who are
expected to work collectively toward meeting a common objective.
• Two types:
• Team coordination training.
• Cross-training.

• Advantages:
• Only way to teach collaboration skills.
• _____________________________________________.
Training Games
• Some games permit participants to assume roles such as president,
controller, or marketing vice president of two or more similar hypothetical
organizations.
•

• Many games are on-line, social, and interactive with leaderboards,

badges, etc.
• Advantages: can greatly increase learner engagement and retention.
• Disadvantages: can be costly to develop and keep current.
Simulators and Simulations
Devices or programs that are located away from the job site and replicate
actual job tasks and demands and provide immediate feedback.

• Advantage: best way to train on potentially dangerous tasks.

• Disadvantage: cost of developing simulators can be very high.
On-the-Job Training
• Informal T&D method.
• Done well, it involves a lot of behavior modelling.
• Most commonly used T&D method.
• Advantages:
• Permits employee to learn job tasks by actually performing them.
• ___________________________________________________.
• No problem transferring what has been learned to the actual task.
• Disadvantages:
• Highly reliant on the skill of the person doing the training (both to do the task and to
teach others how to do it).
• Some tasks are too risky to be taught this way.
On-The-Job Training
• Six Steps in O-J-T:
• Tell – what, how, and why.
• Show – model how to do each step, verbalizing what you are doing.
• Ask – are there any questions?
• Have them do it – verbalizing what they are doing.
• Observe – and give feedback about performance.
• Repeat – as needed until skill has been acquired.
Social Learning

• Often takes place outside the corporate training departments, informally

and in real-time (on demand learning).
• Social learning platforms (e.g., Yammer, Connections, etc.) enable:
• Self-identification as a guru or subject matter expert that others can easily find.
• Creation of communities of practice (group with common interests).
• ______________________________________________________________.
• Find blogs, podcasts, etc.

• Advantages.

• Disadvantages.
Implementing Training Programs
Learning requires practice and feedback.
• Practice:
• Active practice.
• Overlearning.
• Length of the practice session:
• Distributed practice.
• Massed practice.

• Feedback:
• Essential both for learning and for trainee motivation.
• __________________________________________.
• Need not always be positive.
Transfer of Training
Transfer of training refers to the extent to which skills/competencies
learned in training can be applied on the job.
• Impacted by:
• Identical Elements.

• Immediate Application.

• Breadth and Depth.

• Management.

• Peers.
Reactions
• Measures ______________________________________________.
• Questionnaire can vary from very specific to general impressions.
• Good way to quickly and inexpensively obtain feedback.
• Called “smile sheets” as all they do is measure learner attitudes – not
whether or not they can do something different.
Learning
• Determines what participants have learned (e.g., using multiple choice
questions).
• Pre-test/post-test control group design enables one to attribute
differences to the training provided.
• Relatively cheap and learning the information is a prerequisite of putting
it to use.
• Problems:
•

•
Behavior
• Best demonstration of value is when learning translates into lasting
behavioral change. After the training, has behavior changed, is the
participant performing better.
• Transfer of training:
•

• Measuring this usually requires on-going evaluation of learner by

supervisor or other observer.
Results
• Asks whether training programs have actually impacted individual or
company performance. Can be at group or individual level, but has the
training impacted key metrics or outcomes?
• Examples:
•

•
Summary
• Companies are investing more in transitioning employees into the
organization to facilitate enculturation and reduce time to productivity.
• Training is focused on providing skills to do one’s current job and can
be delivered in many different formats.
• To deliver an adequate return on investment, training should only be
provided when lack of ability is a problem and the benefits exceed the
costs.