Introduction
In today’s society, firms are facing efficiency and productivity problem due to increasing international pressure. To counter business challenges, organizations set to increase the productivity of their production factors, primarily the human capital. This is critical because the human factor in the business is considered the most critical factor for creating wealth and overall productivity in an organization. Therefore facilitating continuous growth through training is important for any business seeking to dominate their industry or market in the future. However, studies have shown that only ten percent of training “content” is applied in the work environment. Thus, the study conducted by Jasson & Govender (2017) aims to provide a business model that can be used to measure return on investment and employee training and related challenges for a business.
Key point
There are numerous models, which have been proposed by various researchers that aim to measure return on investment among employees through training; among these, the most common is the Kirkpatrick/Phillips training evaluation model. The model uses five levels to measure training outcome that includes “: level 1: satisfaction with training; level 2: learning from training; level 3: application of training; level 4: impact of training; level 5: return on investment or ROI” (Jasson & Govender, 2017). Despite its success, Kirkpatrick/Phillips training evaluation model has been criticized for its weaknesses in specific areas important for measuring return on investment. For instance, the failure to financial and business results into numerical figures before comparing them to training costs can hinder the reliability of ROI calculation of the results are flawed.
Thus, the researcher has proposed a new model that can be sued to measure the ROI of training and related problem to the business. The model has been dubbed as the Training ROI and Risk Measurement Model. The model consists of six steps that include “(Step 1); trainee learning prior to and after training (Step 2); trainee performance prior to and after training (Step 3); organisational growth capabilities prior to and after training (Step 4); training costs and benefits (Step 5); and risk factors that prevent effective training transfer into performance and organisational improvement (Step 6)” (Jasson & Govender, 2017). Each of the key steps has been adopted as design metrics to enable managers and business owners to measure training return on investment and risk measurement model.
Conclusion
The proposed model by Jasson & Govender (2017), “Training ROI and Risk Measurement Model,” is based on the Kirkpatrick/Phillips training evaluation model. The new model measures all of Kirkpatrick’s five constructs but adds measurement steps to improve the return on investment of training employees while examining the prevailing challenges.
Opinion
The message in the article is that despite the importance of evaluating trainee application, learning, impact, satisfaction and return on investment are imperative and need to be measured. However, ignoring risk factors such as learning challenges and barriers during training can hinder the capability of managers and leaders to predict human capital investment through training can impact the performance of the business. This means that the return on investment can be used as an appropriate control factor in minimizing the limitations of traditional assessment models. Thus there is a need to measure the outcome of improvement made on factors of production with considering external or environmental that may pose significant risk challenges not predicted or determined by the model.
Reference
Jasson, C. C., & Govender, C. M. MEASURING RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI) AND RISK IN TRAINING–A BUSINESS TRAINING MODEL.
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