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FIGURE 1: Some Key Differences Between Academic Learning and Organizational Training

Factor Academic Learning Environments Organizational Training Environments
Trainer Academic – often only academic. Some colleges, especially Skill or knowledge in relevant subject regardless of
Credentials two-year & teaching schools, will also consider work academic achievement; also skill in interpersonal
experience and skills in interpersonal communications. communications will be more critical. Technical
certifcations may also be a consideration.
Course Content Usually broad & theoretical. Certain felds such as Focused & application oriented. Deals mostly with facts
computers may also have practical element. & procedures; only rarely with concepts. Often tied to a
specifc company or industry.
Objective Levels The most common are knowledge-based and occasionally While training often includes knowledge and skill-level
skill-based objectives. Job performance objectives are objectives, job performance is the outcome of most
usually only a peripheral issue. (See Bloom’s Taxonomy – concern. (See Don Kirkpatrick’s model which is nearly
the “education” method.) always used in training instead of Bloom’s.)
Time Basis Usually lock step & tied to a semester or quarter system. Typically short-term; more self-paced; new groups start as
needed.
Grading System “A” through “F”. Usually pass-fail; many programs are not graded at all.
Some are profciency-based.
Common Lecture & other inductive forms, though cases and lab Often uses more participative experiences in training, even
Presentation Style applications are becoming more common. in a classroom form; a hands-on format is most common
for on-the-job training.
Reason for Personal reasons: To obtain a degree, certifcate, or other Corporate reasons: Required by employer in order to
Participation credential. Sometimes only for self-satisfaction, but support the organizations’ needs. May be a condition of
probably for career and employment reasons. keeping a job or getting a promotion.
Student Unit “Client” is the individual student. Working together is “Client” is the organization in which the trainee works.
considered cheating for most types of assignments. Group learning is much more common.
Training Materials Comprehensive textbooks & outside research materials. Company materials & trainer-designed materials.
Only rarely are books used.

How is training delivered within the organization? organizational needs and objectives. You may know the names of
Most organizational training still happens on the job and the theorists and the origins of the material, but your class only
informally. For of-the-job training, just over half is still needs to know how to apply it to their job. Keep it simple.
provided in stand-up, instructor-led sessions. Classroom Connect with your class, probably more so than you do in college.
4
trainers need presentation and delivery skills; though exactly You need to know and use the jargon of the organization where
how they present and deliver will vary from one situation your trainees work. If they hear you using too many textbook
to another. Technology-based delivery is the fastest growing terms or speaking in the abstract, you will lose credibility. When
category, with signifcant increases in recent years. It now the subject is not unique to a specifc company’s environment
accounts for almost 40% of all training done in organizations. – statistics, for example – this may be less important, but you
5
Trainers who are involved with distance learning or should at least know some basic facts about the company’s
technology-based training obviously need a diferent set of product, competitors, management, and other key information.
skills from those who meet in person with the trainees. Just because you are in front of a class in a company does not
How can an academic ft into an organizational training program? grant you the more-or-less automatic credibility that you may
Professors who teach in business for the frst time ofen make receive as a college professor. I once did a supervisory program
at a division of TRW where the training director introduced
a number of mistakes. Here are three major areas of caution: me like this: “Tis is Professor Vaughn. He’s going to teach
trying to educate instead of train, not adequately identifying you how to be a supervisor.” Most of the class had already been
with the trainees, and overdoing the inductive rather than supervisors for years, and many were older than I was. Every one
deductive teaching styles.
there was on edge. Before I completely lost them, I explained a
You are being paid to train the class, not educate it. You probably bit about myself. “I’ve been a supervisor in a union environment
know much more about your subject than your trainees need with as many as 50 subordinates. I’m an industrial engineer
to know. Te confusion in this area partly arises because in and even if I can’t run your machines, I understand what they
business you will ofen need to choose and design your content do.” Te atmosphere lightened measurably and they were more
from scratch. You will not have an approved curriculum guide willing to participate afer that.
or textbooks to help you. Te company which hired you to come Ask frequent questions of the trainees. You need to fnd out how your
in needs their employees (or customers, perhaps) to understand trainees are doing as the program progresses. You have only hours
how to do a portion of their job to a satisfactory level to meet or days, not an entire term to meet the training objectives. Frequent
4 2013 State of the Industry Report, American Society for Training and questioning will involve trainees in the process much more actively.
Development, December 2013, p. 30. Te questions must require the learner to respond to specifc points
5 Ibid., p. 30. showing that they have heard, accepted, understood, and can apply

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