Training Evaluation - Beyond ROI

The Four Levels of Evaluation, also referred to as the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model, was created by Donald Kirkpatrick, Ph.D. to define the four levels of training evaluation.

Donald Kirkpatrick developed the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model for evaluating training during the 1950s. The model was initially published in a trade journal and later in Kirkpatrick's 1975 book, Evaluating Training Programs. Today. It is the most recognised method of evaluating the effectiveness of training programs.

The four levels of training effectiveness - reaction, learning, behaviours, and results have been accepted as the training evaluation framework by most training professionals. Because the different measures are categorised into levels, it only seems natural that the top level of results is the measure of organisational outcomes and the return on training investment (ROI).

Numerous books and articles have been written on calculating the ROI for training programmes. However, there is growing recognition that ROI may not be the penultimate measure of training effectiveness.

The ROI of a training programme may seem like an important, maybe even mandatory measure. From a business perspective, we want to be assured that the financial benefits exceed the costs of a programme. However, in many situations ROI estimates for training may not be all that important or useful.

Often times, training is a means for a company to achieve a strategy. For example, an organisation may decide that having a customer orientation is how it is going to compete in its industry. Employee training maybe the critical key for realising this new strategic advantage.

Given this purpose, the ROI of the training may not be useful or of immediate concern. The primary issue would be whether the training increased the customer-service skills of employees. In other words, it is the behaviour level of evaluation that is a key concern when the purpose of training is to execute a strategy.

If the training delivers the needed behaviors, then the strategy should, in the longer term, provide the bottom-line payoff. Whether the training successfully executes the strategy may determine the very survivability of the organisation. How much the training costs and its short-term cost- effectiveness may not be concerns of management. What may be critical is determining whether the training is helping the organisation to achieve its strategic goals.

In 2011, Atlanta-based Kirkpatrick Partners modified the learning and evaluation model to more easily calculate the return on expectations(ROE) of stakeholders. Kirkpatrick Partners contends that ROEis the"ultimate indicator of value."

While ROI and ROE are common methods for evaluating and justifying training, many training organisations still struggle with the four levels, particularly quantifying levels three and four.

Question 1

Discuss when would the measures of training effectiveness other thanROI such as ROE will be useful.

Question 2

Behaviours are the key to executing strategy. Measurement of training effectiveness at the behavioural level is often not done. Describe the steps you would suggest to be taken to ensure that the behavioural level of measurement is done in evaluating HRD programmes.