2017 lama review 3rd qtr final

Vol. 29 Issue #03

October 2017

The LAMA

this issue 7 Ways to Improve Employee Development 8 Diving Deep in Employee Training 10 How to Retain Key Employees 28 Why Top Young Managers are in a nonstop Jobhunt 39

Employee Development

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LAMA REVIEW OCTOBER 2017

LAMA REVIEW OCTOBER 2017

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Objectives of the Laboratory Animal Management Association cTo promote the dissemination of ideas, experiences, and knowledge cTo act as a spokesperson cTo encourage continued education cTo actively assist in the training of managers This publication contains copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance the understanding of ecological, political, economic, scientific, moral, ethical, personnel, and social justice issues. It is believed that this constitutes a “fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with TItle 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use”, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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LAMA LAMAREVIEW REVIEWOCTOBER OCTOBER2017 2017

contents

featured

08 7 ways to Improve Employee Development Programs

10 Diving Deep in Employee Training to Understand Employee Engagement

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regular From the Editors 05 Presidents Message 06 LAMA Application 61

A Study of Organizatonal Investment in Employee Training, Work Engagement and Turnover Intention

28 How to Retain Key Employee 33 Peer Coaching as a Strategy 39 Why Top Young Managers are in a Nonstop Job Hunt

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Connecting the Post Training Task & Contextual Perforance with the Essentials of Training Programs

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Employee Coaching - When to Step In

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Learn @ Lunch An Attempt for Empowering Education

LAMA REVIEW OCTOBER 2017

from the editors

Employee Development You may have seen the cartoon where the CFO says to the CEO, “What happens if we invest in developing our people and they leave” and the CEO responds with “What happens if we don’t and they stay.” This is a dilemma many ins tu ons face as the funds for employee development and training con nue to get smaller year a er year.

This issue’s theme is Employee Development. If you’ve kept up with recent issues, you may be wondering how this topic differs from our issue on Career Development, from the second quarter of 2016. Well, clearly there is some overlap, but this issue focuses more on developing the person than on ensuring they’re on the career path they desire.

Both are important, obviously.

Because most high performing employees are on a constant quest to be er themselves, whether through development ac vi es to improve in their current role, or by looking outside, it pays to give them internal op ons that will increase your chances of retaining the best talent for your own team. So, yes, some of this Employee Development stuff is self-serving to your organiza on and to you as a leader. However, there is a higher meaning, as well. For example, the current genera on of workers wants to see “give-backs” from the organiza on they’re associated with.

Well-planned Employee Development achieves benefits for both the employees themselves, and for the greater community. So, it’s not all about “what’s in it for me?” When employees do move on from great organiza ons, they spread the best prac ces throughout their industry; the results mul ply very quickly.

This issue brings forth many ways to think about and plan for Employee Development. In addi on to the structured classes and workshops the phrase brings to mind, one-on-one approaches are very useful. For example, individual coaching by the leader not only provides for development of the employee, but also opens communica ons both ways, and establishes a genuine human connec on that is hard to replicate any other way.

When you’ve assembled a great team, your goal as a leader is to keep the members engaged and make sure that they’re learning every day, whether it be technical skills, strategies for improving how they work, or improving how they interact with their colleagues, a team that learns together performs together.

And, even in today’s highly mobile work force, you will likely find that great employees not only do more when they’re engaged, they may just stay with your team a li le longer.

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The LAMA

2017-2018 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OFFICERS PRESIDENT Leah Curtin Framingham, MA VICE PRESIDENT Jennnifer Volkmann Houston, TX VICE PRESIDENT ELECT Blair Villemaire Pearl River, NY PAST PRESIDENT Roxanne Fox Sarasota, FL SECRETARY/TREASURER Howard Mosher Killingworth, CT DIRECTORS AT LARGE Kendrick Jenkins - Lexington, MA Chris Southern - Houston, TX Pam Straeter - Princeton, NJ Stephen Baker - Cambridge, MA Johnny Wilson - Allentown, NJ ATA REPRESENTATIVE Johnny Wilson - Allentown, NJ EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jim Manke - Maple Grove, MN 2016-2017 EDITORIAL STAFF EDITORS IN CHIEF Reed A. George - Ashburn, VA James D. Cox - Ashburn, VA MANAGING EDITOR Evelyn Howard - Lafayette IN

STAFF CONTACTS Jim Manke, CAE Executive Director 763.235.6482 Kathi Schlieff Senior Account Manager 763.235.6483

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LAMA REVIEW OCTOBER 2017

President’s Message It’s Fall, although for some it’s been an extended summer!

We are more than half way through the year and LAMA has been ac vely working on improvements to the organiza on, while se ng the stage for the next couple years. During the Na onal AALAS mee ng in Aus n, TX, members of the LAMA and ATA Boards met to discuss the rela onship between the two organizaons. A big focus of the discussion revolved around working together to provide outstanding and collabora ve LAMA/ATA mee ngs. I encourage all LAMA members to collaborate with their peers, vendors, and colleagues and submit topics to the Program Commi ee. We really encourage you to think outside the box!

Anything is possible!

Leah Cur n President

Nomina ons are now being accepted for LAMA Board posi ons. This is a fantas c opportunity to interact with your peers and be part of an organiza on dedicated to the support and educa on of the current and next genera on of managers.

LAMA is also accep ng nomina ons for the Charles River Medallion, U. Kris na Stephens Award and William O. Umiker Memorial Award.

In addi on to these leadership posi ons and awards, there are scholarship opportuni es available through the LAMA Founda on and ATA. Nomina on forms and scholarship applica ons along with addi onal informa on about the scholarships can be found on the LAMA website.

Mark your calendars! The LAMA/ATA Mee ng loca ons for the next several years have been finalized. Virginia Beach, VA-2018, Clearwater, FL-2019, Sco sdale, AZ2020.

As we head into the holidays remember what is important, challenge yourself to something you thought impossible or crazy, and enjoy me with family and friends.

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success”- Henry Ford Leah Cur n

LAMA REVIEW OCTOBER 2017

Did you know?

In the Laboratory Animal community, publishing in a professional journal is an essential part of advancing your career. Submitting an article to the LAMA Review provides an opportunity to be published in a professional journal. This is a great opportunity to share your research knowledge and accomplishments.

Imagine your journal impacting and influencing the laboratory animal management practices!

The LAMA Review provides important information on industry’s advancements and developments to those involved in the Laboratory Animal field with emphasis in management.

The LAMA Review is published electronically each quarter and combines short columns with longer feature articles. Each issue focuses on significant topics and relevant interest to ensure a well-rounded coverage on laboratory management matters.

Submitting an article Choose an interesting topic that has the potential to benefit the Laboratory Animal Management community. Write the article that you would like to see published in the journal. Be sure to include multiple sources to support your research and accurately cite references.

Submit your article to Review via email: coxj@janelia.hhmi.org

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Benefits of publishing The LAMA Review is the official journal of the Laboratory Animal Management Association, which is committed to publishing high quality, independently peer-reviewed research and review material.

The LAMA Review publishes ideas and concepts in an innovative format to provide premium information for laboratory Animal Management in the public and private sectors which include government agencies.

A key strength of the LAMA Review is its relationship with the Laboratory Animal management community. By working closely with our members, listening to what they say, and always placing emphasis on quality. The Review is finding innovative solutions to management’s needs, by providing the necessary resources and tools for managers to succeed.

Article Guidelines Submissions of articles are accepted from LAMA members, professional managers, and administrators of laboratory animal care and use.

Submissions should generally range between 2,000 and 5,000 words. All submissions are subject to Editor in Chief’s review and are accepted for the following features of the LAMA Review: o Original Articles o Review Articles o Job Tips o Manager’s Forum o Problem Solving

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LAMA REVIEW OCTOBER 2017

7 ways to Improve Employee Development Programs

1.

Keith Ferrazzi Making the right investments in learning and development programs has never been more important – or more of a challenge – for business leaders.

Unfortunately, despite spending approximately $164.2 billion dollars on learning and development programs, many execu ves s ll grapple with how to improve and enhance their effec veness. As research shows, the need to revamp and improve learning programs is an important concern among HR execu ves.

To be er understand this problem, my consul ng firm did a thorough review of recent research into learning and development programs, followed by a structured survey with top training execu ves at 16 major corpora ons in a diverse set of industries, ranging in size from $1 billion to $55 billion in annual revenues. To understand how providers of training and development view these challenges, we also interviewed leaders of execu ve educa on programs at several leading universi es.

From this research, we’ve observed seven challenges companies must meet to create development programs that really work:

Ignite managers’ passion to coach their employees.

Historically, managers passed on knowledge, skills, and insights through coaching and mentoring.

But in our more global, complex, and compe ve world, the role of the manager has eroded. Managers are now overburdened with responsibili es.

They can barely handle what they’re directly measured on, let alone offer coaching and mentoring.

Organiza ons need to support and incen vize managers to perform this work.

2.

Deal with the short-shelf life of learning and development needs.

It used to be that what you learned was valuable for years, but now, knowledge and skills can become obsolete within months. This makes the need to learn rapidly and regularly more important than ever. This requires organiza ons to rethink how learning and development happens from a oncein-a-while ac vity, to a more con nuous, ongoing campaign. As Anne e Thompson, Senior Vice President & Chief Learning Officer at Farmers Insurance pointed out in an interview, avoiding informa on overload is vital, so organiza ons must strike a bal-

LAMA REVIEW OCTOBER 2017

ance between giving the right informa on versus giving too much.

3.

Teach employees to own their career development.

Highly-structured, one-size-fits-all learning programs don’t work anymore. Individuals must own, self-direct, and control their learning futures. Yet they can’t do it alone, nor do you want them to.

The development and growth of your talent is vital to your ongoing success, ability to innovate, and overall produc vity. It’s a delicate balance, one Don Jones, former Vice President, Learning at Na xis Global Asset Management summarized like this: “We need to have ‘customized’ solu ons for individuals, while simultaneously providing scale and cost efficiencies across the organiza on,” he said.

4.

Provide flexible learning op ons.

Telling employees they need to engage in more learning and development ac vi es with their already heavy workload o en leaves them feeling overwhelmed and consumed by the ques on, “When and how will I find the me?” Companies must respond by adop ng on-demand and mobile solu ons that make learning opportuni es more readily accessible for your people.

5.

Serve the learning needs of more virtual teams.

While most organiza ons have more people working remotely and virtually, it does require more thought and crea vity in how to train this segment of your workforce. This includes formal types of learning through courses, but also the informal mentoring and coaching channels. Just because employees are out of sight doesn’t mean they get to be out-of-mind when it comes to learning and development.

6.

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Build trust in organiza onal leadership.

People crave transparency, openness, and honesty from their leaders. Unfortunately, business leaders con nue to face issues of trust. According to a survey by the American Psychological Associa on, one in four workers say they don’t trust their employer, and only about half believe their employer is open and upfront with them. If leaders disengage or refuse to share their own ongoing learning journeys, how can they expect their people to enthusias cally pursue theirs? It’s the old adage of “lead by example.” If managers want employees to engage in learning and development, then they need to show that they are ac vely pursuing their own personal learning journeys as well.

7.

Match different learning op ons to different learning styles.

With five genera ons ac vely in the workforce, organiza ons must restructure the way employees learn and the tools and ac vi es they use to correctly match the different styles, preferences, and expecta ons of employees. For example, Millennials came of age using cell phones, computers, and video game consoles, so they expect to use these technologies to support their learning ac vi es.

As leaders, we know the value our learning and development programs bring to our organiza ons.

But we also want to ensure we’re receiving a high return on investment. By clearly understanding the trends emerging in our learning and development programs, we’ll be er posi on our companies to select the right targeted solu ons to drive results, increase employee engagement, and increase innova on and produc vity.

Keith Ferrazzi is the CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight, a research-based consul ng and training company, and the author of Who’s Got Your Back (Broadway Books, 2009).

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Diving Deep in Employee Training to Understand Employee Engagement Ahmed U1*, Phulpoto W2, Umrani WA3 and Abbas SI4 1Universi Utara Malaysia 2SZABIST, Pakistan 3Sukkur Ins tute of Business Administra on, Pakistan 4Ghazi Founda on College, Pakistan

Abstract

Introduc on

Human resource prac ces have prominently influenced employee behaviors and outcomes at work. This conceptual paper proposes mo va ons to explore employee training in depth to understand how its key component including need assessment, design, trainer, delivery, and evalua on can significantly contribute towards fostering post-training employee engagement. The paper has tried to model an opportunity for prac oners to understand how apart from other employee outcomes like mo va on, commitment and performance; post-training work well-being can be also be enhanced through employee training func on through maximum capitaliza on of the employee training components.

Research on employee engagement over the years has a racted considerable a en on with focus on several workplace and individual characteris cs [1]. Engaged workforce plays a cri cal role in the achievement of organiza onal objec ves. Which is why, employee engagement is becoming a significant factor in measuring and evalua ng the workforce performance in the organiza ons [2].

*Corresponding author: Ahmed U, Universi Utara Malaysia, Malaysia, Tel: 6049284000; E-mail: umairahm@ gmail.com Received November 17, 2015; Accepted November 28, 2015; Published December 10, 2015 Cita on: Ahmed U, Phulpoto W, Umrani WA, Abbas SI (2015) Diving Deep in Employee Training to Understand Employee Engagement. Bus Eco J 7: 199. doi:10.4172/2151-6219.1000199 Copyright: © 2015 Ahmed U, et al. This is an openaccess article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. https: creativecommons.org licenses by 4.0 No changes were made to the article.

employee engagement is described as posi ve, pleasing, work related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedica on and absorp on [3] such aspects requires an employee to be skilled and competent enough so that the key organiza onal goals could be achieved effec vely.

Gallup`s recent study of 141 countries suggest that worldwide only 13% of the employees are engaged at the workplace while 63% are disengaged and 24% are ac vely disengaged [4]. The results outline severity of the issue and the need for urgent ac on in this regard. Empirical studies have been undertaken to outline what can poten ally enhance and influence employee engagement to help support businesses globally.

Empirically, it has been suggested that the components of HRM can play a considerably strong role towards employee engagement. However, very limited studies can be found, outlining the rela onship of individual HR func ons employee engagement [5,6].

Training func on of HRM which refers to the systema c process of planned ac vi es to impart knowledge, skills and necessary exper se in an employee for the responsive achievement of organiza onal goals Dessler [7]. The characteris cs of an engaged employee and the role of training indicates a poten al link and mo va on for research between these two components. Study

by Suan et al. [5] in the Malaysian hotel sector found that work engagement can be enhanced through improving on the service trainings provided. However, the results are limited in terms of their generalizability.

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This conceptual paper forwards cri cal opinion on how Employee training, which one of the most significant role in fostering employee engagement. The paper proposes digging deep into employee training to understand the cogni ve significance of each of its component in predic ng employee engagement at work.

Literature Review Employee engagement There are many defini ons quoted to define the term employee engagement and measuring it. Defini on we quote here is commonly pictures in the academia that it`s a ‘posi ve fulfilling work related state of mind characterized by vigour, dedica on and absorp on’ [3].

Kahn [8] on the other hand broadly described it as binding and connec ng of people with their work in such a manner that they par cipate and fully contribute in their work roles with physical, emo onal and cogni ve resources. In other words, engagement is a thriving energy that puts people to work with involvement and focus to achieve company goals. It is very unlikely that there will be any e when all the researchers on engagement would agree to one single defini on [9]. We can see engagement as a related term, but it can be conveniently differen ated from the related elements like job sa sfac on or job commitment.

Drivers of engagement The job demands- resources model (JD-R) model by Demerou et al. [10] is one of the most widely men oned and cited theore cal model of work engagement. The model explains how job resources including autonomy, feedback and supervisor support and personal resources including self-efficacy, op mism and resilience impac ng work engagement. Moreover, Demerou et al. [10] found that JD-R model also helps to understand and explain cri cal aspects of an individual’s wellbeing such as burnout, work enjoyment, sa sfac on at work, sickness absenteeism etc. As inferred with the word job, in the JD-R model, researchers on the topic have worked on highligh ng the job and individual level demands and resources impac ng engagement.

But there are a very limited number of research instances that tells us as to how much [11] underline a posi ve link between HRM prac ces and employee engagement; however, there happen to be a limited number of studies, highligh ng the link of organiza onal context variables and their impact on engagement,

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par cularly in rela on to human resources. The paper also outlines that through linking employee engagement strategically with the HRM func ons, an organiza on can achieve significant compe ve advantage [12]. This jus fies a poten al area for research to help address how strategically come of the HR components can considerably boost employee engagement.

HRM and employee engagement Human resource management plays a cri cal role in management and development of the employed workforce. Training is one of the key HR func ons which every organiza ons has to implement regardless of their HR focus and expecta on out of this business func on HR func ons primarily help businesses to align its employees with the company objec ves. HR department at the core operates as a connec ng component between the conceptual ideology, mission and vision of the company and its opera onal side [12] Numerous researchers have focused on the key HR components to examine how they impact on employee outcomes and work behaviors [13,14] has evidently argued that HRM prac ces occupy poten al to influence employee behaviors and much need performance outcomes. More recently, Truss et al. [15] argued has underlined that employee engagement is the idea that HR professionals needs to focus for strategic effec veness. The authors have outlined that organiza ons and there HR departments need to think beyond the orthodox approach and ideology by looking at the engagement of employees at work and how it could be taken to the next level for compe ve advantage and survival.

On general grounds, the link between HRM components and employee engagement is largely missing.

This is due to the fact that engagement is a rela vely new concept and has started gaining prominence over the past two decades In the similar fashion, employee training, being one of the HR components also seems to be less empirically studied due to the psychological nature of the concept of engagement. Addi onally, the well reported and extensively used JD-R model of engagement only considers job resources and demands only [10].

Guest [14] HRM performance model draws as to how cri cally the HRM recruitment, training and other func ons can result in increased employee efforts thus, improving performance and profitability. In connec on to employee and making them to commit to organizaonal mission and objec ves, it is important that they

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remain commi ed to work and work with potency and dedica on. So according to this view, HRM prac ces are cri cal for boos ng an organiza on`s performance levels through making its employees commi ed, mo vated and capable to give their best towards the organizaonal goals. Due to this, Truss et al. [11] also states that the level of employee engagement actually outlines as to what extent the HRM prac ces of an organiza on are effec ve which is yet to be inves gated in depth.

Employee training Par cularly, employee training is tested and referred as an important HR component to influence employee work outcomes and behaviors [16]. According to Benne et al. as cited in Stredwick that, Training is a systema c process that is designed to impart necessary skills that are cri cal for employees to perform effecvely and responsively at the workplace. Employee training is empirically found prominent in influencing turnover inten ons, organiza onal ci zenship behavior [17], commitment and mo va on [18], performance [19,20], post-training organiza onal commitment, job sa sfac on [21]. To achieve the desired organiza onal objec ves, a combina on of mo va on and necessary job-related tools, skills and competencies are essen al where, the training func on of HR responsively facilitates. Demerou et al.

[10] in the study found that training proved to be vital in helping employees to develop skills and competencies that are cri cal for the organiza onal performance and op mal enhancement of employee capabili es.

The study found that training helped the employees to modify their behaviors, emo ons to enhance their skills and competencies. These skills further proved to be contribu ng posi vely towards the achievement of organiza onal goals.

Employee training and employee engagement Accordingly, employee training has also been empirically tested with employee engagement. Although a very few organiza onal scien sts have managed to explore some rela onship between training and employee engagement. Study by Salanova et al. [6] conducted an empirical test on 114 hotel staffs and found significant impact of training on employee engagement. Addionally, empirical inves ga on by Suan et al. [5] found training as a significant contributor towards employee engagement across 438 hotel staff in Malaysia. Similarly, study by Rothmann [6] has outlined employee train-

ing as a credible predictor of employee engagement.

Cri cal analysis of the aforemen oned researches highlights the strategic significance of training and how it can be used to enhance psychological wellbeing (engagement) of employees at work. It also highlights towards the considerable Gap in the literature due to which strong sugges ons for further inves ga on on the rela onship has been forwarded by Suan et al. [5].

Cri cal analysis of the empirical studies in the preceding paragraphs draws a en on to several importance concepts. First of all that employee training can notably enhance post-training employee engagement and other aspects of work well-being. As Kuvaas [18] has empirically outlined that employee training is a development prac ce that fosters employee outcomes and behaviors. The analysis outlines that Employee training has been only studied in terms of percep ons of employees on general grounds in connec on to employee engagement. These percep ons generally revolve around the overall effec veness, and sa sfac on of individuals with the employee training and not about the impact of individual components of employee training in specific. For instance, Suan et al. [5] inves gated the influence of service training on employee engagement where respondents were asked to rate the frequency of the trainings provided and their overall sa sfac on.

Similarly, Salanova et al. [6] enquired of their overall sa sfac on with organiza onal factors including training in rela on to engagement and performance. Since organiza ons provide on the job trainings and off the job trainings to their employees and previous studies have also failed to outline as to which approach in parcular, is significant in boos ng employee engagement.

Conclusively, there are several gaps in the existing knowledge pertaining to employee training and post-training employee engagement which includes lack of studies on the influence of general trainings and employee engagement; no evidence of the influence of individual training components and how they are perceived, on employee engagement and lastly no evidence on the iden fica on of more effec ve employee training approach.

Training is a highly comprehensive process, involving numerouselements such as Need Assessment, Training design, Trainer and delivery, and Post Training Evaluaon [22]. Although not a lot but empirical evidence is available, outlining the role and impact of individual training components towards enhancing employee outcomes and behaviors. Noe [23] has underlined that

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when employee perceive that the need assessment is credible and outlines the right needs for skill learning and competency development requirements against the current performance then, they will be more movated to improve post training performance. Santos et al. [24] have empirically argued that posi ve percep ons about the training need assessment have a significant contribu on towards general mo va on and post training mo va on to apply the learned skills at the workplace.

Accordingly, Hicks et al. [25] have outlined that effecve training design enhances the willingness to learn and mo va on which later boosts job performance.

Addi onally, Frayne et al. [20] have also argued that different training designs can influence employee outcomes and job performance. Role of a trainer is central in enhancing the training effec veness and predicting employee outcomes and behaviors. For instance, empirical study by Towler et al. [26] outline that trainer characteris cs such as organiza on of lecture and trainer`s expressiveness enhanced problem-solving performance. In the similar fashion, Farh et al. [27] in their empirical finding revealed that use of technology also holds a significant impression in boos ng performance and employee behaviors. This also outlines towards the significance of how the trainer`s delivery and the effec ve use of technology during the training session can enhance employee outcomes.

So, one way or the other, these studies suggest that employee training components have been posi vely helping organiza ons in post-training efforts via building the work force through enhancing their skill levels and boos ng work outcomes and behaviors; which pin point towards the possibility of training components influencing port- training employee engagement too.

According to Surge et al. [5] that the US companies on average spend around $955 per hired individual on training and development in 2004. There have been a lot of research on training and its impact on the various organiza onal and individual level elements. So, with such huge investments, it becomes more impera ve for organiza ons to understand and explore how to take the maximum benefit from employee trainings.

Replying upon these arguments, this conceptual paper puts the following proposi ons forward: P1: Employee Training will be posi vely related with post-training employee Engagement P1a: Training Need Assessment will be posi vely link

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with post- training employee engagement P1b: Training Design will be posi vely link with post-training employee engagement P1c: Trainer and Delivery will be posi vely link with post-training employee engagement P1d: Training Evalua on will be posi vely link with post-training employee engagement (Figure 1).

Conclusion Based on arguments in the preceding paragraphs, it can be implied that employee training can significantly enhance post-training employee engagement. On a larger note, the model proposes to help engagement prac oners to unveil how HR prac ces can proac vely contribute towards employee engagement. The model also proposes implica ons for HRD professionals to understand the importance of employee training and each of its components towards enhancing psychological wellbeing at work.

Since employee engagement enjoys significant rela onship with job and organiza onal performance [28-30] the proposed model proposes to highlight how performance could be enhanced also through employee training func on without focusing and inves ng on other aspects of the business.

Moreover, there is a poten al to enhance the impact of employee training through inves ga ng and exploring the link of its several components with post-training employee engagement. The model also proposes to explore and contribute towards numerous theore cal and prac cal aspects. First of all, it encourages organiza onal scien sts for developing a comprehensive instrument, considering all aspects of employee training to measure their rela onship and level of significance with employee behaviors and outcomes. Secondly,

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it outlines the need to understand and empirically explore as to which training component in par cular is more cri cal in predic ng post-training employee engagement.

The idea that suggests that employee training can be a poten al component to enhance the psychological wellbeing of employees at work through fostering employee engagement. There is a paucity of research and evidence on this rela onship, as men oned in Figure 1. The model also marks for the need of developing a comprehensive instrument to measure the influence of notable employee training components on employee engagement and other psychological work aspects.

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Suan CL, Nasurdin AM (2014) An empirical inves ga on into the influence of human resource management prac ces on work engagement: the case of customer-contact employees in Malaysia. Interna onal Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research 8: 345-360.

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Albrecht SL, Bakker AB, Gruman JA, Macey WH, Saks AM (2015) Employee engagement, human resource management prac ces and compe ve advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organiza onal Effec veness: People and Performance 2: 7-35.

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Sun LY, Aryee S, Law KS (2007) High-performance human resource prac ces, ci zenship behavior, and organiza onal performance: A rela onal perspec ve. Academy of management journal 50: 558-577.

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“Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.”

— Tom Peters

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A STUDY OF ORGANIZATIONAL INVESTMENT IN EMPLOYEE TRAINING, WORK ENGAGEMENT AND TURNOVER INTENTION: A CROSS-LEVEL MEDIATION ANALYSIS YU-PING HSU ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM, FOOD & BEVERAGE MANAGEMENT CHANG JUNG CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY TAINAN, TAIWAN

Introduc on Past research indicates that employees’ work engagement can be fostered when the organiza on provides employees with job resources, such as performance feedback and learning opportuni es for educa on, growth, and development and enable them to achieve their work goals (Bakker & Demerou , 2007; Hakanen et al., 2006; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004; Schaufeli & Salanova, 2007). Organiza onal investment in employ-

ee training (OIET) can be regarded as an important job resource (Deci and Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Frederick, 1997). The effect of OIET on enhancing an individual’s work engagement has received limited research a enon. Thus, this study a empts to inves gate the effect of OIET on work engagement.

Personal resources (e.g. self-efficacy, op mism, resilience and self-esteem) are posi ve self-evalua ons that refer to an individual’s sense of his or her ability to suc-

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cessfully control and affect the environment (Hobfoll et al., 2003). Previous research on work engagement has shown that self-efficacy is a vital personal resource that enhances an individual’s engagement at work (Bakker et al., 2008). This study predicts that self-efficacy (a personal resource) may serve as a par al media on mechanism linking OIET (a job resource) and work engagement.

Scroggins (2008) and Hamid and Yahya (2011) provided the link between P-J fit and work engagement by indica ng that employees who fit well with their jobs could increase their work engagement and subsequently benefit the organiza on. This study speculates that P–J fit may serve as a par al mediator of the OIET- work engagement rela onship.

With regard to the outcomes of work engagement, it has been found that work engagement is associated with in-role performance (Schaufeli et al., 2006b), turnover inten on (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004), customer sa sfac on (Salanova et al., 2005) and financial returns (Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerou , & Schaufeli, 2009).

There is evidence that highly engaged employees are generally engrossed in and dedicated to their work (Bakker & Demerou , 2008), and hence they are less likely to leave their organiza on. In line with past research, this study also examines the influence of work engagement on turnover inten on.

The rela onships among OIET, self-efficacy, P-J fit, work engagement, and turnover inten on through cross-level analysis remain unexplored. To fill in this void, this study inves gates the direct effect of OIET on work engagement, as well as the cross-level media ng effects of self-efficacy and P-J fit. The influence of work engagement on turnover inten on also is incorporated into the study. Social exchange theory, reinforcement theory and work adjustment theory are used in this study because they provide theore cal bases for depic ng the rela onships among the variables inves gated.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE ORGANIZATIONAL INVESTMENT IN EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND WORK ENGAGEMENT Work engagement reflects posi ve work experience in organiza onal life which generates posi ve benefits to the organiza on (Park & Gursoy, 2012). The concept of work engagement evolved in the mid 1990’s (Harris,

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2006) and was conceptualized by Kahn (1990) as employees’ emo onal a achment to their work roles. Specifically, work engagement refers to the extent to which employees are enthusias c and mo vated in their role performance. May et al. (2004) conceptualized engagement as employees’ commitment to work by bringing their physical, emo onal, and cogni ve resources to perform role-related tasks. May et al. pointed out that most jobs involve some level of physical exer on and challenges, as well as emo onal (exhaus on) and cogni ve demands.

Schaufeli and Bakker (2004) defined work engagement as an affec ve-mo va onal and work-related state of fulfilment in employees that is characterized by vigour, dedica on and absorp on (Macey & Schneider, 2008; May et al., 2004). Vigour is characterized by high levels of energy and mental toughness while working, a willingness to exert an effort in one’s work and perseverance in the face of difficul es. Dedica on is intense involvement in one’s work and deriving a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspira on, pride and challenge. Absorp on is being so fully engrossed in one’s work that me seems to pass quickly (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004, 2010). Engaged employees usually find their work meaningful and inspira onal and are energe c and engrossed in it (Bakker & Demerou , 2008).

As men oned earlier, work engagement is fostered by various job resources (Bakker & Demerou , 2007; Schaufeli & Salanova, 2007). There is evidence that employees’ work engagement can be greatly enhanced when the organiza on offers job resources such as performance feedback and learning opportuni es that provide possibili es for educa on, growth and development and enable employees to achieve their work goals (Bakker & Demerou , 2007; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004; Schaufeli & Salanova, 2007). In this instance, organiza onal investment in employee training can be viewed as an important job resource (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Frederick, 1997).

Organiza onal investment in employee training (OIET) is defined as the extent to which an organiza on is commi ed to help their employees learn and acquire new skills/competencies that enable them to meet job requirements or move to new posi ons (Lee & Bruvold, 2003). Organiza ons inves ng in employee training imply that they support employees’ professional growth and are seeking to develop a long-term rela onship with their employees (Allen et al., 2003; Lee & Bruvold, 2003).

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Kuvaas and Dysvik (2009) examined the rela onships among PIED, intrinsic mo va on, work effort, work quality and organiza onal ci zenship behavior (OCB) from three cross-sec onal surveys conducted in organiza ons in Norway. Their empirical results show that the rela onship between PIED and work effort was mediated by intrinsic mo va on, and that intrinsic mo va on also moderated the rela onship between PIED and OCB. From the above-men oned research, it is apparent that OIET has significant psychological and behavioral effects on employee outcomes.

Social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) and the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960) provide a link between OIET and work engagement. When organiza ons invest training in their employees, the employees tend to reciprocate in posi ve ways (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). Dysvik and Kuvaas (2008) indicated that providing sufficient training can be regarded as a social exchange between the employer and its employees.

The affec ve aspects of OIET may influence employees’ percep ons and encourage them to increase their work engagement. In view of the above, the following hypothesis is developed.

H1: Organiza onal investment in employee training has a posi ve influence on work engagement. ORGANIZATIONAL INVESTMENT IN EMPLOYEE TRAINING, SELF-EFFICACY, AND WORK ENGAGEMENT Rooted in the very core of Bandura’s (1997, 1986) social cogni ve theory, self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief in his or her capacity to organize and execute a course of ac on needed to meet the demands of a situa on. Self-efficacy beliefs enable individuals to determine the amount of effort they will exert during a task, in par cular, the determina on they will exhibit and the amount of me they will persevere to accomplish an objec ve when faced with a challenging situa on.

High self-efficacy results in feelings of serenity when a emp ng to perform complicated tasks and ac vies. In contrast, low self-efficacy results in a belief that tasks are more difficult than they seem, which leads to anxiety, stress, despair and a narrow view of possible problem resolu on.

Reinforcement theory is widely used to mo vate employees in the workplace. The theory focuses on the environmental factors that contribute to shape employees’ a tudes and behaviors (Redmond & Housell, 2013). Therefore, the mo va onal aspect of the theory may help to draw a connec on between OIET and selfefficacy. Organiza onal inducements in terms of IET not

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only improve employees’ KSAs but also enhance their beliefs in their capability to successfully perform certain tasks. Previous research shows that organiza ons devoted to developing through training the skills and competencies that employees need to remain compe ve can increase employees’ sense of self-efficacy (Gibson, 2001b; Orpen, 1999; Torkzadeh et al., 1999).

With this in mind, this study proposes that value added

by OIET can foster an employees’ self-efficacy and thus develops the following hypothesis.

H2: Organiza onal investment in employee training has a posi ve influence on self-efficacy.

With regard to the rela onship between self-efficacy and work engagement, previous research shows that self-efficacy is an important personal resource that promotes an individual’s engagement at work (Bakker et al., 2008). Evidence also indicates that self-efficacious students reported higher levels of engagement (Llorens et al., 2007). In view of the above, this study expects a posi ve associa on between self-efficacy and work engagement.

Moreover, because of its mo va onal poten al, self-efficacy may also serve as a media ng mechanism linking OIET and work engagement. According to reinforcement theory, on the one hand, OIET lets employees understand their roles well and develop the needed KSAs to perform their tasks (Suazo et al., 2009); on the other hand, OIET signals that employees are highly valued by the organiza on, which may boost their self-efficacy, and in turn further increase their work engagement.

Therefore, the following hypothesis was developed.

H3: Self-efficacy par ally mediates the rela onship between organiza onal investment in employee training and work engagement. ORGANIZATIONAL INVESTMENT IN EMPLOYEE TRAINING, PERSON-JOB FIT, AND WORK ENGAGEMENT Person-job fit (P-J fit) is widely explored by fit scholars.

Edwards (1991) conceptualized P-J fit in terms of two dis nct forms, namely, needs-supplies fit (N-S fit) and demands-abili es fit (D-A fit). The N-S fit exists when the supplies (e.g., pay, benefits, training, interes ng and challenging work, promo on opportuni es, recogni on, good working condi ons, etc.) offered from jobs are compa ble with the needs, preferences, and desires of employees. The D-A fit could be achieved when employees bring sufficient knowledge, skills and abili es (KSAs) to meet the job demands.

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Kristof-Brown et al. (2002) indicated that employees are likely to experience a good P-J fit when they are enthusias c about their work and have the necessary KSAs and experience to perform their work well. Following Kristof-Brown et al. (2002), the present study regards D-A fit as P-J fit and defines it as the degree to which employees perceive the match between their KSAs and job demands.

P-J fit leading to posi ve a tudinal and behavioral outcomes is well documented in the literature, for instance, as related to job sa sfac on (Cable & DeRue, 2002; Lauver & Kristof-Brown, 2001), affec ve organizaonal commitment (Greguras & Diefendorff, 2009), job performance (Caldwell & O’Reilly, 1990; O’Reilly et al., 1992) and inten ons to quit (Saks & Ashforth, 1997).

Previous research also shows that employees who meet their job requirements (P-J fit) are likely to be ac vely engaged in their work roles and consequently achieve their work goals (Hamid & Yahya, 2011; Scroggins, 2008). Hence, a posi ve rela onship between P- J fit and work engagement can be expected.

Drawing from work adjustment theory (Dawes & Lofquist, 1984), P-J fit indicates an interac on between an employee and the environment. According to the theory, an employee’s fit is based on the correspondence or match between the employee’s a ributes (i.e. KSAs) and the environment (i.e. OIET). When welltrained employees become skilled and competent in their work (Saeed & Asghar, 2012), they are likely to increase their work engagement. The following hypotheses were developed.

H4: Organiza onal investment in employee training has a posi ve influence on P-J fit.

H5: P-J fit par ally mediates the rela onship between organiza onal investment in employee training and work engagement. WORK ENGAGEMENT AND TURNOVER INTENTION Turnover inten on refers to an employee’s inten on to pursue a career outside his current employer. Prior to leaving the employer, the employee has come to a decision point whether to resign or not. The a tude– behavior theory (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) states that one’s inten on to engage in a specific behavior is the close predictor of that behavior. Lambert et al. (2001) in their study has shown a significant associa on between turnover inten ons and actual turnover. Hence, one method to determine actual turnover is through turnover inten ons.

A nega ve rela onship between work engagement and turnover inten on was found in previous studies. For instance, Harter et al. (2002) and Saks (2006) found that work engagement had a posi ve rela onship with employees’ job sa sfac on and a nega ve rela onship with turnover inten on. Schaufeli and Bakker (2004) also demonstrated that work engagement mediated the influences of job resources on turnover inten on.

Similar to previous research, the current study expects an inverse rela onship between work engagement and turnover inten on. The following hypothesis was developed.

H6: Work engagement has a nega ve influence on turnover inten on.

Based on the relevant literature explored above, a research model was developed and is presented below (Figure 1).

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY SAMPLE AND PROCEDURE The data for this study was collected from 20 hotels in Taiwan. The human resource (HR) manager of each hotel was requested to provide assistance in distribu ng ques onnaires to service employees. Given that the number of employees in each hotel differed, 20 to 35 ques onnaires were distributed to each hotel.

Par ci- pants were randomly chosen by the HR managers. In total, 500 ques onnaires were sent out. The HR managers were requested to return the completed ques onnaires in a stamped envelope addressed to the researcher.

The ques onnaire included OIET, self-efficacy, P-J fit, person–organiza on (P-O) fit, work engagement, turnover inten on and demographic ques ons (i.e. sex, age, and tenure). Previous research suggests that a por on of the data aggregated to a cross-level can reduce the presence of common method variance (Peng et al., 2006). In this study, organiza onal investment in employee training refers to an organiza on’s commitment to help their employees learn and acquire new skills/competencies that enable them to meet job requirements or move to new posi ons (Lee & Bruvold, 2003). Hence, employee training data aggrega ng at the organiza onal level is plausible.

Moreover, all data were self-reported and collected during the same period of me. Thus, Harman’s one-factor test (Anderson & Bateman, 1997) was conducted to test if common method variance (CMV) exists. Using principal component analysis (PCA) on the ques on items yielded 4 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0, which accounted for 63.343% of the total variance. The common method bias seemed to be absent (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986; Podsakoff et al., 2003) as the first factor did not account for the majority of the variance (20.280%).

Of the 500 ques onnaires distributed, 318 completed ques onnaires were returned. With 42 invalid ques onnaires (incomplete data), 253 ques onnaires were kept for analysis, represen ng a response rate of 50.6%. In terms of demographics, 55.7% of the respondents were male, 44.3% were female. As for age, 66.8% of the respondents were between 30 and 35 years old, 29.6% were between 36 and 40 years old and only 3.6% were 41 years or older. While 18.6% of the respondents had a college/bachelor’s degree,

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88.6% held a master’s degree or above. With regard to organiza onal tenure, 71% had tenures of less than 10 years, 20.8% had tenure from 11 to 15 years and only 8.2% had tenure of more than 16 years.

MEASURES Except for the demographic control variables (i.e. sex, age, and tenure), all the items were scored on a 5-point Likert response scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A higher score indicates greater variable strength.  Organiza onal investment in employee training: In this study, OIET was examined at the organizaonal level and was measured by seven items that were modified from the work of Kuvaas and Dysvik (2009). An example of an item for the scale is, ‘By inves ng me and money in employee development, my organiza on demonstrates that it actually invests in its employees’. Scores were calculated by taking the average of the seven items. The Cronbach’s α for this scale was 0.897. Self-efficacy: Self-efficacy was measured with an eight-item scale developed

by Chen et al. (2001). An example of an item for the scale is, ‘When facing difficult tasks, I am certain that I will accomplish them’. Scores were calculated by taking the average of the eight items. The Cronbach’s α for this scale was 0.861.  Person-job fit: P-J fit was measured with a three-item demands-abili es scale developed by Cable and DeRue (2002). An example of an item for the scale is, ‘My abili es and training are a good fit with the requirements of my job’. Scores were calculated by taking the average of the three items. The Cronbach’s α for this scale was 0.816.  Work engagement: Work engagement was measured with the short, nine-item version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (Schaufeli et al., 2006). This scale includes three items for each of the three underlying dimensions of work engagement.

Example items included ‘At work, I feel burs ng with energy’ (vigour); ‘I am enthusias c about my job’ (dedica on) and ‘I get carried away when I am working’ (absorp on). Scores were calculated by taking the average of the nine items, as recommended

by Schaufeli et al. (2006). The Cronbach’s α for this scale was 0.916.  Turnover inten on: Turnover inten on was measured with a four-item scale developed by Kelloway, Go lieb and Barham (1999). The following is an example of an item for the scale: ‘I am thinking about leaving this organiza on’. Higher scores indicate greater intent to leave one’s current place of employment. Scores were calculated by taking the average of the four items. The

Cronbach’s α for this scale was 0.926.  Control variables: Sex, age, educa on, and tenure were controlled to prevent their influence on turnover inten on (Ucho et al., 2012). The study coded sex as 0= men and 1 = women. Respondents with a college/bachelor’s degree were coded as 0, whereas those with a master’s degree or above were coded as 1. Age was measured in con nuous numbers.

Tenure was measured by the number of years the respondents had worked for in their current organiza ons.  P-O fit: P-O fit concerns how an employee matches an organiza on’s values, goals and mission (Lauver & Kristof-Brown, 2001). Past research reports that employ- ees are less likely to leave their organiza ons when they perceived high P–O fit (Elfenbein & O’Reilly 2007; Verquer et al., 2003). Hence, P-O fit was controlled for in the present study and was measured with a three-item scale developed by Cable and DeRue (2002). Here is an example of an item for the scale: ‘The things that I value in life are very similar to the things that my organiza on values’. Scores were calculated by taking the average of the three items. The Cronbach’s α for this scale was 0.817.

DATA AGGREGATION To examine the appropriateness of data aggrega on, this study examined the interrater agreement of OIET by calcula ng the rwg(j) values (James et al., 1984).

For this purpose, a normal distribu on of the expected error variance was used (LeBreton & Senter, 2008).

The mean rwg(j) across the organiza on was found to be 0.844 for IET, thereby demonstra ng a high level of interrater agreement (Mathieu & Schulze, 2006).

According to the sugges on of Bliese (2000), this study also calculated intraclass correla on coefficients [ICCs; i.e. ICC(1) and ICC(2)]. The study obtained an ICC(1) value of 0.125 for OIET, thereby mee ng the standard value of 0.12 (James, 1982). Moreover, the study also obtained an ICC(2) value of 0.610 for OIET, thereby mee ng the standard value of 0.6 (Lin & Peng, 2008).

This study conceptualized OIET at the organiza on level. Thus, the aforemen oned results show that the data aggrega on was appropriate.

RESULTS Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) so ware version 6.08 (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002) was used to test the cross-level direct and media ng effects. A null model was executed to test whether work engagement would vary according to different organiza ons. Table 1 pres-

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TABLE 1: HIERACTCHICAL LINEAR MODELING ANALYSIS: ORGANIZATIONAL INVESTMENT IN EMPLOYEE TRAINING, SELF-EFFICACY, AND WORK ENGAGEMENT

H1 represents Hypothesis 1, H2 represents Hypothesis 2, H3 represents Hypothesis 3.

X refers to the independent variable; M refers to the mediator; Y refers to the dependent variable.

With regard to the rela onships between OIET and P-J fit, the intercepts-as-outcome model 2 in Table 2 shows that γ01 = 0565 (p<0.01), thereby indica ng the posi ve effects of OIET on P-J fit. The results support hypothesis 4. In terms of the cross-level media on hypothesis (H5), OIET (the IV) was tested at the organiza onal level, whereas P-J fit and work engagement (the DVs) were tested at the individual level. The results, shown in Table 2, indicate that the first three condi ons of Mathieu and Taylor’s approach were sa sfied. Further, the intercepts-as-outcome model 3 shows that γ01 (0.330; p<0.05) was s ll significant a er P-J fit was included in the model. This finding demonstrates that P-J fit played a par al media ng role in OIET and work engagement. Thus, hypothesis 5 was supported.

TABLE 2: HIERACTCHICAL LINEAR MODELING ANALYSIS: ORGANIZATIONAL INVESTMENT IN EMPLOYEE TRAINING, P-J FIT, AND WORK ENGAGEMENT

H1represents Hypothesis 1, H2 represents Hypothesis 2, H3 represents Hypothesis 3. X refers to the independent variable; M refers to the mediator; Y refers to the dependent variable.

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TABLE 3: RESULTS FOR REGRESSION ANALYSIS

Note. N=253. p<0.05*, p<0.01** ß represents standardized regression coefficients.

ents the mean es ma on of work engagement intercept (γ00) = 3.511, the between-organiza on variance of work engagement (τ00) = 0.037 and the within-organiza on variance of work engagement (σ2) = 0.304. The ICC of work engagement was found to be 10.9% (0.037/ [0.037+0.304]), which indicates that 10.9% of the variance of work engagement was due to between- organiza on variance and 89.1% was due to within-organizaon variance. These findings suggest that HLM analysis is necessary if the between-organiza on variance of work engagement is to be considered (Cohen, 1988).

Moreover, to sa sfy the rule of the dependent variable (DV) on within-organiza on variance and between-organiza on variance (Hofmann, 1997), this study examined independent–dependent rela onships. In the intercepts-as-outcome model 1 (Table 1), γ01 = 0.634 (p<0.01), which indicates that OIET posi vely affected work engagement. Thus, hypothesis 1 was supported.

In the intercepts-as-outcome model 2 (Table 3), γ01 = 0515 (p<0.001), thereby indica ng a posi ve rela onship between IET and self-efficacy. Thus, hypothesis 2 was supported.

Using the media on approach suggested by Mathieu and Taylor (2007), this study further examined the cross-level media on hypotheses. First, the rela onship between the independent variable (IV) and the DV was examined. Second, the rela onship between the IV and the mediator was tested. Third, the rela onship between the mediator and the DV was examined when the IV was included in the model. The medita on con-

di on is said to be sa sfied if the rela onship between the IV and DV is not significant while that between the mediator and DV remains significant.

To test the cross-level media on hypothesis (H3), OIET (the IV) was tested at the organiza on level, whereas self-efficacy (the media ng variable) and work engagement (the DV) were tested at the individual level.

Table 1 shows that the results sa sfied the first three condi ons depicted by Mathieu and Taylor (2007). With regard to the last condi on, the intercepts-as-outcome model 3 shows that γ01 (0.342; p<0.05) was s ll significant a er self-efficacy was included in the model.

This result demonstrates that self-efficacy had a par al media ng effect on the rela onship between OIET and work engagement. Therefore, hypothesis 3 was supported.

Mul ple regression analysis was conducted to test the rela onship between work engagement and turnover inten on. Controlled for sex, age, tenure, and P-O fit, the results shown in Table 3 exhibit that work engagement was nega vely related to turnover inten on (ß = -0.187; p<0.01), hence suppor ng hypothesis 6.

DISCUSSION The results of HLM analysis reveal that the OIET indeed had a significant influence on work engagement, suppor ng hypothesis 1. Such a finding is consistent with those of previous research (Bakker & Demerou , 2007; Schaufeli & Salanova, 2007) that OIET is indeed an

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important job resource that can increase employees’ work engagement. Based on social exchange theory, OIET may make the organiza on seem suppor ve and reliable, thus elici ng posi ve and reciprocal responses from employees through their increased level of work engagement.

The results of cross-level media ng hypotheses show that the OIET was posi vely related to self-efficacy and P–J fit and that self-efficacy and P-J fit par ally mediated the OIET-work engagement rela onship. The results support hypotheses 2, 3, 4 and 5. According to reinforcement theory or work adjustment theory, the significant relationship between OIET and self-efficacy as well as the rela onship between OIET and P-J fit imply that organiza ons commi ed to developing via training the KSAs that employees need to remain compe ve can enhance employees’ self-efficacy beliefs (Gibson, 2001b; Orpen, 1999; Tannenbaum et al., 1991; Torkzadeh et al., 1999) and P-J fit, and subsequently increase their level of work engagement. The results of the study also indicate that highly engaged employees have fewer inten ons to leave their current organizaon, which is in line with the results of previous studies (Harter et al., 2002; Saks, 2006; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004).

mance, contextual performance and/or customer- oriented behavior, through cross-level analysis.

In addi on to self-efficacy and P-J fit examined in this study, psychological contract may be an important process factor that mediates the rela onship between employee training and work outcomes. A poor psychological contract tends to act as a demo vator, which can be reflected in lower levels of employee performance and commitment and higher levels of absenteeism and turnover (Beardwell & Claydon, 2007). However, fulfilment of the psychological contract creates a feeling of being valued, increases trust and leads to posi ve outcomes for the organiza on and employee (Shapiro, 2000). This psychological variable could be inves gated in future research.

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CONCLUSION This study explored the direct influence of OIET on work engagement as well as the cross-level media ng effects of self-efficacy and P-J fit. In addi on to the discovery of a direct rela onship between OIET and work engagement, the results reveal that the rela onship is par ally mediated by self-efficacy and P-J fit.

The results also demonstrate that work engagement is nega vely related to turnover inten on. Such findings add new insights to the extant management literature.

LIMITATIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH This study primarily focused on the hotel industry in Taiwan. Future researchers can consider studying employees from different industries (e.g., manufacturing industry) to expand the generaliza on of the research findings. Moreover, the current study considered only employee work engagement and turnover inten on.

Future researchers could explore the effect of OIET on other important work outcomes, such as in-role perfor-

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How to Retain Key Employees Companies that do a be er job of a rac ng developing, and retaining their talent can boost their performance drama cally.

By John K. Borchardt Talent is a cri cal driver of corporate performance and a poten al compe ve advantage. McKinsey & Company research indicated that companies scoring high in their ability to manage talent earned, on average, a 22% higher return to shareholders than their industry peers. The 1997 landmark paper called “The War for Talent” involved surveys of 13,000 execu ves at more than 120 companies and detailed case studies at 27 companies.

This “The War for Talent” report evolved into a 2001 book of the same name authored by McKinsey consultants Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod. Their central premise was that effec ve talent management is cri cal to every company’s success.

However, the authors found that high performing companies did not have be er human resources processes than their lower-performing peers. Instead, what dis nguished them was a pervasive talent mindset held by company leaders at all levels that compe ve advantage comes from having superior talent.

The authors state that everyone from the CEO down to line managers must believe that talent is a top priority and that it is part of their job to manage talent effec vely. How can companies do this? This issue was explored in a recent symposium held at the American Chemical Society Na onal Mee ng (March 2007) and sponsored by the Division of Business Management & Development, “General Papers Rela ng to Management of the Chemical Enterprise.”

Assessing performance To develop people, managers must first be able to accurately assess performance. This process should begin with your first discussion with a new hire. Discuss the job descrip on with the new hire. Modify the job descrip on as appropriate to take advantage of the new employee’s strengths and your expecta ons for this individual.

Discuss your expecta ons with the new hire. Define a list of ac on items for each new employee to accomplish in their first six months. This will help them stay focused on their most important goals and tasks.

Emphasize that the employee will be evaluated on the basis of accomplishing these goals and mastering these tasks.

Many employees resign during their first few months on the job. Megan Driscoll, President, PharmaLogics Recrui ng, advises that it is important for managers to understand the new hire’s expecta ons and address them effec vely while demonstra ng that you have their best interests in mind. She suggests, “Have the new employee outline for you what he or she would like to accomplish as an addendum to your list of expecta ons. If you are aware for instance that gaining experience in lab design and layout is something the employee would like to do, you might come across a project where you could invoke their par cipa on. If you don’t know what that employee is looking to learn, you don’t have the opportunity to expose and develop that candidate in ways that interest them.” This reduces their job engagement and increases the possibility of their departure to work elsewhere.

Put all the mutually agreed upon expecta ons in writing. Be sure the candidate has a copy. This will serve as a roadmap for both of you assuring that the new hire has an individualized development plan. As the new hire gains experience and progresses in their career, work with them to update the roadmap to reflect their changing circumstances.

Managers must communicate con nuously with their employees in order to assess their progress. Wai ng un l the date of a scheduled formal review may allow problems to develop and erode the employee’s job sa sfac on and mo va on. For some employees, an open-door policy may suffice to promote this communica on. However, for less asser ve individuals, the manager needs to take the ini a ve in “managing by walking around” and engaging employees in discussions to learn how they are progressing in mee ng their goals. Indeed, given how busy managers are and that they may o en be ed up in mee ngs, managing

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by walking around is a good strategy to adopt for all one’s employees.

These informal progress assessments are valuable. However, also schedule a formal six month progress review. This in-depth discussion will let you to assess if candidates are living up to your expecta ons. It also will allow employees to communicate whether the job — and you as manager — are living up to their expecta ons. Driscoll notes that at the me of this first formal review both of you can change your approaches to each other before they become counter-produc ve, ingrained habits.

Developing people This should be done on an individualized basis by “working with

each employee to create a personal path forward for them,” says Lisa Prior, Principal, Prior Consul ng.

This means se ng goals consistent with their current job assignment and what they need master to take the next step in their careers. These goals must also be consistent with what mo vates each individual employee. For one, it may be promoon. For another, it might be raises or bonuses. For a third, it might be independence and flexibility. Making each employee’s goals consistent with their “prime mo vators” helps assure that the employee’s commitment to mutually agreed upon goals is more than mere lip service.

Managers should then determine the experiences that will enable them to achieve these goals, Prior

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advises. These experiences could be assignments to specific projects or work teams. It could also be educa on and training. The manager and employee need to agree upon a meframe to accumulate these experiences and accomplish these goals. Finally, the employee needs to take responsibility for achieving their goals. While managers should be suppor ve, they should not have to constantly prompt employees to take the steps needed to accomplish these goals. The number of employees most managers supervise makes this an impossible task.

Prior notes that one has to determine how one measures success.

This can be set by the manager or mutually agreed upon with the employee. Either way, the employee must accept the measures for

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success. These will determine if the employee has met his/her goals. Disagreement on this can be very corrosive to the manager-employee rela onship and, should the employee complain to co-workers, cause broader morale problems as well.

Managers can best mo vate employees to achieve goals when these goals tap into their personal interests. For example, I’ve long been passionately interested in improving the environment. One of my managers tapped into this by assigning me to a project to develop biodegradable detergent chemicals to remove ink from pulped wastepaper for paper recycling. The alignment of my personal goals with my employment goals was a great mo vator.

In developing employees, assessment can determine an employee’s strengths that need to be capitalized on and weaknesses that need to be remedied. Prior comments, “Many managers tell me that there is no me for development because they are stuck in an old paradigm: that sending people to training programs is the way to develop them.” However, a classic problem with many training courses is how to transfer what one has learned from the classroom to the job. Without the manager’s support, it is o en difficult to do this due to the press of immediate assignments.

There are also other ways to develop employees. One is “ac on learning” opportuni es associated with one’s job. For example, in developing paper recycling chemicals, I had to learn a lot about paper industry technology. This led to my developing other paper chemicals business opportuni es outside of paper recycling.

Other ac on learning opportuni es are associated with working on mul -func onal project teams — par cularly those that include company employees from other departments or suppliers and customers.

For some employees, providing external exposure through visits to customers and suppliers, professional society ac vi es and a ending conferences are both educa onal and mo va ng. For other, presenta ons or wri ng ar cles for publica on is educa onal and mo va ng.

Assignment as a team leader can be a first step in developing valuable management experience and developing leadership skills. Job rota on into other assignments is valuable but can be difficult to jus fy.

Reassignment may be good for both the individual and

organiza on in the long term. However, in the short term it can cause a loss in produc vity as the transferred employee learns a new job. A lateral shi can make some employees feel less secure as they temporarily lose their expert status un l they master a new job and its associated technology.

“Business as usual” can result in substan al barriers to ac on learning. Prior noted that these include an a tude that there is no me for ac on learning ac vi es.

Some managers will not support these ac vi es for fear of reducing produc vity. Others — and their employees as well — may lack the imagina on to devise construc ve ac on learning opportuni es.

Coaching and feedback Prior observed that for employee development to succeed, managers have to effec vely provide feedback and coaching. Barriers to doing this include a desire to avoid appearing overly cri cal and to avoid conflict.

If one is uncomfortable with the process, finding the “right” me and place to do this can be difficult. Some managers are reluctant to fully engage in the process because they view it as me-consuming. Before si ng down with the employee, the manager should be sure that he/she has a complete picture of the employee’s job responsibili es and performance before giving feedback.

Overall development strategies Companies such as General Electric differen ate between the career opportuni es and financial rewards offered to employees based on their performance.

Excep onal (A) performers are rewarded with fast-track advancement opportuni es and substan ally higher salaries than average performers. Average (B) performers should be given the training and support they need to become A performers. Below-average (C) performers must be given opportuni es to improve their performance. Should this not occur, they must be separated from the organiza on. Typically, C performers are o en in the same job for many years. Some managers prefer to give C performers a second opportunity in another job assignment that may be more suited to their skills.

Driscoll depicted this differen a on of opportuni es in Figure 1. The X-axis of Figure 1 represents the progression of new hires progressing from novice with much to learn to mastering the requirements of their current

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assignments and exhibi ng outstanding performance.

The Y-axis represents something o en harder to assess than performance — the poten al for outstanding performance both in one’s current assignment and at the next level. As Driscoll explains in Figure 1, the career planning ac vi es differ for each stage of the individual’s progression in their job assignment un l, at the right of Figure 1, the employee is ready for promoon or other career enhancing experiences. Poten al represents a combina on of the individual’s learning ability and adaptability to new assignments. If one’s poten al is low, even an individual performing very well in their current assignment may not be suited to move to the next level if that level is an extremely challenging one. Indeed, some individuals in this situa on, with other priori es such as balancing their work and personal lives, may decline advancement to the next level.

In this situa on, managers much develop a strategy for the individual to use his/her skills more effec vely at their current job level. One obvious way to do so depicted in Figure 1 is to train others.

Overall, this approach can make your work unit or your company more a rac ve to highly talented people.

However, it can also have a disadvantage in possibly making B performers feel undervalued. Certainly, the C performers will fill some pain associated with reassignment or job loss.

The manager’s role Managers must accept their roles in developing talent along the lines depicted in Figure 1. This means coach-

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ing and mentoring employees as needed. To do so effec vely, managers must learn what mo vates each person. They must be good communicators to have produc ve career planning and talent development discussions with their employees. By doing all this and having passion for the process, managers will create engaged employees.

Driscoll calls rewards “tools for reten on.” Rewards help keep employees engaged and sa sfied reducing employee turnover increasing company costs and delaying projects. She notes that rewards are more than the monetary ones of receiving raises and year-end bonuses. Another tangible reward is promo on.

Intangible rewards are o en easier to provide. Their effec veness largely depends on the manager’s knowledge of what mo vates each employee.

As a recruiter, Driscoll says, “I have found that there are two main reasons why employees either stay with their company or conversely why employees choose to leave.

1. Whether the employee has posi ve feelings about their manager or nega ve feelings about their manager.

2. Whether the employee feels there is growth poten al within the company or a lack thereof.”

She notes, “Neither of these reasons for an employee leaving is addressed with a monetary or tangible reward.” However, intangible rewards, judiciously used can increase employee sa sfac on to the point where

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they do not consider leaving. One is informal monthly discussions focusing on what the employee is doing very well and praising them for it. Just knowing they are appreciated goes a long way to increasing employee sa sfac on and improving mo va on.

Periodic awards recognizing outstanding contribu ons need not be expensive. These plaques are o en highly visible in the recipient’s office mo va ng both themselves and their co-workers who resolve to win one too.

The act of working with each employee to create personalized development plans goes a long way to ins lling loyalty. They feel that have a place to go within an organiza on. To increase engagement, ask each employee during their annual performance review what they hope to achieve over the course of the next year or two. Then work together to create a plan accommoda ng at least some of their goals. The employee feels you, as manager, support their professional growth.

Their ideas may indicate new ways they can contribute to the organiza on.

Wrap-up Effec ve talent management applies to non-profit organiza ons, such as educa onal ins tu ons and government laboratories, as well. Like industry, they are engaged in a war for talent. As industry, science and applied technology become increasingly globalized, this war of talent is becoming a worldwide struggle. *Note: Figure 1 is used with permission by Megan Driscoll, taken from her presenta on at the ACS na onal mee ng in Chicago.

Copyright permission given by Lab Manager, original ar cle can be viewed at: h p://www.labmanager.com/leadership-and-staffing/2007/08/how-to-retain-key-employees#.WfEIJIhrxEa

John K. Borchardt, PhD, Author Profile John Borchardt, PhD, was a chemist, freelance writer and American Chemical Society career consultant for over 15 years. He was the author of "Career Management for Scien sts and Engineers," and had more than 1,500 ar cles published in a variety of magazines, newspapers, and encyclopedias. As an industrial chemist, he held 30 U.S. and more than 125 interna onal patents, and was the author of over 130 peer-reviewed papers. He passed away in January 2013.

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Peer coaching as a strategy to increase learning and development in organizational life – a perspective

Richard K. Ladyshewsky, Cur n Graduate School of Business, Perth, Western Australia Email: rick.ladyshewsky@gsb.cur n.edu.au

Abstract

This ar cle draws on the researcher’s collec ve research and experience in using peer coaching as a strategy to improve professional and performance learning over the past 20+ years. This work has influenced training approaches to learning in the health industry as well as in corporate leadership training. By exploring the concept through research, prac cal applica ons in academic and industry se ngs and advances in the neuroscience of learning, this ar cle bridges several concepts to encourage leaders, organiza onal development staff and university faculty to consider broader and more cost-effec ve ways of leveraging learning and transfer of learning in to their workplace.

Key Words: Peer Coaching, Organiza onal Learning, Training and Development

Introduction

Organiza ons as well as individuals make substan al investments in training in order to ready themselves for the workforce. Individuals do this to remain competent and compe ve in the employment marketplace. Organiza ons do it to maintain or increase produc vity, deliver high quality outcomes and to sustain the business. An important ques on to ask however, is “how much of this training and development actually gets translated back in to the

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workplace?” One es mate is that transfer is as low as 15 percent (Cromwell & Kolb, 2004). Other ques ons that are o en asked are whether the return on investment is worth the cost of training and whether individuals and organiza ons more produc ve, engaged and innova ve as a result of this training and educa on.

We o en hear that the most valuable resources an organizaon has are its human resources. But the ques on remains

around whether organiza ons and individuals really capitalize on this resource, par cularly from an organizaonal learning perspec ve. One way of increasing the return on investment is to tap in to the learning potenal of workplace peers.

Work peers can be a good resource for learning if it is leveraged properly and strategically. Organiza ons and individuals can create a culture of con nuous improvement and learning by rewarding and mo va ng staff and peers to excel in their job (Balle’, Morgan, & Sobek, 2016). A good example was the author’s first professional job as a physical therapist. New graduates want to build their skills and competence quickly. The quest to learn to do your job at the best of your ability is a huge mo vator for newly graduated staff. The author worked alongside two other individuals who had graduated from university within one year of one another. Everyone was more or less at the same stage of professional development and clinical reasoning (Higgs & Jones, 2000) and keen to grow and develop their skills. As a result, this triad of three peers was an extraordinary mo va ng and crea ve me for learning as everyone worked cooperavely to improve their knowledge and prac ce. Management allowed this to happen and supported the me spent between peers on coaching and reflecon-in-ac on and reflec on- about-ac on (Schon, 1991). They saw this as a valuable learning and development process for the three novice physical therapists as they worked together to solve work place challenges.

In any medium sized organiza on individuals possess skills and competencies at varying degrees depending on their tenure and prac ce within the work place. This knowledge can be leveraged effec vely to help others who need to develop their performance capabili es to a higher level in a safe, non-threatening and collegial environment. This is where peer coaching becomes highly effec ve.

While it may seem very obvious that peers should support peers, it o en doesn’t happen naturally. A range of obstacles in organiza onal life prevent peer support from occurring. First of all, the organiza on has to support learning by enabling individuals to take some risks and lowering blame when things don’t turn out exactly as planned. This is not to say that we should not

manage risk, but rather we should support individuals who make mistakes as they build their professional capabili es and competencies within the organiza on.

Everybody has to learn new things in their job and new graduates and individuals undertaking new tasks in the workplace are par cularly prone to making errors in judgement and reasoning. For example, novices are slower, represent problems at a more superficial level and are less aware of errors than their more experienced counterparts (Glaser & Chi, 1988).

There is much evidence sugges ng that an organiza onal learning culture that focusses excessively on efficiency and reduces the importance of learning will stymie poten al for crea vity and produc vity (Balle’ et al., 2016; Edmondson, 2008; Goleman, 2000). Organiza ons and individuals suffer if they do not encourage problem solving, have rigid systems in place and only have unilateral feedback prac ces from top to bo om.

Employees and learners in these scenarios will do their best to ‘appear’ as though they have their skill set under control. However, in reality these individuals will o en struggle to remain engaged in their work. Take for example the newly promoted manager, a new employee, a new graduate from university or a student on a work integrated learning experience. Every one of these individuals wants to demonstrate to others that they are the right candidate for the job or capable of doing the work that is required of them. To disclose to others, however, that one may be feeling overwhelmed by one’s job or unsure of what to do can be difficult. This is punctuated further if individuals sense that these type of displays of vulnerability are looked down upon in an organiza on, par cularly if they are being evaluated as part of a proba on system, have a line manager with unrealis c expecta ons or they need to pass a university prac cum. These contexts may not be the safest places to grow professionally and can limit learning. This limita on on learning occurs because of the heightened defenses that are put in to place by the worker. These defenses, ac vated by parts of the brain’s limbic system, block crea vity and the poten al for learning (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002; Rock & Schwartz, 2006).

As Barbara Fredrickson, a prominent American psychologist, notes, this blockage stems from having twice as many nega ve emo ons as posi ve ones (Fredrickson, 2001). Nega ve emo ons protect us from danger which is why they exert a more powerful influence on our behavior. To unleash the learning poten al of employees, businesses have to develop systems that minimize nega ve emo ons in the workplace such as fear, shame, guilt or blame and increase more posi ve states such as empathy, ac on, curiosity, hope and interest. These posi ve emo ons unleash the poten al of working

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memory and tap in to the core learning centers of the brain where explora on of performance, learning and transfer can occur more effec vely.

The psychodynamics of learning therefore require us to rethink tradi onal accountability systems within a business unit or an appren ceship/fieldwork program.

Most systems have the manager/supervisor1 holding their direct reports accountable for the outcomes associated with their jobs.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with this line of accountability as the manager/supervisor is ul mately accountable for what occurs within their unit, it does create problems for ongoing learning if the learning is ed to performance appraisal and management, punishments and rewards. The power difference between a manager/supervisor and an employee/appren ce can prevent the la er from being completely open about their performance. Differences in power may cause the employee/appren ce to withhold informa on about their performance to their manager/supervisor in order to portray a be er posi on. This influences learning nega vely.

Managers and supervisors need to be good coaches to their staff and appren ces if they are to help them learn. For many individuals in these leadership posi ons, however, they lack the me, the a tude or the ability to perform this role effec vely (Goleman, 2000; R. Ladyshewsky, 2010). Hence, peer coaching is a great strategy that supports he manager/supervisor in developing his/ her employees/appren ces. The learning benefits that occur in peer coaching arise because the collegial peerbased nature of the rela onship is non-threatening.

Confiding in a peer coach that we are unsure of how to deal with something in our work can feel safer than approaching a manager or supervisor. A er some discussion if neither peer can solve the problem then it truly is a difficult problem and the pair can feel much more confident and secure approaching their manager/ supervisor for answers. It also keeps the me of the manager or supervisor protected for resolving those ‘difficult’ problems with his or her staff or appren ces.

In the author’s own research it is clear that peer coaching can enhance the professional development and performance of individuals across a broad range of sectors.

Among physical therapy students in the educa onal se ng, those who experienced peer coaching did significantly be er on a test of their clinical reasoning than those who did not receive peer coaching (R. Ladyshewsky, 1999, 2004). These same physical therapy students also completed a simulated pa ent assessment. Those who completed this task as peer coaches significantly

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outperformed those undertook the task independently.

The peer coaching pair also experienced less anxiety and were more confident during the simula on (R. Ladyshewsky, 1999, 2004).

In the university se ng, academic programme coordinators used peer coaching to increase their reflec ve prac ce and transfer of training as part of a leadership development programme. Building influence, communica ng more effec vely and managing upwards were developed from par cipa on in the programme and aided through the use of peer coaching (R. Ladyshewsky & Flavell, 2011). A two year leadership programme in a large government agency used peer coaching to support par cipants in leveraging their learning in to prac ce.

The results of the programme and peer coaching demonstrated overall gains in assessed leadership capability through three 360 degree leadership measurements (Ladyshewsky, 2007). The effec veness of using peer coaching to enhance learning and professional development, produc vity and performance is clear.

Peer coaching works because the individuals in the rela onship share equal status. They do not supervise one another, nor are they formally accountable to one another. As long as a trus ng and confiden al rela onship can be developed, with appropriate coaching techniques used to facilitate learning, the inclina on to engage in conversa ons about improving performance increases. This sense of safety creates a posi ve emoonal state and facilitates the neural mechanisms that support learning. These neural mechanisms have been described in the SCARF model (Rock & Schwartz, 2006).

The five elements of this model are shown in Table 1 and how each element has the poten al to influence learning in peer coaching is described. Collec vely these five elements create a more posi ve emo onal state and broaden and build the individual’s capacity to learn and work on improving performance (Fredrickson, 2001).

Innova on and crea vity are likely outcomes.

For peer coaching to work, managers and supervisors have to give permission to their staff and students to engage in this type of learning ac vity. The organiza on has to support this methodology as it is me away from ‘produc on’, but will certainly increase ‘efficiency’ over me (Edmondson, 2008).

Managers and supervisors have to sell the idea that learn1 Manager is used in this context to describe a work place individual responsible for the performance of paid employees. Supervisor refers to an individual within an organiza on who is responsible for the performance of a student or appren ce in a work integrated learning placement or prac cum.

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ing and peer coaching will increase the produc vity and performance of the organiza on and increase the learning outcomes for the students.

Table 1: Peer Coaching and the SCARF Model Implemen ng the peer coaching strategy is fairly straigh orward but does require some training for the par cipants to gain maximum value from the experience. First, peers select an individual which they would like to work with in their organiza on. The person they select does not have to be an expert. In fact, there are benefits to working with a peer coach at a similar level to oneself because of the way in which problems are analyzed and resolved. Experts use a forward reasoning process because they have worked on the problem many mes before whereas those with less experience use a background reasoning process because they have limited experience with the problem. These differences in reasoning between experts and novices were noted in early studies of chess players and physicists and have been demonstrated subsequently in numerous other studies in other disciplines (Chase & Simon, 1973a, 1973b; Chi, Feltovich, & Glaser, 1981; de Groot, 1965; Larkin, McDermo , Simon, & Simon, 1980). Because experts see problems in different ways from novices they may not necessarily be the best coaches. Further, experts may not be readily accessible in workplaces so peer coaching provides an excellent strategy for individuals to engage in workplace learning and problem solving.

Some basic rules are needed to set up the peer coaching partnership. First, the partners need to establish the rela onship by ge ng to know each other a bit be er, building trust and talking about confiden ality

and self-disclosure. Second, each party needs to iden fy what they are struggling with at work or wan ng to learn or improve. They should also have an idea of their goal or target. Third, coaches need some training on how to ask non-evalua ve ques ons to ensure the five elements of the SCARF model remain intact.

Non-evalua ve ques ons get the coachee to think about their experiences which is an important part of reflec ve prac ce and competency development (Schon, 1991). Good quesons make the coachee think more laterally about their prac ce, to consider new evidence, and to think about their thinking - a process called meta-cogni ve thinking – which is important in trying to understand and solve more complex and novel situa ons (Flavell, 1979; R. Ladyshewsky & Ryan, 2006).

The coach supports the coachee to try new things, consider different perspecves, to come back and talk about it a er they have tried things out in pracce. This approach is modelled on experien al learning principles which requires that individuals reflect on their experience, make conclusions about the experience, and then re-apply this learning to build performance (Honey & Mumford, 1987; Kolb, 1984).

Asking non-evalua ve ques ons is the most challenging part of the peer coaching process. The natural tendency is to want to help or provide advice. But this changes status and makes the coach an evaluator and consultant.

As a result, the rela onship starts to suffer because of changes to the dimensions in the SCARF model. Rather than telling individuals what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ about their prac ce and what they ‘should’ do, non-evalua ve ques ons start with the words who, what, where, when and how. Star ng ques ons with these words moves the coachee through the experien al learning cycle and increases the likelihood of knowledge transforma on and metacogni ve insight. So for example, a coach who observes their coachee managing a difficult mee ng with strong personali es would not ‘tell’ them what they did wrong and what they should have done. Instead, they would ask ques ons like, “What were the most difficult parts of the mee ng to manage?”, “Who are the difficult personali es in the group? “How could you manage their interrup ons more effec vely?” “What ac on will you take place in the next mee ng and when?

Peer coaches do not need to be experts. They just need to be able to ask the right ques ons to create more deep thinking about the performance quest. More o en than

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not coachees will be able to work through problems themselves and discover their own solu ons. The peer coach merely serves as a respected guide, who gains the trust and respect of the peer coachee over me as a result of the posi ve changes seen in learning and performance. This process is different from mentoring which is o en confused with coaching (D’Abate, Eddy, & Tannenbaum, 2003). Mentoring is very status driven because the mentor is seen as a wise and experienced individual.

The mentor adopts the mentee and provides unilateral advice and support in a one way direc on from mentor to mentee. This is dis nct from peer coaching, which is o en reciprocal and driven from the bo om up by the coachees who set the goals and objec ves for their development.

The following two case examples provide support for the effec veness of peer coaching. The first is a leadership development programme in which the author built-in a peer coaching ini a ve (Ladyshewsky, 2007).

The second example was part of a simula on designed to measure differences in performance between when peer coaching was in place and when it wasn’t (R. Ladyshewsky, 1999).

Case Example 1: During the administra on of a leadership development contract with a large government transport department, par cipants worked together as peer coaches to explore their leadership and development. In this example, two par cipants happened to be contract managers and both had worked for the transport department for 10+ years in different areas. Neither had formally consulted other colleagues about their work prac ces in their role. The ‘safe’ space created by the programme and the suppor ve culture of the workplace enabled the two contract managers to meet regularly to discuss their roles and strategies when nego a ng major contracts.

These discussions were linked to their leadership development. Both were amazed by the amount of learning they received from each other and how they could approach their work differently. They could not believe they let all those years lapse without realising the benefits they could have achieved by working through difficult contract nego a ons with one another as peer coaches. Over me, the leadership programme demonstrated a progressive increase in the leadership capabili es of the par cipants - aided in part by the peer coaching aspect of the programme.

Case Example 2: A simula on was set up to create a standardised problem scenario for novice health care professionals. Novices who worked together to work through the simula on in a peer coaching team significantly outperformed those novic-

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es who worked independently on the simula on.

The novices who worked in peer coaching pairs also did significantly be er on a knowledge test of the simula on. Those novices who worked alone not only performed less well, they scored more poorly on the knowledge test and they expressed significantly more anxiety and less confidence during the simula on in comparison to those in peer coaching partnerships.

Organiza ons have many of the resources needed to enhance learning and development for its staff at its finger ps. Yet many are ineffec ve at leveraging this poten al. Research by the corporate leadership council, for example, noted that only about a third of employees are effec ve at peer interac on and only seven percent of organiza ons focused on ini a ves to improve these interac ons to enhance work engagement (Corporate Leadership Council, 2011). They argue that building peer rela onships and linking these interacons to success of the work team enables the organiza on to use best prac ce learning approaches in their day to day business opera ons. Managers have a large role to play here in making this cost-effec ve learning strategy work. A final example illustrates this point.

Typically, someone is sent on a course to learn something which is important for the business unit. They take the course, come back and implement some of that learning and perhaps transfer some of that knowledge to others in the work group. With a peer based approach to learning, at least two people would be sent on the course and they would come back with a brief to peer coach one another to ensure maximum transfer of the course material. The manager would be a key driver in holding the peers accountable for this learning and transfer as part of the opportunity to gain training. The manager would also set the permission and me for them to work on this as part of their support for peer based learning in the team. With this integra on and transfer complete, the two individuals in turn would start to peer coach others who need to integrate this new learning in to their work. Capacity is built across the team more effec vely and the benefits of peer based learning, supported at all levels by the management, benefit the group. There is much truth in the saying that two heads are be er than one!

References Balle, M., Morgan, J., & Sobek, D. (2016). Why learning is central to sustained innova on. MIT Sloan Management Review, 57(3), 62-71.

Chase, W., & Simon, H. (1973a). The mind’s eye in chess. In W. Chase (Ed.), Visual informa on processing (pp. 215-281).

New York: Academic Press.

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Chase, W., & Simon, H. (1973b). Percep on in chess. Cognive Psychology, 4, 55-81.

Chi, M., Feltovich, P., & Glaser, R. (1981). Representa on of physics knowledge by experts and novices. Cogni ve Science,

5, 121-152.

Corporate Leadership Council. (2011). The power of peers: Building engagement capital through peer interac on: The Corporate Execu ve Board Company.

Cromwell, S., & Kolb, J. (2004). An examina on of work-environment support factors affec ng transfer of supervisory skills training to the workplace. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 15(4), 449-471.

D’Abate, C., Eddy, E., & Tannenbaum, S. (2003). What’s in a name? A literature-based approach to understanding mentoring, coaching, and other constructs that describe developmental interac ons. Human Resource Development Review, 2(4), 360-384.

de Groot, A. (1965). Thought and choice in chess. The Hague: Monton.

Edmondson, A. (2008). The compe ve impera ve of learning. Harvard Business Review(July-August), 60-67.

Flavell, J. (1979). Metacogni on and cogni ve monitoring.

American Psychology, October, 906-911. Fredrickson, B. (2001). The role of posi ve emo ons in posi ve psychology.

American Psychologist, 56(3), 218-226.

Glaser, R., & Chi, M. (1988). Overview. In M. Chi, R. Glaser & M. Farr (Eds.), The Nature of Exper se (pp. xv-xxviii). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates.

Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership that gets results. Harvard Business Review, 78(2), 78-100.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). Primal leadership - Realizing the power of emo onal intelligence. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.

Higgs, J., & Jones, M. (2000). Clinical reasoning: An introducon. In J. Higgs & M. Jones (Eds.), Clinical Reasoning in the Health Professions (2nd ed.). New York: Bu erworth-Heinemann.

Honey, P., & Mumford, A. (1987). A manual of learning Styles. Maidenhead, UK: Honey Publica ons.

Kolb, D. (1984). Experien al learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Pren ce-Hall.

Ladyshewsky. R. (2007). A strategic approach for integra ng theory to prac ce in leadership development. Leadership & Organisa on Development Journal, September.

Ladyshewsky, R. (1999). A quasi-experimental study of the effects of a reciprocal peer coaching strategy on physiotherapy students clinical problem solving skills. (Ph.D.), Cur n University of Technology.

Ladyshewsky, R. (2004). The impact of peer coaching on the clinical reasoning of the novice prac oner. Physiotherapy Canada,

56(1), 15-25.

Ladyshewsky, R. (2010). The manager as coach as a driver of organisa onal development. Leadership and Organisa onal Development Journal, 31(4), 292-306.

Ladyshewsky, R., & Flavell, H. (2011). Transfer of training in an academic leadership development program for program coordinators. Educa onal Management Administra on & Leadership, 40(1), 127-147.

Ladyshewsky, R., & Ryan, J. (2006). Peer coaching and reflec ve prac ce in authen c business contexts: A strategy to enhance competency in post-graduate business students. In A. Herrignton & J. Herrington (Eds.), Authen c Learning Environments in Higher Educa on (pp. 61-75). Hershey PA: Idea Group Publishing.

Larkin, J., McDermo , J., Simon, D., & Simon, H. (1980). Expert and novice performance in solving physics problems. Science, 208(June), 1335-1342.

Rock, D., & Schwartz, J. (2006). The neuroscience of leadership.

Strategy and Business. Retrieved May, 2006, from www.strategy-business.com/ar cle/06207

Schon, D. (1991). The reflec ve prac oner: How professionals think in ac on. London: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://ijebcm.brookes.ac.uk/ International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 15, No. 1, February 2017

Richard Ladyshewsky is a Professor of Leadership and Management and a Fellow of the Cur n Academy and the Higher Educa on Research and Development Society of Australasia. He has used peer coaching extensively in his own classroom work and in aiding organiza ons and universi es to improve learning outcomes. This paper a empts to bring together in an opinion piece his views on peer coaching.

https: creativecommons.org licenses by 4.0 No changes were made to the article.

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Why Top Young Managers Are in a Nonstop Job Hunt -By Monika Hamori, Jie Cao, & Burak Koyuncu From the July–August 2012 Issue You might suspect that your best young managers are looking for a be er gig—and you’re probably right. Research shows that today’s most-sought-a er early-career professionals are constantly networking and thinking about the next step, even if they seem fully engaged.

And employee-development programs aren’t making them happy enough to stay.

We reached these conclusions a er conduc ng face-to-face interviews and analyzing two large interna onal databases created from online surveys of more than 1,200 employees. We found that young high achievers—30 years old, on average, and with strong academic records, degrees from elite ins tu ons, and interna onal internship experience—are antsy. Three-quarters sent out résumés, contacted search firms, and interviewed for jobs at least once a year during their first employment s nt. Nearly 95% regularly engaged in related ac vies such as upda ng résumés and seeking informa on on prospec ve employers. They le their companies, on average, a er 28 months.

And who can blame them? Comparing the peripate c managers’ salary histories with those of peers who stayed put, we found that each change of employer created a measurable advantage in pay; in fact, a job change was the biggest single determinant of a pay increase. This represents a significant difference from the past. Job hopping has long been viewed as a shortcut to the top, but research showed that was a myth for earlier genera ons, who paid a price in terms of promo ons and o en saw their salaries suffer as well.

The Career-development Gap We asked young managers: On a scale of 1 to 5, how important are these items to you? We also asked to what extent their employers provide them. The biggest discrepancies are (not surprisingly) in the areas that cost the most money and me.

Dissa sfac on with some employee-development efforts appears to fuel many early exits. We asked young managers what their employers do to help them grow in their jobs and what they’d like their employers to do, and found some large gaps. Workers reported that companies generally sa sfy their needs for on-the-job development and that they value these opportuni es, which include high-visibility posi ons and significant increases in responsibility. But they’re not ge ng much in the way of formal development, such as training, mentoring, and coaching—things they also value highly.

Why the disconnect? We think it’s because formal training is costly and can take employees off the job for short periods of me. Employers are understandably reluctant to make big investments in workers who might not stay long.

But this creates a vicious circle: Companies won’t train workers because they might leave, and workers leave because they don’t get training. By offering promising young managers a more balanced menu of development opportuni es, employers might boost their inclina on to s ck around.

A version of this ar cle appeared in the July–August 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review.

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Connecting the Post-Training Task and Contextual Performance with the Essentials of Training Program and Characteristics of Trainees Abstract A successful training program leads to improved performance; however, lack of evalua on on what makes a training program effec ve yet puzzles managers. It is impera ve to know which elements of a training program and individual characteris cs of a trainee impact the employees’ performance in order to realize prolific returns from this expensive investment. This study reviews three training elements namely the dura on, methodology and area and two individual characteris cs: educa on level and experience of a trainee to assess their impact on task and contextual dimensions of performance. Results support a posi ve impact of dura on and on the job training methodology for resultant performance of employees with be er level of educa on.

Experience of trainees have a significant effect on contextual performance while no effect on task performance of employees.

Hamid Hassan1,2, Sarosh Asad 1 & Yasuo Hoshino3 1 FAST School of Management, Na onal University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Lahore Pakistan 2 Ins tute of Interna onal Affairs, Aichi University, Nagoya, Japan 3 Graduate School of Accoun ng, Aichi University, Japan Correspondence: Hamid Hassan, School of Management, Na onal University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. E-mail: hamid.hassan@nu.edu.pk Received: December 22, 2015 Accepted: February 4, 2016 Online Published: March 15, 2016 doi:10.5539/ ijbm.v11n4p48 URL: h p://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v11n4p48 Keywords: Training dura on, on the job training, of the job training, educa on, task performance, contextual performance

1.

Introduc on

Several past studies validate that training can posi vely impact the employees’ performance (Aguinis & Kraiger, 2009; Aragon-Sanchez et al., 2003; Arthur et al., 2003; Georgiadis & Pitelis, 2014). However, defining the important elements of training program and characteris cs of trainees that ma er for the resultant performance of those being trained is yet to be fully explored (Lee, 2015). This study reaffirms the impact of training on performance by focusing on the objec ve of iden fying those elements of a training program and characteris cs of a trainee which significantly impact the performance of an employee.

Businesses of the twenty first century are increasingly becoming cognizant of the impact of rapid globaliza on, unprecedented technological growth, invariably vying markets and mul -skilled workforce to a ain sustained compe ve advantage. It has become cri cal to differen ate and enhance employees’ skills and knowledge in order to increase produc vity (Alliger et al., 1998; J van Zolingen et al., 2000; Aguinis & Kraiger, 2009). Therefore, survival of the businesses in today’s competi ve markets necessitates that an quated business prac ces, which no longer are a source of compe ve advantage, are discarded and in lieu replaced with prac ces that enhance produc vity. This will allow the business to prosper which is only possible with con nued investment in training of employees (Morikawa, 2015). Not surprisingly, one of the several changes that define the new business dynamics in the present century is the extensive prevalence of employee training (Hughey & Mussneg, 1997).

Employee training is part of the human element which has been lately much emphasized as one of the internal resources to provide competi ve advantage (Alliger et al., 1998; Aragon-Sanchez et al., 2003). This human element is needed to enhance bo om line, increase efficiency and to enable employees to learn and apply skills proficiently (Hughey & Mussneg, 1997). Krebs et al. (2011) and Morikawa (2015) explains that human capital, comprised of training and schooling, is essen al for long-term growth of the economy by enhancing the produc vity of employees and firms. Companies, nowadays, are extensively providing training to improve the skills of their employees in order to a ain a compe ve edge over compe tors and strategic value of training has gained considerable interest in the literature since last few years (Aragon-Sanchez et al., 2003). To maximize the payoffs from an o en substan al training investment, organiza on must effec vely synchronize the objec ves of the training program with the strategic objec ves of the company (Hughey & Mussneg, 1997). The need for training is more pronounced than ever today which implies that con nual investment in training is necessary to improve the quality of employees and to increase produc vity (J Van Zolingen et al., 2000).

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Despite the importance of training programs as enablers for a aining strategic objec ves of an organiza on, enigma about the how investment in training may impact an organiza onal performance con nues to puzzle managers (Aragon-Sanchez et al., 2003). Wexley et al. (1991) and Arthur et al. (2003) highlight that rela on between training and performance is defined by uncertainty due to lack of evalua on of training programs by companies administrating them. Organiza ons fail to realize the guerdon from the administered training programs because of either unaware or unable to measure the impact of training on performance (Aragon-Sanchez et al., 2003; Kraiger et al., 2004; Krebs et al., 2011). The desired long-term impact of training is to improve individual & organiza onal performance and, ul mately, to contribute to the achievement of goals and increase in produc vity (Georgiadis & Pitelis, 2014).

This study explain the role of elements of training i.e., Training dura on, training methodology and training area, and two characteris cs of trainees i.e., educa on level and experience of trainees to explore the link between training and resultant performance measured in both task and contextual perspec ves.

The remainder of the paper is organized into five addi onal sec ons. Sec on two, following the introduc on part, discusses the past literature on training and two types of performance i.e. task and contextual. Sec on three presents the hypotheses of the study and the conceptual model.

Sec on four explains the methodology and data sources used to test the model; determining the impact of elements of training program and trainees’ individual characteris cs on performance. The last two sec ons highlight the results, discussion and conclusion of study.

2.

Literature Review

According to Hughey and Mussneg (1997), training entails “personal involvement, commitment and experien al gains” with an aim to “provide employees with proficiency in execu on of given tasks”. Emphasis on training programs was placed during the 1980’s which aimed at maximizing variety of skills as well as to develop new skills and competencies of employees to compete in a business environment (Georgiadis & Pitelis, 2014; Krebs et al., 2011). Several demands have ins gated need for individual and organiza onal development and training as one of the most pervasive methods to a ain this objec ve (Wexley, 1984; Wexley et al., 1991; Madera et al., 2011). Trainings can be regarded as a means of enhancing and improving human capital as an output (Alliger et al., 1998; Salas et al., 2009; Barre et al, 2011).

Two eminent methodologies to provide training to the employees include on-the-job training (OJT) and off-the-job training (OFT). OJT differs from its tradi onal counterpart OFT in that it is a one-to-one instruc on that occurs at the

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place where job itself is actually performed (J Van Zolingen et al., 2000; Salas et al., 2009). Matsuo (2014) proposed the “70/20/10 model” according to which 70% of the learning of an individual takes place through on-the-job experience clearly headlining the cri cality of training and more specifically OJT methodology. OJT has swi ly overshadowed the use of tradi onal OFT methodology because the new business reali es demand job specific and company specific approach to management training (Alliger et al., 1998; J Van Zolingen et al., 2000; Barre & O’Connell, 2001; Mafi, 2001). Other reasons for this change are obvious advantages of OJT which include a strong link between training and prac ce, effec ve learning of skills on the job, cost-effec veness and no transfer problem because training is given at the site where the employee would work (J Van Zolingen et al., 2000; Ar s & Harris, 2007). OJT is specifically helpful in terms of improving the contextual performance as trainees learn how on the job coopera on with others can mutually enhance outputs (Lechner, 1999; Matsuo, 2014). OFT, o en classroom based, has been cri cized for neglec ng the important element of learning i.e. work experience as well as for o en not producing posi ve results (Lechner, 1999; Mafi, 2001). However, task specific exper se and new skills need focused approach that OFT provide be er than OJT where focus is divided into job requirements and learning (Barron et al., 1999; Lechner, 1999). Cron et al. (2005) reports that young people tend to prefer OJT when they began their contract of training. This preference is shi ed towards OFT during the first year of employment when understanding about how OFT can aid in elimina ng deficiencies in the workplace is matured.

Another important element of a training program is the training area i.e., focus of training program on job specific skills or general skills. Loewenstein and Spletzer (1999) explain that general training is investment in the general human capital that raises a worker’s poten al of produc vity at other firms to the same extent as at the employer that provides the training. Similarly, job specific training at a company is defined as an investment in specific human capital that increases the workers poten al of produc vity specifically at the employer that provides the training (Alliger et al., 1998; Arthur et al., 2003). Employers may prefer giving job specific training over general training because the benefit can be lost, in case of la er, if employees with general training leave the firm which trained them. Job specific training decreases this uncertainty associated with the investment on human capital (Krebs et al., 2011). Barron et al. (1999) explain that an employee endures the full expense of general training and receives lower ini al wages which become higher in the future. In contrast, the costs and returns are shared by worker and the firm in case of specific training (Loewenstein & Spletzer, 1999; Barre et al., 2011).

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Apart from the elements of training program, trainees’ individual characteris cs also contribute to the effec veness of a training program (Mohammed et al., 2002). According to Warr and Bunce (1995), educa onal qualifica ons are posively correlated with learning as it indicates an individual’s’ personal previous experience and mo va on for learning.

Experience of an individual also influence learning but it remains unclear whether high experience in a par cular job would be able to augment performance of an individual undertaking the training for the same job (Mathieu et al., 1992; Murthy et al., 2008).

Providing training to employees is an expensive investment which necessitates mangers to not just know whether training program has worked but also how investment on training can be op mized by be er resultant performance of trainees (Mathieu et al., 1992). The concept of performance is mul dimensional and two prominent dimensions of performance are task and contextual performance (Ibrahim, 2004).

Katz and Ziderman (1990) explain task performance as the effec veness of incumbents to perform technical core either by implemen ng the process, or by providing materials or services. In contrast, contextual performance consists of those non-job-specific behaviors that enable a good environment for task performance to occur by shaping the social and psychological contexts and consequently contribu ng to organiza on’s effec veness (Katz & Ziderman, 1990; Kessler & Lulfesmann, 2006). The need to an thesize between the two performance dimensions arise from the fact that contextual performance’s role as contributor of organiza onal performance has been ignored in the literature (Conway, 1999; Loewenstein & Spletzer, 1999). This study a empts to determine the effec veness of elements of training program and trainees’ characteris cs on both task as well as contextual performance of trainees.

3.

Hypotheses and Model

This research was undertaken to empirically address the impact of different elements of training program and trainee’s characteris cs on individual’s task and contextual performance. Three facets of a training program are considered that can poten ally impact the resultant performance of an individual. These include, training’s dura on, methodology and area. Two important characteris cs of trainees are proposed to have an impact on the performance outcomes of trainees a er the training program which include level of educa on and experience of par cipants. Relevant hypotheses regarding the elements of training program and characteris cs of trainees are explained below.

The first factor, under analysis, is the training’s dura on which impacts the performance. Long dura on being likely to enhance performance more by covering a large number of aspects in detail and in a more appropriate way to develop skills and competencies, consequently improving

the output of employees (A a et al., 2005; Sharma, 2014; Abugre & Adebola, 2015). Thus it is reasonable to expect as hypothesis H1.

H1: Longer Dura on of training program has a posi ve impact on an employee’s performance following the training program (task and contextual).

The two eminent methodologies for providing training to employees are OFT and OJT. OFT is a tradi onal approach of training programs vis-à-vis OJT that is gradually becoming conspicuous due to advantages of strong link between training and prac ce, flexibility, cost effec veness and no transfer problems (J Van Zolingen et al., 2000). However, OFT method con nues to be used by managers with expecta on of the benefit of focused learning that can be helpful in task performance (Wexley, 1984; Wexley et al., 1991; Murthy et al., 2008). It is therefore hypothesized as H2 (a) and H2 (b).

H2 (a): On-the-job training has a greater posi ve impact on an employee’s contextual performance following the training program, as compared to task performance.

H2 (b): Off-the-job training has a greater posi ve impact on an employee’s task performance following the training program, as compared to contextual performance.

Organiza ons provide job specific and general training to employees. Katz and Ziderman (1990) explain that employers prefer giving job specific training over general training because employees can carry the la er when they switch job. Moreover, employers tend to prefer job specific training as it decreases uncertainty associated with their investment on their human capital (Katz & Ziderman, 1990; Kessler & Lulfesmann, 2006; Mohammed et al., 2002; Krebs et al., 2015). However, general training also gets considerable a en on from employers as it helps in developing the underlying basic skills and professional exper se that can improves the overall performance of the organiza on. Thus, it is hypothesized as H3 (a) and H3 (b).

H3 (a): Job specific training has a greater posi ve impact on an employee’s task performance following the training

program, as compared to contextual performance.

H3 (b): General training has a greater posi ve impact on an employee’s contextual performance following the training program, as compared to task performance.

Apart from the training program designed by the employer, employee characteris cs such as educa on level and experience were also analyzed to assess their effect on employee’s performance. While training programs are designed with considera on of the required educa on level of trainees, within the given pool of trainees, those with compara vely be er level of educa on are expected to be be er recipients of learning process (Mohammed et al., 2002). Other things

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being equal, a higher level of educa on indicates the past experience of learning and improvement. Employees with be er level of educa on are expected to show more interest in training and thereby have an increased par cipa on and tendency to learn (Morikawa, 2015).

On the other hand, employees with compara vely lower level of educa on may need extra effort while learning process. Thus, it is hypothesized below as H4.

posed to play a great role in the learning program as training dura on increases. It is therefore hypothesized as H6 and H7 below.

H4: Higher level educa on has a posi ve impact on an employee’s performance following the training program (task and contextual).

H7: Longer dura on of training with be er experience has a posi ve impact on an employee’s performance following the training program (task and contextual)

Employee’s experience is another employee characteris c of interest. Experience can make it easy to learn new skills (Madera et al., 2011). Similarly, past experience in the relevant area reflects it’s broader understanding and thereby expedites the learning and improvement in resultant performance. On the other hand, increase in experience and age may bring more resistance to change. Therefore, previous experience may impede employees to adjust with the modified work place requirements (Murthy et al., 2008). It will be interes ng to see the effect of number of years of experience on the resultant performance of employees a er the training program. It is therefore hypothesized: H5: Greater experience has a posi ve impact on an employee’s performance following the training program (task and contextual).

This study also endeavored to assess the impact of employees’ experience level and educa on on performance in associa on with the dura on of the training programs. When an employee will receive longer dura on training, it is likely that effect of experience and educa on can be further enhanced on the resultant performance following the training program. Employee with higher level of educa on will be more mo vated to undergo training and will be able to understand and implement the training contents more effec vely on the job. Employee’s previous experience is also pro-

H6: Longer dura on of training with higher level of educa on has a posi ve impact on an employee’s performance following the training program (task and contextual).

Figure1 illustrates the conceptual framework of the study based on hypotheses developed in the earlier part.

4.

Methodology

4.1

Data Source

The research employed individual level data extracted from par cipants belonging to the banking sector of Pakistan to analyze the impact of training and trainees’ characteris cs on task and contextual performance. The data was obtained about employees’ task and contextual performance, training determinants and trainees’ characteris cs selected in the study. By analyzing the impact of each of the training determinants and trainees’ characteris cs on employees’ task and contextual performance, this study a empts to explore the most important variables that can play a significant role in improving the employee’s performance followed by the training program. The study involved two type of performance measures i.e., task and contextual, as dependent variables. Hundred par cipants belonging to various banks namely Bank Alfalah, Askari Bank, Muslim Commercial Bank, Jahangir Siddiqui Bank and Habib Bank, located in a metropolitan city of Pakistan, par cipated in the study. The data about employees’ performance was collected from

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both employees as well as by the supervisor of employees’ to counter the effect of self-serving behavior on the part of employees about the performance improvement followed by training program.

4.2

Assessment of Dependent Variable

The study involved job performance as dependent variable.

Job performance has been further divided into task performance and contextual performance in order to assess the impact of training on both dimensions of an employee’s performance. Task performance has been captured by asking ques ons from the employee regarding task related level of effort, commitment and achievements while contextual performance has been measured in terms of ques ons focusing on pro-social behavior and inten on to help coworkers.

Separate ques onnaires were designed for employee and the supervisor to assess the job performance before and a er the comple on of training program. Total twelve statements were presented to both employees and their supervisors to represent their strength of agreeableness and disagreeableness against each statement on a 5-point response scale ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The first six items on the ques onnaire inquired about task performance while the rest assessed the contextual performance. The difference of performance score before and a er training was computed for each ques on to assess the impact of training on the resultant task and contextual performance of employees.

4.3

Assessment of Independent Variable

The employees, in contrast to supervisors, filled an addi onal sec on which aimed at collec ng data about independent variables i.e. dura on, methodology and area of the a ended training program, their educa on level and number of years of experience they hold. Informa on about dura on, methodology and area of training was counter checked from the official record of the company. Among dependent variables, training methodology indicates the form of training undertaken by the employees which includes on-the-job (OJT) and off-the-job-training (OFT) methodologies. It was denoted with a dummy of taking value 0 for OJT and 1 for OFT. Training dura on explains the length of training program and has been measured in number of days.

Another variable regarding the training program is the training area which refers to the type of training an employee has a ended. It was again measured with a dummy of taking value 0 for job specific training and 1 for general skills training. Educa on and experience of employees were assessed in terms of number of years. Experience under considera on was the total banking experience of an employee i.e., total

number of years the employee has been working in the banking sector.

5.

Empirical Analyses

5.1 Descrip ve Sta s cs and Univariate Analyses The descrip ve sta s cs for the independent variables are presented in Table 1 (A) & (B). Table 1(A) presents frequen-

cies for qualita ve independent variables i-e educa on, methodology and training area whereas Table 1(B) presents descrip ve sta s cs for quan ta ve independent variables i.e. training dura on and employees’ experience.

It can be generalized that out of the total sample, majority of the individuals possessed at least master’s degree or more in the banks under study. Similarly, majority of the targeted sample a ended training program which primarily enhanced job specific skills. It can be noted that most of the employers who invest in training for their employees focus majorly on enhancing job specific skills of an employee and thereby focusing more on task performance of an employee.

Out of the total sample of 100 employees, the mean training dura on is 14.7 days with the standard devia on of 13.34.

The average experience of the employee is 3.25 years with a standard devia on of 2.95 years between the sample values.

Normalityy of the data was verified byy Kolmogorov-Smirnov g

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Test which revealed that the sample met the requirement for normality.

Table 2 presents the results of univariate analyses to see the difference of means before and a er the task and contextual performance of employees.

Table 3 shows the result of Pearson correla on matrix, variance infla on factor and tolerance level between the independent to variables. Only correla on between training dura on and methodology is significant. However, value of variance infla on factor (VIF) is well below the allowable limit of 2. Similarly, values of tolerance level allows the inclusion of independent variables in the regression.

5.2

Regression Results and Discussion

Six different regressions were used to see the impact of independent variables on task performance and contextual performance. Model 1, 2 and 3 presented in Table 4 show the results of regression with task performance as dependents variable. Model 4, 5 and 6 of Table 5 explain the results of regression analyses with contextual performance as dependent variable. Be er value of R2in Table 4 (i.e., for task performance) vis-a-vis in Table 5 (i. e., for contextual performance) is in line with the fact that most of the trainings in the selected sample were targe ng the task performance as a norm in the industry.

Model 1 in Table 4 shows the impact of five independent variables on the task performance of employees. Results support H1 (a) that longer dura on can reveal be er output in terms of task performance of employees a er the training. Similarly, OJT turned out to be preferable choice for the task performance a er the training exercise. These findings are

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in line with the increasing use of OJT and resultant benefits emphasized in contemporary literature (J Van Zolingenet al., 2000; Ar s& Harris, 2007; Laberge et al., 2012; Matsuo, 2014). Training area could not get significant results however, it shows the posi ve signs in line with the preposi on of H3(a) which implied that job specific trainings posi vely affects the task performance of employees a er the training.

As hypothesized in H4 a be er level of educa on shows a significant improvement in task performance. The results are in compliance with the findings of Mohammed et al. (2002) and Morikawa (2015) that a higher level of educa on is helpful in learning and implica on of new skills. The preposi on of be er task performance with a higher level of employees’ relevant experience could not get supported. This might be explainable with the fact that greater experienced coupled with age make the learning process slow with more resistance to change. This is in line with the explana on of Murthy et al. (2008) that elaborates the effect of trainees experience and age on the performance of training program. Model 2 includes the interac on of training dura on and level of educa on to inves gate the combine effect of be er level of educa on with longer duraon of training on the resultant task performance. While results show significant signs, the coefficient value is less than the coefficients of educa on and training dura on measured independently in Model 1. Hence, H6 could not get supported. Model 3 in Table 4 include the interac on of experience and dura on of training to test the effect on resultant task performance a er the training. The coefficient is insignificant with a nega ve sign rejec ng the hypothesis H6.

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Model 4 in Table 5 presents the effect of five independent variables on the contextual performance of employees a er the training exercise. Training dura on shows posi ve

individual coefficients of these variables obtained in Model 4 as well as in Model 5. It is therefore implied that while be er level of educa on and longer dura on of training posi vely affect the contextual performance a er the training, these effects are independent of each other.

Model 6 includes the interac on of experience with the dura on of training.

While experience shows significant effect on contextual performance, its interac on with dura on of training could not get significant results. This implies that experience and dura on of training both have posi ve effect on contextual performance, but are independent of each other.

6. Conclusion and Limita ons significant results in line with Hypothesis H1 (b). OJT methodology shows posi ve significant results for the contextual performance, similar to task performance results in Model 1 of Table 4. This implies that OJT can have a be er posi ve impact on both task and contextual performance vis-a-vis tradi onal OFT methodology. Results are in line with the findings of Laberge et al.(2012) and Matsuo (2014) on the benefits of OJT for be er leering, involvement and resultant performance. Training area shows insignificant but nega ve signs. The results are explainable with the majority of sample having job specific training rather than general training.

Consequently, job specific trainings may not have a significant effect on the contextual performance. Results show that level of educa on can posi vely affect the contextual performance as hypothesized in H4. This is in line with the findings of posi ve effect of educa on on the task performance explained in Model 1 of Table 4. However, unlike task performance, experience shows a posi ve impact on the resultant contextual performance. This interes ng finding is explainable with the fact that increase in experience and age make employees realize the importance of job context thereby improving the contextual performance a er the training exercise regardless of the training nature (Madera et al., 2011). Model 5 include interac on of educa on with the dura on of training to see the combine effect on the contextual performance. The results show posi ve significant coefficient, however coefficient value is less than the

This research adds to the anthology of training and performance literature by exploring the role of elements of training and characteris cs of trainees in explaining the link between training and resultant performance measured in both task and contextual perspec ves. Longer dura on of training not only provide greater chances to increase the ability of an employee related to the par cular field but also enables an individual to realize the context of job and hence increase the contextual performance. OJT methodology shows more favorable impact on both task and contextual performance as compared to OFT. This is explainable with the descrip ve characteris cs of sample that shows a strong link between methodology of training OJT and training dura on, explained in Table 3 (i.e., OJTs unusually extend on greater number of days as compared to OFTs). This can be one the reason of success of OJT that they are provided for longer period of me and allows employees with greater opportuni es to learn and assimilate new things as compared to OFTs. The third element under scru ny i.e. training area could not show the expected results.

Individual characteris c of trainees such as educa on level was found to have posi ve impact on both task and contextual performance. Be er educa onal level of trainees increases the ability of an individual to understand the content of training program and to implement that effec vely a er the training exercise. The contextual performance of an employee also gets improved because be er educa-

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on enables an individual to be more socially responsible towards the organiza on and coworkers. Past experience of trainees in the relevant area was found to have posi ve impact on the contextual performance only. This implies that experience may not be a considera on while choosing employees for training program that is focused on resultant task performance, however, it results in be er candidates when contextual performance is to be targeted. In terms of managerial implica ons, the findings of study can guide managers to focus on important elements of a training program and personal characteris cs of employees to op mize the company’s’ investment in the costly exercise of training. Considering these factors can posi vely enhance the required dimension of task or contextual performance as a result from this costly investment as well as to stay compe ve with their industry counterparts.

Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 27(1), 9-24. h p://dx.doi.org/10.2753/PSS0885-3134270101

The findings may be limited to the size and selec on of sample from banking industry in a specific geographic area.

Similarly, addi onal factors of both training program as well as trainees’ characteris cs can be brought in for future research in this direc on.

Barron, J. M., Berger, M. C., & Black, D. A. (1999). Do workers pay for on-the-job training? Journal of Human Resources, 235-252. h p://dx.doi.org/10.2307/146344

Acknowledgements

Journal of applied Psychology, 84(1), 3. h p://dx.doi. org/10.1037/0021-9010.84.1.3

This study was supported by JSPSKAKENHI Grant Number 24530500.

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Copyrights Copyright for this ar cle is retained by the author(s), with first publicaon rights granted to the journal.

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Employee Coaching: When To Step In A lot has been wri en about why managers should coach employees. A lot also has been wri en on how to coach employees.

You can find many ar cles on the Pygmalion Effect and the Galatea Effect, which explain how employee coaching works.

By F. John Reh

When stepping in is be er than hanging back A lot has been wri en about why managers should coach employees. A lot also has been wri en on how to coach employees. You can find many ar cles on the Pygmalion Effect and the Galatea Effect, which explain how employee coaching works. Very few ar cles help you know when to coach employees. That’s what this ar cle does.

barriers. If they don’t know what performance is expected of them they won’t know how to get there.

Set clear objec ves for your employees. Then do the employee coaching. 

Employee coaching takes me. When you are in a hurry, you will not do a good job. You will not take the me to help them iden fy solu ons, but will be more likely to just tell them what to do. Make me to do it right. Then do the employee coaching.

Before Coaching Employees Most of the me, a manager should not coach his/her employees. To understand that statement, it helps to know what employee coaching is and what employee coaching is not. Giving employees the knowledge and skills they need to perform their job tasks is not employee coaching; that is employee training. On the other hand, employee coaching is an on-going process of helping employees iden fy and overcome the hurdles that prevent them from excelling at their jobs.

Note that employee coaching involves helping employees iden fy solu ons to their performance barriers. You are not coaching your employees when you tell them what to do.

When Not To Coach Employees Before you can effec vely coach employees you must know that they are properly trained and that they know what is expected of them. These are the mes to NOT coach employees: 

Their training is not complete When an employee has not been completely trained it is a waste of your me and theirs to try to coach them in those aspects of their job. If they have been properly trained in part of their job, you can coach them in that part, but not in the areas where they have not yet been trained. Do the training first. Then do the employee coaching.



They do not know what is expected of them It is pointless to coach employees who don’t know what is expected of them and know how that is measured. Remember that employee coaching is designed to help them overcome performance

When you are in a hurry



When you are angry or upset When you are upset, you won’t exhibit the enthusiasm and friendliness you need to be effec ve as an employee coach. You may not be fair or equitable.

You may give even subtle signals to the employee that could undermine the coaching you have been doing up to this point. Get your emo ons in check.

Then do the employee coaching.

When To Coach Employees We need to let people to make their own mistakes so they can learn from them. We can train them and advise them, which will help some of the me, but actual experience is o en the best teacher. A good manager, therefore, will hang back and resist the impulse to jump in every me an employee encounters difficulty. A good manager will always monitor what their employees are doing, (See Management 101 for more on “monitoring”) but will not intervene to coach their employees except in the following circumstances. 

Their current behavior poses a threat to themselves or someone else When an employee is doing something that could cause harm to themselves or someone else, you have to step in. This is one instance where you can’t let someone “learn from their mistakes”. You need to provide coaching. Rather than tell them the solu on, suggest a couple of alterna ves and let the employee figure out which is best. Make sure they understand why

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the behavior they were planning is inappropriate. 

There are ethical or legal ramifica ons of their ac ons You can’t allow employees to do things that are illegal and you shouldn’t allow them to do anything unethical. Whether their planned behavior is illegal/ unethical because of intent or ignorance, you can’t allow it. As with dangerous behaviors, provide alterna ves, let them decide, and explain why the planned behavior was a poor choice.



They are hur ng their team membership You need your employees to work together as a team. If one member of the team is doing something that will cause the others to exclude him or her from the team, you have to step in. If an employee always takes credit for the teams’ work, you need to coach them. If an employee in a close area, like cubicles, always yells into the phone and disturbs those around him, you have to step in and help him find a different behavior.



They are repea ng failed behaviors When employees have repeatedly tried to solve a problem, and their solu on isn’t going to work, you need to step in. O en we try something and it fails.

We try it again to make sure we did it the way we meant to and it s ll fails. If they keep trying, they aren’t learning and you need to coach them.



take just to save money. Consider it an investment in the employee’s learning and development. However, if their planned ac on would have a significant nega ve effect on the company financially, you have to step in. You have a responsibility to the company to protect its fiscal assets that is as great as the responsibility to develop its human assets. Provide the employee with alterna ve behaviors, let them figure out the appropriate choice, and explain why you had to step in.

Managing this issue Knowing when to let an employee make a mistake they can learn from and when you need to step in and coach them is a balancing act. You have to balance their opportunity to learn and grow against the harm they could do to themselves, their team, and the company. The more confident you are in your own abili es, the more you will be able to let your employees make their own choices. Remember, your role in coaching employees is to help them find the right behavior, not just tell them what to do.

F. John Reh, Author Profile John Reh is a senior business execu ve whose broad management experience encompasses managing projects up to $125 million and business units including up to 200-plus people.

The impact on the company financials is severe

A published author, most recently as a contribu ng author to Business: The Ul mate Resource, John has set aside me throughout his career to mentor newer managers, o en women and minories, in the art and science of management: a skill that can be taught and learned.

Almost any mistake is going to cost the company money, either directly or in lost profits. You can’t step in every me an employee might make a mis-

Copyright permission granted by LabManager: Original ar cle can be found at: h p://www.labmanager.com/uncategorized/2010/07/employee-coaching-when-to-step-in#.WfEsnYhrxEa

The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.

— Henry Ford, Founder, Ford Motor Company

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Learn at Lunch: A Program to Help Employees Grow Do you have employees that are hungry to expand their knowledge and skill-set, but find your budget for training to be ght? If your employees are as eager as they claim, you could consider installing a Learn at Lunch program.

By F. John Reh



There never seems to be enough me during the day to get everything done.

You can’t spare people to go to training because there is so much work to be done, but you also can’t neglect their training and development. Learn at Lunch is a way to get more training done by making the lunch hour mul -tasking.



What is Learn at Lunch?

At its simplest, a learn at lunch program is a training event scheduled during the lunch hour. Employees who a end bring their lunches and eat them during the training session. The training is usually less formal and less structured than normal.

Typical Learn at Lunch programs include: 

Skills training. This can range from teaching Customer Service reps how to answer the phone correctly to providing leadership training to first line managers.



Product training. If your company have many products or services, a program of Learn at Lunch sessions can help all employees be er understand the product differences.



Professional development. Give people an opportunity to learn what people in other departments do. Do you have someone in IT who could teach a course in programming basics or someone in accoun ng who could explain hoe financial forecas ng works? Maybe someone in HR could teach a session on how to interview be er.



Personal development. A Learn at Lunch program does not have to be strictly business.

You could offer an occasional session on any talent any of your employees is willing to teach, from wood carving to pain ng or drawing.



Life skills. You could bring in a guest speaker to explain to your employees the different types of insurance and the benefits of each. Or have a class in household budge ng, first aid, or fire safety, anything that helps your employees learn.

What Learn at Lunch is Not Learn at Lunch is not the me to do training that is required, either by law or by the company. It is not a good me to train employees on serious subjects like ethics or harassment. Don’t use Learn at Lunch programs for anything where you need to keep track of who a ends.

Learn at Lunch is not good for anything that cannot be covered in 30-45 minutes. People need me to get to the sessions and ask ques ons and get back to their jobs so keep it brief and focused.

How to Start a Learn at Lunch Program There are many varia ons of a Learn at Lunch program. You need to tailor the basics to what works for your company and its culture.

Some planning needs to be done ahead of me and some of

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it will flow once the program starts. Topics you need to think about ahead of me include: 

Topics You need to select the subject for the Learn at Lunch program. See the bullet points above for some examples, but you can select whatever makes sense for your organiza on.



Recrui ng You will need speakers and trainers to deliver the training in the Learn at Lunch sessions. Many people will complain that they are too busy. Stress the fact that it is short and informal. Tell them how valuable their knowledge is and how good it would be to share that with the rest of the employees. (Sure, you’re fla ering them, but it’s true.)



The biggest benefit of a Learn at Lunch program is that you are able to get more training delivered to your employees at minimal addi onal cost. 

A Learn at Lunch program doesn’t make more hours in the day, but it makes be er use of the me you have.



Employees appreciate the voluntary nature of the training. Trea ng them like adults makes them feel be er about the company.



The trainers enjoy the spotlight of being able to share their exper se with others in the company.

Bo om line, a Learn at Lunch program will give you be er trained employees who are more mo vated.

Loca ons Pick a place that is suppor ve of both ea ng and training. Lunch rooms or cafeterias usually are not a good choice because they tend to be too noisy for the training to be effec ve. Conference rooms

are a good choice. Depending on your loca on, outdoors can be good, too. 

Benefits of Learn at Lunch

Lunch Usually, people bring their own lunches. Some mes, to make it a special event, the company may want to provide lunch to get a be er turnout. For example, if you are having a presenta on on the company’s latest product, you might want to a ract people from many groups. Free lunch of something simple like pizza can help pull them in.

F. John Reh, Author Profile John Reh is a senior business execu ve whose broad management experience encompasses managing projects up to $125 million and business units including up to 200-plus people.

A published author, most recently as a contribu ng author to Business: The Ul mate Resource, John has set aside me throughout his career to mentor newer managers, o en women and minories, in the art and science of management: a skill that can be taught and learned.

Copyright permission granted by LabManager: Original ar cle can be found at: h p://www.labmanager.com/management- ps/2010/04/learn-at-lunch-a-program-to-help-employeesgrow#.WfJU3YhrxEZ

Where my reason, imagination or interest were not engaged, I would not or could not learn. — Sir Winston Churchill

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An attempt for empowering education: A qualitative study of in-service training of nursing personnel Mahmood Chaghari,1 Abbas Ebadi,2 Ahmad Ameryoun,3 and Mohsen Safari1 1

Faculty of Health, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 3 Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2

Abstract Background: In-service training of nursing personnel has a significant role in increasing the empowerment of nurses and promo on of the quality of health services. The objec ve of this study is to iden fy and explain the process of in-service training of nursing personnel in the hospitals affiliated with Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences in Tehran.

Materials and Methods: The present study employed a qualita ve approach using Corbin and Strauss method (2008) in 2015, and examined the viewpoints and experiences of 35 nurses, nurse managers, and educa onal managers with the in-service educa on of nursing staffs.

According to this method, comparisons, asking ques ons, flip-flop technique, depicting personal experiences, and raising red flag were used for data analysis.

Results: In this study, five major themes including unsuccessful mandatory educa on, empowering educa on, organiza onal challenges, weakness in the educa onal management, and educa onal-job resiliency were derived from the results. Unsuccessful mandatory educa on was the main concern of par cipants and empowering educaon was the core category derived from this study.

Conclusions: Empowering educa on emphasizes the prac ce-oriented and self-directed training.

It is an applied educa on, is par cipa on-oriented, facilitates job func ons, and is based on explora on.

Key words: Empowering educa on, grounded theory, in-service training, job resiliency, nursing personnel

INTRODUCTION Training of personnel is an efficient guarantee for constant development of organizaons. It is an important approach by which human resources boost their capabili es.

[1] Employees have an important role in the growth and development of an organiza on, and empowering the employees through in-service training leads to development and success of an organiza on.[2] In-service educa on of nursing personnel is highly significant and very effec ve for increasing the quality of hospital services.

Studies show that a significant rela onship exists among training the nursing personnel and medical results and outputs.[3] The need to increase the efficiency and effecveness is undeniable in both preservice and in-service educa on.[4] Considering

Address for correspondence: Dr. Ahmad Ameryoun, Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: moc.oohay@ ileh_rema_da Received 2015 Oct 15; Accepted 2016 Apr 26.

Copyright : © Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research This is an open access ar cle distributed under the terms of the Crea ve Commons A ribu on-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new crea ons are licensed under the iden cal terms.

Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2016 SepOct; 21(5): 498–503. doi: 10.4103/1735-9066.193404 PMCID: PMC5114795

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the effec ve in-service educa on for empowering nurses appears necessary for the constant changes in medical services and cares. With regards to the increasing progress of science and medical technology, it seems necessary that the care processes of pa ents are updated.[5] The previous studies conducted on the in-service educa on of nursing personnel show the lack of follow-up evalua on and provide li le evidence of their effec veness.[6] The effec veness of some in-service educa onal programs on promo on of pa ent care is not properly approved.[7] The need to increase the capacity and improve the educa onal results and outputs along with significant changes in the medical care jus fies the need for development and administra on of new medical models for the nursing personnel.[8] The accredita on council for con nuing medical educa on (ACCME) believes that, by reconstruc on and development of in-service educa on, the quality of hospital care can be improved.[7]

Background in Iran In-service training of nursing personnel was mainly conducted by the Ministry of health and medical universi es un l 2012. A er 2012, with the implementa on of accredita on standards in Iranian hospitals, the educa on of nursing staffs underwent a considerable evolu on, and a major part of it was devolved to the hospitals.[9] Hospitals were obliged to hold annual educa onal courses and workshops on cardiopulmonary resuscita on, pa ent’s rights, communica ve and behavioral skills, pa ent’s safety, infec on control, environmental sanita on, job health and immunity, risk management and crisis management, as well as to conduct the required educa ons required by the nursing personnel in different divisions of the hospital separately based on a needs assessment approach.[10] The in-service educa onal program of nurses in Iran had no significant effect on the professional output of nurses and promo on of nursing care quality up to 2012.[11] The main point for the success of in-service training programs of nurses is scru nizing and iden fica on of the grounds, processes, and interac ons of nurses with the personnel’s educa on system. Hence, the present study is aimed to inves gate this issue in the hospitals affiliated with the Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences.

Purpose of the study The purpose of this qualita ve study was to explain the process of in-service educa on of nursing

personnel in the hospitals affiliated with the Medical University of Baqiyatallah, as well as the iden fica on of the grounds, processes, and interac ons of nurses with the personnel’s educa on system to explore the main concern of the par cipants along with barriers and facilitators in order to design the op mal model of nursing staff educa on.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Design The present study is derived from a PhD thesis submi ed in 2015 based on the qualita ve approach of the grounded theory and Corbin’s method (2008).

Par cipants The sta s cal popula on of this study included the hospitals affiliated with the Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences in Tehran. The samples included 35 personnel including nurses, supervisors, nursing managers, educa onal managers, and hospital managers. At the first stage, samples were selected using purposeful sampling method, and at the second stage, the samples were theore cally selected based on emerging concepts aimed at analyzing a range of consequent topics that take the maximum diversity into account.[12,13]

Data collec on and analysis The data were collected using semi-structured interviews, observa on, field notes, as well as by studying the documents and evidences. In total, 42 interviews (2 interviews for some of the par cipants) were conducted in three hospitals with an average dura on of 60 min for every interview. The par cipants were asked to describe their experiences and percepons related to in-service educa on of nursing staff.

Then, the interviews were directed according to the responses of par cipants. The interviews were recorded with a digital recorder and were listened to several mes and transcribed on the same day. The transcrip ons were considered as the main data of research. The main researcher a ended 21 educaonal programs and took field notes. In addi on, he a ended different parts of the hospitals in 34 sessions and observed the opera ons and applica on of the educa onal materials and took notes. Moreover, the documents and evidences including the policies and guidelines of the hospitals were used. For collec ng deeper and be er data, the researcher found a part- me job in one of the hospitals and observed the process of educa on, educa onal programs,

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and the applica on of educa onal material while working inside and took notes. The data were analyzed using the Corbin and Strauss method (2008).

Using this method, various techniques including comparisons, asking ques ons and thinking about different connota ons of a concept, flip-flop technique, depic ng personal experiences, and raising red flag were used to data analysis.[12] Comparisons were used for comparing events and phenomena with each other for their similari es or differences. Con nued asking ques ons assessed the quiddity of data and were followed issues such as: who, what, when, where, how and with what consequences. Waving the red flag followed that in which condi ons a phenomenon always happened or did not happen.[12] For coding data, MAXQDA-10 was used. Four types of coding were applied in this study, namely, coding for concepts, coding for context, coding for process, and coding for outcome. Hence, a er the categoriza on and classifica on of codes, the main themes evolved, which were then classified in to three dimensions of context, process, and outcome. To assure the accuracy of research and reliability of results, the strategies provided by Lincoln were used.[14] In terms of the credibility of research, the researcher was constantly involved with the data; moreover, data were confirmed by the par cipants, research team, and two external experts. To achieve dependability, two members of the research team coded the interviews separately and they compared their dra s and resolved the disagreements.

For confirmability of the research, sufficient me (2 years) was devoted to data collec on, nota on, and analysis, and each stage was conducted very carefully. For transferability, the collected data and informa on were reviewed and confirmed by two experts.

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and 4 hospital managers. The sample consisted of 17 males and 18 females at the age range of 27-51 years, with an average of 39.08 years. Their level of educa on varied from Bachelor to PhD. Regarding the type of employment, 9 par cipants were extra-hours employees, 8 were contractual employees, and 18 were formal employees. A er analyzing the interviews, 1186 codes without overlap and 568 overlapping codes were iden fied at the first level. In this study, five major themes, 10 main categories, and 22 subcategories were found [Table 1]. The main themes included unsuccessful-mandatory educa on, empowering educa on, organiza onal challenges, weakness of educa onal management, and educa onal-job resiliency.

Unsuccessful-mandatory educa on was the main concern of par cipants, and empowerment training was the core variable derived from data.

Unsuccessful-mandatory educa on The unsuccessful-mandatory educa on addresses the compulsory educa on that performs the shape and manifest of educa on and has weak efficiency; it has not the necessary effec veness in the teaching and applying the materials by the learners. One of the educa onal manager stated “We are working on the surface … educa on is not an obligatory subject … educa on must be effec ve at the first hand i.e., it should give the necessary feedback to the personnel … unfortunately I feel that we have problems both in the learning process and in the administra on process …” (Educaonal manager: 3, 42 year-old female).

Ethical considera ons The study was approved by the ethics commi ee of the Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences; the par cipants signed an informed consent form to par cipate in the study. They were also assured of the confiden ality of personal informa on, their right to quit the study at any me, not recording any part of the interview, and the confiden ality of interviews.

RESULTS

Table 1

This study included 20 nurses, 2 supervisors, 3 nurse managers, 6 educa onal managers,

The major themes and main categories derived from data

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Field notes and observa ons confirmed the unsuccessful and mandatory educa on. Nurses did not ac vely par cipate in training programs and teachers frequently expressed phrases such as “Why is par cipa on so missing” and “I see that most of you are asleep.”

In the unsuccessful-mandatory educa on, lack of organizaonal and professional incen ves and encouragement as well as the weakness of educa onal culture in the organizaon challenge the effec veness of nursing staff educa on.

The concept of unsuccessful educa on was observed in this study to be the main concern of par cipants. One of the nurses stated “The educa onal culture and learning are very poor in our hospital … however trainings intervene with job processes of personnel and unsuccessful applica on of method and the content of educa on puts them into many problems … educa on must be useful and effec ve” (Nurse 5, 29-year-old female).

Empowerment training During the research, the par cipants pointed at unsuccessful-mandatory educa on and were hopeful of achieving effec ve and successful educa on. The key par cipants (nurses) believed to spontaneity and applicability of educaons. One of the nurses stated “They should teach subjects to the nurses that be of use in the opera ons and medical care, not just a bunch of theories … the nurse should be able to apply them in her work … morning report classes are quite beneficiary for example … because its tangible, it increases the prac cal knowledge of the nurse” (Nurse 15, 34-year-old male).

One of the supervisors stated “Nurses should determine the educa onal contents and didac c subjects … educa onal managers should apply the idea of nurses for the selec on of subjects … it should be self-mo vated … it should create incen ves for the nurses to follow learning …. Educa on must be given up classic methods and obliga on” (Matron 2, 36-year-old female).

Field notes and observa ons showed that the nurses acvely par cipate in prac cal and self-directed educa on.

Welcoming trainers with medical experience, the interest of nurses toward indirect educa on, welcoming monitoring and receiving feedback, and the interest of nurses in clinical educa on are some of the examples of this issue. The interest of nurses to prac cal and self-directed learning, directed educa onal managers to spontaneous and applied educa ons. Self-directed and applied educa on led the researchers to empowerment training. Empowerment training in this study was selected as the core variable because all other variables were focused on it and the common strategy of par cipants was to achieve educa onal success.

Organiza onal challenges

Some of the organiza onal procedures in the studied hospitals were conflic ng with the nature and goals of educaonal programs and prevented from training success. Some of these factors are financial constraints, lack of nurses, and the conflicts caused by different management divisions against educa on. One of the educa onal supervisors stated “The most important problem is the conflict among middle management and educa on. The human resource management has determined the limita on of working hours … the head nurse cannot have more personnel in the educa on courses … The management team is opposed to the raise of salaries, management wants the minimum workforce with maximum output … these are against educa on …” (Educaonal supervisor No: 1, 42-year-old female).

Furthermore, organiza onal challenges indicate that the framework of working processes in the studied hospitals is against the nature and goals of nursing staff educa ons. One of the nursing managers states that “Diagnosis and medical processes are not congruent with educa ons … The number of surgery opera ons, MRI, CT scan, and Blood tests do not match with the number of nurses. ICU admits cases are abundant in the divisions … these are not consistent with educa onal goals” (Nursing manager No: 2, 47-year-old male). The concept of organiza onal challenges is classified as a context-related concept.

Weakness in educa onal management The concept of weakness in educa onal management refers to the deficiencies that are related to the educa onal process of nursing personnel including needs assessment, evalua on, and providing educa onal feedback. It also indicates the incompetency related to organiza onal educa on processes such as intraorganiza onal educa on, general educa on, and extraorganiza onal educa on. Regarding the weakness of educa onal needs assessment, one of the nurses stated “Some of the educa onal topics are not in line with the needs of personnel … needs assessment is done but not correctly, and again no good planning is done for the iden fied needs … in the end, the programs are conducted which are not consistent with the needs of personnel …”

(Nurse No: 18, 28-year-old female).

Educa onal-job resiliency The nursing personnel in the wake of dissa sfac on with the unsuccessful-mandatory educa on and access to the empowering educa on, on the one hand, are faced with the lack of appropriate condi ons and substrates as a result of organiza onal challenges and weaknesses in educa onal management, and on the other hand, are faced with inappropriate governing condi ons including hospital’s educaonal policies and unfavorable cross-training rules. In such a condi on, they have to endure obligatory obedience and

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adapt to the present situa on. In this way, nursing staffs have achieved educa onal and job resiliency. One of the nurses stated that “hospital management is not suppor ve of the nurse … It does not provide the necessary ground for suppor ng the nurse such as raising the salary, increasing the number of personnel … hospital management just wants obedience from the nurse …” (Nurse No: 10, 38-year-old male).

Another nurse stated “A nurse has no choice but to obey …

We have to par cipate in the educa ons and apply them … we are not sa sfied with the present condi on … job pressure is too much … we are doing our best but the job condi on is not good at all … we have to adapt” (Nurse No: 19, 36-year-old female).

The general processes and the main concepts of in-service educa on of nursing personnel of the hospitals affiliated with the Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences are presented in Figure 1.

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challenges are the barriers that conflict with empowering educa on. As a result, process owners turn to educa onal governance coincidence and work accommoda on. Therefore, the nurses a ained educa onal-job resiliency.

DISCUSSION In-service training includes programmed educa onal ac vi es that seek the promo on of scien fic and experimental knowledge of professional nurses in the fields of performance, management, and research, which is in line with the development and improvement of public health.[15] In addi on to increasing the theore cal knowledge, such professional trainings increase the technical and qualita ve ability of services and lead to innova on.[16] The results of the present study showed that the nursing personnel seek applied and prac cal educa on. The interest of nursing personnel to specialized professional educa on, welcoming the trainers with medical experience, and morning report educa onal programs resulted to the concept of op mality of prac cal educa on. The gap between professional skills of the personnel and the required skills for the job leads to job reluctance. In-service educa on can reduce this gap and increase the incen ves and sense of organiza onal belonging.[16] The results obtained by Rowden and Conine[17] and Sahinidis and Bouris[18] showed that the effec veness of educa onal programs on promo ng the professional skills of personnel results in job commitment and employee sa sfac on; employees will feel that they are important to the organiza on and their a achment to the organiza on will increase. In the present study, nurses were indirectly demanding more a en on through providing the grounds for applied and prac cal educa on.

Clinical supervision of nursing improves the quality of services and develops the medical and applied skills of the nurses.[19] Our findings also showed that educa onal managers believe that for promoting the effec veness of nursing in-service educaon, performance assessment and reflec on of the results should be done. Nursing personnel were also were embracing this.

Figure 1 shows that educa onal deficiency in addi on to deterrents such as poor educa onal culture, along with mandatory educa on leads to the unsuccessful-mandatory educa on. Unsuccessful-mandatory educa on is the main concern of process owners (nurses) and they seek to remove it by prac cal and self-directed educa on. Par cipants indeed seek empowering educa on. Contextual factors such as poor educa onal management and organiza onal

Self-directed learning was another dimension of empowering educa on in the present study. Nursing personnel were seeking results, a tude, exploraon, and par cipa on in the educa onal programs. The self-directed learning follows the principles of adult’s learning. In self-directed learning, the learning ini a ve is in the hands of learners; research, explora on, and commitment are the basis of educa on and learning.[20] Self-directed learning is introduced as a method for lifelong learning in medical educa on.[21] In self-directed learning, the learners self-learn the necessary subjects and through different

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methods.[22] According to ͺenyuva and Kaya,[23] nurses have shown a considerable interest to self-directed learning in the field of web-based learning. Pinheiro and Sardo[24] also showed that self-directed educa on techniques have an effec ve role in expanding the educa onal skills of health professionals. Similarly, in the present study, nurses were seeking the development of their professional skills through self-directed learning methods. Evidences show that those who ini ate their own learning (ac ve learners) obtain be er results and use their learnings more and be er, compared to passive learners.[25] Another major theme derived from our data is educaonal-job resiliency, which indicated the consequence of ac on-interac ons. Nursing personnel were a emp ng to achieve empowering techniques, however due to organiza onal challenges, the necessary condi ons and grounds to achieve this aim was not possible. The weak points in educa onal management was another field variable that intensifies the challenges; therefore, nurses faced with unfavorable educa onal governing condi ons on one hand, and were obliged to obey the educa onal principles of the organiza on on the other hand. These issues led the nurses into some kind of employment and training resiliency. From a sociological point of view, resiliency was a dynamic process to adapt with stressful events, indica ng the ability of people in having successful performance when faced with different events.[26] Social resilience refers to the social ability to cope with difficul es and unpleasant events without endangering social values.[27] Reyes et al.[28] showed that resilience neutralizes the nega ve effects of stress and has an effec ve role in the professional and educa onal life of the nurses. This finding is consistent with our result. Kim and Windsor[29] studied work-life balance in firstline nurse mangers and found that the firstline nurse mangers use ac on-interac ons such as “posi ve thinking,” “flexibility,” “assuming responsibility,” and “separa ng work and life” to achieve the dynamic and reflec ve process.

However, in the present study, enduring job stress and job involvement in addi on to coping with organiza onal and governance condi ons led the nurses to job resiliency.[29] A study by Jackson et al.[30] showed that the strategy of nurses toward workplace adversity was personal resilience, which can be improved by maintaining posi vity, developing emo onal insight, and achieving life balance and spirituality.

Similarly, the present study also noted that job resiliency is a strategy used by nurses in unpleasant working condi ons, which is realized through obligatory obedience.

CONCLUSION Empowering educa on is one of the in-service educa on models for nursing personnel that emphasizes self-direc ve

learning and prac cal educa on. Empowerment training is result-oriented, par cipatory, and a tudinal, and is based on explora on, research, and commitment. It facilitates job du es and increases the professional skills of the nurses. Unsuitable organiza onal ground is an obstacle for the implementa on and success of empowering educa on. Unsuitable grounds in an organiza on leads to nursing job and educa onal resiliency, which in turn results in increment of nurse’s compa bility with the employment and educa onal condi ons.

Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.

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