Reference no: EM133042265
Evaluating Training at Hutchinson Inc. (adapted from Cascio, 2013)
Hutchinson Inc. is a large insurance brokerage firm operating out of Seattle, Washington. The company was founded in 1942 by John Hutchinson, Sr., great-grandfather of the current president. Hutchinson offers a complete line of insurance services for both individuals and business firms. As is true with other insurance companies, Hutchinson emphasizes sales. In fact, more than half of all corporate employees are involved in sales to some degree.
Because the sales activity is so important to Hutchinson, the company spends a considerable amount of time, effort and money in sales training. Its training director, Tom Jordan, is constantly on the lookout for new training techniques that can improve sales and profits. He recently uncovered one that he had never hear of before, but which seemed to have some promise. He immediately scheduled a meeting with his boss, Cathy Archer, vice president for human resources at Hutchinson, to discuss the possibility of sending some salespeople to this new training course.
Cathy: Come in Tom. What's this I hear about a new sales-training course?
Tom: Well, as you know, Cathy, I always try to keep up-to-date on the latest in training techniques so that we can remain competitive. I got a flyer yesterday in the mail announcing a new approach to sales training. The course is offered by a guy named Bagwan Shri Lansig. Apparently, the course involves flying trainees off to a secluded spot in the mountains of Oregon where they undergo a week of intensive training, personal growth exercises, synchronized chanting, and transcendental meditation. the brochure is brimming with personal testimonials from "million dollar" salespeople who claim to have been helped immeasurably by the training. I already have 10 people in mind to send to the training session next month, but before I speak with them, I thought I'd run it by you.
Cathy: How much does it cost?
Tom: It's not bad. Only $6,500 per person. And there's a 10% discount if we send more than five people.
Cathy: I don't know, Tom. That sounds a little steep to me. Besides, John has been bugging me again about the results of our last training effort. He wants to know whether all the money we're spending on sales training is really paying off. As you know, sales and profits are down this quarter, and John is looking for places to cut corners. I'm afraid that if we can't demonstrate a payoff somehow for our training courses, he is going to pull the rug out from under us.
Tom: But we evaluate all our training programs! The last one got rave reviews from all the participants. Remember how they said that they hardly had time to enjoy Hawaii because they were so busy learning about proper closing techniques?
Cathy: That's true, Tom. But John wants more proof than just the reactions of the salespeople. He wants something more tangible. Now before we buy into any more sales-training programs, I want you to develop a plan for evaluation of the training effort.
Questions to address:
- What is meant by the statement that training is extremely "faddish"?
- How can Hutchinson Inc. avoid becoming a victim of a training fad?
- What are your thoughts about Tom's response regarding evaluating training programs?
- Develop a detailed training-evaluation strategy that Tom can present to Cathy, which would provide evidence of the effectiveness of a particular training technique.
To recap, this assignment requires that you make a training recommendation. The final deliverable required is a single document grammatically correct and addressing all questions in the assignment.