Employee Training & Development Vocabulary Chapters 1, 3-5

Converger

Good at decisiveness, practical application of ideas and hypothetical deductive reasoning

Diverger

Good at generating ideas, seeing a situation from multiple perspectives and being aware of meaning and value

Accommodator

Good at implementing decisions, carrying out plans and getting involved in new experiences

Assimilator

Good at inductive reasoning, creating theoretical models, and combing disparate observations into an integrated explanation

Person Analysis

Involves 1. Determining whether performance deficiencies result from a lack of knowledge, skill or ability or from a motivation or work design problem; 2. Identifying who needs training and 3. Determining employee readiness for training.

Tacit Knowledge

Personal knowledge based on individual experiences that is difficult to codify. Acquired through informal learning and communicated and observing experiences, skills, and behaviors with others.

Near Transfer

Trainees ability to apply learned capabilities exactly to the work situation when the work environment is identical to the training session.

Overlearning

Trainees need to continue to practice even if they have been able to perform the objective several times.

Curriculum Road Map

a figure showing all of the courses in a curriculum, the paths the learners can take through it and the sequences in which courses have to be completed.

Trainability

a function of the individual's ability and motivation

Training

a planned effort by a company to facilitate learning of job-related competencies, knowledge, skills and behaviors by employees.

Positive Reinforcement

a pleasurable outcome resulting from a behavior

Part Practice

a task should be practiced individually as soon as each is introduced to the training program.

Generalization

a trainee's ability to apply what they learned to on-the job work problems and situations encountered in the learning environment-training.

Whole Practice

all tasks should be practiced at the same time. If the skills introduced in training are related to each other, the trainee should demonstrate all of them in a practice session after they have all been practiced individually.

Subject Matter Expert

are employees, mangers, trainers, and even customers who are knowledgeable with regard to training issues, the knowledge, skills and abilities required for successful task performance, the necessary equipment and the conditions under which the task have to be performed.

Goal Setting Theory

behavior results from a person's conscious goals and intentions.

Design Document

can be used to guide the development of training and to explain the training to others

Spaced Practice

conditions in which individuals are given rest intervals within practice sessions.

Massed Practice

conditions in which individuals practice a task continuously without resting. It is also having trainees complete practice exercises at one time within a lesson.

Organizational Analysis

determining the appropriateness of training given the company's business strategy, its resources available for training and support by managers and peers for training activities.

Reinforcement Theory

emphasizes that people are motivated to perform or avoid certain behaviors because of past outcomes that have resulted from those behaviors.

Social Learning Theory

emphasizes that people learn by observing other persons whom they believe are credible and knowledgeable.

Knowledge Workers

employees who contribute to the company through what they know. They contribute specialized knowledge that managers may not have, such as information about customers.

Self-efficacy

employees' belief that they can perform their job or learn the content of the training program successfully.

Fidelity

extent to which the training environment is similar to the work environment.

Information Processing Theory

focuses on the internal processes that occur when training content is learned/retained.

Physical Requirements

he degree to which the task requires the person to use physical skills/abilities to perform the task.

Quantitative Ability

how fast and accurately a person can solve math

Task Analysis

identifies the important tasks and knowledge, skills, and behaviors that need to be emphasized in training for employees to complete their tasks.

Knowledge

includes facts or procedures.

Ability

includes the physical and mental capacities to perform a task

Skill

indicates competency in performing a task.

Explicit Knowledge

knowledge which is well documented, easily articulated and easily transferred from person to person. Examples: checklists, flowcharts, formulas, definitions, etc.

Human Capital

knowledge, advanced skills, system understanding and creativity and motivation to deliver high-quality products/services.

Informal Learning

learning that is learner initiated, involves action and doing, is motivated by an intent to develop and does not occur in a formal learning setting. Does not involve a trainer or instructor.

Reasoning ability

person's capability to invent solutions to problems

Verbal Comprehensions

person's capacity to understand and use written and spoken language

Punishment

presenting an unpleasant outcome after a behavior, leading to a decrease in that behavior.

Objective

purpose and expected outcome of training activities

Crowdsourcing

refers to asking a large group of employees to help provide information for needs assessment that they are not traditionally asked to do.

Performance Orientation

refers to learners who focus on task performance and how they compare to others. They define success as high performance relative to others.

Learning Orientation

related to trying to increase ability in a task. They believe training success is defined as showing improvement and making progress.

Social Capital

relationships in the company.

Learning

relatively permanent change in human capabilities that can include knowledge, skills, competencies, attitudes or behaviors that are not the result of growth processes.

Competency

sets of skills, knowledge, abilities, and personal characteristics that enable employees to perform their jobs successfully.

Motivation to learn

the amount of effort that a trainee will expend in learning

Intellectual Capital

the codified knowledge that exists in a company.

Overall Task Complexity

the degree to which a task requires a number of distinct behaviors, the number of choices involved in performing the task and the degree of uncertainty in performing the task.

Locus of control

the degree to which individuals make external or internal attributions about outcomes. External: outcomes attributed to luck or actions of others. Internal: outcomes based on one's own behavior.

Mental Requirements

the degree to which the task requires the subject to use or demonstrate mental skills or cognitive skills or abilities to perform the task.

Opportunity to perform

the extent to which the trainee is provided with or seeks out experiences that allow application of the newly learned knowledge, skill or behaviors from the training program.

Program Design

the organization and coordination of the training program. Should include what goes on before, during and after the training program.

Knowledge Management

the process of enhancing company performance by designing and implementing tools, processes, systems, structures and cultures to improve creation, sharing and use of knowledge. This contributes to informal learning.

Maintenance

the process of trainees continuing to use what they learned over time

Extinction

the process of withdrawing positive or negative reinforces to eliminate a behavior

Needs Assessment

the process to determine whether training is necessary

Negative Reinforcement

the removal of an unpleasant outcome

Customer Capital

the value of relationships with persons or other organizations outside the company for accomplishing the goals of the company.

Far Transfer

trainee's ability to apply learned capabilities to the work environment, even though the work environment is not identical to the training session.

Transfer of training

trainees effectively and continually applying what they have learned in training to their jobs.

Formal Training and Development

training and development programs, courses and events that are developed and organized by the company. Can include face-to-face or online programs.

Development

training as well as formal education, job experiences, relationship and assessments of personality, skills and abilities that help employees prepare for future jobs/positions.

Cross Training

training employees in a wide range of skills so they can fill any of the roles needed to be performed on the team. Gives work teams maximum flexibility.

Benchmarking

using information about other companies training practices to help determine the appropriate type, level and frequency of training.