1.0 Introduction
The
importance of training and assessment effectiveness has long been recognized as
a crucial issue for organizations (Ford et al., 1997; Noe and Ford, 1992;
Tannenbaum and Yukl, 1992). To the extent that employee-training programs are
effective, organizations are able to avoid wasteful spending and improve
performance and productivity. Thus, a key consideration for virtually all
organizations is the expected return provided the organization for its training
investment. Because it has been suggested that organizations are likely to
increase their reliance upon and utilization of employee training programs in
years to come, the effectiveness of competency-based training and assessment in
the Oil and Gas Industry is likely to become even more salient in the future.
In today's Oil and Gas Industry, workers must be prepared to change the way
they do their jobs in order to capture the benefits from rapidly evolving
technology. Competency-based training and assessment goes hand-in-hand with
productivity, quality, flexibility, and automation in the best performing
firms.
2.0 Thesis Statement/Problem
The
study intends to conduct a study pertaining to the competency-based training
and assessment in the Oil and Gas Industry. Specifically, the study would like
to answer the following questions:
1. What are the training
techniques conducted by competency-based training and assessment in the Oil and
Gas Industry?
2. How do Oil and Gas
Industry choose their trainees?
3. How do this Oil and
Gas Industry measure the level of learning the trainees have acquired from
their training?
4. What is the level of
learning of the trainees after they have finished their training from Oil and
Gas Industry?
5. Is there a significant
difference between the level of learning acquired by the trainees from Oil and
Gas Industry?
3.0 Literature Review
This
is illustrated by several studies conducted by other authors regarding training
and assessment. Specifically, Tannenbaum and colleagues (1993) provided an
integrative framework for all the variables that influence the design and
delivery of training (Cannon-Bowers et al 1995). The framework outlines in
detail the pretraining and during-training conditions that may influence learning,
as well as the factors that may facilitate the transfer of skills after
training. Kozlowski & Salas (1997), drawing from organizational theory,
discussed the importance of characterizing the factors and processes in which
training interventions are implemented and transferred in organizations.
Moreover, Kozlowski and colleagues (Kozlowski et al 2000) consider
organizational system factors and training design issues that influence the
effectiveness of vertical transfer processes. Vertical transfer refers to the
upward propagation of individual-level training outcomes that emerge as team-
and organizational-level outcomes. This issue has been largely neglected by
researchers yet is suggested to be crucial to training effectiveness.
Similarly, researchers have begun to understand and outline the barriers and
myths that exist in organizations as they implement training (Salas et al
1999). In other work, Kraiger et al (1993) provided new conceptualizations of
learning and evaluation theory, approaches, and measurement. These authors
expanded Kirkpatrick's (1976) evaluation typology by incorporating recent
notions in cognitive psychology.
4.0 Theoretical Orientation
The
theoretical orteientation to be used in the study is the Input-Process-Output
Model. Figure 1 illustrates the basic IPO model:
Figure 1
Input – Process – Output Model
This study will
be focusing on the current competency-based training
and assessment practices of Oil and Gas Industry. This study will primarily
benefit both the leaders of business industries. As for the leaders, this study will show if
their expectations and goals pertaining to training and development will be met
and be used in future of businesses.
Moreover, educators can gain from this study, as they find the
connection between how they have designed their curriculum and identify the
actual needs of the oil and gas industry.
In that way, they would be able to make immediate changes, if necessary,
or continued improvement of their programs, through further studies. Any deficiencies in training can then be
addressed by both the academe and the industry so that there won’t be any
shortages in that field.
Finally,
this study would benefit future researchers in the field of the public
administration, business administration, education, and the social sciences
since it depicts the future of the businesses and corporations and its varying
effects to many sectors of society.
9.0 List of References
The IPO
model will provide the general structure and guide for the direction of the
study. Substituting the variables of this study on the IPO model, the
researcher came up with the following:
Figure 2
Conceptual Framework
INPUT
PROCESS
OUTPUT
Research
requires an organized data gathering in order to pinpoint the research
philosophies and theories that will be included in the research, the
methodology of the research and the instruments of data interpretation. The
research described in this document is partly based on quantitative
research methods. This permits a flexible and iterative approach. During data
gathering the choice and design of methods are constantly modified, based on
ongoing analysis. This allows investigation of important new issues and
questions as they arise, and allows the investigators to drop unproductive
areas of research from the original research plan.
This study
also employs qualitative research method, since this research intends to find
and build theories that would explain the relationship of one variable with
another variable through qualitative elements in research. These qualitative
elements does not have standard measures, rather they are behavior, attitudes,
opinions, and beliefs.
Furthermore,
as we define the qualitative research it is multimethod in focus, involving an
interpretative, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that
qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to
make sense of, or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to
them. Accordingly, qualitative researchers deploy a wide range of
interconnected methods, hoping always to get a better fix on the subject matter
at hand.
Cannon-Bowers JA,
Salas E. 1997. Teamwork competencies: the interaction of team member knowledge,
skills, and attitudes. In Workforce Readiness: Competencies and Assessment, ed.
HF O'Niel, pp. 151-74. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
Ford JK, Smith EM,
Weissbein DA, Gully SM, Salas E. 1998. Relationships of goal-orientation,
metacognitive activity, and practice strategies with learning outcomes and
transfer. J. Appl. Psychol. 83:218-33
Kirkpatrick DL. 1976.
Evaluation of training. In Training and Development Handbook, ed. RL Craig, Ch.
18. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2nd ed.
Kozlowski SWJ, & Salas
E. 1997. A multilevel organizational systems approach for the implementation
and transfer of training. See Ford et al 1997, pp. 247-87
Kraiger K, Ford JK,
Salas E. 1993. Application of cognitive, skill-based, and affective theories of
learning outcomes to new methods of training evaluation. J. Appl. Psychol.
78:311-28
Noe, R. A. and J. K.
Ford. 1992. "Emerging issues and new directions for training
research." In Research in personnel and human resources management. Ed. G.
R. Ferris. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. pp. 345-384.
Salas E, Fowlkes J,
Stout RJ, Milanovich DM, Prince C. 1999. Does CRM training improve teamwork
skills in the cockpit?: two evaluation studies. Hum. Factors 41:326-43
Tannenbaum SI,
Cannon-Bowers JA, Mathieu JE. 1993. Factors That Influence Training
Effectiveness: A Conceptual Model and Longitudinal Analysis. Rep. 93-011, Naval
Train. Syst. Cent., Orlando, FL
Tannenbaum, S. I. and
G. Yukl. 1992. "Training and development in work organizations." In
Annual review of psychology. Eds. P. R. Rozenzwig and L. W. Porter. Palo Alto,
CA: Annual Reviews, Inc. pp. 399-441.
Comments