Question

For years, parents, students, and teachers complained that nobody listened, that decisions were made without participation, and that good ideas went unacknowl- edged. A needs analysis that involved a survey of teachers and students confirmed that these problems were widespread. Carlos DaSilva, who was recently appointed trainer at the school board and had a strong background in teaching, had to address the communications problem as his first assignment. He designed what he considered to be an excellent three- day communications program. He spent months on the design: finding videos, exercises, and games that taught active listening, upward communication, brain- storming, and other areas identified in the survey. Carlos was excited to deliver his new training program and was sure that the participants would like it. On the first day, Carlos began with a brief introduction on the importance of communication, followed by a lecture on communication channels. Afterwards, he showed a video about manager–employee communica- tion problems and how to improve communication. This was followed by a discus- sion of the key points in the video and what the trainees might do to improve their communication skills. On day two of the training program, Carlos began with a lecture on brain- storming. He then had trainees participate in a group brainstorming exercise. Each group had to brainstorm as many ideas as possible for improving communication in the school board. Afterwards, the groups presented their ideas followed by a discussion of the most creative ways to improve communication with teachers, students, and parents. On the third day of the training program, Carlos began with a lecture on active listening. Trainees then participated in an exercise in which they had to develop a message and then communicate it to the other trainees. At the end of the exercise, each trainee had to recall the message sent by the other trainees. This was followed by a discussion of how to be a more effective listener and tips on active listening. Carlos ended the training program by having trainees participate in a commu- nication game. First, he had trainees complete a self-assessment of how they send messages and the channels they use for communication. Then groups of trainees had to develop a message that they would communicate to the other groups. Each group had to determine the best way for their message to reach the other groups as accurately and quickly as possible. At the end of the game, each group read out the message they received from the other groups. Carlos then scored each group in terms of the accuracy of the message received by the other groups and how long it took for each group to receive the message. The game was a lot of fun for the participants, who left the training program on a high. Carlos thanked them for attending the program and encouraged them to apply what they learned in training when they returned to work. The trainees applauded Carlos and thanked him for providing such an enjoyable training experience. Two months after the training program, Carlos was sitting at his desk, thinking about his meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. with the school board superintendent. He was looking forward to the meeting, knowing that he would be praised for the suc- cessful interactive communications program he had designed and delivered. However, the meeting with the superintendent went poorly. Although some par- ticipants had loved the exercises and games in the communications course, most had not changed their work behaviour. Furthermore, a review of the situation showed that the old problems persisted and communication remained a serious problem at the school board. Carlos did not know what to say or what he should do. Several days later, Carlos approached some of the participants who had attended the training program and asked them how things were going. One par- ticipant laughed and said, “Well that was a lot of fun, but training is training and work is work. Besides, nothing ever changes around here.” Carlos asked her what she meant and she explained to him that supervisors don’t get it and continued to call the shots. “The only thing they know about communication is downward,” she said. “Maybe they should have attended your training program!

2. Discuss some of the barriers to transfer that might be operating at the school board. Who is responsible for these barriers and when do they occur during the training process?

3. Describe some of the things that Carlos might have done before, during, and after the training program to improve the transfer of training. What could the trainees and supervisors have been asked to do before, during, and after training to improve transfer?

4. Discuss the training transfer climate and the transfer system at the school board. How might they have contributed to the transfer problem?

Answer 1

2. Some of the barriers operating at the school board may be the attitudes of the people the and that seniors assert themselves as seniors and are reluctant in communication or any sorts of inputs from the subordinates that might be increasing the gap in communication between the employees.

3. Carlos could have separately talked to employees present at different work levels in order to assess the exact situation rather than just blindly training the subordinates so as to improve communication. Secondly, at the time of training, he could have asked for feedback at regular intervals rather than a feedback at the end of the meeting. It is important that a reality check should have been taken before the entire program was planned.

4. The participants took training as only training and were able to completely keep training and work as two separate identities. The participants clearly stated that training was not taken seriously since they knew that there would be no changes in the seniors and they would continue barging in orders on the subordinates. One of the participants said that communication meant looking down on the colleagues. This attitude has contributed greater to the problem of training transfer.