Evaluation of a management training program: a comparison of participants' and superiors' perceptions of learning
Date
1981
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
The general purpose of the study was to provide an understanding of
assessments of a training program by the participants and their supervisors.
Specifically, the study served the following main objectives:
a) To investigate the stability of participants' ratings over time.
b) To compare participants' ratings with that of their supervisors.
Two null hypotheses were tested in the study. These were:
i) There is no difference between the participants'
assessments of the perceived learning at the
conclusion of the training program and their
perceptions three months after the training event.
ii) There is no difference between the participants'
assessments of the perceived learning from the
training program and those of their supervisors,
three months after the training event.
The sample consisted of thirty-five participants who attended the
Basic Management course at the Co-operative College of Canada,
Saskatoon in February and March 1981, and their supervisors. Three
sets of questionnaires were developed and administered to the participants
and their supervisors in the following manner. Immediately at
the conclusion of the course, an end-of-the-course evaluation was
administered to the participants to collect information on participants'
perceptions about certain aspects of the course. Three months after the
program, the participants and their supervisors were both mailed
questionnaires to seek their perceptions of the course then, assuming
that the participants had had some chance to implement the learning from
the training program.
The data obtained from the participants' end-of-the-course and
three months follow-up questionnaires provided information on the
correlations between participants' ratings over a period of three
months. The comparison of the data from participants' follow-up and
supervisors questionnaires provided information on the differences in
perceptions between the two groups.
The major findings of the study are as follows. It was found that
at the 80% confidence level, the participants' perceptions of applicability
are significantly correlated for four functions and their perceptions
of competency correlated for only one function. However, the
participants' ratings of competency are not correlated for the other
three functions nor for any of the support functions. It was therefore
decided to retain the null hypothesis of no difference between the
participants' assessments of the perceived learning at the conclusion
of the training program and their perceptions three months after the
training event only for the applicability variable (P < .20). The
major conclusions from the findings are that the participants' ratings
of applicability of the training program to his job situation are
consistent over a period of three months and that the correlations
between participants' ratings varied according to the type of variable
rated.
The findings regarding the null hypothesis of no difference between
the perceptions of supervisors and the participants, three months after
the training event indicated that there were differences in perceptions
between the participants and their supervisors. Therefore, the null
hypothesis of no difference in perceptions between participants and
supervisors is rejected (P < .O5). The major conclusions from these
findings are that the participants' and supervisors' differed in their
assessments of a training program and theirassessments varied according
to the type of variable they rated. There was no difference between
the participants' and supervisors' ratings of applicability in regard
to four functions but their ratings of competency differed in regard
to merchandise and personnel functions.
Additional evaluative information was also obtained on several
other areas of the training program which enriched the findings of
this study. The several implications from the findings of this study
for evaluating management training programs, in particular, the endof-
the-course evaluations, are also discussed. Suggestions have been
made in the thesis for future research.
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Citation
Degree
Master of Continuing Education (M.C.Ed.)
Department
Continuing Education
Program
Continuing Education