The extent and degree of achieving Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation will depend on the involvement of all levels in an organization

Abstract

In today's business climate, everyone feels the pressure to justify expense and prove bottom-line results. Employee development and training programs are not immune. When it is time to defend the budget, it helps to have evidence that training really helps the bottom line. The best way to find out if training programs were worth the investment is to evaluate improvement against an expected outcome. The information, tools and ideas on ways to evaluate training are endless. The most popular tool for assessing training performance is the four-level Kirkpatrick model of reaction, learning, behavior, and results. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which Kirkpatrick's four evaluation levels are used in training programs in this region and the degree to which these are associated with evaluation results that have impacts on training programs. A survey was used to gather data in regards to levels 1, 2, 3, and 4 evaluation effectiveness. The researcher's advisor, Joe Benkowski, an expert in training and development, originated the questions for the survey. The survey was administered to American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) local chapters in Wisconsin and Minnesota. ASTD is a leading association of workplace learning and performance professionals and has approximately 70,000 members and associates from more than 100 countries (ASTD, 2002). The respondents were asked a list of questions that related to how they perceive training is viewed in their organization. The results from the study will help reinforce the partnership needed between training professionals and management for a successful training program. The results from this survey were analyzed in chapter four, the conclusions based on the results, and analyses of the survey are in chapter five.