A TRAINING MISDIAGNOSIS OR MISTAKE?

Neeta Kapoor the Training Representative for the Regional Office of a large service
organization, had been very excited about the new training program. The HR Department at the
headquarters office had informed her six months ago that it had purchased a speed reading
training program from a reputable firm and statistics showed that the program had indeed proven
to be very effective in the other companies.

Neeta knew that most individuals in the Regional Office were faced on a daily basis, with a
sizeable amount of incoming correspondence, including internal memoranda, announcements of
new and revised policies and procedures, legal notifications and letters from customers. So a
course in speed reading should certainly have helped most employees.

The headquarters office had flown Regional Training Representatives in for a special session on
how to conduct the speed reading program. Neeta had, therefore, begun the program in her
Regional Office with great confidence. She led five groups (30 employees each) through the
program, which consisted of nine two hour facilities. Altogether, 1,200 employees in the
organization participated in the training, at an approximate cost to the company of Rs. 25,000 per
participant (including training material and time away from work) the program was very well
received by the participants and speed test administered before and after training showed that, on
average, reading speed increased 250 with no loss in comprehension.

A couple of months after the last session, Neeta informally asked a couple of employees who had
gone through the training if they were applying the speed reading principles in their work and
maintaining their reading speed. They said that they were not using it at work, but did practice
their new skills with their off the job reading. Neeta checked with several other participants and
heard the same story . Although they were applying what they had learned in their personal
reading and for school courses, they were not using it on the job. When Neeta asked them about
all of the reading material which crossed their desks daily, the typical response was- “I never
read those memos and policy announcements anyways” Neeta was concerned about this
information but did not know what to do with it.

Question

1. Did Neeta really waste valuable training funds?

2. Should Neeta now start a program to get the employees to read the memos and policy
announcements?
3. How could Neeta have avoided the situation she now faces?
4. Should organizations provide training programs to help improve employee’s skills to be
used off the job?