Keywords
Citation
Walker, G. (2006), "Telling Training's Story: Evaluation Made Simple, Credible, and Effective", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 38 No. 7, pp. 385-386. https://doi.org/10.1108/00197850610704606
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Dr Robert Brinkerhoff is Professor Emeritus at Western Michigan University where he coordinates graduate programs in Human Resource Development. Internationally regarded as an expert in evaluation and training effectiveness, he has been a keynote speaker at conferences and institutes worldwide and has written a number of other books including “The Success Case Method” and “High Impact Learning”. This book is aimed at HR professionals and managers as well as those involved in the design and delivery of training and development.
The book takes the reader through a variety of methods and tools so that they can “discover, measure, and document the great results that training helps your organization to achieve, and report them in a way that senior leaders find compelling and believable”.
Primarily aimed at those responsible for delivering training within an organization it aims to assist the reader to identify their organization's own learning “disabilities” and help them to identify what interventions are required in order to overcome their issues. A great deal of emphasis is placed on the “bottom line value” of training and the fact that training should be able to stand up to rigorous investigation. The text aims to enable the reader to provide clear and inarguable cases to support training and development whilst at the same time increasing their organization's Return on Investment.
The book consists of 13 chapters which are divided into two parts. The first part describes the actual mechanics of The Success Case Method and discusses in detail, such items as: How the Success Case Method Works; Focusing and Planning a Success Case Method Study; Constructing a Simple Training Impact Model; Conducting the SCM Survey; and finally, Analyzing Results and Drawing Compelling Conclusions.
The second part of the book consists of a small number of case studies, that clearly highlight and further expand the items covered in part one. Here the reader is guided through each individual case enabling them to examine in detail how the five steps of planning and implementing a SCM study can be utilized in order to gain effective results for their own organization. In general, the text is easy to follow and is laid out in a simple yet logical manner with manageable chunks, punctuated by simple diagrams, tables and charts; which rather than distract from the general flow, enable the reader to summarize and digest information as they go along. The chapters on “Focusing and Planning a Success Case Method Study” and “Drawing Compelling Conclusions” are particularly easy to read and understand. The bibliography is well referenced and up‐to‐date with the most recent reference being 2003.
The beauty of this book is that it appears to have the right balance between academic theory and practical advice. The author claims that the Success Case Method (SCM) is robust enough to withstand scrutiny from a scientific and research perspective. Indeed, there is no doubt that the SCM, which is based on solid rules and discipline, backed by verifiable evidence, could stand up to detailed scrutiny.
There is little doubt that both professional trainers and those involved in other HR interventions, particularly those working in the field of evaluation, will find this book both practical and useful.