(Solved) BUS407 Week 3 Scenario Script: Performance Model | Homework Solution

Deborah’s Office

(Deborah speaking to the student)

Last week, we decided to use a reactive approach to address Taormina’s performance gap.

This week, we will need to finish scanning the internal environment. Therefore, we have to conduct some other interviews. The intention of these interviews is to find common elements that might contribute the design of an effective training and development program.

First, let’s discuss some important concepts, including the performance model.

The performance model is a general guideline that shows motivation, environment, and knowledge skills and attitudes (or KSA), working together to effect a person’s performance.

Motivation is the direction, persistence, and amount of effort expended by an individual to achieve a specified outcome.

Therefore, it is important to find motivational factors to enhance participation in training and development opportunities.

Learning is a relatively permanent change in cognition resulting from experience and changes influencing behavior.

A training and development program is effective only if participants are motivated in learning new KSAs. 

Finally, environment is referring to any factors tied to the physical surroundings in which the performance must occur.

Performance Model

Student will click on various parts of the performance model shown in the textbook.  They will interact with it and see details about each part, such as environment.

Deborah’s Office

Okay. It’s time to collect the last set of data we need to compile our report.

Please interview the rest of employees at the call center and report your findings to me before the end of the day.

Call Center

Student interviewing some other call center employees.

Alex: Probably… (thinking)…five years ago, we went to a mandatory training session about some leadership strategies. But I didn’t really learn anything. And as soon as we came back, things were exactly the same. The leader was, as always, our boss.

Justin:  Well, I’m the newbie, so I don’t want to make too many comparisons. But at my previous job, I participated in many training programs. Not all of them were mandatory, either. They used to send us a list of available training programs and we decided which ones we were going to attend.

That was really nice! I had the chance to participate in training programs with people who had the same goals as me. The brainstorming sessions were fantastic!

Also, we had virtual training sessions. You know…those training programs you can complete on your own.

Alex: So Justin, why did you leave that other company?

Justin: The problem was that even when you learned a lot, you never could practice anything. It was frustrating!

Conference Room

(We can have some sort of an interactive table here)

• Training opportunities have not been given to employees.
• Training opportunities are viewed as mandatory sessions.
• Learning material is never used.
• Training opportunities with common goals are more interesting to the employees.

Training opportunities have not been given to employees.

Training opportunities are viewed as mandatory sessions.

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Learning material is never used.

Training opportunities with common goals are more interesting to the employees.

Good report! With this information we can move along with our project. Let’s decide on a theory of motivation to follow for our new training program.

Based on the four common elements identified before, which theory of motivation will be more effective to design our training and development program?

Needs Theories: Incorrect!  Needs theories explain what it is that motivates an individual. It is important to determine motivational factors; however, to improve organizational performance we have to link training efforts with specific goals.

Process Theories: Correct! Process theories explain how an individual’s needs lead to goal-directed behavior. We must understand what our employees need to cover expected performance. Any training and development effort must be relevant and valuable to them. This is the only way to guarantee improvement in performance.

Deborah’s Office

Remember, there are three process theories: classical conditioning, reinforcement theory, and expectancy theory.

Let’s work on a short activity to test your knowledge on these theories.

(Matching pairs – student needs to drag the answers to the right concept) This table has the correct order!

Classical Conditioning

Association of a generalized response to some signal in the environment

Reinforcement Theory

Behavior followed by satisfying experiences tends to be repeated.

Expectancy Theory

Cognitive processes involved in deciding the best course of action for achieving our goal

Deborah’s Office

Let us now look at examples for each of these theories starting with classical conditioning.

Following the classical conditioning theory, employees will be assigned to projects based on specific skills. Those skills will be learned through training initiatives. If this is done properly, the organizational goal to promote employees Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes will be achieved.

Giving employees cash bonuses for completing training is an example for the reinforcement theory. This can be used to accomplish the organizational goal of reinforcing employee performance.

Lastly, with the expectancy theory employees will be exposed to training and development opportunities to guarantee their performance effectiveness. Remember, the expectancy theory is the cognitive process involved in deciding the best course of action for achieving organizational goals This will help in reducing lack of performance and maximizing resources.

Taormina’s Entanceway

Deborah: Hi Ron! We have completed our internal scanning. Here are our findings.

Ron: Let me see ( Ron is looking at some papers)

Well, I guess we were off track before. But now, we can address the right issue with the right tools. We will use the expectancy theory.

Deborah: That’s right, Ron! Using the expectancy theory we can design our training and development efforts over specific organizational goals. This will facilitate the objectives of the training program as it acceptance by our employees.

Ron: I’ll send an email to all of my employees with a list of training opportunities. The suggested training must be linked to our organization’s goals.

Then, I will analyze their responses for common topics.

Deborah’s Office

Let’s wait until Ron collects the information about common needs before we keep moving on this project. He said he would be ready by next week.

Today we’ve reviewed two important concepts: motivation and learning. You also reviewed the various parts of the performance model.

You collected additional information about internal issues, which completed the internal scanning process. 

In addition, you have determined the most effective motivation theory to use when designing our training and development program. Once again, well done!

Please participate in discussion about the topics covered today as well as completing relevant e-Activities.

Next week, we will perform our training needs analysis.

See you soon!