Transfer of Training

Defining Training Transfer

The commonsense notion of training transfer is that we want trainees to apply the knowledge and skills gained through a formal training program to improve individual, team, and organizational effectiveness. At the individual trainee level, transfer has typically been defined as the extent to which the knowledge and skill acquired in a training setting are maintained, generalized, and adapted in the job setting by the trainee. First, maintenance issues focus on the changes that occur in the form or level of knowledge, skills, or behaviors exhibited in the transfer setting, as a function of time elapsed from the completion of the training program.

Second, trainees must not only acquire but maintain and even enhance the level of knowledge or skills obtained through training. Generalization involves more than mere mimicking of responses to events that occurred in training. It requires trainees to exhibit new behaviors on the job in response to settings, people, and situations that differ from those presented in training. For example, a salesperson might be trained on how to be assertive but not aggressive in conducting a sales meeting with a client. The situations or issues that arise, as well as the types of clients that can be demonstrated and practiced in the training program, cannot match the range of situations or the diversity in clients one would actually face on the job. Instead, the training can provide demonstration and practice on key principles and skills over a few situations and types of clients, and these must then be applied by the trainee in the appropriate way on the job with a diverse set of settings and people.

Third, for many jobs today, trained individuals must not only deal with routine situations and issues but must also adapt to novel or nonroutine situational demands. With adaptability, trainees are able to adjust or build upon knowledge and skills to generate new approaches and strategies to meet the demands of the novel situation. For example, a highly adaptable individual might see that the steps to being assertive are not working for certain types of individuals and switch to a slower and more nuanced approach to sales for these individuals.

...