The Real Reason Employees Resist Training
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I have watched as people engaged in job training recognize that they are actually mastering content valuable to their job success. They seem to enjoy the training and often resist stopping. Indeed, Drake [5] stated that “success is the greatest motivation to learn.” I contend that the primary reason employees resist training is that most of the training they experience doesn't actually help them improve their job performance, and therefore it doesn’t motivate them to participate in training. Unfortunately, when instructional designers endeavor to motivate learners to engage in training they often resort to adding superficial motivators such as games, videos, avatars, and new technologies. They fail to follow instructional processes designed to ensure that the training actually teaches employees the knowledge and skills required to succeed at their jobs. I have found that superficial additions such as those mentioned above can actually demotivate employees who, anticipate learning how to improve important skills related to their job, discover that the training is actually another bait and switch experience in which they are entertained but not taught.
Merrill et al [6] suggested that “If an instructional experience or environment does not include the instructional strategies required for the acquisition of the desired knowledge or skill, then effective, efficient, and appealing learning of the desired outcome will not occur.” The inclusion of games, videos, avatars, and new technologies are not necessarily the reason employees resist training. They simply don’t necessarily increase the effectiveness of training. Employees resist training because instructional designers fail to attend to evidence-based instructional design principles and instructional strategies. Furthermore, instructional designers often allow graphic designers, computer programmers, and subject matter experts to commandeer the entire instructional design process. These practices result in the design and development of training that doesn’t help employees succeed. The training is therefore demotivating. Connie Malamed [7], the eLearning Coach, describes instructional design as the process..." of identifying the performance, skills, knowledge, information and attitude gaps of a targeted audience and creating, selecting or suggesting learning experiences that close this gap, based on instructional theory and best practices from the field.” I believe that until instructional designers attend to important and necessary instructional design principles and strategies, employees will continue to resist attempts to train them, regardless of the superficial motivators that are used. REFERENCES
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