Employees' Perceptions of the Status and Effectiveness of the Training and Development System and of the Value of Training and Development

Abstract

This study examines employees' perceptions of the training and development system in a large Federal government agency. Data come from a database built from a survey with over 3800 respondents. The survey is representative of five populations: executives, managers, supervisors, professional/ administrative and technical/clerical support staff. The survey instrument used to measure employee' perceptions of the training and development system consisted of 68 items in three sections. Section I addressed demographic data, Section II addressed respondents' overall satisfaction with training and development and their perceptions of the training and development system's achievement of elements of effective training and development practice, and Section III addressed the content of training and training delivery methods. Sections II and III employed a Likert scale for respondents' rating of indicators of satisfaction with training and development and respondents' perceptions about the effectiveness of the training and development system. This study provides conclusions about the factor structure underlying the indicators in the survey. It describes the relationships among employees' perceptions of the status and effectiveness of the training and development system and their perceptions of the value of training and development. The study also presents recommendations for further study and for training and development practice.