Bohyung Lee, Skaistė Čėsnaitė, Hannah Fuchs, VK EC GCM: Global Human Resources (VK)

Denitsa Ivanova, Orlando Miceli, Marko Popović Lecturer: Xin Li

“The manager’s role in enhancing the transfer of training: a Turkish case

study” by Ali Ilker Gumuseli and Banu Ergin
Case analysis report

Introduction

To increase the effectiveness and productivity of organizations numerous companies

invest in training of their employees. Training of employees has a great impact on job
productivity, effectiveness and satisfaction. A most important role in the training
department belongs to manager/professionals, and to the employee managers.
This study aims to determine the impact of managers’ reinforcement on participants’
job attitude, productivity, effectiveness and satisfaction in the process of the transfer
of knowledge, skill and attitude to be acquired through a training program into the
workplace. The responsibility of the trainers and managers should be to ensure that
the individuals transfer acquired knowledge to the workplace, as it is not certain that
training will have any effect on working life in practice.
As Kirkpatrick (1987) has noted, in order to elicit behavioural changes after
treatment, there are four requirements which must be satisfied:
1. the employee needs to be willing to change;
2. knowing what to do and how to do it;
3. having the right working climate;
4. being rewarded as in the aftermath of change.

The study involves a group of sales representatives participating in the Basic Sales
Training Program for Sales Representatives and their supervisors in the Coca-Cola
Bottlers of Turkey. The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of management
support and guidance on participants’ workplace behaviour, productivity,
effectiveness and job satisfaction during the transfer process of knowledge, skills and
attitudes gained by the Basic Sales Training Programme for Coca-Cola Sales
Representatives to the workplace.

Method
 An experiment: people attending the Basic Training Programme were divided
into two groups – experimental (which comprised 8 sales reps and 8
supervisors) and control (12 sales reps and 11 supervisors) – via random
sampling;
 Both groups did pre-tests and post-tests;
 The senior sales reps from the experimental group were supported and guided
by the training department with the aim of informing them about their duties

1
Bohyung Lee, Skaistė Čėsnaitė, Hannah Fuchs, VK EC GCM: Global Human Resources (VK)
Denitsa Ivanova, Orlando Miceli, Marko Popović Lecturer: Xin Li

and responsibilities in transferring the knowledge, skills and attitudes to the

workplace, and also some methods and techniques were introduced to them
(supporting and guidance activities started one month before the training
programme and continued until the end of the follow-up period). Those in the
control group did not receive any support or guidance from the trainers;
 After the training programme, supervisors were visited individually to
exchange the information about these follow-ups and guidance activities.
During the three months follow-up period, supervisors were communicated
with via telephone and e-mail. In the third meeting with supervisors,
participants were asked to evaluate the performance of their employees and the
changes in the market.

Population – sample
20 Coca-Cola sales reps and 19 their supervisors who attended Basic Sales Training
Programme for Coca-Cola Sales Reps in Turkey on the 17, 18 and 19 of January
2001.

Data collection process

The research data was collected through 5 measurement tools applied to participants:
1. Participant opinion survey evaluated the perspectives of the participants after
the training program;
2. Knowledge test for Coca-Cola sales reps assessed the learning of participants
in pre- and post-tests (the test consisted of 70 questions prepared in accordance
with the objectives of the training programme);
3. Behaviour observation forms or Skill Transfer Forms for Coca-Cola Sales
Reps assessed the anticipated change in the behaviour of the participants (the
form consisted of daily duties, responsibilities, activities and skills of a sales
rep consistent with the objectives of the training programme). The senior sales
reps filled in the observation forms at three stages: before the training program,
30 days after the training program and three months after the training program;
4. Productivity and effectiveness assessment – computer reports, consisting of
data from the BASIS database in the Coca-Cola computer system, were used
for evaluating the productivity and effectiveness of sales representatives of
Coca-Cola Turkey. Indicators of effectiveness were determined as: active
customers/total customers; purchasing active customers/total active customers;
total invoice/purchasing active customer; average brand and package
penetration; and returned invoices;
5. Minnesota Job Satisfaction Survey evaluated the job satisfaction levels of the
sales representatives.

2
Bohyung Lee, Skaistė Čėsnaitė, Hannah Fuchs, VK EC GCM: Global Human Resources (VK)
Denitsa Ivanova, Orlando Miceli, Marko Popović Lecturer: Xin Li

Results

Concerning the application process of the training programme results indicate that
participants had positive reactions to the programme. There was no significant
difference in changes of learning levels comparing the experimental and the control
groups. Results with regard to the transfer process of the training showed that the job
behaviour of sales representatives supported by managers changed more than in the
control group. This change took place in the period of three months after the training
programme as measured with a t-test. Job productivity which was measured by the
average number of monthly sales increased in both groups over time. The sales
representatives of the experimental group sold more on average, but the difference
was statistically insignificant.
When it comes to evaluating the effectiveness, the results show that between the first
and third measurements there was an increase in the effectiveness of both two groups.
However there were differences in the quantity. What was interesting to observe is
that there was a decrease in the mean score of the control group when measured 30
days after the training. The experimental group had a higher result and a regular flow
of growth unlike the control group as there was fluctuation in the results. A three-way
analysis of variance suggests that the group which has received support from the
supervisors also had a higher increase of effectiveness.
Another point to be tested was to see whether or not there would be differences in job
satisfaction results of the two groups. Both groups filled in a Minnesota Job
Satisfaction Questionnaire prior to the training and three months after it. The results
showed that there was an increase of the satisfaction for the experimental group while
for the control group there was a slight decrease. After that the significance of the
scores was tested which showed there was statistical insignificance between the
different results.

Conclusion

In this case study, managers’ guidance and support in the process of training transfer
is discussed. Numerous companies invest in their employees’ training, and they seek
to find the most effective way to apply the training experience to the business setting.
With the training of staff members, managers’ engagement with the junior staff is
vital as their encouragement can lead to a positive training outcome. For this reason,
Ali Ilker Gumuseli and Banu Ergin (2002) argue that managers’ support for the
employees during training is important. Also, It is crucial to assess the effectiveness
and efficiency of employees’ performance and their job satisfaction accurately. Ilker
and Ergin (2002) researched the manager’s role in enhancing the transfer of training
based on a survey of twenty Coca-Cola sales representatives and their nineteen
supervisors who attended a basic training program on the 17, 18 and 19th of January
2001.

3
Bohyung Lee, Skaistė Čėsnaitė, Hannah Fuchs, VK EC GCM: Global Human Resources (VK)
Denitsa Ivanova, Orlando Miceli, Marko Popović Lecturer: Xin Li

One of the main findings of this research is that managers’ support for the sales
representatives appeared to have a positive effect on the behavior and their
application of the training to their daily duty. Other variations, such as efficiency,
effectiveness, and job satisfaction of the sales representatives also showed a
substantial increase. However, the difference in efficiency and job satisfaction
between experimental group and control group was not significant. According to
Ilker and Ergin(2002), this result can be explained by the economic crisis in Turkey
that occurred in the same period, in which the research was conducted. Nevertheless,
the result of this study conforms to the previous researches in terms of the
significance of the human resources development managers: managers’ collaboration
is essential for the employees to implement the knowledge acquired from the training.
In addition, reliable data has to be acquired to evaluate the efficiency of the transfer
of training.
Overall, this study is conducted with comprehensive planning, and its application to
the Kirkpatrick’s four-stage evaluation model is considered one of its strengths.
However, the small number of populations limits the validity of the study. Also,
attributing to the unstable economic status of Turkey as the reason for the
unexplainable results makes the research less credible.