Maximising the return on investment for training and development of middle managers

Abstract

It is generally accepted that training and development is essential for any business, but few businesses can confirm if these programmes have produced a positive return. Businesses generally still make use of the traditional evaluation methods, even though there is clear evidence that the outcomes are not satisfactory. There is a body of literature on how to evaluate training and development but very little on how to maximise its return on investment (ROI). This study aims to determine the best practices on how to maximise the ROI for training and development of middle managers. The interest in the development of middle managers is important as it has been overlooked in the literature. Qualitative, exploratory research methods, were adopted to gain new insights to determine the factors that are optimal for pre, during and post training and development phases. A total of 22 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with three different stakeholder groups: seven training providers who train middle managers, seven with middle managers who attended management training and development within the last two years, and a further eight with the managers responsible for training and or development of middle managers within their organisations. Each interview was analysed by means of thematic content analysis. The findings from this research add to the existing literature in the field of ROI on training and development for middle managers. The critical success factors for each of the phases were established, as was the detail of the ideal roles of the three key stakeholders. The need for assessment to be built in at every stage and the support and involvement of the line manager throughout the process are both key to increasing the ROI. A new finding determines the usefulness of conducting repetitive evaluations, instead of only one evaluation at the end of the programme. Training providers felt it necessary to engage in a more collaborative process with the other stakeholders which is a major new finding in the field. The managers on the other hand felt it more important for the training providers to improve the design of the training programmes which would ultimately have a positive impact on the ROI of training and development of middle managers.