Commentary on The Science of Training and Development in Organizations: What Matters in Practice

摘要

Having worked in business and academia, and consulted in those as well as government, I have seen and experienced training in many forms. I have seen programs sabotaged by managers who wanted employees working instead of learn-ing, an expensive program bought because a competing com-pany used it, training used as a punishment or as a reward, programs adopted without clear objectives in mind, and pro-grams adopted because they "seemed like a good idea." As Bill McGehee and I noted over 50 years ago (McGehee & Thayer, 1961), training is frequently regarded as a "given good." Much has changed since then, but there is still a ten-dency in business, government, and academia to adopt pro-grams based on little more than attractiveness, modishness, or a desire to keep up with others in the field. Salas et al.'s article will help prevent such mistakes.