Search results

Of the various factors directly or indirectly influencing transfer of training, supervisor support as a work environment variable is found to have diverse relationships with transfer, further complicated with the perspective of time. The purpose of this paper is to bring together findings from past research to have a better insight on the impact of supervisor support on training transfer.

A qualitative approach has been adopted to review existing research on the selected constructs.

Literature reveals divergent influences of supervisor support on transfer: some researchers have established a direct-indirect relationship, some opine a positive-negative relationship and few show mixed results. Usually the relation is found to be indirect when trainee characteristics have been used as mediators. The authors may infer that the influence of supervisor support on transfer is contextual and nothing can be said affirmatively on their relation.

Supervisors can harness trainee characteristics by enhancing their motivation to learn and motivation to transfer. They can familiarize trainees with the programme, discuss how to apply newly learnt skills to jobs, set goals and provide timely feedback. Trainers should train supervisors about how to support trainees before, during and after training. Overall, organizations must structure the role of supervisors in a way that would ensure maximized training transfer and effective management of a training programme.

This study provides a better understanding of the association between supervisor support and training transfer, taking into consideration all dimensions, namely positive or negative, direct or indirect and even mixed.

Previous research has pointed to a lack of studies concerning supervision training courses. Consequently, the literature has little to suggest, and the research field is underexplored, so questions around the content and design of supervision training courses remain unanswered and need to be addressed systematically. The main aim of the present study is to explore and map whether shared content and design exist in supervisor training courses across different vocations.

A syllabus analysis is used in order to investigate characteristic features in supervisor training courses related to the professions of dentist, doctor, psychologist, police officer and teacher.

The results point to the existence of shared content in the different courses, such as an emphasis on learning and supervision theories, feedback, ethics, assessment and communication. Furthermore, the results conclude similarities in design of the courses, such as a problem-based approach, seminars, lectures and homework. Thus, there are common theoretical approaches to important supervisory competences.

Our results intend to offer possibilities to learn from different professions when improving supervisor training courses but may also constitute a starting point for developing a shared model of interprofessional supervisor competences. Furthermore, the results may support possible cooperation in interprofessional courses. This could include arranging interprofessional courses, where one part is shared for participants from the included professions and another part is profession-specific.

We seek to contribute to the research field of supervision at workplaces with knowledge and ideas about how to learn from different professions when developing and improving supervisor training courses.

The purpose of this paper is to identify extant training needs for preparing supervisors to support newcomers’ organizational socialization and to develop a research agenda concerning aspects that conduce to making supervisors efficacious in the process of organizational socialization.

A review of the literature on the development of socialization agents for organizational socialization generally indicates that relatively minimal research has been undertaken on this topic. Most articles have focused on the effects of organizational socialization on other variables – such as newcomers’ work outcomes, turnover intention and organizational commitment. The review was conducted in light of this phenomenon. It is based on the structured literature review method, per Rocco, Stein and Lee (2003).

Supervisor training is suggested as a means for enhancing organizational socialization. However, supervisor training is not often studied in organizational socialization research. Therefore, the verification of the impact of supervisor training on organizational socialization is required. Given the proposed research agenda, identifying the impact of supervisor training on different areas of organizational socialization domains and inspiring increased interest on supervisor training as an effective program for organizational socialization are logical outcomes.

The concept of socialization is used in broad areas of research, such as education, military and engineering. However, it was reviewed here vis-à-vis human resource development (HRD). Therefore, the focus was on the notion of organizational socialization, which is appropriate for employee training development. The concept of organizational socialization in this paper, therefore, was delimited, as it failed to include all meanings of socialization. This paper sought to review all studies related to organizational socialization. However, some research was not considered and, thus, not discussed in this paper. This was because of time and resource constraints. The author sorted previous studies by personal standards and, thus, may have inadvertently included non-germane or excluded relevant citations.

Supervisory training for organizational socialization can be proposed as a potential area for leading to an effective organizational socialization program. So HRD professionals should study further about the topic and develop such programs. Increased attention on supervisor training for organizational socialization may increase the number and quality of supervisor training programs. Such studies would augment HRD professionals’ knowledge about organizational socialization and eventually enhance performance in organizations.

This paper can expand the area in which social learning theory can be applied. According to Bandura and Walters (1977), the social learning theory posits that learning new behaviors can usually be acquired by observing and imitating others. This implies that newcomers emulate other organizational members to adapt to the organization and their assigned roles. In this process, supervisors can play a key role through showing them the appropriate behaviors, supporting their learning and providing appropriate feedback. Presumably, then, new employees may perform better if supervisors receive training on crucial socialization efforts.

Significantly, socialization agents are uniquely situated to greatly impact the organizational socialization process of newcomers. Among the socialization agents, supervisors garner enormous influence on newcomers’ organizational socialization. However, relatively few studies investigated the training of supervisors for organizational socialization.

The purpose of this study is to highlight the importance of selected environmental, situational and individual factors in the training transfer process.

This study proposes and tests a framework via structural equation modelling by including supervisor and peer support, instrumentality and learner readiness on 503 Malaysian bank employees. It proposes a modified and improved scale for learner readiness previously developed by Holton et al..

As hypothesized, supervisor and peer support increase the motivation level of the trainee to transfer the learned skills. The findings of this study will help researchers to resolve the conflict among past researchers about the role of peer and supervisor support in training transfer process. In addition, an improved scale of learner readiness is used and the result indicates a significant relationship between learner readiness and transfer motivation. Furthermore, this study explains the importance of intrinsic rewards and finds that intrinsic rewards make trainees retain more skills and learned skills are transferred to the work place.

The findings of this research would be helpful for human resource development professionals to develop effective strategies in order to maximize the training transfer and effectively manage the training program. The findings of this research explained the role of stakeholders – trainers, trainees, supervisors, peers and top management – which will maximize the training transfer at the work place.

This paper examines new relationships among different factors which resist transfer motivation and training transfer at the workplace.

How effective is supervisor training? The studies quoted here suggest that the circumstances in which it is given have a crucial influence on its effectiveness: training given too late in life can be a complete waste of time, and indifference or hostility in an immediate superior can produce the same result. The authors recommend a closer matching of training with job demands and that selection and training should be combined into a single programme. This article makes particularly interesting reading after the recent publication of the ‘Report of the Committee on the Selection and Training of Supervisors’, which was reviewed last month.

Two linked schemes have been developed to provide greater support for academics involved in the supervision of postgraduate students. One, the Training and Accreditation Programme for Postgraduate Supervisors (TAPPS), was originally designed and developed at the Institute for Animal Health (IAH) in collaboration with BBSRC. The other is a Web gateway on research supervision. The schemes provide advice, a forum for peer group discussion, training in specific aspects of supervision, recognition (accreditation) for the role and contribution of the supervisor and annotated links to relevant information sources via the Web. Details are available on www.iah.bbsrc.ac.uk/TAPPS and www.iah.bbsrc.ac.uk/supervisor‐training. This paper explores the rationale for the existence of the schemes; considers their operation – first generally and then with respect to the PhD examination; presents evidence of benefits to academics and students; and concludes with an outlook on the futures of the schemes.

The purpose of this study is to augment knowledge of how work environment and personal characteristics affect intention to transfer in a work context. This study aims to investigate the factors that can influence intention to transfer training in a professional development training context. The study examined the predictive capacity of organizational support, supervisor support, training readiness and learning motivation on transfer intention among the study respondents.

Data were collected from teachers in secondary schools in the USA. The structural equation modeling method was adopted to analyze 216 responses using a self-report survey.

We found that (a) organizational support was directly associated with supervisor support for training, (b) supervisor support for training significantly influenced training readiness and motivation to learn, (c) training readiness positively affected motivation to learn, and (d) motivation to learn positively influenced intention to transfer. In addition, supervisor support mediated the relationships between organizational support and training readiness and between organizational support and motivation to learn. Training readiness linked intention to transfer and motivation to learn. Motivation to learn also played a mediating role in the relationship between supervisor support and intention to transfer.

Our findings add to the academic work on training transfer by empirically analyzing how both the environment (e.g. organizational support) and individual factors (e.g. learning motivation) influence employees’ intention to transfer. In particular, we investigated the potential impact of both organizational support and supervisory support on intentions to transfer, compared to previous studies emphasizing only supervisory support to improve training outcomes.

The skills and knowledge of site supervisors play an important role in the outcome of construction projects. Evidence gleaned from the literature indicates that poor performance of construction projects remains a central concern for stakeholders in the construction sector. This suggests that the site supervisor’s training is important in the construction project outcomes. Various training programmes are available for site supervisors, yet construction firms are not satisfied with them. The purpose of this study is to determine the key training practice indicators for optimal site supervisor’s usage in construction firms.

This study adopts a cross-sectional survey research design. In the approach, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to determine the key training practice indicators for site supervisors. Data were collected from 218 construction site supervisors using a questionnaire.

Findings show that training practices are a multidimensional concept consisting of training needs assessment, training delivery, training evaluation and transfer. From the 50 training practice variables, this study establishes 12 key training practice indicators for training site supervisors in construction firms.

Future research should adopt a longitudinal survey for examining training practices in construction firms.

The identified key training indicators can inform the policies and practices used in the training of site supervisors.

This study contributes to knowledge by establishing 12 significant training practice indicators for optimal site supervisors’ usage in construction firms.

Purpose of this study is to investigate the role of learner readiness in enhancing transfer of training by empirically testing a moderated mediation mechanism in which learner readiness influences transfer through motivation to transfer, and this indirect impact is moderated by supervisor support.

The perception of trainees about the constructs considered has been captured through a survey of 250 employees of a unit of a manufacturing organization in India. For hypotheses testing, PROCESS macro developed by Hayes (2013) has been used.

Results have confirmed the significant role played by learner readiness in predicting transfer. This apart, supervisor support has been proved to moderate the indirect impact of learner readiness on transfer.

Trainees need to have pre-requisite knowledge to learn the content of a training programme, which would enable them to grasp such content and transfer the same subsequently to work. It is also essential that trainees are willing to attend any training voluntarily. Specific interventions may be designed for supervisors to bolster their catalytic role in training transfer.

An interactionist approach has been adopted by focussing on learner readiness as a less-studied trainee characteristic and supervisor support as a situational factor of transfer. This is construed as a significant contribution of this study to training literature. The potential overlap between learner readiness and motivation to transfer as trainee characteristics is seen to be neutralized by the presence of supervisor support as a moderator. Findings help in understanding how a trainee’s readiness and motivation, together with supervisor’s positive attitude, can enhance transfer.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the supervisor behaviours that employees found to be helpful and unhelpful in facilitating training transfer. The study aims to provide rich qualitative data from the employee's perspective.

This study utilises a cross‐sectional design. A case study and a qualitative interpretivist approach were used to interpret the employee's responses. In total 24 semi‐structured interviews were conducted and responses were analysed with the aid of NVivo.

The results suggested what supervisors did prior to, during and after course attendance was critical to training transfer. Supportive behaviours prior to the course included motivating, encouraging and setting expectations. Practical support provided during the course signalled the value that the supervisor placed on the course. Meetings held after the course provided the best opportunity to support transfer. Transfer was maximised when participants experienced a positive role model and when supervisors showed interest in their experience of the course, encouraged and sponsored new initiatives, and involved them in decision‐making. The main perceived hindrances to training transfer were culture, policies and a lack of encouragement.

This is a qualitative study in a field of inquiry dominated by quantitative approaches. The results highlight the employee's perspective concerning what they found to assist in training transfer. This methodology is rarely evidenced in the extant literature.