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Di€erencesinstakeholderperceptionsabouttrainingevaluation:aconceptmapping/patternmatchinginvestigationGregV.Michalskia,*,J.BradleyCousinsbaEmployeeandOrganizationalLearning,NortelNetworks,Ottawa,Ontario,CanadaK1N4H7bFacultyofEducation,UniversityofOttawa,Ottawa,Ontario,CanadaK1N4H7Received1August1998;receivedinrevisedform1May1999;accepted1August1999AbstractConceptmappingandpatternmatchingtechniqueswereusedinexploratoryresearchtoinvestigatedi€erencesinstakeholderperceptionsoftrainingresultsandevaluationinamajordivisionofamultinationalnetwork-designandengineeringcompany.Referencingaresearchframeworkinformedbymultipleconstituencyviewsoforganizationale€ectiveness,thissinglecasestudyexaminedgroupperceptionsoftheresultsandevaluationoftrainingamong39knowledgeworkersorganizedintothreeequalgroupsof13.Thesegroupsconsistedof(1)linemanagersassponsorsoftraining,(2)productdevelopersasparticipantsintraining,and(3)trainingprofessionalsasprovidersoftraining.Asetof100statementswere``brainstormed''bythesegroupstodescribeidealresultsoftrainingintermsofthesuccessofthecaseorganization.Aftersortingthe100statementsforconceptualsimilarity,allstudyparticipantsalsoratedeachstatement'simportancetwiceÐonceasatrainingresult,andonceasatrainingevaluationcriterion.Usingtheconceptmapsdevelopedbythegroups,asetof21patternmatcheswereperformedtoinvestigatestakeholderdi€erencesbothwithin(intra)andbetween(inter)groups.Correlation(Pearsonr)coecientswerealsocalculatedforeachpatternmatchanddisplayedintabularformforcomparison.Theoverallresultsrevealedthatallstakeholdergroupsagreedreasonablywellabouttheimportanceoftrainingresultsintheorganization.However,substantialdi€erenceswerefoundregardinghoweachstakeholdergroupratedtheseresultsintermsoftheirimportancefortrainingevaluation.Thesedi€erenceswerefurtherfoundtocorrespondquitewellwiththeuniqueorganizationalroleofeachstakeholdergroup.Theresultsarediscussedintermsofthepotentialsandlimitationsofconceptmappingandpatternmatchingintrainingevaluationresearch,andtheirimplicationsfortrainingevaluationpractice.72000PublishedbyElsevierScienceLtd.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:Trainingevaluationresearch;Conceptmappingandpatternmatching;Stakeholderdiversity;Powerandpolitics;Organizationale€ec-tiveness1.IntroductionIntellectualcapitalisde®nedasthesumofevery-thingeverybodyinacompanyknowsthatgivesitacompetitiveedge(Stewart,1999).Whiletrainingobviouslyrepresentsaspeci®cmeanstodevelopsuchcapital,littlehasbeendoneuptothepresenttimetosystematicallyevaluatetheresultsofcorporate-widetrainingprogramsintheeraofintellectualcapital(ConferenceBoardInc.,1997).Inparticular,trainingevaluationhasbeenlimitedbyanincompleteunder-standingofperceptualandexpectationdi€erencesbetweenkeyorganizationalstakeholdergroups(McLinden&Trochim,1998).Thislimitationismostacuteincomplexorganizationssta€edpredominantlybyknowledgeworkers1(Drucker,1993a,b,1995)whoÐashighlyskilledandeducatedprofessionalswithspecializedrolesandexpertiseÐlearninmanywaysEvaluationandProgramPlanning23(2000)211±2300149-7189/00/$-seefrontmatter72000PublishedbyElsevierScienceLtd.Allrightsreserved.PII:S0149-7189(00)00005-7*Correspondingauthor.Tel.:[phone];fax:[phone].E-mailaddress:[e-mail](G.V.Michalski).1PeterDruckeroriginallycoinedtheterm``knowledgeworker''circa1960torefertoeducatedprofessionalswithhighexpertiseandspecializedorganizationalroles(seealsoSumanth,Omachonu&Beruvides,1990).inadditiontoformalizedtraining(see,e.g.,Brown&Duguid,1991).Stakeholder-basedevaluationisusefultoconcep-tuallyframethegeneralprogramevaluationproblem(Alkin,Hofstetter&Ai,1998).Butmosttrainingevaluationapproachescontinuetoignore,diminish,ormakebroadanduntestedassumptionsabouttheimpli-cationsofstakeholderdi€erencesintermsofthede-sign,execution,andconsequencesoftrainingevaluation(Lewis,1996).Amongthemainconse-quencesofevaluationistheutilizationofresults.Evaluationutilizationisthesubjectofaconsiderablebodyoftheoreticalandempiricalliteraturewithinthebroaderdomainofinquiryknownasknowledgeutiliz-ation.AccordingtoShulhaandCousins(1997),scho-larscontinuetothinkoftheutilizationofresearch®ndingsorprogramknowledgeininstrumental,con-ceptual,andsymbolicterms.Thestakeholderapproachrepresentsanappreciationthateachprograma€ects,indi€erentways,groupswhichhavedivergentandevenincompatibleconcernsbyrealizingandlegitimiz-ingthediversityofinterestsatplay(Weiss,1983).Althoughmultiplestakeholdergroupsconsistingofmanagers,trainees,andtrainershavebeenrecognizedwithinthedomainofinstructionaldesign(Broad&Newstrom,1992),published(empirical)trainingevalu-ationstudiesinvolvingthesesamethreegroupsremainrare.Onesuchstudyfeaturedtwoofthethreestake-holdergroupsmentionedabove.Inthatstudy,Brown(1994)appliedattributiontheorytoexplorehowman-agersandtrainingprofessionalsattributecausalityfororganizationalresults.Hefoundthattrainingpro-fessionalsoftenidenti®edtrainingaseitherthesolecause,oraprimarycause,oftheresultsthathadbeenachievedwhilemanagersrarelysingledouttrainingasacauseofsuchres