PART 1

• 1. Why should firms expect to expand their training outlays and their menu of choices for employees at all levels?

• 2. What kind of evidence is necessary to justify investments in training programs?

• 3. What are the key issues that should be addressed in the design, conduct, and evaluation of training programs?

• 4. Why should we invest time and money on new-employee orientation? Is there a payoff?

• 5. How should new-employee orientation be managed for maximum positive impact?

• 6. What are some of the key advantages of TDI?

• 7. Are some types of material or course work better suited than others to TDI?

• 8. What disadvantages or opportunity costs can you identify with this approach?

PART 2

• 1. What steps can I, as a manager, take to make the performance-management process more relevant and acceptable to those who will be affected by it?

• 2. How can we best fit our approach to performance management with the strategic direction of our department and business?

• 3. Should managers and nonmanagers be appraised from multiple perspectives, for example, by those above, by those below, by coequals, and by customers?

• 4. What strategy should we use to train raters at all levels in the mechanics of performance management and in the art of giving feedback?

• 5. What would an effective performance-management process look like?

• 6. Do you support the use of forced rankings or not?

• 7. If the criteria used to determine an employee's rank are more qualitative than quantitative, does this undermine the forced-ranking system?

• 8. Suppose all of the members of a team are superstars. Can forced ranking deal with that situation?