Reinventing the Wheel at Ryan Door Company

Jack Ryan, CEO of Ryan Doors, has a problem. No matter how often he tells his employees how to do their jobs, they invariably "decide to do it their way," as he puts it, and arguments ensure between Jack, the employee, and the employee's supervisor. One example is the door-design department, where the designers are expected to work with the architects to design doors that meet the specifications. While it is not "rocket science" as Jack puts it, the designers invariably make mistakes - such as designing in too much steel, a problem that can cost Ryan Doors tens of thousands of wasted dollars, once you consider the number of doors in a large office tower!

The current training process is as follows: None of the jobs has a training manual per se, although several have somewhat out-of-date job descriptions. The training for new employees is on-the-job. Usually, the employee leaving the company trains the new person during a one or two week overlap timeframe, but if there is no overlap, the new employee is trained as well as possible by other employees who have filled in occasionally on-the-job in the past.

 Jack Ryan has decided to form a task force to help with the design and evaluation of a new training program for the design group. The task force is to submit recommendations based upon the following: Explain in detail: What should be done to improve the training process at Ryan Door.

Identify in detail:

a) the types of outcomes to use in evaluating the improved training process

b) the evaluation design (justify the choice of design based on minimizing threats to validity and practical considerations.