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WWII: Development of the Job Instructor Program and Scientific Management
At the start of World War II, many men were called into service and vacated their jobs, so people over the age of forty with very little experience took over those jobs. The workforce did not have an adequate number of trainers to train this flood of inexperienced workers. “To supply much-needed trainers, the Training Within Industry Service of the War Manpower Commission developed the Job Instructor Program, or JIT” (Estep, 2008, p 15). They used the scientific management method of training. -
1940's: The ASTD Forms
" In 1942, the American Society of Training Directors (ASTD) formed during a meeting of the American Petroleum Institute in New Orleans, Louisiana" (Estep, 2008, p. 16). -
1950's: Individualized Instruction
After WWII, the training process was changed because workers found the scientific method "demotivating" (Estep, 2008, p. 16). Skinner published his book on the Behaviorism theory which gave rise to the individualized instruction form of training (Estep, 2008, p. 16). -
1960's: Organization Development
In the 1960's, the training profession developed to include the organization development model in an effort to better understand business. "Organization Development is a values-based approach to systems change in organizations and communities; it strives to build the capacity to achieve and sustain a new desired state that benefits the organization or community and the world around the" (Estep, 2008, p. 21). -
1970's: Sociotechnical-Systems Theory
The sociotechnical-systems theory became widely used in the 1970's. The theory indicates that the interaction of both social and technical factors support or hinder the successful functioning of an organization (Estep, 2008, p. 23). -
Assertiveness Training
Because women made up nearly half of the workforce in the 1980's assertiveness training developed rapidly. According to Estep (2008), Other popular training topics were behavior modeling, teamwork, empowerment, diversity, adventure learning, feedback, corporate culture, and trainers’ competencies" (p. 25). -
1990's: E-Learning
In the 1990's, technology because a huge focus. With the development of so much technology, E-learning became a very popular method of training because trainees could learn at their own pace, receive timely feedback without the embarrassment of having to ask questions or for help in a formal setting, and access training from remote locations (Estep, 2008, p. 26). However, trainers could find it difficult to keep trainees involved and E-learning could be expensive (Estep, 2008, p. 26). -
2000's: Measurement
As the training profession evolved, they began to understand the importance of measurement; in order to see understand if a training program is adequate for the needs of the trainees, the trainers must measure the program’s effectiveness. “Measurement plays a big part in the drive to understand the business and to make the learning and performance function a strategic part of organizations” (Estep, 2008, p. 28).
