Assessment and acquisition methods used by management to identify and address training and development needs

This research employed the survey method to gather descriptive data which was utilized to compare training and development acquisition methods used by Fortune 500 Chief Executive Officers and Human Resource Development Managers. Fifty-nine CEOs and 104 Human Resource Development Managers participated in the study. The purpose of this study was: (1) To determine the methods used by CEOs to assess and acquire their training and development needs; (2) To determine the methods used by management to assess and acquire their training and development needs; (3) To compare the methods used by CEOs and management; and (4) To determine relationships between methods used and industry type, level of educational degree earned, and by the discipline in which the degree was earned. To describe the interval data in this study (Parts I and II of the surveys), the frequencies are reported; the mode is reported for the nominal data (Part III of the CEO survey); and a t-test for independent samples was used to compare the interval data (Parts I and II of the survey). A Bonferroni adjustment of the alpha was made to control for Type I errors. There was a significant difference (at the.05 level of confidence) between assessment and acquisition methods used by CEOs and Human Resource Development Managers. There were no significant differences between educational degrees and educational disciplines of CEOs and their assessment and acquisition methods. CEOs favored self-assessment for determining their training and development needs; the acquisition method most favored to meet their perceived needs was reading the current literature. Conversely, Human Resource Development Managers reported using the recommendations of supervisors to determine the training and development needs of managers. Coaching and seminars were the acquisition methods reported most frequently used by Human Resource Development Managers to meet the training and development needs of managers