The impact of manager support on the transfer of training in corporate South Africa

Abstract

Organisations invest a significant amount of time and money on management and supervisory training programs (Cromwell and Kolb 2004). The intended return on investments from training programmes will only be achieved to the extent that training is transferred, but the problem is, however, that the transfer of training is slight and below expectation (Brinkerhoff and Gill 1994). In their ongoing pursuit for creating shareholder value, management needs innovative, feasible and effective approaches to the improvement of the transfer of training problem. This study is aimed at establishing how manager support for training impacts the transfer of training, proposing that there is a moderate to strong positive relationship between manager support and the transfer of training By means of an electronic questionnaire, trainees responded regarding their experiences of manager support and their own claims to the transfer of training. This study found that there was a significant positive relationship between manager support and the transfer of training during a sales training programme for relationship managers at Standard Bank. The transfer of training more than doubled when managers supported their staff during the training process. Aimed at contributing to the transfer of training theory and to fill a knowledge gap in this regard applicable within a South African context, this study was intended to establish a good foundation for a business case to be developed for formal manager support initiatives as a feasible, effective tool which organisations can use to enhance the level of the transfer of training to accelerate performance and achieve business results