The Article, “A Marketing Training Workshop for Industrial Trainers: Programme Planning and Evaluation” by Ronald (1987), seeks to demystify the concept of marketing and its importance towards more productive trainers and effective training programs. It basically describes the measures required to conduct a training workshop on marketing for trainers of different fields in the industry. The research problem in this case is whether there is need for specific training workshops on marketing for trainers and the value it adds or not.
It is clear from the introduction that there is a need for trainers to market their programs (P.12). From the author’s explanation of the concept of marketing, it is observed that this concept has a varied meaning to individuals and to different sectors. The author develops a training program for a workshop using different marketing approaches. He creates an implementation strategy and finally a mode of its evaluation. The programme is developed after an intensive preliminary research assessment and planning in the form of verbal discussions and meetings with representatives of various stakeholders that are focussed on processes and content. Through these, the author is convinced that there is enough interest and need to hold a training workshop.
The author titles the workshop “Marketing for Trainers in Industry” and the target audience for the marketing training sessions is anyone working in a training capacity in the industry (Ronald, 1987). The one day workshop trains trainers on fundamental principles of marketing and how they can apply this principles by coming up with tailor-made marketing plans for their own particular training programmes. The article presents a clear and feasible research design and methodology. However, the mode of data collection sampling and analysis has not been well optimised and the pool of audience or sample size used in the research is too small thus raising the argument for the need of the same workshop.
Communication and utilization of feedback is key in the planning of a training session thus Ronald R. Sims has this in mind. This is well articulated. “The marketing training workshop announcement was sent to the training departments of different organisations in the Industry” (p.12). The training workshop is well communicated and announced to the training departments of different organizations in the industry and other specifics well published to newsletters of organizations. In addition, feedback is to be collected through questionnaires before and after the workshop. This is used purely for planning purposes and eventually to come up with recommendations.
The workshop has a clear and well planned programme implementation strategy. The author clearly comes up with the programme outlines for the workshop which reveals the elementary requirements of the applicants, basic marketing information and their capability to relate marketing perceptions in their training organisations or departments. He also states Specific objectives regarding workshop applicants’ capabilities. This includes; explanation of what marketing is and the various concepts of marketing, exhibit the use of marketing skills in in class drills, usage of marketing approaches in the various departments and organisations and finally the development of marketing plans for their department and or for a particular training programmes (Ronald, 1987, p. 13). Through these sessions, the concept of marketing is well captured.
The workshop utilization of case studies and demonstrations centred on marketing techniques automatically aids in improving the trainers’ skill set in marketing training programmes. The workshop’s requirement of the participants to develop a marketing plan shows the practicability of the training and gives them a hands on experience on how to implement the skills acquired. The article brings out this clearly.
The methodology used by the author, especially the surveys and the use of questionnaire has helped in gathering information that has been used to tailor-make the training program. This is a good tool to use in the measurement of behaviours and attitudes that relate to marketing at the onset and towards the end of the marketing training workshop. However, there seems to be no concrete guidelines for executing this one out. The responses on questionnaires and results from surveys cannot be ultimately utilised to come up with ultimate decisions on the successes or failures of the program (Ronald, 1987, p. 14). In other words this sounds great on paper but it doesn’t translate as easily in reality.
In conclusion, this is a good concept on how to come up with solution to improving trainer’s skill set considering that that it has provided a clear structure of a training workshop for industrial trainers. It has also clearly demystified the concept of marketing and the need for training. However, it being a planning and evaluation programme, the aspect of evaluation was not well presented; rather, it has been more of its implementation. The author has not maximised the use of related illustrations, examples and citations. The article has not utilised or related its findings with related research concepts. In the overall sense, it is a well composed article that is convincing in theory and with few adjustments on the implementation strategy, it can be implemented with the desired success.
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