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MITCHELL, GARRY. The Trainer's Handbook: The AMA Guide to Effective Training (2nd ed.). New York: AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, 1993. Pp. viii + 423. $75.00.
There has been tremendous change in the workplace in the last few years; there will be continuous change in the future. We are fundamentally shifting how we approach customers and processes. There are changes in the demographics of people entering the workforce and in technology, a shift from manufacturing to more service jobs and a shift to a global marketplace. The implication of this change is phenomenal for trainers. Taking unskilled people and giving them the skills to operate highly technological manufacturing environments, teaching individuals trained in a bureaucratic structure how to operate in a team environment, and maximizing both individual and process productivity create demands on the trainer. Also, there is often less money and time to train. Consequently, I think it is exciting to see a comprehensive training book where the first chapter asks the question, "Why should a company hire a trainer?" Because the answer is that a company hires a trainer to produce a change in its operation, the function of training at the organizational level is to produce measurable change in the operation of an organization. Consequently, a trainer is an agent for change and this book is about teaching trainers that fundamental issue as well as many of the basic training processes.
One of the major themes of this handbook is that there is a strong human tendency to resist change. Therefore, a crucial part of the training endeavor must be to motivate trainees to learn and to change. Consequently, to be fully effective, the trainer must take as much control as possible of the pre-training, training, and post-training environments. Since executives today have increasing expectations that training will create basic cultural change in the workplace, training has become as diverse as the rapid changes we see happening. Trainers, therefore, are faced with increasing challenges and opportunities. Mitchell has produced a solid training reference book that is wrapped around these fundamental issues, which makes it a valuable resource. It is also a book that obviously comes from a wealth of experience in dealing with the day-to-day issues of being a...