Situation-Related Characteristics

Situation-related characteristics stem from events surrounding the decision to design and deliver instruction. The chief focus of the instructional design effort should be directed to those most affected by it. The reason: subsequent delivery of instruction to that group will presumably have the greatest impact. It will also be substantially more cost-effective than delivering instruction to all employees when only some really need it.

Suppose that customers of one organization complain that they are not being treated courteously over the phone. Performance analysis reveals that it is a problem caused by a lack of knowledge of phone courtesy. In this simple example, the performance problem itself suggests an important learner characteristic: training should be designed only for those using telephones and dealing directly with customers. Since not all employees in an organization use phones or deal with customers, this learner characteristic alone is helpful in narrowing down the target audience. It raises additional questions. For instance, what do these employees have in common that (perhaps) others do not? Why do they talk to customers? When assessing situational characteristics of learners, instructional designers should begin by asking this question: What are the possible relationships between the performance problem and the learner? Does the performance problem itself suggest unique characteristics of the learners who should receive instruction? If so, what are they? Will those characteristics remain the same—or change—over time? If they will change, in what ways will they change?

Decision-Related Characteristics

Decision-related characteristics pertain to those deciding about learner participation in instruction. When assessing these characteristics, instructional designers should ask the following question: Who decides about permitting people to participate in instruction? Instructional designers may prepare instruction for a targeted group, but others often decide who participates. If this is ignored, much time may be wasted preparing instruction to meet the needs of one group, only to find that other groups actually participate.

Instructional designers should clarify, before preparing training materials, who will decide about participation. There are several ways to do that. One way is to establish a formal committee of people from inside the organization. The members of the committee can give advice about who should participate, predict who is likely to participate, and offer practical guidance for attracting participants by targeting the needs of decision makers.

Learner-Related Characteristics

Learner-related characteristics stem from learners themselves. There are two kinds: (1) prerequisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes; and (2) other learner-related characteristics. Prerequisite knowledge, skills, or attitudes is sometimes called simply a prerequisite. In a classic treatment, Blank (1982, 44–45) defines a prerequisite as “a characteristic, trait, or ability that students should possess to be successful on the job—but one that they will not get as a result of a training program.” Blank identifies four types: (1) physical traits, (2) previously learned skills, (3) previously learned knowledge, and (4) previously learned attitudes.

Physical traits include manual dexterity, grip strength, lifting ability, visual acuity, hearing ability, tolerance to extreme conditions, height, weight, sense of balance, and sensitivity to chemicals or other substances. Employers must take care to make reasonable accommodation, too, for workers with physical and other disabilities who can perform various jobs, but perhaps with modifications. Previously learned skills include the ability to read, write, and compute at a certain minimum level, the ability to use certain types of machines or tools, the ability to drive vehicles (forklift, road grader, tractor), and keyboarding skills. Previously learned knowledge includes awareness of rules such as those associated with arithmetic, grammar, pronunciation, electricity, chemistry, or medicine. Previously learned attitudes include basic employability skills, such as awareness of the importance of dress, punctuality, interpersonal relations at work, and organizational policies and procedures (Carnevale, Gainer, and Meltzer 1988).

There is no foolproof method for establishing instructional prerequisites; rather, it is often a trial-and-error process. Often, instructional designers must ask themselves what knowledge, skills, and attitudes they think participants will bring with them to instruction. Later, when instructional materials and methods are tested on small groups of learners chosen as representative of the targeted audience, assumptions made about prerequisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes can also be tested. Another approach is to select at random a few prospective participants to see if they possess the prerequisites.

Instructional designers should remember two key points as they identify prerequisites. First, if trainees enter instruction lacking essential knowledge or skills, then these essentials must be furnished to them. Second, competent legal advice should be sought before people are screened out of instruction for job advancement or security, particularly when physical traits are the prerequisites. The reason is that using physical requirements in screening, while superficially appearing to have a neutral effect on the selection of protected labor groups, may screen out higher proportions of females and others. When instruction is necessary for job entry or advancement and is denied to some individuals solely because they do not meet previously established prerequisites about physical ability, then it functions as a selection device. Instruction is subject to the laws, regulations, and court decisions affecting equal employment opportunity and equal access for the disabled.

Other learner-related characteristics are also worthy of consideration. They center on the learners' demographic characteristics, physiological characteristics, aptitudes, experience, learning styles, attitudes, job categories, value systems, life-cycle stages, or career stages. The following summarizes the terms designating these important characteristics.

Demographic characteristics include age, gender, and race; physiological characteristics include heart condition, lung capacity, and general physical condition. Experience characteristics include length of service with the organization, length of service in the job, experience with present job activities prior to job entry, and similar experience; learning style characteristics are classified according to standardized categories.

Aptitude includes talents and skills; knowledge includes education, basic skills, and specialized previous training. Attitudinal feelings include feelings about the topic, training, the job, performance problems, and the organization.

A more in-depth look at these terms follows.

Demographic characteristics are associated with learners' race, gender, and age. Two demographic issues are worthy of special consideration. First, instructional designers should ask whether the instruction they design will be geared to the needs of a particular racial group, gender, or age group, as is sometimes the case in specialized seminars on career planning, communication, retirement, or other subjects. If it will be, then any assumptions made about the learners should be double-checked. These assumptions may be based, knowingly or unknowingly, on stereotypes about the needs or beliefs of the targeted audience and may be erroneous. To avoid this problem, some instructional designers may establish an ad hoc panel of advisers to clarify or check the assumptions made about the learners before instruction is designed. Much interest lately is focusing around the needs of older learners, people over the traditional retirement age, since Baby Boomers are aging and may soon become a central focus of interest to many employers strapped for talent (Charness and Czaja 2006; Moseley and Dessinger 2007; Rothwell, Sterns, Spokus, and Reaser 2008).

Learner sensitivity to special issues is a second matter to be considered. In recent years, for instance, much attention has been devoted to establishing gender-neutral language to avoid stereotypes or other objectionable implications about the gender of employees. Are there other issues in the instruction that must be considered from the standpoint of unique employee groups? If so, they should be identified. Further, means should be established, before instruction is designed, to make sure that learner sensitivities are not violated and that human diversity is celebrated.

Physiological characteristics pertain to the most intimate aspects of the learner. They may include sensitivity to chemicals, prior medical history, and genetic heritage, including a tendency to certain forms of disease. As medical science has advanced, it has become more than a science fiction writer's dream to assess—and even predict—human sensitivity to substances and inclinations to disease.

Relatively little attention in the literature has been devoted to making assumptions about learners' physiological conditions. If learners will be exposed to chemicals during instruction, then their physiological characteristics should be considered. Should they be given medical examinations before exposure? Have all government requirements been met so that employees know of their “right to know” about the substances to which they will be exposed?

Aptitudes are the future capabilities to perform in certain ways. Some individuals are gifted with talents that others do not possess, and those talents are synonymous with aptitudes. Employers sometimes administer aptitude tests before or after employee selection to assess individual potential. When test scores are available, they can be a rich source of information about learners. While this information may be used in designing instruction, it should be examined with due consideration to organizational policies on employee confidentiality and rights to privacy.

Experience means the time the targeted learners have spent in the employing organization, in their jobs, and in their chosen occupations. It is frequently one of the most important learner characteristics to consider in designing instruction. There are several reasons. First, experience sometimes affects motivation to learn. When people first enter an organization, job, or occupation, they are often highly motivated to learn. They want to reduce the tension existing between themselves and the unfamiliar surroundings (organization) or unfamiliar activities and expectations they face. When instruction will be designed for those with limited experience, there is a greater likelihood that the targeted learners will be motivated to learn. These learners are willing to take instruction seriously and may depend on it to help them make essential transitions in their lives. Second, experience affects the selection of appropriate instructional methods. Learners with the least experience need the most guidance. Since they “do not know what they do not know,” they are prime candidates for directive methods or simulated experiences. However, learners with the most experience rebel against directive instructional methods or unrealistic simulations.

Knowledge is associated with what learners know about the subject of instruction, the performance problem, learning needs, and organizational policies and procedures. What is known about the learners' knowledge of these subjects? What assumptions are safe to make about what they know before they enter instruction? Have learners had much or little formal education? Have they had specific, previous instruction on the subject at another institution? If so, how was the subject treated?

Learning styles have been another learner consideration for years. Inventories have been developed around some of the major learning style paradigms. Recently, however, evidence-based research has called this learner characteristic into question. Clark (2010) is quoted as saying that “learning style represents one of the most wasteful and misleading pervasive learning myths in the past 20 years” (p. 10). The style most in question appear to be the approaches based on auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning styles. Recent research indicates that we all learn using all three sensory modalities.

Attitudinal characteristics refer to learners' feelings about performance that they voice to other people. The term specifically denotes what learners think about a subject, the performance problem that instruction solves, their own learning needs, the organization, and other important issues. One way instructional designers can assess attitudes is to prepare and administer a simple attitude survey to representatives of the targeted audience. Another way is to field-test instructional materials and then administer an attitude survey to participants in a small-group session.

Geographical location may affect learners' needs and willingness to participate in instruction. It may also influence their attitudes about the performance problem and the instruction designed to address it. Learners in different parts of the world may report to different supervisors and may face problems differing in degree or type from learners in other locations. Marketing specialists stress the importance of geographical dimensions as a basis for segmenting markets. Instructional designers may wish to target instruction to one geographical area first and then, in time, to spread out to others. This method is frequently used in marketing products or services.

Job category means the learners' job duties and responsibilities within the organization. It can be an important determinant of what employees must know and do to perform satisfactorily. Job categories often become the basis for establishing long-term instructional plans to make it easier to orient people to new jobs, upgrade their knowledge and skills as job requirements change, and prepare individuals for promotion or other movements. In some organizations, team or individual assignments—or some other method—may be substituted for job category if they are the primary means by which work is organized.

There is good reason for placing heavy emphasis on job or work categories when assessing learner characteristics. The work performed is a key link between individual and organizational needs. Individual needs and characteristics also vary somewhat by job or by work responsibilities. Hourly employees may not need the same instruction as supervisors, managers, or executives on a given organizational policy or procedure. Instruction targeted for one employee category should take the duties and responsibilities of that category into account.

However, jobs may be categorized in several ways. For instance, some instructional designers prefer to use a general job classification scheme. Examples of general job categories include executives, managers, first-line supervisors, technical employees, salespersons, professionals, and skilled workers. An alternative classification scheme, established by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for mandatory government reports on hiring, training, and other employee activities, lists the following job categories: officers and managers, professionals, technicians, sales workers, office and clerical workers, skilled craft workers, semiskilled operatives, unskilled laborers, and service workers. The actual job titles placed in each job category may vary across organizations but should remain consistent within one organization.

Barbazette (2006) cites additional learner characteristics that might also be included in the learner analysis process:

• Interests. Knowledge of what the learners find interesting might lead to the development of adaptation of exercises or games that the learners would find relevant and engaging.
• Personal benefit to learning. This relates to the WIIFM (“What's in it for me?”) that can serve as a motivational factors if we know what the learner would find to be beneficial.
• Cultural characteristics. The more we know about the culture that might influence the learners, the better able we are to adapt the instructional design to their needs. This not only means national culture or language restrictions but also corporate culture or the culture of a particular job or work setting.

Developing a Profile of Learner Characteristics

Instructional designers should be able to summarize the results of a learner assessment in a learner profile. A learner profile is a narrative description of the targeted audience for instruction that sets forth key assumptions that will be made about them as instruction is prepared. To be adequate, this learner profile should follow the results of the learner assessment and be complete enough to be used for making instructional decisions.

What Should Be Included in a Learner Profile?

A learner profile should clarify exactly what assumptions will be made about individuals who will, or should, participate in an instructional experience intended to rectify a performance problem. It can be thought of as a “role” (or even “job”) specification of the learner that summarizes the following characteristics.

Necessary background knowledge, skill, attitudes, and physical traits. What should the learner already know or be able to do when he or she begins instruction? How should he or she feel about it? What minimum physical traits are necessary for success in the instructional experience?

Other necessary learner characteristics. These include any assumptions made about learners' demographic or physiological characteristics, aptitudes, experience, learning styles, attitudes, job categories, value systems, life-cycle stages, or career stages.

It is also wise to indicate reasonable accommodation that can be made for the physically or mentally disabled and those experiencing special learning problems.

How Should a Profile of Learner Characteristics Be Developed?

There are three basic ways to develop a profile of learner characteristics for instruction: normatively, descriptively, and historically. The normative profile is established judgmentally, without considering the existing “market” of learners. Instead, it summarizes characteristics of the “ideal” or “desired” learner. To develop such a profile, instructional designers—or instructional designers working with operating supervisors and managers—may make arbitrary assumptions about what knowledge, skills, attitudes, physical traits, and other characteristics learners should possess before they enter instruction.

The descriptive profile is established by examining the characteristics of an existing group and describing them. It summarizes characteristics of the probable or likely learner. To develop such a profile, instructional designers—working alone or in tandem with experienced job incumbents and supervisors—select a representative random sample of a “targeted group of learners” and describe their knowledge, skills, attitudes, physical traits, and other relevant characteristics.

The historical profile is established by examining characteristics of those who participate in instruction. It summarizes characteristics of the historical learner. To develop such a profile, instructional designers should track the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and physical traits of those who participated in instruction and who then became exemplary (excellent) performers. With this information, it is possible to develop a predictive profile of those most likely to succeed following instruction.

The Importance of Setting Analysis

In a classic description, Steele (1973) emphasized the importance of physical settings in planned organizational change efforts. He noted, “If one attempts to make changes in the social functioning of an organization, one must pay attention to the physical systems which form part of the context for the social system” (6). As he defined it, physical system means setting or environment. It is “the total surrounding context for the person or the subject of interest” (6).

Theorists have also more recently emphasized the importance of the setting in which people apply what they learn (Dubois and Rothwell 1996; Senge 1990; Watkins and Marsick 1993). Michael Allen (2012) emphasizes the important of context in designing learning interventions. The author notes: “In many ways, context is both the most foundational component (of instruction) and the most frequently neglected. When missing, it is much more difficult for learners to understand and remember situations that require one response instead of another” (25). In what Ruth Colvin Clark (2010) refers to as “Immersive Architecture” (also known as whole-task instructional design), learning is introduced in the context in which the new skills will be applied rather than in small, seemingly unrelated parts. By doing so, emphasizes Clark, “training relevance is more salient and transfer to the job may be more direct” (63). A dynamic interaction exists when knowledge is applied to a situation by an individual. Ignoring the environment and the situation in which knowledge is applied is metaphorically akin to focusing on a hammer but not considering the nail to be used or the board to which the nail is to be affixed.

Those who set out to change organizations require what Steele (1973, 8) called environmental competence, meaning “(1) the ability to be aware of one's environment and its impact; and (2) the ability to use or change that environment.” To demonstrate environmental competence, managers—or such other change agents as instructional designers—should “be more aware of the setting,” “ask themselves what they are trying to do there,” “assess the appropriateness of the setting for what is to be accomplished, ” and “make appropriate changes to provide a better fit between themselves and the setting” (8). Detailed examinations have been conducted to determine the competencies required to facilitate organizational change, and instructional designers increasingly find they must demonstrate these competencies and those linked specifically to instructional design work.

The instructional design process is a change effort intended to meet or avert deficiencies in knowledge, skills, or attitudes. It should therefore be carried out with due appreciation for the environments in which instruction will be designed, delivered, and subsequently applied. If this step is ignored, instructional designers may experience stiff resistance from managers and prospective participants as they prepare instruction. Worse yet, participants in instruction may later experience much frustration if, when they return to their job settings, they may not apply what they learned because their managers or coworkers do not support it.

Identifying Factors and Carrying Out Setting Analysis

Instructional designers should make systematic examinations of the development, delivery, and application environments at the outset of the instructional design process. The development environment is the setting in which instruction will be prepared; the delivery environment is the setting in which instruction will be presented; and the application environment is the work settings in which learners will be expected to apply what they learn. Each of these environments should affect instructional development, delivery, and application.

What Characteristics of the Development Environment Should Be Assessed, and How Should They Be Assessed?

Begin a setting analysis by focusing initial attention on the development environment, since it will affect how the instructional design project proceeds. First, list characteristics of the setting that may affect the instructional design assignment. Examples may include any or all of the following characteristics in the left column and briefly described in the right column of Table 4.3.

Other developmental characteristics of the setting may also be considered. For instance, Weisbord (1993, 754) suggests that organizations may be examined by asking questions about six key issues, and each question may be adapted to focus on developmental issues: (1) What business are we in, and how does instruction contribute to that? (2) How is the work divided up, and how does division of labor affect instruction? (3) Do all needed tasks have incentives, and what incentives exist for participating in—and applying—instruction? (4) Does the organization possess coordinating technologies, and does the instruction being designed also possess coordinating technologies? (5) How is conflict among people and technologies managed, and how is such conflict addressed in instruction? (6) How are these issues kept in balance in the organization, and what part does instruction play in maintaining that balance?

Second, determine how many characteristics may affect the present instructional design assignment and how they may, or should, affect it. Given the culture of the organization and the performance problem that instruction should solve, consider three major questions:

1. Based on what is known of the organization, how many of these characteristics relate to the present assignment?
2. How are the characteristics relevant? What is known about them?
3. How should information about these characteristics be used in such subsequent steps of the instructional design process as analyzing tasks? Writing statements of performance objectives? Developing performance measurements? Sequencing performance objectives? Specifying instructional strategies? Designing instructional materials? Evaluating instruction?

Third, conduct a reality check to make sure that the most important developmental characteristics have been identified, their key implications noted, and the information recorded for use during the instructional design project. To do that, discuss the questions above with key decision-makers in the organization, other members of the instructional design team, and experienced or exemplary performers in the organization. Analyze their responses carefully and make the changes they suggest when warranted.

What Characteristics of the Delivery Environment Should Be Assessed, and How Should They Be Assessed?

Focus attention next on the delivery environment, since it will affect how instruction is received by managers and employees of the organization. First, decide how the instruction will probably be delivered. While final decisions about delivery strategies are not usually made until later in the instructional design process, determine whether managers in the organization have predetermined notions—and justifications for them—about how instruction should be delivered, who should participate in it, when it should be delivered, why it should be delivered, and what needs or whose needs are to be met by it.

There are many ways to deliver instruction. It may be delivered on or off the job; it may be delivered to individuals (through computer-based or web-based training, e-mail attachment, mobile devices or teleconference, print-based programmed instruction, self-study readings) or to groups. The choice of what to examine in the delivery environment depends on how instruction will be delivered.

Most instructional designers and other training and development professionals, when asked about delivery, usually think first of the classroom, although that is not the best, least costly, or most effective alternative. When instruction is delivered on the job, relevant characteristics are the same as those in the list following for the application setting. When instruction is delivered off the job and in a meeting (informal) or classroom (formal) setting, relevant characteristics to consider may include any of the following in the left column and briefly described in the right column (Crowe, Hettinger, Weber, and Johnson 1986, 128).

Other characteristics may also be considered. Use these lists as a starting point for identifying important characteristics of the delivery environment and determining how they may relate to delivering instruction. Also refer to the lists in deciding how these characteristics should be considered while you analyze tasks, write statements of performance objectives, sequence performance objectives, specify instructional strategies, design instruction materials, and evaluate instruction. Conduct a reality check at the end of these steps and when instruction is subsequently delivered.

What Characteristics of the Application Environment Should Be Assessed, and How Should They Be Assessed?

Characteristics of the application environment may affect the instructional design process just as much as, if not more than, characteristics of the development and delivery environments. The application environment should be considered before instruction is designed to maximize the likelihood that learners will transfer what they learn from instruction to their jobs (Baldwin and Ford 1988).

Historically, instructional designers have seldom paid attention to the application environment, concerning themselves instead with results at the end of the instructional experience. One unfortunate result is that not more than 10 percent of the estimated $100 billion spent on workplace instruction in the United States each year produces on-the-job change (Broad and Newstrom 1992). If instructional designers have paid attention to the application environment, they usually know that learners are more likely to transfer what they learn from instruction to their jobs when conditions in the two environments are similar, if not identical (Thorndike and Woodworth 1901a, 1901b, 1901c). Basarab (2011) points out that the ultimate impact of training can be predicted if the learners believe in the value of what they're being taught and their intention is to apply the skills or knowledge back on the job. These factors are heightened by providing context-relevant training and building belief and intention assessment elements into the actual training experience.

Any or all of the following characteristics in the left column and briefly described in the right column may influence on-the-job application of instruction (Crowe, Hettinger, Weber, and Johnson 1986, 146).

Additional characteristics of the application environment may also be worthy of consideration (Fitz-Enz 1984, 210).

Pepitone (2000) identified 10 characteristics of high-performance work systems that should influence the way we design and deliver training solutions:

1. Market-driven design and operation (influenced by customers and the external environment)
2. Optimized work systems (engineered for mechanical and human precision)
3. Clear direction and expectations (clear purpose, requirements, measures of performance)
4. Empowered and self-managing work teams (teams decide how to do their work and they manage themselves)
5. Capacity to redesign work processes (ability to redesign work to meet changing requirements and conditions)
6. Job flexibility and performance support (broaden skills and knowledge, facilitate learning, generate intrinsic motivation
7. Supportive management systems and culture (including decision-making, planning, budgeting, and information systems)
8. Supportive human resource policies (including such practices as skill-based pay, peer feedback, team bonuses)
9. Open access to information (access to all required information and the ability to disseminate information as needed)
10. Variance controlled at the source (the ability to detect errors at their source and correct them) (33–34)

All of these characteristics carry with them a more effective way of preparing employees for the responsibilities of fitting into a high-performance workplace environment. More recent attention has focused around so-called employee engagement, an organizational environment in which people feel a close connection emotionally between themselves and the organization's mission, purpose, and goals. Concerns have been raised because a diminishing number of workers—only about 29 percent of workers in the United States—are fully engaged (Crabtree 2007).

Research by Rothwell (2002) indicates that learners may face barriers in the learning process. Rothwell has published an assessment instrument that is useful in examining the learning climate to assess how well learners may learn based on organizational conditions, a key issue in facilitating individual learning and transfer of training.

Use these lists of characteristics to analyze the application environment. First, determine how many characteristics relate to the present instructional design assignment and how they may (or should) affect it to improve the chances that instruction will subsequently be applied by learners on their jobs. Given the culture of the organization and the performance problem that instruction should solve, consider the following questions:

• Based on what is known about the organization, how many of these characteristics relate to the present assignment?
• How are the characteristics relevant? What is known about how each characteristic effects on-the-job performance?
• How should information about these characteristics subsequently be used in the instructional design process to improve the chances that learners will apply on the job what they learned during instruction? How should this information influence subsequent steps in the instructional design model?

As in the analysis of characteristics affecting the development and delivery environments, conduct a reality check to ensure these questions have been answered appropriately. In addition, make notes to use during the instructional design process. When necessary, recommend that managers make noninstructional changes to the work environment to encourage on-the-job application of learning. They also give the setting analysis legitimacy and grounds for justification.