What is missing from ISO 9000 international quality standards training in the United States?

Hong Kong Conventional & Exhibition Centre

Carnevale, Gainer and Villet (1991) observed that employers have too often used training approaches that failed to deliver “new knowledge in a context meaningful to the learner.” This conclusion was consistent with the results found in a recent study of 406 United States companies that used training to prepare their employees for registration to the ISO 9000 series of international quality assurance standards. The vast majority of companies failed to address employee learning needs, and used few research-based instructional strategies to enhance training transfer from workshop to shop floor. Companies rarely grouped employees by their ability to learn and infrequently used the instructional strategies of analogies, behavioral objectives, imagery, and practice and feedback. More startling than the lackluster use of these instructional strategies were the results obtained for management commitment. Although workforce training was required by the ISO 9000 standards, and failure to meet this requirement would threaten the quality registration status of companies, there was a general lack of management commitment to training found in this nationwide survey. This paper is important because it reveals many shortcomings of training practices by companies engaged in international trade and registered to the ISO 9000 standards. Furthermore, it suggests that grouping employees by their ability to learn may function to enhance the implementation of instructional strategies in such a way as to improve training transfer and reduce nonconformances against the international standards.