Sustaining Distance Training: Integrating Learning Technologies into the Fabric of the Enterprise

By Zane L. Berge

Book Overview

In this companion volume to Distance Training, Sustaining Distance Training presents practical steps for integrating distance training into the day-to-day operations of any organization. Berge shows... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0787953318
• ISBN13: 9780787953317
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.6" x 1.5" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

A Singular Collaboration and Contribution

Each of the three words in the title is more important now than at any prior time in business history. It is far easier to achieve success than to sustain it. Given the increasingly greater impact of the Web, the necessity of connectivity and interactivity rapidly increases. Finally, mastery of what Senge calls "the fifth discipline" of organization-wide learning may well determine whether or not excellence can be sustained in the face of constant, at times traumatic change. In the Preface, Berge shares what he refers to as "some patterns and commonalities" which he has noted over the years while reviewing hundreds of cases involving distance training and educational technology. He has assembled and edited a collection 20 brilliant essays which are distributed within five Parts: Introduction, Meeting the Challenge of Uncommon Organizational Change, Setting Competitive Standards, Achieving organizational Goals, and Summary. He then provides an Appendix (Case Study Research Methodology Used for This Book, Glossary, and References. In the Preface, Berge explains that the purpose of this book is to "disseminate a plausible model or framework for sustaining distance training and to describe the essential elements in the model with multiple cases to illustrate and help the reader's understanding." His primary audience consists of organizational managers, performance consulting professionals, and practitioners charged with the training functions in corporations, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies.Berge is the author of the first two essays which comprise Part One: "The Context of Distance Training: Predicting Change" and "A Framework for Sustaining Distance Training." Berge does indeed offer a "model" and a "framework" (rather than a definitive operations manual) whose purpose is to assist virtually any organization as it formulates whichever structure, policies, procedures, strategies, and tactics are most appropriate to its own specific needs and interests. Throughout this exceptionally informative book, various authorities share their own experiences with sustaining distance training. For example, Ellsworth and Iorizzo discuss "Distance Training at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center: Surviving Implementation." Other essays examine initiatives in a wide range of other organizations such as SBC, the U.S. General Accounting Office, the IRS, the UAW-Daimler/Chrysler National Training Center, Ford Motor Company (dealerships), Nortel Networks, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, the U.S. Postal Service, and the American Red Cross. Although the organizations are huge, thye various essays' authors have convinced me that literally ANY organization not only can but must -- to varying degrees -- establish and then sustain effective distance training programs, ones which would involve their employees (of course) but could also involve the employees of business partners, vendors, service providers, federal and state regulatory agencies, and perhaps even co