ASTD Research Reports
ASTD research reports include benchmarking studies, survey reports, and the annual State of the Industry Report. See the Archives page for more ASTD Research.
The 2009 State of Industry Report
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ASTD estimates that U.S. organizations spent $134.07 billion on employee learning and development in 2008. This amount reflects direct learning expenditures such as the learning function’s staff salaries, administrative learning costs, and non-salary delivery costs (including outsourced activities). Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. total ($88.59 billion) was spent on the internal learning function, such as staff salaries and internal development costs. The remainder ($45.48 billion) was allocated to external services such as workshops, vendors and external events. These types of informative statistics appear in ASTD’s annual State of the Industry report.
The State of the Industry report is ASTD’s annual review of trends in workplace learning and performance. The report includes data from ASTD BEST Awards Winners, ASTD Benchmarking Forum Members and other organizations from 2001 to date.
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You may purchase the PDF version or print copies from the ASTD Store.
This research report is free with an active ASTD membership. Join ASTD now.
The Value of Evaluation: Making Training Evaluations More Effective
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The Value of Evaluation: Making Training Evaluations more Effective study explores the complex issue of learning evaluation, the techniques being used, barriers to effective implementation, and strategic uses of learning metrics. With a down economy, business leaders have all the more reason to scrutinize. However, it can be difficult to show hard dollar savings for areas like training and development that have so many intangible processes. Most companies are not satisfied with the evaluation efforts, but are not giving up on successful measurement of the learning function. Organizations continue to explore ways to communicate and document the value of training and development they provide to employees. The data in this report can help many firms become more proficient in these areas. |
Download the Executive Summary of this report.
This 67-page research report is available for purchase through the ASTD Store.
This research report is free with an active ASTD membership. Join ASTD now.
Learning in Tough Economic Times: How Corporate Learning is Meeting the Challenges
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The global recession weighs heavily on everyone’s mind. Few industries are immune to the down economy, but some companies are weathering this storm because they understand the value of having skilled talent to grow the organization. The learning function is critically important to helping an organization achieve a competitive advantage in a troubled economy. ASTD’s Learning in Tough Economic Times presents compelling information on best practices organizations are using to cope with financial uncertainty. This study provides real data, ideas, and tools that you can implement to be a strategic business partner and help position your organization for success in the recovery. We even look to the future of learning as executives describe how the current recession will shape their learning functions in coming years. |
Download the Executive Summary of this report.
This 70-page research report is available for purchase through the ASTD Store.
The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce
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U.S. employers continue to struggle with an ill-prepared workforce, finding new hires lack crucial basic and applied skills, according to a new report produced by ASTD, Corporate Voices for Working Families, The Conference Board, and the Society for Human Resource Management. The report, The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce: Exploring the Challenges of Employer-Provided Workforce Readiness Training, finds that for the most part, employer-sponsored readiness training is not successfully correcting these deficiencies. Almost half of the 217 employers surveyed stated they must provide readiness training for new hires - and the majority rate that training as only moderately or somewhat successful. The report includes five case studies of successful workforce readiness programs and several key findings dealing with the topic of workforce readiness. |
Download the full 24-page report.
Download the Key Findings.
Transforming Learning With Web 2.0 Technologies
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Web 2.0 technologies have changed the face of the internet and have vast potential for revolutionizing the way we learn. Transforming Learning With Web 2.0 Technologies, a new research Study conducted by ASTD/i4cp and sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton, describes how Web 2.0 technologies are being used for learning in today’s organizations. The report, based on survey data from over 700 learning professionals, looks at what technologies are gaining the most use in organizations and reviews the risks and rewards of adopting Web 2.0 tools. This research study includes findings and recommendations to help companies leverage the next generation of collaboration and communication tools for learning and performance improvement. |
Download the executive summary of this report.
This 80-page research report is available for purchase through the ASTD Store.
State of Sales Training
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An organization’s sales force drives the bottom line—and effective sales training is the bedrock of a successful sales program. The ASTD/Intrepid/i4cp State of Sales Training Study explores how today’s organizations are approaching sales training and sheds light on opportunities that organizations are missing to optimize those approaches or consider new ones. The data included in the report provides new insight into the current—and future—state of sales training globally. Based on a survey of more than 500 experts, the ASTD/Intrepid/i4cp study will equip you with the statistics to inform important sales training decisions, provide you with a background on the current sales training environment, and give you policy recommendations that can get you started on the road to success now. |
Download the executive summary of this report.
This 80-page research report is available for purchase through the ASTD Store.
Executive Development: Strategic and Tactical Approaches
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Executive development is a multi-billion-dollar business endeavor and a critical component to an organization’s long-term growth and survival. Organizations invest significant resources to develop today's leaders ito tomorrow's executives, often with little information on what other organizations have found to be successful (or unsuccessful). A new study by ASTD, sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton, examines how organizations handle executive development, how much they spend on the programs, who is involved, how participants are selected, what makes these programs most effective, success stories, and lessons learned. |
Download the executive summary of this report.
This 80-page research report is available for purchase through the ASTD Store.
This research report is free with an active ASTD membership. Join ASTD now.
Download slides from the session on this study at the 2008 ASTD International Conference and Exposition.
ASTD Talent Management Practices and Opportunities Study
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Talent management has become a top priority for most organizations, but it is also an area where there is typically room for improvement. In today’s volatile business market, effectively managing human capital can play a crucial role in business success. The ASTD Talent Management Practices and Opportunities Study discovered how talent management is currently being used by a diverse range of organizations. The report also discerns the best practices of an effective talent management program and describes some of the opportunities for organizations to enhance their talent management capabilities.
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Download the executive summary of this report.
This 80-page research report is available for purchase through the ASTD Store.
Talent Management: Putting Together the Pieces of the Puzzle Webcast
Hear organizational effectiveness expert Ed Lawler describe some of the opportunities for organizations to enhance their talent management capabilities. Pat Galagan facilitates the discussion with Ed Lawler and Andrew Paradise, ASTD Senior Research Analyst.
Tapping the Potential of Informal Learning
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By its very nature, informal learning is difficult to comprehend in detail and equally hard to manage. However, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to understand and leverage informal learning, according to this new study commissioned by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). If organizations can harness the potential of informal learning, it can become an unusually powerful and cost-effective performance tool in coming years. The purpose of this study is to help today’s learning professionals gain insights into how informal learning works and how to improve its effectiveness. The study breaks the findings into six main categories that best explain how and why to harness the potentially untapped power of informal learning.
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Download the executive summary of this report.
This 72-page research report is available for purchase through the ASTD Store.
This research report is free with an active ASTD membership. Join ASTD now.
Learning's Role in Globally Dispersed Workforces: An ASTD Research Study
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No longer the “wave of the future,” globalization is now an established process that will only become more prevalent over time. Any organization planning to expand into global markets can expect to face numerous challenges. This ASTD research study identifies the many ways that learning professionals can ease the transition to globalization by involving the learning function early in the process. Use this research data to determine what your organization can do to ease the global transition. |
Download the executive summary of this report.
This 64-page research report is available for purchase through the ASTD Store.
Learning's Role in Employee Engagement: An ASTD Research Report
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Employee engagement is one of the most important corporate issues today, given its impact on both individual and corporate productivity and performance. This ASTD Research study investigates how organizations are addressing employee engagement and identifies those strategies and organizational factors most responsible for influencing employees to become more engaged. Particular emphasis was given to how learning can influence engagement. Use this research data to determine what you can do to boost employee engagement in your organization. This study was sponsored by Dale Carnegie Training. |
Research Archives