EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP LEARNING & EDUCATION: The Role of Research & Evaluation

1. EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIPLEARNING & EDUCATION: The Role of Research & Evaluation European Federation of Employee Share Ownership (EFES) 5th European Meeting: EOLE Programme Good Practices in Employee Ownership Education & Training June 16th, 2005 Fred Freundlich Praktiker, Center for Applied Organizational Research Mondragon Unibertsitatea

2. Why are we here? …Importance of EO-FP and “EOLE” • Much research shows: • Importance of employee ownership (EO) or financial participation (FP) to employees and companies … € + psychological-organizational • BUT ONLY when conditions in the company meet employees’ expectations about ownership … when ownership is combined with information-sharing + participation a felt sense of ownership • So … EOLE initiatives are crucial

3. Importance of “EOLE” initiatives: Content To meet these expectations, employee-owners should learn: • OWNERSHIP FACTS* - How, concretely, EO or FP works, WHY the company has EO or FP. • OWNERSHIP SKILLS – participation skills, financial skills, “applied problem-solving skills” • OWNERSHIP VALUES – to understand the meaning of co-ownership … to internalize and BALANCE the rights and responsibilities, risks and rewards of co-ownership. * “Facts” “Skills” “Values” distinctions from Ownership Associates, Inc., USA

4. Why research on EOLE initiatives is important • To move beyond impressions … to evaluate EOLE w. RIGOR  confidence in our evaluations • To evaluate EOLE initiatives’ impact on: • Employee learning (Ownership Facts and Skills) • Employee attitudes, satisfaction w. EO-FPand w. the company(Ownership Values) • Behavior… practices and performance: work area / department / business unit / company • To improve EOLE initiatives

5. A Word on Research Methods • Quantitative (questionnaire-based) VERSUS Qualitative (interview/observation-based): • Not “VERSUS” but “AND” … methods have different uses, but can/should be complementary • Quantitative methods: • Generalizability and anonymity • Qualitative methods: • Depth, “local causality”, processes, meaning

6. What should be researched? (1) Interest in OWNERSHIP VALUES … attitudes ab. EO-FP • The importance to employees of the idea / potentialof EO or FP… (to compare with #2 …“How important is the idea of EO / FP to you? to your co-workers?”) • Employees’ actual sense of EO or FP in the company now. (“How much does EO-FP at your company make you feel like a co-owner, a real participant?” ) • The importance to employees of different aspects of EO / FP(“How important to you are aspects of EO/FP: financial reward? Participation? Fairness? a sense of community?” etc.)

7. What should be researched? (2)Learning of Ownership Facts, Ownership Skills Kirkpatrick’s Triangle ……….4 levels of learning • Can demonstrate learning thru new behavior in NEW CONTEXTS, HAS IMPACT on co-workers or organization • Can demonstrate learning thru NEW BEHAVIOR • Can demonstrate new KNOWLEDGE, change in attitudes... on paper, in conversation. Knows the concepts. • Shows SATISFACTION with learning and learning experience (increases probability of learning)

8. What questions? Kirkpatrick’s Triangle ……….4 kinds of questions • Pre-/post- design: questions ab. organizational culture, group behavior + performance … AND… “Has dept / business unit / company changed? How much? Why? Was EO training related? How?” • “How do you / your co-workers do ‘X’?” … Do you / your co-workers do ‘X’ differently?” … “Did EO training affect how you do ‘X’?” … or a pre-/post design • “What did you learn about ‘N’?”… “What is ‘X’?” … “How would you do ‘Q’?” … “Did EO training increase your knowledge of ‘Y’?” • “How satisfied were you with… content / trainer and style / method, etc.?” “How much did you learn about… ‘X’?”

9. Who should be asked? Kirkpatrick’s Triangle ………. kinds of respondents • Ask learners ANDlearners’ co-workers … • Ask learners ANDlearners’ co-workers … • Ask learners and trainers. • Ask learners and trainers.

10. The organizational psychology of organizational research • Evaluation / research = organizational intervention, affects expectations, etc. … HENCE importance of: • Communication and consensus BEFORE beginning • Participatory design of instruments/content • Communication of the results • Use results for participatory change • Especially in an EO or FP company

11. Conclusions • Research is a good way to begin a conversation in the firm … about what to change and how to make the changes. • Need for solid evaluation – valid and reliable information THEN you… • Have a good idea of what is happening with EOLE • Can learn from experience, improve EOLE in the future