The authors are very experienced in using return on investment (ROI) to evaluate training. They are widely published in the area, and through their ROI Institute have assisted hundreds of individuals and organisations to apply the technique. The ROI Field Book is aimed primarily at human resource development (HRD) practitioners. Its two main targets are practitioners who are conducting an ROI impact study and those trying to implement ROI in their organisation. However, it should also be of interest to HRD professionals who may only be thinking about using ROI or simply want to know more about it.
The book's stated aim is to help organisations implement ROI successfully. It pursues this by offering a series of strategies, techniques and reproducible tools, and by identifying some common pitfalls. The book also contains a number of short case studies and some optional exercises for readers to undertake. It is accompanied by a CD which contains a self‐assessment test (to check whether your organisation is ready for ROI), templates for data collection and other practical ROI tools.
The book is unashamedly practical. It provides just sufficient theory for the uninitiated reader to understand some basic approaches to evaluation, as well as the principle of return on investment and its method of calculation. However, its main focus is on how to implement ROI. The book provides a step‐by‐step approach and offers useful guidance on when and (importantly) when not to use ROI. It offers suggestions on how to overcome organisational barriers and technical hurdles, and on how to communicate to colleagues what you are trying to do.
The book is organised into four parts and 13 chapters. Part 1, ”Getting started”, covers the basics of evaluation and the ROI process, together with its potential challenges. Part 2, ”Implementing the process”, covers all the key steps from planning through data collection to the ROI calculation. It also discusses procedures for forecasting ROIs before new training programmes are undertaken. Part 3, ”Implementation issues”, looks at the things that will need to be addressed to make a success of ROI. Part 4, ”Staying on track”, offers suggestions on how ROI can be made an ongoing process.
ROI is of course just another method of evaluating training, albeit a sophisticated one. The authors conceive of it as a fifth level added to Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation. But as well as being the highest level, ROI is probably the hardest to implement, not least because of the difficulties in obtaining data capable of reliable quantification. The authors fully acknowledge these difficulties, meeting them head on and suggesting ways of overcoming them. They stress throughout that only tangible benefits, based on robust data, should be quantified, and that all quantifications should err on the cautious side. Whilst on the cost side, they advocate a “fully loaded” approach that incorporates every element, including learners” salary costs and overheads. They argue that this strategy should lead to the calculated ROI being a conservative estimate, helping to deflect potential scepticism about the result.
The book is well set out in short, digestible sections, interspersed with text boxes and plenty of white space. This makes it easy to read, despite its serious subject matter. The detail with which different data collection techniques are described should be helpful even to people researching other areas. The book is somewhat prescriptive, implying that the authors” approach to ROI is undisputed best practice. The bibliographies at the end of each chapter are sparse and tend to be dominated by the authors” own publications. However, given that this is a practical, rather than an academic work, dense referencing is probably unnecessary. The chapter summaries are too short to be of much use. The CD is rather “low tech” and contains some needless repetition of charts that appear in the book. However, more positively, it offers Word documents of various instruments which the reader is allowed to use. These should be a real time saver for someone about to embark on an ROI study of their own.
Despite a few minor shortcomings, the book gives an excellent grounding in the practicalities of ROI. It should prove a real asset to any HRD professional about to embark on the challenging journey and is good value.
