© 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 1 of 3 Corporate and Non-Academic Learners Case Study Document 2 This document is a simulated e-mail. Dear Kathryn, I just read through your draft of the Company Outlook and am so excited for Setem’s future as we enter our third fiscal year! However, as the director of human resources, I think it’s imperative that I make the case for a robust Training and Development (T&D) strategy to help Setem achieve our goals for the company’s growth over the next few years. As we all know, with an innovation such as Setem’s tinnitus treatment, the story we tell and the confidence we inspire through our ability to deliver for our clients are almost as significant as the product we sell. Given the crucial importance of Setem’s performance record, I think there are a number of areas where we can improve our performance through implementing a training strategy and drive growth by improving our internal processes. I feel the following areas are prime targets for improving Setem’s performance through training: Medical malpractice—Last year, doctors performed over 1,200 procedures to implant Setem’s technology in patients. Resulting from these procedures, there were complications with only 22 individuals, or fewer than 2% of all patients. All of these complications resulted from physician error rather than from design problems. Medical malpractice insurance can be a huge cost for Setem and improving doctor performance is crucial to keeping down operating costs. We could develop an online training module for doctors to follow that would keep them current on any changes to safety precautions. To maximize the utility of this training module, we could distribute it through a mobile training app, so doctors would have access to the module through their smartphones. Public relations—In addition to making sure our medical teams are well trained, Setem must present an image of clarity to the outside world. To put it bluntly, our approach to public relations over the last two years has been inconsistent at best and poor at worst. While I agree with Kathryn that we should look to expand our media profile, last year Setem blew a couple of opportunities for positive publicity when reporters were given some inaccurate information suggesting that we didn’t fully understand our product. I have similar criticisms of the patient liaisons who work at each of Setem’s clinics. When liaisons provide inaccurate information or do not have immediate answers, their lack of professionalism shakes patients' confidence about toward this new medical technique. The best way for our business to attract new clientele is to satisfy the needs of current patients; word-of- mouth recommendations lead to new business, so we should make sure we have the most informed advocates interacting on the ground and singing Setem’s praises. © 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 2 of 3 Of course, these.

1. © 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 1 of 3
Corporate and Non-Academic Learners Case Study
Document 2
This document is a simulated e-mail.
Dear Kathryn,
I just read through your draft of the Company Outlook and am
so excited for Setem’s future as we
enter our third fiscal year! However, as the director of human
resources, I think it’s imperative that I
make the case for a robust Training and Development (T&D)
strategy to help Setem achieve our
goals for the company’s growth over the next few years. As we
all know, with an innovation such as
Setem’s tinnitus treatment, the story we tell and the confidence
we inspire through our ability to
deliver for our clients are almost as significant as the product
we sell. Given the crucial importance
of Setem’s performance record, I think there are a number of
areas where we can improve our
performance through implementing a training strategy and drive
growth by improving our internal
processes. I feel the following areas are prime targets for
improving Setem’s performance through
training:

2. Medical malpractice—Last year, doctors performed over 1,200
procedures to implant Setem’s
technology in patients. Resulting from these procedures, there
were complications with only 22
individuals, or fewer than 2% of all patients. All of these
complications resulted from physician error
rather than from design problems. Medical malpractice
insurance can be a huge cost for Setem and
improving doctor performance is crucial to keeping down
operating costs. We could develop an
online training module for doctors to follow that would keep
them current on any changes to safety
precautions. To maximize the utility of this training module, we
could distribute it through a mobile
training app, so doctors would have access to the module
through their smartphones.
Public relations—In addition to making sure our medical teams
are well trained, Setem must present
an image of clarity to the outside world. To put it bluntly, our
approach to public relations over the
last two years has been inconsistent at best and poor at worst.
While I agree with Kathryn that we
should look to expand our media profile, last year Setem blew a
couple of opportunities for positive
publicity when reporters were given some inaccurate
information suggesting that we didn’t fully
understand our product. I have similar criticisms of the patient
liaisons who work at each of Setem’s
clinics. When liaisons provide inaccurate information or do not
have immediate answers, their lack
of professionalism shakes patients' confidence about toward this
new medical technique. The best
way for our business to attract new clientele is to satisfy the
needs of current patients; word-of-
mouth recommendations lead to new business, so we should

3. make sure we have the most informed
advocates interacting on the ground and singing Setem’s
praises.
© 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 2 of 3
Of course, these are just a couple of examples where I believe
training can have a huge impact on
Setem’s potential for growth. There may be additional areas
with the potential for dramatic
impact on Setem’s growth. Investing in our already considerable
intellectual capital should have
benefits for Setem that I believe would outlast any marketing
campaign. Some of the broad areas
where I feel T&D would have a strong impact are:
• Employee motivation: Workers tend to be energized when they
acquire new information that
can be incorporated into their work. Learning can foster new
perspectives that generate
interest and excitement. When employees feel freshly engaged
in their work, creativity
becomes a part of the company’s culture and the resulting
innovations drive business
growth. Research also supports the idea that one of the best
ways to retain employees is to
make them feel that they are active stakeholders in solving
business problems (Mehta,
Kurbetti & Dhankhar, 2014). T&D can help to cultivate such an
innovative culture.
• Professional development: By investing resources in
professional development, we are not
only providing our employees with the tools to meet our most

4. pressing needs but also
empowering them to take initiative in areas where they do not
realize they have skills to
contribute (Schooley, 2008). Since our business atmosphere
already requires employees to
be proficient in a wide range of areas, who knows what hidden
talents we may unlock by
increasing the capabilities of our current workforce? Should we
need to expand rapidly in the
future, it would benefit the company to have well-rounded
employees who can quickly fill
gaps rather than being forced to hastily recruit outside talent.
• Increased efficiency of processes: Setem may be a small
company, but our different
departments tend to follow different protocols. For instance,
when new advances are made
at the ICU labs, Setem does not have a system in place for
developing updated talking points.
The result has been that our patient liaisons and sales
representatives use strikingly different
language when speaking with clients, which detracts from the
cohesion of our message and
hurts our branding. By teaching all departments what language
is most effective when
addressing specific audiences, we can develop best practices
and communicate agreed upon
talking points that enhance our branding and marketing efforts.
None of these areas where T&D can have an impact exist in
isolation from the priorities of
marketing and partner engagement that you outlined in your
email. In fact, training should work in
concert with the other priorities to enhance their impact. But
considering our rather limited
resources, I would place a T&D strategy at the top of our list of

5. priorities.
Thanks,
Doug Pfeiffer, Director of Human Resources for Setem
Technologies
© 2014 Laureate Education, Inc. Page 3 of 3
References
Mehta, M., Kurbetti, A., & Dhankhar, R. (2014). Review paper
– study on employee retention
and commitment. International Journal of Advance Research in
Computer Science and
Management Studies, 2(2), 154–164. Retrieved from
http://www.ijarcsms.com/docs/paper/volume2/issue2/v2i2-
0056.pdf
Schooley, C. (2008). How to create a comprehensive, high-
impact learning strategy. Retrieved
from
http://www.slideshare.net/smcdanield/howtocreateacomprehensi
vehighimpactlearningstrategy
Siegel, P., & Borgia, C. (2007). The measurement and
recognition of intangible assets. Journal
of Business and Public Affairs, 1(1). Retrieved from
http://www.scientificjournals.org/journals2007/articles/1006.ht
m
The learning needs analysis toolkit. (n.d.). Retrieved from

6. http://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/professional/lnat/index.php
Impact International. (2011). Whitepaper: Aligning training
with corporate strategy. Retrieved
from http://www.trainingindustry.com/media/3674124/impact
aligning training with corporate
strategy.pdf
RA OrganizerResearch Article OrganizerArticle TitleAuthor(s)
TopicProblemPurposeTheoryResearch DesignResearch
MethodResearch QuestionsAnalysis Method FindingsNotes
about articleThe Perceptions of K-12 Administrators' Self-
efficacy on the Usage of Skype as an Online Communication
Software ToolKiriakidis, P.Online Communication ToolsNeed
for online communication systems to support
administratorsExamine whether or not a software program such
as Skype can assist school administrators in professional
development in providing support to administratorsSelf-
determination Theory (SDT)Qualitative Case StudyOpen-ended
interviews that were transcibed; Member checkingCase analyses
conducted for each participantAll participants reported that they
gain a more positive self-efficacy via interactive skype and
insightful online communication experiecnces provided via
Skype.Implementing a “Circle of Friends” Peer-Mediated
Intervention for High School Students with AutismSchlieder, M.
“Circle of Friends” (CoF) Autism Intervention for Older
Students The problem is the need for effective social skills
training for children with ASDThe purpose of this study was to
understand individuals' interpretations of the CoF
phenomenonThe conceptual framework that guided the study
was constructivism, which postulates that learners construct
knowledge based on a combination of previous experiences and
social interactionsA collective case study was used to

7. investigate experiences of parents, teachers, and community
agency leaders participating in this project.Qualitative 1. What
are the experiences of group facilitators, parents, and nonprofit
community agency directors in three area high schools
implementing “Circle of Friends” (CoF) PMI?
2. How do the contributions of the community organization
providing professional development, funding, and ongoing
support influence CoF implementation in three area high
schools Inductive analysis to code for themes: Hand analysis
involved coding information from sources, the interviews, and
partnering agency documents. In order to do a cross-case
analysis, a comparison table was created organizing information
generated from parent, facilitator, and partnering agency. Four
main themes emerged from a cross-case analysis of the data.
The research uncovered the influence a CoF partnership
initiative has on inclusion, social skills improvement,
empowerment, and sense of wellbeing. In addition to benefits,
participants shared challenges and recommendations for future
CoF implementation. Several unexpected findings also came to
light.
Introduction to RA OrganizerThe purpose of this template is:1.
Provide you with an organized way to take notes on the articles
you collect. This enables the article notes to be substantive and
usable in the future. You will find that you will want to keep
track of all articles that you use throughout your program.2. The
components included in this template align with those found in
research articles. This template helps you stay focused on those
components while reading. You will find that you are very
comfortable with these components when it comes time to write
scholarly work yourself.This is one example of an organizer
that can be used. You may find any number of methods that
may best suit your organizational style. The important thing is
to create and use an organized system.