OPENING CASE

Rockwell Collin" rel="nofollow">ins is a manufacturer of electronic con-trols and communications devices. In 2001. it was spun off from Rockwell International to become a publicly traded company. The company is headquar-tered in" rel="nofollow">in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and employs over 20,000 employees worldwide. Approximately 7,000 of these employees work in" rel="nofollow">in Cedar Rapids. with other large operations in" rel="nofollow">in California. Florida, Texas, and Mexico. Rockwell Collin" rel="nofollow">ins also has subsidiaries in" rel="nofollow">in Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa, as well as service locations around the world. Rockwell Collin" rel="nofollow">ins has long main" rel="nofollow">intain" rel="nofollow">ined a strong commitment to employee train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing and development. However, until 1998, all Rockwell Collin" rel="nofollow">ins train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing was bein" rel="nofollow">ing conducted via classroom in" rel="nofollow">instruction. Twelve in" rel="nofollow">in-house train" rel="nofollow">iners provided much of this train" rel="nofollow">in-in" rel="nofollow">ing. One difficulty was that most of the employees who worked outside of Cedar Rapids had very lim-ited access to train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing. In that same year, 28 percent of those who signed up for train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing within" rel="nofollow">in the company did not attend that train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing, citin" rel="nofollow">ing work demands in" rel="nofollow">in a majority of the cases as the reason for cancelin" rel="nofollow">ing. In an effort to provide more train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing to a greater number of employees, the Learnin" rel="nofollow">ing and Development group at Rockwell Collin" rel="nofollow">ins consid-ered makin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">increased use of outside train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing ven-dors, as well as changin" rel="nofollow">ing the types of methods used to deliver train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing. Questions: If you were manager of learnin" rel="nofollow">ing and devel-opment at Rockwell Collin" rel="nofollow">ins, where would you start in" rel="nofollow">in your efforts to improve the availability and effectwe-ness of company-sponsored train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing efforts? What sug-gestions would you have concernin" rel="nofollow">ing how train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing is designed and provided? Furthermore, what sugges-tions do you have concernin" rel="nofollow">ing who should provide the train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing (i.e., in" rel="nofollow">in-house train" rel="nofollow">iners versus outside venders)? Fin" rel="nofollow">inally, how would you seek to "sell" your recommen-dations to top management?