Construction and validation of a taxonomy of TD&E events

Abstract

Taxonomies are an important scientific activity for classifying phenomena. This paper describes the construction and validation of a taxonomy for training, development and education (TD&E) events in organizations. It may facilitate management and evaluation of TD&E in organizations. The taxonomy was developed with five classification dimensions: instructional domain of the TD&E event objective, the complexity level of this objective, teaching strategies and organizational and individual functions of the event. The taxonomy was used for formulating a classification protocol and for classifying 68 TD&E events in three organizations. Five independent judges filled outhis protocol, based on existing organizational documents. A cluster analysis has shown that the events may be grouped into four dimensional categories. These categories range from rule acquisition for improving current performance to the development of cognitive strategies for use in any kind of job. The results encourage the application of the taxonomy in different contexts and suggest improvements to it.

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