台湾寿险业务员训练需求评估DelphiStudy之应用.docx

1、台湾寿险业务员训练需求评估DelphiStudy之应用台灣壽險業務員訓練需求評估Delphi Study之應用范姜肱 鄭鎮樑 蔡世傑元培科學技術學院企管系實踐大學風險管理與保險系元培科學技術學院研發處摘要本研究主要目的是要確認台灣在此變化迅速之環境中，如要成為一位稱職之壽險業務員，其必須具備之能力應為何。本研究經德飛法（Delphi）等相關質性研究(qualitative research)與數量方法(quantitative research)之應用，得知專家學者們所一致共同確認之十項壽險業務員應具備之能力。本研究發現專家學者對此十項應具備能力之重要性排序有顯著之差異。壽險公司人力資源管理者

2、在規劃壽險業務員教育訓練課程時應把焦點集中在本研究所確認之十項應具備能力，而十項應具備能力之排序，可幫助人壽保險公司人力資源管理者擬定訓練計劃時之參考，如此才能在有限預算與時間內，達到最大之訓練效果。有助於提高台灣人壽保險業務員之訓練績效。 關鍵字：needs assessment, Delphi study, life insurance, sales representatives, necessary competence.Training Needs for Taiwan Life Insurance Sales Representatives- Delphi Study Approa

3、chABSTRACTNeeds assessments for life insurance sales representatives should be updated to fit a rapidly changing environment in Taiwan and the training courses a life insurance company delivers need to adapt to learner needs and desires. Needs assessment is the first step to develop a training progr

4、am and this process should consider factors of organizational and job needs. The life insurance market in Taiwan changed due to globalization, population aging, and information technology innovation. At the same time, many financial institutes began to reorganize, such as merging and acquiring each

5、other or became a member of a financial holding company.The purposes of this study were to: (a) conduct a needs assessment to identify updated necessary competencies for life insurance sales representatives for the rapidly changing life insurance environment in Taiwan; and (b) identify priority trai

6、ning for sales representatives in life insurance companies.A mixed-method approach was employed in this needs assessment research and identified rankings of necessary competencies for the insurance sales representatives. The emphasis was on qualitative data from three rounds of standardized intervie

7、ws via Delphi research technique, with quantitative data analyzed by Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to help rank necessary competencies and interpret results from the qualitative data. The Delphi panel (N = 10) was selected by purposive sampling of people with a known involvement or expertise in

8、 life insurance sales training.Besides the seven necessary competencies identified by this study in the first place, the Delphi panelists suggested three additional necessary competencies for life insurance sales representatives. The Delphi panelists also indicated a significantly different agreemen

9、t level between some necessary competencies. The findings of this study may help life insurance companies design more effective training for their sales representatives. Moreover, this study may help life insurance companies identify priority of training needs under shortage of time and budget. INTR

10、ODUCTIONA number of studies have looked at the relationship between training and productivity and found evidence of a direct link. Holzer et al. (1993) conducted a survey looking at how productivity change across firms was related to changes in training. Bartel (1994) studied the link between traini

11、ng and productivity and worked with samples of approximately 150 firms. The finding of Bartels study revealed a positive effect of training on productivity. In addition, according to research funded by the British Economic & Social Research Councils Future of Work Programmer, companies implementing

12、training may be rewarded with greater productivity (“Training and Development”, 2003), as well as solidifying their position in a changing, and increasingly competitive market place. The financial service industry, including banks, insurance, and securities usually face issues of compliance, securit

13、y, and regulation in practice. These issues put pressure on companies to train their employees to do the right thing (Harris, 2004). Therefore, human resource management needs to pay more attention to investing and training sales representatives effectively, as well as providing the tools they need

14、to help businesses be productive (Shephard, 2001). According to the findings of a survey conducted by Mellon Financial Corporation in 2003 (“Training and Development,” 2003), training was helpful for sales representatives to improve their productivity. In recent years, Taiwan has continued its priva

15、tization, liberalization and deregulation process (Kwon, 2002). It introduced the Financial Institutions Merger Law in 2000, the Financial Holding Company Law in 2001, and the Financial Supervisory Board Law in 2001. These laws offer a legal basis for the creation of financial holding companies that

16、 offer banking, insurance, securities and financial services through their subsidiaries, and also permit joint-marketing efforts among subsidiaries of financial holding companies (Kwon, 2002). In 2002, Taiwan became a World Trade Organization (WTO) member. In response, it was expected that domestic

17、financial institutions would face strong competition with foreign institutions and, as a result, trigger a tremendous change in the finance market (Chiu, 2000). At the same time that business competition was heightened, a lack of training to improve necessary competencies increased the unhappiness o

18、f sales representatives (Myers & Torrington, 2001). According the Insurance Institute of The R.O.C.(IIROC) (2004), 91% of life insurance employees were sales representatives. Moreover, training practices in the U.S.A. based on a survey of more than 2,300 businesses and sales representatives, represe

19、nted approximately 11.3% of the total training hours, and accounted for nearly $5.7 billion in expenditures in 1994 (Gillian, 1995). It might take months, and possibly even years, before a firm is able to recoup this training investment (Reichheld, 1996). These data imply that training sales represe

20、ntatives may be the most important task in the life insurance industrys training program. The training content delivered to the learners depends on the training goal set by the trainer (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2003). Often, training goals demand behavior that learners are incapable of pe

21、rforming, do not cater to learner interests, or may list outcomes that learners have already attained. As a result, training programs may be judged unsuccessful (Ornstein & Hunkins, 1998). The Life Office Management Association (LOMA) offers a convenient and affordable training program which include

22、s 100 courses classified into four categories: life & health insurance; retirement planning; money management; and securities. These courses help sales representatives earn continuing education credits, and then to renew their licenses (Donaldson, 2003). Although a good first step, the changing mark

23、etplace puts more responsibility on sales representatives to understand and react to change quickly and appropriately. Therefore, training needs go beyond taking a seminar or earning continuing education credits toward sales representatives license renewal (Parmenter, 2004). Based on Regulations Gov

24、erning the Administration of Insurance Solicitors of R.O.C., life insurance sales representatives have to attend a standard training program and pass the license examination before they sell a policy (IIROC, 2004). Besides the standard training program, life insurance companies in Taiwan also have a

25、n obligation to provide additional training programs for their sales representatives. Most of these additional training programs are imported from either LOMA or the Life Insurance Marketing Research Association (LIMRA). Both LOMA and LIMRA are international institutions founded in the U.S.A. which

26、focus on offering training courses to help sales representatives maintain their license (Donaldson, 2003). There are some training problems emerging. The first problem is that needs assessments for life insurance sales representatives might be updated to fit a rapidly changing environment. Second, t

27、he training courses a life insurance company deliver need to adapt to learner needs and desires. The purpose of this study is to conduct a needs assessment to identify updated necessary competencies for life insurance sales representatives for the rapidly changing life insurance environment in Taiwa

28、n. This study will be guided by the following research questions. 1.According to Delphi panelists, what competencies are necessary for life insurance sales representatives in Taiwan?2.What are the rankings of necessary competencies for life insurance sales representatives based upon Delphi panelists

29、 opinions?LITERATURE REVIEWTheoretical Framework Inancevich (1992) asserted that the needs assessment involved the analysis of the organizations needs; knowledge, skill, and ability needs to perform the job; and the person or jobholders needs. Robert (1999) studied the same concept and found that a

30、needs analysis typically had a twofold focus: organizational analysis and operational analysis. Both these studies found that organizational analysis was used to analyze the needs of the entire organization now and, in the future; and operational analysis was used to analyze the needs of a specific

31、group of jobs or positions (Inancevich, 1992; Robert, 1999). The work environment underwent major changes in the beginning of the 21st century, and the more important changes were driven by corporations need to be more competitive internationally (Yeatts, Folts, & Kapp, 2000). Furthermore, flexibili

32、ty became the norm in many work environments, replacing the more traditional and routinized approaches to work. The result was a workplace that required almost constant adaptation by employees to achieve more productivity (Beyerlein & Teal, 1993; Dychtwald, Erickson, & Morison, 2004; Fairris, 2002;

33、Feldman & Pentland, 2003; Lawler, 1986; Mitchell-Ketzes, 2004; Yeatts & Hyten, 1998). Atchley (1987) defined adaptation as “the process of adjusting oneself, both inwardly and outwardly, to fit situation or environment” (p. 243). A recent study conducted by Yeatts, Folts, and Knapp (2000) constructed a conceptual framework fo