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Instructional Design Plan Redux

Kate Sassatelli

ETT 501 Proseminar in IT

Spring 2014
Dr. Jason Underwood

Introduction
Sizzles Corporation, a nationwide fast food chain, hired Group4Solutions to develop an
instructional design plan that would improve the customer service ratings for its stores.
Group4Solutions came highly recommended as a team that that is thorough, innovative, and
cost-effective with all of its design plans. Sizzles presented Group4Solutions with corporate data
that showed the declining customer service ratings, as well as training videos and scripts they
wanted to incorporate into the instructional plan. Using the ADDIE formula for instructional
design, Group4Solutions created a three-pronged design plan. This plan consisted of a shift in
the culture of Sizzles restaurants, starting with management training, then staff training, and
finally a corporate reward system for successful restaurants.
Instructional Design Model
Since Group4Solutions designed three levels of instruction, each layer needed to be well
thought out. With that in mind, the design team used Gagnes instructional design plan to
organize the lessons. Gagnes theory claims there are nine events of instruction: 1) Gain
learners attention; 2) State the objective; 3) Stimulate the learner recall; 4) Present the lesson; 5)
Guide learners; 6) Elicit performance; 7) Provide feedback; 8) Assess performance; and 9)
Enhance retention (Brown & Green, 2011). Using this model, this design was intended to inspire
learners to improve their customer service skills, and to train them so they may retain the lesson
for practical implementation on the job.
Gagnes model is based on cognitive information processing theory, which places a
major focus on the internal processes within the learner (Driscoll, 2012). This theory considers
how instruction can help learners process information, which is where Gagnes nine events of
instruction come in. Within each level of training, Group4Solutions design plan incorporated

attention-getting strategies, clear objectives, various learning activities, and feedback for
learners. Additionally, Gagne focused on both internal and external learning conditions, which
the design plan took into consideration (Driscoll, 2012). In fact, the entire purpose behind the
plan was to shift the internal culture of Sizzles stores to create a more positive atmosphere for
staff and customers alike.
Design/Product
After incorporating Gagnes learning theory, Group4Solutions developed the final design
plan. The initial phase trained store managers in the new Sizzlin Service Standards: Sizzlin
Food, Sizzlin Atmosphere, and Sizzlin Experience. This gave managers a new set of
expectations from Sizzles Corporate, which they would then implement in their respective stores.
The second phase asked those managers to train their staff on the new Sizzles Counter Culture,
which taught employees how the Sizzlin Service Standards look on the floor of the restaurant, at
the counter, and in the kitchen. Employees completed training for all three areas of the store.
The third and final stage connected corporate to store employees by providing a Smile of the
Month reward program along with other incentives. This phase allowed management and staff
to be recognized for their hard work and encouraged to continue. Each step of the design plan
was carefully constructed to achieve optimum results.
In order to evaluate the success of this design plan, a team of experts provided guidance
during the development process. The team of experts consisted of customer service experts,
educators, Group4Solutions, and key Sizzles corporate staff. As another formative assessment,
Sizzles staff members were required to complete an online quiz during training with questions
related to the objectives of Counter Culture training. A summative evaluation was completed
through surveys taken by Sizzles employees both prior to training and after. Additionally,

Sizzles staff took a final online assessment in order to receive Counter Culture certification.
Customers were asked to complete surveys as well, in order to determine the level of customer
satisfaction after the Sizzlin Service Standards were implemented. Finally, managers tallied the
use of positive language by restaurant staff prior to and after Counter Culture instruction to
measure the impact of training. All of these evaluation components, along with corporate data
on sales, were analyzed by an independent firm of program evaluators; the results were then
shared with Sizzles Corporation and Group4Solutions.
Redux Reflection
After receiving the evaluation results, Group4Solution has determined there are three
areas for improvement within this design plan: motivation, learning theory, and technology. The
first area deals with motivation. In all three phases of the plan, motivation to incite change
varied. Some managers were motivated; others were reluctant to buy in. Some staff members
were motivated; others were more hesitant. This motivation problem led to varied success
within Sizzles stores. In order to address the lack of motivation, Group4Solutions will utilize the
ARCS model of integrating motivational strategies. ARCS stands for attention, relevance,
confidence, and satisfaction, which are all areas to consider when designing instruction (Keller,
2000). The next time this design plan is implemented, the design team will work with the
corporation to complete an ARCS matrix for managers who are being trained. Then as part of
the training, managers will complete an ARCS matrix for their staff. This way, the motivational
strategies can be individualized for each store to ensure better success.
One motivational strategy will be implemented from the start, at the manager training
conference. Managers will be trained in positive psychology, which suggests that humans

perform best when they experience three positive emotions for every negative emotion
(Mackenzie, Son, & Hollenhorst, 2014). Although the original design plan tracked employees
positive language toward customers, managers were not held accountable for their interactions
with staff. Managers will need to be cognizant of how often they are praising their employees
versus correcting them, in order to optimize the results of this design plan. This also ties in with
the theory of well-being, which defines five pillars of well-being: positive emotion, engagement,
relationships, meaning, and accomplishment (Seligman, 2011, as cited in Mackenzie, Son, &
Hollenhorst, 2014). For staff members, the positive emotion will come from praise; the
engagement will come from being involved in the training process; and the relationships should
be fostered among managers and coworkers. The meaning and accomplishment pillars are
addressed by the next suggested improvement.
In order to create meaning and a feeling of accomplishment, Group4Solutions
recommends an improvement that combines motivation, learning theory, and technology.
Surveys revealed that staff members did not always feel connected to the training and it wasnt
relevant to their lives. Group4Solutions would like to incorporate a more experiential learning
process for staff members. With experiential learning, instruction is more effective when
learners connect it to real-world experiences (Morgan, 2008). As such, the improved design plan
will better involve staff members in the re-branding process of Sizzles stores. Managers will
select staff members to create a video highlighting the stores Counter Culture shift, which will
then be displayed either on televisions in the store (if available) or posted on YouTube for
customers to view. The movies can be produced using iMovie or other free video editing
software. Stores with high motivation will participate first, documenting the change in attitude
from staff members perspective as well as customers point of view. Then these videos will be

used as exemplars for stores with lower motivation; knowing that customers will be viewing the
end product will be a motivating factor for staff members who are still hesitant to embrace
Counter Culture. The finished videos will serve as a marketing tool to introduce customers to
the new and improved standards of customer service.
The next improvement is strictly technological. The original plan incorporated
Blackboard Learning Management System, where managers accessed training scripts and videos,
as well as posted reflections throughout the training process. It also incorporated YouTube,
where managers could create personalized training videos for their home store; Twitter, where
managers used the #sizzlinservice hashtag to keep area managers up to date on their progress;
and Glogster, where managers created display boards that represented the new Sizzlin Service
Standards.
This technological improvement involves substituting free software for the more costly
Blackboard and Glogster. As an alternative LMS, Group4Solutions will use Canvas or Moodle
as a centralized training hub rather than having the corporation pay for Blackboard subscriptions.
Additionally, the use of Glogster was deemed unnecessary. Other than at the initial training
conference, managers did not utilize the website as a means of creating display boards. Instead,
Group4Solutions will use a free service for the training conference, such as Strikingly.com,
Google presentations, or even the Glogster free trial.
The suggested improvements address motivation, learning theory, and technology in
order to create a better product for future clients. All of these changes will make the design plan
more marketable as a cost-effective means of achieving desired solutions.

References
Brown, A., & Green, T. (2011). The essentials of instructional design: Connecting fundamental
principles with process and practice (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Driscoll, M. (2012). Psychological Foundations of Learning. In R.A. Reiser & J.V. Dempsey
(Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Keller, J. M. (2000). How to integrate learner motivation planning into lesson planning: The
ARCS model approach. VII Semanario, Santiago, Cuba, 1-13.
Mackenzie, S., Son, J., & Hollenhorst, S. (2014). Unifying psychology and experiential
education: Toward an integrated understanding of why it works. Journal of Experiential
Education, 37 (1), 75-88.
Morgan, K. (2008). Experiential perspectives. In M. Spector (Ed.), Handbook of research on
educational communications and technology (33-37). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.