Learning Programs in the American Express Learning Network

Background American Express is very large, world-wide company, which originally started as freight forwarding and delivery services. Now with the main focus being on financial services they want to train their employees with the knowledge to be efficient, knowledgeable, with good listening and speaking skills. Jeanette Harrison, a vice president at American Express, feels that compliance and control should be very important for customer care. Today American Express is the largest card issuer by purchase volume. Issued AddressedAmerican Express developed American Express Learning Network (AELN), whose main purpose is to address the performance capabilities of their employees. With a mission statement of â€Å"ready all those who serve† the company AmEx’s main goal is to teach with their employees effective jobs skills with the best possible learning method. There were three learning techniques the company tried. The first being a completely online based, the second being classroom, & the third a â€Å"blended† technique which was a combination of the first two.Janette’s personal learning theory and goal-setting theory is â€Å"learning literally changes lives†. She feels that education is the key to success and that if would help not only in work place but at home and in the community. Analysis of Issues Everyone has there on learning styles. So, it is no surprise that technique number three, â€Å"blended† learning, worked the best overall. It gave the most diverse style of learning. There was not one main style. The classroom style was incorporated with the encouragement of question asking and brainstorming and also online tools were also used to help teach as well.With all the different types of learning utilized the employees will get to see the information in many different ways and would most likely have a higher attention rate. The three styles were evaluated at six different levels to see which was most effective . The first level testing reaction from the learner, the second was the retention of the knowledge, the third was the behavior towards improved learning skills, the fourth was how it impacted the company, the fifth was the cost effectiveness of the learning style, and the sixth the application of the information into the actual job.Conclusions The â€Å"blended learning† I feel is the best method. And it holds strong to Jeanettes learning and goal-setting theories. When the results came in on the three techniques the third scored or rated the best hands down. The company feels it has the upper hand in the leadership development program. The blue box values set by the company are a true testament to what the company wanted to achieve with the AELN program: customer commitment, quality, integrity, teamwork, respect for people, good citizenship, a will to win, and personal accountability.The three operating principals also hold strong to the values Jeanette believes in and wante d to achieve with the American Express Learning Network program. One the principals being to offer superior propositions to all of their customers, another being to operate with best in class economics, and last to be support American Express brand. References http://about. americanexpress. com/oc/whoweare/