Cincinnati Business Courier

Cincinnati, Ohio, April 16, 2004

By Lisa Biank Fasig

Courier Staff Reporter

 

Roughly 800 Procter & Gamble Co. employees found out April 12 which person on their team got the big promotion: Charlie, the Asian engineer; Michael, the white sales representative; or Valerie, the black marketing director.

 

The candidates weren't real, but the votes were. The workers selected the new team leader as part of a four-phase diversity training program, of which Procter is the first major user.

 

The program, called EDGE Advantage, is by Myca Pope, an affiliate of the Springdale-based diversity training firm Pope & Associates Inc. and Myca Group, a Cincinnati corporate technology services group. It is unlike any previous program Pope has given, because it is the first electronic training program in the company's 30 years in business.

 

Traditionally, such firms preferred face time.

 

"If you had asked me five years ago if you can effectively deliver diversity training online, I would say absolutely not," said Patricia Pope, CEO of Pope & Associates. "I would say this topic is too sensitive, too emotional."

 

But Pope found that the anonymity of e-learning presents opportunities. Test trainees have said they feel more comfortable taking the program online rather than in a classroom of their peers. Among co-workers, they might become overcautious for fear of offending someone.

 

For Procter, which has employed some form of diversity training for about 30 years, the program is not just effective, it's more affordable. Diversity training handled in a classroom entails the expenses of travel, room rental and meals. Pope said an instructor-led diversity training program can cost on average $325 per person, per day. The online program costs $45 to $79 per person, depending on the number of workers committed.

 

"It's more efficient. There's a cost savings, and you can engage a greater number of people via the Web," said Vicky Mayer, Procter spokeswoman. "It's part of P&G's overall strategy to harness the power of the Web."

 

Procter has company. The percentage of U.S. companies using e-training rose to 15.4 percent in 2002 from 10.5 percent in 2001, according to the American Society for Training & Development's 2003 State of the Industry Report.

 

Training costs as a percentage of payroll advanced to 2.2 percent in 2002 from 1.9 percent in 2001.

 

Here's how it works. EDGE is taken in four phases, or modules. The program involves a diverse team of eight "employees" (portrayed by actors), and the person taking the training becomes the ninth. Together, they address workplace issues and try to resolve them.

 

For instance, in one module, an auditor feels she is being discriminated against by her male associates because she never gets an opportunity to drive to appointments. Only the men drive. The trainee is asked to react to the situation.

 

The goal is not only to educate but to make workers aware of their own perceptions.

 

"If we're ignorant of differences, we tend to be uncomfortable. And when we're uncomfortable, we tend to avoid," said Patricia Massey, a partner in Myca Pope.

 

Procter began rolling the program out to its customer support workers last summer. They have completed three modules on a quarterly basis. The third ended with the promotion cliff-hanger of the three candidates.

 

Pope is a former employee of Procter, hired in 1969 as a secretary. She eventually became one of its first personnel specialists, creating training programs for other secretaries. In 1979 she left to help her late husband, Merlin, who founded Pope & Associates.

 

These days, Pope employs about 30 people.

 

Myca Pope has developed a follow-up program to EDGE, which poses different scenarios. Procter is evaluating it now and also is looking into rolling out the EDGE program to a larger group of workers.

 

Meanwhile, Procter employees already have begun the fourth phase and met their new team leader. Valerie, the black marketing director, got the promotion.