Ipsos Company Case Solution

1. Baldwin and Ford Model

Baldwin & Ford (1988) stated that the training, learning, and skills attained by one department or group of a company are also transferable to the other group or department of the company. But the extent and quality of transfer depend on the characteristics of the host groups or department and the training environment of the company as well. A better and productive learning environment of the company is more likely to support the transfer (Hillsman & Kupritz, 2006). As Ipsos is a market research company that works on a global level, the skills of one department are highly dependent on the training of the other. Therefore, this model, when applied to Ipsos, can be very helpful in assessing the transfer of skills from one department of the company to the other (Dudovskiy, 2014). The figure explains how the model can be applied on Ipsos.

Ipsos is not a company where all the departments can work in isolation without any impact on each other; the main function of the company is extensive market research, all the departments work interdependently and the negligence of one department or group can lead to big mistakes. According to Dudovskiy (2014), when applying the Baldwin and Ford model on Ipsos, the input it can put in is the training of its employees and their motivation level. If the employees have useful training that enhances their prior knowledge about research, get the chance to use those skills in their research work and have support and confidence from the management, it can work as a useful input. The research training can then be utilized in the work and can also be transferred to the other departments of the company to generate maximum outputs while logistics of the transfer, generalizability, and operationalization can be limitations in the process (Ford & Weissbein, 2014).