The development of people and the retention of high-performing staff was an integral element of Derby Departmental Store’s DNA. In the light of this, the Operations Director shared his frustration with Don about the performance of the bread deliverers at Derby.

During the second week, the trainees were on their own, and could call the supervisor if they experienced any problems. The various store managers mentioned that bread deliveries were late, the paperwork was incorrect and there might be a training problem.

A further serious problem mentioned by Derby’s Operations Director was an unusually high staff turnover rate among the warehouse supervisors. In an effort to reduce the turnover rate, Derby proposed highly specialised away-from-the-job training for all supervisors. Specific attention would be paid to the development of analytical and problem-solving skills by providing trainees with a series of hypothetical problems which forces them to make immediate decisions. Which type of development method is described here?