Report No. 2007-81
December 2007

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Roadeos Again Prove to be Ineffective and Should be Discontinued

MoDOT's Winter Skills Roadeo (roadeo) is a series of events in which participants engage in various activities, including competitive events involving the driving or handling of state road equipment. MoDOT held roadeos until 2001 when the department discontinued them to evaluate their effectiveness. However, MoDOT re-instituted the roadeo in 2007 without formally evaluating the effectiveness of the training program. In addition, according to MoDOT officials, the roadeo will continue in future years even though MoDOT did not solicit feedback from participants about the effectiveness of the training program.

Each participant spent about six hours traveling to and one hour participating in district-wide roadeo events, including about 10 minutes actually operating equipment. Our analysis of the 2007 roadeos indicates although improvements were made, MoDOT should again discontinue the roadeos.

Most respondents say roadeos were not effective training and do not boost morale

Most participants responding to our survey considered the roadeos to be ineffective training for maintenance workers. In addition, 190 respondents added comments saying the roadeo was a waste of time and/or money. Respondents also said the roadeos did not boost employee morale. (See page 7)

Feedback not provided to or solicited from participants

Participants have not received performance feedback to determine areas where improvements are needed nor has management determined how these individuals will be provided additional training. One respondent said "Instead of taking the people who finished the poorest and showing those people some attention to make them better operators, we take the best ones, give them another "day off"….Meanwhile, those with low scores who are usually the new employees, simply get to go back to work and have to learn on the go." (See page 11)

MoDOT also did not solicit formal feedback from the participants about the effectiveness of the roadeo. Best practices suggest feedback be requested at the end of a training course to evaluate whether the program (1) meets the established objectives (2) is valuable or (3) requires improvements. (See page 11)

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