CONTENTS
Training Supervision: Overview After employees are selected, they enter an orientation program to be formally introduced to their jobs. A job is a specific position an employee holds in an organization. The orientation program expands on information received by the employee during the selection process. Orientation is a program that introduces new employees to the organization as a whole, their work unit and co-workers, and their job duties. It helps to reduce initial anxiety over starting a new job by facilitating the outsider-insider transition. Orientation sets a tone for new employees' work by describing job-related expectations and reporting relationships. Employees are informed about benefits, policies, and procedures. Specific duties and responsibilities and performance evaluation are clarified. During orientation, the supervisor has the opportunity to resolve any unrealistic expectations held by the employee.
Formal orientation programs can include tours of facilities, discussions about the history of the organization, vision and mission, meeting with human resource representatives to discuss policy and compensation, and/or being assigned a mentor to introduce employees to processes and people. A successful orientation result is an employee transition where the new member feels comfortable and capable of performing well on the job.
A mentorship is a formal relationship between a newly hired employee and a veteran employee role model that provides support and encouragement to the new employee. Mentors serve as resources to new employees, helping them resolve personal problems and work-related issues and conflicts. A mentor helps employees become accustomed to the rules, norms, and expectations of the workplace and provides career insight and guidance based on personal career experience.
Productivity
Organizations are concerned with productivity. Productivity is output per unit of input, usually expressed as a ratio. Measurement of productivity helps supervisors examine critical aspects of production. It is usually determined by a single-factor index, such as output per hour of labor or output per amount of capital invested, or a combined-factor index which integrates different inputs into one overall measure.
An important influence on productivity is the quality of the work force. A major investment necessary to productivity is training. In order to meet new challenges, even the best-educated employees need to increase and adapt their skills. "Training is absolutely the fundamental point of getting more productivity. The only way you could really improve anybody, other than improving the method of how they do the work, is to train them" says Gurminder Bedi, Director of Quality at Ford Motor Company.
Training refers to improving an employee's knowledge, skills, and attitudes so that he or she can do the job. All new employees (or current employees in new jobs) should be trained. Cross training prepares an employee for a job normally handled by someone else. Also, training is advisable when new processes, equipment or procedures are introduced into the workplace. If an employee has been off work for more than 30 days, training may be needed.
Training starts with an organization analysis. By focusing on strategy and examining sales forecasts and expected changes in production, distribution and support systems, employers can determine which skills will be needed and to what degree. A comparison with current skill levels is used to estimate staff and training needs. Task analysis identifies the elements of current or future tasks to be done. Personal needs analysis involves asking employees and managers, either in an interview or in a self-administered questionnaire, to analyze their training needs. In general, agreement between managers and employees tends to be low, so it is important that both parties agree to decisions about the training of employees.
Determinants of Performance
Organizations invest in training programs to improve employees' performance. Training can either be for general awareness (for example, safety or sexual harassment) or for the specific job or task. Supervisors must understand the determinants of task performance in order to design job-related training. Effective supervisors can tell whether poor performance stems from a lack of ability by considering the difficulty of assigned tasks, the known ability of the employee, the extent to which the employee appears to be trying hard, and the degree to which the employee's performance improves over time. N. F. R. Maier in Psychology in industrial organization (4th ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1973) and E. E. Lawler, III in Motivation in work organizations (Brooks/Cole, 1973) summarize the determinants of task performance as follows:
Performance = Ability x Motivation (Effort)
Ability = Aptitude x Training x Resources
Motivation = Desire x Commitment
The multiplication sign in these models signifies that all of the components are essential. Performance is the product of ability multiplied by motivation. Ability is the product of aptitude multiplied by training and resources. Aptitude refers to the skills and abilities an employee brings to the job. Training can enhance most inherent abilities and can improve employee performance. An assessment of ability should be made during the job-matching process by screening applicants against the skill requirements of the job. Low ability is generally associated with very difficult tasks, overall low individual ability, evidence of strong effort, and lack of improvement over time. Employees must be given the technical and personnel resources to effectively perform assigned tasks. Motivation is represented by an employee's desire and commitment and is manifested as effort.
A remedy for a lack of ability is retraining. When accident rates go up, injuries become more severe, or performance drops, retraining may be required. Retraining involves providing additional education or job-related training. The main purpose of retraining is to overcome current limitations that are causing an employee to perform at less than the desired level.
Diversity Training
Supervisors must understand, interact with, and motivate workers who are increasingly foreign-born, or retain a strong ethnic identity. They should acknowledge and respect cultural differences, interpret behavior correctly, explain expectations and use specific motivational techniques. Cross-cultural training prepares expatriate employees for global job assignments. Expatriates work in a nation other than their home country. This training includes cultural awareness and language instruction.
Effectiveness in a supervisory role is linked to one's ability to manage people who are different. Diversity training seeks to eliminate values, stereotypes, and managerial practices that inhibit employees' personal development and therefore allow employees to contribute to organizational goals regardless of their race, sexual orientation, religious orientation, and cultural background. Supervisors want to effectively utilize all the resources in the organization's labor pool. "Diversity among individuals encompasses not only obvious differences such as age, gender, race, and culture, but also more subtle dimensions such as work style, life-style, values, beliefs, physical characteristics, social and economic circumstances."
Training Program
Training programs should align with organizational values, goals, and objectives in order to be successful. Supervisors develop an effective training program by assessing training needs and designing training programs to meet those needs. If a gap is found in what is needed and what employees can do, training fills in the gap.
Determine Training Needs. Identify what the employee is expected to do. The primary source for this information will be the job analysis. Decide who needs training by asking the employees themselves. Identify what the employee already knows. The needs assessment helps to determine training content and objectives.
Identify Objectives. Once the employees' training needs have been identified, supervisors can prepare objectives for the training. Through planning, the supervisor determines an acceptable level of overall performance and specifies objectives. Employees must understand what is necessary in order to satisfy the supervisor's expectations. Objectives and expectations should be formulated collaboratively.
Instructional objectives, if clearly stated, tell employees what they should know, do, do differently or better, or stop doing. Having clearly defined objectives will enable the supervisor to evaluate whether they have been reached. Clear and measurable objectives should be thought out before the training begins. For an objective to be effective it should identify as precisely as possible what the employees will do to demonstrate that they have learned it, or that the objective has been reached. Objectives should also describe the important conditions under which the individual will demonstrate competence and define what constitutes acceptable performance. Using specific, action-oriented language, the training objectives should describe the desired knowledge, practice, or skill and its observable behavior. For example, rather than using the statement: "The employee will understand risk factors relating to lifting" as a training objective, it would be better to say: "The employee will demonstrate proper lifting procedures." Objectives are most effective when worded in sufficient detail that other qualified persons can recognize when the desired knowledge or behavior is exhibited.
Choose Training Options, Methods, and Materials. Training options include training on the job site, at a corporate training center, a college classroom, a hotel meeting room, or in various workshops, seminars, and professional conferences. When choosing training options, methods, and materials, consider the type of job, the learning capacity of the employee, and the duration of the task or job. Training methods include on-the-job training (OJT), job rotation, machine-based training (computer programmed instruction, videotape, simulation), vestibule training that simulates the work environment and uses the actual equipment and tools in a laboratory setting, role-playing, lecture, and demonstration. Materials include handouts, posters, operations manuals, magazine articles, slides and photographs, film, instructional manuals, books, outlines and diagrams.
Ensure Effective Training. For training to be effective, employees should be convinced that it is important to them. Explain the goals of the training. Give training that is relevant to the workplace. Keep the training simple yet thorough. Summarize the main points and objectives of the training.
Employee involvement is essential in any training program. Supervisors can encourage participation. Establish a one-on-one relationship with all employees that participate in the training. Encourage discussion and questions by providing an open communication environment that encourages participation. Ask employees for their comments and suggestions on training issues. Repeat key points and ask employees to explain or restate what has been presented to reinforce the information as well to spot gaps in understanding. If the training is effective, employees will be able to demonstrate that they have the skill and knowledge to perform their tasks.
Conduct the Training Cycle. The supervisor or delegated trainer must know the training subject matter in order to complete the training cycle. The steps in the training cycle are found below.
Give an oral and written overview of the training objective.
Provide examples of the task.
Allow employees to apply the training.
Monitor employees.
Evaluate employees' success rate.
Retrain where improvement is desired.
Review training objective.
Give an oral and written overview of the training objective. Provide examples of the task. Allow employees to apply the training. Monitor employees. Access employees' success rate. Retrain where improvement is desired. Review training objective.
Evaluate Training. For a training program to be successful, periodic evaluation of the training is necessary. Training should be re-evaluated whenever new equipment, tools or techniques are introduced into the workplace and whenever new employees join the company or employees are assigned to different jobs. Supervisors should evaluate the training to see if problem areas are developing, to determine what type of further training is needed, and when training should be given. Evaluations should consider the complexity of the job for which the training is conducted. For example, a highly complex job may require more frequent training. Also, the time that has elapsed since the last evaluation should be considered. Evaluation of training effectiveness should be conducted at least annually.
Involve employees in the evaluation. If employees are not using the training, there may be reasons. Those reasons must be addressed and incorporated into future training sessions. Supervisors can make formal evaluations to determine the effectiveness of the training. Measure whether the objectives of the training have been reached. Honest and thorough evaluations will supervisors to provide meaningful and productive training.
Review
Today's Manager Managerial Functions Management Levels Managerial Roles Management Skills Management History Business Environment Supervision: Planning Planning Process Operating Guidelines Objective Setting Action Plans Problem Solving Supervision: Organizing Organizing Process Power and Authority Delegating Communicating Managing Time Supervision: Directing Teambuilding Consensus-Building Selecting Training Leading Motivating Supervision: Controlling Controlling Process Coaching Counseling Disciplining Evaluating Terminating
