Training and Development of Employees Essay Example for Free

Training and Development of Employees Essay Objectives of the Project Report Training and Development of Employees Finding is the main objective of this project report and some of the sub-objective in this report. They are : * To know the effectiveness of the training programme conducted by the company. * To know whether employees are aware about their responsibilities and authorities or not. * To improve Organizational Climate and increase the morale of employees. * To know whether training programme is conducted successfully or not. * To know about the work culture of the organization. Training and Development of Employees : Training and Development of Employees : After employees have been selected for various positions in an organization, training them for the specific tasks to which they have been assigned assumes great importance. It is true in many organizations that before an employee is fitted into a harmonious working relationship with other employees, he is given adequate training. Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skills of an employee for performing a particular job. The major outcome of training is learning. A trainee learns new habits, refined skills and useful knowledge during the training that helps him improve performance. Training enables an employee to do his present job more efficiently and prepare himself for a higher-level job. The essential features of training may be stated thus: * Increases knowledge and skills for doing a particular job; it bridges the gap between job needs and employee skills, knowledge and behaviors * Focuses attention on the current job; it is job specific and addresses particular performance deficits or problems * Concentrates on individual employees; changing what employees know, how they work, their attitudes toward their work or their interactions with their co-workers or supervisors * Tends to be more narrowly focused and oriented toward short-term performance concerns. Training is needed to serve the following purposes: * Newly recruited employees require training so as to perform their tasks effectively. Instruction, guidance, coaching help them to handle jobs competently, without any wastage. * Training is necessary to prepare existing employees for higher-level jobs (promotion). * Existing employees require refresher training so as to keep abreast of the latest developments in job operations. In the face of rapid technological changes, this is an absolute necessity. * Training is necessary when a person moves from one job to another (transfer). After training, the employee can change jobs quickly, improve his performance levels and achieve career goals comfortably * Training is necessary to make employees mobile and versatile. They can be placed on various jobs depending on organizational needs. * Training is needed to bridge the gap between what the employee has and what the job demands. * Training is needed to make employees more productive and useful in the long-run. * Training is needed for employees to gain acceptance from peers (learning a job quickly and being able to pull their own weight is one of the best ways for them to gain acceptance). Importance of Training : * Training offers innumerable benefits to both employees and employers. It makes the employee more productive and more useful to an organization. The importance of training can be studied under the following heads: Benefits to the business: * Trained workers can work more efficiently. They use machines, tools, and materials in a proper way. Wastage is thus eliminated to a large extent. * There will be fewer accidents. Training improves the knowledge of employees regarding the use of machines and equipment. Hence, trained workers need not be put under close supervision, as they know how to handle operations properly. * Trained workers can show superior performance. They can turn out better performance. They can turn out better quality goods by putting the materials, tools and equipment to good use. * Training makes employees more loyal to an organization. They will be less inclined to leave the unit where there are growth opportunities Benefits to the employees: * Training makes an employee more useful to a firm. Hence, he will find employment more easily. * Training makes employees more efficient and effective. By combining materials, tools and equipment in a right way, they can produce more with minimum effort. * Training enables employees to secure promotions easily. They can realise their career goals comfortably. * Training helps an employee to move from one organization to another easily. He can be more mobile and pursue career goals actively. * Employees can avoid mistakes, accidents on the job. They can handle jobs with confidence. They will be more satisfied on their jobs. Their morale would be high. Thus, training can contribute to higher production, fewer mistakes, greater job satisfaction and lower labour turnover. Also, it can enable employees to cope with organizational, social and technological change. Effective training is an invaluable investment in the human resources of an organization. Learning Principles: The Philosophy of Training Training is essential for job success. It can lead to higher production, fewer mistakes, greater job satisfaction and lower turnover. These benefits accrue to both the trainee and the organization, if managers understand the principles behind the training process. To this end, training efforts must invariably follow certain learning-oriented guidelines. Modelling Modeling is simply copying someone elses behavior. Passive classroom learning does not leave any room for modeling. If we want to change people, it would be a good idea to have videotapes of people showing the desired behavior. The selected model should provide the right kind of behavior to be copied by others. A great deal of human behaviour is learned by modelling others. Children learn by modelling parents and older children, they are quite comfortable with the process by the time they grow up. As experts put it. managers tend to manage as they were managed Motivation For learning to take place, intention to learn is important. When the employee is motivated, he pays attention to what is being said, done and presented. Motivation to learn is influenced by the answers to questions such as: How important is my job to me? How important is the information? Will learning help me progress in the company? etc. People learn more quickly when the material is important and relevant to them. Learning is usually quicker and long-lasting when the learner participates actively. Most people, for example, never forget how to ride a bicycle because they took an active part in the learning process. Reinforcement Positive reinforcement consists of rewarding desired behaviors. If a behavior is rewarded, it probably will be repeated. People avoid certain behaviors that invite criticism and punishment. A bank officer would want to do a postgraduate course in finance, if it earns him increments and makes him eligible for further promotions. Both the external rewards (investments, praise) and the internal rewards (a feeling of pride and achievement) associated with desired behaviors compel subjects to learn properly. To be effective, the trainer must reward desired behaviors only. If he rewards poor performance, the results may be disastrous: good performers may quit in frustration, accidents may go up, and productivity may suffer. The reinforcement principle is also based on the premise that punishment is less effective in learning than reward. Punishment is a pointer to undesirable behaviors. When administered, it causes pain to the employee. He mayor may not repeat the mistakes. The reactions m ay be mild or wild. Action taken to repeal a person from undesirable action is punishment. If administered properly, punishment may force the trainee to modify the undesired or incorrect behaviors. Feedback People learn best if reinforcement is given as soon as possible after training. Every employee wants to know what is expected of him and how well he is doing. If he is off the track, somebody must put him back on the rails. The errors in such cases must be rectified immediately. The trainee after learning the right behaviour is motivated to do things in a right way and earn the associated rewards. Positive feedback (showing the trainee the right way of doing things) is to be preferred to negative feedback (telling the trainee that he is not correct) when we want to change behaviour. Spaced Practice Learning takes place easily if the practice sessions are spread over a period of time. New employees learn better if the orientation programme is spread over a two or three day period, instead of covering it all in one day. For memorizing tasks, massed practice is usually more effective. Imagine the way schools ask the kids to say the Lords prayer aloud. Can you memorise a long poem by learning only one line per day? You tend to forget the beginning of the poem by the time you reach the last stanza. For acquiring skills as stated by Mathis and Jackson, spaced practice is usually the best. This incremental approach to skill acquisition minimises the physical fatigue that deters learning. Whole Learning The concept of whole learning suggests that employees learn better if the job information is explained as an entire logical process, so that they can see how the various actions fit together into the big picture. A broad overview of what the trainee would be doing on the job should be given top priority, if learning has to take place quickly. Research studies have also indicated that it is more efficient to practice a whole task all at once rather than trying to master the various components of the task at different intervals. Active Practice Practice makes a man perfect: so said Bacon. To be a swimmer, you should plunge into water instead of simply reading about swimming or looking at films of the worlds best swimmers. Learning is enhanced when trainees are provided ample opportunities to repeat the task. For maximum benefit, practice sessions should be distributed over time. Applicability of Training Training should be as real as possible so that trainees can successfully transfer the new knowledge to their jobs. The training situations should be set up so that trainees can visualise and identify with the types of situations they can come across on the job. Environment Finally, environment plays a major role in training. It is natural that workers who are exposed to training in comfortable environments with adequate, well spaced rest periods are more likely to learn than employees whose training conditions are less than ideal. Generally speaking, learning is very fast at the beginning. Thereafter, the pace of learning slows down as opportunities for improvement taper off. Areas of Training The Areas of Training in which training is offered may be classified into the following categories. Knowledge Here the trainee learns about a set of rules and regulations about the job, the staff and the products or services offered by the company. The aim is to make the new employee fully aware of what goes on inside and outside the company. Technical Skills The employee is taught a specific skill (e.g., operating a machine, handling computer etc.) so that he can acquire that skill and contribute meaningfully. Social Skills The employee is made to learn about himself and others, and to develop a right mental attitude towards the job, colleagues and the company. The principal focus is on teaching the employee how to be a team member and get ahead . Techniques This involves the application of knowledge and skill to various on-the-job situations. In addition to improving the skills and knowledge of employees, training aims at moulding employee attitudes: When administered properly, a training programme will go a long way in obt8ining employee loyalty, support and commitment to company activities. Types of Training There are many approaches to training. We focus here on the types of training that are commonly employed in present-day organisations. Skills training: Skill training is most common in organisations. The process here is fairly simple. The need for training in basic skills (such as reading, writing, computing, speaking, listening, problem solving, managing oneself, knowing how to learn, working as part of a team, leading others) is identified through assessment. Specific training objectives are set and training content is developed to meet those objectives. Several methods are available for imparting these basic skills in modern organisations (such as lectures, apprenticeship, on-the-job, coaching etc.). Before employing these methods, managers should: * explain how the training will help the trainees in their jobs. * relate the training to the trainees goals. * respect and consider participant responses and use these as a resource. * encourage trainees to learn by doing. Â  * give feedback on progress toward meeting learning objectives. Refresher training: Rapid changes in technology may force companies to go in for this kind of training. By organising short-term courses which incorporate the latest developments in a particular field, the company may keep its employees up-to-date and ready to take on emerging challenges. * It is conducted at regular intervals by taking the help of outside consultants who specialise in a particular descriptive. Cross-functional Training: Cross-functional Training involves training employees to perform operations in areas other than their assigned job. There are many approaches to cross functional training. Job rotation can be used to provide a manager in one functional area with a broader perspective than he would otherwise have. Departments can exchange personnel for a certain period so that each employee understands how other departments are functioning. High performing workers can act as peer trainers and help employees develop skills in another area of operation. Cross functional training provides the following benefits to an organisation (and the workers as well) (1) Workers gain rich experience in handling diverse jobs; they become more adaptable and versatile (2) they can better engineer their own career paths (3) they not only know their job well but also understand how others are able to perform under a different set of constraints (4) A broader perspective increases workers understanding of the business and reduces the need for supervision (5) when workers can fill in for other workers who are absent, it is easier to use flexible scheduling, which is increasingly in demand as more employees want to spend more time with their families. Eli Lilly and Company (India), for example, encourages cross-functional movements to make the organisation equally attractive to both specialists and generalists. Team Training: Team training generally covers two areas; content tasks and group processes. Content tasks specify the teams goals such as cost control and problem solving. Group processes reflect the way members function as a team for example how they interact with each other, how they sort out differences, how they participate etc. Companies are investing heavy amounts, nowadays, in training new employees to listen to each other and to cooperate. They are using outdoor experiential training techniques to develop teamwork and team spirit among their employees (such as scaling a mountain, preparing recipes for colleagues at a restaurant, sailing through uncharted waters, crossing a jungle etc.). The training basically throws light on (i) how members should communicate with each other (ii) how they have to cooperate and get ahead (iii) how they should deal with conflict-full situations (iv) how they should find their way, using collective wisdom and experience to good advantage. Creativity training: Companies like Mudra Communications, Titan Industries, Wipro encourage their employees to think unconventionally, break the rules, take risks, go out of the box and devise unexpected solutions. * Postpone judgment: Dont reject any idea * Create alternative frames of reference * Break the boundary of thinking * Examine a different aspect of the problem * Make a wish list of solutions * Borrow ideas from other fields * Look for processes to change or eliminate * Think up alternative methods * Adopt another persons perspective * Question all Assumptions. In creativity training, trainers often focus on three things: (a) Breaking away: In order to break away from restrictions, the trainee is expected to (i) identify the dominant ideas influencing his own thinking (ii) define the boundaries within which he is working (iii) bring the assumptions out into the open and challenge everything (b) Generate new ideas: To generate new ideas, the trainee should open up his mind; look at the problem from all possible angles and list as many alternative approaches as possible. The trainee should allow his mind to wander over alternatives freely. Expose himself to new influences (people, articles, books, situations), switch over from one perspective to another, -arrange cross fertilization of ideas with other people and use analogies to spark off ideas. (c) Delaying judgement: To promote creative thinking, the trainee should not try to kill off ideas too quickly; they should be held back until he is able to generate as many ideas as possible. He should allow ideas to grow a little. Brainstorming (getting a large number of ideas from a group of people in a short time) often helps in generating as many ideas as possible without pausing to evaluate them. It helps in releasing ideas, overcoming inhibitions, cross fertilising ideas and getting away from patterned thinking. Diversity Training: Diversity training considers all of the diverse dimensions in the workplace race, gender, age, disabilities, lifestyles, culture, education, ideas and backgrounds while designing a training programme. It aims to create better cross-cultural sensitivity with the aim of fostering more harmonious and fruitful working relationships among a firms employees. The programme covers two things: (i) awareness building, which helps employees appreciate the key benefits of diversity, and (ii) skill building, which offers the knowledge, skills and abilities required for working with people having varied backgrounds. Literacy Training: Inability to write, speak and work well with others could often come in the way of discharging duties, especially at the lower levels. Workers, in such situations, may fail to understand safety messages, appreciate the importance of sticking to rules, and commit avoidable mistakes. Functional illiteracy (low skill level in a particular content area) may be a serious impediment to a firms productivity and competitiveness. Functional literacy programmes focus on the basic skills required to perform a job adequately and capitalise on most workers motivation to get help in a particular area. Tutorial programmes, home assignments, reading and writing exercises, simple mathematical tests, etc., are generally used in all company in-house programmes meant to improve the literacy levels of employees with weak reading, writing or arithmetic skills.

Fuchs The American Way of Families: Is the Dream Really as Sweet as Apple Pie? :: essays research papers

Fuch's "The American Way of Families": Is the Dream Really as Sweet as Apple Pie? There were a few aspects of Lawrence H. Fuchs's essay The American Way of Families that I found extraordinarily interesting. He discusses influences of the modern American family that I found quite bizarre. Fuch also labels the key component to the American family as being none other than the gratification and pursuit of one's own self being. The most bizarre thing that overcame after reading this piece was that I found myself to be in total agreement with Fuch. That is what scared me. I realized that something that is supposed to be so stable in one's own life is really as "cut and dry" as we would like to believe. In essence, the main premise of human existence is satisfying yourself; at every level down to your basic foundation. We fight to make our own lives better at times even at the cost of others. This holds true in almost every arena of society that I tried to imagine after reading Fuch's essay. The only area of life that this struggle to satisfy yourself above and beyond all does not pertain in my opinion is religion: it is impossible to worship a being and try to overcome that being at the same time. Whether it involves fighting to be on top in the workplace or playing dirty to win a sporting event; almost all Americans have the fire burning within them that compels them to reach their goal or self satisfaction. In reading The American Way of Families, it occured to me that the struggle for pleasing one's own self existed even in the family. I don't think that after reading this piece that anyone can deny the existence of this urge in themselves. The urge exists in every form. No matter how picture perfect the family may be perceived, each member of that household wants to please themselves. In this quest to satisfy the appetite of happiness we often overlook the feelings of others. For instance, suppose that in a family that consisted of two college graduates in the role of parent, were faced with a child (that they brought up with all of their values and good intentions) that suddenly decides that he or she wants to move to Hollywood to become a rock star. It is almost by instinct that these parents will not approve of their child's decision. They do not want to lie about what their child is doing when their friends(who coincidentally all have children in college) ask, "Hey, what's

A Review of Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, is the story of tribal Africa both before and during the colonial period.The story follows the main character, Okonkwo, through his life as a highly respected man in his tribe, an accident that forced him away, his anger at the white man moving in and changing things, and his untimely death at his own hand. Things Fall Apart is a moving tale that speaks of the normalcy of tribal life before the arrival of the white man, and the falling apart of society as it was known due to the introduction of Christianity and the white man’s law.Chinua Achebe’s purpose in writing this story was to present the colonial period in Africa through the eyes of the people it really affected. Achebe uses the first and second portions of his novel to explain what everyday life was like in a fictional section of Africa before the white man came (Achebe, 1959).Through his writing, the reader learns much about the way these people lived. Every part of their so ciety, from cooking to house building to tribal ranks, is covered in detail, but it is told through the eyes of people who would have really lived that way.Achebe seems to wish for his readers to see that there was more to African tribes than what little was told about them in history books. He pulls the reader in and makes them a part of the tribe by explaining everything in minute detail. It almost feels as if one is in the camps as they read.The controversy that Achebe focuses on is the ruin of tribal society by the arrival of the white man, the Christian religion, and the white man’s law. The tribes had their own ways of dealing with problems and the breaking of their laws, but the white men moved in and changed all of that. They built courts and prisons so they could carry out their own kind of justice (Achebe, 1959).The tribal religions were ancient, but Christianity was introduced and made many villagers turn away from the gods that their families had followed for life times (Achebe 1959). Achebe’s opinion of these actions appears to be less than accommodating.From the way that he writes, it seems that he sympathized greatly with the people who were undergoing such change. One gets the impression that Achebe believes that the tribes would have been better off left alone. His presentation of the information is split into three sections, and each section deals with a different part of the main character, Okonkwo, life falling apart.The first section is a description of his happy life in his tribe, the second part deals with his banishment to his mother’s family land, and the third deals with his encounters with the white man and his desperate bids to change things back to the way they were (Achebe, 1959).It is made very clear that things have been so changed that they will never be â€Å"normal† again, and that seems to be the reason for the three point process. Life changes before the reader’s eyes, just as it changes be fore the characters eyes.   In this way the reader feels the loss of the tightly woven society bit by bit, and that seems to be what Achebe hopes to accomplish.Things Fall Apart is a fictional work, and so it does not have a basis in outside printed sources, or at least none that Achebe lists. This book is based on a reality that has been passed down for generations, and no doubt Achebe used some old stories and songs to base his story upon. However, the purpose of this book is not to focus on any one area. Instead, it is meant to represent all of Africa and all of what was lost during colonization.Narrowing the scope to a place and people that existed in reality would lessen the scope of the book. Perhaps that is why Achebe did not choose to use printed sources as his guide. Melding the bits of knowledge that he had about the whole colonization process into one book gives the reader pieces of every tribe, not just one in particular.Things Fall Apart has many chapters, but three m ajor sections. The first section tells the reader all about everyday life in the tribes. The reader learns how important it is to be seen as â€Å"manly,† and how necessary it is to stay in the good graces of the gods (Achebe, 1959). Also covered in this section are descriptions of the diet of the tribe, the clothing they wore, and the buildings in which they lived (Achebe, 1959).Tribal lore is also introduced, such as the thought that twin babies were evil and must be left to die, and the idea of the obanje child, an infant born again and again to the same woman, only to die at a young age every time (Achebe,, 1959). The reader also learns of the tribal forms of punishment, particularly the rule that accidental murders lead to a banishment of seven years to the motherland of the convicted (Achebe, 1959).This rule is particularly important to the rest of the story, because it is the first step in the downfall of Okonkwo. Achebe’s argument in this portion of the story s eems to be that although tribal life could be hard and cruel to outside eyes, it was nearly perfect for the people who lived it.Everyone in the villages knew their place and their contribution to the tribe as a whole, and as long as everyone did their part and kept to the rules that had been in effect for hundreds of years, life ran smoothly.Achebe paints a picture of a society that might not make a lot of sense to outsiders, but worked out just fine for the people within it. The underlying argument is, â€Å"Why force change on something that works?†

Dont Fight the Enemy in Night by Elie Wiesel Essay

Fredrich Nietzsche once said, â€Å"Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.† This means that if a person isn’t careful, the evils that person fights against might be the very thing that person will become. This statement is valid and holds true in both life and literature. Night by Elie Wiesel supports the idea to not fight like the enemy. Wiesel uses setting and characterization to develop his story and to get this point across. Elie Wiesel uses the setting to develop his story. Night occurs in several different locations between the ghettos and different concentration camps. The year is 1944 when the story starts and Eliezer Wiesel is living in the small town of Sighet, in Hungarian Transylvania. Not long after the†¦show more content†¦Everyone thought that he had just gone mad. He continually asks where God has gone and questions how there is so much evil in the world. In Night, like Moshe the Beadle, Elie Weisel bears witness to tragedy in order to warn others, and to prevent anything like the Holocaust from happening again. Eliezer, the protagonist, characterizes himself throughout the novel with how he feels about things and what he says. Readers can see that he is internally conflicted about his father through much of their experience. He was never sure if he should try to help his dad or if he should just fend for himself. Within the book, we learn that Elie is 15 while in the concentration camp. We also see Elie start to lose his faith directly after they arrive at the first concentration camp and he sees the babies being burned. This supports the idea of the quote stated before. Elie was trying to fight against the genocide but he ended up losing faith while he was there. Wiesel begins to question his faith in other human beings as well as his sense of justice in the world. He was often at war with himself trying to decide what he felt. Into their journey, Elie realizes that he does need his dad and that t hey should help and push each other along the journey. Readers see that he keeps his dad going in the death march and he helps him survive. Over time, Elie starts to question whether there is a God and why, if there wereShow MoreRelatedSo do you consider yourself a human or an animal? How can someone show inhumanity towards other?1100 Words   |  5 Pagescan see this in Night by Elie Wiesel, historical and current events, and everyday observation and/or experience. The idea of we killing each other for food or survival makes us animal rather human is seen in Elie Wiesels memoir Night. The book night in a nutshell is about Elie as a teenager, born in the town of Sighet, was taken away from home and soon get separated from his mother and siblings but stays with his father. Later throughout years, they face many challenges and Elie, for the most partRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Night By Ellie Wiesel1867 Words   |  8 PagesRaabiah Zaidi Ms Heenan Eng2D1 Oct 10, 2014 ISU Log #1 Retell: The book Night written by Ellie Wiesel is an autobiography about his experiences during the holocaust in 1944. He is a survivor and was only 12 at the time. Ellie had three sisters named Hilda, Bea and Tzipora. His parents ran a store in Transylvania where Ellie spent most of his childhood in. Ellie s mentor who everyone referred to as Moishe the Beadle isRead More`` Night `` By Elie Wiesel2409 Words   |  10 PagesIn his novella, Night, Elie Wiesel tells of his experience as a victim in multiple German concentration camps during the Holocaust of World War ll. The following passage illustrates a vivid moment during the struggle, the extent of human cruelty, Something was being burned there. A truck drew close and unloaded its hold: small children. Babies! Yes, I did see this, with my own eyes. . . Children thrown into the flames (32). As stated in the passage, Elie Wiesel is observing Jewish babies beingRead MoreEvil a Learned Behavior6329 Words   |  26 Pages Evil is a learne d behavior which is illustrated in dictators, school violence, and classical novels such as Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Night by Elie Wiesel. Humans are fundamentally good, and then are corrupted by their environment. Its because of evolutionary purposes. Every organism wants their species to continue (if they dont, they die off and arent here any more). The same goes for us. If our species started off fundamentally evil, none of us would be here right now. People