Chapter 6: Orientation, Training & Development

Question 1

Define orientation

Answer 1

Familiarizing new employees with the org., their jobs, their work unit and embedding org. values, beliefs, and accepted behaviours

Question 2

Define training

Answer 2

Ensuring the acquisition of skills, behaviours and abilities to perform current work

Question 3

Define development

Answer 3

Ensuring the acquisition of skills, behaviours and abilities to perform future work, or solve a problem

Question 4

Why are orientation, training, and development important?

Answer 4

These processes allow employees and the org. to learn thus increasing its human capital (competencies)

Question 5

What is Quebec’s “training tax” (Loi sur les compétences)?

Answer 5

• Organizations with a payroll > 1 million$ must spend 1% of payroll on training, or pay 1% tax
• Unique in North America
• Positive results? not clear

Question 6

What is the goal of orientation, training and

development?

Answer 6

Foster individual and organizational learning in order to contribute to the attainment or the organization’s goals

Question 7

What is learning?

Answer 7

Ongoing change in behaviour and thinking

Question 8

Orientation is the formal process of:

Answer 8

• familiarizing new employees with the organization, their jobs, and their work units
• embedding organizational values, beliefs and accepted behaviours

Question 9

Orientation is a type of ____

Answer 9

training

Question 10

Why do we do orientation? What are the benefits?

Answer 10

• • productivity
• • employee morale
• • learning
• • Turnover
• • Recruitment/training costs
• • New employee anxiety

Question 11

How to do orientation? What is the process like?

Answer 11

• Continuous : for all, “re- orientation” as org. changes
• Cooperative: involves HR, supervisor, employees
• Planned : predetermined goals, topics, methods
• Systematic : follow-up and evaluation

Question 12

What are the important things to consider for orientation?

Answer 12

• Design a process, not an event
• Make a good first impression
• Don’t bury a new employee in paperwork!
• Make it personal and meaningful.
• Help new employees understand and build their
network
• Make information accessible
• Assign a buddy.

Question 13

What are the fundamental skills to have at a workplace?

Answer 13

• read and understand information presented in different forms
• write and speak so that others understand
• use relevant knowledge and skills to explain and clarify
• identify the root cause of the problem
• evaluate solutions to make a decision-
• use numbers to complete tasks, such as making estimates or making calculations
• manage information by locating, gathering and organizing information with appropriate technology

Question 14

What are the fundamental personal management skill to have at a workplace?

Answer 14

• be flexible and adaptable
• be honest and ethical
• be responsible for setting goals
• be able to work safely
• demonstrate positive attitudes and behaviours, such as dealing with people with honesty and integrity
• be willing to keep learning

Question 15

What are the fundamental teamwork skills to have at a workplace?

Answer 15

• understand and contribute to the organization’s goals
• understand and work within the dynamics of the group
• plan and make decisions with others and support the outcomes
• respect the thoughts and opinions of others
• adapt to changing environment
• understand the role of conflict in group dynamics and resolve as appropriate

Question 16

Systematic training and development: What is the process like?

Answer 16

• training needs assessment: analyze training needs, identify training objectives and criteria
• training design: pretest trainees, select training methods, plan training content
• training delivery: schedule, conduct, monitor
• evaluation: measure training outcomes, compare outcome to objectives and criteria

Question 17

What are the 3 levels of assessing needs in training?

Answer 17

Organizational level:
- What is happening with the org. environment & strategy?
• Merger/acquisition?
• Change in technology? Etc.
- Is training for this issue required for success of the organization?

Task Level:
- What does the task require ? (Helps determine content)
• Specific KSAs required?
- Competencies employees need vs. have = GAP –> Action Plans

Person Level:
- Who should receive training? (Helps determine participants)
• Employees with performance issues due to lack of ability?
• Employees being groomed for different responsibilities? Etc.

Question 18

What are the 4 issues to consider when designing a training program?

Answer 18

Create a program and choose a method (or combination) which meets training/development needs previously identified.

4 issues to consider:

• instructional objectives
• trainee readiness/motivation
• characteristics of the trainers
• principles of learning

Question 19

What are the principles of learning?

Answer 19

• modeling
• goal setting
• individual differences
• active practice and repetition
• whole-versus-part learning
• massed-versus-distributed learning
• feedback and reinforcement
• meaningfulness of the presentation

Question 20

What are the methods that could be used to implement the training program?

Answer 20

On-the-job training
• Hands on experience, provided by manager or trainer
• Requires:
- Good planning and structure
- A trained manager / trainer
- Clear job perf. criteria

Apprenticeship training
• For skilled trades, on- and off-the- job instruction and experience (theoretical and practical)

Coop. training /internship
• Combination of practical on-the- job experience and formal education

Classroom instruction
• Instruction offered by one instructor to many trainees through a combination of methods (lecture, demonstrations, films, etc.) in a classroom

Self-directed learning
• Learners work at their own pace, typically through books, manuals, computers.

Audio-visual
• Use of audio- visual media (webinars, video conferences, etc.)
• Useful for skills and procedures in
production jobs (visual component) or when participants are geographically distant

Simulation
• Use of realistic equipment and operation
• Useful when it is impractical or unwise to use real equipment for training

E-learning
• Use of electronic media (e.g., web, computer-based)
• Flexible, popular

Question 21

What are the methods often used for management development?

Answer 21

On-the-job experiences
• Provide hands on experience
• Various methods (coaching, mentoring, job rotation, special project, etc)
• Requires careful planning and structure

Seminars & conferences
• Involve group of people with similar needs/interests
• Useful for communicating ideas, policies, procedures, discussing issues…

Case studies
• Use documented examples to learn how to analyze and synthesize facts, be aware of important variables, and improve decision making skills
• Emphasize both process and solution

Management games
• Use hypothetical situations to improve communication, decision- making skills, etc.

Role playing
• Learners assume roles & behaviours of others
• Helps improve interaction abilities
• Requires learners to be very comfortable with each other

Question 22

How to evaluate the training program?

Answer 22

Gather trainee reactions
• Ask participants whether the liked the training, most useful content and
techniques (simple, but satisfaction not a guarantee of success)

Assess extent of learning
• Test knowledge and skills after training, compare with before

Assess behaviour change
•Assess whether transfer has occurred: participants apply in their jobs
what they have learned in training

Measure results (ROI)
• Calculate ratio cost (salary of trainer, materials, etc.) vs. benefits (+ quality, productivity, - rejects/wasted material, etc.) --> shows value of the training

Question 23

What is career development?

Answer 23

Career development programs are dynamic processes which seek to help employees plan their careers and meet their career goals, as well as meeting organizational goals.

Question 24

What is the importance of career development?

Answer 24

Important: link individual needs (personal and professional) and organizational needs (strategic and operational)

Question 25

What are the favourable conditions in career development?

Answer 25

• Set and known goals (org. and employee)
• HR practices that facilitate employee development (job rotation, transfers, promotions,…)
• Support from top management

Question 26

What does specialized career development include?

Answer 26

Setting up mentoring relationships
- A senior employee coaches, advises and encourage a more junior one

Including diverse employees
- Offering career dev. programs that include special groups (e.g., women, dual-career couples, youth)

Emphasizing work/life balance
- Encouraging employees to invest in other areas of their life