Deck 12: Appendix

Question 1

Why are content and process important in the design of the employee orientation programs? What content should an effective orientation program include? What process should be used?

Answer 1

Employee orientation programs stand for the programs wherein newly hired employees are introduced to the organization and its work culture. The employees are made aware of the organizational structure, its people, and processes. It helps in reducing anxiety among employees.
Content and process in the design of employee orientation programs are important because the orientation program designed for the newly hired employees should not skip any of the necessary step or information that carries importance and is needed for making employees properly oriented about the firm and their roles in the organization. The orientation program should be designed in such a manner that its content and process are capable of orienting employees in an effective manner. Otherwise, the employees will not be able to get acquainted or deliver their duties and responsibilities effectively.
The following is the content of an effective orientation program :
• At Company-Level :
At company-level, the orientation program should depict information about the company's values, mission, history, etc. It should provide information about key policies and procedures followed at the firm; the compensation and employee benefits should also be included in this. The existence of labor union in the firm, and the customer relations that the firm adopts should also be included in this.
• At Department-Level :
At this level, the orientation program should inform the employees about the functions and philosophy the department adopts while delivering its responsibilities. The employees are made aware of their duties and roles in tehri positions. The kind of performance expected from the employees is depicted in the orientation program at this level. The employees are physically shown the entire department and are acquainted with other employees, the policies, procedures, rules and regulations adopted by the department.
• Miscellaneous :
In this, the employees are oriented about their housing options, the community at which they will be residing and dealing with in their personal lives, etc. The employees are also suggested ways to manage a good balance between family and job responsibilities.
The process that should be used in the orientation program is that the employee should be facilitated to complete the payroll forms and review of personnel policies with the support of human resource manager or human resource representative. Employees should be asked to enrol to the firm's software tools which will help the employees to get oriented and acquainted to the company's policies and procedures. The employees should be asked to create an email account, and create user id for the computer systems allotted to them. After this, employees can be asked to complete formalities at the HR department related to filing of tax and other benefit forms, etc. This way employees get to know about various aspects of the new job, and receives an opportunity to meet managers and co-workers breaking of an ice between them.

Question 2

Explain what you believe are the advantages and disadvantages of creating a training consortium or partnership with other companies.

Answer 2

Training stands for the imparting of skills and aptitude among the employees using various on-the-job-training methods and off-the-job training methods.
The advantages of creating a training partnership with other companies can be described by stating that when a firm creates partnership with another firm to impart required training to the employees, it helps the firm to obtain cost advantage. This is because when the firm will itself deliver training to the employees in the required area, it will have to hire training professionals. This will incur huge cost and other resources for which the firm has to spend unnecessarily. However, when training will be delivered by a partnership firm, the firm's training requirements will be fulfilled by it in reasonable cost.
The firms' efficiency is increased when training is outsourced or is imparted by a partner. The partnership firm focuses on the core areas where the employees lack training and development. A training partnership helps the firm to save cost in building training infrastructure and buying of required technology to train its employees. This way creation of a training partnership with other companies offer faster and better impartment of training.
The disadvantages of creating a training partnership with other companies can be described by stating that the partnership firm that has been given responsibility to provide training to the employees might focus on the wrong areas, as a result the employees might not receive required training needed to deliver their tasks efficiently. Apart from this, the training partner might breach the confidentiality between the two firms, and reveal the training technique to the firm's rivals. This way firm's confidential and private training technique might get revealed to competitors. These are the disadvantages of creating a training partnership with other companies.

Question 3

What is a dual-career path? What are the characteristics of an effective dual-career path?

Answer 3

A person's career is made up of jobs and employments that he has obtained in his professional life. It is very much possible that a person shifts from one career path to another which changes as per his interest. This way a person engages in multiple roles in his professional life which creates his career.
Dual-career path stands for the career development plan wherein a person prepares himself to engage in multiple job opportunities. In other words, a person belonging to technical field prepares himself to get employed in managerial field or viceversa.
The following are the characteristics of an effective dual-career path:
• The person who contributes to the firm individually, earns less compensation as compared to the individuals who work as managers. However, the individual contributors are offered with bonuses so that their total compensation can be increased.
• The salary, status, and incentives obtained by technical and managerial employees remains equal to each other. This is the reason why a person employed in technical field plans to undertake dual-career path by switching to managerial jobs and viceversa.
• The employees who carry sound technical skills and knowledge can easily switch their career interest towards managerial jobs, and viceversa. However, the individual contributors having poor performance record cannot carry a dual-career path without carrying potential for managerial positions.
• The individual contributors are offered with opportunities to choose their career path. For this, the firm facilitates psychological and development tests to assess the skill of these employees. The individual contributors are tested for their interests, strengths, skills, values, etc. for both technical as well as managerial jobs.

Question 4

What is organization development? Describe the interventions used to create change.

Question 5

Why do employees plateau? How could you help a plateaued employee? Discuss the characteristics of a plateaued employee who might resist your help.

Question 6

What are the implications of virtual work arrangements for training?

Question 7

Why should managers be trained as part of establishing supportive work-life policies?

Question 8

How could you help downsized survivors remain motivated and productive? Rank your recommendations in order of importance. Provide a rationale for your ranking.

Question 9

What advantages and disadvantages might a company gain by rehiring retired employees?

Question 10

Are work-family programs the same as work-life programs? Explain.

Question 11

What are the advantages and potential disadvantages of telecommuting for employees? for companies?

Question 12

Discuss how new technologies are likely to impact training in the future.

Question 13

What new skills will trainers need to be successful in the future?

Question 14

What is rapid instructional design? How does it differ from the traditional training design model discussed in Chapter 1? (see Figure 1-1.)

Question 15

How does the use of a learning management system better link training to business strategy and goals?

Question 16

What is benchmarking? Explain the process you would use to benchmark a company's safety training programs.

Question 17

What is process reengineering? Why is it relevant to training?

Question 18

Discuss the steps necessary to introduce a new training practice from a change model perspective.

Question 19

Describe the stages of organizational socialization. What are the employees' needs at each stage?

Question 20

What misconceptions do managers have about training? How could you change those misconceptions?