Deck 7: Training Employees

Question 1

How Barnes-Jewish Hospital Trains Nurses to Cope
Barnes-Jewish Hospital has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best hospitals in the United States and as its top-rated hospital for St. Louis, Missouri. The 1,258-bed not-for-profit hospital is part of the BJC HealthCare chain, which serves patients in the St. Louis metropolitan area. A big part of the Barnes-Jewish staff is its more than 2,500 full-time and 800 part-time registered nurses.
A registered nurse comes to Barnes-Jewish (or any other) hospital after extensive training in human health and patient care. But one of the major challenges facing a nurse is not a matter of deploying technical skills; it is how to cope with the day-in, day-out experience of witnessing patients' suffering and sometimes death. Especially during periods when several of their patients have poor outcomes, nurses can feel worn down by the stress. They can suffer "compassion fatigue," experienced as sadness, despair, and reduced empathy. At worst, nurses' health suffers, and they find themselves avoiding certain patients and perhaps failing to deliver quality care when they fail to notice or correctly interpret patients' needs.
A commitment to high-quality care and concern for its nurses' well-being has led Barnes-Jewish to offer training in how to cope with stress and avoid or recover from compassion fatigue. The issue first received attention when three nurse managers agreed they had a problem with high turnover and poor patient satisfaction with nursing care in the oncology unit. Because patients with cancer can become very ill, caring for them can pose a heavy emotional and physical strain. Nurses seemed to be coping by detaching themselves emotionally, which patients experienced in a negative way. With this evidence of a problem, the nurse managers asked Barnes-Jewish's director of research for patient care services and the head of its patient and family counseling program to help. They interviewed nurses and concluded that the issue was compassion fatigue, so they suggested a program to help the nurses cope.
The hospital contracted with Eric Gentry, a psychotherapist with a specialty in teaching disaster responders and emergency physicians how to manage stress. He developed a program suitable for use with the nurses and other staff members at the hospital. The course describes symptoms of compassion fatigue and activities that promote resiliency in the face of stress. According to the course, caregivers will be more resilient if they take five steps: (1) self-regulation, or simple exercises such as deep breathing to lower the physical response when they perceive a threat; (2) intentionality, which means reminding themselves to follow their values and original motivation, rather than being overwhelmed by other people's endless demands; (3) self-validation, in which they keep in mind the positive impact they have on patients; (4) formation of a support network; and (5) self-care so they do not burn out.
The hospital first tried the program in a pilot test with 14 oncology nurses. After five weeks of 90-minute sessions once a week, the nurses saw an improvement in their coping ability. The hospital decided to make the program available to all the oncology nurses. Gentry trained 25 hospital staffers-including physician assistants, psychologists, chaplains, and social workers-to deliver the course. Seeing the impact on the oncology department, others in the hospital became interested in the training, so Barnes-Jewish recently made it available to the entire staff, including doctors, nurses, and support personnel.
Nurses who have participated in the training say parts of it have felt strange. Not everyone was eager to gaze into a partner's eyes and state affirmations, and male employees were sometimes mystified by an exercise that involved relaxing pelvic-floor muscles (a muscle group that tends to tighten under stress). However, after completing the program, nurses have reported feeling more positive about their profession and better able to cope with the stress that goes with it.
How did the hospital go about planning its training to combat compassion fatigue? How well did the plans align with the organization's needs?

Answer 1

Every organizational need is different from one another. Especially in a hospital, it becomes totally different to train the nurses and doctors whose field is different from a routine corporate house. These employees have to undergo emotional problems due to the kind of patients they care about. Such employee needs special training accompanied by proper mentorship. Guidance beyond their field is a must. Moreover the trainers should have the knowledge of the hospital field too. He should understand the pressure under which these people work.

Question 2

SunTrust Takes Training to the Bank
SunTrust Banks, based in Atlanta, operates the eighth-largest U.S. bank. It also has several subsidiaries offering other financial services such as mortgage banking, insurance, and investment management. The bank serves customers in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. As the banking industry struggled to recover from the recent financial crisis and recession (and new regulations) that followed, SunTrust's management decided that the key to the company's future lay with fully engaging employees in serving customers. That approach is consistent with the company's mission of "helping people and institutions prosper."
SunTrust began to restructure its banking business in accordance with three guiding principles: (1) operating as a single team; (2) putting clients first; and (3) focusing on profitable growth. This principle-driven approach to growth requires managers who know how to foster employees' commitment to their work and their clients. To that end, SunTrust has made it a priority to develop managers' leadership skills. First-line managers receive training in how to coach and lead others. Middle managers work with mentors on their leadership skills. Upper-level managers use assessments by peers, subordinates, and others to identify areas for growth and, with coaching, develop leadership skills taught during a three-week training program.
SunTrust also selects its top 3,500 managers to receive training in employee engagement. Managers learn not only to assess employees' performance in terms of numbers (a natural approach in a bank), but also to consider ways to build positive feelings about meeting goals and serving customers.
For training aimed at emotions to be relevant, it must enable better job performance. To meet the principle of putting customers first, SunTrust conducts surveys of its customers to learn whether they are satisfied with the bank's products and customer service. It also asks employees whether they have the resources they need to succeed at work and know what the company expects of them. Based on the feedback, the bank's learning team creates training materials for how to meet customer expectations in each line of business. In a program called "Building Solid Relationships," employees learn how to define client needs, explain the bank's financial products and services clearly, and help customers choose which products and services will meet their needs. SunTrust's CEO, Bill Rogers, saw the impact of this training firsthand when he visited a branch and peppered the branch manager and a financial services representative with questions about a new product. They invited Rogers to watch them role-play a scene between a representative and a customer. Rogers was impressed with their confidence and knowledge.
The bank also provides learning support on its Sun-Trust Learning Portal. This Internet portal gives employees easy access to computer-based training and tools for collaboration that can support informal learning.
Since SunTrust initiated the new training programs, it has seen evidence of improved performance. The bank has enjoyed a record pace of growth in deposits and top scores for the industry in client loyalty. Such feedback has given SunTrust's executives the necessary justification for increasing training budgets regardless of economic recession.
This is all taking place at a delicate time for the banking industry. Many citizens are irate about the government's "bank bailouts," question why banks are now very cautious about lending, and object to the fees many banks have charged to make up for revenue that has shrunk elsewhere. SunTrust, for example, tried imposing a monthly fee for unlimited debit card transactions, but reversed the decision after a public outcry. Still, there are signs that banks are emerging from the worst times. Recent examinations by the Federal Reserve show that the amount of capital on hand at SunTrust and other major banks is approaching a level the Fed considers adequate for sustaining another economic downturn. As conditions improve, SunTrust hopes its strategic investment in training will position it at the forefront of the next round of growth.
How should SunTrust measure the success of its training program?

Answer 2

The success of any training program can be measured through the feedback received from the participants.
Bank can conduct a research to determine the customer satisfaction level. This will help them to analyse the efficiency of the training program. The increase in the profitability also indicates the success of the training programme.
Such measures will help the training managers to understand the success of training imparted. Also it will facilitate in formulating future programs. It will also help them in assessing the demand of the participants in future.

Question 3

Assume you are human resource manager of a small seafood company. The general manager has told you that customers have begun complaining about the quality of your company's fresh fish. Currently, training consists of senior fish cleaners showing new employees how to perform the job. Assuming your needs assessment indicates a need for training, how would you plan a training program? What steps should you take in planning the program?

Answer 3

General Manager of the company informed HR manager that, customers have started complaining about the quality of company's fresh fish. As per the case, currently senior fish cleaners are giving training to new fish cleaners are giving training to new fish cleaner employees for how to perform the job.
Company, already knows a need of training company only needs to plan the program with proper steps. Training program plan should be directly related with the needs of training program.
As HR manager, following would be taken for planning the training program -
1. Objectives of training program
- Objectives of training program help employees to know the purpose behind taking a training program which motivates them to learn much better.
- Defining training programs also helps trainer to measure effectiveness of training program based on objectives.
- In the given case, objective of the training program is, to train new employees how to clean fresh fish.
2. To provide In house or Contracted out training
- Selecting a training service is second important stage while planning a training program. Company can provide a training program in house to their employees.
- In the given case, in house training service can be provided to new fish cleaners.
3. Training method for conducting a training program
- After deciding objectives, contents of the training program and training service, trainer should decide which training method to use for giving training.
- Training methods falls under 3 main categories namely :
• Presentation methods : Lectures, workbooks, CD-ROMS, DVDs, podcasts, web sites
• Hand-on methods : On the job training, simulations, role-plays, computer games
• Group building methods : Group discussions, experiential programs, team training
- For the given case, below mentioned training programs can be used
a) Classroom instruction - This type of training method will be used when trainer needs to give presentation on information related to objectives of training and at a time to many participants. In the given case, trainers need to present the information and train the trainees on how to clean fresh fish.
4. Implementing the training program
- Based on the decision of objectives, contents and methods trainer needs to actually implement the training program as per the plan. Trainer has to organize all the required resources before implementation of training program.
5. Measuring results of training through evaluation methods
- There are various evaluation methods available for measuring the results of training program. For the given case, training evaluation can be done by checking the quality of fresh fish as per the standards.

Question 4

How Barnes-Jewish Hospital Trains Nurses to Cope
Barnes-Jewish Hospital has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best hospitals in the United States and as its top-rated hospital for St. Louis, Missouri. The 1,258-bed not-for-profit hospital is part of the BJC HealthCare chain, which serves patients in the St. Louis metropolitan area. A big part of the Barnes-Jewish staff is its more than 2,500 full-time and 800 part-time registered nurses.
A registered nurse comes to Barnes-Jewish (or any other) hospital after extensive training in human health and patient care. But one of the major challenges facing a nurse is not a matter of deploying technical skills; it is how to cope with the day-in, day-out experience of witnessing patients' suffering and sometimes death. Especially during periods when several of their patients have poor outcomes, nurses can feel worn down by the stress. They can suffer "compassion fatigue," experienced as sadness, despair, and reduced empathy. At worst, nurses' health suffers, and they find themselves avoiding certain patients and perhaps failing to deliver quality care when they fail to notice or correctly interpret patients' needs.
A commitment to high-quality care and concern for its nurses' well-being has led Barnes-Jewish to offer training in how to cope with stress and avoid or recover from compassion fatigue. The issue first received attention when three nurse managers agreed they had a problem with high turnover and poor patient satisfaction with nursing care in the oncology unit. Because patients with cancer can become very ill, caring for them can pose a heavy emotional and physical strain. Nurses seemed to be coping by detaching themselves emotionally, which patients experienced in a negative way. With this evidence of a problem, the nurse managers asked Barnes-Jewish's director of research for patient care services and the head of its patient and family counseling program to help. They interviewed nurses and concluded that the issue was compassion fatigue, so they suggested a program to help the nurses cope.
The hospital contracted with Eric Gentry, a psychotherapist with a specialty in teaching disaster responders and emergency physicians how to manage stress. He developed a program suitable for use with the nurses and other staff members at the hospital. The course describes symptoms of compassion fatigue and activities that promote resiliency in the face of stress. According to the course, caregivers will be more resilient if they take five steps: (1) self-regulation, or simple exercises such as deep breathing to lower the physical response when they perceive a threat; (2) intentionality, which means reminding themselves to follow their values and original motivation, rather than being overwhelmed by other people's endless demands; (3) self-validation, in which they keep in mind the positive impact they have on patients; (4) formation of a support network; and (5) self-care so they do not burn out.
The hospital first tried the program in a pilot test with 14 oncology nurses. After five weeks of 90-minute sessions once a week, the nurses saw an improvement in their coping ability. The hospital decided to make the program available to all the oncology nurses. Gentry trained 25 hospital staffers-including physician assistants, psychologists, chaplains, and social workers-to deliver the course. Seeing the impact on the oncology department, others in the hospital became interested in the training, so Barnes-Jewish recently made it available to the entire staff, including doctors, nurses, and support personnel.
Nurses who have participated in the training say parts of it have felt strange. Not everyone was eager to gaze into a partner's eyes and state affirmations, and male employees were sometimes mystified by an exercise that involved relaxing pelvic-floor muscles (a muscle group that tends to tighten under stress). However, after completing the program, nurses have reported feeling more positive about their profession and better able to cope with the stress that goes with it.
How could Barnes-Jewish assess the effectiveness of its training program?

Question 5

Many organizations turn to e-learning as a less expensive alternative to classroom training. What are some other advantages of substituting e-learning for classroom training? What are some disadvantages?

Question 6

Suppose the managers in your organization tend to avoid delegating projects to the people in their groups. As a result, they rarely meet their goals. A training needs analysis indicates that an appropriate solution is training in management skills. You have identified two outside training programs that are consistent with your goals. One program involves experiential programs (adventure learning) and the other is an interactive computer program. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each technique? Which would you choose? Why?

Question 7

Many Companies Outsource Training Tasks
A recent survey of U.S.-based corporations found that over half were outsourcing the instruction of training courses. Almost half use contractors to develop custom content, and 40% use them to operate or host a learning management system. All together, 23% of companies' training budgets went to contractors.
Percentage of Companies Outsourcing Task

Suppose you need to train office workers on how to use social media without risking your company's reputation or data security. What are some advantages of company employees developing the course content? What are some advantages of using a firm that specializes in training about information technology?
SOURCE: "2011 Training Industry Report," Training , November/December 2011, pp. 22-35.

Question 8

Consider your current job or a job you recently held. What types of training have you received for that job? What types of training would you like to receive? Why?

Question 9

A Revolving Door for Returning Vets
The president of a manufacturing company had the best of intentions. He was a retired military officer and wanted to provide jobs for some of the many service members ready to make a transition from military to civilian life. He expected that many of them had leadership qualities and would be an asset to his growing business. So he directed his company's human resources department to recruit veterans and track their progress.
A year and a half later, the company president reviewed the numbers and was shocked: many veterans were indeed being hired - and most of them were replacing veterans previously hired. The sad fact was that within months, most of them felt uncomfortable at the company and quit.
Research into this pattern has found a culture clash. Many employers find that their new employees don't know how to function in a civilian environment. What promoted success in the military is not always what works in civilian workplaces.
One solution is to develop orientation programs geared toward veterans. These new employees tend to face particular issues. For example, military organizations tend to emphasize standard processes. In contrast, many businesses want to foster creative thinking, which veterans might interpret as a lack of leadership or failure to communicate. Values such as loyalty and respect are highly prized in the military; veteran employees may be troubled if they perceive a lax attitude toward values in a civilian workplace. Thus, orientation might need to cover aspects of organizational culture that seem obvious to the civilian trainer. The orientation program might be best supplemented with a mentor who has a military background.
The effort to recruit and train veterans can be worthwhile for many reasons. Many employers prize veterans' strong values, leadership experience, and resourcefulness. The federal government offers guidance and assistance in recruiting and hiring veterans. The wind-down of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is creating a huge pool of talented, motivated individuals. And, of course, many employers want to do the right thing for persons who have sacrificed so much for the nation.
In the manufacturing company described here, the president himself was a veteran. Why do you think the newly hired veterans didn't feel at home in a company run by a veteran? What lessons does this suggest about how to plan an orientation program's content?

Question 10

A manufacturing company employs several maintenance employees. When a problem occurs with the equipment, a maintenance employee receives a description of the symptoms and is supposed to locate and fix the source of the problem. The company recently installed a new, complex electronics system. To prepare its maintenance workers, the company provided classroom training. The trainer displayed electrical drawings of system components and posed problems about the system. The trainer would point to a component in a drawing and ask, "What would happen if this component were faulty?" Trainees would study the diagram, describe the likely symptoms, and discuss how to repair the problem. If you were responsible for this company's training, how would you evaluate the success of this training program?

Question 11

SunTrust Takes Training to the Bank
SunTrust Banks, based in Atlanta, operates the eighth-largest U.S. bank. It also has several subsidiaries offering other financial services such as mortgage banking, insurance, and investment management. The bank serves customers in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. As the banking industry struggled to recover from the recent financial crisis and recession (and new regulations) that followed, SunTrust's management decided that the key to the company's future lay with fully engaging employees in serving customers. That approach is consistent with the company's mission of "helping people and institutions prosper."
SunTrust began to restructure its banking business in accordance with three guiding principles: (1) operating as a single team; (2) putting clients first; and (3) focusing on profitable growth. This principle-driven approach to growth requires managers who know how to foster employees' commitment to their work and their clients. To that end, SunTrust has made it a priority to develop managers' leadership skills. First-line managers receive training in how to coach and lead others. Middle managers work with mentors on their leadership skills. Upper-level managers use assessments by peers, subordinates, and others to identify areas for growth and, with coaching, develop leadership skills taught during a three-week training program.
SunTrust also selects its top 3,500 managers to receive training in employee engagement. Managers learn not only to assess employees' performance in terms of numbers (a natural approach in a bank), but also to consider ways to build positive feelings about meeting goals and serving customers.
For training aimed at emotions to be relevant, it must enable better job performance. To meet the principle of putting customers first, SunTrust conducts surveys of its customers to learn whether they are satisfied with the bank's products and customer service. It also asks employees whether they have the resources they need to succeed at work and know what the company expects of them. Based on the feedback, the bank's learning team creates training materials for how to meet customer expectations in each line of business. In a program called "Building Solid Relationships," employees learn how to define client needs, explain the bank's financial products and services clearly, and help customers choose which products and services will meet their needs. SunTrust's CEO, Bill Rogers, saw the impact of this training firsthand when he visited a branch and peppered the branch manager and a financial services representative with questions about a new product. They invited Rogers to watch them role-play a scene between a representative and a customer. Rogers was impressed with their confidence and knowledge.
The bank also provides learning support on its Sun-Trust Learning Portal. This Internet portal gives employees easy access to computer-based training and tools for collaboration that can support informal learning.
Since SunTrust initiated the new training programs, it has seen evidence of improved performance. The bank has enjoyed a record pace of growth in deposits and top scores for the industry in client loyalty. Such feedback has given SunTrust's executives the necessary justification for increasing training budgets regardless of economic recession.
This is all taking place at a delicate time for the banking industry. Many citizens are irate about the government's "bank bailouts," question why banks are now very cautious about lending, and object to the fees many banks have charged to make up for revenue that has shrunk elsewhere. SunTrust, for example, tried imposing a monthly fee for unlimited debit card transactions, but reversed the decision after a public outcry. Still, there are signs that banks are emerging from the worst times. Recent examinations by the Federal Reserve show that the amount of capital on hand at SunTrust and other major banks is approaching a level the Fed considers adequate for sustaining another economic downturn. As conditions improve, SunTrust hopes its strategic investment in training will position it at the forefront of the next round of growth.
What training needs did SunTrust have in the broad areas of organization, person, and tasks? How does its training address those needs?

Question 12

In Question 7, suppose the maintenance supervisor has complained that trainees are having difficulty troubleshooting problems with the new electronic system. They are spending a great deal of time on problems with the system and coming to the supervisor with frequent questions that show lack of understanding. The supervisor is convinced that employees are motivated to learn the system and they are well qualified. What do you think might be the problems with the current training program? What recommendations can your make for improving the program?

Question 13

"Melinda!" bellowed Toran to the company's HR specialist, "I've got a problem, and you've got to solve it. I can't get people in this plant to work together as a team. As if I don't have enough trouble with our competitors and our past-due accounts, now I have to put up with running a zoo. You're responsible for seeing that the staff gets along. I want a training proposal on my desk by Monday." Assume you are Melinda.
a. Is training the solution to this problem? How can you determine the need for training?
b. Summarize how you would conduct a needs assessment.

Question 14

Who should be involved in orientation of new employees? Why would it not be appropriate to provide employee orientation purely online?

Question 15

CAN EMPLOYERS TEACH ETHICS?
Engineering professor Michael Garrett recalls being a new employee at URS Corporation, an engineering and design firm headquartered in San Francisco. On his first day, he was shown around the office on a tour that highlighted safety features such as fire extinguishers, first-aid kits, and emergency escape routes. He also was instructed to complete a safety training course before he began working. During his time on the job, he received monthly newsletters with articles describing safe practices at work and at home. Reflecting on that experience, Garrett asserts that, just as a company can build a culture of safety as URS did, it can also build a culture of ethics with frequent messages affirming the company's commitment to ethical practices. In his view, making an organization ethical is not a matter of onetime training, but of continual learning, practice, and reinforcement.
Ethical behavior at work is most likely to result from a desire to be ethical combined with skills for ethical reasoning and an organizational context that encourages ethical behavior. Advocates for ethics training suggest that a training program could address all of these. For example, employees can learn the benefits of an ethical workplace. They can learn principles for arriving at ethical choices. And leaders can learn skills for creating an ethical climate by communicating honestly and treating employees with respect. These lessons will be most effective if they are tailored to the specifics of the company and if the messages about ethics are delivered by respected people from within the organization. Also, because the choice to behave ethically is a personal choice, the lessons are most powerful coming from sincere individuals, delivered face-to-face.
Imagine you have been asked to prepare an ethics training program for the credit union where you work. The program is supposed to reinforce your organization's commitment to integrity as an employer and member of the community. What training methods do you think would be most effective for this training program? Why?

Question 16

Why do organizations provide diversity training? What kinds of goals are most suitable for such training?

Question 17

How Barnes-Jewish Hospital Trains Nurses to Cope
Barnes-Jewish Hospital has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best hospitals in the United States and as its top-rated hospital for St. Louis, Missouri. The 1,258-bed not-for-profit hospital is part of the BJC HealthCare chain, which serves patients in the St. Louis metropolitan area. A big part of the Barnes-Jewish staff is its more than 2,500 full-time and 800 part-time registered nurses.
A registered nurse comes to Barnes-Jewish (or any other) hospital after extensive training in human health and patient care. But one of the major challenges facing a nurse is not a matter of deploying technical skills; it is how to cope with the day-in, day-out experience of witnessing patients' suffering and sometimes death. Especially during periods when several of their patients have poor outcomes, nurses can feel worn down by the stress. They can suffer "compassion fatigue," experienced as sadness, despair, and reduced empathy. At worst, nurses' health suffers, and they find themselves avoiding certain patients and perhaps failing to deliver quality care when they fail to notice or correctly interpret patients' needs.
A commitment to high-quality care and concern for its nurses' well-being has led Barnes-Jewish to offer training in how to cope with stress and avoid or recover from compassion fatigue. The issue first received attention when three nurse managers agreed they had a problem with high turnover and poor patient satisfaction with nursing care in the oncology unit. Because patients with cancer can become very ill, caring for them can pose a heavy emotional and physical strain. Nurses seemed to be coping by detaching themselves emotionally, which patients experienced in a negative way. With this evidence of a problem, the nurse managers asked Barnes-Jewish's director of research for patient care services and the head of its patient and family counseling program to help. They interviewed nurses and concluded that the issue was compassion fatigue, so they suggested a program to help the nurses cope.
The hospital contracted with Eric Gentry, a psychotherapist with a specialty in teaching disaster responders and emergency physicians how to manage stress. He developed a program suitable for use with the nurses and other staff members at the hospital. The course describes symptoms of compassion fatigue and activities that promote resiliency in the face of stress. According to the course, caregivers will be more resilient if they take five steps: (1) self-regulation, or simple exercises such as deep breathing to lower the physical response when they perceive a threat; (2) intentionality, which means reminding themselves to follow their values and original motivation, rather than being overwhelmed by other people's endless demands; (3) self-validation, in which they keep in mind the positive impact they have on patients; (4) formation of a support network; and (5) self-care so they do not burn out.
The hospital first tried the program in a pilot test with 14 oncology nurses. After five weeks of 90-minute sessions once a week, the nurses saw an improvement in their coping ability. The hospital decided to make the program available to all the oncology nurses. Gentry trained 25 hospital staffers-including physician assistants, psychologists, chaplains, and social workers-to deliver the course. Seeing the impact on the oncology department, others in the hospital became interested in the training, so Barnes-Jewish recently made it available to the entire staff, including doctors, nurses, and support personnel.
Nurses who have participated in the training say parts of it have felt strange. Not everyone was eager to gaze into a partner's eyes and state affirmations, and male employees were sometimes mystified by an exercise that involved relaxing pelvic-floor muscles (a muscle group that tends to tighten under stress). However, after completing the program, nurses have reported feeling more positive about their profession and better able to cope with the stress that goes with it.
How did Barnes-Jewish Hospital assess the need for training? Do you think training was the appropriate solution to its problem? Why or why not?

Question 18

A Revolving Door for Returning Vets
The president of a manufacturing company had the best of intentions. He was a retired military officer and wanted to provide jobs for some of the many service members ready to make a transition from military to civilian life. He expected that many of them had leadership qualities and would be an asset to his growing business. So he directed his company's human resources department to recruit veterans and track their progress.
A year and a half later, the company president reviewed the numbers and was shocked: many veterans were indeed being hired - and most of them were replacing veterans previously hired. The sad fact was that within months, most of them felt uncomfortable at the company and quit.
Research into this pattern has found a culture clash. Many employers find that their new employees don't know how to function in a civilian environment. What promoted success in the military is not always what works in civilian workplaces.
One solution is to develop orientation programs geared toward veterans. These new employees tend to face particular issues. For example, military organizations tend to emphasize standard processes. In contrast, many businesses want to foster creative thinking, which veterans might interpret as a lack of leadership or failure to communicate. Values such as loyalty and respect are highly prized in the military; veteran employees may be troubled if they perceive a lax attitude toward values in a civilian workplace. Thus, orientation might need to cover aspects of organizational culture that seem obvious to the civilian trainer. The orientation program might be best supplemented with a mentor who has a military background.
The effort to recruit and train veterans can be worthwhile for many reasons. Many employers prize veterans' strong values, leadership experience, and resourcefulness. The federal government offers guidance and assistance in recruiting and hiring veterans. The wind-down of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is creating a huge pool of talented, motivated individuals. And, of course, many employers want to do the right thing for persons who have sacrificed so much for the nation.
What training methods do you think would be most effective for acquainting retired veterans with civilian business culture?

Question 19

SunTrust Takes Training to the Bank
SunTrust Banks, based in Atlanta, operates the eighth-largest U.S. bank. It also has several subsidiaries offering other financial services such as mortgage banking, insurance, and investment management. The bank serves customers in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. As the banking industry struggled to recover from the recent financial crisis and recession (and new regulations) that followed, SunTrust's management decided that the key to the company's future lay with fully engaging employees in serving customers. That approach is consistent with the company's mission of "helping people and institutions prosper."
SunTrust began to restructure its banking business in accordance with three guiding principles: (1) operating as a single team; (2) putting clients first; and (3) focusing on profitable growth. This principle-driven approach to growth requires managers who know how to foster employees' commitment to their work and their clients. To that end, SunTrust has made it a priority to develop managers' leadership skills. First-line managers receive training in how to coach and lead others. Middle managers work with mentors on their leadership skills. Upper-level managers use assessments by peers, subordinates, and others to identify areas for growth and, with coaching, develop leadership skills taught during a three-week training program.
SunTrust also selects its top 3,500 managers to receive training in employee engagement. Managers learn not only to assess employees' performance in terms of numbers (a natural approach in a bank), but also to consider ways to build positive feelings about meeting goals and serving customers.
For training aimed at emotions to be relevant, it must enable better job performance. To meet the principle of putting customers first, SunTrust conducts surveys of its customers to learn whether they are satisfied with the bank's products and customer service. It also asks employees whether they have the resources they need to succeed at work and know what the company expects of them. Based on the feedback, the bank's learning team creates training materials for how to meet customer expectations in each line of business. In a program called "Building Solid Relationships," employees learn how to define client needs, explain the bank's financial products and services clearly, and help customers choose which products and services will meet their needs. SunTrust's CEO, Bill Rogers, saw the impact of this training firsthand when he visited a branch and peppered the branch manager and a financial services representative with questions about a new product. They invited Rogers to watch them role-play a scene between a representative and a customer. Rogers was impressed with their confidence and knowledge.
The bank also provides learning support on its Sun-Trust Learning Portal. This Internet portal gives employees easy access to computer-based training and tools for collaboration that can support informal learning.
Since SunTrust initiated the new training programs, it has seen evidence of improved performance. The bank has enjoyed a record pace of growth in deposits and top scores for the industry in client loyalty. Such feedback has given SunTrust's executives the necessary justification for increasing training budgets regardless of economic recession.
This is all taking place at a delicate time for the banking industry. Many citizens are irate about the government's "bank bailouts," question why banks are now very cautious about lending, and object to the fees many banks have charged to make up for revenue that has shrunk elsewhere. SunTrust, for example, tried imposing a monthly fee for unlimited debit card transactions, but reversed the decision after a public outcry. Still, there are signs that banks are emerging from the worst times. Recent examinations by the Federal Reserve show that the amount of capital on hand at SunTrust and other major banks is approaching a level the Fed considers adequate for sustaining another economic downturn. As conditions improve, SunTrust hopes its strategic investment in training will position it at the forefront of the next round of growth.
For SunTrust's "Building Solid Relationships" training, what training methods do you think would be most effective? Why?

Question 20

How should an organization assess readiness for learning? In Question 1, how do Toran's comments suggest readiness (or lack of readiness) for learning?

Question 21

CAN EMPLOYERS TEACH ETHICS?
Engineering professor Michael Garrett recalls being a new employee at URS Corporation, an engineering and design firm headquartered in San Francisco. On his first day, he was shown around the office on a tour that highlighted safety features such as fire extinguishers, first-aid kits, and emergency escape routes. He also was instructed to complete a safety training course before he began working. During his time on the job, he received monthly newsletters with articles describing safe practices at work and at home. Reflecting on that experience, Garrett asserts that, just as a company can build a culture of safety as URS did, it can also build a culture of ethics with frequent messages affirming the company's commitment to ethical practices. In his view, making an organization ethical is not a matter of onetime training, but of continual learning, practice, and reinforcement.
Ethical behavior at work is most likely to result from a desire to be ethical combined with skills for ethical reasoning and an organizational context that encourages ethical behavior. Advocates for ethics training suggest that a training program could address all of these. For example, employees can learn the benefits of an ethical workplace. They can learn principles for arriving at ethical choices. And leaders can learn skills for creating an ethical climate by communicating honestly and treating employees with respect. These lessons will be most effective if they are tailored to the specifics of the company and if the messages about ethics are delivered by respected people from within the organization. Also, because the choice to behave ethically is a personal choice, the lessons are most powerful coming from sincere individuals, delivered face-to-face.
Continuing the same example, what steps can you take to encourage transfer of training?