Application of Employee Training and Development
Jo sighed. Productivity levels were down by 5% this month. After just spending $150,000 on new equipment, she was not quite sure how to explain this to top management. She had been so sure that new equipment would increase productivity levels. In fact, all the research she had done before purchasing the equipment had substantiated just that. What was the problem? Jo decided a trip to the assembly line floor was in order. Talking to the assembly line supervisor provided her with some new insights. The equipment manufacturer had said the new equipment would be easier to run than the old equipment. Jo had felt the equipment was similar enough that no training on the new equipment was necessary. Evidently that was not the case. The assembly line supervisor said there had been many down hours while people tried to figure out how to run the new machines. Furthermore, these machines were much more interrelated. One job tied into the next job, so if one person did something incorrectly, the next person on the line could not easily step in and fix the problem. In addition, these machines were much more technical and computer- like than the old machines had been. Evidently, they were not as easy to use as the manufacturer had stated.
-What type of training method should Jo provide to her employees to help less experienced employees benefit from the working with more experienced employees?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Understudy assignments are effective for allowing less experienced employees to learn directly from more experienced ones, which seems appropriate given the context of needing to understand and operate new, more complex equipment.