Seven Basic Quality tools documents
Definition of Quality Management -- it is a method for ensuring that all the activities necessary to design, develop and implement a product or service are effective and efficient with respect to the system and its performance. It is also a principle set by the company to endure the continuous advocacy of quality services and products, or the further improvement of it.
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On the Job Training
Rich Guzik OperMGT 345 11/18/02Original text on freequality.org
As
technology changes and employees are obligated to learn to use new equipment
that keeps the competition on their toes, companies find that they must offer
training programs that often times can be quite sophisticated. Businesses often find themselves attempting
to improve productivity by increasing the employee’s knowledge and their
ability to perform a wide variety of tasks.
Training and developing employees for optimum performance is crucial to
organizational success as it represents a planned effort by an organization to
facilitate employees’ learning of job-related behaviors.
On-the-job training is the most fundamental
type of training. One estimate suggests that organizations spend three to six
times more on OJT than on classroom training.
This number equates to roughly $100 billion dollars each year on
training. OJT is the easiest kind of
training to implement and can be effective where the job is relatively simple,
such as clerking in a store. Intricate
jobs require a more intense training effort as more variables are introduced
into the system.
The
flow of on-the-job training is relatively straightforward. As an employee gets hired they immediately
begin to be trained by doing, or watching others for a while and imitating
them. This “other” could be an
experienced employee or supervisor that takes the new employee “under his or
her wing” to show how to perform job duties.
This type of training can have both positive or negative results,
depending on the skills and habits of the person being imitated.
OJT has some advantages such as when the
employee is being trained, the trainer—a manager, or a senior employee—has the
opportunity to build good relationship with that employee. OJT also has few out-of-pocket costs for
training facilities, materials, or instructor fees and easy transfer of
learning back to the job, as the learning site is the work site. The training can have positive effects on
employee morale as it teaches them not only have skills related to the specific
tasks they do at work but also trains them with the ability to think critically
and solve problems that sometimes can be applied to their normal lives. Plus as time becomes a critical source, OJT
is potentially the most effective means of facilitating learning in the
workplace.
There are some drawbacks to OJT, as it is one
of the most poorly implemented training methods and has these shortcomings: (1)
lack of a structured training environment; (2) poor training skills of
management; (3) lack of defined job performance criteria. To overcome the above mentioned problems,
experts in the Total Quality Management field suggest developing realistic
goals and measures for each OJT area; planning a specific training schedule for
each trainee, including set periods for evaluation and feedback; helping
managers to establish a nonthreatening atmosphere conductive to learning; and
conducting periodic evaluations, after training is completed, to prevent
regression. To establish an on-the-job
training program a company needs to
assess the needs of the organization as well as the skills of the
employees to determine the training needs; design the training to determine
what the training needs are; and evaluate the effectiveness of the
training.
One abridged
approach to the framework of an OJT system is discussed below. It contains four steps: 1) Conducting an
organizational analysis; 2) Conducting a task analysis; 3) Implementing the
training program; and 4) Evaluating the training program. A self explanatory picture representation of
the framework would look something like this:
The
first step is a system for examining business imperatives, determining jobs
that are competitive for sustaining business competitiveness, and actually
identifying the personnel requiring the on-the-job training. The second step is a system for developing
and reviewing on-the-job training proposal for the crucial work processes as
well as jobs identified. The third step
is a system for actually allocating the resources and implementing on-the-job
training for the critical work processes and the identified jobs. The last step is a system for evaluating and
improving the effectiveness of on-the-job training in actually achieving the
organizations objectives.
Each
of the systems should have a three column checklist. The “list” section should have the critical
tasks that are associated with OJT; the “what exists” section should be an
analysis of what the company already has; and the “what needs to be put in
place” section should be a plan of how the company will get from where they are
to where the want to be in terms of on-the-job training.
A condensed example might look like this:
List |
What
Exists |
What
needs to be put in place |
Organizational Analysis
|
||
Supervisors
involved in identifying OJT needs of their staff… |
|
|
There is a system
for regularly reviewing the OJT needs analysis to ensure responsiveness to
changing business requirements… |
|
|
Task Analysis
|
||
Key
points for ensuring error free quality work are provided by all OJT
proposals… |
|
|
Guidelines
are provided for the delivery of training in all OJT training… |
|
|
Implementation
|
||
There’s
a system for allocating financial resources and staff for implementing OJT… |
|
|
There’s
a system for finalizing OJT schedule… |
|
|
On-the-job training is a valuable way to keep
the company competitive by having knowledgeable employees and it is a cost
effective way of training those employees.
OJT is used throughout all industries in one way or another because most
companies already posses the infrastructure for it, all that is needed is an
implementation strategy. The
implementation can be costly and time consuming but is usually worth the risk
if used appropriately.
References
/ More Information
Bohlander,
George, et al (2001). Managing Human Resources. South-western College
Publishing. Cincinnati, OH.
Draft,
Richard (2000). Management.
Hartcourt College Publishers. Orlando, FL.
Nickels,
William (1999). Understanding Business.
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. United States.
http://www.doleta.gov/
http://www.policyalmanac.org/economic/job_training.shtml