Activties - Training and career Dev - Essay Example

Activities- Training and Career Dev. Activity Caterpillar Caterpillar is an engineeringmanufacturer and solution provider company. The general mission of caterpillar is to help its customers in their businesses, with its technology and innovative business solutions. The company tries to build strong communication with its customers, to get a better insight of their needs, and then formulates a technical team to work on it (Caterpillar). The business of the Caterpillar has a wide range, covering from mining equipments to electric power generators. Its core business is to provide mining solutions and to make the mining process easier and safer. Its manufacturing unit is a diverse one, which produces a number of equipments, mostly related to mining. These includes, drills, mining tractors, paving, backhoe and several other instruments, used in the mining and drilling process. Moreover, it manufactures gas and diesel high power generators, along with integrated systems panels, for petroleum and marine industries (Caterpillar). 2. Some of the core characteristics of the Caterpillar’s culture are, to work with zest and sincerity to deliver the best services to their customers. For this, a Worldwide Code of Conduct has been published, and the entire staff follows that code. This helps in being connected with the suppliers, stakeholders and the customers, so to work as one big team (Caterpillar). Caterpillar also gives much importance to the personality and nature of the candidates, who wish to work for it. This is the reason that all the employees of it are passionate and loves their job. This helps in achieving optimum result from each employee, helping the company grow and progress. (Caterpillar). Diversity is the common practice in the Caterpillar, where each employee is given enough room to come up with innovative ideas and solutions. A challenging environment is maintained in the company, motivating each employee to work well than before, with a high sense of accountability and commitment (Caterpillar). 3. Caterpillar has been very active in educating its college and universities employees, by its various technical courses and trainings. Some of the training programs are as follows: a) Air Brake System Course This course is designed to teach the college employees, about the mechanical and hydraulic principles, applied in brake systems of Caterpillar’s equipments. The purpose of this program is to give awareness about the internal mechanism of the equipments and their purpose (Caterpillar). b) Basic Air Conditioning Course This program covers the detailed understanding of AC components, their functionality and maintenance. The electrical and mechanical troubleshooting and repairing of ACs are also taught in this course. Moreover, a basic understanding of mechanical tools and sensors are also a part of this course (Caterpillar). c) Think Big This is an advance training program, teaching hand-on knowledge about cutting-edge diagnostic and servicing of Caterpillar high tech equipments. It comprises of a thorough understanding and practical work on the manufacturing and the service management unit (Caterpillar). 4. Training programs offered by Caterpillar helps in achieving organization mission, and in producing skillful personnel. Its strategy is to find out customer’s problems and then come up with innovative and workable solutions. With these programs, applicants and employees get a sound understanding of equipments and their purpose of production. They also get a chance to work some hours in Caterpillar, which helps them company’s culture and values (Rich). Furthermore, criticalities and technical difficulties with machines are also been taught, which motivates applicants to think out of the box, for new solutions to the same problem. Many of the students, successfully completing the course, are offered a job in the company. This makes their recruiting process simpler and helps the company selecting skillful candidates for its various departments (Rich). Other companies are getting benefited too by these programs as they can hire employees, who have the experience of working on modern equipments and machineries, and can be an asset for growing companies (Rich). Works Cited Caterpillar. Program Details. 2012. 4 December 2012 . —. Service Training. 2011. 4 December 2012 . —. Why Caterpillar. 2012. 4 December 2012 . Rich, Motoka. Private Sector Gets Job Skills; Public Gets Bill. 7 January 2012. 4 December 2012 . Activity 2: Needs Analysis 1. The business I have chosen is the Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment. The installation unit is in need of a training intervention, to have a better understanding of the installation procedures and how to modify machines and instruments (ONET Online). 2. The occupational information provided by O*NET was useful in determining the functional area needed to be trained. The area of Skill has a vital place in this occupation. As a technical occupation, people in this occupation should be skilled and solution- oriented. Critical analysis of the problem, decision making and active communication, are some of the key elements of this area (ONET Online). In modern machineries, troubleshooting of an instrument or part cannot be done manually. They require software aid that detects the affected area, and tells the cause of the problem. Employees working in this area needs to be well equipped with the knowledge of those software and online troubleshooting programs. Management skills are of high importance for the Electrical technicians as their job is to instruct employees in the service, maintenance and repair departments. If the electronics technician, is not able to communicate the problem to repair or service departments, then mishaps are more likely to occur in the business. Therefore, to avoid this, the electronics area should be well trained and functional, to stimulate other functional areas properly (ONET Online). 3. The occupation of Electrical and Electronics has an exceptionally wide job description. It varies largely according to the sector it is implemented. In industrial sectors, this occupation needs the employee to have knowledge of instrumentation, sensors and their synchronization. In several manufacturing plants, the person is needed to know about the type, model and specifications of all the major instruments and machines, and should be able to operate and troubleshoot it. This requires the person in this occupation, to have hands-on knowledge of machines and their inner mechanism. Moreover, updated software knowledge is an essential part of this occupation, to be able to operate and check the performance of various machines. Nowadays, many industries do not prefer taking manual records of product made and product wasted, due to the factor of human error in it, and also appointing an extra person for this job. Therefore, to fulfill the responsibility of maintaining the manufacturing records, is also added in the in the job description (ONET Online). On the other side, in the commercial sector, the knowledge required in this occupation is generally restricted to schematics and programming. In many commercial businesses, providing electrical solution to the users, assembling machineries and sensing instruments are imported from the industrial sector. These machineries are then used to manufacture electrical or electronic items like, television, electronic toys etc. Therefore, in these companies, electronic technicians should be able to operate these machines and run the designed program (ONET Online). 4. O*NET can be prove to be a useful tool for organizations, in their training and development programs. An organization can break down an occupation, into several components, which can then be reviewed individually, to understand the technicality in each component. This will help the organization to define the job description more precisely to employees, and in highlighting the weak areas. (Wall) Using this technology, organizations can place the right man for the right job, after defining the responsibilities in detail. O*NET can also be used by companies and organizations, to understand characteristics and traits of its employees. By this, the organization can select employees for training, as per their skills and interest (Wall). Works Cited ONET Online. Summary Report for: 49-2094.00 - Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment. 2010. 4 December 2012 . Wall, Janet. The O*NET System for Career Development Professional. Research Report. New York: National Career Development Association, 2005. Activity 3: Career Assessments “Interest Profiler” 1. My top 3 RAISEC score are: i. Artistic= 13 ii. Realistic = 12 iii. Social= 11 My top traits, as highlighted by the Interest profile, have all scored very close to each other. There is a difference of one point between each of the top three qualities. On the other hand, the qualities scoring low on the point scale are of, investigative, enterprising and conventional. The score of my investigative and enterprising traits differed by just a single point. While the conventional characteristic scored lowest on the point scale with 4 points. 2. According to me, the profile has accurately described my work related interest and the nature of job I like doing. I like to work in a creative work environment, where new ideas and thoughts are valued. Conservative and orthodox environment at work makes me feel de-motivated and less passionate about the work. The interest of being realistic is also correctly highlighted by the interest profile. I follow a very realistic approach in my decision making methodology. I choose a work after evaluating it properly on real grounds of benefits, growth and security it will offer. Unlike many other people who take decisions more on unrealistic or emotional grounds, my approach is quite different. Moreover, the profile also rightly tells about my artistic quality and my passion for expressing in the form of art. I like doing things or work, which allows me to use my imagination like writing poems or stories. The interest profile rates my enterprising interest low on the point scale. I like leading a group of people and supervising their work. However, being passionate about work, I’m better of a follower than an entrepreneur. I like impressing others with my work and skills and that is possible by working up front, than acting as back stage supervisor. 3. The occupations of social work that may include teaching or doing social service are the ones that match my interest. The reason is that in such occupations one is not stuck to his own life, but is also contributing for the betterment of the humanity too. Being socialize gives me a sense of bonding and responsibility to help people in whatever way possible. Teaching or conducting seminars is a good way to help other with your knowledge and contribute in developing a knowledge society. “Work Importance Profiler” 1. My top three values, as described by the Work Importance Profiler, are independence, recognition and relationship. According to the scores generated, the values of sense of achievement, and suitable working conditions have similar scores. 2. Yes, the values described in the profile, accurately depicts my work-related values. Whatever work I do, I do it with determination and in the best possible way. Therefore, I crave for my work recognition and admiration on doing better than others. 3. The occupation of sales and marketing fulfils my values of work recognition, achievement and independence. In the sales occupation, a person is guided initially, about working methodologies and how to meet the target. But after he learns the basics, he can work independently on his own and come up with innovative ideas to increase the sales ratio, and get additional incentives for it. Activity 4: e-Learning 1. The course I chose to explore was the “Leadership Essential: Leading Innovation”. The course has given a good overview of the essential components involved in product innovation and business growth. The positivity of this learning environment is that, an individual referring this course can get a good overview of the organization culture and values that should be cultivated, to ensure prosperity in any business. This online learning can help leaders and executives to understand that innovation is not bond to only the top level management, it can come from any person, working at any level of the organization. The negative feature of this environment is its theoretical approach. For a topic like innovation and leadership, an online environment cannot prove very useful as there is a lack of practical illustration and experimentation of the topic (Skillsoft). 2. The learning outcomes of this course are traits of a successful leader, and encouraging innovative culture in the workplace. In my opinion, these learning outcomes are not as simple as they sound, and require theoretical as well as subjective analysis, to understand the real essence of the course. Hence, this medium cannot be truely effective in achieving these outcomes. For encouraging innovation in a business culture, one has to understand the nature and norms practiced in a particular organization. Therefore, innovative culture varies with size, nature and hierarchy of organizations. Moreover, leadership traits and characteristics are greatly influenced by the situation a leader has to lead in, and the type of people. This required situation analysis, and skills of public dealing and management for a leader, and is not possible to acquire all these skills, by this online learning environment (Skillsoft). 3. Tough online learning is growing in popularity, due to the ease and flexibility it offers to people, it still does not prove effective for a number of people. Students and teachers, who do not like spending much time on the internet, certainly do not prefer this method of learning. However, a vast majority takes benefit from online learning, and has adopted it, as a continuous method of learning. People who are best suited for online learning include business travelers, as they cannot be a part of regular classes, due to their uncertainty of working time and place. Their job nature does not allow them to assign a particular time, which they can devote to their studies. House wives or newly made mothers, is another group which would prefer online learning, over classroom learning. E-learning allows such females, to complete their higher education, without leaving their infant kids and home responsibilities (Tellefsen). 4. Being a working person, I would certainly be interested in learning by the means of e-learning. This will not only give me flexibility with the time I choose to study, but also will cut down the travelling time and expense. I would appreciate if my company would take the initiative for e-learning, where the technical and objective information, related to the company, can be accessed by anyone at any time. This will give help employees, in getting an in-depth knowledge of company’s various departments and in better understanding of the technical and management complexities in each one (Skillsoft). Works Cited Skillsoft. Leadership Essentials: Leading Innovation Demo. 2012. 4 December 2012 . Tellefsen, Robyn. What Types of People Are Best Suited to Online Learning? 2012. 4 December 2012 . Works Cited Caterpillar. Program Details. 2012. 4 December 2012 . —. Service Training. 2011. 4 December 2012 . —. Why Caterpillar. 2012. 4 December 2012 . ONET Online. Summary Report for: 49-2094.00 - Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment. 2010. 4 December 2012 . Rich, Motoka. Private Sector Gets Job Skills; Public Gets Bill. 7 January 2012. 4 December 2012 . Skillsoft. Leadership Essentials: Leading Innovation Demo. 2012. 4 December 2012 . Tellefsen, Robyn. What Types of People Are Best Suited to Online Learning? 2012. 4 December 2012 . Wall, Janet. The O*NET System for Career Development Professional. Research Report. New York: National Career Development Association, 2005. Read More