Training and Development - Case Study Example

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT People pursue careers to achieve stability, security, relationship with others, personal growth, and ultimately status, prioritizing these goals according to their personal value system. For much of the past century, when the drive for careers matured as a goal in offers of employment and in vocational development, this was a very tenable and fulfilling pursuit. Careers provided opportunities for individuals with potential and determination to aspire toward goals that enabled them to achieve comfortable economic status. The person under analysis is the facilitator of my team. The situation under analysis suggests that the main problem is the authoritative leadership style followed by the leader. Dominance and high ego, lack of strategic vision and inability to delegate authority lead performance deficiencies and poor performance of the team. I know this person for 6 years and can objectively describe advantages and disadvantages of his style and approach to coaching. The problem is that poor communication and lack of coordination prevents the team from effective performance and positive outcomes. The facilitator, I am working with, has no such important interpersonal skills as empathy, motivation, and communication. What has received considerably less attention than the skills is that appropriate application of these skills requires a thorough understanding of one's social setting, or social intelligence. Social intelligence has been defined in a variety of ways (Aldrich 2006). One of the ways in which executive leaders co-opt stakeholders is through their relationships with the members of their boards of directors. The main problems are caused by inability to forecast possible problems outside the team and lack of coordination between the facilitator and the team. If the team is required to develop a project plan, update it as necessary, monitor the progress of the project, compare progress to initial projections taking necessary corrective action to stay on schedule, they can fail because they are not informed about changes and expectations of the team leader. The team listened to the owner's expectations, made a project proposal to the owner, discussed / evaluated project targets with the owner, and declared in writing the team's commitment to the project. An examination of the task bank for the software development team shows you must operate at the People negotiating level in dealings with the product owner and the other team members. You will have to be tactful, tolerate others, listen to their concerns, share ideas with team members in an acceptable manner, and deal constructively with conflict. The main problems need to be addressed are communication and cooperation between the facilitator and team members, delegation of authority and change in leadership style (Brocato 2003). Coaching Analysis Flow The problem is worth solving because it will help to improve communication and performance outcomes. Most of the likes and dislikes, preferences, and displeasures experienced in carrying out particular activities are registered on a subconscious level. People tend to become aware of them only when questioning certain choices and decisions. To some extent determinations about who we are and how we got that way may be a theory that we test from time to time by trying new things, undertaking new experiences, pushing ourselves to extremes, and in the process affirming or disconfirming theories about ourselves.In the course of growing up, people focus on particular interests and content areas. But perhaps more importantly, they develop behavioral styles, preferred ways of functioning, and preferred environments to be in (Brocato 2003). The performance deficiencies are that nobody knows obstacles outside the team members control. If problems occur, team members are not ready to solve or prevent them. In some cases, negative consequences follow good performance. It de-motivates employees and brings anxiety and depression. People learn to make numerous other adaptations to such matters as punctuality, dress, impulse control, cordiality, and the like. Some of these adaptations come naturally, perhaps because of what people have grown accustomed to in their families or among their friends (they have passed through the appropriate development stage). Thus, if all their efforts result in negative outcomes, they become passive and inactive (Brooks 2006). The root causes of performance deficiencies are inadequate leadership style and lack of communication between the team facilitator and team members. This lack of confidence increasingly begets action. Ineffective type of leadership can be explained as follows: aa leader has unchecked power to hire, order about, punish, and fire the production workers they supervised. Managerial work roles have continued to shift in the direction of leading and working with people, and leadership competencies have proliferated. Empowering leadership goes well beyond delegation to taking on roles like visionary, change agent, inspirer, trust enhancing model, coach, team builder, supporter, champion, facilitator, and partner (Redford 2006). Lack of delegation and poor coaching are the main cause of this deficiencies. Other adaptations take discipline and self-control and become part of a skilled performance and assumption of responsibility (because people are still grappling with specific developmental issues). Actually, there were no individual jobs to be analyzed. Instead individuals involved in the development of an advanced software product destined for worldwide distribution were organized into a team, which included not only staff members from the computer company but experts from the user and vendor groups that would eventually use or sell the product. This was a project-based team that would be disbanded after the software was developed and unveiled by the head office (Brooks 2006). Counselees need to be encouraged to recall and describe their previous work-related experiences and personal achievements including those in the current organization if they are employed. The counselor should then summarize and give back these thoughts in a way that helps individuals to gain insight into their behavior and suitability for various work situations. Using the FJA model as a guide, the counselor asks questions about what individuals have done in previous jobs as well as how and why they got to their present job. By encouraging individuals to describe those peak periods when they were stretching their potential beyond present circumstances, the counselor can also uncover intriguing and productive possibilities for future growth (i.e., worker potential) (Aldrich 2006). The task banks in the hands of job-knowledgeable helpers serve as a rich source of information to ground the self-assessment coming out of the career development and coaching interview. Workers will be better helped to see any gaps between their present skills--functional or adaptive--and those required in the contemplated employment situation. If they wish to grow beyond their present employment situation, task banks for more highly skilled jobs, roles, or teams in the organization will be of great help in pointing the way to necessary additional training or experience (Redford 2006). Knowledge and skills do not have a great impact on the problems and deficiencies because the facilitator is a real expert in his field. Thus, personal characteristics and inability to predict communication problems affect the outcomes and performance. What was once seen as a long, steady progression up an organization's ladder or professional hierarchy to positions of higher pay and responsibility has become unrealistic for most people (Aldrich 2006). The career pattern of the future will more likely resemble a web, an interconnected series of lateral moves within and among employers by workers taking responsibility for themselves as they move between employers. In such an environment, workers require the personal flexibility and self-insight that can be honed by career development coaching. The reality is that fewer and fewer employers are likely to be of a mind to give it. Without categorically ruling out the helpfulness of psychological tests in the hands of qualified professionals, it is important to note that FJA allows career counselors to devote more of their very limited time to direct contact with workers and counselees. The goal is to empower workers to navigate their own way to career integrity through a process that helps build initiative and confidence in taking control of their own career and life course (Liberman, 2006). The worth analysis suggest that the solution worth ousts and money because it will help to improve communication and performance outcomes. Also, it will help to reduce number of errors and mistakes made during the project phase. If the team will live with the problem, it will have no chance to develop and grow, improve its career progression and performance. Terminate or outplace employees is impossible because this solution will worthier the problem. Management has come to recognize the benefits of sharing information with workers. In recent years it has implemented this recognition with workers through quality circles, self-managing work teams, management worker committees, and similar devices to boost productivity, often with salutary results. These efforts fit under the umbrella of kaizen. However, there are numerous reports of situations not measuring up to expectations. One possible explanation is that they were undertaken on a piecemeal basis without fully exploring the system-wide implications of their introduction (Liberman, 2006). The analysis shows that the best solution is to propose the facilitator a training course on leadership and coaching. Also, it is important to organize a meeting and discuss all problems and deficiencies during the project stage. Workers can see themselves as part of the flow of the system. This sharing of information about goals and objectives is an irreducible minimum for the shared interpretation of experience that has been reiterated throughout this book as a precondition for trust. Trust is essential if resources and constraints to getting work done are to be dealt with creatively by workers and supervisors. There is little point in talking about workers having opportunities for experiencing their potential unless they are party to the resources and constraints that are integral to the work organization achieving its goals and purpose (Liberman, 2006). Leadership training is required because it will help to change leadership style and improve communication between the leader and his followers. The result reflects the values added to fulfill the objectives, goals, and purpose of the organization. Insofar as the objectives, goals, and purposes of an organization are communicated to workers, they have a better understanding of what the results of their work mean to the organization. Employee development-related practices can involve career progression and personal development employees. Non-training actions can involve better work design and coordination between the vacillator and team members. Additionally, management should give workers access to the vital resources, including money, required to effect the improvements; for example, an anticipated work redesign may require a training program to familiarize workers with a new technology (Redford 2006). If the proposed actions are introduced, it will help to improve communication and reduce number of errors and mistakes made during the project development. Sometimes losses can reveal significant management neglect and point to remedial measures. As part of each worker's training and induction into the organization, it is essential that he or she be alerted to the potential consequences of error inherent in failure to perform according to training and orientation. Workers experience their jobs in depth and with an intimacy rarely appreciated by their managers (Brooks 2006). After all, jobs are a significant part of workers' lives, providing not only a livelihood for them and their families but often also providing the basis for the expression of their potential. As a worker makes sense of the work and grows in the work situation, he or she modifies the work in ways both large and small to suit personal style and growth needs and to make the work-doing system more productive--most often without the awareness of management. To expect workers to do any less is to deny their need to express their sense of self and their competency. Unfortunately, worker efforts to improve the workplace often go unrecognized and unappreciated by management. Even worse, management frequently censures workers when they redesign their work in ways management has not foreseen. This is not to say that managers should not be involved in job design. References 1. Aldrich, C. E-(2006). Learning in the Workplace. T + D; Sep; 60, 9; ABI/INFORM Global. pp. 54-69. 2. Brooks, W. (2006). Managing to learn. Training Journal; Dec; ABI/INFORM Global. pp. 35-39. 3. Brocato, R. (2003). Coaching for Improvement. Journal for quality and Participation. Spring. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3616/is_200304/ai_n9173768/pg_1tag=artBody;col1 4. Liberman, K. (2006). Evaluate Training. Credit Union Management; Oct; 29, 10; ABI/INFORM Global, pp. 42-44. 5. Redford, K. (2006). Feedback. Training & Coaching Today; Sep; ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry, pp. 6-7. Read More