2 Chapter 1, Introduction
Discussion Topics
1.Emphasize that all employer organizations-large corporations, small businesses and government agencies-use training and development for employees in all fields, specialties and skill areas.
2.Have students identify jobs they currently have, or jobs they’ve ever had in the past: full-time, part-time, long-term, short-term, for large organizations, for small firms, for a government agency, for individuals (such as babysitting for a neighbor), even volunteer work (such as filing for a community service office). Ask them:
•What did they already know that enabled them to do the job?
•What did they need to learn to enable them to do the job better?
•What did they need to learn about the employer organization to enable them to do the job appropriately?
•What did they need to learn about the boss to enable them to meet the boss’s expectations?
•What did they need to learn about their co-workers and/or team members to enable them to work effectively with their peers?
3.Have students identify how they learned the skills, information and other data identified in #2, above.
•Who taught them?
•Did they learn by reading instructions? being told what steps to take? observing “official” or formal demonstrations? informally watching and listening? other methods?
•Which methods were the easiest for them? Did the “best method” vary according to what they were trying to learn?
•How did the communication in the work setting affect their ability to learn new skills and methods?
Activities
1.Track the process-level of communication-rather than the content-of a group (such as the class, students’ friends or family, students’ work setting, etc.). Notice how well the process relates to, and supports, the content, versus how much the process contradicts or ignores the content. What happens when the process supports content? What happens when it doesn’t?
2.Identify the roles you and others play in class, at work and in your personal relationships. What impact do your roles have on others? What impact do their roles have on you and on each other?
Test Questions
1.Organizations use training and development only when employees need to improve their technical skills. (F)
2.Communication is (a) the process of sending out messages, (b) the way
people learn how to do their jobs, (c) the process of being understood, (d) the process of receiving messages.
3.Process and content automatically support each other. (F)
4.Roles at work (a) are always clear, (b) must be clarified in an ongoing way,
(c) match what is understood, (d) conflict with the number of levels of objectives.
5.The success of a group depends on the degree of honesty each member can give and receive. (T)
6.We believe the verbal message more than the nonverbal. (F)
7.Helping people on the process level means (a) finding ways to communicate more effectively, (b) showing them how to be more productive, (c) teaching them the production steps their equipment requires, (d) planning their career paths.
8.The goal of behavioral training is to teach trainees (a) how to behave towards co-workers, (b) how to do something, (c) how to improve the functioning of the organization, (d) how to be more aware of a topic.
9.The Johari Window helps individual development. (T)
10.Our functional roles and behavioral roles always predict each other. (F)
Essay
1.Regardless of how much, or how little, experience you have had with training and development in organizations, what would you expect to be the most difficult things about being in this field in a work setting? Why? What do you think would be the easiest things about doing this kind of work? Why?
2.Discuss ways in which you have seen a group of individuals, over time, affect each other’s behavior. This may have been in a class, at work or in some other setting. How did feedback relate to this process of influencing individuals’ behaviors? Did changes always go in the direction of making individuals more similar? Less similar? What other changes did you see?
