THINKING
ETHICALLY: WHO GAINS FROM EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT?
Gwendolyn
Rodriguez
Kaplan
University
MT
203 Human Resource Management
Prof: Dana Williams
February 21, 2014
THINKING
ETHICALLY: WHO GAINS FROM EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT?
In
recent years many organization have recognized the importance of skills
development of their employees and the benefits they bring back not only to the
organization but also to the employees and the shareholders. So by involving
your employees in training and forums results to direct improvements in the day
to day running of the company in areas such as problem solving, ethics
motivation, communication and leadership skills.
By
investing in employees especially through training and workshops enhances the
company’s financial performance.
Research shows that increase in training expenditure per each employee’s
results to a direct improvement of total stakeholders return annually. Also
these companies also enjoy higher profit margins, higher salaries per employee
and a greater price to book ratios (Reid and Barrington, 1997).
Employee training and development also ensures
employee gratification and retention, therefore making them stay and work for
longer period. It’s not true that once you train employees they are likely to
leave for better career opportunities, but contrary to this belief trained
staffs are happier and are more likely to stay in the company (Pettinger,
2002). Due to their improved self-esteem
they in turn improve their morale in the workplace and maintain their loyalty
to their employer. Training and retention are directly connected so for any
company to stay ahead in market and still retain their staff they should
actively involve the staff in learning. Since in the labor market investment
today pays off tomorrow (Harrison, 1992).
Employee
development also leads to improved product quality and better servicing and
hence gaining more customer satisfaction. It also results to saves on labor
since there is reduced duplication of efforts, reduced time on problem solving
and the chances of error are minimized (Brunn and Citron, 2004).
A
firm with a well skilled staff means there are fewer breakdowns at the plant,
lower staff turnover, reduced recruitment cost, lower maintenances cost, minimal
supervision required, lower downtime, and increased employees productivity
(Harrison,
1992). Also apart from costs staff development also saves
supervisory and managerial time since managers spend less time on directing and
observing employees. By Minimizing on all these cost means that saves more
money and can direct the extra revenue on other projects such as expansion.
Every
company should realize the need for improving its human capital and accepting
that their staffs are major assets that needs continued investment to avoid
depreciation (Reid and Barrington, 1997). So by keeping the employees abreast
with the latest technologies and new methods in the market keeps the company
running and improves its competitive image and edge.
When
a company takes the imitative to train their staff it shows that they are
valued by the management and the stakeholders and they recognize their daily
effort in making the company a success. This also show that the management is
willing to retain them but if an employee is willing to move on to on,
the management can’t refuse the
transfer on the basis they trained him. For the employee there is no moral or
ethical obligation to that as long the employee did abide to the terms of the
contract and was not involved in any wrong doings within his tenure (White,
1993).
For the management to boost their staff skills and
instill good conduct and business ethics in their daily routines within the
company they should be trained every once in a while. Ethics in an organization
is very essential and is beneficial to the company in that it develops strong
business values and professionalism within the staff and hence improving the
overall company image. Ethics training brings rise to a quality management and
therefore creating solid teamwork within the work place. The following are two
methods of training that can be used to boost ethical behavior within an
organization:
On-The-Job Training (OJT)
This is a mode of training that is employed to inexperienced staff in the
work place and during work hours where they observe the behavior of their
seniors performing a task and try to imitate them. OJT is considered informal
form of training since it does not necessarily happen as part of the normal
training program and since trainers here are work mate, managers or mentors. It
serves as an useful form of training especially for the newly recruited
employees, also for cross-training employees within a sector, upgrading the
skills of experienced staff such introduction of a new technology or method and
finally to endorse employees to their new positions (Buckley
and Calpe, 2007).
This method can take different forms these include the following:
self-directed and apprenticeship learning techniques. For self-directed
employees takes charge of all phases of learning such as when and who to
involve. They also learn the content at their own pace without a teacher (Sales
and Folkman, 2000). The only time an instructor may be
involved is during evaluation and facilitation. Apprenticeship involves both
on-job-training and classroom training, the OJT part of it follows the
guidelines of an effective OJT by including aspects such as; evaluation
feedback, modeling and practice, OJT is associated with various benefits over the other
techniques of training, they include: It can be tailor made to suit the
experiences kills and of the trainee. Its applicability is immediate since it
occurs on the job using real tools and equipment (Buckley and
Calpe, 2007). During the process
of training both the instructor and the trainee continue to work hence less
wastage of working hours. It also means that the company foregoes the cost
associated with training such as accommodation, hiring trainers and renting
training facilities (Caroselli, 2003). Lastly this method uses real job tasks and
happens at the work places and therefore skills learnt in OJT can be easily
transferred to work.
Classroom
Lecture Training
This kind of training the trainers delivers their
message through oral speech; the communication of learnt skills is basically a
one way stream from the trainer to the trainee.
Lecture method is associated with many benefits and
these may include the following: this method is one of the least expensive
methods since it provides less time consuming techniques to present a large
amount of information efficiently and in an organized fashion. This form of
training is also useful because it can be easily be deployed in a large group
of trainee (Sales and Folkman, 2000). They are also used to support other training
methods such as behavior demonstrating and technology based methods.
As the technology is developing fast this method is
rapidly transforming from better tools of demonstration such as projectors and
also there video conferencing where one trainer can be able to train different
groups all at the same time (Buckley and Calpe, 2007). It is also faced with several disadvantages such
as; the lecture method tends to lack participant involvement, meaningful
connection to the work environment and feedback therefore inhibiting the
transfer of knowledge (Caroselli, 2003). Lectures
also provide a difficult situation for the trainer to be able to judge
effectively the trainee level of understanding. To deal with these kind of
problems, lecture method needs to be supplemented with other techniques such
as; discussions, games, case studies or questions and answers. These techniques
allow the trainer to make the training to have more active participation for
example work-related exercises, which improve learning and transfer of
knowledge (Sales and Folkman, 2000).
References
White,
T. I. (1993). Business ethics: a philosophical reader. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall. (Reid and Barrington, 1997)
Caroselli,
M. (2003). 50 activities for promoting ethics within the organization.
Amherst, Mass.: HRD Press.
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Unit 6 Ethics Case Study
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Content
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Points Possible
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Points Earned
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When a company spends
money on employee development, who should receive the benefit - investors,
customers, employees, or someone else?
What is the most ethical way to distribute the benefits?
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12
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12
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Do employees who
participate in an employee development program have an ethical obligation to
remain with the employer afterward?
Why or why not?
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12
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12
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Describe and evaluate
the usefulness of two traditional training methods that could be used to
foster ethical behavior. At least two
academic sources are used to reinforce and support ideas. Meets minimum length requirements.
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10
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10
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Mechanics
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*Clearly stated
purpose and viewpoint
*Logical transitions between ideas *Organized and focused *Correct grammar, spelling and punctuation |
6
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6
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Total Points 20% late
penalty applied
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40
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Comments
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Hi
Gwen, you described and explained two training methods that employers can use
to develop their employees. Also, make sure to use
the case study template that is provided.
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