CHAPTER 10
CASE QUESTIONS
1. Would a TNA be needed in this situation? Why or why not? If yes, who would you want to talk to?
In this case a TNA is unnecessary as the court has ordered all employees to receive training. However, a TNA would prove useful in terms of what areas employees are particularly weak or strong. It is likely that there are differences in needs among the management, staff and hourly work groups.
2. Based on the case as presented above, what KSAs need to be trained?
Knowledge: The most obvious area for training is what constitutes sexual harassment and the process for reporting and investigating claims. Additionally, the company needs to develop and communicate its policy on sexual harassment, including sanctions on perpetrators.
Skills: Skills need to be developed in how to handle sensitive situations and how to respond to instances of possible sexual harassment.
Attitude: All employees need training on attitude change towards the way in which women are treated in the work place.
3. Why has the Commission insisted on training for the whole company when the problem is clearly only Mr. Pettipas? Elaborate.
First, it is not clear that the problem is only Mr. Pettipas. When Ms. Dillman went to others in authority her issues were not addressed appropriately. It did not seem that management took her claims seriously. Employees at all levels did nothing to address the inappropriate behavior of Mr. Pettipas. In fact when a letter was finally put in his file, the President and CEO had it removed. Thus, the court must have felt that a culture had developed in the company which allowed such inappropriate behavior. Training for the entire company must have appeared to the court to be the best avenue for changing that culture.
4. In order for the training to be effective, what other things do you think need attention?
Table 9-4 provides a list of effective strategies for dealing with sexual harassment, in addition to the initial training.
This case appears to deal with a situation where the problem is not a lack of knowledge or skills, but a problem of attitude. Attitude change is more difficult than learning knowledge and skills and there are different training methodologies that can be used to better approach the issue in this company.
This is an example of where training might provide a change in behavior, but still not achieve a change in attitude.
5. What would you suggest in the way of evaluation of the training? How would you convince top management that it would be worth it?
The most obvious evaluation criterion is that the court is satisfied with the training and that all employees attend. Beyond this there are many approaches that might be taken. Certainly an employee satisfaction questionnaire that included questions related to sexual harassment would provide a time based way to evaluate improvements in the company culture. Tracking of incidents, claims, etc. is another option. Attitude surveys might be taken pre and post training. Presumably, all things being equal, productivity should improve as employees (women) become more comfortable in the work environment. However, it is very difficult to demonstrate a direct connection between workplace atmosphere and productivity. This is also a situation where the use of an external trainer and/or consultant might be advised, due to the culture that has seemingly permeated the organization.
EXERCISES
1. Over the next few days watch the instructor in the various classes you attend. Jot down notes about any differences you see in terms of how the instructor treats males, females, minorities, or the disabled. Share this information with the group and generate a list of what differences there are and what you would do to deal with this. If there are no differences, are there specific things the instructor does to be sure everyone in the class is treated equitably.
Tips. An interesting side note to this exercise is that in some cases the findings of the student have more to say about their views than what the instructor is doing. In any case, in discussion of this sort it is important to discuss what differences were noted and how they were measured. It is important to assure that instructor’s names are not used in these discussions, as students sometimes want to use names, which is not appropriate given the tenuous nature of the data gathering.
An alternative to this exercise is to give all students the same strategy for “measuring” instructors’ reaction to males, females, etc. One way to do this might be to count the number of times the instructor address a student directly.
2. Break into small groups. Have each person think about a current job or one heldin the past for which orientation training was provided.
• If you never held a job that provided orientation training, just think of a jobyou held. Describe four things that good orientation training would include tomake breaking into the job easier. Post these activities on an easel under theheading “Wish they had done.”
• If you went through orientation training, think about the orientation andlist two things that were good about the experience and two things youthought were a waste of time or boring.
• Post these activities on an easel, with the positive under the heading “Gladthey did” and the negative under the heading “Wish they hadn’t done.”
• After everyone contributes, discuss how the “Glad they did” and the “Wishthey had done” tie into the training model in terms of what you need to doright. Do the same for the “Wish they hadn’t done” in terms of what to avoid.
Tips: It is unlikely that many students will have gone through a comprehensive orientation. You should try to get them to put the orientation into the context of pro-active training, since this is training for new employees. You will want to focus on the differences between what the students have experienced in their orientations and what the ideal orientation would include. Then, discuss how to make sure the right things get included in the design and development of an orientation program.
3. Think about your role as a student in this class. Now think of a visually
impaired, a paraplegic, and a hearing impaired person. What kind of accommodation to the training facilities (classroom) would need to be made for each to be able to be successful? What about the trainer/teacher? What changes if any should he/she make to be sure the person is getting full value of the training/education?
Tips: Each of these has their own unique needs, often carried around with them. The question is how does the classroom accommodate these pieces of equipment? Is there a place at a desk or table that is designed to accommodate a wheel chair? Are plugs handy enough for someone who might need a computer screen with large print? Are classrooms quiet enough so as for the hearing impaired to pick up what the instructor is saying easily?
As an enrichment activity, you might have the students research what are the legal standards that schools and universities must abide by to accommodate special needs. Then have them check their classroom or school to see if these accommodations are actually in place.
4. Break into small groups to discuss the following situation. The Vice-President of Human Resources has asked you, the Director of training to develop a Sexual Harassment training program for the company. During your needs analysis you discover that most of the executives do not believe they need this training and do not intend to attend. You’ve identified a couple of instances in which an executive seems to be bordering on sexual harassment. You’ve discussed this with the V.P. and she’s asked you to come back with a strategy for dealing with the resistance to training. Develop your response and be prepared to present it to the rest of the class.
Tips: Be sure students understand the power of high-level management and that simply telling them to attend will not be very effective. Also the fact that the VP of HR is female may make it harder to make the case from an HR perspective. The main issue here is the ability to influence high-level managers. The bottom line is that without the support of high level management, any initiative is likely to fail.
Another approach students might take is to analyze the reasons for resistance to training and identify ways in which each reason could be addressed.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW
1. What is an orientation designed to do? What are the characteristics of an
effective orientation?
An orientation is designed to provide new employees an opportunity to learn about the way the organization works and what it values as part of a socialization experience. It is designed to reduce anxiety, clarify role expectations, improve start up job performance, increase commitment to the organization, and reduce the likelihood of new employees leaving the organization within the first year of employment. All of these lead to a more effective organization.
2. Why is it important for an organization to have an effective orientation training? What are some of the key characteristics determining an effective OT program?
The orientation training provides information to employees about rules, policies, and procedures, as well as about the workplace. It aligns the behavior of the employee with the policy. It helps employees air their concerns regarding workplace policies and procedures. An effective orientation program should be designed in such a way as to assimilate new hires into the company environment by giving them information about the company’s history, culture, and vision. It should also address employees’ concerns regarding equal opportunity, gender, and team issues. In addition to all this, it should address the cross-cultural training requirements of employees who have not worked in a multi-cultural environment.
3. How do organizations manage the diversity makeup of their workplace?
Diversity comes in the form of an increasing number of women employees (gender diversity), increasing number of older workforce (age diversity), and a significant moving population that includes migrant populations from other countries (culture diversity). Organizations manage diversity in the workplace by providing training to all employees on not just understanding differences that are found among people of different backgrounds, but also highlighting how such diversity can be useful.
4. Describe some of the factors to consider while using the training model to design a diversity training program.
While designing a diversity training program, the first step is to analyze the employees’ current ways of behaving, and compare them with the actual manner in which they are expected to behave in a diverse workplace. In this process, some of the non-training needs that help determine what could be the roadblocks in implementation are also identified. Some other important factors include the extent of the top management’s commitment to diversity, identification of goals of the organization related to diversity, determining the strength of the current behaviors that indicate the current response to issues of diversity, and determining the forces supporting and resisting diversity.
5. What are some of the issues related to safety training? What are some of the points to consider while designing a safety training program?
The issues related to safety training start with the attitude of the organization to the safety training itself. Some organizations consider the training to be a cost rather than an investment. In some environments, compliance to safety is seen as an obstacle to performance. While designing a safety program, it is important to make it interesting as well as informative through the use of humor, music, videos, graphics, etc. It is also imperative that the training be linked with the results at the organizational level; for instance, the positive impact of safety training could be linked to the dropping level of absenteeism, which in turn is likely to increase productivity and profitability, and this entire chain reaction could be communicated to the trainees. Understanding this chain reaction would motivate the trainees to learn more effectively.
6. In today’s environment, why is it important for organizations to focus on training of basic literacy skills?
Literacy levels in the workforce are declining because of lower standards in many of the high schools today. In addition an increase in minorities and immigrants that are not native English speaking are entering the workforce. At the same time job requirements for literacy are increasing. In Canada, about 22 percent of adults struggle with a severe literacy problem which results in a productivity loss of about $4 billion (Canadian) per year.
7. Why is safety training an important component of the training mix in so many companies? What is the biggest concern regarding safety training that was noted in the survey referenced in the chapter? Is it fixable, and if so how?
Accidents and injuries cost industries billions of dollars each year, so any reduction can have a positive result on the bottom line. For many organizations, a culture of safety is a requirement to be competitive in the global marketplace. In a survey of organizations that are considered on the cutting edge of safety training, it was noted that they have developed this "culture of safety" rather than a number of different training courses on safety. In such an organization, training is not considered a cost, but an investment. This may seem minor, but it changes the focus by looking at the benefits of safety training, rather than seeing it as forced compliance with OSHA or provincial health and safety legislation. It is seen as a cost savings. By evaluating training at the “results” level and identifying the cost savings in fewer accidents, less machine, lower compensation costs, and so forth provides continued support for this proactive approach to safety.