1. Unit-5 Training and mentoring Presented by N.Vigneshwari

2.  The employees in their formal education learn many techniques covering wide range of topics, from basic principles to advanced topics. They learn a little bit of everything. It is the responsibility of the educational institutions to develop the overall personality of the students, so that he or she gets a broad understanding of wide variety of subjects. Therefore, employee needs to be given orientation training to carry out his tasks correctly, on the first appointment, before they are deployed for actual work. The orientation training should help the employees to understand the following, in particular:

3.  (i) Objectives of the organization  (ii) Requirements and expectations from his team with reference to the organization's objectives (iii) His role  (iv) His responsibilities (v) His authority  (vi) The know-how and know-why of the jobs to be undertaken on day-to-day basis  (vii) Familiarity and skill in operating the tools or machinery connected with the job in hand.  In addition, the employee should be assessed to see whether he has the abilities to perform the duties straightaway or is he required to be put as an apprentice under a mentor.

4.  A fresh employee can be easily moulded as per the organization's goals and objectives since they are fresh and have no biases due to prior experience. But, an experienced person will definitely bring with him different ideas and work culture from the organizations where he served earlier. If the ideas are better than the organization's objectives and work culture, then he can become a role model in the new organization. If not? Then the experienced recruits need an orientation training.

5.  The only time the organization can orient such persons as per organization's goals, is before he settles down in the new job. Therefore, it is important that the top management invariably arranges for the orientation training both for the experienced as well as the new recruits.

6.  Almost all the Quality Gurus, like Philip Crosby, Edwards Deming, and Harrington have highlighted that training is not a one-time activity. In the service sector, obsolescence settles in fast. Therefore, there is a continual change in the business. This means, that the employees have to acquire the skills needed for designing, manufacturing, delivering and servicing the updated or new products or services.

7.  Some employees may be able to understand the changes quickly and adapt themselves accordingly. However, an average employee may not be able its do so. Therefore, such employees need to be given additional help, to cope up with the change. This is one of the reasons, why training is not a one-time activity.

8.  Before the advent of ISO 9000, training of employees was not considered to be an essential part of the business, even the training activity was never taken seriously. Many employees did not undergo even one training program throughout their services spanning decades. However, thanks to the popularity of the ISO 9000 family of standards, the organizations were forced to realize that not only training of employees is essential, but, also the maintenance of records pertaining to training. They are now convinced that training employees is an essential part of the business.

9.  Therefore, organizations are on the lookout for providing training to their employees. Practicing TQM requires more training than that needed for practicing the Quality Systems meeting the ISO 9000 requirements. As already discussed, TQM is possible if the focus of the organization is on customers and employees. Every employee should be trained every year. The organization cannot decide across the board, common or similar training program for all the employees. The supervisor has to study the employee's ability and arrange for training programs to supplement their skills.

10.  In some cases, with additional training, employees can learn new skills that would be useful to the organization. Hence, the supervisor should personally involve himself in the identification of training programs for the employee and should not leave it to the Human Resource Development (HRD) division.

11.  There is a reluctance on the part of management to send employees for training, due to some of the  following reasons:  Excessive workload in the organization, which does not permit sending them for training.  Non-availability of appropriate training courses.  Fear of migration of employees after training.  The problems could be genuine. Nevertheless, these are to be overcome since training is an inescapable part of the main business. For instance in Japan, on an average an employee receives six weeks of training each year.

12.  Training should be a formal activity in every organization. Senior level executives in whatever designation they are addressed, should coordinate it. A bigger organization may need a separate department. At the beginning of every year, the HRD manager should evaluate the training needs of the employees across the organization in consultation with their supervisors and make an annual training plan for the organization. Then, he should identify the training providers for each of the training and get the training conducted inspite of various other commitment of the employees and the organization. Each training program should be evaluated for its effectiveness. The result of evaluation should be analyzed and put up to the Quality Council of the organization.

13.  The training programs discussed so far are formal in nature. The employees are freed from normal work and are deputed for undergoing training. Such formal training, apart from normal work, once in a year is necessary, but not sufficient. The employees have to be continuously coached on the job to understand the organization's policies, objectives and goals. This is called mentoring. Therefore, the organization should not feel complacent about the fact that the training has been given once and be happy that the goal is accomplished. Training is only the beginning and only personal coaching or mentoring can sustain the momentum of the employees in working towards the goal. The training and mentoring of employees are the prerequisites of TQM.

14. Though training contributes to the prosperity of an organization, it also costs money. Therefore, PDCA should be used for training of employees in every organization.  Plan for Training Every employee needs training. Therefore, the training needs of every employee should be identified at regular intervals. Their training needs and the methodology should be planned and documented. It could be on the job training, training in an open course, in-house course, etc. What is important is that the training plan for each employee is available at the beginning of every year.

15.  Provide Training Employees should be deputed for training as planned. If training could not take place as planned, alternate plan should be made at the earliest.  Measure Training Effectiveness After the employee undergoes training, the effectiveness of training should be assessed formally. The assessment finding should be recorded.  Improve Training Effectiveness Based on the above, both preventive and corrective actions should be taken for improving the effectiveness of the training programs.

16.  Total quality management - Subburaj Ramasamy

17.  Thank you