Developing A Workplace Learning Environment: Strategies And Implementation

Strengthening Employer-Employee Relationships

Question 1: The employees as well as the employer of an organization benefit through the accomplishment of a set of goals and strategies, and hence if the employer-employee relationship as well as the employee relationships can be strengthened, an organization will be able to create a positive learning environment. In such an environment, neither an employee would contempt the idea of bowing down and asking for a suggestion at work from his colleague, nor will a boss feel awkward about accepting and applying feedback, while implementing crucial strategies in the organization. Effective management of employee relationship would prevent or reduce the chances of employees being driven by selfish interests unwilling to share their ideas with others, or authoritarian bosses finding it incapable to reach out to their respective subordinates for new suggestions.

Question 2: As far as adult training is concerned, it should be remembered that the existent employees to be trained, already possess sufficient skill and expertise, and hence they must be made aware of their own benefits, such as promotion or career advancement opportunity so as to enable their active participation. Since the adults will come to be trained on a specific topic, the training session should be problem-centric, rather than content-centric. Whatever knowledge is to be imparted to the adult trainee must be relevant for future use, and must be well-connected to his previous knowledge. Adult training should involve fun, interesting, active training methods that can easily attract and hold the attention of the adult trainees. It is also important to make the audience aware of the importance of the training session in their own career opportunities in future.

Question 3: In order to create a performance-oriented constipation among the employees of the organization, organizational coaching and mentoring are of great help. It should be noted that guiding and counseling form an important aspect of organizational coaching, and an individual who is trying to forcefully impose his own perspectives on the employees, may not be deemed fit to be an organizational mentor. The coach must be free to question the employees about their perspectives, and then link the same with his own ideas that he wishes to explore and discuss. It is also important to listen to the employees, and stay open-minded to a variety of ideas which can also be incorporated in the training lesson. This will encourage the active participation of the employees in the training session.

Question 4: In case the organization has commitments to learning, employee development and CI, the company can arrange seminars and conferences for its employees, and it can also form alliance with professional associations to train the employees in the respective fields. In case the company has policies and procedures for training and development, it may organize on-job training for its employees and also arrange inter-organizational training programs. Provided the budget and resources support organizational training initiatives, the vital training resources can be imparted to the employees via the programmed instruction method, beside which apprenticeship training method can be, arranged which can easily entice the employees by the hefty amount of stipend to be provided during the training period. In case of an organization having support and high level of employee participation in training, the seminars and training conferences should be arranged. An organization where there are many opportunities for sharing knowledge and skills, on-job training method can be arranged which helps in sharing of training resources and classroom based training technique can also be applied. Lastly, if the employees are being encouraged to join professional associations, the organization can form alliance with other training providing companies that will train its employees, and it can also send its employees on cross-training purpose to other companies, operating in similar industry resulting in exchange and share of valuable business ideas.

Adult Training Techniques

Question 5: While organizing different types of structured training methods, the first principle to be remembered is that the training has a series of definite, specific goals, and is relevant for the job role assigned to the particular employee. Again, another important technique to be remembered here is that a professional trainer is being hired or a senior manager is being entrusted with the training duty, to ensure effective utilization of the resources involved. Having a sense of purpose, a timeframe and the desired learning outcome behind each training session is highly important.

Question 6: While an organization trying to coach its employees, a trainer can be hired, or a trainer can be reached through a popular training website to enrich the skills of the trainees. The employees will be paid a minimal amount of money for enrolling in this coaching activity. I acse of mentoring, a senior employee having profound experience will be paid extra amount for imparting training to his subordinates in the same field, such as marketing or administration, and all the enrolled employees can get a certificate of experience for participation. For job shadowing, the interested students can be asked to participate in the on-job training for a day whereby a senior employee will train him about his expected job role, and yet as less an investment as possible will be made on the learner. This will constitute informal training method unlike the former two. Again, during the time of induction training, senior employees will be engaged so that they go about and show them the nature of job roles and the time-consuming strategies to accomplish the tasks in short time. Lots of visual demonstrations are to be used and any form of query or doubts should be resolved immediately. A buddy system can be of great use here. Only those employees will be chosen for job rotation that will require multiple skills to be performed. The preferences about the employees regarding the time or job area should be considered, and if necessary, the employees will be paid extra amount for the same. In case of job exchange training, the cross-training activities should be organized between employees working in closely associated job designations, and the senior managers of both the respective departments should be made aware beforehand for their effective cooperation.

 Question 7: In order to ensure effective liaison between training specialists and the employees coming to be trained, the senior manager must beforehand summon the employees to be trainees and communicate the purpose of the training program, align the employee benefits with the organizational training sessions and offer an introduction of the training specialists.  

Question 8: The organization can arrange interactive sessions for an hour or so twice a week whereby the trained employees will be asked to share their information with the non-trained employees, and will be acknowledged and applauded for their contribution towards the same. It is also possible that in case of financial constraints, a couple of senior employees can be sent for training and then two of them can be paid to offer training to the remaining employees at regular intervals.

Question 9: Learning achievements should be recognized both formally as well as informally in order to encourage active participation of employees in training activities. During yearly appraisal programs, the employees who had undergone training can be called and acknowledged for their share of contribution. Besides, selected employees can be rewarded with cash prize and certificates for being the “Best Trainee” who have utilized the knowledge in the most effective way for the benefit of the company. Even without formal means, the learbing achievements can be recognized through meetings and interactive sessions, where the senior managers can refer to the contribution made by the trainers as well as the trainees in the organizational progress.

Question 10: While monitoring the learning performance of the employees, it is important to abide by the WHS norms, whereby it should be noted that no new or inexperienced employee is being engaged in any risky activity, or he is being made aware of the potential risks during induction. Again, it is also important to ensure that the employees receiving training are not suffering from occupational stress causing them professional burnout.

Assessment 2:

1. Learning Portfolio at BizOps:

Training Programs	Learning Goals	Learning Outcomes
On-Job training is to be offered by the two senior IT workers (Informal)	It will help to enhance the IT proficiency of the junior employees	The less experienced employees will be able to work more independently in future
A formal training course will be organized by arranging a weekly seminar in alliance with a prestigious management institution	It will update the employees with the cutting-edge technologies deployed by other companies	It will provide a comprehensive knowledge to the employees about virtualization and cloud technologies.
A couple of corporate training programs based on IT	It will update the employees with the cutting-edge technologies deployed by other companies	It will enhance the IT skills of the employees
Communication training program (formal)	Develop interpersonal and intrapersonal communication skills	It will groom the communication skill of Tracy
A professional seminar lasting for 2 weeks	Develop her analytical and information recording skills	The analytical skills of Tracy will be developed
A Certificate IV program	Train Tracy to interact with the customers and record their feedback in an accurate way	She will be able to manage the customers in a more effective way.

Persons to be Benefitted	Junior employees of IT department and Tracey
Method of Sharing	By conducting short time spanning interactive session involving knowledge-sharing methods
Expected benefits	In-depth knowledge about the works done, greater sense of collaboration, and employee motivation
Communication strategy	Web-conferences and face to face meetings
Methods of demonstrating leadership	I will arrange the seminars, conferences and training programs, communicate the plans to the senior managers, get approval, and supervise the effectiveness of each program.

Work Instruction methods for Managers	Reasons of keeping learning records
Use training record management software	It is easy to store all the training information in an effective way, ad consider the rights employees for promotion
The formal as well as the informal training methods should be arranged in a chronological way	It emphasizes employee competence in relevant fields
Maintaining a portfolio of evidence	Helps the company stay updated with the recently introduced training programs.

1.  a. Learning Template for IT:

Learning Program	Timescale	Learning Goals	Learning Outcomes	Participants Chosen
On-job training session	2 months	Acquaint the junior employees with the expertise of the senior ones	Better understanding of the IT operations	3 junior employees
Weekly seminar	6 months	Will develop the IT competency	Employees can learn about the new cutting edge technologies on a part time basis	5 working staffs
IT certificate Program	1 year	Will develop the IT competency	Employees can learn about the new cutting edge technologies on a part time basis	5 working staffs
Web conferences	2 weeks	Develop IT knowledge through exchange of knowledge among the employees	Develop IT knowledge	All the IT staffs

1. Methods to Assess the IT skills:

• Use Employee Research Kit
• Analyze the job skills for the specific job roles
• Check certificates and CVs of each IT employee
• Talk to the senior managers

1. An interactive session will be conducted to communicate the training program to the employees stating their benefits, so that their attitudes can be ascertained. Building rapport is important as it makes the employees aware of the importance of training in their career.
2. The training need analysis will be conducted by linking the business goals with the employee expertise. The formal learning options include training programs and seminars and the informal ones comprise of on-job training.
3. The training must be offered to each experienced and knowledgeable employee irrespective of differences, and in case they have to appear for a test, paid leave will be granted.
4. The experienced staff members will be offered financial incentives for sharing knowledge within the group.
5. Communication training program will be introduced.
6. Training Proposal:

Trainings to be Introduced	Time span
On-job training session	2 months
Seminars	6 months
certificate Program	1 year
Communication Training Courses	6 months
Web conferences	2 weeks

Training Department Head

BizOps Enterprise

Thanks for your approval. This is to inform you that we would require fixing the budget and communicating the respective training programs over the coming week.

Questions	Response
Was the trainer proficient enough?
Did you acquire new skills?
On a scale of 1 to 5, how much would you rate the training session?
Do you think you will be more adept in future?
Are you satisfied?
Did the training motivate you?
Was the training able to resolve your queries?

1. Based on the feedback collected, the organization can measure the effectiveness of the training programs in future.
2. For evaluating the achievements, the IT employees can be asked about what they learnt, and they can be asked to do complex IT tasks based on the training sessions.

Learning Methods	Learning Goals	Learning Outcome	Time span
Communication training sessions	Learn how to communicate in a better way	Effective Communication	1 month
Analytical skill developing seminars	Learn to analyze customer feedback	Analytical skill acquisition	2 weeks
Analytical skill developing certificate course	Learn to analyze customer feedback	Analytical skill acquisition	1  year
Web conferences	Technical writing	Learn how to analyze and write consumer feedback	2 weeks

1. Skill analysis steps:
2. Check her certificates
3. Conduct a skill test
4. Ask her to rate her expertise
5. The training will be communicated to Tracey and she will be told that the company will consider her promotion if she gets well-trained.
6. Formal training options for Tracey involve seminars and certificate courses, and informal training involves web conferences.
7. Tracey’s career will develop and she will be granted paid leave for appearing in her exams, and based on her rating post-training session, she will be considered for promotion.
8. Tracey can communicate her learning through an interactive session with her co-employees, or offering on-job training to the new employees.
9. Tracey can be asked to discuss with her senior manager and identify the fields of her competencies, and accordingly she will be offered training to boost her expertise in the require fields.
10. Training Proposal:

Training Method	Time frame
Seminars	2 weeks
Certificate Course	1 year
Web-conferences	2 weeks

Training Department head

BizOps Enterprise

1. The training method should be supervised.
2. Tracey’s learning performance can be monitored by asking her manager to rate her performance.
3. Tracey can be asked about how effective the training was, and in case of any gap, the company should arrange additional training programs.
4. Tracey can go through the transcript and revise the learning resources as and when required.
5. Tracey’s achievement can be recognized by introducing a salary hike.

Assessment 3:

Kylie will be asked the following questions:

• Are you encountering difficulty in performing your tasks?
• Which aspects of your work take more time for you to complete?
• Do you have any prior experience?

Based on the above questions, the learning programs to be introduced for Kylie are:

Learning Programs	People Involved	Benefits of Employees
On-job training	The senior and experienced employees	Benefit through knowledge-sharing process
Training session	Professional trainer	Will develop knowledge about how to write reports
Webinars	Kylie and senior managers	Help to make Kylie understand the techniques from the experienced employees

The employees participating in the training programs will be offered a training certificate, while the senior managers imparting the same would get incentives for each hour of training. This is how they will be recognized.