Section 2. Skills focus.

Exercise 1. Read the following text and answer the questions.

Starting a New Job

Jack Smythe, branch manager for a large computer manufacturer, had been told by his marketing manager Bob Sprague that Otis Brown had just given two weeks notice. When Jack had interviewed Otis, he had been convinced of his tremendous potential in sales. Otis was bright and personable, an MIT honor graduate in electrical engineering who had the qualifications that the company looked for in computer sales. Now he was leaving after only two months with the company. Jack called Otis into his office for an exit interview.

Jack: Come in, Otis, I really want to talk to you. I hope I can change your mind about leaving.

Otis: I don't think so.

Jack: Well, tell me why you want to go. Has some other company offered you more money?

Otis: No. In fact, I don't have another job; I'm just starting to look.

Jack: You've given us notice without having another job?

Otis: Well, I just don't think this is the place for me!

Jack: What do you mean?

Otis: Let me see if I can explain. On my first day at work, I was told that my formal classroom training in computers would not begin for a month. I was given a sales manual and told to read and study it for the rest of the day.

The next day I was told that the technical library, where all the manuals on computers are kept, was in a mess and needed to be organized. That was to be my responsibility for the next three weeks.

The day before I was to begin computer school, my boss told me that the course had been delayed for another month. He said not to worry, however, because he was going to have James Crane, the branch's leading salesperson, give me some on-the-job training. I was told to accompany James on his calls. I'm supposed to start the school in two weeks, but I've just made up my mind that this place is not for me.

Jack: Hold on a minute, Otis. That's the way it is for everyone in the first couple of months of employment in our industry. Any place you go will be the same. In fact, you had it better than I did. You should have seen what I did in my first couple of months.

Questions:

1. What do you think about the philosophy of this company pertaining to a new employee’s first few weeks on the job?
2. What suggestions do you have for Jack to help his company avoid similar problems of employee turnover in the future?

Exercise 2. Read the following text and answer the questions.

Implementing On-the-Job Training

The first-year training program for professional staff members of a large national accounting firm consists of classroom seminars and on-the-job training. The ob­jectives of the training arc to ensure that new staff members learn fundamental auditing concepts and procedures and develop technical, analytical, and commu­nications skills that, with further experience and training, will help them achieve their maximum potential with the organization.

Classroom training is used to introduce concepts and theories applicable to the work environment. It consists of three two-day and two three-day seminars presented at varying intervals during the staff member's first year. Although new staff members do receive this special training, actual work experience is the principal method for them to develop many skills necessary to become good auditors.

Most of the firm's audits are performed by teams supervised by the senior member. This individual is responsible for conducting the review and producing the required reports. Teams normally are assembled primarily on the basis of member availability. For this reason, a senior auditor may be assigned one or more first-year employees for a team that must undertake a complex assignment. Because senior auditors are measured on productivity, their attention usually is focused on the work being produced. Therefore, they assign routine tasks to new staff em­ployees, with little or no thought to furthering the career development of these employees. Most senior auditors assume that the next supervisor or the individuals themselves will take care of their training and development needs.

Recently, the firm has lost some capable first-year people. The reason most gave for leaving was that they were not learning or advancing in their profession.

Questions:

1. What, if anything, do you think the company should do to keep its young employees?

2. Do you think that on-the-job training will work in a situation such as the one described?

Exercise 3. Read the following situation and do the task.

McDonald's Training Program

Your class has recently been hired by the president of McDonald's to make rec­ommendations for improving the orientation and training programs of employees in their franchise operations. The key job activities in franchise operations are food preparation, order taking and dealing with customers, and routine clean-up operations. The president wants you to make your recommendations based on your observations as customers.

Your assignment is to design a comprehensive orientation and employee train­ing program for each of the key job activities in franchise operations. Be specific by providing an outline, methods of training, and program evaluation procedures for each activity.

1. Break the class into groups of four to five students per team.

2. Each group is responsible for designing the program for one of the key job activities.

3. Have each team prepare a 10- to 15-minute presentation on its recom­mendations.

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