TRAINING AND MENTORING Necessity for Orientation training 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 in 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: a) Objectives of the organization b) Requirements and expectations from his team with reference to the organizations objectives c) His role d) His responsibilities e) His authority f) The know-how and know-why of the jobs to be undertaken on day-to-day basis g) Familiarity and skill in operating the tools or machinery connected with the job in hand In addition, the employees 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.

Experienced Recruits need more training A fresh employee can be easily molded as per the organizations goal and objectives since they are fresh and have no biases due to prior experience. But, as an experienced person will definitely bring with him different ideas and work culture from the organizations where he served earlier. A experienced recruit can become a role model in the new organization if his ideas are better than the organizations objectives and work culture however if it is not the situation then he needs an orientation training.

Training is not a one-time activity Almost all the Quality Gurus have highlighted that training is not a one-time activity. There is a continual change in the business world. This means that employees have to acquire the skills needed for designing, manufacturing, delivering and servicing the updated or new product or services. Some employees may understand the changes quickly and can adapt themselves. However average employees may not be able to do so. Therefore such employees need to be given an additional help. That is why training is not a one-time activity.

Training is a formal activity Training should be a formal activity in every organization. At the end of the every year HRD manager should evaluate the training needs of employees across the organization with the supervisors and an annual training plan. Each training program should be evaluated for its effectiveness.

Mentoring The employees have to be continuously coached on the job to understand the organizations policies, objectives and goals. 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 and mentoring can sustain the momentum of the employees in working towards the goals. The training and mentoring are pre-requisites of TQM.

PDCA for Training Though training contributes to the organizations prosperity, it also costs money. Therefore PDCA should be used for training employees in every organization Plan for Training. The training needs every employee should be identified at regular intervals. Their training needs a methodology should be planned and documented. 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 the training, the effectiveness of training should be assessed formally. The assessment findings should be recorded. Improve training Effectiveness. Both preventive and corrective actions should be taken for improving the effectiveness of the training programs.

RECOGNITON AND REWARDS Recognition of achievement is important It is important to recognize achievements of employees, customers and suppliers. Recognition has to aim at transforming each employee as a performer and an achiever, as this is an important step towards achieving the goals and objective of the organization. If the recognition is genuine and without any bias, such awards will not demotivate other employees in the organization.

Select a Few Best Performers It is quite important that awards are given to the real achievers but it should not be a routine affair. The selection of the awardees should be given due consideration, so that the few who have performed a topnotch job are awarded. Awards should cut across the entire organization and not be restricted to any particular discipline or any particular department alone. The awardees should also be accepted by others. Attributes for selection of best performing employees o Commitment o Creativity o Flexibility o Adaptability o Determination o Responsibility

Reward Teams rather than individuals The organization should give emphasis on recognizing the team against individuals, so that there is a good harmony in the organization.

Type of Awards Organizations should award appropriately. It could be in annual meeting, certificates, mementos and cash awards. No matter what the type of award, the employees will definitely be motivated. However the organization should be consistent in giving the awards.

Enable Happiness all around The recognition and award programs should help the organization to enable happiness amongst all the employees. It should not lead to bitterness amongst employees and should not demotivate them.

FEEDBACK AND PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Feedback and Essential both for Employees and Management Both the management and the employees should look forward to getting a feedback on the action taken, the employees from the management and vice versa, in the interest of improving quality continuously. Such feedback should be analyzed by the concerned individuals, which will be a good input for the next decision to be taken.

Management should Seek Feedback

It is the responsibility of the management to seek for feedback. The management should therefore adopt suitable strategies to get the right feedback from the employees as well as customers.

Feedback to the Employees Every employee in the organization should receive a feedback on the quality of his output. Quality does not only mean the conformance of the product or service to the requirements, but also the timeless, behavioral requirements and attributes of TQM.

Giving Appropriate Feedback The feedback should never be exaggerated or under-played: it should be correct feedback.

Timely Feedback Feedback should never be accumulated forever. The feedback as when required, should be given at the appropriate time. The feedback session could be short and brief so that it will be taken seriously.

Watch Effect of Feedback The effect of feedback has to be monitored, studied and analyzed. If the feedback is given in an appropriate manner and if it is right the definitely the employee will be motivated to correct himself.

Continuous Feedback Employees who are doing extremely well also need feedback. The feedback will be never ending for any of the supervisory persons, since the system will try to drift away from the set goals often and management will be required to correct the system through the feedback mechanism.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL It is used for the development of the employees. The performance of the employees should be reviewed on a quarterly basis and the reports submitted to the management. Such reports should be used by the management, for various purposes such as: -Promotion - Granting of additional increments - Training the Employees - Reallocation of duties, etc.

Empowerment Empowerment and ownership are synonymous. Empowerment of employees is the largest management techniques deployed to result in continuous improvement in the organizations. Empowerment means involvement of all the employees for improvement of processes on continual basis. It also means the transfer of responsibility of satisfying customers to employees. -Empowerment is not without bounds. Empowerment of employees is not without bounds or limitations. It should be structured and planned to achieve the corporate goals in TQM way. - Empowerment team, not individuals. A team of employees will be empowered not the individuals. Even when an individual is empowered, it is done so in his capacity as the coordinator of the team. It is not personal to the individual. The team has to achieve the objectives set forth by the management.

Training Needed Before Empowerment Before empowering, management has to train the employees, ask them to carry on and check whether they are going in the right direction and if so, empower them.

Steps involve in Empowering 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Agree on what they will produce or carry out Decide on how to organize the team Decide the responsibility within the team Decide on the flow of work Audit the process Decide on the improvement and restart.

Fundamental Requirements of Management for Successful Empowerment The responsibility of the management is to control the process and not the people. Empowerment also demands cultural change in the organization. The employees should be encouraged to own the responsibility for their actions. In summary, the top management should take the following actions to practice empowerment. 1. Accept that teamwork is more beneficial than hierarchal management. 2. Invest time and money on team building and training before empowerment. 3. Formulate a clear-cut, unambiguous vision and mission statement and the system for quality. 4. Be prepared to spend more time in the initial stages and later on to listen to the problems of the team members.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Prepare to wait patiently for the success of the empowered teams. Prepare to equip the teams with facts and trust them. Provide support and tools wherever required for problem solving. Reward worthy teams. Provide communications infrastructure and information technology infrastructure for the teams to carry on the tasks, without difficulty.

Responsibility of the Team Members The team members should agree upon a collective decision-making process so that every employee in the team is involved in the decision making process. The most important thing is faith of each team member in teamwork and empowerment.

Empowerment and Flat Organization Empowerment and ownership should provide a viable solution for establishing flat organization. In flat organization, more than 20 persons may report to a person. This will be impossible to visualize, but for the empowerment or self-managed teams. A supervisor cannot manage 20 persons in the conventional system of management. Therefore, empowerment is a prerequisite for flat organization.

Barriers to Success Difficulty of Supervisor and Team Members in New Roles - Empowerment calls to a different management approach. The supervisors are to be team coordinators and have to change the approach to get the work done. Supervisors Resistance - The new role will need them to learn new techniques or new area of work and their doing work on their own. Misalignment -The management can keep on experimenting till it is able to achieve proper alignment. This is essential because the matching of human beings cannot be estimated correctly at the first attempt.