This paper explores leadership style, why it should be learned, the nature of such training, the role of the trainer, and various types of training. (8.5 pages; 2 sources; MLA citation style)
IIntroduction
In this, the third part of our exploration of training programs within organizations, we want to consider why such things are necessary in the first place, specifically with regard to training supervisory personnel. The answer seems obvious,
It’s important that supervisors learn how to manage their employees effectively, because a disgruntled employee is more than a nuisance; he or she can cost the company significant amounts of money. Not only will a poor attitude “rub off” on other employees, it will also offend customers and potential customers, in some cases driving them off before anything more than an initial contact has taken place.
In this paper, we’ll discuss what leadership style should be learned, and why; how to determine who needs such training; the components of the training group; the nature of interactive learning taking place within the group; the role of the trainer; and National Training Labs (NTL) “sensitivity training” versus “Organization Development (OD) training.”
IIWhat Style Should Be Learned and Why
Because of the wording of the question, it’s obvious that we’re to consider what sort of leadership style should be learned. That immediately begs the question, why should it be learned at all? The answer is simple: people are often promoted to positions in which they have to supervise others, and yet they don’t have the skills to do so. Very few people are born instinctively knowing how to manage their employees so that they do their jobs efficiently; obey the rules; and still have a reasonably good time doing so. However, supervisors can learn the “people skills” they need to run their departments efficiently, and that’s why companies have training programs to help develop their managers’ competence in these areas.
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The next question is, what style of training should be used and why? Goldstein doesn’t specify a particular type of training that he feels is better than others, he simply describes the various methods available. There are literally thousands of training manuals available, so the quick answer to this must be to use the training that works best for the company and individuals involved. However, there are specific differences between OD training and the sensitivity training Goldstein describes that may give us further clues as to which method to choose. We’ll explore them further in section VII.
IIIWho Needs to Take the Training
As I mentioned above, very few people are “born leaders” or are comfortable telling others what to do. Leadership is a skill that must be mastered if a company is to run smoothly, and so everyone who rises to a position of leadership should take the training.
Perhaps an illustration will help clarify this point. It’s common in many companies to promote the salesman who is the highest seller to the position of sales manager when it becomes available. And not infrequently, the salesman fails at the new job. Why? Because he has been taken away from what he knows: the product and how to sell it, and thrust into a new position in which he has to manage others and motivate a sales force. Instead of being “on the road” and “one of the boys,” he’s now the boss. As a result of his promotion, sales decline, discontent increases, and the company soon recognizes that it made a mistake. As I said, people are rarely born with the kind of leadership skills necessary to manage and motivate a group of people; these skills must be learned. And the “rank” of the person attending the training is immaterial; it really doesn’t matter if it’s the CEO or the stock boy who has one clerk working for him. Everyone needs to learn how to relate to other people and get the best from them.
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IVComponents of the Group
Goldstein discusses several different types of training methodologies, and the group would vary depending on the method used. In what he calls “business games,” a group is “imbedded” in a “simulated business environment where they musts make management-type decisions from time to time, and their choices at one time generally affect the environmental conditions under which subsequent decisions must be made.” (P. 274).
This type of training is suited, obviously, the middle and upper level management personnel, and the group size is limited to six or seven individuals. (Goldstein, p. 275).
Closely related to business games is the case study, in which information about a company is presented to the students, who are then encouraged to analyze the problems the organization is having and offer solutions. The student usually works on the case study individually, then meets with a group to discuss the problems and solutions that have been found. Although Goldstein doesn’t specify group size, it seems logical to assume that a group discussing a case study could be significantly larger than the 6-7 who are working on a business game.
The next technique is role playing, which is used “primarily for analyses of interpersonal problems and attitude change and development of human relations skills.” (Goldstein, p. 283).
Although it might be tempting to confine the idea of role playing to the people in the personnel department, it can benefit everyone, whether they are supervisors or not. The idea of role playing is to make people aware of the feelings of others. However, role playing also is a difficult technique to assess fairly, since it is possible for the participants to “skew” the results, either by taking the role playing lightly, as if they were in fact acting; or by “playing” the part in a way they feel is appropriate for the group in which they find themselves. Role playing is now largely incorporated into the larger field of behavioral role modeling.
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Behavioral role modeling focuses on the process of changing behavior, and is based on large part on the social learning theories of Albert Bandura. This training arose because “training programs typically tell managers that it is important to be good communicators … [but] … the programs do not teach the manager how to become a good communicator…” (Goldstein, p. 286).
In this method, the students watch “numerous, vivid, detailed displays” (on film, video, or using a live actor) in which the specific skills they are expected to learn are used. The students then emulate what they’ve seen by role playing with other students; in this way they learn to use these behaviors. (Goldstein, p. 286).
Goldstein mentions a group of 100 using this technique, so this would seem to be suited to extremely large groups.
VInteractive Learning
Interactive learning takes place when students interact with one another. Therefore, the behavior modification and role playing would be interactive learning techniques, while the case study would not. (Recall that it’s done as an independent study followed by a discussion group, but it’s unlikely that observations made during the course of the analysis would change the outcome.) In interactive learning, one of the students can make an observation or decision that will affect subsequent decisions, and thus the outcome of the exercise.
VIRole of the Trainer
The trainer is extremely important in these types of exercises, particularly the ones I want to discuss below. The trainer “typically makes the difference between a successful or unsuccessful learning experience.” (Goldstein, p. 136).
The importance of the trainer is illustrated in an example Goldstein gives of an experiment in which the trainers were told that one group of students had a very high “success potential” and another group did not have as high a potential. (The two groups were in fact identical in potential.) It’s no longer a surprise I’m sure, but when the study was done in 1982, it was found that the group that was expected to do better, did in fact do better. (Goldstein, p. 136).
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... 34. Issue: 3 - Page Number: 32+ 9. Goldstein, Irwin L. (1986) – Training in Organizations: Needs Assessment, Development, and Evaluation – Brooks/Cole Publishing ... (Pont, 1996). This trainer groups these roles into three major sub-groups, Subject expert, Method expert and Group manager, that is knowing ... terms of: ● At the end of the lesson, students will be able to do… ● At the end ...
This was because the high expectations of the trainers communicated themselves to the students, who rose to meet the challenge. Thus we see a direct relationship between the trainer and the student’s performance, which underscores the quote above, that the trainer makes all the difference.
Some of the characteristics of good trainers are that they are: “well-organized”; “set difficult but attainable goals”; ‘encourage class discussions”; and treat course participants as adults.” (Goldstein, p. 139).
It’s fair to say that a good trainer will make a course worthwhile, a poor one will make it a waste of time.
VIITypes of Training
I want to turn briefly to so-called “sensitivity training” and contrast it with Organization Development training. The former has come under a lot of fire because it has caused great distress in some participants.
One of the features of sensitivity training is the encounter group, in which participants are encourage to “voice their opinions” with regard to work situations that they find troubling or unsatisfactory. Often these remarks cause pain and hard feelings, and some group participants have reported feeling emotionally battered by the revelations from other group members. Goldstein points out, though, that initial reports of this sort of discomfort may have been overstated, and that there are ways to ensure participant comfort. First, all participants in any encounter group should be there completely voluntarily; each participant should understand what the goals of the sessions are (they are not therapy); participants should be screened; they should be advised as to what types of behavior are acceptable; and they should have follow-up help if necessary. (Goldstein, pp. 293-294).
But is this type of training more effective than OD training?
It has taken quite a bit of time to track down a working definition of OD training; the public library database has nothing (I was searching for “sensitivity training” and “OD training” in the same document).
However, if I go just to “OD training” on the Web, there are hundreds of documents available but each one is unique to a specific company. However, here’s one working definition:
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“Organization Development is an effort planned, organization-wide, and managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization’s ‘processes,’ using behavioral-science knowledge.” (Authenticity Consulting, PG).
How does this compare to what we know about sensitivity training? Both models use behavioral science, and both aim at increasing the organization’s effectiveness. The differences seem to be that OD is organization wide and managed from the top (MUST be managed from the top), whereas sensitivity training involves role playing and is managed by trainers, and is aimed at specific employees. Which, then, would be more effective? There doesn’t seem to be any real answer to that, other than to say that certain companies and industries that are moving very quickly (communications, global marketing, etc.) would benefit from OD (Authenticity Consulting, PG); while other industries would probably benefit from sensitivity training. There are no wrong answers here; it is up to the company to decide which training program fits it best, and that goes all the way back to the needs assessment that the organization must do before it begins any training at all.
VIIIConclusion
Training can be accomplished is so many different ways that it is fruitless to try to define a “one size fits all” concept that will work for every company. The best thing perhaps is to be aware of the many choices available, and pick wisely.
IXReferences
Authenticity Consulting. “Organization Development 101.” [Web page]. Undated. Accessed: 3 Jun 2003. http://www.mnodn.org/members/speakers/OD_101.pdf
Goldstein, Irwin L. Training in Organizations. 3rd Ed. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1993.
