Columbia Southern University Training for Middle Level Managers Presentation

“To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness” (Dewey, 1916, p. 358).

There is a deep wisdom embedded in Dewey’s words that touches all who seek to discover their strengths and find meaning and fulfillment in their work. Today’s modern-day organizations are making efforts to hold on to employees who are comfortable being knowledge workers in careers that are without boundaries, moving from employer to employer, collecting valuable skills and competencies, which in turn enrich and strengthen their personal brand (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996). Gone are the days of job security.

Certain events seem to stick in our memories all of our lives; they usually occur when we are experiencing high anxiety, such as the first day of a new job. Who can ever forget that first day? Whether it was a good experience or a bad one, we seem to remember it. If you are fortunate, you are still employed by that same organization. Otherwise, you have experienced a few more first days chock-full of positive hopes, a bit of apprehension, and maybe a touch of angst as you walked through that door to your new employee orientation session.

Some companies refer to this as onboarding. The military calls it indoctrination. Whatever name the process goes by, it must be acknowledged that the U.S. military is expected to fully accomplish the purpose and objectives of this session. Why? Because the people joining that organization need to know and embrace the values, mission, expectations, rules, procedures, and culture. They have to see where the organization has been, where it is now, and what their roles will be in its future. The importance of this socialization cannot be understated. Reflect on your first days in a new organization; were you welcomed and made to feel like you belonged, or did you have second thoughts about your decision?

Planning successful orientation, product, system, functional, or management training and development sessions takes careful analysis and a conscientious proven process. Unit V starts with such a process, which had its beginnings in the U.S. Military. In 1975, Florida State University created the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE) model for the U.S. Army (as cited in Tang-Quick, n.d.).

Is there a promising workplace in the future where employers really do care about their employees’ careers and development? Could John Kenneth Galbraith be wrong? Could Confucius be right?

“The salary of the chief executive of a large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself” (Galbraith, n.d.).

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” (Confucius).

Reading for this week are in the Study Guide

Good luck!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns as you go through this week’s work, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

David Moody

Instructions

For this assignment, prepare a PowerPoint presentation to train mid-level managers in your organization. The focus is to help the managers design an effective training process for employees in their department.

This presentation should simulate an actual presentation that will be delivered to the managers. You must utilize the slide notes function in PowerPoint to add speaker notes to each slide; these notes should be used in order to explain or expand on slide content as if you were actually presenting this to your audience. Alternatively, you may add audio to the slides, but if you do so, you will need to provide a transcript of your audio in a separate Word document and upload it in Blackboard in addition to the PowerPoint file.

Include (at a minimum) the points below in your training delivery.

Include an overview of the training.

In conducting a needs analysis, what are the steps?

• What is the content of the training?
• How are trainer(s) selected?
• Identify two organizational objectives.
• Identify two training objectives.
• Identify who is the target audience for the training. What are their learning styles?
• Evaluate training models. Which one would you select, and why?
• Compare and contrast different training methods.
• Connect the training methods to learning styles.
• How will the effectiveness of the training be evaluated, and why is evaluation critical?
• How should managers ensure transfer of training?