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| Proposal
for Employee Cross Training
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Today, human resources constitute an important part of assets
within any organization. The role of human resources increases
dramatically as the technological progress makes the employment
of professionals able to solve problems and acquire new skills
and abilities independently from the administration of the
company. The modern business environment forces companies
to focus on the employment of specialists that have a huge
creative potential and are able to grow professionally. In
such a context, the problem of the personnel training arises
since companies cannot employ new professionals when they
have new objectives to meet or when new problems appear. The
employment of new professionals leads to the deterioration
of the atmosphere within the organization because employees
feel insecure because they can lose their job when their qualification
or professional level does not match to the new requirements
imposed on the organization by the business environment or
progress of the organization. At the same time, many companies
attempt to develop the employees’ loyalty because it
contributes to the formation of positive relationships between
the personnel and increases effectiveness and productivity
of employees because they get used to work as a team. In such
a situation, the employee cross training becomes an effective
solution of the improvement of the professional level of employees
and enlargement of their functionality and, simultaneously,
the employee cross training allows the company avoiding the
employment of new professionals who need to get integrated
into the organizational culture and work in a team with other
employees.
In actuality, the training of the personnel may be a serious
challenge for the progress of the company because the effectiveness
of the training, to a significant extent, defines the future
potential of the company and its growth. It proves beyond
a doubt that in the contemporary business environment the
training opens the way to the company to improve its competitive
position because trained employees are able to work more effectively
and they can increase their productivity as they learn new
methods and techniques which they can apply successfully in
their work. On the other hand, the training itself does not
guarantee the progress of an employee as a professional since
different strategies and methods that are applied during the
training can have a different impact on the employee. It is
very important to apply strategies and methods of training
that provides the maximum effectiveness of training because
training needs substantial funding and like any other investment
it needs the maximum revenue in a possibly shorter period
of time. The more effective is training the more productive
is the work of the trained employee and, therefore, the higher
are the benefits of the company from the training.
At this point, it is necessary to underline that training
should be essentially beneficial for both employees and the
company. This is why it is necessary to choose the training
system which can maximize benefits of both employees and the
company. In such a context, the most effective strategies
and methods of training are those which involve the employees
of one and the same company who can train each other and,
thus, increase their professional level and enlarge their
knowledge. In this respect, the employee cross training seems
to be the most effective approach to the training of the personnel
because this training is based on the concept of mutual training
of employees. To put it more precisely, the employee cross
training involves the training of employee A to do the task
that employee B does and training employee B to do A’s
task.
In fact, the employee cross training is a very effective training,
which has a number of benefits. First of all, it should be
said that one of the major advantages of the employee cross
training is its universal character. What is meant here is
the fact that the employee cross training may be applied to
both employees and managers. However, specialists (Benfari,
1999) point out that the employee cross training is more effective
to apply in relation to managers because their work needs
more flexibility and, as a rule, managers are not limited
by strict bounds of their specific qualification, while, in
contrast, they are able to experiment and the more information
and experience they acquire the more effective is their work.
On the other hand, employees did not get use to change their
activity and they perform specific, professionally narrow
tasks. For instance, it is quite difficult to make a professional
driver to perform tasks of a plumber or vice versa. In contrast,
managers are more flexible in their work and companies encourage
managers to develop their skills and abilities to work in
different fields since modern companies need universal managers
who are able to perform multiple functions and tasks.
In fact, the employee cross training increases the flexibility
of managers since they acquire a very useful experience to
manage human resources as they perform the task of other managers.
As for employees, the cross training can be also quite effective
if applied properly. This means that the employee cross training
should be conducted under the control of a trainer who could
support the trained employee and assist in the fulfillment
of his or her new tasks. Such training contributes to the
diversification of the work of employees and decreases the
boredom of their routine work. In such a way, managers, due
to the increase of their flexibility, and employees, due to
the decrease of the boredom of routine job, work more effectively
and productively.
At the same time, the employee cross training is beneficial
not only for employees and managers but also for the company
because the improvement of work of employees naturally improves
the performance of the entire company. In addition, the company
does not need to involve specialists to organize and conduct
training. Instead, the company can use its own specialists
and organize the cross training within the company sharing
knowledge and skills between the personnel.
Furthermore, the implementation of the employee cross training
should involve job enlargement and job enrichment. This means
that this training affects both horizontal and vertical level
of employees work. What is meant here is the fact that the
job enlargement occurs on the horizontal level as employees
perform tasks on the same level of skills and responsibility
but they change the activity and perform different tasks compared
to those they get used to perform normally. As for the job
enrichment, it refers to the vertical level since the cross
training involving job enrichment implies the higher skills
or responsibilities of employees compared to their traditional
tasks. In such a way, employees become more responsible and
develop skills which are higher compared to the skills and
responsibility they used to have. As a result, employees can
progress consistently due to the employee cross training and
they are more interested and motivated because they feel their
importance for the company and they feel that the company
trust them as it provides them with higher responsibility.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible
to conclude that the employee cross training is an effective
solution of the problem of training of the personnel. Today,
the employee cross training provides ample opportunities to
train managers and employees and, what is more, this training
contributes to the formation of universal specialists working
within the company. The acquisition of new skills stimulates
the professional development of employees and managers. Moreover,
the employee cross training is an effective motivational factor
which encourages employees and managers to work better as
they acquire new skills and get new responsibilities. In addition,
employees’ routine work becomes more diverse and entertaining
due to the wider application of the employee cross training.
In such a way, it is possible to recommend application of
the employee cross training as one of the major directions
to the training of the personnel of the company due to its
high effectiveness and low costs. In this respect, it is important
to remind about the orientation of the employee cross training
on the internal resources of the company since this training
does not need the involvement of specialists from outside.
References:
Benfari, R. C. (1999). Understanding and changing your management
style. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Blanchard, K. & Bowles, S. (1993). Raving fans: A revolutionary
approach to customer service. New York: Morrow.
Breneman, D. W., & Taylor, A. L. (eds.). (1996). Strategies
for promoting excellence in a time of scarce resources. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Garvin D. A. and Artemis M. (1997, November). A Note on Knowledge
Management, Harvard Business School Case Study.
Gitlow, H. S. (1997). The deming guide to quality and competitive
position. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Mohrman, S. A. (1998). Tomorrow's organization: Crafting winning
capabilities in a dynamic world. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Peters, T. J. (2002). In search of excellence: Lessons from
America's best-run companies. New York: Harper & Row.
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