Critical Thinking Question E-learning is a popular tool for delivering training programs (and educational information, like in this course!). Organizations tend to favor e-learning because it is easy to update, easy to deliver, and convenient for both the organization and trainee. However, like any training program, e-learning has some disadvantages. 1. What are some disadvantages associated with e-learning? 2. Do you think this type of training works better of some types of jobs than others? 3. Is it a better fit for some types of employees than others? Part Two – Read the following “Newsbreaks” about the topic of training and, using topics and concepts from the chapter (remembering, of course, to include your own personal application stories), respond with your thoughts and experiences. Can Your Employees Read? Are You Sure? Cindy Marano forgot her glasses when she left her office to go to lunch, otherwise she would never have noticed it. Marano, who directs a job training program in Washington, DC, could not read the menu posted on the wall of her local sandwich shop without her glasses. She asked the middle-age woman behind the counter to read it to her. At first, the woman pretended not to hear; then she became flustered and rude before finally asking another waitress to read the menu aloud. “Suddenly, the light went on for me,” Marano said. The woman was unable to read. And Marano knew, from her work with the job training program, that many of the 40 million Americans who have trouble reading and writing are able to fake it on the job and conceal their handicap, as the waitress had done. Marano also knew how expensive employee illiteracy is, costing the American economy $225 billion a year in lost productivity. Someone else very much aware of that cost is Peter Coors, CEO of Colorado’s Coors Brewing Company. He calls employee illiteracy a crisis for American industry, and he has taken the lead in promoting corporate awareness and creating industry-based training programs to teach employees how to read. With today’s increasingly high-tech jobs, it is becoming harder to pretend you can read when you can’t. Coors found that out when the company instituted a computerized inventory control system. The new system required forklift operators to punch information into a computer, and it soon became obvious that many of them could not do the job. Why? Because they could not recognize the letters on the computer keyboard or read the product codes on the items to be inventoried. Even low-tech companies lose money to illiteracy. The Outback Steakhouse chain found that some of its cooks were mistakenly preparing more expensive instead of less expensive steaks because they could not read the waiters’ orders. Outback started a training program to teach all employees a list of abbreviations, so that even workers for whom English was a new language could do their jobs without making costly mistakes. Other restaurant and fast-food chains use symbols instead of words on their computer screens. Every company would operate more efficiently if all employees could read. It would be better for the employees, too. Sharon Thomas, a 34-year-old high school dropout living in Washington was on welfare for 15 years, until she learned to read and was hired for a well-paid job in construction. “I had a lot of hurdles to get over,” she said, “but once I was in the workforce, I was so happy. I feel good about myself.” It’s OK to Bring Your iPod to Work People used to hide their iPods from their boss at work, and many still do, but a growing number of employees are being given iPods by their companies and told that it’s OK to listen to them on the job. In fact, some employees are told they have to listen to them in order to download files of company training courses. A semiconductor manufacturer in California spent $2.5 million to buy video iPods for its 8,500 employees, including those who work overseas, so they can view the training sessions. A fast-food restaurant in Tennessee distributes iPods to new employees with instructions on food preparation, so they can listen while they are actually in the kitchen and follow the procedures step by step. Some employees report that they use their iPods to listen to training material off the job, during their commute to and from work, or even while working out at the gym. It’s almost as though they don’t want their bosses to see them using them at work for fear they will look like slackers. Younger employees said they were happy with their new training tools, but not so for those over age 50, many of whom had no idea what the gadgets were or what they could be used for. They learned quickly, however. The only reported disappointment came when an employee was laid off or quit and had to return the iPod!
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