OJT: Training New Employees the Right Way
A popular way to help employees succeed is called "On the Job Training" or OJT. This is not just a method of training new employees, but a system for having new employees be ready to operate as soon as possible by having them perform their actual jobs. In many Japanese corporations, management selects more senior employees to supervise newer employees and train them over a period of one to three years. This is a work environment-based approach to personnel development.
Why OJT is Crucial in the Workplace
OJT is unquestionably important, but there are investigative results that say the relationship between a new employee and his or her direct supervisor through OJT has an effect on early career development. According to one study, the relationship between a new employee and their direct supervisor has a direct impact on performance during the employee's third year (Wakabayashi, Minami, Sano 1980), OJT has an effect on the employee's supervisory abilities during their seventh year, and an effect on rank, salary and bonuses during the employee's 13th year (Wakabayashi, 1988).
Properly installing a cycle of employee improvement through firmly executing OJT from the start ensures that new employees can grow and teach the next generation of junior employees. The essential skills an employee picks up through OJT can help not only the individual employee, but the employees that he or she will one day train.
Building the OJT Systems
To properly handle training new employees, most companies adopt systems related to OJT. The name varies with each company, with some names being "The Brother/Sister System," "The Trainer/Mentor System," "Coach System" and "The Elder System."
Each system is organized by matching a senior employee with a junior employee for OJT. However, simply introducing a system does not guarantee that it will work. In order to ensure the success of an OJT system, both the junior and senior employees must make an effort to learn and grow together.
Building Better OJT Abilities in Your Senior Employees
There are two common approaches to educating senior employees who may be good prospects for assigning OJT duties: acquired learning of knowledge and skills; and learning through inquiry or changing the way they think. You will find in this article an emphasis on learning through inquiry.
Each senior employee who conducts OJT has experienced taking OJT in the past. That experience will unconsciously become the basis of the approach they take when conducting OJT for junior employees. In short, people who are acutely aware that they got where they are because of the hands-off office environment will have a more creative outlook regarding OJT. A good quote to keep in mind is that "leaving them alone makes them grow."
Those who are aware that they became the kind of worker they are because their senior took them in, consulted with them and was involved with their concerns will become senior workers with a positive viewpoint toward OJT. These workers develop the mindset that being involved, putting in the time and effort is what helps a person to grow.
More specifically, the growth process begins by looking back at each individual's past experience. When you look back on your individual growth experience, particularly if you had an OJT relationship with a senior employee, you can identify what teaching methods helped you to grow. What about your past relationships made you happy, and what were you less satisfied with? Using individual experience, you can check up on each new employee's tendencies and clarify what sets a good versus a bad example. When the above-mentioned "learning through inquiry" has run its course, junior employees can familiarize themselves with knowledge and skills.
Managing OJT Properly
The people in the workplace who hold the key to effectively operating an OJT initiative and getting results are the people with the largest influence in the workplace; management. Perhaps you have heard a statement like the following: "I wanted to properly conduct OJT at my company, so I implemented an OJT training system. But due to differences of understanding between management and employees, it had the opposite of my intended effect." A misunderstanding you may hear is, "As soon as management decided who would be in charge and assigned some senior employees roles, we were told to leave it up the the people in charge. Those who were not appointed would have no saying the training." Effectively employing OJT means including management.
Conclusion
You often hear that "a company is its people," but it comes down to the company's durability and profitability. Reform and innovation must come from a culture of survival and steadily increasing earnings. You must always keep in mind not only the system's construction and product line, but whether there is the culture of teaching others and carrying on reform. Teaching people is what OJT is all about.
Reference works:
- Wakabayashi Mitsuru, Minami Takao, Sano Katsuo (1980) Wagakuni Sangyo Soshiki ni okeru Daisotsu Nyuushain no Kyaria Hatatsu Katei: Sono Keijiteki Bunseki. Soshiki Kodo Kenshu. Vol. 6 pp. 3-131
- Wakabayashi Mitsuru (1988) Soshikinai Kyaria Hatatsu to sono Kankyo. Wakabayashi Mitsuru, Matsubara Toshihiro (editor) Soshiki Shinrigaku. Chapter 10. Fukumura Publishing.
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