Organizational Clarity: Social Networking and Organizational Learning does not always work.

Although there are a lot of modern day organizations using Web 2.0 social networking applications, these are usually organizations that are trying to meet a market standard and a certain customer in order to maintain engagement between the organization and its clientele. However, this is a challenge for those organizations without the budget or nor desire to focus on social networking and learning technologies as a viable option to how organizational procedures are currently structured.

The motto, especially within my organization, when it comes to interdepartmental communication or any type of basic training is: “This is how we always do it” and usually none of the technology mentioned in this post associated with either process. As most organizations are moving towards using video conferencing, online wikis and other options to decrease costs and standardize training methods there are still organizations that will always defer to traditional methods as the “best way” to do things.

I personally have used online training, wikis at other organizations and have created multiple blogs for academic reasons each of these instances allowed me to see the benefits of Social networking and Learning technologies. Unfortunately, it is hard to create tangible examples of these benefits to create the desire that all organizations even the reluctant ones I have aforementioned to buy into this way of thinking.

Reference
Iverson, Kathleen (2011) “Social Networking and Organizational Learning” May 31, 2011          Retrieved on March 29, 2017 from: https://rutraining.org/2011/05/31/social-networking-and-organizational-learning/

Organizational Clarity: “Project Charter Template” free download

From the Articulate community dedicated to increasing a professional’s knowledge of E-Learning, giving out free tips and free resources on how to implement E-Learning in the workplace or how to easily find cheap solutions to organizational needs.  In this posting upon the site is “Project Charter Template” by Maria Ginsbourg. This is Professional at Articulate has posted a free download for presentation usage in Microsoft Word.

The idea is simple it is a great way to outline for a client or other stakeholders assigned roles for the projects, the goals in which the project is trying to solve, etc., a basic template when an OD Professional is trying to give structure to the implementation while complete the entry and contracting stage to the intervention process.

Just click on the link here, and download! à https://community.articulate.com/download/project-charter-template

Organizational Clarity: A wiki post called "State the purpose and goals of HPI"

So I wrote a couple of articles for a Human Performance Improvement class assignment that was a Wiki for the class and it was segmented into subject matter that dealt with organizational development and improving the human performance of the employees in the organization. I believe this will help students and professionals alike explain the concepts that deal with Human Performance improvement. This wiki posting is answering the question: State the purpose and goals of HPI this is what I wrote for the class:

One of the main goals of Human Performance Improvement (HPI) is to bring clarity and definition to the organizational expectations of each assigned role within the organization (Standard, D. O. E., 2009). This ensures that individuals in the organization have the skills that are matched to tasks to guarantee completion, and it outlines individual responsibilities for each in the organization.

By assessing all of the aspects of an organization through HPI, the organization itself can develop policies and procedures that will improve and extend its range of competencies and productivity. HPI also strives to add transparency to the organization, not only for role clarity but to build morale through acknowledgment of individual achievements and acquired skill sets. Reinforcement of this acknowledgment through HPI is done by either creating proper compensation or reinforcing the needed consequences.

HPI creates an atmosphere of professional development that reinforces expectations, lowers turnovers and gives an organization the ability to retain experienced individuals. Meanwhile, HPI helps an organization in identifying opportunities to implement the changes necessary to strengthen the organization overall, pushing it forward by highlighting the necessary direction(s) to the next level.

Reference

Standard, D. O. E. (2009). Human performance improvement handbook volume 1: concepts and principles. US Department of Energy AREA HFAC Washington, DC, 20585.

Organizational Clarity: "Can Organizations Benefit from Mobile Learning?” article

From the CommlabIndia community is an article from easy, cheap solutions to meet organizational needs. In an email I received was a link to: “Can Organizations Benefit from Mobile Learning?” By Darshan Dudhagundi. Mobile learning has become an increasingly better option for organizations because of the options it brings in regards to accessibility and mobility.

An employee can access an organization’s E-Learning materials anytime, any place although I believe it is a hard sell only because most employees defend their time away from work, or when they are off the clock as sacred. Therefore, getting employees to use mobile learning is a 50/50 gamble, however, I think with added incentives employees would readily use mobile learning than spend a day in a classroom or in a larger arena for an all-day training event.

These are the five organizational benefits gained by using mobile learning:

1.       Improved consistency in training

2.       Improved completion rates and information retention

3.       Improved on-the-job support

4.       Improved productivity with better retention of information

5.       Reduced investment in infrastructure

If you want to know more just click the link here:

http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning-development/mobile-learning-benefits-to-organizations

Organizational Clarity: "ETEC 561 Fall 2012: Section 4: Human Performance Technology" blog

This is a blog that briefly discusses Human Performance Technology the main thing you can take away from this is the graphic of the ASTD HPT Model and possibly, if you are a student you can use as that much needed reference for a project. Please click the link to learn more:

ETEC 561 Fall 2012: Section 4: Human Performance Technology: Not all problems in learning and/or performance require an instructional one. Many times a non-instructional approach is a more ap...

Chipotle, an organization in need of Organizational Change.

With a bunch of E-coli breakouts and sanitary problems at their stores where does the blame lie? With the employees? Store management? Corporate? Obviously, there are standards in place but not being adhered to. The issue has become an even bigger problem for Chipotle and is affecting its bottom line, as per the article (below) customers are staying away in droves.

I know I have seen some disgusting things at various locations like:

• Customers leaning over the sneeze guard pointing at the items they want to workers on the other side
• Workers spit talking into their gloves as they consort with other coworkers and personal visitors.
• I’ve also seen employees wipe the food prep area clean with their gloves/hands and then make the following customer’s (in line) food

I give these examples as reasons why I did not back to any of Chipotle’s locations because they are legitimate instances that maybe at one time we would have:

• Downplayed in some manner (just one time or one bad apple employee)
• Ignored as if we “did not see that” (disbelief)
• Or simply did not catch as loyal customers to our favorite lunch spot.

But with all the bad press Chipotle is receiving you add onto these types of experiences and you wonder does it really matter where the blame lies? Obviously, there is a clear need for an examination of the training and hiring practices that are currently in existence. But from an Organization Development (OD) standpoint, there needs to be an implementation of better coaching practices by the Chipotle management at the local and corporate levels. But what else can be done?

One possibility is that there be a lack of mystery shoppers for the organization, something we never hear Chipotle publicly admitting as other fast food chains do. This could be the leading factor to why there is missing data of these issues or why this problem “blew up” into this major catastrophe as it did. This data would have clearly given Chipotle a clear point of view regarding the chain’s hygiene and other assorted practices from the customers at a ground level.

Maybe the issue lies within the typical corporate culture that many organizations are guilty of and Chipotle is simply ignoring or whitewashing the truth about its stores for its investors and the generic public. In either case, how does Chipotle right its ship and gain its faltering customer base back? Free burritos? Chorizo? Maybe the organization needs to do something more drastic either way it would be an incredible challenge for the average OD professional but where would you start?

You can read more about Chipotle’s issues by clicking on this hyperlink:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/chipotle-customers-arent-coming-back-131351251.html

Looking for Sources of inspiration for E-Learning design

I joined the articulate community as part of a school project but all the information as it pertains to E-learning is fantastic but it also confirms thing you may have thought of or did not realize that it was part of a thought process like Organizational Development (OD) or you even thought that you need a college degree to come up with some of the solutions OD professionals create!

In this article “10 Overlooked Sources for E-Learning Design Inspiration” by Trina Rimmer she discusses ten places you may thought of, but did not seriously consider for building block or inspiration for your designing from museums to games to movies, this article briefly discusses where you can see for yourself e-learning examples at work. Some of the suggestions this author mentions you can get a test ride and see for yourself.

For example, my favorite suggestion from this list, video games nowadays with massive multiplayer online environments you can foster teamwork, gain rewards and gain socialization skills earned by interacting with others from different locations than yourself. In the workplace environment, these are skills that any organization wanting a global reach would want to foster overcoming a lack of cultural intelligence and divisions between departments and sites.

If you are stumped for ideas when crafting a e-learning design that will be user-friendly and maintains your audience’s attention I would suggest reading the article I aforementioned at the link below:

https://community.articulate.com/articles/10-overlooked-sources-for-e-learning-design-inspiration

How Culture and Positive Leadership determine Organizational Change

I was reading a great article about Organizational Change by Marcella Bremer called “Overview: Change based on Culture and Positive Leadership” basically since 70% of all Organizational change fails the author discusses how to change the numerous factors that cause this failure. As the title suggest the change starts with Leadership approaching change by involving all the stakeholders who this changes impacts and making sure that the organizational culture is flexible enough to integrate those changes.

As we all know any time there is change if management is not behind it or going through the motions and/or there is resistance to change amongst the employees who are then expected to carry the burden of the change implementation. As Ms. Bremer states in the article this combined is the number one problem in why Organizational change fails, I suggest reading her article (click on the hyperlink) for a few starter points and if you see the need for further information to peruse her site for some more information some of it’s free some of it's paid but if you believe that your organization is of need of dyer change you may want to have all the options possible, available to you and your organization.

Here is the hyperlink to “Overview: Change based on Culture and Positive Leadership” by Marcella Bremer:

https://www.ocai-online.com/blog/2016/10/Overview-Change-based-on-Culture-and-Positive-Leadership?utm_source=ws20170315&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ows

The New Overtime rules from an Organizational perspective

The new rules for overtime became law on Dec. 1, 2016, this means employees that work over the 40-hour work week will be required to be paid time and a half (Gibbons, 2016). From an Organization Development standpoint, it is a challenge, on the one hand, there are negatives and positives for the employee and then, on the other hand, the organization.

With this type of new rules as the article states, organizations will now need to be mindful of how they allocate their resources when it comes to scheduling their workers. This may as the article stated on the organization side will lead to slashing hours, elimination of management staff and reallocation of task assignments (Gibbons, 2016). These maybe all negatives, however, this means that organizations will be required to write accurate job descriptions instead of promoting general descriptions. Meaning instead of having “administrative duties” listed in a job description during the hiring process the position must be specific in all task assignments (Gibbons, 2016). No longer will project managers have to worry about generalities in what a staff can do or cannot do, this translates to employees across the board being trained in the same tasks. The requirement will streamline training programs to focus

Meaning instead of having “administrative duties” listed in a job description during the hiring process the position must be specific in all task assignments (Gibbons, 2016). No longer will project managers have to worry about generalities in what a staff can do or cannot do, this translates to employees across the board being trained in the same tasks. The requirement will streamline training programs to focus on certain skill sets rather than individualizing the training increasing costs and draining other resources.

For the employees although there is a bump in pay and the unspoken requirement of working off the clock is eliminated by this new rule, as these are all positives, employees actually getting paid for all the work they do for an organization (Gibbons, 2016). The negatives are that some organizations will cut hours for employees to make sure that they do not have to pay the time and a half in overtime hours, this also may mean more automation for certain tasks to streamline, in turn, the workforce. This could also force organizations to translate more employees hourly to salary in order to bypass this law altogether, which sounds great but the amount of time spent working for a salary employee can be more than if they were hourly (Gibbons, 2016). Plus, over time the ratio of dividing in the hours worked into the salary given by the organization may equal or be less than the take-home pay of the hourly employee now making time and a half for over time.

Now in the realm Organization Development we would have to determine which of these negatives would be positives for the organization first and then the employees, and how to deter or overcome any waves of turnovers created by exiting employees who go elsewhere as a result of the organization’s decision. Eliminating employee hours to a fixed, expected rate of 40 hours and under, along with accurate job description allows a project manager to create a more accurate “pitch” for the projects, procedures or products they wish to be approved for implementation. This will assist the project manager to request, plan and adjust a budget in which can have less overhead and also lessen the probability of outliers that can disrupt the project when it comes to the aspects of scheduling and payroll.

So, in either case, the new rules can be a headache for organizations it may be a chance for an Organization Development specialist to prove their worth and show the importance of investing in Organization Development as a science, a way of thinking, and an attitude to approaching an organization’s problems.  The trick for the specialist will be to find the silver lining in such rules and make gold from it.

Are there any other issues you see my become an issue for the Organization Development specialist that is not mentioned in the article or in this blog entry? Do you think as a result of these new rules will increase automation in organizations and higher rate of eliminations of an organization lower management staff? Do you think that these rules harm the employee more or the organization more? Do you think that these rules hurt the employee more or the organization more?

Gibbons, Lauren  (2016) “New federal overtime regulations could have big impact on Michigan businesses, employees” July 04, 2016 MLive http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/07/new_federal_overtime_regulatio.html

Post a Detailed job description.. Please

One of the many problems with employee recruitment presently lies with the description of the position that the organization is in dire need to be filled. Usually, the author has an idea of what the position entails, however, it is usually the case that the what is not listed in the description is conveniently listed as “other duties” or “additional duties may be added”. This is a commonplace practice that occurs the majority of the time, however, that does not make it right, efficient nor does it make it a productive usage of time or effort.

The less details added to a posting on a job site whether it is the organization’s own employment site, external business site or even when the organization uses an employment agency, a specific detailed job description of the position is required. This is because descriptions can be misinterpreted by the either the interviewer, the agency representative and even the person applying for the position.   

In a world where there is an increasing emphasis on getting the job right the first time, being efficient as possible and getting the candidate for the job on the first attempt, incorrectly written job descriptions counteract the aforementioned desires of organizations that are trying to watch their bottom line.

When I look at a job description that has less than a paragraph and has those famous words: “and other duties” I know that the author cares as little about the process, or about getting the right candidate for the job. To the author, this is their job and if it is done incorrectly, or done very well, it does not matter to them at the end of the day, it is just their “job” and possibly the individual that the organization does not want interviewing future candidates nor writing job listings in the near future.

Which then falls upon the organization for not getting the person to do this task/job as well, basically becoming its own vicious circle which wastes the time of everyone involved. Time, a precious commodity if you are in a hurry to fill the position because it is either a very crucial position to an organizational department “time is money” as the old saying goes.

Or it could be that the tasks needed to be completed by the person in this position are now being divided up amongst different members of the department which now is driving down the productivity of the entire department. This extra work that other members in the department has to do to cover for this missing individual is in turn, overtasking and taking its toll upon its members.

Leading to overuse of sick days, higher turnover rates, etc., just because one poorly written job description is holding back the hiring process. I have seen this many times before and have been one of those people in the department overworked because of it, and it is not a pretty situation. And usually members of the overworked department are then on external job search sites looking for a new job, sounds familiar?

Which gets me back to the original point that if a job description is done right, detailed enough an organization can get the right applicants for the jobs so that this ripple effect does not occur. If an organization wants the best, then take the time to write what you are expecting from the best, it does not have to be Hemingway, just something that does not waste the time of everyone involved. Plain and simple.

Cultural Intelligence: Why we try to include different cultures in the workplace.

The reason why we celebrate different cultures upon this blog is not only to be thoughtful of others but to also be inclusive than exclusive, to understand others as we want to be understood. There is a thing called Cultural Intelligence that is taught in the field of Organization Development specifically, with Coaching or Executive Coaching. Basically, we used this term in business, academia, etc., to gauge the individual, or organizational ability to work, function and communicate across different cultures.

As organizations and individuals thanks to the internet, have increased their global connective abilities the idea of cultures interacting has become more of a reality than ever before. In past history, such connections would be utter fantasy, trade routes of the British Empire in the early 1700’s to 1800’s were established to reach other cultures and to combine those cultures with their own.

Of course, this has been the technique of every empire through history, never have we have been able to effectively to measure the exposure of the impact of different cultures upon the individual through this communication. Organizational Development through its practices and techniques tries to measure and increase the effectiveness of the organization’s and individual’s cultural intelligence.

Through such posts is a way to show or to acknowledge other cultures, to educate those who may find difficulty in being accepted or for those who have a desperate need to learn more about other cultures they are in immediate contact with. Thus, these posts are merely educational tools so that we all can gain tolerance and increase our Cultural intelligence, information that now has a focus and an explanation of how it can be applied. This is something that is usually not found on the internet, hopefully, posts such as this will be effective in its purpose.