Development and Training – Essay

Effective training plans teach employees the skills ND behaviors that help the organization achieve their defined goals. Struck is the number one specialty coffee retailer serving millions of people in 16,000 locations in 50 countries (Struck, 2010). Struck employees go through vigorous training to ensure that each cup of coffee Is brewed to perfection. While Struck may have a well-trained staff, errors can be made, and additional training may be needed.The needs assessment is the process of evaluating the organization, individual employees, and employees' tasks to determine what kind of training, if any, is necessary. An organizational analysis of Struck shows that It Is an organization that concentrates on serving a niche market and needs to continually update its workforce on specialized skill sets. Effective training objectives have three components and should include the following measurable performance standards: 1 A statement of what the employee Is expected to do, the perform ance or outcome. . A statement of the quality or level of performance that Is acceptable. 3. A statement of the conditions under which the trainee is expected to apply what he or she learned. Data gathered from the organization, and task analysis will help identify raining materials needed to develop an effective training program. Struck Is a successful company not only because it serves a great cup of coffee but also because the company has developed a great culture with a leading training program for its managers and employees.One of the first things that a new employee at Struck learns is that all employees are called partners. Struck calls their employees partners because they openly value and respect each partner and acknowledge that their success would not be possible without the contributions they make on a daily basis. Partners are coached on the Star Skills, three guidelines for on-the-job interpersonal relations: (1 ) maintain and enhance self-esteem, (2) listen and acknow ledge, and (3) ask for help (Struck, 2010).Struck has numerous proprietary processes and recipes so they do not often contract or outsource their training. Most of the training partners receive is hands-on and provided by experienced partners and the management team at the store. The bulk of a new partners training Is spent on proper beverage preparation. This training Involves such satellites as grinding the beans, steaming milk, learning to pull perfect shot of espresso, remembering the correct amount of shots and syrup pumps the different FIFO Arles require, Ana practice, practice, practice on making ten core coffee Diverges.Struck sets drink standards to be memorized and followed. Milk must be steamed to at least 150 degrees Fahrenheit but never more than 170 degrees unless the customer requests it to be hotter. Always pull a perfect espresso shot if the shot is shorter than 18 seconds or longer than 23 seconds it must be tossed out. Always have fresh coffee a new pot is to be b rewed every 20 minutes. If a customer is satisfied with his or her experience or beverage partners are empowered to compensate them with a Struck coupon for a free drink (Thompson & Strickland, 1999).Additional lessons are provided on how to clean the milk wand on the espresso machine and how to calibrate the espresso machines for the perfect grind. The amount of information that a new partner has to process can oftentimes be overwhelming so to help out they are provided with laminated recipe cards for all the drinks on the menu and a pocket-sized green apron book that covers the star skills and fits perfectly their green apron, online training for the cash register and loneliness standards, and the support of all the other partners on the floor.The training received by partners can seem intense but the teamwork and culture created leaves customers with such great impressions the often return Just for the enjoyable experience As the staff becomes seasoned, some of the training gets forgotten and mistakes happen. â€Å"In its campaign to revive the intimate, friendly feel of a neighborhood coffee shop, Struck orchestrated the closing of 7,100 of its American stores at precisely 5:30 p. M. Or a three-hour retraining session for employees† (Grumman, 2008, Para. 2). The training objective is primarily focused on recipe consistency so Struck decided their plan would be more effective by incorporating in-house expertise as part of the training medium. The program will combine the presentation and hands-on training methods where employees receive information individually, and in a group sessions to have the opportunity to actively practice the specific skills being taught.The group sessions allow employees to discuss new techniques to improve the taste and texture of drinks as well as share best practices for maintaining beverage consistency while adhering to the standards or espresso shots and milk quality. Refresher training is an excellent tool to keep seas oned staff trained on the basics and to reduce the amount of errors made. This type of training is very informal and can be done at the store as opposed to in a classroom. An on-the-spot correction is a type of refresher training that can be done relatively quickly.If an employee makes an error making a cup of coffee, he or she can be given refresher training immediately. Managers will have to ensure that this training is not done to demean the employee, but to re-inform him or her of the proper steps. Another on-the-spot correction that can be made is with customer service. Each employee is given four hours of customer service training before entering a store. Sometimes, the basics can be forgotten, and human nature can override training on any given day.In this case, managers can pull an employee aside and remind him on how important customer satisfaction is to Struck. Again, this is not meant to embarrass the employee, but simply to retrain the basics. It is important that refres her training be done at the store and not in a different location. On-the-spot corrections cannot be trained in a classroom because it loses its efficiency. This training needs to happen immediately (or a few hours) after an error NAS occurred so ten employees can learn ten proper steps quickly Ana prevent Torture errors of that nature.It is also important to note that employees learn better in their own environment and would be able to use their refresher training immediately. Once the training needs and objectives are identified, training materials are created, and the training medium is agreed upon the next step is implementation of the training process. The way people learn is an important factor to consider in the implementation process of any training program. Learning objectives must be communicated clearly and presented distinctly so that trainees link the subject matter to their Jobs and the organization's goals.Multiple delivery techniques can be used to train employees su ch as traditional presentations or lectures that are given in classroom settings, the use of computer-based training (CB) on-line, internships or work-study mentoring programs, simulation training, or hands on-the-Job training (JOT) techniques. The training context or physical environment should mirror the work environment. Training sessions and materials should use familiar terms, concepts, and examples.Any of the techniques Struck selects is dependent on their training objective, the materials covered, and the timeshare in which the employee is expected to develop the learned traits. When the course objectives call for presenting information on a specific topic to many trainees, classroom instruction is one of the least expensive and least time-consuming ways to accomplish the goal. The refresher training program Struck developed is centered primarily on JOT techniques and is expected to be more effective because the trainers will enhance heir lectures with Job-related examples an d trainees have opportunities for hands- on learning.The on-site instructors or facilitators are available to answer questions and give immediate corrective feedback. Evaluation is an integral part of the training and development process. Evaluation tools help to determine the effectiveness of the training programs and materials that employees receive. Evidence suggests that because of insufficient budget or time, lack of expertise, blind trust in training solutions or lack of methods and tools, the evaluations are often inconsistent or missing (Ma, 2006).At Struck it is all about the customer experience customer satisfaction is how Struck evaluates the effectiveness of their training processes. They have implemented a few processes to get feedback from their customers these include secret shoppers, customer comment cards, customer care phone number, and online surveys that print on random customer receipts throughout the day. All of the information is gathered together and sent dir ectly to the store management, the management to assess the training needs for their store then uses the comments and feedback provided.The first order of good service in the food industry is employee knowledge. Employees should know about the organizational goals, the products, and their preparations as well as the ability to share that knowledge with customers. If an employee does not know or understand what they are talking about they cannot sell or serve effectively (Turning, 2000). Struck offers a dizzying array of coffee drinks and expects their employees to be fully versed in how to make the drinks consistently because this is the foundation of the Struck concept.

Labor Relations and Recruitment Know-How Coursework

Labor Relations and Recruitment Know-How - Coursework Example The design of the recruitment process must be attractive enough to encourage job seekers to apply, to be able to select the best-suited candidate for the job description (Meister, 2014). Before we dive deep into the selection and recruitment it is very much necessary for us to understand what selection is and what competencies are. The selection process is designed in such a way that it can help the interviewer to identify the right candidate and have the potential to benefit from the program and become the leaders of tomorrow. Today the selection process starts with the online application form, which helps in selecting the right candidate as per the qualification and experience. In the context of the essay, the selection is referred to as the selection interview, which is nothing but a process where a personnel selector observes a candidate through the behavior and attitude for the suitability of the post. It is the most necessary step in the recruitment process of any organization. The main skill that goes hand-in-hand with selection is to observe or assess the competencies of the candidate to judge the fitment of the position. Competencies are nothing but the ability to a job successfully yet efficiently. In today’s corporate world competency is the main skillset that the recruiter would look into a candidate during the selection process. Modern-day employers give great importance to the competencies of the candidates that they are interviewing for the position. They use the competency frameworks as an essential vehicle to assess the potential future effects of the candidate and also help the interviewer to review capability, performance, and potential of the employee. Two types of competencies that the interviewer would like to see in a potential candidate are behavioral and technical competencies.  

What is Performance Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is Performance Management - Essay Example individual responsibility for the continuing improvement of business processes needs to be established, and individual skills and contributions need to be encouraged and nurtured. One tool for monitoring performance management is  performance appraisal. For organizations, performance management is usually known as company performance and is monitored through business appraisal. For Mega-Widget Company, Performance Management’s is beneficial as it facilitates the organization’s capacity to deliver strategic and operational goals which can be translated to a growth in sales, reduction of costs, and increased operational efficiency ultimately translating to greater competitiveness and enhanced the bottom line. It also provides the employee a clear understanding of how meeting target performance adds value to the organization’s strategic goals (Mithas, 2011). For the individual employee of Mega-Widget Company, Performance Management is beneficial as it creates an environment that motivates employees to be at its best. Through Performance Management, employees are also able to know how much and how they are contributing to the growth of the organization. And as the employees contribute to the growth of the organization, Performance Management provides the incentive structure by which employees are rewarded for achieving if not exceeding their goal in the organization (Salden and Sowa, 2011). Performance feedback is the  on-going  process between employee and manager where information is exchanged concerning the performance expected and the performance exhibited. Constructive feedback can praise good performance or correct poor performance and should  always  be tied to the  performance standards (Mithas, 2011) Performance feedback is designed to improve the performance of employees as correlated to Performance Management. It serves as a mechanism to reinforce and praise positive behavior and as a corrective measure to a less than desirable performance.

Nitrogen Oxide as an Environmental Pollution Essay

Nitrogen Oxide as an Environmental Pollution - Essay Example with the first section covers the common nitrogen oxides, followed by the sources and potential sinks in the environment, then the chemical behaviour of these oxides, the impacts on human and ecosystem, and finally the prevention and control of these pollutants. Nitrogen oxides mainly consist of nitrogen and oxygen, and the most common nitrogen oxides are nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (Farmer 2013, p.26; Harrison 2001, p.179). Notably, nitrous oxide and nitrogen dioxide are emitted when nitrogen reacts with oxygen in the air during combustion at high temperatures and this shows that the amount of nitrogen oxides produced depends on temperature of combustion. Another nitrogen oxide is nitrous oxide (N2O) which is a greenhouse gas that has a greater impact on climate change. Nitric oxide is a colourless gas with a sharp and sweet smell, but nitrogen dioxide is a colourless gas with a strong, harsh odour. Of the nitrogen oxides emitted, nitric oxides forms the larger part, followed by nitrous oxide then nitrogen dioxide which is produced in low amounts, and also it is important to note that both nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxides does not have prolonged lifespan in the atmosphere as compared to nitrous oxide. Nitrogen oxides are produced naturally but they are as well produced by various human activities including agricultural activities, transportation and industrial processes and many others. In nature, nitrogen oxides are produced because of bacterial processes, biological growth and decay, forest fires (Lippmann 2009, p.823), volcano, and lightening among others (Hill 2010, p.128). Thunderstorms lead to the production of nitric oxide as a result of high heat of lightening released in the process of breaking down nitrogen molecules. On the other hand, burning of fossil fuels is considered the primary source of nitrogen oxides as part of human activities. Transportation fuels when burned produce nitrous oxide and mostly, motor vehicles and trucks

Environmental effects of intensive dairy farming (esp impacts on Essay

Environmental effects of intensive dairy farming (esp impacts on water) in NZ - Essay Example I will then look into websites especially those ending in â€Å"nz† as they are all from New Zealand. I will then look more into these and by browsing through all of them, I can somehow get an idea about what to write regarding the environmental effects of intensive dairy farming. I am actually expecting that there will be a variety of topics to discuss but I was determined to focus on the negative or harmful effects of intensive dairy farming, especially on how it affects the waters and the water supply. However, aside from using those websites which end in â€Å"nz,† I will also try exploring all those with â€Å"edu† or â€Å"org† or even those whose endings are â€Å"com† and â€Å"net† as long as they particularly refer to the environmental effects of intensive dairy farming. Moreover, I also have to search Google Scholar for any possible journal articles related to New Zealand and the intensive dairy farming problem there. I will be using the keywords â€Å"New Zealand† and â€Å"intensive dairy farming,† and I will then make my search primarily on the aspect of the problem that deals with water and at the same time not leaving the other parts. For the journal articles, I should take care not to consider those published before 2000 as they could actually be too obsolete already. Moreover, it would be better for me to choose journal articles that have been published in New Zealand compared to those that have been published in other countries as the former are more related to the environmental issue that I want to investigate. Aside from Google Scholar, I will also try out other databases. Moreover, I will select only those journal articles that have a complete or full report, whether in doc, html or pdf format. I will not select those with only an abstract because those will never explain the reasons behind the findings. Furthermore, I will not

3M Company Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

3M Company Analysis - Research Paper Example It is a multinational corporation headquartered in Minnesota, United States. It was founded by five businessmen in the year 1902. The company had an annual sale of $ 29.6 billion in the year 2012. It employs more than 84000 employees all throughout the world. The company produces more than 55000 products which include adhesives, laminates, abrasives, dental products, fire protection, medical products, electronic materials, car care products, electronic circuits, optical films etc. The company operates in 65 countries. Its products are available in approximately 196 countries through retailers and distributors. Many products are also available online and can be purchased directly by ordering on the company’s website. 3M’s Brand and its message to the customers Brand is the term, name, symbol, design or some other feature which helps in the identification of a company’s products or services. Branding is a strategy adopted by the companies for differentiating their products from the competitors through a distinctive symbol. The brand is the most valuable and useful asset of a company. 3M is a new appearance for the Best Global brands in the year 2010 mostly because of a series of vast acquisitions which have provided the company a new and innovative brand identity system (3M, â€Å"3M Makes Interbrand’s List of Best Global Brands 2013†). This new brand identity has helped the company in unifying its diversified business. It has boosted the brand awareness of the company. Defining as well as strengthening of the 3M brand lying within the fragmented market area and increasing portfolio of global acquisitions has been very challenging. The goal of the company from the perspective of strengthening its position and brand in the market lies in two steps (3M, â€Å"Reinvigorating the Brand, Driving Growth†). The first step is by making the company an industry leader and the second step is by communicating to the customers about t he company’s ability to become end to end security provider. The brand identity system of the company have been enhanced recently for delivering the brand essence in more appropriate manner and positioning the brand and its value propositions throughout the world (3M, â€Å"Brand Identity in Action†). This new brand identity strategy has helped the company in differentiating 3M from its competitors and communicating a consistent and strong message to the key audiences. Logo and slogan Logo and slogan are the key elements of the brand positioning strategy. An effective brand positioning strategy always includes a visual identity i.e. logo and a tagline or a positioning statement i.e. the slogan. 3M’s logo is unique and communicates an appealing identity to the targeted audiences. The 3M Red Logo of the company is vertically as well as horizontally centred and covers almost 1/3rd of the total width of the screen. The background of the logo is white for enabling ma ximum readability (â€Å"3M Logo Animation and Soundmark†). The company has launched an animated video of the company’s logo where a sound mark is also available so that it can be used in pertinent applications (for example- online spots, television spots, videos etc.). 3M’s slogan is a short and impressive catch phrase, motto or tagline which has helped in identifying its products in advertisements. The business slogan which is most associated with the company is ‘Innovation’. The mission statement of the company is to be committed in active contribution to a

Compare and Contrast Country Lovers and The Welcome Essay

Compare and Contrast Country Lovers and The Welcome - Essay Example However, other issues that are related to the study of literary works such as style are usually the same. The thematic concerns that are centered in literary works are also mostly the same. These are the various factors that are discussed when looking at literary works. This paper will be a discussion of two literary works Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer and The Welcome Table by Alice Walker. Focus will be on content, form, style and setting of the two literary works. These features will be analyzed so as to ascertain the rationalization that they have towards developing the themes of race and ethnicity that are common in both works. All these aspects as pertains to the two stories will be compared and contrasted. Both literary works, Country Lovers and The Welcome Table are short stories. They can be found in a number of collected anthologies. However, despite the fact that they are both story stories, they are quite different. While Gordimer’s story is long and quite detai led, this is not the case in The Welcome Table. This story is quite brief but still manages to pass the message that it was intended to. Through descriptive words, the author has still managed to come up with a plot that is interesting to follow. Therefore, while both literary works are short stories, one is long and much more detailed than the other. This is what contrasts the two literary works of art in terms of form. It also makes them quite interesting to study. ? ­ One aspect that is similar in both Country Lovers and The Welcome Table is the protest about racism; this is followed by the tragic human consequences that this practice comes with. Despite the fact that the stories are written based on the same thematic concerns, the context in which they are written is very different. Moreover, the way in which they are written and the emotional impact that they have on the readers are not the same. For example, whilst Gordimer’s story is written in South Africa when the apartheid regime was rampant, Walker’s story is set in the United States during the post civil war period. These were different historical times that occurred in places that are far apart and the experiences that the characters in this stories had may not have been the same. During the Apartheid system, the law, under the operation of the state was used to impose difficult living conditions on the non-whites in South Africa (Union of South Africa, 2012). This situation can be seen from the text, while Paulus went to school and lived in full comfort and sometimes even enjoying some luxuries, like movies, this was not the same case with Thebedi, she was supposed to do manual labor on the white man’s house with education being a secondary objective to her and the other black children (Gordimer, 1975). This was as per the law that ensured that there was a great disparity between the lives of the blacks and the whites. While this was the situation for the blacks, all wealth , economic and educational opportunities were privileges that were exclusively reserved for the whites in South Africa. On the other hand Walker focuses on the plight that the older rural based African Americans go through. This is through the life of complete slavery that they have been subjected to and they are still subjected to. Even though some reforms were made during the Civil Rights era, there is a lot of subjugation that the blacks