Effective Training Programs
Content
Running head: EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
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Effective Training Programs for Organizations
EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
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Effective Training Programs for Organizations Work groups are groups that primarily interact so that information can be shared as well as make decisions, which can help each member effectively, perform within his or her area of responsibility. A work team is a team, which positively generates synergy through efforts that are coordinated. Working within groups or teams presents many challenges and advantages in the workplace. A well-planned-out organization will help a team to be more effective in various situations. The formerly known company WorldCom, known as MCI, is a telecommunication company that at one point was the second largest long distance phone company in the United States. In 2002, this company filed bankruptcy because of major accounting fraud. The WorldCom scandal is known as one of the largest and worst corporate crimes in history as well as the largest bankruptcy filing in the United States history in 2002. In this paper the subjects discussed are the challenges and benefits of communication, collaboration, and conflict to increase the effectiveness of teams or organizations. In addition, I will discuss how an effective training program can work in an organization like WorldCom as well as how it can help it succeed and address unique challenges that it may face. Benefits and Challenges of Communication “Communication serves four major functions within a group or organization: control, motivation, emotional expression, and information” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 368). These four functions help support the cohesion of teams or groups as well as help guide it to reach their results. No one of these four functions should be seen as more important than the others. “For groups to perform effectively, they need to maintain some form of control over members, stimulate members to perform, provide a means for emotional expression, and make decision
EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS choices” (Judge & Robbins, 2007). A few challenges that can hinder effective communication
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are filtering, selective perception, information overload, emotions, language, and communication apprehension. Good communication is beneficial because it team members to give and receive constructive criticism on performance, better understanding the tasks at hand that need to be completed as well as quick conflict management when issues arise in a team. When teams do not have good communication there could be possible confusion on what their roles are as a member of the team. This can cause assignments to not be able to be done correctly or even completed at all because members will be unsure about what they are responsible for. Benefits and Challenges of Collaboration Collaboration can happen with everyone working together at the same time— synchronous collaboration—or in stages with some people working at different times— asynchronous collaboration (Judge & Robbins, 2007). The possibility for work to be completed in a team even if collaboration is not used is tangible, however; the outcome of the work performed more than likely will be below expectations. The major benefits of collaboration are stability, innovation, synergy, and education. The major challenges that affect collaboration are the lack of trust, communication, resources, and momentum. In order for a team to thrive in any company, team members should remember that collaboration takes hard work, dedication, and understanding. Benefits and Challenges of Conflict Conflict is a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affects something that the first party cares about (Judge & Robbins, 2007). Teams are created in most situations with people from different
EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
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backgrounds. Therefore, it is safe to can expect for skills, knowledge, experience, and culture to be different. Conflict frequently arises in the workplace. Goal incompatibility between groups or individuals, differentiation, task interdependence, scarce resources, ambiguity, and communication problems can lead to a situation that promotes conflict (Judge & Robbins, 2007). Conflict can benefit a team because it can lead to new ideas and approaches within the organizations as well as cause important issues to surface. This provides opportunities for people within the team to develop their interpersonal and communication skills. However, conflict cause challenges in teams as well. Conflict cause disengagement of collaboration and leads the way to personal agendas becoming a priority. It also increases silent communication, which leads the way to lack of clarity. Training Program WorldCom lacked communication and collaboration, which lead to accounting misstatements and fraud as well as ineffective leadership and a management. These factors are required for any organization to be successful. WorldCom needed an active management team to help develop a clear vision of its goals. Management should have had proper identifying procedures in which they considered actions normal or unethical. If this were in place then the CEO Bernie Ebbers and CFO Scott Sullivan’s fraudulent behavior would have been detected, and it could have lead them to more success and not record breaking failure. This could have assisted in motivating the organization to meet these goals as well as monitor results and problems the company was experiencing with such rapid growth. Also because there was no communication or collaboration regarding mergers or acquisitions, lack of leadership was another issue. Contracts were signed and business acquisitions were made that only benefited the pockets of CEO Bernie Ebbers and not the company.
EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
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Conclusion Team communication, collaboration, and conflict are important in order organization to be successful. These three factors can assist in creating a successful team training program for any organization. WorldCom would still be a dominant and successful organization if a structured training program would have been implemented. Training programs would have equipped regular employees as well as executives with the necessary tools to deal individuals at all levels and instill confidence in one another. Because this was not in place employees were turning a blind eye to what was happening in the accounting department for fear of speaking out and losing their jobs. These training programs would include ethics training and ways of identifying fraudulent activities and necessary actions to follow. Training would help improve weak links in the organization as well as provide a clear vision of the company’s goals.
EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
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References
Collaboration. (2009). LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY REPORTS, 45(4), 7-9.
Collaboration. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary online. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collaboration.
Judge, T. A., & Robbins, S. P. (2007). Organizational Behavior, Chapter 9: Foundations of Group Behavior. Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Judge, T. A., & Robbins, S. P. (2007). Organizational Behavior, Chapter 10: Understanding Work Teams. Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Judge, T. A., & Robbins, S. P. (2007). Organizational Behavior, Chapter 11: Communication. Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Judge, T. A., & Robbins, S. P. (2007). Organizational Behavior, Chapter 15: Conflict and Negotiation. Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Wienclaw, R. A. (2010). Reasons for going green in serviced accommodation establishments. Conflict Management-Research Starters Business, 1-6.
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Effective Training Programs for Organizations
EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
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Effective Training Programs for Organizations Work groups are groups that primarily interact so that information can be shared as well as make decisions, which can help each member effectively, perform within his or her area of responsibility. A work team is a team, which positively generates synergy through efforts that are coordinated. Working within groups or teams presents many challenges and advantages in the workplace. A well-planned-out organization will help a team to be more effective in various situations. The formerly known company WorldCom, known as MCI, is a telecommunication company that at one point was the second largest long distance phone company in the United States. In 2002, this company filed bankruptcy because of major accounting fraud. The WorldCom scandal is known as one of the largest and worst corporate crimes in history as well as the largest bankruptcy filing in the United States history in 2002. In this paper the subjects discussed are the challenges and benefits of communication, collaboration, and conflict to increase the effectiveness of teams or organizations. In addition, I will discuss how an effective training program can work in an organization like WorldCom as well as how it can help it succeed and address unique challenges that it may face. Benefits and Challenges of Communication “Communication serves four major functions within a group or organization: control, motivation, emotional expression, and information” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 368). These four functions help support the cohesion of teams or groups as well as help guide it to reach their results. No one of these four functions should be seen as more important than the others. “For groups to perform effectively, they need to maintain some form of control over members, stimulate members to perform, provide a means for emotional expression, and make decision
EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS choices” (Judge & Robbins, 2007). A few challenges that can hinder effective communication
3
are filtering, selective perception, information overload, emotions, language, and communication apprehension. Good communication is beneficial because it team members to give and receive constructive criticism on performance, better understanding the tasks at hand that need to be completed as well as quick conflict management when issues arise in a team. When teams do not have good communication there could be possible confusion on what their roles are as a member of the team. This can cause assignments to not be able to be done correctly or even completed at all because members will be unsure about what they are responsible for. Benefits and Challenges of Collaboration Collaboration can happen with everyone working together at the same time— synchronous collaboration—or in stages with some people working at different times— asynchronous collaboration (Judge & Robbins, 2007). The possibility for work to be completed in a team even if collaboration is not used is tangible, however; the outcome of the work performed more than likely will be below expectations. The major benefits of collaboration are stability, innovation, synergy, and education. The major challenges that affect collaboration are the lack of trust, communication, resources, and momentum. In order for a team to thrive in any company, team members should remember that collaboration takes hard work, dedication, and understanding. Benefits and Challenges of Conflict Conflict is a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affects something that the first party cares about (Judge & Robbins, 2007). Teams are created in most situations with people from different
EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
4
backgrounds. Therefore, it is safe to can expect for skills, knowledge, experience, and culture to be different. Conflict frequently arises in the workplace. Goal incompatibility between groups or individuals, differentiation, task interdependence, scarce resources, ambiguity, and communication problems can lead to a situation that promotes conflict (Judge & Robbins, 2007). Conflict can benefit a team because it can lead to new ideas and approaches within the organizations as well as cause important issues to surface. This provides opportunities for people within the team to develop their interpersonal and communication skills. However, conflict cause challenges in teams as well. Conflict cause disengagement of collaboration and leads the way to personal agendas becoming a priority. It also increases silent communication, which leads the way to lack of clarity. Training Program WorldCom lacked communication and collaboration, which lead to accounting misstatements and fraud as well as ineffective leadership and a management. These factors are required for any organization to be successful. WorldCom needed an active management team to help develop a clear vision of its goals. Management should have had proper identifying procedures in which they considered actions normal or unethical. If this were in place then the CEO Bernie Ebbers and CFO Scott Sullivan’s fraudulent behavior would have been detected, and it could have lead them to more success and not record breaking failure. This could have assisted in motivating the organization to meet these goals as well as monitor results and problems the company was experiencing with such rapid growth. Also because there was no communication or collaboration regarding mergers or acquisitions, lack of leadership was another issue. Contracts were signed and business acquisitions were made that only benefited the pockets of CEO Bernie Ebbers and not the company.
EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
5
Conclusion Team communication, collaboration, and conflict are important in order organization to be successful. These three factors can assist in creating a successful team training program for any organization. WorldCom would still be a dominant and successful organization if a structured training program would have been implemented. Training programs would have equipped regular employees as well as executives with the necessary tools to deal individuals at all levels and instill confidence in one another. Because this was not in place employees were turning a blind eye to what was happening in the accounting department for fear of speaking out and losing their jobs. These training programs would include ethics training and ways of identifying fraudulent activities and necessary actions to follow. Training would help improve weak links in the organization as well as provide a clear vision of the company’s goals.
EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
6
References
Collaboration. (2009). LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY REPORTS, 45(4), 7-9.
Collaboration. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary online. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collaboration.
Judge, T. A., & Robbins, S. P. (2007). Organizational Behavior, Chapter 9: Foundations of Group Behavior. Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Judge, T. A., & Robbins, S. P. (2007). Organizational Behavior, Chapter 10: Understanding Work Teams. Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Judge, T. A., & Robbins, S. P. (2007). Organizational Behavior, Chapter 11: Communication. Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Judge, T. A., & Robbins, S. P. (2007). Organizational Behavior, Chapter 15: Conflict and Negotiation. Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Wienclaw, R. A. (2010). Reasons for going green in serviced accommodation establishments. Conflict Management-Research Starters Business, 1-6.
