1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background and Scope
To accomplish the set goals and objectives of the organization, it is critical that employees learn to work as a team regardless of their capabilities to perform at the individual level. By working as a team, the potential of attaining personal and organizational growth and success is extremely high compared to individual efforts (Marsick & Watkins, 2015). Therefore, the development of soft skills is essential for employees at all levels to promote teamwork.
1.2 Points of Contact
The human resources department will coordinate the planning and training of all the employees regardless of their position, experience, or skill set. The training will be conducted within Apple Inc.'s board meeting room.
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1.3 Document Organization
The training will involve eight soft skills areas that will be taught in the form of short courses. Communication, critical thinking, organization, leadership, and teamwork will each take to weeks each while adaptability, punctuality, and listening will each take a maximum of two days. Since the training will be conducted during work hours, the staff will alternate in the classes that are expected to last two hours and will last approximately three months.
2.0 Instructional Analysis
2.1 Needs and Skills Analysis
All the employees will be targeted with this training to facilitate team workmanship not only by the junior staff but also the senior management. Moreover, a course such as leadership and organization are meant to groom future company leaders as well as refreshing the current crop of leaders.
3.0 Instructional Method
The primary method of instruction will be instructor-led classrooms where a paid consultant will teach on communication, leadership, and critical thinking courses (Marsick & Watkins, 2015). Organization and teamwork will be taught through interactive methodology while listening, punctuality and adaptability will be taught through e-learning or computer-based training.
4.0 Training Resources
4.1 Resources Required
The instructors and students will need resources like overhead projectors, flip chart and other visual aids, markers with panels, computers with an internet connection, and printer workstations.
4.2 Training Schedules
The training will involve groups of workers from different departments mixed for cohesion purposes. These groups will be trained for two hours daily in which a single day will have three sessions. Thus, three different groups will be trained daily for two hours on a particular soft skill area.
4.3 Future Trainings
Since the training is intensive, it will be conducted after every two years where existing workers will take it as a refresher course and update in areas that need to be enhanced due to technological changes.
Why Development in Soft Skills
Generally, the return on investment on the development of employees' soft skills is not only quantitative but also qualitative as workers with advanced soft skills are more loyal to the company, interactive with workmates and customers, and happier in their positions. Research has indicated that long-term success is dependent upon the mastery of soft skills and little to do with technical skills (Hyman, 2017). Furthermore, the study indicates that employees with highly developed soft skills are more productive in comparison to those with a higher intelligent quotient.
Strategies to Avoid Group Think
There are several strategies that can be employed to avoid groupthink, such as the collection of external opinions and permitting independent assessment. Thus, the management shall employ both the strategies together with the encouragement of leaders to be impartial in their roles (Landy & Conte, 2016). Also, the leaders shall encourage debate and conflict during meetings to inspire creative thinking among the workers.
References
Hyman, J. (2017). Training at Work: Critical Analysis of Workplace Training and Development (Vol. 18). Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis.
Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2016). Work in the 21st century: An introduction to industrial and organizational psychology (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Marsick, V. J., & Watkins, K. (2015). Informal and incidental learning in the workplace (Routledge revivals). New York: Routledge.
