Page 226 - DMGT518_TRAINING_AND_DEVELOPMENT_SYSTEM

Unit 13: Management Development

These are the most widely used techniques. No other technique may interest the trainee so much Notes
as these do since the location of the learner is not an artificial one as the classroom. The success
of these depends on the immediate supervisor and how good a teacher he is. On-the-job techniques
are especially useful for certain groups like scientific and technical personnel.
Though the costs of training initially appear to be low they may turn out to be high when
wastages of all kinds are considered under this type of training. This method of learning in
isolation may prove to be inadequate but in combination with the other techniques will be
excellent. The important on-the-job training techniques are: coaching, job rotation, under study,
multiple management.

1. Coaching: In coaching the trainee is placed under a particular supervisor who acts as an
instructor and teaches job knowledge and skills to the trainee. He tells him what he wants
him to do, how it can be done and follows up while it is being done and corrects errors.
Coaching should be distinguished from counselling. Counselling involves a discussion
between the boss and his subordinates of areas concerned with the man’s hopes, fears,
emotions, and aspirations. It reaches into very personal and delicate matters. To be done
correctly, counselling demands considerable background and ability on the part of the
counsellor. If carried out poorly, it may do considerable damage.
The act of coaching can be done in several ways. The executive, apart from asking them to
do the routine work, may ask them to tackle some complex problem by giving them
chance to participate in decision-making.

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Caution One of the important negative considerations of coaching is that the individual
cannot develop much beyond the limits of his own boss’s abilities.
2. Job rotation: The transferring of executives from job-to-job and from department-to-
department in a systematic manner is called Job Rotation. When a manager is posted to a
new job as part of such a programme, it is not merely an orientation assignment. He has
to assume the full responsibility and perform all kinds of duties.
The idea behind this is to give him the required diversified skills and broader outlook,
which are very important at the senior management levels. It is up to the management to
provide a variety of job experiences for those judged to have the potential for higher ranks
before they are promoted.
Job rotation increases the interdepartmental cooperation and reduces the monotony of
work. It makes the executives in general management and does not allow them to confine
themselves to their specialised field only.
3. Understudy: An understudy is a person who is in training to assume at a future time, the
full responsibility of the position currently held by his superior. This method supplies the
organisation a person with as much competence as the superior to fill his post which may
fall vacant because of promotion, retirement or transfer.
An understudy may be chosen by the department or its head. He will then teach what all
his job involves and gives him a feel of what his job is. This understudy also learns the
decision-making as his superior involves him in the discussion of daily operating problems
as well as long-term problems. The leadership skills can also be taught by assigning him
the task of supervising two or three people of the department.
4. Multiple management: Multiple management is a system in which permanent advisory
committees of managers study problems of the company and make recommendations to

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