Making the Most of On-Line Classes: A Tip to Managers

Online, September 27, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Managers must recognize the importance of on-line classes or courses as a means to improve employee efficiency and productivity as well as allow the employees the chance to develop holistically both personally and professionally. Not only is this option affordable but can be tailor-fitted to the needs and wants of the individual employee.

The classical management approach as popularized by Henri Fayol and Frederick Taylor has left a big impact on how managers and leaders of today do their jobs. The need to focus solely on the organizational goals and objectives has made employee improvement a necessity in order to achieve the bigger organizational picture. Employees nowadays are hired based on their ability to contribute to the achievement of the bigger picture thus, employees are required to have some form of a specialized skill within the organization and must be good at performing it.

For example, in a common factory setting there are positions for assemblers, machinists, maintenance workers, packers, transporters and supervisors. Each of this position requires a different skills-set and trainings which is important in ensuring that the whole factory runs smoothly and produces the desired results or products. This is very much similar to the division of labor as elaborated by many famous writers and thinkers like Plato, David Hume or Adam Smith. In this way, production wastes are avoided and minimal time is consumed to produce an output.

A Changing World

However, with the fast changes happening in most industries and one of which is the increase use of technology, much of the human relation management approach has taken a backseat. The focus now is identifying the faster means of production and making the operation more efficient and effective thru various technological tools and equipment.

It is in this aspect that sometimes the employees' personal advancement are often relegated to the background and sacrificed over professional advancement. When we talk about professional advancement this often refers to achieving a desired skill level or proficiency which will make an employee perform better at his or her current job.

Present day organizations have apprenticeships and trainings made available to employees to improve their work skills. These trainings enable the employees to know how to do their work effectively and adjust to the similar advances in the global technological arena. The need to treat employees and workers as human beings with feelings, families and have a social life must not be overlooked by management.

Tools for Employee Improvement

Organizations must still encourage company tours, retreats, sports events or recreational activities so that employees will still feel they are humans and not just ordinary robots needed to fill-in a vital cog in the production and machinery process. These types of activities will allow the employees and their managers to communicate and interact on the level of peers instead of being trapped in the bureaucracy of a mechanized and cold system. The need therefore to strike a good balance between classical management approach and human relation management approach becomes very necessary in these times of rapid technological advancement.

Management must allow their employees to engage in productive activities that can enhance their personal lives like engaging in their favorite hobbies during their free times. And one such hobby that is becoming popular in this age of modern information and communication technology is surfing the internet. Just like reading a book, surfing the net can be enjoyable, fun and educational in the right context. Management should provide incentives for employees who enroll in on-line classes or distance learning and encourage them to take short courses in baking, learning a new language, computer graphics or programming, how to set-up a business, learning a new art skill, digital photography among others.

These on-line classes may not necessarily be related to their jobs or may even be different from what they do at work and it is actually fine. What is important is that these activities, even for a brief period of time, will allow them to be who they are and at the same time enjoy what they are doing. These are all meant to make the employees develop holistically and not just limited on improving their work skills. In the end, the whole organization will benefit because of an efficient and happy work force.