Analysis of On-the-Job Training Experience: Strengths & Weaknesses

This report provides an insightful analysis of an on-the-job training (OJT) experience, detailing the effectiveness of various training methods. The author reflects on the challenges and successes of training individuals, highlighting the importance of demonstration, task breakdown, and trainee motivation. The report explores the strengths of OJT, such as immediate application and trainee engagement, while also acknowledging its weaknesses, including the trainer's skill dependency and potential high costs. Key principles like coaching, mentoring, and job rotation are discussed, along with their impact on trainee performance and the creation of a conducive learning environment. The author also draws distinctions between manual and social skills training, emphasizing the complexities of teaching social competencies. The report concludes by underscoring the importance of understanding both the advantages and disadvantages of OJT for optimal employee development. The report is supported by references to relevant literature on the topic.

Part 1
As far as the experience regarding working with the trainees was concerned, it was overall
satisfactory and went really well. The trainees had to go through a little bit difficult training
regime, so it wasn’t that easy either for them or for me. When I started learning as to how the
cup is made it took a long time as I was doing it for myself. However, it took lesser time while
training the individuals. So, it took me around one and half hours to complete the entire exercise.
Part 2
The exercise had been of a great insight for me as it was a perfect example that showed how
effectively and quickly the knowledge should be passed. With the help of on the job training, the
trainees are were taught how to do a work physically by providing a demonstration first. I found
that it was just no enough to explain how the cup was made, but also to let them know that how
the given task was divided into smaller parts and complete them accordingly.
Part 3
1. The strengths of on the job training, as I observed, was the demonstration part used to
transfer the information. It was therefore, a source of motivation and encouragement for
the trainees because the trainees get to see as to what exactly will they be going to learn.
The weaknesses, on the other hand, as far as OJT is concerned are completely dependent
on the extent of skills and methodologies used by the trainer as well as trainee. So, if the
trainer might not be able to translate the key skills required to perform a task then trainee
will never be able to grasp the true and effective methodology. It will be reflected on his
performance.
2. The core difference between the two lies with the fact that the manual skill to be taught is
intended to be observed by the trainees while the social are largely remain abstract. The
problem with the manual skill is that sometimes even if an individual is perfect in doing
his/her manual job, he might not be able to understand the value of being social. Manual
skills are taught in a quick succession because they are designed according to a specific
way, however, social skills cannot be straight away taught and they require no particular
way of teaching or learning. With a manual job a product is clearly understood by us
whereas, it is difficult to understand its social aspect (Ferris, Witt, & Hochwarter, 2001).
3. The trainees were highly motivated as they wanted to learn the task very impatiently. I
was also very excited to utilize my teaching skills. So, for this particular task, the
following principles were used:
 Coaching: it was a one to one training method that helped me to quickly identify the
weak areas of the trainees.
 Mentoring: my main purpose for using this principle was to develop the positive
attitudes in them so that they would be able to go any length to learn new things.
 Job rotation: this principle proved to be effective because was given the instructions and
allowed to perform individually one after the other (van der Klink & Streumer, 2002).

4. The main advantage was that it allowed me to observe the degree of change in the
performance of the trainees. It allowed us to create a proper environment for providing
the training regarding all the related materials.
5. The strengths as I noticed in my own case was that it was easy to transfer the key
behaviors for enhancing the employee’s performance. I found the aspect of the high cost
as one of the weaknesses. It is always a case that even after spending a lot, the training
works well on some while doesn’t work at all on others.

References
Ferris, G., Witt, L., & Hochwarter, W. (2001). Interaction of social skill and general mental
ability on job performance and salary. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 86(6), 1075-1082.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.86.6.1075
van der Klink, M. & Streumer, J. (2002). Effectiveness of on‐the‐job training. Journal Of
European Industrial Training, 26(2/3/4), 196-199.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090590210422076