Standard chartered bank is the bank that I have been working for the last two years. The bank is located in Kenya and offers a wide range of products and financial services to many customers both local and international. The services offered include international money transfers, Accounts, loans, foreign exchange, and many others. This bank is committed to offering quality services to customers and to achieve this goal, all the tellers have to undergo adequate training to ensure that they satisfy the demands of the clients whom they interact with on a day-to-day basis. With this in mind, the bank has various employee learning and training programs that are fundamental in creating competence and professionalism in the workforce.
This paper aims at improving workplace learning for the bank tellers by first identifying the weaknesses or obstacles then developing a strategy towards addressing the weaknesses. The strategies have been backed by research that has already been carried out on effective workplace learning. This paper will focus on shading light on the weaknesses that exist in the way of tellers making good use of their workplace learning to achieve improvements. After identifying the weaknesses, the way forward to improving workplace learning with reference to tellers has been proposed through a number of goals. Strategies towards achieving the various goals of workplace learning have been the focus of this work and the process through which the achievement of the goals would be evaluated.
Weaknesses to learning
Even though the bank has well-developed programs for learning, there are a number of weaknesses that have been identified which deter tellers from effectively using their work to learn important skills and knowledge.
Poor coordination of learning
It is important to note that in the bank the existing learning structures and environment do not provide adequate room for coordination of learning at the workplace. Individuals engage in learning activities on their own and particularly in the specific tasks, they are assigned to in the bank. With this kind of situation achievement of learning objectives cannot be measured and evaluated as required.
Lack of adequate time to settle
It has been observed that the newly recruited tellers in the bank are not given adequate time to settle and familiarize themselves with the work processes. This is a weakness in the sense that most of them are normally still in the excitement of new employment hence they take a long time for them to learn the important knowledge and skills that are essential for their improved work performance in the organization.
Work pressure
It has also been observed that with the increasing number of customers, the tellers are required to meet all the expectations of the customers. This has quite often led to extreme working conditions under pressure. The tellers have to learn to cope with the pressure and also learn important skills. With such a scenario, meaningful learning activities are likely to be interfered with since the tellers are exposed to a lot of work within which they are supposed to meet the customer’s requirements and at the same time learn.
It has also been observed that during the times when the workload is too much,most tellers would focus on completing tasks and meeting the bank’s targets rather than engage in meaningful learning. In such cases, workplace learning is compromised at the expense of meeting the deadlines.
Inadequacies during orientation
Even though all the tellers undergo a mandatory orientation process, there are some issues that are emergent in the orientation program. This concerns the lack of adequate time to meet all the learning needs during orientation. Most of the orientations are carried out in a hurry to meet the staffing demands. This means that most tellers leave the orientation when they are not ready to tackle the reality of workplace learning.
Lack of adequate opportunities for peer learning.
It has been observed that in the bank, there is a lack of proper interaction between the tellers. This is because of the fact that everybody is expected to stick to his/her area from morning till the end of the working hours. Tellers do not have adequate time to interact with one another and benefit from peer learning at the workplace.
Poor interpersonal relations
With the competitive workplace environment, each and every teller would strive to out-perform the rest so as to be rewarded or promoted. This has led to envy and jealousy amongst the tellers in our bank. With such a relationship in existence, learning is interfered with simply because some people do not like to see others being promoted to higher positions.
Goals of improving learning
Orientation program
Being a very important aspect of workplace learning, the orientation program would have to be enhanced to meet the learning needs of the tellers. The orientation should be enhanced such that it provides adequate time for the recruited tellers to acquire some knowledge and skills which can be evaluated before being posted to their respective bank branches.
Peer learning
Enhancement of peer relationships would be fundamental in developing peer learning strategies and meeting the objectives of learning.
Making the workplace environment conducive for teller’s interactions would be very essential in promoting peer learning.
References
Appelbaum, S. H., & Gallagher, J. (2000). The competitive advantage of organizational learning. Journal of Workplace Learning, 12, 40-56.
Billett, S. (2004). Workplace participatory practices. Conceptualizing workplaces as learning environments. Journal of Workplace Learning, 16, 312-324
Billett, S. (2001). Learning through work: Workplace affordances and individual engagement. Journal of Workplace Learning, 13, 209-214.
Billett, S.R. (1993). Evaluating modes of skill acquisition. Centre for Skill Formation Research and Development. Griffith University: Brisbane, Australia.
Billett, S (1993b). Authenticity and a culture of work practice. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Vocational Education Research, 2 (1) 1 – 29.
Boud, D., & Garrick, J. (1999). Understandings of workplace learning. In D. Boud & J. Garrick (Eds.), Understanding learning at work (pp. 1-11). London: Routledge.
Casey, C. (1999). The changing contexts of work. In D. Boud & J. Garrick (Eds.), Understanding learning at work (pp. 15-28). London: Routledge.
Ellström, P.-E. (2001). Integrating learning and work: Problems and prospects. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 12, 421-435.
Hager, P. (2004b). Lifelong learning in the workplace? Challenges and issues. Journal of Workplace Learning, 16, 22-32.
Hoeve, A., & Nieuwenhuis, L. F. M. (2006). Learning routines in innovation processes. Journal of Workplace Learning, 18, 171-185.
Raehalme, O. (1999). The bank office as a learning environment. In P. Ruohotie, J.
Honka, & A. Savanto (Eds.), The developmental challenges in the cooperation of education and training and working life (pp. 71-88). Tampere: Edit.
Smith, P. J. (2003). Workplace learning and flexible delivery. Review of Educational Research, 73, 53-88.