Peter X. joins the firm with a degree in business administration. For training purposes, he is given a make-work assignment in purchasing in the belief that he needs a little time to adjust to his new situation, find out how things function, get to know people, and so on. Peter is doing what seems to him to be routine clerical work. Requests to buy certain items reach his desk. His job is to transcribe the request onto a standard order form. When information is omitted or unclear, he checks it out with the purchaser and elaborates on the form. Then he takes the order to one of the senior buyers, who tells him whether it is to be sent out for bids or should be placed immediately with a designated supplier. All the people in the department are so busy they barely have time to glance at the order and give him rapid instructions.
Peter does this work for about three weeks and finds it appallingly dull. He makes one attempt to change matters. He goes to his boss to suggest that the purchaser use the order form in the first place and that the department stenographer screen it for completeness and send it on its way. His boss is horrified. He assures Peter that it would never be properly done that way and that Peter just doesn't understand the situation. "Someday, when I have a little time, I'll explain it all to you." That day never comes. Peter checks with one or two longer-term young employees and is told that he is really serving an apprenticeship. If he'll be patient, he'll be given more responsibility in time.
But Peter isn't patient. He can complete his work in about half his working hours. He begins coming in late in the mornings and taking longer lunch breaks. He starts wandering around talking to people to find out what they do. After four months, his boss holds an appraisal discussion with him. Peter finds he is considered to be uninterested, not very hard working, given to socializing on the job, and exhibiting poor work habits. When he protests the unfairness of the evaluation, his boss retorts that he has failed to say that Peter is also argumentative and doesn't accept criticism very well.
An exaggeration? Not at all. The only exaggeration may be that the appraisal was made and discussed after Peter had been with the firm only four months. In most cases the evaluation probably is only in the manager's head, but it is nonetheless used against the employee for a long time. It takes extraordinary perseverance and skill on the employee's part or a great deal of interest and help from senior men to extricate a beginner from such a situation.
Initial jobs and work assignments should be screened and monitored with as much care as prospective employees are given in the first place. This responsibility should be handled by a personnel specialist or a senior employee who has displayed an interest in young workers.
Following are 10 rules to guide the monitor:
- Use the employee's training. Make sure the actual work assignments utilize his training immediately. His skills are at their peak. They need application to secure them and to reinforce his understanding. Thus, the organization gets its money's worth, too.
- Focus on results. Give him assignments that produce whole results, if possible, rather than having him carry out one part of a process or perform some activity both started and finished elsewhere. In this way, the man has some latitude for exercising judgment right from the beginning, and the firm gets a picture of the quality of that judgment and a better measure of his ability to get results.
- Assign him to a team. If a unique problem cannot be assigned because its magnitude is so great that the efforts of several people are required, put the man on a team so that he is in on plans discussions, sees the work flow, and understands the results needed. He thus can do his part intelligently, will learn from associates, and will get a glimpse of what a working relationship really means.
- Make assignments short. Make initial assignments relatively short-term, perhaps no longer than a month; two weeks may be even better. Make sure he knows there's an expected completion date, why that date is important, and what other work hinges on it. This gives him a bogey to shoot for and teaches him about commitment to deadlines.
- Request a work plan. Even if the assignment is for only two weeks, ask for an informal, penciled plan of just how he intends to tackle the job and how much can be finished at various intervals. In this way, he begins to understand how planning contributes to work accomplishment, and his manager can discuss the approach and counsel him on it before he begins rather than subjecting him to possible exhortation and recrimination later.
- Use measurement. During the first few months, hold an informal review at his desk at each scheduled milestone. Congratulate him if he's on or ahead of schedule. Show him how to adjust his planning if he's behind. Work with him on ways to make up lost time that don't necessarily involve greater effort but that perhaps enlist the help of others or that use an easier or better method. In doing this, you help him see the value of measurement as an adjusting tool.
- Enlist the contributions of others. Include items in the assignment that need data or material from others. Make sure the employee doesn't try to do it all himself, thus proverbially reinventing the wheel, but rather urge him to seek the data or other requirements from others. This helps him learn how to enlist help from others with both the frustrations and the gains attendant on it.
- Set priorities. Once the employee has overcome the initial hurdles of working life, assign two or three projects at once all of which must be kept going. He probably needs to learn how to handle several things at one time, and he surely needs to learn about setting priorities. He no doubt also needs emphasis on laying out the steps to achieve a result so that those taking the longest are scheduled to start earlier, thus forcing him to juggle some priorities that may not have been otherwise apparent on a day-to-day basis.
- Keep responsibility in his hands. In counseling the beginner on plans and reviewing his progress at intervals, don't take over his responsibility. Offer suggestions, mention other people who might have useful experience for him to draw on, and propose alternatives if necessary, but leave the ultimate decision making in his hands. He may make some early mistakes. But if he must live with them and, it is hoped, rescue the situation, he will learn and grow from them.
- Give rewards and recognition. When he completes a piece of work satisfactorily, be sure he knows that his contribution is recognized. Have him present his results at a staff meeting. Perhaps your boss might be informed so that he can say a congratulatory word. If the result is unsatisfactory, this is the occasion to explore the reasons for what happened and what might be done next time to avoid the same mistakes and improve matters.
