Cross-training

(noun)

Cross-training in business operations involves training employees to engage in quality control measures. Employees are trained in tangent job functions to increase oversight in ways that are impossible through management interactions with workers alone.

Related Terms

Examples of Cross-training in the following topics:

  • Cross-Training and Job Sharing

    • Cross training involves workers being trained in tangent job functions, while job sharing involves two people working together on the same job.
    • Cross-training in business operations involves training employees to engage in quality control measures.
    • Employees are trained in tangent job functions to increase oversight in ways that are impossible through management interactions with workers alone .
    • Increases the employability of staff who have the opportunity to train in areas outside of their original responsibilities
    • Workers on an assembly line, who normally do a single task, benefit from cross-training to develop their skills and be able to work on a variety of areas.

  • TQM

    • Cross functional product development, which is a method for involving different functional areas in new product/process development

  • Doing business across cultures

    • The objective of training programs is to foster the four characteristics of preparedness, sensitivity, patience, and flexibility in managers and other personnel (Czinkota et al, 2005).
    • Methods of training may range from factual preparation involving books and lectures to experiential training involving simulations and field experience.
    • Some topics to be addressed in training might be, but are not limited to:
    • Installing cultural diversity training programs can help accomplish this by defining what cultural intelligence is, teaching employees to accept and work effectively with others from different cultural backgrounds, and taking advantage of advice from those who have cross-cultural experience.
    • Managers of businesses that conduct operations in an increasingly global environment face a dilemma when selecting and applying ethics to decisions in cross-cultural settings.

  • Impacts of Exercise on Muscles

    • Muscle hypertrophy, or the increase in muscle mass due to exercise , particularly weight training, is a noticeable long-term effect of exercise.
    • Exercise of specific muscles can often result in hypertrophy in the opposite muscles as well, a phenomenon known as cross education.
    • With sufficient training the metabolic capacity of a muscle can change, delaying the onset of muscle fatigue.

  • Building a Diverse Workforce

    • A diverse workforce is achieved by identifying, attracting, training, and retaining individuals through effective management.
    • As the global economy continues to evolve, the challenge of developing an efficient and synergistic cross-cultural workforce is of growing importance.
    • Diversity training is heavily dependent on identifying an individual's cultural norms and values.
    • Not only should new hires be trained to understand and adapt to diversity, but managers should also be made aware of these cultural trends and be trained to effectively manage them.
    • This is particularly relevant to a global workforce, as the costs associated with recruiting and training diverse talent are high.

  • Cross-Functional Teams

    • A cross-functional team comprises people from different departments and with special areas of expertise working to achieve a common goal.
    • Many business activities require cross-functional collaboration to achieve successful outcomes.
    • The human resources department oversees training, and employees may need new skills to succeed with the new process.
    • This can make communication between members of a cross-functional team difficult and subject to misunderstanding.
    • Perceived differences in relative importance or credibility can undermine the effectiveness of cross-functional collaboration.

  • Training Ethical Decision Making

    • On a more practical level, a compliance and ethics program supports the organization's business objectives, identifies the boundaries of legal and ethical behavior, and establishes a system to alert management when the organization is getting close to (or crossing) a legal or ethical boundary.
    • Ethics training inside corporations is aimed at helping employees address the moral dimension of business decisions.
    • Training for ethical decision making can include workshops, guest lectures, and manager/employee discussions.
    • Most ethics training focuses on clarifying and communicating an organization's ethical code so employees understand what is expected.
    • Recognize the value in ensuring that managers are trained in business ethics and legal standards, particularly in light of the growing complexity of legal factors

  • Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage

    • Resistance training, and particularly high loading during eccentric contractions, results in delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
    • Acute inflammation of the muscle cells, as understood in exercise physiology, can result after induced eccentric and concentric muscle training.
    • Participation in eccentric training and conditioning, including resistance training and activities that emphasize eccentric lengthening of the muscle including downhill running on a moderate to high incline can result in considerable soreness within 24 to 48 hours, even though blood lactate levels, previously thought to cause muscle soreness, were much higher with level running.
    • This has been noted especially in marathon runners whose muscle fibers revealed remarkable damage after both training and marathon competition.
    • These substances then stimulate the free nerve endings in the muscle; a process that appears accentuated by eccentric exercise, in which large forces are distributed over a relatively small cross-sectional area of the muscle.

  • Spinal Reflexes

    • Spinal reflexes include the stretch reflex, the Golgi tendon reflex, the crossed extensor reflex, and the withdrawal reflex.
    • Spinal reflexes include the stretch reflex, the Golgi tendon reflex, the crossed extensor reflex, and the withdrawal reflex.
    • The crossed extensor reflex, is a withdrawal reflex.
    • The crossed extensor reflex is contralateral, meaning the reflex occurs on the opposite side of the body from the stimulus.
    • Although this is a reflex, there are two interesting aspects: (1) the body can be trained to override that reflex, and (2) an unconscious body (or even drunk or drugged bodies) will not exhibit the reflex.

  • Humanitarian Efforts

    • The People in Aid initiative, for example, links seven areas that would improve the operations of aid organizations - health, safety and security learning; training and development; recruitment and selection; consultation and communication; support management and leadership; staff policies and practices; and human resources strategy.
    • Prominent humanitarian organizations include Doctors Without Borders, Mercy Corps and the International Red Cross.