Course Description

There are two great pressures on manufacturing today; both related to change. One is the geo-political, or global economy, the other is the expectations placed on each of us, as individuals, to cope with a very different workforce and a very dynamic workplace. This material covers the information that will help the supervisor deal with these issues and answer the questions that arise daily in the workplace. The course includes: implementing change, the impacts from global competitors, understanding the ‘mosaic’ workforce, committing to continuously learning and helping others to do the same.

Module #1 – Dealing with Change

• Explain the different types of change in order to explore how to analyze reactions to changes.
• Describe the nature of transformation and how it impacts productivity.
• Explore managing a transformation through the three change phases in order to develop a checklist to guide future transformation processes.

Module #2 – Globalization

• Summarize forces of globalization that are at work in the Canadian economy.
• As a member of a team, identify forces that directly impact our businesses.
• Evaluate opportunities to turn global forces into a business advantage.

Module #3 – Resilience; Protection in Chaotic Times

• Assess the types of emergencies that may arise in order to establish contingency plans.
• As a part of a team, identify how emergencies and contingency plans directly impact our business.
• Analyze opportunities to plan for contingencies in order to minimize the damage to business.

Module #4 – New vs. Better; the Innovation Game

• Explain the need for innovation on the shop floor.
• Describe the innovation processes that bring about positive change.
• Evaluate management tools and techniques that can help operations.

Module #5 – The New Workforce

• Explain how racism, nationalism and tribalism may impact the workplace.
• Describe the nature of the multicultural challenges in the workplace.
• Identify the kinds of barriers that exist in the workplaces in order to identify ways to reduce or eliminate them.
• Analyze opportunities to learn from racism, nationalism and tribalism in order to enhance the workplace.

Module #6 – A Look in the Mirror…Knowing Yourself

• Explain the importance of learning my own style preferences in order to help work with individuals with different styles.
• Contrast a minimum of three psychological style theories and self-select my preference based on these styles.
• Explain how preference can clash or can be constructive within a team in order to facilitate groups consisting of multiple learning and leadership styles.

Module #7 – Life-Long Learning

• Assess training expenses in terms of investments in order to measure the impact of training.
• As a member of a team, analyze initiatives businesses and departments develop for learning strategies.
• Identify opportunities to make learning a part of a company’s culture.

Module #8 – Buisness Ethics

• Assess ethical questions and considerations in decision making.
• Apply the three point ‘Ethical Check’ approach to both business and personal situations.
• Describe the nature of an ethics policy in order to develop a corporate code of ethics.

Module #9 – Future Pull

• Explore the ever changing social mindset from the last century in order to analyze the prevailing characteristics of the near future.
• Describe key factors in extrapolation and visionary approaches to the future in order to explore possible scenarios in future consumer markets and relevant corporate goods market.
• Prepare a positive future vision from a variety of perspectives in order to establish goals and objectives.

Module #10 – Skill Building and Application Planning

• Create a personal development plan in order to plan for my future.
• Develop plans in order to build a future with the groups I am affiliated with at home, work and in the community.