* From the first e-Activity, contrast the advantages and disadvantages of just-in-time learning. Evaluate whether or not this is a valid and worthwhile investment to help increase the productivity within an organization. Describe your personal experience(s) with just-in-time learning.

After reviewing Head First Labs I realized many advantages to Just-in-time learning. One advantage especially in the changing workplace today is the information is learned and retained, as you need it. The learned material is applied to real live situations and not just taught in a classroom setting. The individual is getting to learn as well as apply the information they learned. Continuous or life long learning is becoming the mantra of the knowledge age worker (O’Driscoll, 1999; Rose & Nicholl, 1997).
In todays workplace employers are changing the responsibilities of their employees because of the technological advances. Individuals can no longer rely on a degree they earned several years ago or a training class they attended last month. Instead, individuals are increasingly expected to assume responsibility for their own learning. Just in time learning is also beneficial because it calls for redundancy, and provides the controversial learning style that is necessary in order to retain the information and preform at a high level. I believe just in time learning increases productivity because innovation in learning drives workforce productivity. With continuous on the job learning individuals are able to learn more effectively and increase productivity by applying new skills everyday. I am able to support this theory because in my current position I am constantly practicing the just in time learning theory. Each and everyday in my position I practice redundancy and am constantly undergoing training in order to improve my skills. I believe this is a worthwhile investment for each company.
I do not see much of a disadvantage to just in time learning because as individuals following this learning model we are receiving information whenever and however we ay need it. Knowledge is always at our fingertips and rather than spending countless hours trying to learn some material just in time learning provides the same result in a short amount of time.
O’Driscoll, T. (2001, October). Push, pull, connect, ignore: Which e-learning strategy is best for you? Paper presented at the TechKnowledge Conference of the American Society for Training & Development, Charlotte, NC.

From the second e-Activity, reflect on a job interview or evaluation where you felt that you were unfairly treated or had to answer tricky questions. Examine how that affected your view of the organization and / or the interviewer(s). Determine whether the social learning theory that you researched can be applied to this scenario. Support your reasoning.

When I reflect on a job interview that I feel I was unfairly treated there is only one that comes to mind. At a previous place of employment we had a guideline not a rule that was verbally spoken to us during orientation which states the company would like for you to remain in our current roles for at least eighteen months before applying for other positions within the company or transferring. However, this is just a guideline and not a rule and it has been seen numerous times where individuals have advanced and moved on in the company well before their eighteen months. When I first applied for the company I applied for two positions with the hopes of getting one position in the human resource benefit department. However, if I did not get the position I wanted to at least get in the company so that I could advance later. The later happened and I received a position in client services. After 9 months with the company I was doing fantastic. My productivity was high and my quality was exceptional. I spoke with friends in the Human Resource department and a number of them told me about the positions that had came available. So, I spoke to my current manager who encouraged me to apply. The executive of my current position was not pleased. He did everything he could to keep me from applying stating I must stay in my current position for eighteen months. My confidence in applying had waivered a little bit because of this but I really wanted the position. During the interview, I felt attached. Out the gate I was asked questions like if afforded this opportunity would you leave for a better position prior to the time commitment. I was asked questions unrelated to the job description and basically I left feeling small and quite defeated. I believe was not given a fair opportunity. My resume was impeccable and I answered every question they gave me, but I believe their minds were already made up.
The area of the social learning theory that I think could be applied her is Albert Bandura observational learning theory. In social learning theory “Albert Bandura (1977) states behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning”(Bandura). I believe the behaviors and tactics of the individuals who interviewed me where a product of observation. The type of behavior they displayed in that interview towards me was learned and when applied they received positive reinforcement previously and therefore have learned to repeat this behavior. I can image this type of behavior is still going on today because they received positive reinforcement from my previous executive after they denied me the position due to how long I’ve been with the company.
Bandura, A. Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through the imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575-582
I didn’t think of just in time learning providing this disadvantage.

Many students work while attending college. Provide at least two examples of the halo effect in your place of employment or in the classroom.
In my opinion, the definition of the halo effect is how aany individual in particular a manager can be influenced by a single or outstanding employee characteristic, obscuring their judgment on the employee's other traits. In my current place of employment we are undergoing a major change. We changing platforms and our migrations team is moving clients over to the new platform. I’m not going to sugar code it there are a few incompetent employees in the migrations department, and because of the halo effect I believe the reputation of the entire group is being dragged down. For instance, On a day to day basis client service representative are having to correct the mistakes of the migrations team causing the entire client service department to assume that no one in the migrations department can do their job properly. Often times in corporate America individual who perform one or two spectacular tasks are asked to lead the entire floor. For example, the Halo Effect can also be seen in my current place of employment is in promotions. Client service representative may be proficient in productivity and quality on the call thus being promoted to a senior client service representative (or team lead (. Unfortunately, he or she does not know the first thing about leading other individuals to attain that same productivity and quality component of the job. They have no skills in training other individuals and effectively being a leader. Finally, The halo effect can impair judgment to such a degree that hiring decisions are negatively affected and the company is impaired.
Examine the accuracy and inaccuracy of stereotypes. Determine the impact that even a positive stereotype can have. Support your position by describing a situation where this is true.
Stereotypes are generalizations that are often oversimplified and wrong. In general stereotypes are assumptions individuals make about a person or group's character based on a general image of what a particular group of people is like. There are a number of inaccuracies in stereotypes because they are generally baseless assumptions. The negative effects of stereotypes include hindering communication, diverse employee perspectives. Stereotypes also limit the company’s creativity and even competitive abilities. Another inaccuracy of stereotyping is it stops us from learning real facts about real people. Even positive stereotypes hinder us from learning real facts about real people. For instance, a positive stereotype that can have a negative impact would be the stereotype that all Asians are smart and good in math. This paralyzes us as human beings and can put a lot of pressure on the Asian population. I believe even a stereotype that is seen to be positive can have a negative impact. Also, when stereotyping occurs in the workplace it could hinder the company with regards to talent retention. When we stereotype we do not learn the real person and can miss those cues and instances where an individual can be calling out for help. This can ultimately cause employees to leave the company. In my opinion there is no accuracy to stereotypes. Stereotypes whether negative or positive are false accusations about an individual or a group’s behavior. There is nothing accurate about stereotypes. * Determine the impact of this event on ARC’s “benefits of business ethics” (employee commitment, investor loyalty, customer satisfaction, and bottom line). * Determine and discuss the role that ARC’s stakeholder orientation played in this scenario. * Determine and discuss the ways in which ARC’s corporate governance failed to provide formalized responsibility to their stakeholders. * Recommend steps that ARC could follow to improve their stakeholder perspective.
Include at least three (3) references, no more than three (3) years old, from material outside the course.