The Use Of Experiential Training And Development

Erving Goffman explains people's everyday interaction as a stage performance in which participants assume the roles of actors. In this framework, people respond to the circumstances or the expectations of the onlookers in a way similar to that of the actors in front of an audience. On the example of the flight attendant's job, using Goffman's methodological conception, the present author examines'service performance'and offers an analysis of the interaction between the staff and the clients (consumers) as a performance act. The on-stage personnel's attire and language and their use of vocabulary and body language function as props in the specific theatre surrounding according to certain standards. Their role is to make the agent fit with the psychological expectations of the customer. When'service offer'and'economic revenue'are harmoniously exchanged, the business brand becomes yet more convincing , more deeply rooted in the customer's mind, and thus wins over more stalwart customers which further improves the brand image and profitability.The learner-based experiential training, focusing on learner's personal involvement, practice, experience and drawing real experiences from the learning process. Compared to traditional training materials, this method allows learners respond to problems based on their personal experience and real feelings, and thus find better practical solutions. David A. Kolb in his Experiential Learning claims that experiential learning theory provides a basis for education and lifelong learning. The purpose of the experiential learning model is to create a check sum framework to strengthen key links between education, work and personal development. It provides an ability system to describe job requirements and the related educational purposes, and emphasizes the way to enhance the crucial link between the classroom learning and the "real world" through experiential learning. From the above description it can be inferred that training methods enhancing learner's personal experience and observation and helping them better understand and apply the skills will be implemented in the future as the main concept and teaching method of all sorts of corporate training.The author's survey into the realm of service performance starts from the generally excellent impression of the flight attendants'performance (in both senses of the word) in order to specify differences between "action service","reaction service" and "move service", and the actual reward for them. As for incorporation of performance training courses into practical training courses, the author observed their highly positive practical effects. The upcoming trend of experiential training– implementing theatrical courses into corporate training courses– thus becomes quite obvious. Supporting evidence for this can be also found in Peng Yongwen's Ph.D. dissertation "Drama and Training– Theatrical Research of Experiential Training". The author attempts to extrapolate the essentials of this common training to other fields of service industry and to find aspects that can be carried out and accomplished so that they would become effective techniques of business training.The development of (human) performance studies in the West over the past two decades marks one of the fastest growing new disciplines in humanities. Its origin lies in theatre studies, anthropology and sociology; it applies theatrical research patterns to the study of all human performance. Using the basic dramatic techniques, the theoretical part of the'performance'studies method can be applicable in all walks of life. With the analytic patterns from theatre studies.When offering cabin service, flight attendants always attract the passengers with their action so elegance and beauty. What are the training methods to bring this excellent service personnel to the observed highly competitive service level? What are the factors to help flight attendants keep smiling and maintain graceful deportment during their service. What are the reasons to keep this perfect"on-stage performance". During their performance, flight attendants'service includes spectators (passengers), performance space (flight cabin), scenario (service work) and plot (service procedure). How should this"service performance"be perfected in order to guarantee the audience's (passengers) complete satisfaction? The author uses the human performance studies to observe how this high-quality service by flight attendants'in this sector should be performed. The key points studied in the present dissertation include the questions about which courses should flight attendants take, how should theatrical lessons be blended into the curriculum, and what is the effect of their implementation.