Employee
Development
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Development refers to formal education,
job experiences, relationships, and
assessments of personality and abilities
that help employees perform effectively in
their current or future job and company.
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Comparison Between Training and Development
Training Development
Use of work Low High
experiences
Goal Preparation for current job Preparation for changes
Participation Required Voluntary
Time/Period Short-term Long-term
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Why is employee development important?
Employee development is a necessary component
of a company’s efforts to:
improve quality
retain key employees
meet the challenges of global competition and social
change
incorporate technological advances and changes in
work design
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Approaches to Employee
Development
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Formal Education
Formal education programs include:
off-site and on-site programs designed specifically for
the company’s employees
short courses offered by consultants or universities
executive MBA programs
university programs in which participants actually live
at the university while taking classes
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Examples of development programs at GE
Program Description Target Audience Courses
Executive Emphasis on strategic Senior professionals and Manager Development
Development thinking, leadership, cross- executives identified as high- Global Business Management
Sequence functional integration, potential Executive Development
competing globally,
customer satisfaction
Core Leadership Development of functional Managers Corporate Entry Leadership
Program expertise, business Professional Development
excellence, management of New Manager Development
change
Experienced Manager
Professional Emphasis on preparation for New Employees Audit Staff
Development specific career path Financial Management
Program Human Resources
Technical Leadership
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Important trends in executive education:
Increasing use of distance learning by many
companies and universities
Companies and the education provider create
short, customize courses, with content designed
specifically to needs of the audience
Supplementing formal courses from consultants
or university faculty with other types of training
and development activities
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Assessment involves collecting
information and providing feedback
to employees about their behavior,
communication style, or skills in a
given job.
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Assessment (continued)
Used most frequently to:
identify employees with managerial potential
measure current managers’ strengths and weaknesses
identify managers with potential to move into higher-
level executive positions
work with teams to identify members’ strengths and
weaknesses, and factors that inhibit productivity
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Assessment Tools: Myers-Briggs (MBTI)
Most popular psychological test for employee
development
Used for understanding such things as:
communication
motivation
teamwork
work styles
leadership
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Examples of MBTI Use:
Can be used by salespeople who want to become
more effective at interpersonal communication
by learning things about their own personality
styles and the way they are perceived by others
Can help to develop teams by matching team
members with assignments that allow them to
capitalize on their preferences
Can help employees to understand how the
different approaches can lead to useful problem
solving
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Assessment Tools: Assessment Center
The assessment center is a process in which
multiple raters or evaluators evaluate employees’
performance on a number of exercises
usually held at an off-site location
used to identify if employees have the abilities,
personality, and behaviors for management jobs
used to identify if employees have the necessary skills
to work in teams
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Examples of Skills Measured by Assessment
Center Exercises
EXERCISES
SKILLS In-basket Scheduling Leaderless Personality Role Play
Exercise Group Test
Discussion
Leadership X X X X
Problem solving X X X X
Interpersonal X X X
Administrative X X X
Personal X X X
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Assessment Tools: Benchmarks
Benchmarks© is an instrument designed to
measure important factors in being a successful
manager
Items measured are based on research that
examines the lessons executives learn at critical
events in their careers
This includes items that measure managers’ skills
in dealing with subordinates, acquiring resources,
and creating a productive work climate
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Skills Related to Managerial Success
Resourcefulness Confronting problem
Doing whatever it takes subordinates
Being a quick study Team orientation
Building and mending Balance between personal life
relationships and work
Leading subordinates Decisiveness
Compassion and sensitivity Self-awareness
Straightforwardness and Hiring talented staff
composure
Setting a developmental Putting people at ease
climate Acting with flexibility
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Assessment Tools:
Performance Appraisals
Performance appraisal - the process of
measuring employees’ performance
Approaches for measuring performance:
ranking employees
rating work behaviors
rating the extent to which employees have desirable
traits believed to be necessary for job success (e.g.,
leadership)
directly measuring the results of work performance
(e.g., productivity)
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Conditions under which performance
measurement is useful for development:
The appraisal system must give employees specific
information about their performance problems and
ways they can improve their performance
Managers must be trained in providing
performance feedback
Managers must frequently give employees
performance feedback
Managers also need to monitor employees’
progress in carrying out the action plan
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Assessment Tools: 360-Degree
Feedback System
Peers Rating Rating Manager
Form Form
Self
Rating Rating
Customers Form Form
Subordinates
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Activities involved in development planning using
the 360-degree feedback process: (1 of 2)
1. Understand strengths and weaknesses
Review ratings for strengths and weaknesses
Identify skills or behaviors where self and others’
ratings agree and disagree
2. Identify a developmental goal
Choose a skill or behavior to develop
Set a clear, specific goal with a specified outcome
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Activities involved in development planning using
the 360-degree feedback process: (2 of 2)
3. Identify a process for recognizing goal
accomplishment
4. Identify strategies for reaching the
developmental goal
Establish strategies such as reading, job experiences,
courses, and relationships
Establish strategies for receiving feedback on
progress in each process.
Establish strategies for receiving reinforcement for
new skills or behavior
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Factors necessary for a 360-degree
feedback system to be effective:
The system must provide consistent (reliable)
ratings
Feedback must be job-related (valid)
The system must be easy to use, understandable,
and relevant
The system must lead to managerial development
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360-Degree Feedback:
Important Issues to Consider
Who will the raters be?
How will you maintain the confidentiality of the
raters?
What behaviors and skills are job-related?
How will you ensure full participation and
complete responses from every employee who is
asked to be a rater?
What will the feedback report include?
How will you ensure that managers receive and
act on the feedback?
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Job Experiences
Job experiences refer to relationships, problems,
skills demands, tasks, or other features that
employees face in their jobs
Most employee development occurs through job
experiences
A major assumption is that development is most
likely to occur when there is a mismatch between
the employee’s skills and past experiences and
the skills required for the job
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To be successful in their jobs,
employees must improve their
skills.
They must be forced to learn
new skills, apply their skills and
knowledge in a new ways, and
master new experiences.
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How Job Experiences are Used for Employee
Development:
Promotion
Enlargement of Current
Job Rotation Transfer
(Lateral Move) (Lateral Move)
Job Experiences
Temporary
Downward Assignment
Move with Another
Organization
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Characteristics of Effective Job Rotation
Systems (1 of 2)
1. Job rotation is used to develop skills as well as
give employees experience needed for
managerial positions
2. Employees understand specific skills that will
be developed by rotation
3. Job rotation is used for all levels and types of
employees
4. All employees have equal opportunities for job
rotation assignments
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Characteristics of Effective Job Rotation
Systems (2 of 2)
5. Job rotation is linked with the career
management process so employees know the
development needs addressed by each job
assignment
6. Benefits of rotation are maximized and costs are
minimized through managing time of rotations
to reduce workload costs and help employees
understand job rotation’s role in their
development plans
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Interpersonal Relationships
Employees can also develop skills and increase
their knowledge about the company and its
customers by interacting with a more experienced
organizational member
Two types of interpersonal relationships used to
develop employees:
Mentoring
Coaching
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Characteristics of Successful Formal
Mentoring Programs: (1 of 2)
Mentor and mentee participation is voluntary
relationship can be ended at any time without fear of
punishment
Mentor-mentee matching process does not limit the
ability of informal relationships to develop
Mentors are chosen on the basis of:
their past record in developing employees
willingness to serve as a mentor
evidence of positive coaching, communication, and
listening skills
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Characteristics of Successful Formal
Mentoring Programs: (2 of 2)
The purpose of the program is clearly understood
The length of the program is specified
A minimum level of contact between the mentor and
mentee is specified
mentees are encouraged to contact one another to
discuss problems and share successes
The mentor program is evaluated
Employee development is rewarded
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Coaching Relationships
Coach – a peer or manager who works with
employees to:
motivate them
help them to develop skills
provide reinforcement and feedback
Coaches need to be able to suggest effective
improvement actions
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The Development Planning Process
The development planning process involves:
identifying development needs
choosing a development goal
identifying the actions that need to be taken by the
employee and the company to achieve the goal
determining how progress toward goal attainment will
be measured
establishing a timetable for development
investing time and energy to achieve the goal
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Development Planning (continued)
An emerging trend in development should also be
followed in development planning process
The development approach used is dependent on
the needs and development goal
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