CHAPTER 9

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT

This chapter breaks employee development into four broad areas for discussion: 1.) Formal education; 2.) Assessment; 3.) Job experiences; and 4.) Interpersonal relationships. In the realm of formal education, examples of courses and activities are highlighted. In terms of assessment, the chapter describes two major instruments, i.e., the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Benchmarks. It also explains the assessment center and the types of exercises employed, and performance appraisal for developmental purposes, including upward feedback and the currently popular 360-degree feedback. Vehicles for development in the realm of job experiences that the chapter addresses include job enlargement, job rotation, transfers, promotions, and downward moves. The section on interpersonal relationships focuses largely on mentoring and also on coaching. Finally, the process of development planning is described in terms of steps and the responsibilities of the employee and the company (or manager) at each step. The theme throughout the chapter is that the company should provide the employee with opportunities for development, but that the employee must take responsibility for and initiate the planning process. This is important material for the training and development student. The chapter closes with Key Terms, Discussion Questions, and Application Assignments.

Objectives

After reading and discussing this chapter, students should be able to

1. Discuss current trends in using formal education for development purposes.

2. Relate how assessment of personality type, work behaviors, and job performance can be used for employee development.

3. Describe the benefits that protégés and mentors receive from a mentoring relationship.

4. Explain the characteristics of successful mentoring programs.

5. Tell how job experiences can be used for skill development.

6. Explain how to train managers to coach employees.

7. Describe the steps in the development planning process.

8. Explain the key features of an effective development strategy and how e-learning incorporates them.

9. Discuss the employee’s and company’s responsibilities in the development planning process.

I. Introduction

A. Development refers to activities and experiences, such as formal education, job experiences, relationships, and assessments that help employees to grow and prepare for the future. It involves voluntary learning that is not tied directly to the employee’s current job. Training, on the other hand, is related to current job performance and is often required of the employee.

B. Employee development is necessary in today’s company’s efforts to continuously improve quality, stay competitive in the global market, and to incorporate new technologies and new work systems. Employees must also be able to perform roles traditionally reserved for managers.

C. The comparison between training and development is shown in Table 9-1 on p. 267.

II. Approaches to Employee Development (often used in combination): Four approaches are used to develop employees: formal education, assessment, job experiences, and interpersonal relationships.

A. Formal education programs are on-site or off-site programs tailored specifically for a company’s employees, short courses offered by consultants or academic institutions, executive MBA programs, and on-campus university programs. Many learning methods are likely involved, mostly active learning (see examples in Figure 9-1, p. 270):

1. Corporate entry leadership conferences.

2. New manager development course.

3. Senior functional program.

4. Executive programs.

5. Officer workshops.

B. Assessment involves the collection of information, followed by the provision of feedback to employees about themselves, including information about their behaviors, learning or communication styles, aptitudes or skills. Data may be collected from the individual, peers, the manager, and customers.

1. Assessment is often used to identify employees with managerial potential, to measure the strengths and weaknesses of current managers, to identify managers with executive potential, and/or to measure the strengths and weaknesses of team members and team functions.

2. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (See Table 9-3, p. 274-275) is a highly popular psychological test used for employee assessment and development.

a. The MBTI identifies individuals’ preferences for:

1.) Energy: introversion versus extroversion

2.) Information gathering: sensing versus intuition

3.) Decision making: thinking versus feeling

4.) Life-style: judging versus perceiving

b. Sixteen personality types result from the various combinations of the above dichotomies (see Table 9-3, p. 274-275).

c. The MBTI is used to understand communication, team dynamics, work styles, and leadership styles.

d. Research on the reliability and validity of the MBTI is inconclusive.

3. The assessment center refers to a process involving multiple raters or assessors on multiple exercises or activities. The entire process is usually conducted off-site.

a. Outcomes include identifying managerial potential in terms of personality characteristics, administrative skills, and interpersonal skills; and identifying employees with team skills (see Table 9-4, p. 277).

b. Exercises include:

1.) Leaderless group discussion, involving a team of employees who must solve an assigned problem in a given amount of time.

2.) An in-basket, which is a simulation of managers’ administrative tasks which must be addressed.

3.) Role plays, typically involving the participant playing the part of a manager in a predetermined situation which must be resolved.

4.) Personality, interest and ability tests may also be involved.

4. Benchmarks is an instrument designed to measure key factors in being an effective manager.

a. Items measure managers’ skills in dealing with subordinates, acquiring resources, and creating an effective work climate, based on research on critical learning events in managers’ careers.

b. Self-ratings and ratings of others are incorporated into a summary report or profile.

c. Skills related to managerial success are illustrated in Table 9-5 (p.278) and include: resourcefulness, doing whatever it takes, being a quick study, building and mending relationships, leading subordinates, compassion and sensitivity, straightforwardness and composure, setting a developmental climate, confronting problem subordinates, team orientation, balance between personal life and work, decisiveness, self-awareness, hiring talented staff, putting people at ease, and acting with flexibility.

5. Performance appraisal refers to the process of measuring employees’ performance.

a. Different approaches include:

1.) Ranking employees

2.) Rating employees’ work behaviors

3.) Rating employees’ traits, e.g., leadership

4.) Measuring results of work performance, e.g., productivity

b. The appraisal system needs to give employees specific information regarding improvement that is needed, clear expectations, and specific suggestions for ways to improve.

c. Upward feedback is the process of appraising performance by collecting subordinates’ evaluations of their managers’ behaviors and skills.

d. 360-degree feedback is the process of appraising performance by collecting evaluations from all the way around the employee, i.e., from subordinates, peers, customers, the manager, and his/herself. These different perspectives can be compared and create a summary of perspectives on the employee’s performance (see Figure 9-2, p. 279).

1.) Steps involved in development planning using 360-degree feedback include (see Table 9-7, p. 280):

a.) Understanding strengths and weaknesses.

b.) Identifying a development goal.

c.) Identifying a process for recognizing goal accomplishment.

d.) Identifying strategies for reaching the goal.

2.) Benefits of 360-degree feedback include:

a.) Gathering multiple perspectives of performance, allowing the employee to compare his/her self-evaluation with the evaluation of others.

b.) Formalizing communications between the employee and both internal and external customers.

3.) Potential limitations include:

a.) The time demands placed on multiple raters.

b.) Negative ramifications for raters.

c.) The need for a facilitator to interpret the results.

d.) Companies’ failure to provide opportunities for employees to act on the information they receive.

4.) Issues to consider include:

a.) Who will be chosen to evaluate performance?

b.) How will confidentiality of the raters be maintained?

c.) What behaviors and skills will be targeted, e.g., are job-related?

d.) How will full participation and complete responses be ensured?

e.) What will the feedback report include?

f.) How will you ensure that the employee will receive and act on the feedback?

C. Job experiences are the problems, demands, responsibilities, tasks, relationships, and other features the employees deal with in their jobs.

1. It is assumed that job experiences are most likely to be developmental when there is a mismatch between the employee’s skills and experience and those required for the job. Stretching in the job forces the employee to learn new skills.

2. The Center for Creative Leadership conducted a series of studies of key events that made a difference in managers’ styles and lessons learned from experiences. Job demands and the lessons learned from them appear in Table 9-8, p. 283. Recent research suggests that all job demands, with the exception of obstacles, are related to learning.

3. Figure 9-3 (p. 284) illustrates how job experiences can be used for employee development.

4. Job enlargement involves adding challenges or new responsibilities to an employee’s current job in order for the employee to learn and grow.

5. Job rotation involves moving employees through various job assignments in various functional areas, within one functional area of the company or within a work team. One’s title and level of compensation is maintained throughout the rotation

a. Benefits of job rotation include:

1.) It helps the employee understand the overall mission and goals of the company and how the various jobs and functions contribute to achieving those goals.

2.) It allows for networking.

3.) It enhances problem solving and decision making skills.

b. Potential problems with job rotation include:

1.) It may create a short-term perspective on problems and solutions.

2.) Employees may not be given enough time in a position to receive a challenging assignment. Satisfaction and motivation may be negatively affected.

3.) Productivity losses and work load increases may occur to both departments involved.

c. Characteristics of effective job rotation systems (see Table 9-9, p. 285) include:

1.) It is used to develop skills and to give employees experience needed for managerial positions.

2.) Employees understand what skills will be developed by rotation.

3.) It is used for all levels and types of employees.

4.) It is linked with the career management process so that each job assignment is linked to specific developmental needs.

5.) The timing of rotations is managed to minimize work load costs and to help employees understand the role of the job assignment in their development plan.

6.) All employees are given equal opportunity for job rotation assignments without regard for their demographic status.

6. Transfers, promotions, and downward moves.

a. A transfer refers to reassigning an employee to a different job in a different area of the company, most likely a lateral move. Job responsibilities and compensation are not necessarily increased.

1.) Transfers may involve relocating, which can be very stressful to the employee and his/her family, and are not always well received.

2.) The employees most willing to transfer are those with high career ambitions, a belief that his/her future with the company is promising, and a belief that accepting the transfer is necessary to advance and succeed in the company.

b. A promotion involves advancing an employee into a position of greater challenge, responsibility and authority. This usually involves an increase in compensation.

1.) Obviously, employees are more willing to accept promotions than they are to accept lateral moves or downward moves.

2.) Promotions are most available when the company is profitable and growing.

c. A downward move involves giving an employee a position with less responsibility and authority. The primary types include:

1.) A lateral demotion, which is a move to a position at the same level but with less authority and responsibility.

2.) A temporary cross-functional move for developmental purposes.

3.) A demotion to a lower level position because of poor performance.

d. To ensure that employees approach transfers, promotions, and downward moves as opportunities for development, particularly when relocation is required, companies can:

1.) Provide information about the content, challenges and potential benefits of the new job and, perhaps, location.

2.) Involve the employee in the decision by sending him/her to preview the new location or job, giving them information about the location, etc.

3.) Assign a host at the new location to help with the adjustment.

4.) Inform the employee how the new job will affect their income, taxes, and expenses.

5.) Reimburse and assist the employee in selling a home and renting or purchasing another.

6.) Provide an orientation program.

7.) Show the employee how the new job experiences fit with the employee’s career plans.

8.) Assist family members in the relocation, e.g., identifying schools, as well as child and elder care.

9.) Help for spouses in identifying and marketing their skills and finding employment.

7. Externships allow employees to take temporary full-time positions at another company.

8. Temporary assignment with other organizations may emerge from two companies agreeing to exchange employees in order for the companies to better understand each other.

D. Interpersonal relationships can also be a vehicle for developing employees’ skills and increasing their knowledge about the company and its customers.

1. Mentoring involves an experienced, productive senior employee (the mentor) helping to develop a less experienced employee (the protégé). Most mentoring relationships develop informally due to shared interests, values or work assignments, but mentoring can also be formalized into a mentoring program company initiative.

2. Developing Successful Mentoring Programs.

a. Advantages of formalized mentoring include:

1.) Ensuring access to all employees, without regard to race or gender.

2.) Participants can be informed of what is expected of them.

b. Limitations of formalized mentoring include that the relationship may not “stick” if it has been “artificially” created.

c. Characteristics of a successful formal mentoring program (see Table 9-10, p. 288) include:

1.) Having participation be voluntary for both mentors and protégés, allowing for the relationship to end whenever the two parties agree.

2.) Ensuring that the mentor-protégé matching process does not hinder the formation of informal relationships, e.g., provide a pool of mentors from which the protégé can choose.

3.) Choosing mentors who have a good record in developing employees, have the willingness to serve, and demonstrate positive coaching, communicating and listening.

4.) Stating the purpose of the program clearly as well as the roles and expectations of both the mentor and the protégé.

5.) Providing a formal time period for the program, but encouraging participants to continue relationships beyond the designated period.

6.) Specifying a minimum expected amount of contact between mentor and protégé.

7.) Encouraging protégés to interact.

8.) Evaluating the program, e.g., interviewing or surveying mentors and protégés for feedback.

9.) Rewarding employee development, which signals managers that mentoring and other development activities are worth their time and effort.

3. Benefits of mentoring relationships can emerge for both mentors and protégés.

a. Benefits to protégés include:

1.) Career support, which involves coaching, protecting, sponsorship, and the provision of challenging assignments, and exposure and visibility.