Chapter 9

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

fundamentals of

Human Resource Management 4th editionby R.A. Noe, J.R. Hollenbeck, B. Gerhart, and P.M. Wright

CHAPTER 9

Developing Employees for Future Success

9-2

Introduction

• Employee development: the combination of formal education, job experiences, relationships, and assessment of personality and abilities to help employees prepare for the future of their careers.

• Development is about preparing for change in the form of new jobs, new responsibilities, or new requirements.

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Table 9.1: Training versus Development

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Test Your Knowledge

• Significant Developments: True (A) or False (B)?– There are more horizontal “ladders” in middle

management than upward moves.– Companies focus on employee’s career steps rather than

their core competencies.– Careers are now more a series of projects, rather than

upward steps in an organization– Career development primarily applies to managers. – The organization manages employee’s careers more so

than the individual.– The average 32-year old has already worked for 7 different

firms.

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Development for Careers

• Protean career: a career that frequently changes based on changes in the person’s interests, abilities, and values and in the work environment.

• To remain marketable, employees must continually develop new skills.

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Test Your Knowledge

• An employee starts out as a sales person, then becomes an account manager, gets promoted to sales manager, and is now VP of Sales. Which type of career did this employee have?A. ProteanB. TraditionalC. Glass ceilingD. Dead end

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Figure 9.1: Four Approaches to Employee Development

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Approaches to Employee Development

Formal Education• These may include:

– Workshops– Short courses– Lectures– Simulations– Business games– Experiential programs

• Many companies operate training and development centers.

Assessment• Collecting information and

providing feedback to employees about heir behavior, communication style, or skills.

• Information for assessment may come from the employees, their peers, managers, and customers.

9-9

Assessment Tools

9-10

Assessment Tools:Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)®

• It is a psychological test that identifies individuals’ preferences for source of energy, means of information gathering, way of decision making, and lifestyle, providing information for team building and leadership development.

• This is the most popular test for employee development.

• The assessment consists of more than 100 questions about how the person feels or prefers to behave in different situations.

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Assessment Tools (continued)

Assessment Centers• An assessment process in

which multiple raters or evaluators (assessors) evaluate employees’ performance on a number of exercises, usually as they work in a group at an offsite location.

Benchmarks• A measurement tool that

gathers ratings of a manager’s use of skills associated with success in managing.

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Table 9.2: Skills Related to Success as a Manager

9-13

Assessment Tools (continued)

• Performance appraisals can be useful for employee development under certain conditions:1. The appraisal system must tell employees specifically

about their performance problems and ways to improve their performance.

2. Employees must gain a clear understanding of the differences between current performance and expected performance.

3. The appraisal process must identify causes of the performance discrepancy and develop plans for improving performance.

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Assessment Tools (continued)

• 360-degree feedback can be used for development purposes:1. The rater would identify an area of behavior as a

strength of the employee or an area requiring further development.

2. The results presented to the employee show how he or she was rated on each item and how self-evaluations differ from other raters’ evaluations.

3. The individual reviews the results, seeks clarification from the raters, and sets specific development goals based on the strengths and weaknesses identified.

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Test Your Knowledge

• Sarah participated in leaderless group discussions and in-basket exercises and was observed by a number of raters. Which assessment method was used for Sarah?A. InterviewB. Performance appraisalC. Assessment CenterD. Coaching

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Approaches to Employee Development (continued)

• Job experiences: the combination of relationships, problems, demands, tasks, and other features of an employee’s jobs.

• Most employee development occurs through job experiences.

• Key job experience events include:– Job assignments– Interpersonal

relationships– Types of transitions

• Through these experiences, managers learn how to handle common challenges, and prove themselves.

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Figure 9.2: How Job Experiences Are Used for Employee Development

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Approaches to Employee Development (continued)

• Interpersonal relationships: employees can also develop skills and increase their knowledge about the organization and its customers by interacting with a more experienced member:– Mentoring– Coaching

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Figure 9.3: Steps and Responsibilities in the Career Management Process

9-20

Test Your Knowledge

• Phyllis is in the process of understanding what possibilities exist for her within the organization based on her strengths and developmental areas. Which phase of the career management process is she in?A. Self AssessmentB. Reality CheckC. Goal SettingD. Action Planning

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Career Management System (continued)

Data Gathering: Self-Assessment• The use of information by

employees to determine their career interests, values, aptitudes, behavioral tendencies, and development needs.

• MBTI• Strong-Campbell Interest

Inventory• Self-Directed Search

Feedback• Information employers give

employees about their skills and knowledge and where these assets fit into the organization’s plans.

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Figure 9.4: Sample Self-Assessment Exercise

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Career Management System (continued)

Goal Setting• Based on the information

from the self-assessment and reality check, the employee sets short- and long-term career objectives.– Desired positions– Level of skill to apply– Work setting– Skill acquisition

Action Planning & Follow-Up• Employees prepare an

action plan for how they will achieve their short- and long-term career goals.

• Any one or a combination of development methods may be used.

• Approach used depends on the particular development need and career objectives.

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Figure 9.5: Career Development Plan

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Development-Related Challenges

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Figure 9.6: Process for Developing a Succession Plan

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Dysfunctional Managers

• A manager who is otherwise competent may engage in some behaviors that make him or her ineffective – someone who stifles ideas and drives away employees.

• These dysfunctional behaviors include:– insensitivity to others– inability to be a team

player– arrogance– poor conflict management

skills– inability to meet business

objectives– inability to adapt to change

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Dysfunctional Managers (continued)

• When a manager is an otherwise valuable employee and is willing to improve, the organization may try to help him or her change the dysfunctional behavior:– Assessment– Training– Counseling

• Specialized programs include Individual Coaching for Effectiveness (ICE)– This includes diagnosis, coaching, and support activities

tailored to each manager’s needs.

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Summary

• Employee development is the combination of formal education, job experiences, relationships, and assessment of personality and abilities to help employees prepare for the future of their careers.

• Training is more focused on improving performance in the current job, but training programs may support employee development.

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Summary (continued)

• In modern organizations, the concept of a career is fluid – a protean career that changes along with changes in a person’s interests, abilities, and values and changes in the work environment.

• To plan and prepare for a protean career requires active career management, which includes planning for employee development.

• Assessment can help the organization identify employees with managerial potential or identify areas in which teams need to develop.

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Summary (continued)

• Assessment centers combine a variety of methods to provide assessment information. Managers must share the assessments, along with suggestions for improvement.

• Job experiences contribute to development through a combination of relationships, problems, demands, tasks, and other features of an employee’s jobs.

• Organizations can ensure that women and minority employees receive access to development resources such as coaches and mentors.

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Summary (continued)

• Effective succession planning includes methods for selecting high-potential employees, providing them with developmental experiences, and getting the CEO actively involved with these employees.

• For dysfunctional managers who have the potential to contribute to the organization, the organization may offer development targeted at correcting the areas of dysfunction.