INTRODUCTION:

Employee development — often referred to as professional development — is the

process during which employees, with the support of their employer, go through

professional training to improve their skills and grow their knowledge. 

Employee development does not refer solely to optimizing an individual’s skill set for a

particular role. Rather, it refers to continued learning that nurtures professionals and

helps them progress on their individual career path. While it’s ultimately the individual’s

responsibility to own their professional development, it’s to the employer’s benefit to

encourage continuing education by providing or facilitating both internal and external

learning opportunities.

Prioritizing employee development ensures that team members' skills continue to evolve

in accordance with industry trends and best practices.

IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT:

Employee development activities help in the growth and development of employees,

who are the true assets of an organization. You need to respect your employees for

them to feel motivated and develop a sense of loyalty and attachment towards the

organization. Don’t forget your employees strive really hard for almost the entire day to

accomplish the organization’s goals and objectives. They need to be appreciated. The

management ought to acknowledge their hard work.

Employees who give their heart and soul to the organization also expect something in

return. Money could be one motivating factor but nothing like it if you prepare your

employee not only for his/her current job but also for future assignments as well.

Employees need to grow with time. One cannot apply similar skills and techniques

everywhere. Technology also becomes obsolete with time. An individual needs to keep

himself/herself updated with the latest developments to survive the fierce competition.
Employee development is important for employees to enhance their skills and

upgrade their existing knowledge in order to perform better. Employee

development activities and trainings make an employee aware of the latest

developments and what is happening around him?

Employee development is important not only for professional but also personal

growth of employees. Employee development activities prepare individuals for

adverse conditions and unforeseen situations.

Every employee likes to acquire new skills and learnings while at job. A sense of pride

develops when they feel that their organization is investing time and resources to train

them. Employee development is essential for extracting the best out of

employees.

In-house and outsourced trainings, conferences, seminars, WebEx sessions make

employees better and reliable resources. Make them feel that the responsibility of the

organization lies in their shoulders only. Trainings indeed help an employee to perform

his/her level best, eventually benefitting the organization and yielding higher profits.

Employee development creates a learning culture in the organization where every

employee is motivated to learn new skills and acquire new learnings. You really

need to give their careers an extra push. Motivate them to inculcate the habit of reading.

Encourage them to register for various online or distance learning courses which will

help them enhance their skills along with their jobs.

Employee development helps an employee to do a self analysis of

himself/herself. He knows where he is lacking and what all new skills and learnings will

help him/her improve his performance and deliver better results. You need to evaluate

your performance from time to time to measure the gap between your current stage and

desired stage.
Employee development requires time, preparation, and energy, but, when done

correctly, it yields significant dividends. (By Michael Zammuto, CEO, Completed.com)

Employee development activities and trainings help the employees to overcome the gap

between their current stage and where they would like to see themselves five years

down the line. Employee development activities not only prepare an individual for

present but also for the future.

Training is important as it makes an employee self dependent and capable of facing

even the worst circumstances with a smile.

Organizations who train their employees from time to time do not face the problem of

employee attrition. Employees hardly leave such organizations where they are being

trained along with their routine jobs.

Employee development also goes a long way in strengthening the relationship

among employees. Individuals as a result of various trainings, open house sessions,

forums tend to interact with each other more and thus come closer. They do not hesitate

to share knowledge, pass on relevant information and even train fellow workers.
APPROACHES TO EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT :

In this chapter, we will cover the 11 most effective methods of employee development.

You will learn when to use them, their benefits and we’ll evaluate which development

method works best for which skills areas.

Contents:

1. Training

2. Task/job rotations

3. Coaching

4. Mentoring

5. Workshops/Committees/Working-Groups

6. Simulations

7. Conferences

8. On-the-job development

9. Self-study

10. 360-degree performance review

11. Career planning

Employees and employers have various ways to go about putting employee skills

development into practice.

The overreaching goal is to strengthen employee’s broad range of skills, whether it be

flexibility, organizational, creativity, communication or leadership.

1. Training

This method includes developing employee skills through a combination of lectures,

hands-on-exercises, videos, podcasts, simulations, and individual/group-based

assignments.

It includes both formal (classroom-based, instructor-led, eLearning courses) and

informal (watching YouTube videos, reviewing educational blogs and posts on peer-

group forums like LinkedIn or chat rooms, self-study) approaches to skills development.

Each option will be specific to an organization’s needs, and the subject at hand.

For example, a hands-on, instructor-led training may be the best option to teach a

detailed process or trade e.g. a complex manufacturing process or preparing a

signature dish for a restaurant.

These extremely specific tasks cannot be taught via YouTube or research, which may

suffice for more general subjects such as building codes or IT support issues.

Employees must actively undergo training (either paid for by themselves or by the

organization) throughout their career to enhance skills they (in consultation with their

managers/supervisors) deem necessary for the role they are performing.

However, organizations must also actively support employee skills development for

future roles/responsibilities that the company hopes to entrust these employees.

IDEAL FOR:

Training is an ideal employee development method when it comes to addressing both

Hard (technical) and Soft (communications, conflict resolution, time management) skills.
2. Task/job rotations

Employees could volunteer to rotate roles with colleagues on a shift/team, to put some

of those new skills into practice.

Employers can also encourage job sharing as a method for employees, who have

indicated their desire to get practical experience, to develop some additional skills.

The goal is to rotate the tasks and roles to learn something new or have a chance to

practice what has been learned.

Stretch assignments: This method involves management working with employees to

understand where they wish to improve, and then finding assignments for employees to

develop those skills.

Typically, the assignments will push the boundaries of an employee’s existing

role/responsibility, to expand its scope to include additional skills needing development.

Stretch assignments could either be horizontal (tasking an employee to use additional

skills to do more work similar to – though not the same - their existing role), or vertical

(extending the scope of an employee’s role to cover down-stream or up-stream

responsibilities).

IDEAL FOR:

This employee development method is the best way to train flexibility and adaptability.

It is also great for extending an employee’s technical skills but, depending on the type of

stretch goals set, could aid in developing other ancillary skills such as Time
Management, Stress Management, and Conflict Resolution Skills.

Everything depends on the role/job for how applicable this is. For example, if you ask a

developer to talk/negotiate with clients, he probably won’t be as great as the manager,

but at least he’ll gain the project management skill to some extent.

3. Coaching

When talking about various employee development methods and their benefits, we can’t

stress the importance of helping employees polish their skills through coaching.

This method of skills development typically involves senior staffers working one-on-one

with less experienced individuals.

This can fast-track an employee's understanding of a variety of topics, but be mindful

that this approach can be both times consuming (taking up the assets of

seasoned/valuable staff) and result in a clone-like knowledge of the subject – as

opposed to an employee learning the subject his/her way or through input from a broad

range of coworkers and mentors.

IDEAL FOR:

Depending on the emphasis of the coaching involved, this can be a fast-track way to

learning very specific leadership and team management skills. It can also be focused on

particular organizational skills.

Coaching is usually a very hands-on approach to skills development and ideal for

developing skills like Technical and Analytical skills. Through employer-sponsored

coaching camps, employees could also pick up invaluable Interpersonal and Conflict

Resolution skills.
4. Mentoring

This method involves senior leaders/management taking junior staff under their wing to

help develop important skills that the mentored individual might lack.

The more formal mentoring programs are typically used for senior executive/leadership

roles, while less formal structures might be implemented amongst junior management

as well.

As with Coaching, be mindful of the time asset, and the even narrower funnel of a one-

on-one teaching model.

IDEAL FOR:

Because it requires senior leadership commitment, Mentoring is typically used to

develop high-level skills such as Leadership, Strategic Management, Communication,

Critical Thinking, and Long-term Vision articulation.

Mentoring isn't very effective in developing skills required at lower levels of the

organizational structure – such as Shop Floor Assistant or Accounting Supervisor.

Coaching might be a better method for skills development at those levels.

More experienced employees can mentor less experienced, younger employees and

isn't necessarily restricted to management. It can be done at any professional level and

is ideal for communication skills, leadership skills, and organizational skills. It can also

be applied to teaching something new or even teaching creativity.

5. Workshops/Committees/Working-Groups
These are methods that give employees an opportunity to interact with peers/colleagues

from within and external to the organization.

The benefit here is rich access to similar colleagues (internal) and dissimilar colleagues

(external).

This broad range of input and knowledge can be useful in gaining new insights,

troubleshooting, and opening up communication on best practices.

This is ideal for communication skills and teamwork but can also be applied to anything

else.

IDEAL FOR:

Workshops are great for developing a range of soft skills, such as Communications,

Teamwork, Presentation, Public Speaking, Networking, and Leadership skills. It can

also be used to polish Research and Analytical skills.

6. Simulations

These are becoming very popular due to both how engaging and effective they have

become.

In its simplest form, a simulation could be role-playing a customer service interaction,

for example, learning how to diffuse an irate and confrontational client in person, or

responding to an emergency situation such as mock first aid scenarios.

At its highest level, simulations can involve completely virtual worlds, such as fire

rescue or flight training where employees can learn the skills required in a

nonconsequential setting.
This is extremely useful in taking conceptual or textbook knowledge and applying it to

the real world which gives the employee both the know-how as well as the exposure

and comfortability in handling such tasks.

IDEAL FOR:

Works for all types of skills. Group simulations can even be utilized to teach social skills.

7. Conferences

Much like workshops and committees, conferences are a useful way to network and

gain exposure to a vast knowledge base of both interdisciplinary and outside industries.

Specific sessions are generally available to increase awareness and training of relevant

topics, often in a pick and choose a format that can be of interest/usefulness to

particular subgroups within an organization.

IDEAL FOR:

Dependent upon the conference’s applicability and specificity, they work for all types of

skills, including hard and soft skills and personal development. It can additionally assist

with communication skills.

8. On-the-job development

Employees who have attended some basic training on a technical skill (whether it be in

operating a new machine, or learning new financial analysis methods) will often find on-

the-job development a great method to hone those skills.

This is basically learning by doing, which is typically done right after the training.
The main goal of on-the-job development is to provide everything to the employee for

self-study while at work. Employees learn how to use something or apply the methods

as they complete the assigned tasks.

This is a very popular way to develop employees as companies typically don’t have the

time to train every single employee on every single skill especially if that skill does not

require specific/advanced knowledge.

IDEAL FOR:

While on-job exposure is typically good for work-specific skills development, this method

can also develop a broad variety of employee skills, including hard and soft skills.

These range from technical skills, leadership development, and analytical expertise as

well as organizational skills such as time management, multi-tasking, and prioritization.

9. Self-study

This can be accomplished through different methods: reading/researching, taking

classes, etc. outside of work hours.

The subject doesn't always relate to the skills that an organization needs, but rather

something new that they believe will improve their performance.

While the time invested for self-study isn't directly compensated, if an employee

purchased a course that will improve his performance, the company should compensate

him by paying for that course.

The benefit is that the employee decides what’s of interest, and pursues it

independently. Conversely, it is often difficult to motivate employees to spend off-work

time devoted to work-related endeavors.

IDEAL FOR:

This is a great means to develop creativity and curiosity, as employees will naturally

choose topics of interest/passion. Depending on the material studied, however, it could

be applicable to all skills.

10. 360-degree performance review

This method involves getting feedback about an employee, from a cross-section of

peers, subordinates, supervisors and external vendors, and then identifying skills

development opportunities based on those inputs.

For more information on this type of feedback consider this article: Performance

Appraisal.

IDEAL FOR:

Because of the fairly broad scope of feedback, this method relies upon, it is typically

good for identifying skills gaps in people-facing roles, including Conflict Resolution,

Communications, Tactfulness, and Interpersonal skills.

11. Career planning

While this method is usually viewed as something that is "employer-driven" – where

HR decides which employee should fill what role – it shouldn't be so!

Employees can also suggest future/alternative career paths for themselves, to their

supervisors/managers, and initiate career planning discussions.

Based on a business goals review and organizational workforce assessment

(see Employee development plan), employers can identify existing skills that need to be

enhanced across the organization, or prospective new skills that the business must

acquire.

Through discussions with management, individual employees should then analyze their

own strengths and shortcomings, and volunteer to take on some of those roles.

Individual career plans can then be mapped out, in consultation with HR, with specific

skills development milestones identified for each role.

IDEAL FOR:

When used in conjunction with other employee development methods, Career Planning

can help identify and develop a broad spectrum of cross-organizational employee skills.

Typically, Career Planning sessions identify soft skills like Communications,

Interpersonal Skills, and Time Management for development in leadership roles, while

hard/technical skills manifest themselves for development in front-line rank and file

roles.
SWOT ANALYSIS :

SWOT analysis helps an organization to focus on its strengths, to minimize threats, and

to take the greatest possible advantage of any opportunities available to the

organization. Using SWOT analysis will force the company to look at employee

engagement in new ways and from new directions. To define an action list, a leader

should select people from different departments or divisions to utilize different points of

view and to make sure that there are representatives from every part of the company in

order to get an entirely different perspective that will be critical to making the SWOT

analysis successful (Parson, 2018).

To construct and conduct the SWOT analysis, questions can be asked of the team that

can help to explain each section and to promote creative thinking. Once the SWOT

analysis is complete, there should be an attempt to match strengths with opportunities.

The company should try to convert weaknesses into strengths and to mitigate the

threats.

Many practitioners use SWOT as a tool for business and marketing but it seems to be

rarely used as a strategic tool to review employee engagement. In this article, SWOT

analysis is used for analyzing a company’s strengths and weaknesses while identifying

both the opportunities and threats that the company faces related to employee

engagement. To illustrate how this works, a sample SWOT analysis is listed below.
TABLE 1 : SWOT FRAMEWORK AS RELATED TO EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

TABLE 2 : SWOT ANALYSIS FOR TABLE 1

Subcategorizing the four primary elements into internal and external factors isn’t

necessarily critical to the success of SWOT analysis, but it can be helpful in determining

the next move or to evaluate the degree of control that you have over a given problem

or opportunity (Shewan, 2018). From the illustration above, it shows that SWOT

analysis assists the leaders in identifying the perceived weaknesses and threats,

developing them with knowledge and the insights needed to make strategic decisions.

The outcomes from Table 1 and 2 captured the strategic items for further development

into initiative actions, as illustrated in the below table.

TABLE 3 : INITIATIVE ACTIONS BASED ON THE SWOT ANALYSIS FROM TABLE 2

According to the results from Table 3, we can see that the SWOT analysis has a

structural approach for the leader to use to translate the strategy into initiative action,

which is a tool for planning purposes. By using SWOT analysis, strategic and corrective

actions will be easier to define. They will also help the leaders to focus and facilitate
them in taking immediate actions to accelerate engagement. Different employees lay

down different weights of emphasis on the drivers which impact engagement. Several

factors that an influence maybe come from include gender, age, diversity and the job

characteristics themselves, thus employee engagement programs should approach all

levels of employee. Many solution providers help organizations to measure their

employee engagement level. For a company, it can become difficult to choose which

provider needs to be used because they often sound alike. As we know, each provider

has their own models, drivers and elements, even if some focus the same. A company

can review, choose or maybe combine which models and drivers are the most effected

and that fit to their needs based on the company culture and employee characteristics.

To plan strategic and initiative action, companies can use SWOT analysis to review it as

it is so simple and easy to focus on an area that needs to improve. SWOT is also

trusted as it is a significant tool for situation analysis that help leaders to identify both

organizational and environmental factors (Gurel, 2017).Employee engagement is the

condition of an employee to commit, to be devoted and loyal and to have a

positive attitude or behavior with a strong, emotional connection towards their work and

the organization. This is characterized by energy, pride, feelings of enthusiasm and

dedication, being a team player, being accountable for their responsibilities, actively

participating in company projects, conducting their assignments, supporting of their

colleagues and achieving the organizational goals and success.

PESTLE ANALYSIS :

A PESTEL analysis or PESTLE analysis (formerly known as PEST analysis) is a

framework or tool used to analyse and monitor the macro-environmental factors that

may have a profound impact on an organisation’s performance. This tool is especially

useful when starting a new business or entering a foreign market. It is often used in

collaboration with other analytical business tools such as the SWOT

analysis and Porter’s Five Forces to give a clear understanding of a situation and

related internal and external factors.

PESTEL is an acronym that stand for Political, Economic, Social, Technological,

Environmental and Legal factors. However, throughout the years people have expanded

the framework with factors such as Demographics, Intercultural, Ethical and Ecological

resulting in variants such as STEEPLED, DESTEP and SLEPIT. In this article, we will

stick simply to PESTEL since it encompasses the most relevant factors in general

business.

PESTLE analysis forms a much more comprehensive version of the SWOT analysis.

This form of analysis is then compared with the company’s internal strengths and

weaknesses via a SWOT analysis. This aids in determining the future scope of action

and in developing measures for strategic management.

PESTLE analysis is often used as a broad fact-finding activity. It helps an organization

establish the external factors that could impact decisions made inside the organization.

By understanding the impact these external factors can have on an organization, it

becomes handy for organizations to plan better. They can form strategies to minimize

the threats and maximize opportunities for themselves.

Consider an employee has to undergo training and development through online

learning. Below factors will make an impact to the employee :

- POLITICAL

Here’s the single most important Political factor affecting online learning:

Restricted internet access

In some countries — most notably China — access to the web is restricted for political

reasons. This makes providing an online learning experience significantly more difficult,

since the learning materials have to be hosted in the appropriate country and must meet

local regulations. Some jurisdictions have more specific internet regulations, which

broadly permit online education, but prohibit the distribution of certain materials such as

maps (especially of disputed territories).

- ECONOMIC

Here are two Economic factors at play in online learning:

Affordability of online education

Generally speaking, online education is an affordable alternative to regular

education, since it doesn’t require the live presence of teaching staff. Also, it’s

incredibly easy to distribute digital materials, since there is zero manufacturing or

shipping cost to account for from copy to copy. As such, providers of online education

can sell their learning materials at extremely low prices, while still ensuring a healthy

profit for themselves!

High initial cost

Despite being a cheaper alternative to traditional education in the long term, there is a

comparatively high upfront cost associated with online learning. This is because

every employee needs access to an electronic device in order to consume digital

materials. In developed countries, this is hardly a problem, since many students already

own electronic devices or could easily afford them. In developing countries, the high

cost of laptops and smartphones may be prohibitive. Thankfully, the cost of electronic

devices is following a sure downtrend.

- SOCIAL

Here are some of the Technological factors affecting online learning:

Lack of human interaction

Despite being an extremely efficient way to learn, online education has the

downside of reducing human interaction. Employees who go to work every

day interact face to face with fellow worker, manager, and various other

individuals such as those they meet in their commute. Those who learn from

behind an electronic display lose this human interaction, which likely plays an

important role in social development and mental health.

- TECHNOLOGY

Here are some of the Technological factors affecting online learning:

Access to electronic devices

As touched on in the Economic portion of this PESTLE analysis, access to electronic

devices is a major constraint in online training. Not all employees have electronic

devices, especially in developing countries, so they would be unable to even use the
online learning materials. In some cases, electronic devices may be available, but of too

poor quality (e.g. too slow) to ensure a positive learning experience.

Internet connectivity

Another major technological barrier to online training is internet connectivity. Even if

employees have a sufficiently powerful electronic device to consume digital educational

materials, they still need to be able to access those materials via the web. In poorer

areas — and equally, in rural areas with limited internet infrastructure — lack of internet

access can single-handedly prevent the rollout of online learning.

- LEGAL

Here are the Legal factors which affect online learning:

Cooperation from publishers

Effective online learning requires significant cooperation from educational publishers,

who often have strict rules on how their learning materials can be distributed. For

example, almost all traditional textbooks cannot be shared digitally. As such,

educational providers would have to use the resources of specialist, online-friendly

publishers, or request special permission from traditional publishers (which is nigh on

impossible).

- ENVIRONMENT

Here are two Environmental factors at play in online learning:

Change in energy consumption

From an environmental perspective, widespread E-learning definitely requires the

electricity to power hundreds of millions of devices around the world for longer periods

of the day. However, it’s important to remember that running offices uses energy too,

especially in lighting and heating premises. It’s unclear what the net effect of a transition

to online learning would be.

Decrease in paper waste

Despite having pros and cons for energy consumption, a shift to online learning would

most certainly decrease paper waste. Think of the hundreds of millions — if not billions

— of paper waste which are discarded every year. With digital learning materials,

there’s nothing to get rid of at the end of the year!

ISSUES IN TRAINING AND EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT

This chapter discuss some current issues in the training and development arena. This

is an important body of information for the employee taking an overview course in

training and development. First, legal issues from the external environment are

discussed. It is critical to know the major pieces of legislation, including the Civil Rights

Act (1964, 1991), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the major requirements they define for

employers. Further, the categories of legally dangerous situations, e.g., an employee

being injured during a training activity, are described. Second, cross-cultural

preparation is addressed, bringing to light the various types of expatriates; dimensions

of cultural differences; steps in the preparation, including the predeparture phase, the

on-site phase, and the repatriation phase; and training foreign employees. Third, the

chapter addresses the management of a diverse workforce, including the two basic

designs of diversity training programs and the characteristics of successful diversity

initiatives. This is invaluable information in today’s global culture. Fourth, school-to-

work programs are described. Fifth, training the hard-core unemployed and the

implications are discussed. Sixth, internal needs of the company related to training,

including basic skills and the glass ceiling, are highlighted. Seventh, joint union-

management programs are addressed and, eighth, succession planning is described.

Ninth, is a discussion of dysfunctional behaviors among managers and how to address

them. And tenth, the notion of linking pay to training is highlighted. These are issues of

which all training and development students should be made aware.

Objectives

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

1. Discuss the potential legal issues that relate to training.

2. Develop a program for effectively managing diversity.

3. Design a program for preparing employees for cross-cultural assignments.

4. Make recommendations on steps to take to “melt the glass ceiling.”

5. Discuss what a trainer needs to do to ensure that school-to-work and hard-core

unemployed training programs meet their objectives.

6. Describe the necessary steps in a program for helping dysfunctional managers.

7. Discuss the implications of a skill-based pay plan for training.

 Introduction:

This chapter covers current issues and environmental pressures, such as legal

issues, globalization, and workforce diversity that influence companies and training

units.
 TRAINING ISSUES RESULTING FROM THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

A. Legal Issues

1. Failure to provide training. Employers may be required to provide certain

types of training or a certain number of hours of training for employees

2. Employee injury during a training activity. Many states require that

employers be responsible for paying employees their salary and/or paying

them a financial settlement for injuries received during any employment-

related activity, including training.

3. Employees or others injured outside a training session. The company is

liable for injuries or damages resulting from actions of poorly, incorrectly or

incompletely trained employees, even when training is conducted by an

external vendor. Training content and methods should be thoroughly

documented.

4. Breach of confidentiality or defamation. Information placed in employees’

files regarding training performance must be accurate; employees should be

informed when their training performance data will be used for any purpose or

discussed with anyone.

5. Reproducing and using copyrighted material in training sessions

without permission.

a. Copyrights protect the expression of an idea, but not the ideas the

material contains. They prohibit the creation of a product based on others’

 original work and from copying, broadcasting or publishing the product

without permission.

b. The use of videos, manuals, handouts or any copyrighted material in

training without the owner’s permission is illegal.

5. Excluding women, minorities, and older employees from training

programs.

a. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964) makes it illegal to make

employment decisions on the bases of race, color, religion, gender or

national origin.

b. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits

discrimination against individuals over the age of 40.

c. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces

both the Civil Rights Act and the ADEA.

d. Still, the US Dept. of Labor has found that training required for promotion

has not been as accessible to women and minorities.

6. Not ensuring equal treatment of all employees while in training.

Opportunities for practice, feedback, etc., should be equal for all employees;

and trainers should avoid offensive jokes, remarks, etc.

1. Requiring employees to attend programs that might be offensive to

them, e.g., scientology principles woven into insurance agent training

programs which some trainees found offensive and counter to their religious

beliefs.
2. Revealing discriminatory information during a training session. Notes

taken during a diversity training program at a supermarket chain were used

as evidence of discrimination.
 3. Not accommodating trainees with disabilities.

a. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 prohibits

discrimination on the basis of disability in employment practices, such as

hiring, firing, compensation, and training.

b. The ADA defines a disability as a physical or mental impairment that

substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of having an

impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment.

c. The ADA requires employers to make reasonable accommodation in

facilities to allow the disabled worker to perform effectively, unless that

accommodation would cause undue hardship on the company. Undue

hardship means excessive expense or loss of production, assessed by

looking at percentage of profits.

d. The ADA is intentionally vague in its definitions of disabilities, reasonable

accommodation, and undue hardship to allow for full coverage of all

impairments and situations and for case by case interpretation.

4. Incorrectly reporting training as an expense or failing to report training

reimbursement as income.

 Cross-Cultural Preparation involves educating employees (known as

expatriates) and their families for work and life in another country.

A. Types of employees in global companies include :

 1. Parent-country national, referring to an employee whose country of origin is

where the company is headquartered.

2. Host-country national, referring to an employee from the host country.

3. Third-country national, referring to an employee whose country of origin is

different from both the parent company and the host country.

B. Negative surprises facing the newly arrived Japanese manager, impression

shock, the Japanese perceptions of American ways, and integration shock, the

American responses to Japanese ways.

A. Dimensions of cultural differences that influence employee behavior:

1. A culture is the set of assumptions group members share about the world

and how it works and the ideals worth striving for. It influences the

effectiveness of various behaviors and management styles.

2. Cultures have five dimensions:

a. Individualism-collectivism is the dichotomy or degree to which people

act as individuals or as members of a group. In an individualistic culture

like America, we expect to be hired, evaluated and rewarded on the basis

of individual performance.

b. Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which people prefer structured

rather than unstructured situations. A culture with a strong uncertainty

orientation favors structured situations.

c. Masculinity-femininity is the extent to which a culture values behavior

considered traditionally masculine or feminine. Masculine cultures include

the United States, Japan, and Germany.

 d. Power distance refers to expectations for the unequal distribution of

power in a hierarchy.

e. Time orientation is the degree to which a culture focuses on the future

rather than the past and present. The American culture has a short-term

orientation and, thus, emphasizes respect for tradition and social

obligations. Cultures with long-term orientations, such as Japan and

China, value thrift and persistence which pay off in the long run.

D. Steps in cross-cultural preparation for expatriates.

1. To be effective in overseas assignments, expatriates need to be:

a. Competent in their area of expertise.

b. Able to communicate effectively both verbally and nonverbally in the host

country.

c. Flexible, tolerant of ambiguity, emotionally stable, outgoing and agreeable,

and sensitive to cultural differences.

d. Motivated for success, able to enjoy the challenges of a different culture,

and willing to learn about the host country’s culture, language and

customs.

e. Supported by their families.

2. The three phases of foreign assignments, all of which present training needs,

include:
a. Predeparture phase is the preparatory period before the expatriate

leaves the States. It is critical that expatriates and their families receive

training in the host country’s language and an orientation on the host

country’s culture and customs. Information regarding housing, schools,

recreation, shopping, and healthcare in the host country needs to be

provided.

1.) Cross-cultural training methods used range from presentational

methods, such as lecture, to experiential exercises.

2.) The rigor of cross-cultural training needed depends on the degree of

difference between the United States and host country’s cultures (i.e.,

cultural novelty); the amount of interaction with host country citizens

and nationals (i.e., interaction); and the familiarity of the job tasks and

work environment (i.e., job novelty). High levels of novelty call for

experiential training methods.

b. The on-site phase, when the expatriate and family are in the host

country, should involve continued orientation to the host country through

formal training or mentoring.

a. The repatriation phase is the time during which the expatriate prepares

to return to the parent company and country.

1.) To prepare to reenter the United States, expatriates and their families

should be brought up to speed on current national issues, politics, and

news stories.

2.) Employees may have to adjust to a lower standard of living upon their

return to the U.S.

3. Virtual Expatriates have an assignment to manage an operation abroad

without being permanently located in that country.

E. Training Foreign Employees

1. Expectations regarding instruction differ by culture.

2. Expectations regarding the learning environment also may differ by culture.

3. Language differences must be considered in preparing delivery and materials.

4. The needs assessment must include examining the cultural dimensions which

need to be considered in the development and delivery of training.

 Managing Work Force Diversity

A. The goals of diversity training are to :

1. Eliminate values, stereotypes, biases, and managerial practices that inhibit

employees’ development.

2. Allow employees to contribute to company goals regardless of their race,

gender, religion, sexual orientation, family status, or cultural background.

B. Managing diversity means creating an environment that allows all employees to

contribute to company goals and grow professionally.

C. Managing diversity has been linked to improved productivity, lower employee

turnover, and lower human resource costs in general.

D. To be effective work teams must capitalize on diversity, beyond racial, physical,

and ethnic differences to differences in communication style, problem solving

style, and expertise.

A. Managing diversity through adherence to legislation means adhering to

affirmative action policies and meeting equal employment opportunity legislated

requirements.

1. This approach fails to change beliefs and behaviors that inhibit productivity

and development of individuals.

2. The Cycle of disillusionment shown in Figure 10-3, p. 376, illustrates the

disillusionment and frustration among women and minorities in particular

resulting from this approach to diversity. Women and minorities often leave

this type of firm.

F. Managing diversity through diversity training comes from the need to move

beyond simply abiding by laws. Diversity training is designed to change

employee attitudes about others unlike themselves and/or developing the skills

and behaviors necessary to work effectively and appropriately in a diverse

workforce.

1. To successfully manage a diverse workforce, companies need to ensure that:

a. Employees understand how their values, beliefs, and stereotypes affect

their behaviors toward others unlike themselves.

b. Employees gain an appreciation of differences.

c. Behaviors that isolate or intimidate minority group members are

eliminated.

2. Attitude awareness and change programs focus on increasing employees’

awareness of differences in cultural and ethnic backgrounds, physical

appearance, and personal characteristics and how they respond to them.

a. The underlying assumption is that by raising awareness about biased

beliefs and stereotypes, this type of training leads employees to avoid

those stereotypes in their future interactions.

 b. There are several concerns:

1.) The approach will be misunderstood as reinforcing negative

stereotypes.

2.) Encouraging employees to share their attitudes, feelings, and

stereotypes toward certain groups may leave employees feeling guilty,

angry, resentful and less likely to see similarities among people of

different backgrounds, etc.

3. Behavior-based programs focus on changing the company’s policies and

employee behaviors that inhibit others’ growth and productivity.

a. One approach is to identify incidents that inhibit performance by asking

employees to describe situations in which they believe they were treated

unfairly.

b. Another approach is to teach managers and employees basic behavioral

rules for the workplace, including teaching them what is inappropriate to

do or say and better alternatives.

c. A third approach is cultural immersion, in which employees are sent

directly into communities where they have to interact with persons from

different cultures, races, and/or nationalities.

d. Employees tend to react more favorably to this type of program.

G. Characteristics of successful diversity efforts

1. Increasing evidence suggests that attitude awareness and change-type

programs are not effective; nor are one-shot programs.

2. A survey of diversity training efforts indicates:

a. The most commonly addressed issue in diversity training programs is the

pervasiveness of stereotypes, assumptions, and biases.

b. Less than 1/3 of companies that do diversity training evaluate it or follow

up. Among those that do evaluate, the typical criteria were reduced

grievances and lawsuits, increased diversity in promotions and hiring,

increased awareness of biases, and increased attention given to diversity

issues.

c. Most diversity training programs last a day or less.

d. Three fourths (75%) of respondents believed that employees leave

diversity training with positive attitudes toward diversity (short-term), but

over 50% said the programs have no long-term effects.

3. Table 10-6 (page 379) summarizes characteristics associated with diversity

programs’ long term success:

a. Top management providing resources, showing support and creating a

culture that values diversity.

b. The diversity program being structured.

c. Making the valuing workforce diversity as a business objective.

d. Valuing diversity and capitalizing on it is seen as necessary to be

profitable.

e. The diversity program being evaluated.

f. Manager being required to be involved.

g. The program being focused on a long-term culture change, not a one-shot

program.

h. Managers and particular demographic groups not being blamed for

problems.

i. Teaching skills and behaviors needed to interact with others effectively.

j. Managers being rewarded on progress toward diversity goals.

 School-to-Work Transition Programs combine classroom instruction and work

experiences to prepare noncollege-bound high school graduates for employment.

A. The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 was designed to assist states

in developing school-to-work systems to prepare primary and secondary students

for high-skill, high-wage jobs or further education.

1. Such programs are time-consuming to implement, but both students and

involved companies stand to benefit.

2. The challenge is to make the program payoff for all parties: employers,

educators, and students.

 Trainings Role in Welfare-to-Work and Other Public-Private Sector

Programs

A. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (The Welfare reform act

of 1996) increased pressure on welfare recipients to find jobs.

1. Under the law recipients have a five year limit on benefits and must find jobs

within two years.

2. Tax incentives are given to companies that hire welfare recipients.

B. There are two primary methods for training welfare recipients:

 1. Government agencies can refer welfare recipients to a company-sponsored

training program that is subsidized with money and tax credits from the

government.

2. State and local governments can provide work and life skills training to

welfare recipients directly.

C. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 created a new comprehensive

workforce investment system.

1. The Cornerstone of the program is One-Stop service delivery, which unifies

numerous training, education, and employment programs into a single,

customer friendly system in each community.

2. O*NET, the occupational network, is a database of occupational information

which supports One-Stop service delivery.

 Training Issues Related to Internal Needs of the Company

A. Basic skills training, has become a necessity for many firms because they

cannot find enough individuals with the appropriate basic skills to hire.

B. Basic skills programs involve the following steps:

1. The necessary skill levels for effective performance must be identified.

2. Employees’ skill must be assessed.

3. Training is developed to address the gap between the skills needed and the

skills possessed by the individuals.

4. Basic skills training should be:

a. Highly applied and contextual so that their relationship to the job is clear

and the content is meaningful.

b. Offered at times when employees are able to attend (i.e., accommodating

multiple shifts, where necessary).

c. Participation needs to be as private as possible, since some find it

embarrassing to reveal that they have basic skill deficiencies.

C. Melting the glass ceiling, or breaking the barrier for women and minorities to

advance into upper-level positions in the company.

1. The barrier may be the result of stereotypes or company systems that are

biased against women and minorities.

2. The ceiling is likely due to reduced access to training, developmental job

experiences, and/or mentoring. Assignments to training, to job experiences,

and to mentoring relationships should be equal for both genders and all

races.

a. Men tend to receive more job assignments with high levels of

responsibility than women.

b. Women and minorities often have trouble finding mentors because they

don’t have access to the “old boys network;” mentoring programs can

target mentoring women and minorities to gain the skills and visibility to

move into upper management tiers.

 Joint Union-Management Programs provide a wide range of services to help

employees learn job-related skills and “portable” skills that are valuable across

employers.

A. Both employers and unions contribute resources to operate these training

programs.
B. For example, the United Auto Workers-Ford Education Development and

Training Program includes:

1. A life/education planning program to look at career interests and needs.

2. An education and training assistance plan, providing tuition reimbursement

and assistance finding appropriate courses at colleges and universities.

3. A skills enhancement program involving basic adult education, English as a

second language, etc.

4. A college and university options program, making degree and non-degree

college and technical training more accessible to employees by providing

workshops, on-site registration, classes at convenient times, and college

credit.

5. Targeted education, training, or counseling for particular segments of the

workforce.

6. A retirement planning program providing preretirement planning.

7. A financial education program including skills-building in financial planning,

investing, insurance matters, wills and trusts.

 Succession Planning is the process of identifying and tracking high-potential

employees, whom the company believes would be successful in high-level

managerial positions (see Table 10-9, p. 391).

A. High potential employees are often placed in fast-track development programs

involving education, mentoring and coaching, and job rotation.

B. Objectives of a fast-track program include:

1. Developing future managers for mid- to upper-level management and

executive positions.

2. Enabling companies to competitively attract and recruit talented employees.

3. Helping companies to keep talented employees.

C. The development of high-potential employees involves three stages:

1. Stage 1: High potential employees are selected—well-educated or high-

performers are identified.

2. Stage 2: High-potential employees engage in development activities. Those

who meet the expectations of the company at this stage advance to the next

stage.

3. Stage 3: The CEO becomes actively involved in the development process,

given that the remaining employees are seen by top management as fitting

the culture and having what it takes to succeed. Reaching stage 3 may take

15 to 20 years.

 Developing Managers with Dysfunctional Behaviors

A. Certain “dysfunctional” behaviors can cause an otherwise competent manager to

be ineffective:

1. Insensitivity or lack of empathy to others

2. Inability to be a team player

3. Arrogance and autocratic approach

4. Poor conflict-resolution skills

5. Inability to meet business objectives

6. Inability to change.
B. These managers stand to fail or “derail” because of these dysfunctional

behaviors.

A. Assessment, training, and counseling can help managers change dysfunctional

behaviors.

1. An example is the Individual Coaching for Effectiveness (ICE) program, which

includes diagnosis, coaching, and support activities.

a. The diagnosis phase involves gathering information about the manager’s

skills, personality, and interests through interviews and psychological

tests. It is determined if the behavior can be changed.

b. The coaching phase involves presenting the manager with information

about the targeted behavior and having the manager participate in

behavior-modeling training. Psychological counseling may also be

involved.

c. The support phase involves creating conditions conducive to the use of

new skills and behaviors. Feedback is given and an action plan may be

developed to outline how and when the behaviors will be used.

d. Participation in such programs has been shown to result in skill

improvement and reduced chance of termination.

 Training and Pay Systems

A. Compensation is the pay and benefits a company gives to employees for the

work they perform.

B. Compensation systems are used to attract and retain employees and motivate

them by being competitive with other employers for similar jobs.

C. Training is increasingly being tied to compensation by using skill-based or

knowledge-based pay structures.

1. Skill-based or knowledge-based systems link employee pay to the

knowledge and skills they possess rather than on what their job requires of

them, in order to motivate them to learn.

2. Cross-training means training employees to learn the skills needed for more

than one job, which is especially useful in a work-team setting.

3. Multi-skilled employees give the company greater flexibility and the ability to

adapt to changes quickly.

4. Tying pay to training means spending more on training and offering more

programs; the training must be accessible to all employees.

5. A key issue is skill “perishability,” meaning that it is the key to monitor skills so

that they are still sharp when it comes time to use them. Refresher courses

may be required to keep skills from becoming obsolete.

Conclusion :

Employee is a valuable resource (asset) of the organization. The success or failure of

the organization depends on employee performance. Therefore, organizations are

investing huge amount of money on employee development.

There is much support for the belief that employee development programs make

positive contributions to organizational performance. However, there is limited

information beyond this basic relationship. From an HRD perspective, research on

employee development seems an area of high importance. Employee development

means more than helping employees become continuous learners, regardless of the

requirements of the organization. To be beneficial for both individual employees and

organizations, research on employee development should seek greater understanding

about the wide range of conditions within which employee development programs exist

in organizations. Undertaking the three proposed research directions would do much for

improving organizational performance in the long term.

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https://www.liveplan.com/blog/what-is-aswot- analysis-and-how-to-do-it-right-

withexamples/

(accessed on 12 May 2019).

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https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/12/20/ swot-analysis

(accessed on 12 May 2019).

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 https://www.valamis.com/hub/employee-development-methods