EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT AND CAREER MANAGEMENT

This chapter details development planning and different types of development activities, including assessment, formal courses and programs, experiences, and interpersonal relationships involving mentoring and coaching. It also provides you with examples of companies’ development systems. The chapter explains 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. It also 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 a major instrument, i.e., the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). It also explains the assessment center, 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. The chapter concludes with a discussion on succession planning, nine-box grid, and onboarding. 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 of a student.

Objectives

1. Discuss the steps in the development planning process.

2. Explain the employees’ and company’s responsibilities in planning development.

3. Discuss current trends in using formal education for development.

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

5. Explain how job experiences can be used for development and suggest a job experience to match an employee’s development goal or need.

6. Identify the characteristics of an effective mentoring program.

7. Describe the succession planning process and how the nine-box grid is used.

8. Design an effective on-boarding process.

I. Introduction

A. Employee development is a key contributor to a company’s competitive advantage in the following ways:

1. It helps high-potential managers understand their strengths, weaknesses, and interests.

2. It shows managers how new jobs and expanded job responsibilities are available to them to meet their personal growth needs.

B. This helps retain valuable managers who might otherwise leave to join clients or competitors.

C. Employee development is a necessary component of a company’s talent management efforts.

D. Employee development is key to ensuring that employees have the competencies necessary to serve customers and create new products and customer solutions.

E. Employee development can help increase employee engagement by:

1. showing employees that the company is interested in their skill development.

2. developing managers who can create a positive work environment that motivates employees.

II. The Relationship Among Development, Training, and Careers

Development and Training

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.

B. 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.

C. Development prepares them for other positions in the company and increases their ability to move into jobs that may not yet exist.

D. 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.

E. Development is especially critical for talent management, particularly for senior managers and employee’s with leadership potential.

Development and Careers

A. Careers have been described as a sequence of positions held within an occupation.

B. A career has also been described in the context of mobility within an organization.

C. A career has been described as a characteristic of the employee. Each employee’s career consists of different jobs, positions, and experiences.

D. A protean career is based on self-direction, with the goal of psychological success in one’s work.

E. The goal of the new career is psychological success.

F. Psychological success is self-determined rather than solely determined through signals the employee receives from the company (like salary increase and promotion).

Psychological Success

A. It is the feeling of pride and accomplishment that comes from achieving life goals.

B. Employees need to develop new skills rather than rely on a static knowledge base.

C. The emphasis on continuous learning has altered the direction and frequency of movement within careers.

D. These new career patterns mean that developing employees:

1. determine their interests, skill strengths, and weaknesses.

2. seek appropriate development experiences that will likely involve job experiences and relationships as well as formal courses.

E. “Boundaryless” means that careers may involve identifying more with a job or profession than with the present employer.

F. A career can also be considered boundaryless in the sense that career plans or goals are influenced by personal or family demands and values.

Development Planning System

Development planning or career management system refers to a system to retain and motivate employees by identifying and helping to meet their development needs.

III. Development Planning Systems

Companies’ development planning systems vary in the level of sophistication and the emphasis they place on different components of the process.

A. Self-assessment refers to the use of information by employees to determine their career interests, values, aptitudes, and behavioral tendencies.

B. It often involves psychological tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI, a type of personality assessment described later in the chapter), the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory, and the Self-Directed Search.

C. Through the assessment, a development need can be identified. This need can result from gaps between current skills and/or interests and the type of work or position the employee wants.

D. The assessment allows employees to identify capabilities they are lacking and provides them with specific information about what they can do to develop skills through training, job experience, or enrolling in an academic program.

Reality Check

Reality check refers to the information employees receive about how the company evaluates their skills and knowledge and where they fit into the company’s plans (potential promotion opportunities, lateral moves). Usually, this information is provided by the employee’s manager as part of the performance appraisal.

Goal Setting

Goal setting refers to the process of employees developing short- and long-term development objectives. These goals usually relate to desired positions (such as becoming sales manager within three years), level of skill application (use one’s budgeting skills to improve the unit’s cash flow problems), work setting (move to corporate marketing within two years), or skill acquisition (learn how to use the company’s human resource information system).

Action Planning

An action plan is a written strategy that employees use to determine how they will achieve their short- and long-term career goals.

Examples of Career Management and Development Systems

A. Companies are using technology to provide employees with greater access and give them more responsibility for managing their own careers.

B. Examples of Sprint, Automatic Data Processing, General Mills’s, Walgreens, and IBM’s Blue Opportunities.

IV. Approaches to Employee Development

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

Formal Education

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. These programs may involve lectures by business experts, business games and simulations, adventure learning, and meetings with customers.

B. Most formal education programs actively involve the employees in learning. Separate programs are usually offered for supervisors, middle managers, and executives. Special programs for particular jobs (such as engineer) are also available.

Executive Education

A. Executive education includes executive MBA programs, as well as specialized curriculum on topics such as leadership, entrepreneurship, change, innovation, and global business.

B. Executive education programs typically involve a blended learning approach.

C. Managers visit campus for face-to-face instruction and, between sessions, work online on assignments such as team projects, cases, or reading assignments.

D. In addition to blended learning, business schools or other educational institutions have begun offering companies in-house, customized programs to help managers gain real-world skills and study problems in real-world environments—without requiring the managers to disrupt their work by requiring them to travel to campus. These programs supplement formal courses from consultants or university faculty with other types of development activities.

E. One of the challenges the company faces is how to get its managers to understand the global challenges facing the steel industry. As a result, the program involves middle managers visiting steel plants in both mature and emerging markets to gain an understanding of the technology and management processes of a more established steel plant compared to a growing steel plant.

Tuition Reimbursement

A. Tuition reimbursement refers to the practice of reimbursing employees’ costs for college and university courses and degree programs.

B. Enrollment in executive education programs or MBA programs may be limited to managers or employees identified to have management potential. As a result, many companies also provide tuition reimbursement as a benefit for all employees to encourage them to develop on their own.

C. These courses include face-to-face classroom instruction, online learning, and blended learning.

D. Companies that have evaluated tuition reimbursement programs have found that the programs increase employee retention rates and readiness for promotion, and improve job performance.

Assessment

A. Assessment involves collecting information and providing feedback to employees about their behavior, communication style, or skills.

B. The employees, their peers, managers, and customers may provide information.

C. Assessments are used for several reasons:

1. Assessment is most frequently used to identify employees with managerial potential and to measure current managers’ strengths and weaknesses.

2. Assessment is also used to identify managers with the potential to move into higher-level executive positions.

3. Assessment can be used with work teams to identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual team members and the decision processes or communication styles that inhibit the team’s productivity.

D. Assessments can help employees understand their tendencies, needs, the type of work environment they prefer, and the type of work they might prefer to do.

E. Many companies use employee performance evaluations.

F. Companies with sophisticated development systems use psychological tests to measure employees’ skills, interests, personality types, and communication styles.

G. Self, peer, and manager ratings of employees’ interpersonal styles and behaviors may also be collected.

H. Popular assessment tools include personality tests, assessment center performance appraisal, and 360-degree feedback.

Personality Tests and Inventories

A. Tests are used to determine if employees have the personality characteristics necessary to be successful in specific managerial jobs or jobs involving international assignments. They are used to help employees gain self-awareness of how they respond to conflict, what motivates them, how they solve problems, and how they react to stress.

B. Some personality tests such as the NEO Personality Inventory (or the NEO-PRI) measure openness to new experiences, conscientiousness or dependability, emotional stability, assertiveness, and the ability to get along with other people.

C. Two popularly used assessment tools are DiSC and the MBTI, which can be used to help employees better understand how to adapt and change their behavior to be a more effective leader or team member.

D. The DiSC measures personality and behavioral style, including dominance (direct, strong-willed, forceful), influence (sociable, talkative), steadiness (gentle, accommodating) and conscientiousness (private, analytical).

Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI)

A. MBTI is used for team building and leadership development that identifies employees’ preferences for energy, information gathering, decision making, and lifestyle.

B. The Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) determines which one of sixteen personality types fits best. The sixteen unique personality types are based on preferences for introversion (I) or extraversion (E), sensing (S) or intuition (N), thinking (T) or feeling (F), and judging (J) or perceiving (P).

C. Each personality type has implications for work habits and interpersonal relationships.

Assessment Center

A. At an assessment center, multiple raters or evaluators (assessors) evaluate employees’ performance on a number of exercises.

B. An assessment center is usually an off-site location such as a conference center.

C. Assessment centers are primarily used to identify if employees have the personality characteristics, administrative skills, and interpersonal skills needed for managerial jobs.

D. They are also increasingly being used to determine if employees have the necessary skills to work in teams.

E. The types of exercises used in assessment centers include leaderless group discussions, interviews, in-baskets, and role plays.

1. In a leaderless group discussion, a team of five to seven employees is assigned a problem and must work together to solve it within a certain time period.

2. In the interview, employees answer questions about their work and personal experiences, skill strengths and weaknesses, and career plans.

3. An in-basket is a simulation of the administrative tasks of the manager’s job. The exercise includes a variety of documents that may appear in the in-basket, e-mail, or on a manager’s desk.

4. Role plays refer to the participant taking the part or role of a manager or other employee.

F. Assessment center exercises are designed to measure employees’ administrative and interpersonal skills.

Performance Appraisals and 360-Degree Feedback Systems

A. Performance appraisal is the process of measuring employees’ performance. Performance appraisal information can be useful for employee development under certain conditions.

B. This includes providing a clear understanding of the differences between current performance and expected performance, identifying causes of the performance discrepancy, and developing action plans to improve performance.

C. Managers must be trained in frequent performance feedback.

D. Upward feedback and 360-degree feedback are popular tools for development, particularly for managers.

1. Upward feedback refers to appraisal that involves collecting subordinates’ evaluations of managers’ behaviors or skills.

2. The 360-degree feedback process is a special case of upward feedback, in which, employees’ behaviors or skills are evaluated not only by subordinates but by peers, customers, their bosses, and themselves.

3. Type of activities involved in using 360-degree feedback for development:

a. Understand strengths and weaknesses

b. Identify a development goal

c. Identify a process for recognizing goal accomplishment

d. Identify strategies for reaching the development goal

4. 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.

5. 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.

Job Experiences

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

B. 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.

C. 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. Recent research suggests that all job demands, with the exception of obstacles, are related to learning.

Enlarging the Current Job

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

B. This could include special project assignments, switching roles within a work team, or researching new ways to serve clients and customers.

Job Rotation

A. 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

B. 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.

C. 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.

D. Characteristics of effective job rotation systems include:

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

2. Employees understand specific skills that 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.

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. Provide clear performance objectives and early feedback about their job performance.

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

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

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

7. Provide an orientation program.

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

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

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

E. Externships allow employees to take a full-time operational role at another company.

Temporary Assignments, Projects, Volunteer Work, and Sabbaticals

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

B. Volunteer assignments can also be used for development. They may offer employees opportunities to manage change, to teach, to take on a higher level of responsibility, or to be exposed to other job demands.

C. Temporary assignments can include a sabbatical (a leave of absence from the company to renew or develop skills). Employees on sabbatical often receive full pay and benefits. Sabbaticals improve employee well-being through reducing stress and burnout and helping them acquire new skills and perspectives.

How to Match Job Experiences to Employees’ Development Needs and Goals

A. Job experiences are used for development in companies of all sizes, but their type and availability vary.

B. Large companies have the ability to provide high-potential employees with many different kinds of developmental experiences.

C. Smaller companies might not have the same type or number of development experiences at work, but can encourage employees to get relevant experiences outside of work.

D. Regardless of the size of the company, for job experiences to be an effective development activity, they should be tailored to employees’ development needs and goals.

Interpersonal Relationships

Employees can also develop skills and increase their knowledge about the company and its customers by interacting with a more experienced organization member. Mentoring and coaching are two types of interpersonal relationships that are used to develop employees.

Mentoring

A. 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.

B. 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.

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

D. Characteristics of a successful formal mentoring program include:

1. Having participation to 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. Mentor-protégé matching based on how the mentor’s skills can help meet the protégé’s needs

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

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

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

8. Determining the mechanics of the relationship between mentors and protégés

9. Encouraging protégés to interact.

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

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

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

1. Benefits to protégés include:

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

b. Psychosocial support, which includes friendship, a role model, acceptance, and an outlet to talk about anxieties and fears

c. Skill development

d. Higher rates of promotion

e. Larger salaries

f. Greater organizational influence

2. Benefits to mentors include:

a. Developing interpersonal skills

b. Increased self-esteem and sense of worth to the company

c. Access to new knowledge in their field

F. Purposes of mentoring programs:

1. Socializing new employees

2. Maximizing transfer of learning from training to the work setting

3. Helping women and minorities gain experience and exposure needed for managerial positions

4. Sharing information

G. In a group mentoring program, one mentor is paired with four to six protégés, allowing protégés to learn from each other as well as from the mentor and requiring fewer mentors than traditional one-on-one arrangements.

Coaching

A. A coach is a peer or manager who works directly with an employee to help him/her develop skills, generate his/her motivation, and provide reinforcement and feedback. The coach can play three roles:

1. One-on-one directing the employee and giving him/her feedback

2. Helping the employee learn for him/herself, e.g., pointing him/her to appropriate resources

3. Providing resources, e.g., mentors, courses, or experiences, to which the employee might not otherwise have access

B. To develop coaching skills, four issues need to be addressed:

1. Managers may be reluctant to discuss performance issues to avoid confrontation

2. Managers may be better able to identify performance issues in employees than to solve them

3. Managers may fear that employees will perceive coaching as criticism

4. Managers may feel they don’t have time to coach effectively

Succession Planning

A. Succession planning refers to the process of identifying, evaluating, developing, and tracking high potential employees who are capable of moving into higher-level managerial positions.

B. Succession planning helps organizations on several different ways.

1. It identifies and prepares future company leaders

2. It helps ensure that the company runs smoothly when key employees and managers leave, and creates opportunities for development and promotion.

3. It provides a set of development experiences that managers must complete to be considered for top management positions

4. Succession planning also helps attract and retain managerial employees by providing them with development opportunities that they can complete if upper management is a career goal for them.

C. High-potential employees are those people that the company believes are capable of being successful in higher-level managerial positions, such as general manager of a strategic business unit, functional director (such as director of marketing), or CEO.

D. Assessing and making development plans using the nine-box grid:

1. The nine-box grid is a three-by-three matrix used by groups of managers and executives to compare employees within one department, function, division, or the entire company.

2. One axis of the matrix is based on an assessment of job performance. The other axes are typically labeled “potential” or “promotability.”

3. High-potential employees—with high performance are found in the top-right corner of the matrix. These are employees who should be developed for leadership positions in the company.

E. One advantage to making a succession planning list public or telling employees who are on the list is that they are more likely to stay with the company because they understand they likely will have new career opportunities. Another is that high-potential employees who are not interested in other positions can communicate their intentions. This helps the company avoid investing costly development resources in them and allows the company to have a more accurate idea of its high-potential managerial talent.

F. The disadvantages of identifying high-potential employees are that those not on the list may become discouraged and leave the company, or changes in business strategy or employees’ performance could take them off the list. Also, employees might not believe they have had a fair chance to compete for leadership positions if they already know that a list of potential candidates has been established.

Developing Managers with Dysfunctional Behaviors

A. A number of studies have identified managerial behaviors that can cause an otherwise competent manager to be a “toxic” or ineffective manager. These behaviors include insensitivity to others, inability to be a team player, arrogance, poor conflict-management skills, inability to meet business objectives, and inability to change or adapt during a transition.

B. Onboarding or socialization refers to the process of helping new hires adjust to social and performance aspects of their new jobs. Effective onboarding includes understanding mundane tasks, such as completing tax forms and knowing how to complete time sheets or travel reimbursement forms.

C. Characteristics of effective onboarding programs include:

1. Employees are encouraged to ask questions.

2. The program includes information on both technical and social aspects of the job.

3. The employee’s manager has some onboarding responsibility.

4. Debasing or embarrassing new employees is avoided.

5. Employees learn about the company culture, history, language, products, services, and customers.

6. Follow-up of employee progress occurs at different points up to one year after joining the company.

7. The program involves participation, active involvement, and formal and informal interaction between new hires and current employees.

8. Relocation assistance is provided (such as house hunting or information sessions on the community for employees and their significant others).

Chapter Summary

The chapter begins with a description of the steps of the development planning process, and highlighting the responsibilities of both the employee and the company at each step. The framework of the chapter provided the student with an interesting discussion of employee development. Four major approaches to development were addressed. First, formal education programs were highlighted. Second, assessment for developmental purposes was discussed, including much information on the popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) instruments for measuring key factors in being a manager. Other assessment activities described in the chapter were the assessment center and performance appraisals. The currently popular appraisal method called 360-degree feedback was detailed. Third, job experiences for development were discussed, with focus on job rotation and transfers. Fourth, interpersonal relationships were addressed, with the focus being on mentoring. Benefits and limitations of the various development vehicles were discussed. Finally, the chapter concluded with discussion on succession planning. This chapter provides the student a very current look at the activities and events through which employees can intentionally develop. The key is for both the employee and the company to plan for development and to very intentionally engage in activities that are developmental.

Discussion Questions

1. How could assessment be used to create a productive work team?

Answer: Assessment can be used with work teams to identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual team members and the decision processes or communication styles that inhibit the team’s productivity.(p. 380)

2. List and explain the characteristics of effective 360-degree feedback systems.

Answer: The system must provide reliable or consistent ratings and competencies, raters’ confidentiality is maintained, the behaviors or skills assessed are job-related (valid), the system is easy to use, and managers receive and act on the feedback. (p. 384-385)

3. Why do companies develop formal mentoring programs? What are the potential benefits for the mentor? For the protégé?

Answer: One major advantage of formalized mentoring programs is that they ensure access to mentors for all employees, regardless of gender or race. An additional advantage is that participants in the mentoring relationship know what is expected of them.

Both mentors and protégés can benefit from a mentoring relationship. Research suggests that mentors provide career and psychosocial support to their protégés. Career support includes coaching, protection, sponsorship, and providing challenging assignments, exposure, and visibility. Psychosocial support includes serving as a friend and a role model, providing positive regard and acceptance, and creating an outlet for the protégé to talk about anxieties and fears. Additional benefits for the protégé include higher rates of promotion, higher salaries, and greater organizational influence. Mentoring relationships provide opportunities for mentors to develop their interpersonal skills and increase their feelings of self-esteem and worth to the organization. For individuals in technical fields such as engineering or health services, the protégé may help them gain knowledge about important new scientific developments in their field (p. 395; 397)

4. Your boss is interested in hiring a consultant to help identify potential managers among current employees of a fast-food restaurant. The manager’s job is to help wait on customers and prepare food during busy times, oversee all aspects of restaurant operations (including scheduling, maintenance, on-the-job training, and food purchase), and motivate employees to provide high-quality service. The manager is also responsible for resolving disputes between employees. The position involves working under stress and coordinating several activities at one time. She asks you to outline the type of assessment program that you believe would do the best job of identifing employees who will be successful managers. What will you tell her?

Answer: The ideal management assessment program for this type of position would rely heavily on role-plays and leaderless group discussions, in which the potential manager’s ability to motivate and resolve conflicts between employees, as well as their technique in handling customer complaints, is exercised. The assessment should also have in-basket and scheduling exercises to gauge their ability to make a work schedule. (p. 383; Table 9.4)

5. Many employees are unwilling to relocate geographically because they like their current community and their spouses and children prefer not to move. Yet employees need to develop new skills, strengthen skill weaknesses, and be exposed to new aspects of the business to prepare for management positions. How could an employee’s current job be changed to develop management skills without having to relocate them?

Answer: The employee would need an enlargement of their job experiences, so it would be useful to increase their responsibility, giving them a leadership position over a task force or committee.

Job rotation gives employees a series of job assignments in various functional areas of the company or movement among jobs in a single functional area or department. Job rotation helps employees gain an overall appreciation of the company’s goals, increases their understanding of different company functions, develops a network of contacts, and improves problem-solving and decision-making skills. (p. 388-389)

6. What is coaching? Is there only one type of coaching? Explain.

Answer: Coaching is working with employees to motivate them. There are many ways to coach, involving a combination of providing one-on-one feedback, putting the employee in touch with experts, teaching them how to get feedback from others, and putting the employee in touch with resources that they may otherwise not have access to. (p. 398)

7. Why are many managers reluctant to coach their employees?

Answer: First, managers may be reluctant to discuss performance issues because they want to avoid confrontation. Second, managers may be better able to identify problems than to solve them. Third, managers may feel that the employee might interpret coaching as criticism. Finally, as companies downsize and operate with fewer employees, managers may feel that there is not enough time for coaching. (p. 398-399)

8. Why should companies be interested in helping employees plan their development? What benefits can companies gain? What are the risks?

Answer: It helps retain valuable managers who might otherwise leave to join clients or competitors. It is also important to emphasize that development is important for all employees, not just managers. Employee development is a necessary component of a company’s talent management efforts. Employee development is the key to ensuring that employees have the competencies necessary to serve customers and create new products and customer solutions. Regardless of the business strategy, development is also important for retaining talented employees. Employee development can help increase employee engagement by (1) showing employees that the company is interested in their skill development, and (2) by developing managers who can create a positive work environment that makes employee’s want to come work and motivated to contribute to company goals. Careers are best managed through partnerships between employees and their company that create a positive relationship through which employees are committed to the organization but can take personal control for managing their own careers to benefit themselves and the company. (p. 367)

9. What are the manager’s roles in a development system? Which role do you think is most difficult for the typical manager? Which is the easiest role? List the reasons why managers might resist involvement in career management.

Answer: Student answers will vary. The role of the manager includes:

• Providing assessment information to identify strengths, weaknesses, interests, and values.

• Communicating performance evaluation, where employee fits in long-range plans of the company, changes in industry, profession, and workplace.

• Ensuring that goal is SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely); commit to help employee reach the goal.

• Identifying resources employee needs to reach goal, including additional assessment, courses, work experiences, and relationships.

The most difficult for the typical manager would be providing assessment information, especially identifying weaknesses. The easiest would be ensuring the goal is SMART.

Today’s careers are known as protean careers, which are based on self-direction, with the goal of psychological success in one’s work. Employees take major responsibility for managing their careers.

The goal of the new career is psychological success: the feeling of pride and accomplishment that comes from achieving life goals that are not limited to achievements at work (such as raising a family and having good physical health). Psychological success is more under the employee’s control than the traditional career goals, which were not only influenced by employee effort but were controlled by the availability of positions in the company. Psychological success is self-determined rather than solely determined through signals the employee receives from the company (like salary increase and promotion).

Traditional career patterns consisted of a series of steps arranged in a linear hierarchy, with higher steps related to increased authority, responsibility, and compensation. The new career patterns mean that developing employees (as well as employees taking control of their own careers) must be provided with the opportunity to (a) determine their interests, skill strengths, and weaknesses; and (b) based on this information, seek appropriate development experiences that will likely involve job experiences and relationships as well as formal courses.

The most appropriate view of today’s careers are that they are “boundaryless and often change.” It includes movement across several employers (also known as job hopping) or even different occupations. (p. 368-370)

10. What should be included in a development plan? What do you think is the most important part of the plan for ensuring that employees develop? Explain your choice.

Answer: Student Answers will vary. Development plans usually include descriptions of strengths and weaknesses, career goals, and development activities for reaching the career goal. An effective development plan focuses on development needs that are most relevant to the organization’s strategic objectives. (p. 371-372; Figure 9.2)

11. Should a company identify and formally acknowledge its high-potential managers or should it be kept secret? Should managers know they are considered high-potential managers? Explain your positions.

Answer: Student answers will vary. One advantage to making a succession planning list public or telling employees who are on the list is that they are more likely to stay with the company because they understand they likely will have new career opportunities. Another is that high-potential employees who are not interested in other positions can communicate their intentions. This helps the company avoid investing costly development resources in them and allows the company to have a more accurate idea of its high-potential managerial talent. The disadvantages of identifying high-potential employees are that those not on the list may become discouraged and leave the company, or changes in business strategy or employees’ performance could take them off the list. Also, employees might not believe they have had a fair chance to compete for leadership positions if they already know that a list of potential candidates has been established. One way to avoid these problems is to let employees know they are on the list but not discuss a specific position that they will likely reach. Another is to review the list of candidates frequently and clearly communicate plans and expectations. (p. 403)

12. Nationwide Financial, a 5,000-employee life insurance company based in Columbus, Ohio, uses the nine-box grid for its succession review. What type of development plans and activities would you recommend for solid but not outstanding performers with moderate leadership potential? How would these plans differ from employees with high potential and high performance (stars)? Explain.

Answer: Employees in the middle of the grid, core employees, are solid but not outstanding performers who have moderate potential. Development plans for these employees will include a mix of training and development designed to help ensure that their solid performance continues. Also, core employees’ development plans likely include some development experiences that can help grow their skills and determine their interest and ability to perform in positions requiring different skills and/or more responsibility.

High-potential employees—with high performance are found in the top-right corner of the matrix. These are employees who should be developed for leadership positions in the company. (p. 400-401)

13. Explain the four steps in on-boarding. What should new hires learn at each step? How might social media or the Internet aid the on-boarding process?

Answer: Effective onboarding involves the four steps. Effective onboarding includes understanding mundane tasks, such as completing tax forms and knowing how to complete time sheets or travel reimbursement forms. But it goes beyond compliance to include enhancing new hires’ self-confidence, feeling socially comfortable and accepted by their peers and manager, understanding their role and job expectations, responsibilities, and performance requirements, and helping them “fit” into and understand the company culture.

The steps in onboarding are:

• Compliance-Understand basic legal and policy or company related rules and regulations

• Clarification-Understand job and performance expectations

• Culture-Understand company history, traditions, my this values, norms

• Connection-Understand and develop formal & informal relations

Onboarding programs involve face-to-face and online activities to enhance the effectiveness of their process. New hires should have access to use a company’s social media and share information via blogs and take part in online activities and resources that support the onboarding program. (p. 404-406; Figure 9.6)

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