chapter 8 (Development)

Question 1

What is employee development?

Answer 1

combination of formal edu, job experiences, relationships, and assessment of personality and ability to help employees prepare for the future of their careers

preparing for change in new jobs, responsibilities, or requirements

Difference between development and training
development: prepares employees for their future careers
Use of Work experience is high
Preparation for changes
Voluntary

training: prepares employees for their current career

Question 2

protean career

Answer 2

career that frequently changes based on changes in the person’s interests, abilities, and values in the work environment

develop new skills to remain marketable
look for development opportunities and flexible work arrangements rather than job security and a corporate ladder

ex. engineering manager taking sabbatical to manage engineers without borders

Question 3

what are the four approaches to employee development

Answer 3

interpersonal relationships
finding mentor, coach, etc.

formal education
workshops, short courses, lectures, simulations, business games, experiential programs
can operate training and development centers
assessment
collecting info and providing feedback to employees about their behavior, communication style, or skills
may come from employees, peers, managers, and customers
strengths, weaknesses, personality tests, performance appraisal, 360-degree feedback, assessment centers, leaderless group discussions
what are people good at?

job experiences
combination of tasks, relationships, problems, demands, and other features of an employee’s job
most occurs through job experience
making sure people have a well-rounded idea of job goals, etc. incase they need to lead people in the job

job assessments, interpersonal relationships, types of transitions
managers learn how to handle common challenges and prove themselves

Question 4

Steps and responsibilities in the career management process

Answer 4

data gathering
feedback
goal setting
action planning and follow up

Question 5

What are the difference ways to assess employee behavior, communication style, strengths and weaknesses?

Answer 5

1. assessment centers
   determines if employees have personality characteristics, administrative and interpersonal skills to be a manager
   require candidates to perform multiple individual and group (of approx. 12) assessments
   Two types:

A.) in-basket exercises
measures the ability to juggle a variety demands, as in a manager’s’ job
simulated memos & phone messages describing kinds of problems that confront a person on the job
candidate decides how to respond to the messages and in what order
ex. graphic designers, writers
B.) leaderless group discussions
teams of 5 to 7 employees assigned a problem and must work together to solve in within a given time period
probably involving: buying/selling supplies, nominating a subordinate for an award, or assembling a product.
C.) Interviews
D.) Role plays

personality tests
controversial due to privacy reasons
predictive validity is low unless the trait being measured is very clearly linked to the job ‘make sure characteristic is required for the position
may be protected by ada if not job-related
Myers-Briggs - strengths and weaknesses, personality types
energy, information-gathering, decision making, and lifestyle
problem: 2 types:
determines if a person is psychotic
MMPI
used for executive-level jobs
police officers

performance appraisal
formal process for measuring employee performance
gives employees a clear understanding of their performance problems in order to improve their overall performance

Question 6

Under what conditions will mentoring result in positive outcomes?

Answer 6

mentor
experienced, productive senior employee who helps develop a less-experienced employee, called the protege.

employees most-likely to seek a mentor will have these characteristics:
emotional stability
ability to adapt their behavior to the situation
high needs for power and achievement

most successful when:
voluntary
participants understand the details of the program
mentors are selected based on their interpersonal and technical skills

Question 7

What is the difference between a mentor and a coach

Answer 7

Mentor:
helps proteges understand the organization
guides them in analyzing experiences
helps them clarify their career directions

Coach:
peer or manager who works with an employee to motivate the employee, help him or her develop skills, and provide reinforcement and feedback
working one-on-one with an employee, as when giving feedback
helping employees learn for themselves - for example, helping them find experts and teaching them to obtain feedback from others
providing resources such as mentors, courses, or job experiences

Question 8

What are the different types of job experiences & why use them to develop employees?

Answer 8

Job experience
combination of relationships, problems, demands, tasks, and other features of an employee’s jobs.

Job enlargement
adding challenges or new responsibilities to employees’ current jobs
makes the job more interesting and allows ees to develop different skills

Job rotation
moving ees through a series of job assignments in one or more functional areas
improves problem-solving and decision-making skills

Transfer
org assigns an ee to a position in a different area of the company
do not increase responsibilities or compensation
lateral moves to develop different skills to eventually move up in the company and help it succeed

Downward Move
ee is given less responsibility and authority