Assignments  Employee Development

 

Matching the Columns

 

1.  Structural leaders

 

A. Becomes the umbrella program for other programs that include performance reviews and training.    

2.  New employee orientation

 

B. They assess the distribution of power and interests.  

3.  Human Resource leaders

 

C.  They empower, increase participation, support, share information, and move decision making down into the organization. 

4.  Action learning

 

D. View organizations as a stage or theater to play certain roles and give impressions.  

5. Political leaders

 

E. Its key elements are a commitment to learning, social interaction, action plans, and assessing the results of actions.   

6.  Symbolic leaders

 

F.  Focus on structure, strategy, and the environment.    

 

Answers:

1.)     F

2.)     A

3.)     C

4.)     E

5.)     B

6.)     D

 

 

Multiple-Choice

 

1.         Management education sometimes focuses on 

a.        Specific skills

b.        General abilities

c.        Personal development\

d.       All of the above

 

2.         According to ________ theory, individuals must learn to discriminate the difference between their perceptions or intentions and reality.

a.        Double-loop learning theory

b.       Action learning

c.        Mentoring

d.       All of the above

 

3.         Mentors can help others by

a.        Offering clear thinking space

b.       Challenging assumptions

c.        Helping individuals “raise the bar”

d.       All of the above

 

4.         The leader picked to be a mentor should be matched with someone with a similar _______.

a.        Look

b.       Talent

c.        Philosophy

d.        All of the above

 

5.         __________ use detailed questionnaires to elicit perceptions about a manager.

            a.   360-degree evaluations

            b.    New employee orientations

            c.   Performance evaluations

            d.   All of the above

 

6.         The best way for job seekers today to best prepare themselves for whatever follows is to

            a.   Understand the career planning process

            b.    Complete all the steps thoroughly

            c.   Both a and b

            d.   None of the above

 

7.         The employee’s first day is

            a.  Vital

            b.   Boring

            c.   Long

            d.   None of the above

             

8.         Currently, women comprise one-half of the population, but only _____ % of executive positions.       

           a.   20

            b.   3.8

            c.   35

            d.   10

 

 

Summary

 

There are no hard and fast rules for employee development.  Most organizations think more in terms of training needed now for specific tasks rather than looking at the future because that is much easier. However, that philosophy follows the old dictum: what’s good for the organization must necessarily be good for the employees.  These organizations wonder why employee loyalty and commitment keep falling year after year.

Organizations that want to keep a stable, motivated workforce must take into account the realities of today’s employee who may want multiple paths during their careers.  By identifying how the employees’ interests can coincide with the organization’s, organizations can have motivated, productive employees for years.  Organizations must realize that the needs of all employees—women, non-white, and differently-abled employees—may have different desires in terms of advancement and work/life balance.  The current leadership of the organization must anticipate that the future leadership may look very different. That is not only acceptable and even preferable; it is also most likely inevitable.

 

Test

 

1. ______        Every employee should have the same opportunity to advance and succeed as any other employee.

2. ______        Training tends to presuppose that there is an answer for a problem that can be solved, rather than a difficulty that may have to be worked with.

3. ______        Management education focuses only on specific skills.

4. ______        A major focus of management development is to teach managers how to be more flexible in solving problems and decision-making.

5. ______        Mentors and those they are mentoring do not need to necessarily share similar philosophies.

6. ______        360-degree performance evaluations help organizations know which managers are best at getting the most productivity out of their employees.

7. ______        One important aspect of employee development is career planning.

8. ______        People in the United States change careers only once in their lifetime.

9. ______        New employee orientation becomes the umbrella program for other programs that include performance reviews and training.

10._____         organizational cultures do not need to be shared in orientation programs.

 

 

Answers:

1.             T

2.             T

3.             F – also general abilities and personal development

4.             T

5.             F – They should match similar philosophies

6.             T

7.             T

8.             F – three to four times

9.             T

10.         F – Successful orientation programs share organizational culture.

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Brounstein, M. (2000). Coaching and Mentoring for Dummies. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

 

Louis Carter, L. et al. (2000). Linkage Inc.'s Best Practices in Leadership

Development Handbook: Case Studies, Instruments, Training.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

 

Fulmer, R., & Goldsmith, M. (2000). The Leadership Investment: How the World's Best Organizations Gain Strategic Advantage Through Leadership Development. AMACOM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

 

Double-loop learning – By Argyris, this theory says individuals must learn to discriminate the difference between their perceptions or intentions and reality.

 

Action learning – Involves structured projects in organizations rather that traditional classroom instruction.  It’s key elements are a commitment to learning, social interaction, action plans, and assessing the results of actions.

 

Mentoring – The facilitation of an individual’s learning process, enabling the individual to take ownership for their own development.

 

360–degree performance evaluation – In this evaluation, managers get rated by the people who directly report to them, by colleagues in similar positions inside the organization, by their boss, and sometimes even by outsiders who have regular contact with the manager.

 

 

 

 

 

 Learning Objectives

  • There are many issues to take into account when considering the field of employee development that training alone cannot resolve.  Leadership, career paths, diversity, and performance appraisals are just a few.

  • Organizations that want to keep a stable, motivated workforce must take into account the realities of today’s employee who may want multiple paths during their careers.   By identifying how the employees’ interests can coincide with the organization’s, organizations can have motivated, productive employees for years. 

 

 

 

Q&A

 

1.  What does mentoring do?

Mentoring explores and acts on what’s happening “right now,” whether problems or opportunities.  Secondly it looks ahead to the future and encourages the generation of ideas. 

 

2.  What are the four categories that Bolman and Deal suggest that leadership and leaders can be placed into?

Leadership and leaders can be placed into the categories of structural, human resource, political, and symbolic.

 

3.  What should you do when considering career options?

When identifying career options, you should do the necessary self-assessment, understand what your preferred interests, skills, and values are and assess their relationship to career possibilities.

 

End of Module