Abstract
Management development programmes and systems are crucially needed in serving organisational improvement and success. This is possibly materialised through key management development attributes namely workplace learning and career development. The need of organisations to sustain its performance to the globally competitive business environment is relevant to the employees’ skills and capabilities not only physically but intellectual as well. These skills and capabilities are expected to develop through useful management of fundamental organisational factors. Employees, in order to serve the demands of the organisation, are expected to develop their given skills so as to grow with the organisation. The uncontested positive effects of workplace learning and career development programmes and schemes are equated to organisational improvement.
Management development encompasses the process wherein managers learn and build up their managerial skills to work towards further improvement of themselves and extend beyond the limits of the organisation they belong with. Management thought has evolved over the years. Management is characterised as the organisational process that includes strategic planning, setting; objectives, managing resources, deploying the human and financial assets needed to achieve objectives, and measuring results (Henderson, 1996). Historically, the developments in international business operations have dramatically changed in the latter years of the 20th century (Peterson, 1996). Companies have established an international division to manage operations in a variety of countries. Hence, the managers became international is nature. There were several worldwide developments in the management science that contributed to the eventual progress and essential changes in the management role. With these changes, there is a need to further upgrade managerial strengths through competitive skills and attitude towards development.
This paper discusses the key management development attributes that are needed to improve organisation and its performance. Primarily, it argues that constant evaluation on the concept and application workplace learning and career development result to satisfactory organisational performance. The entire report is divided into the following sections: overview of management development; workplace learning; and career development. A synthesis is provided as the conclusion of the report so as to indicate personal understanding and knowledge about the topic at hand.
Management Development (MD)
Jansen and colleagues (2001) argue that empirical studied on management development is scarce resulting to limited and different definitions. They define management development as “a system of personnel practices by which organization tries to guarantee the timely availability of qualified and motivated employees for its key position” (pp. 106). Further, the said authors noted that its goal is to provide availability of well-equipped and motivated members of the work force to occupy its key positions. Dikken and Hoeksema (2001) argue that the fundamental challenge of management development is “to control and manage the learning process of managers, focused on individual development and career success and/or reaching organisational goals” (pp. 168). For learning is a continuous and lifetime process, individuals always want to gain knowledge of something inventive that will make them better, rational and worthy persons and essential elements of the organisation. To complement with the dynamic changes of the society and provide the high-end demands of daily life, every working individual who thirst for knowledge of information needs superior studies in order to sustain given organisational changes and demands. Aside from technological factors particularly IT, the intricacies of attaining business achievement through increased competence, effectiveness and competitiveness, combined with innovative applications of IT, has heightened the awareness of both IT and business managers towards more strategically oriented approaches for planning and management (Luftman et al., 1993). Management development is all about learning and acquiring new skills that will contribute to organisational performance. To Reitsma (2001), it is “like a team-sport with rules, guidelines, and principles” (pp. 131). The need to provide the most competent members of the work force constitutes the task of management development.
Workplace Learning
Education and previous work experience alone cannot mould a fully functioning employee. Business organisations which offer similar occupational position do not necessarily require the same employment qualifications (Levine, 1995). Specific agencies and firms hire prospect employees based on the business firm’s particular specifications of the nature of their businesses. Trainees, with or without experience, who aspire for new occupation in a company all undergo the process of familiarisation not just on the duties and responsibilities of the offered position but also of the general nature of the business organisation as a whole. This include the overview of the company, the services or products it offers, the supervisors and the work peers, the clients and customers as well as the work environment and atmosphere in the office. With gained information regarding the supervisors, the co-workers, and the entirety of the whole business enterprise prepare the newly hired employees in the business terrains of the organisation.
But merely knowing the basics of the business and the nature of the work alone can not fully qualify an employee to function properly as a productive member of the workforce. Learning the work and being able to answer to the demands of the position and the management, particularly the supervisors, come fully in the actual work environment of the business (Caldwell, 1993). Learning is an essential aspect of every organisation. Beechler and Bird (1999) agreed organisational learning as associated with the transfer of managerial knowledge from subsidiaries to the parent company. It can also be the case that the transfer is from one overseas affiliate to another. In addition, organisational learning is believed to be part of the core competencies that will allow multinational companies to adapt and succeed in international operations (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). This suggests that organisational learning is important in order for organisations to have better understanding to the underpinnings of the market that they have decided to penetrate as well as the culture of the industry that they decided to operate into.
Shah and colleagues (2001) recognised the importance of training in employee development particularly among the employees as it serves an essential attribute in maintaining competitive advantage of the firm. Results state that employee development programs must be restructured continuously in order to distribute the knowledge and information brought by technological advances and such programs should also deal with specific situations within the bounds of the organisation. Specifically, the authors concluded that “training may be conducted to enhance skills, teach procedures, or ensure security, all of which should benefit both the individual employee and the organization” (p. 22). For them, without direct involvement of employers, little education and training of staff members will occur that will have an effect on their future employability. Similarly, Merrick (1999) confirmed that employers and employees alike recognise the significance of training as a way to enhance skills and meet the needs of the business. It was declared that training should be an indispensable aspect of the organisation. It must be integrated into employee reward packages as a form of benefit as well as a necessity for the maintenance of firm’s competitiveness. There is a need for HR managers to have systematic training programs that address the requirement of changes and trends within the industry the organization operates. Hornsby and Kuratko (2005) argue that efficient training and development mechanisms can facilitate companies in the acquisition of a staff who posses the right combination of skills and motivations. The different types of training activities include the orientation of new employees, helping them to gain innovative skills, and strengthening skills that are present at hand. The concept of management development is integrated on this aspect as inherent to the mentoring and coaching processes the managers need to enforce among its employees.
Companies worldwide implement various trends in training as a response to the emerging culture of modernised workforce. A lot of business firms employ workplace training programmes especially for the newly hired members of the company. This ensures predictability of work outputs regarding based on the qualifications of the trainees. Facilitating happy and satisfying workplace will promote quality work life which in turn can motivate the employees to do their duties and responsibilities beyond the expectation posed by the management. In the case of workplace learning, good relational environment among all the employees will encourage higher productivity. To best facilitate workplace learning, proper working conditions and environment should be present. It could also be the other way around wherein workplace learning will result and foster the ideal working conditions in the business establishments. The importance and demand for workplace learning though is clearly evident in companies that offer integrated learning solutions to different industries. Today, workplace learning is changed into a productive business venture. There are companies now that offer such workplace training services through modules and Internet links and other instructional materials to a lot of business industries.
Learning organisation is rooted on the principle that a successful organisation must be able to continuously adapt and learn as it consistently operates, to have the ability to respond to the emerging changes and new trends in its immediate environment, and for the purposes of growth (McNeil, 2004; Geppert, 2000; Senge, 1990). According to Garvin (1993) and Goh (1998), the learning organization is an institution that learns powerfully and collectively, continually transforming itself to better manage and use knowledge for corporate success, empowering people within and outside the organization to learn as they work and to utilize technology to maximize learning and production. The conceptual foundations of learning organisation are firmly based on systems theory (Senge, 1990) and its practical application to managing a business has evolved out of strategic planning and strategic management (Fiol and Lyles, 1985; Hosley, et al., 1994), which have recognized that organisational learning is the underlying source of strategic change (DeGeus, 1988; Jashapara, 1993).
In recent years, several industry leaders have begun to focus attention on organisational learning. Business leaders must alter the environment to support and encourage learning, connect learning to business operations, communicate the importance of the learning organisation, demonstrate their commitment to learning, transform the organisational culture to one of continuous learning and improvement, and establish organisation-wide strategies for learning in order to make the transition from the traditional to the learning organisation. In addition, eliminating organisational bureaucracy, encourage employee involvement and embrace continuous, adaptive improvement-oriented learning approaches throughout the organisation is also important in changing organisational phase. In application, workplace learning is to be integrated in management development programmes and systems as it show apparent effect on the organisational performance. The training programmes and initiatives that are devised for employees – old and new alike – is subjected to the aims of management development.
Career Development
While it is true that with the fast paced and unprecedented development of the workplace, every learning organisation must grow in correspondence with the changes taking place (Hall and Moss, 1998; Metcalf and Briody, 1995; Watts, 1996). It could also be deemed that careers do change. With the dynamic stages of globalisation and world convergence, every person is obliged to deal with the demands of living. In order for an organisation or industry to be more competitive in the marketplace, the administration must always consider the use of a management system and strategy that would sustain the capability, strength and competitive position (Pearce and Robinson, 2000; Thompson and Strickland, 2003). Industries which consider changes with their management system or any other critical aspects of their business operation are those industries which are aware of the positive benefits that these changes may bring (Yee, 1998). Hence, the emergence of effective career management is vital and goes hand in hand with career development as integrated with the concept of management development.
For the past decades, it has been figured out by experts to plan and design careers. Hence, career management and development was innovatively introduced to serve as the blueprint for success. As applied to an organisational level, it is the key to achieve goals of ensuring the skills and competencies of people for future employment and management of new work and life realities (Moses, 1995). For organisations need people who are multitalented, effective in managing changes, and adaptive to new organisational directions, career management serves as the key for individual and organisational development. Poehnell and Amundson (2000) argued that the term “management” has been traditionally used but it seemed to be problematic when applied to careers. It may entail a degree of control over career development that is unrealistic in today’s climate of unprecedented organizational change. Although the terms career development and career management are used somewhat interchangeably in career-related literature, in the present study the term “career management” is preferred as it tends to emphasize an active, purposeful approach. However, the interconnectedness of the two synonymous terms is both vital. In an organisational point of view, the application of such concepts is equivalent to the nature of the organisational success.
Career development describes the structure and longitudinal nature of career behaviour, as well as the psychological, cultural, economic, and political influences that involvement strategies might transform in order to facilitate more positive and purposeful career behaviour than would likely occur randomly (Orpen, 1994; Vaughn and Wilson, 1994; Sims, 2002). Furthermore, agility, strength, precise movement and the ability to deal with continuous change are key attributes in career development (Aldisert, 2000). In the business setting, developing effective workforce is dependent to the ability of the human resources to grasp and understand instructions. This ability is rooted to the learning experience of the person. Thus, before embarking to the professional world, every person must be fully equipped with the needed essentials to be productive and competitive worker. The most basic starting point of every professional is his/her innate skills and capabilities essential to the responsibilities required by a job position. The employees should always bear in mind that they are accountable for the growth and development of their selves particularly in their future and developing careers. In here, employees must be given a chance to develop their personalities, abilities, and other aspects helpful in their career development, not only for the advantages that they can get for themselves but also for the organisation. One of the obligations of the organisation, specifically on the part or upper management, is to be able to understand that the primary goal of career development is to help employees analyze their abilities, skills, and interests to better match personnel needs for growth and development to the needs of the organisation (Johnson and Scholes, 1997). Secondly, the company must be able to identify the factors in maintaining a successful career development program. There are three types of planning which relates to career development namely: Broad Life Planning, Development Planning and the Performance Planning (Johnson and Scholes, 1997). The organisation should incorporate each of these into the career development program. Moreover, the management of the company should be able to identify their general obligations in the area of career development as well as their specific responsibilities to their employees and the organisation (Gallie, 1998).The management should also be able to identify methods for improving the harmony between the individual and the organisation in relation to the development of their career. Lastly, the management should be able to apply career development in the setting of the organisation (Henderson, 1996).
There are organisational activities designed to enhance the career development. In the workplace, these activities include the following: the establishment of the job posting system, the development of career resource centres, the training of managers as career counsellors, the planning, and implementing of career development workshops, human resource planning, and forecasting, utilizing performance appraisals and developing career pathing programs (Eggland, Gilley and Wesley, 1998). According to Zenger (1981), the organisation maintains several fundamental responsibilities regarding career development. The organisation must be able to agree that that career pathing is a vital part of the organisation. Meanwhile, in a study conducted by Magnuson, Norem and Wilcoxon (2003), professional growth provided support for applying the planned happenstance theory of career development to leadership development. With the presence of the aspect of continuous learning in this theory, learning in the organisation occurs.
Generally, career development is a knowledge-based procedure of managing life, learning and work over the years. It is directly related to management development as it covers the provision of services from many different influences and delivery settings to assist workplace people in gaining knowledge, acquiring skills, building attitudes and developing behaviours that help them to manage their career more effectively. Thus, in every given situation, career development varies at some extent due to the fact that each person’s environment and the many factors affecting life (e.g. family, society, school, social policy and the labour market) differ. The management of clear career development initiatives within the bounds of organisation do not only ensure organisational learning facilitated by trainings but also ensures developing and retaining the best employees. Most management development programmes in relation to career development coincides on the aim of providing availability of well-equipped and motivated members of the work force to occupy organisation’s key positions.
Conclusion
From the extensive use of various sources, it is practically acceptable to wrap up that the main idea behind management development is the enhancement of employees’ core competencies through workplace learning and career development. The recognition of the practical applications and importance of learning in the organisation is related to the idea of organisational success given that the employees and their contributions make up the organisational performance. Learning is an important factor that contributes to the development of new innovations as well as vital instrument in addressing organisational change. As there are necessary, countless, and profitable consequences visible, learning is very much relevant particularly in linking the holistic development of people and organisations as well as the overall processes involved in the general organisational and business environment. The related mechanisms are also important in planning the future operations and activities of the organisation. Through learning, the organisation is able to identify needs, predict trends, eliminate risks, solve problems, and cope up with the challenges in the market. Considering learning and management development to be intertwined, organisational performance is guaranteed.
The need for career development services is founded in evidence that the development of an individual’s career provides a foundation for that person’s feeling of self-worth and fulfilment. Encouragement of wider work responsibility of basic skills such as development and learning courses and trainings should be given to employees on specified times of the year as part of this process. This will restore fresh knowledge to old employees. In the case of newly hired staff, more comprehensive and rigorous training exercises should be applied to better prepare them of the workloads they will be responsible of in the actual business transaction and work process. Promoting individual competence and competitiveness among the staff and other members of the organisation will be of benefit to the company since this will uphold and advance the initiative work attitude. Career development is a progressive organisational endeavour that is both beneficial on the part of the employee and the organisation as whole.
Management development and its programmes and systems are meant to unleash and facilitate employee skills development rather than to serving as pressuring and limiting mechanism. This is the main consideration on why it is deemed to be an essential element in the improvement of organisation and its performance. The implications and benefits of management development among employees and the whole organisation are: the process serves as a means to develop and retain the best people for the job to sustain competitive advantage, organisational and employee productivity, and balance of work and family life and link to their personal career goals to the emerging needs of their employer, industry, or community. The bottom line is – the effectiveness of the management development and its underlying processes in terms or workplace learning and career development creates not only temporary by lasting effects on both employees and the organisation.
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