Methods to Identify Employee Development Needs - Term Paper Example

? Methods to identify employee development needs Employee development is the process of training a certain groups of employees in anorganization to enable them gain extra skills that copes with the current market situation. We live in a generation that technology advances each day and night. It would be a great disadvantage to rely on older technology while your competitors embrace the most efficient and advanced technology in their daily operations. The current graduates are advanced with new technologies but the truth is that not all of them would wish to practice in the public sector, the majority of them of them opt to establish their own companies however small. It is the role of a particular organization to come up with a strategy or plan to develop the abilities of their employees, to increase their productivity or suitability with regard to advanced technology, management skills, marketing strategies, financial management, project management and business environmental management among other sectors. This work would focus on the main methods applied to identify employee development needs in the current market. Employees’ assessments There are several ways to ascertain employee development needs. Employee regular assessment is majorly applied in the management and technology sectors or departments. The employer can organize for internal or external assessment. Internal assessment implies the departmental heads having a test session to determine whether the employees are conversant with a certain technology or skills. Assessment plan should be established to ensure all employees undergo the system (Noe, 2009). The plan should also ensure that the organization’s operations are not compromised by the process, in other words, the assessments should be done in an organized shift module to enable other employees continue with their duties while others are being assessed. It is important to alert all employees in a certain department on their assessment date so that they can make adequate preparations with regard to the assessment details. This can be done through internal memos or departmental heads can be used to pass such information. Internal assessment can take many forms depending on the nature of the organization. In technological arena, a specific number of employees will be required to complete some practical connections in the technology laboratories. During the process, safety measures should be observed to limit any chances of accidents. Employees should wear special protective clothing like boots, goggles and helmets among others. Top departmental teams or supervisors would monitor the process to ascertain areas the t need reinforcement. All areas of weaknesses will be noted so that a relevant training session can be organized later. However, one would suggest that the top departmental team or supervisors ought to have been equipped with that particular technology or skill because it will no sense if they are as green as other employees. Currently there are different firms that offer special trainings to department heads or employees depending on the arrangement with the top organizational management team. Organizations dealing with humanity issues like counseling and social and psychological therapy among others can use fellow workers or external volunteers to practice their new skills. I would mention that this should be done in a very critical manner due to the fact that the skills tested might be new, meaning it had never been used before, this might have some negative implications for the volunteers, secondly, volunteers may take legal actions should any of their rights be violated in any of the sessions. It is important to maintain a friendly work environment while ascertaining the development needs within the organization. First it is important to let the employees know the aim of the exercise. The assessment is not any kind of punishment but a way of increasing the productivity or suitability of employees. Secondly, Employers should ensure that all the rights of the employees as per the organizational contract and national employment policies are not violated in any way. All these would set a friendly environment for the workers to admit their weaknesses in a particular field. It is important to mention those employees’ motivations and development goes hand in hand. It would make no impact to enhance employees’ abilities yet they are not motivated. Such skills will go to waste or applied in your competitors’ organizations when such employees decide to move to new workplaces where motivational schemes are a priority. There are several advantages associated with employees’ internal assessment. First, the employees are assessed by people they are used; this creates a humble environment for their expression and ask any question. Research indicates that nobody would love to work with a stranger because one may not know the other party’s intentions. Secondly, the exercise is cost friendly because all exercises are conducted within, hence no commuting costs, venue charges and specialists’ charges among others. Thirdly, the exercise is confidential since the exercise is carried within a certain organization and such information remains within the organization. There have been scenarios where certain organizations lose their employees to better paying competitors once the later identify the best from assessing firms (Vaught, 2004). There are chances that such rich organizations may collude with the external assessing firms to get such information. However, it also has disadvantages, for instance, some department heads may lack the actual skill to assess fellow employees, some employees might have poor relationships with their seniors, and hence the process may not be productive. External assessment on the other hand entails a certain organization contracting another firm to oversee the assessment process. This method is majorly applied by large scale organizations with a wide range of employees. Employees are required to commute to a certain selected venue for the assessment purposes. This method is however not common due to the disadvantages that comes with it. First it is costly since it got a lot of charges. Secondly, it is not confidential compared to internal assessment. Some companies may take this opportunity to learn the limitations or weaknesses of its competitors. I would say that the method is majorly appropriate fro technological firms which require a certain degree of keenness or strictness during the assessment exercise. Here the employees are allowed to test their peculiar skills while specialists from a different company do the verification. Industrialized nations like Germany organize occasional industrial assessments both in the public and private sector to identify the technological gap in their development sector (Harrison, 2009). The exercise is sponsored by the government, and the result is used to produce a training plan or schedule. The government learns new skills or technology from competing nations like Japan then ascertain whether its citizens have same skills, if no, a training session is organized to bring all relevant employees at par with those in other competing nations. Exchange programs Exchange programs also help identifying the need of employee development. Exchange program implies enabling employees from a different company or organization visit your premise and vise-versa. This is common with medical practitioners in both developing and developed nations. We have seen Western doctors, nurses and dentists among other health care professionals having internships in desert countries in Africa to learn the hardships associated with such regions. There are several procedures to be followed before such arrangements are made. First, the visiting team must learn all the policies or legislations in the hosting companies and organizations; second, they should make a prior request in the form of formal letters and should make a move after the approvals of the requests. It is also important to learn the existing environmental conditions within the hosting company. For instance, weather and climatic conditions should a priority when planning exchange program visits. It is also important to consider the political atmosphere of the hosting company of the country; it would make no sense to mobilize your employees in a war or terrorist zone. There are two basic types of organizational exchange programs namely foreign and national programs. Internal or national program involves interaction of different employees of different organizations or companies but within a certain country. Foreign or international program on the other hand means different employees from different companies and countries interacting for the sake of learning the gaps in respective team or party. Both programs involve the one party seeking invite or making requests to have the permission of visiting another company. One is expected to note any area or technology strange to him/her then report the same to the top management group, who later organizes a training session to bridge the gaps. Both types of programs enhance organizational development by providing ways to increase the employees’ productivity or suitability. However, the main difference may be at the cost. Foreign exchange program requires elaborate travelling commitment compared to national programmes. Secondly, the foreign program requires extra considerations like existing weather or climate, political situation unlike in the national exchange program. The exchange program is considered the most effective way to learn respective gaps within your employees. It is voluntary, no one would be pushed to admit his/her individual development needs, instead a certain sheet is circulated so that each worker or employee records any idea he/she learnt during the exchange program, in addition, one will be required to suggest any area of training to enhance of the new skills or technology learnt. Exchange program provides a wider arena for employees to learn more ideas apart from those in their respective fields. For example, the program allows the visitors to walk through the entire company and interact with everyone. This provided an opportunity to learn more aspects at age. However, the hosting company should take some precautions while handling their visitors from competitive companies. They should withhold vital information that may see them lose in their business competition. Imagine Coca-cola revealing its flavor secrets to Pepsi employees, this would be the end of their business reign. Secondly, the host should ensure safety measures while orienting their visitors around the premise. Injuries or accidents may create a bad reputation or even bad working relationships with external stakeholders. Finally, the exercise should not compromise any organization’s policy and codes of conduct. Exchange programs are common in developed nations where the efforts of all people are towards one goal, developing the nation. The government through the department of labor promotes employees of certain companies to host or visit other companies for the sake of learning new advanced skills or determining the gaps that require further training for the better sake of national development. It is also common in automobile companies where technology keeps advancing a minute after the other. After depicting the employee development needs it is the role of the employer through the top management team to organize on relevant training to meet the needs. Humanity oriented organizations can organize workshops to pass important information to its employees. Technology based companies may organize laboratory sessions to advance the knowledge and skills of the workers. However, some companies may offer study leave and scholarships to its employees. This would depend on the organization’s budget. Some company may also opt for the virtual training session. Here a group of employees may follow a training session through certain internet tools like Google hang out, Skype and e-conference among others. Some companies in both developed and developing nations will collaborate with local university and colleges among other regional learning institutions to render special employees’ training at a subsidized cost. This would be more organized and better than each employee seeking such training in different learning institutions. However, it is important to select a comprehensive and pocket friendly training practice to equip employees with modern or advanced skills in technology and management among other sectors. To conclude, employee development needs is very critical aspect in any organization or company. It is meant to ascertain the gaps or areas of weaknesses of certain employees before taking appropriate action to improve on them. However, there are some considerations to be observed in the process; the process should be conducted in a way that secret or special company’s or organizational information remains confidential. It should be cost effective but effective. But some employees may have a negative view with regard to the process. Some may be intimidated or some of their rights violated in the process. But it is the role of the top management team to inform their subjects on the importance of the process so that everyone may appreciate its implication to the general developmental growth within the organization and the nation as a whole. References Harrisson, R. 2009. Learning and Development (5th ed.). USA: CIPD Publishing. Noe, R. 2009. Employee Training & Development. USA: McGraw Hill Education. Vaught, B. 2004. Employ Development Programs: an organizational approach. Germany: Quoruni. Read More