Evaluation of a Leading Edge Management Development Programme - Literature review Example

A REPORT OUTLINING HOW THE BUSINESS COULD DESIGN, PILOT, ROLL-OUT AND EVALUATION OF A LEADING EDGE MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME OVER THE NEXT TWOYEARS. By (NAME) Course Professor University Date Introduction Dehav travel has endured challenges regarding high turnover of junior and middle-level staff. This paper outlines a report on how Dehav travel could design, pilot, roll-out and evaluate a leading edge management development programme over the next two years. The report, in particular, will analyse, discuss and evaluate the design, pilot and a management programme that will suit the business favourably. The structure of the report will reveal three main divisions. To begin with, the first will comprehensively describe the management development programme. The second part will contain an evaluation and implementation of the programme. The final section will discuss other factors including the human resource in the organisation that need to be addressed to support the successful uptake and implementation of the new leading-edge management development programme. The main objective of this particular report is to establish an ideal the management plan that will enhance retention of graduate employees Dehav Travel. This report will contribute to better human resource management by Dehav Travel to avoid employee turnover. The management programme will also improve overall company performance. More benefits of developing an effective program are to promote competitive advantage and business growth (Adams, Debra, and Catherine, 2002, p.16). Management development refers to the process where managers improve their skills, knowledge and proficiencies through formal and informal learning methods. The process is committed to enhancing the manager’s competency for the benefit of both the company and the manager. The success of any firm depends on effective management of resources that include time, economic and human resources (Armstrong, 1999, p.70). There are various management development programmes that Dehav Travel could adapt. These include mentoring and coaching, job rotation and professional development (Mintzberg, 2004 p. 401). However, Dehav Travel will adopt a programme that bests suits its company objectives. Successful organisations have used unique programmes. British Airways, for instance, has introduced a model dubbed high-performance leadership model. For British Airways, leadership behaviour is one of the fundamental pillars of its success in the aviation industry. British Airways goes even further to facilitate high-performance model by designing three leadership capabilities that aim at ensuring its employee embrace a high-performance culture. Managers of different levels in British Airways hence are obligated to follow suit and lead by example. For this programme to succeed, the airline employs external off-job seminars to educate its employees. Employees engage on a personal level through groups that discuss ideas and relay feedback to the high-level managers (Schefczyk, 1993, p. 306). Moreover, high performing organisations report higher levels of management success in a particular line. Eighty per cent of managers in high performing organisations states that their line management is effective or extremely effective compared with 39 per cent in low-performing organisations. Currently, Dehav Travel management and leadership development practices are not meeting the need for improved management effectiveness. ARM Holdings company in Britain has a people strategy that provides an involving environment for ARM workforce, where they can adequately build up personal and collective potential, better than in most companies elsewhere(Blackhurst et al., 2001. p. 4). ARM executes a broad variety of training and development involvements customised for managers and leaders at different line management, project and practical levels. These practices include external and in-house workshops and events, informal networking Opportunities, action learning groups, WebEx sessions, mentoring and coaching. The leadership programme is mainly intended for employees with responsibilities of leading people and directing technology or projects. The companies mentioned above provide excellent benchmarks for Dehav Travel. To begin with, Dehav Travel needs to improve on employee-management engagement. Dehav Travel faces the challenge of prematurely losing its newly acquired labour force which adversely affects the organisation. Feedback from the employees is vital as well as informal networking. High employee turnover in Dehav Travel displays a lack of employee morale mainly due to less motivation and personal growth. In comparison with British Airways, employees have no high-performance culture. Therefore, there is need to incorporate a culture that is geared to propelling the organisation to greater heights. The highly recommended management development programme that is highly suited to Dehav Travel is that of ARM Holdings. Short courses on management will be instrumental to enable Dehav Travel improve on human resource management practices. Introducing short courses on contemporary issues in management will allow employees gain formal knowledge on how to manage people (Burgoyne, and Stuart, 1977 p. 11). Coaching by external practitioners can also be equally important. Short courses also provide insights on various aspects of management leading to effective management. However, these courses should not be taught to individuals to apply new approaches to collective development will not be achieved. As such, it is arguably better if training is administered by intact management teams. When managers go through a program collectively, they emerge with a uniform view of the opportunities and problems and how paramount to solve them. There are chief aspects and processes that will be followed by unveiling of this management development programme (Porter, and McKibbin, 1988. P. 256). Firstly, the short courses on leadership will focus on personal leadership. The purpose of this component is to establish a solid foundation for the junior staff at the job entry level. The component will explore personal planning and positioning. The second element in line is coaching, goal setting and feedback. The leadership qualities and competencies acquired in personal leadership training will be applied to problem analysis, facilitation of change, setting of employment objectives and coaching. This process ensures the junior managers of Dehav Tours gives feedback to the senior management; formulate realistic goals for the company and enhancing collective growth in the entire organisation. Thirdly, since junior managers are assigned to implement company policy and strategy, effective communication is crucial. The employees at Dehav Tours will gain the ability to perform and plan effective communication structures and procedures within the organisation (Leonard, Graham, and Bonacum, 2004, p. 90). Administration of basic financial management skills would follow. This process will provide Dehav Travel junior managers with basics financial accounting knowledge, financial analysis and management accounting so as to apply these skills to the professional financial management of a department. The fifth process of implementing this management programme would be to equip targeted employees with project management skills. Junior managers have their bulky assignments in the form of a project hence the need. The other crucial process would encompass team building. In this module, the major doctrines of group dynamics will be explored with their roles and group behaviour. Other activities to be inducted to the employees include team development, building and supporting vigorous groups, power and status, managing diversity in teams and managing conflict in teams. The employees will be able to monitor each member in the team and ensure effective management of the team. The final stage of rolling out this management development programme is to educate the members on labour laws for leaders. This step will assist the employee to follow a proper code of conduct, improve problem-solving counselling and observe workplace ethics. Admittedly, developing these components of the program will definitely enable Dehav Travel retain its employees and lower their turnover. Programme Evaluation The most general way of evaluating a leadership management programme (LMD) is feedback from participants (Tyson, and Ward, 2004, p. 212). Team building forums provide an excellent platform for interactions. Teams operating in the organisation face social challenges. The efficiency of this program can be determined by observing group relations and individual behaviours. If the members of the group can agree on setting up goals and objectives, then the programme is a success. Moreover, the ability of the team members in analysing problems and coming up with solutions is another show of successful implementation. Feedback is also obtainable through individual and group submissions. Change in any organisation is inevitable. Programme evaluation could take the course when the employees are investigated on if they have accepted change. In this regard, personal feedback plays an important role. The programme is also rolled out to improve on individuals’ personal leadership (Lees, 1992, p. 87). When employees detect, change some rebel while others conform to the new alterations. Positive feedback comes about when the change is for the benefit of the organisation. Dehav travel has to establish the complaints of those rejecting change and find amicable solutions. Informal feedback from colleagues in the company can also be used to evaluate the programme and its effectiveness. Office politics in organisations influence employee’s behaviour and ultimately their overall production. Informal communication between employees of Dehav Travel can assist the top management to know whether the leadership management programme has accomplished its mandate. Word of mouth is powerful and although informal communication cannot be taken seriously, in this scenario it counts. There has been a survey that stated nearly sixty-four percent of organisations take into account informal feedback. Feedback from performance is another way to evaluate the programme. Individual growth of the employees will communicate a strong statement of success in programme implementation. From coaching practices, those employees that have grown career wise will perform better. Evaluation can be undertaken when considering whether those targeted are promoted internally in Dehav Travel. A higher percentage indicates success while a lower percentage indicates program failure. The programme can also be assessed by find out whether those involved stays are retained in Dehav Travel. The programmes main purpose is to prevent loss of fresh employees and thus if this is achieved the application proves a success, otherwise it is a failure (Burgoyne, 1973, p.42). However, it must be acknowledged that persistent employee turnover may be as a result of other factors hence the management must further seek a lasting solution. Successful uptake and implementation of this new leading-edge programme depend on other factors in the organisation (Pinto, and Slevin, 1987, p. 24). One such factor is organisational needs. A programme must consider the business needs of the organisation for it to be successful. This is the base and foundation that will dictate the design to be used. Dehav travel requires a solution to its problem of losing employees unnecessarily. Human resource development in the organisation is prioritised. Flexibility is another factor in consideration. Employees at Dehav Travel have different personalities and needs. Consequently, a programme succeeds if it can be changed to correspond to the targeted employees. Rigidity is not an option in any case as many organisation fall short by adapting programs that are entirely content driven with no flexibility for people to access significant learning on their own terms. Career plans, aspiration and objectives of employees are to be examined carefully before implementing the programme at Dehav Travel. Individual accountability for growth is another significant factor that has to be considered. On implementation of the programme, the participants are to be informed that the programme is run for desired outcome. Participants should not in any case blindly jump into the program without cause. The programme is objective with the motive of developing management and leadership skills. The outcomes of the programme affect the company’s strategic policy and administration and, therefore, the participants are expected to contribute and support it. Successful implementation of the programme also depends on the company strategy. Many researchers have concluded that an organisation cannot grow or thrive beyond the ability of its management and the dedication and expertise of its workforce. Management efficiency is directly related to organisational efficacy, the workers’ engagement and competitive advantage. Retention, talent growth, organisational performance and employee commitment are objectives goals that can be brought about only through the management and leadership roles (Galvin, 1983, p. 28). Employee level of study is another factor. A programme in place depends on the participants knowledge and level of awareness. Participants need to understand the activities, learning processes content and methodologies that will be used in the programme (Easterby, 1994, p.105). Those responsible for facilitating the program together with the participants should convene and develop an understanding of intention, discretion, association and roles before the program begins. Management evaluation objectives must be dealt with as an utterly separate project. Assessment differs from development. If participants believe they are being monitored, they will promptly shift to protective mode (Rowe, 1996, p. 21). Successful implementation calls for exclusive treatment of assessment and development and Dehav Travel has to do this. Conclusion Ultimately, with the implementation of the above practices, Dehav Travel can undoubtedly experience prompt accelerated growth, minimise employee turnover and be able to retain the best talent in the company. Moreover, with the recommendations aforementioned concerning the evaluation of new program, Dehav Travel can be able to revamp its operations and turn around all its weaknesses and threats to strengths and opportunities to enable its achieve tremendous growth in the industry. References Adams, D., & Waddle, C., 2002. Evaluating the return from management development programmes: individual returns versus organisational benefits. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 14(1), 14-20. Armstrong, M., 1999. 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