HRM textbook

CHAPTER 8 TRAINING AND DEVELOPING EMPLOYEES 263
7 List and briefly discuss four
management development
programs.
IMPLEMENTING MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMS
It s not always easy to tell where training leaves off and management development
begins. The latter, however, tends to emphasize long-term development and a focus on
developing current or future managers. Management development is any attempt to
improve managerial performance by imparting knowledge, changing attitudes, or
increasing skills.
Strategy and Development
The management development process consists of (1) assessing the company s strategic
needs (for instance, to fill future executive openings or to boost competitiveness),
(2) appraising managers current performance, and then (3) developing the managers
(and future managers). 97 As we explained in Chapter 5, development is usually part of
the employer s succession planning. Succession planning refers to the process through
which a company plans for and fills senior-level openings. 98
Succession planning and management development both stem from the
employer s strategy, vision, and personnel plans. For example, strategies to enter new
businesses or expand overseas imply that the employer will need managers who have
the skills to manage these new businesses.
Some management development programs are company-wide and involve all or
most new (or potential) managers. Thus, new MBAs may join GE s management
development program and rotate through various assignments and educational
experiences. The aims include identifying their management potential and giving
them the necessary developmental experience (in, say, production and finance).
The firm may then slot superior candidates onto a fast track, a development
program that prepares them more quickly for senior-level commands.
Other development programs aim to fill specific top positions, such as CEO. For
example, GE spent years developing, testing, and watching several potential replacements
for CEO before finally choosing Jeffrey Immelt.
Assessment is usually part of development. At frozen foods manufacturer
Schawn, senior executives first whittle 40 or more development candidates down to
about 10. Then the program begins with a 1-day assessment by outside consultants of
each manager s leadership strengths and weaknesses. The assessment involves
managers addressing problems such as employee conflict. This assessment becomes
the basis for each manager s individual development plan. Action-learning (practical)
projects then supplement individual and group training activities. 99
A survey listed the most popular management development activities. The most
popular include classroom-based learning, executive coaching, action learning, 360°
feedback, experiential learning, off-site retreats (where managers meet with
colleagues for learning), mentoring, and job rotation. 100 We ll look at some of these.
Managerial On-the-Job Training
Managerial on-the-job training methods include job rotation, the coaching/understudy
approach, and action learning. In the context of management development, job rotation
means moving managers from department to department to broaden their understanding
of the business and to test their abilities. The trainee may be a recent college graduate,
and spend several months in each department, learning the department s business
by actually doing it. Or he or she may be a senior manager being groomed for further
promotion by being exposed to a range of domestic and foreign challenges.
cross training
Training employees to do different tasks
or jobs than their own; doing so facilitates
flexibility and job rotation.
management development
Any attempt to improve current or future
management performance by imparting
knowledge, changing attitudes,
or increasing skills.
job rotation
A management training technique
that involves moving a trainee from
department to department to broaden
his or her experience and identify strong
and weak points.