TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

The need for Training and Development

Before we say that technology is responsible for increased need of training inputs to employees, it is important to understand that there are other factors too that contribute to the latter. Training is also necessary for the individual development and progress of the employee, which motivates him to work for a certain organisation apart from just money. We also require training update employees of the market trends, the change in the employment policies and other things. The following are the two biggest factors that contribute to the increased need to training and development in organisations: 1. Change: The word change encapsulates almost everything. It is one of the biggest factors that contribute to the need of training and development. There is in fact a direct relationship between the two. Change leads to the need for training and development and training and development leads to individual and organisational change, and the cycle goes on and on. More specifically it is the technology that is driving the need; changing the way how businesses function, compete and deliver. 2. Development: It is again one the strong reasons for training and development becoming all the more important. Money is not the sole motivator at work and this is especially very true for the 21st century. People who work with organisations seek more than just employment out of their work; they look at holistic development of self. Spirituality and self awareness for example are gaining momentum world over. People seek happiness at jobs which may not be possible unless an individual is aware of the self. At ford, for example, an individual can enrol himself / herself in a course on self awareness, which apparently seems inconsequential to ones performance at work but contributes to the spiritual well being of an individual which is all the more important. The critical question however remains the implications and the contribution of training and development to the bottom line of organisations performance. To assume a leadership position in the market space, an organisation will need to emphasise on the kind of programs they use to improvise performance and productivity and not just how much they simply spend on learning!

Training and Development - A Key HR Function

Training and development is one of the key HR functions. Most organisations look at training and development as an integral part of the human resource development activity. The turn of the century has seen increased focus on the same in organisations globally. Many organisations have mandated training hours per year for employees keeping in consideration the fact that technology is deskilling the employees at a very fast rate. So what is training and development then? Is it really that important to organisational survival or they can survive without the former? Are training and development one and the same thing or are they different? Training may be described as an endeavour aimed to improve or develop additional competency or skills in an employee on the job one currently holds in order to increase the performance or productivity. Technically training involves change in attitude, skills or knowledge of a person with the resultant improvement in the behaviour. For training to be effective it has to be a planned activity conducted after a thorough need analysis and target at certain competencies, most important it is to be conducted in a learning atmosphere. While designing the training program it has to be kept in mind that both the individual goals and organisational goals are kept in mind. Although it may not be entirely possible to ensure a sync, but competencies are chosen in a way that a win-win is created for the employee and the organisation. Typically organisations prepare their training calendars at the beginning of the financial year where training needs are identified for the employees. This need identification called as training need analysis is a part of the performance appraisal process. After need analysis the number of training hours, along with the training intervention are decided and the same is spread strategically over the next year.

Development
Lots of time training is confused with development, both are different in certain respects yet components of the same system. Development implies opportunities created to help employees grow. It is more of long term or futuristic in nature as opposed to training, which focus on the current job. It also is not limited to the job avenues in the current organisation but may focus on other development aspects also. At Goodyear, for example, employees are expected to mandatorily attend training program on presentation skills however they are also free to choose a course on perspectives in leadership through literature. Whereas the presentation skills program helps them on job, the literature based program may or may not help them directly. Similarly many organisations choose certain employees preferentially for programs to develop them for future positions. This is done on the basis of existing attitude, skills and abilities, knowledge and

performance of the employee. Most of the leadership programs tend to be of this nature with a vision of creating and nurturing leaders for tomorrow. The major difference between training and development therefore is that while training focuses often on the current employee needs or competency gaps, development concerns itself with preparing people for future assignments and responsibilities. With technology creating more deskilled workers and with industrial workers being replaced by knowledge workers, training and development is at the forefront of HRD. The onus is now on the human development department to take a proactive leadership role in responding to training and business needs.

Systems View of Training - Stages in a Training Program

The success of a training program is evaluated in terms of the end result or the increase in the work ability, skill or competency in the trainee. For any training program to be successful it is very essential to follow a certain process. The basic process as illustrated in the figure below consists of four stages which are assessment, development, delivery and evaluation.

The process of training begins with the needs assessment stage. The aim of the assessment stage is to understand whether or not training is required. If the answer is yes; the next step is determining competency or skills gaps and the appropriate training intervention required. The training intervention is essentially decided in terms of attitude, knowledge and skill (ASK), the combination of which is called as competency. The assessment also called as the training needs analysis is undertaken at three levels, the job, the individual and organisational analysis.

Once the training needs analysis is complete, the next stage is that of Development. This stage involves the development of content and the training material. Right from designing the appropriate environment to deciding the various tools, everything is taken care of in the development stage. Games, A/Vs, Case Studies, Class room intervention are various means that may be decided upon apart from the content delivered. For example, in behavioural training emotional intelligence, teamwork, listening are examples of competencies that are required to perform superior work. The same may be transferred into the trainees through any of the above means depending upon various factors like demographics, job nature etc which are taken care of in the first stage. The most important stage and perhaps the least talked upon from the training process is the delivery. Once the development stage is over it is time to conduct the training. Factors like time and venue of delivery are already decided in the earlier stages. There are various factors that determine the process of delivery like the participant demographics, the training intervention, the individual style of the trainer etc. This brings in a lot of diversity to the training programs. Evaluation is the last stage in the training process and more important from the perspective of evaluation of the effectiveness of training. Needless to say, it is aimed at analysing whether or not the training has been effective in achieving the objective (bridging the competency gap, changing the attitude, developing new skills etc). There are various ways in which the effectiveness of training programs can be evaluated but not many are able to answer in terms of ROI. The most effective tool for evaluation of training is the Kirk Patrick Model of Evaluation. In order for the evaluation to be effective the both the criteria and design for training program is decided so that there is no discrepancy and the participants are able to evaluate the benefits effectively for themselves. The evaluation is made on the basis of participant reaction to the training, their learning and the change in behaviour. This feedback is then reused in the first step training needs analysis for making future training more effective.

Training Needs Analysis

Training is an expensive process not only in terms of the money spent on it but also the time and the other resources spent on the same. The most important question therefore is determining whether or not a need for training actually exists and whether the intervention will contribute to the achievement of organisational goal directly or indirectly? The answer to the above mentioned question lies in training needs analysis which is the first step in the entire process of training and development. Training needs analysis is a systematic process of understanding training requirements. It is conducted at three stages - at the level of organisation, individual and the job, each of which is called as the organisational, individual and job analysis. Once these analyses are over, the results are collated to arrive upon the objectives of the training program.

Another view of the training need is that, it is the discrepancy between what is and what should be. Taking cues from this the world bank conducted a needs analysis and arrived upon the conclusion that many of its units in eastern regions of Europe required transformation from state owned business to self sustaining organisations. A number of universities were then contacted to develop the necessary modules and conduct the training upon the same. Although each step in the entire training process is unique in its own, needs analysis is special in that it lays the foundation for the kind of training required. The assessment gives insight into what kind of intervention is required, knowledge or skill or both. In certain cases where both of these are present and the performance is still missing then the problem may be motivational in nature. It thus highlights the need and the appropriate intervention which is essential to make the training effective. As mentioned earlier, the needs analysis / assessment is carried out at three levels - organisational, Individual and Job. We now take up each one of them in detail.

Organisational Analysis
The organisational analysis is aimed at short listing the focus areas for training within the organisation and the factors that may affect the same. Organisational mission, vision, goals, people inventories, processes, performance data are all studied. The study gives cues about the kind of learning environment required for the training. Motorola and IBM for example, conduct surveys every year keeping in view the short term and long term goals of the organisation. Job Analysis The job analysis of the needs assessment survey aims at understanding the what of the training development stage. The kind of intervention needed is what is decided upon in the job analysis. It is an objective assessment of the job wherein both the worker oriented - approach as well as the task oriented approach is taken into consideration. The worker approach identifies key behaviours and ASK for a certain job and the task - oriented approach identifies the activities to be performed in a certain job. The former is useful in deciding the intervention and the latter in content development and program evaluation. Individual Analysis As evident from the name itself, the individual analysis is concerned with who in the organisation needs the training and in which particular area. Here performance is taken out from the performance appraisal data and the same is compared with the expected level or standard of performance. The individual analysis is also conducted through questionnaires, 360 feedback, personal interviews etc. Likewise, many organisation use competency ratings to rate their managers; these ratings may come from their subordinates, customers, peers, bosses etc. Apart from the above mentioned organisations also make use of attitude surveys, critical Incidents and Assessment surveys to understand training needs which will be discussed in detail in other articles.

Development of a Training Program

Development of a training program is the next step after the training need analysis has been conducted and there is a clear consensus on the need of training within the organisation. The next vital question to answer is whether the training should be conducted by an in house expert or from a consultant outside. Many of the fortune 500 organisations around the world have their in house learning centers and many have even gone ahead to have their own training universities where they train people onboard and those who aspire to join in the future. Companies like Xerox, Good Year Tyres, Kodak, Mahindra and Mahindra, Birla etc have such setups for generating prospective employees with the requisite skills and also for training the existing employees. There are other organisations too that have tie ups with the best academic institutions for employee exchange programmes. Nevertheless the prerequisites for development of a training program remain the same. We start with the development of a conducive learning environment, followed by a choice of the training methods and techniques. Designing the Environment - every individual is unique. One style of learning may not be applicable to each of the participants in a training program. Therefore how do various individuals learn is what should be kept in mind while designing the training program. There are certain who learn the experiential way by doing and yet there are many who like the lecture based learning method. There are however pros and cons of both and the appropriate learning style is generally the discretion of the trainer / facilitator. Establishing the Variables - trainability is one factor that must be taken into consideration before developing any training program. It is the duty of the trainer to ensure that the employees are actually willing to sit and learn something in the training program. This is especially very true of sensitivity training that is not viewed positively by many. Trainabality also implies that the employee is sufficiently motivated to learn apart from just the ability to do so. Before any training program sets off, it is the responsibility of the trainer to build hype about the event and such that it attracts all types of employees from target audience within the organisation. There are both formal and informal ways of doing the same. Formal ways would be by sending mails to the employees who are supposed to attend the program. Informal ways would be just creating conditions for discussion in the cafeteria or the lounge where employees sit together, discuss and hear things on the grapevine. Finally, once the training program has been delivered the evaluation of the same provides inputs for improving the process of training. These are called as the post learning inputs. This evaluation which is conducted at various levels may be utilised accordingly. Most of the organisations evaluate training on the basis of Kirk Patrick Model. The feedback at each level - learning, reaction, behaviour and results can be used for effective design of training in future.

Training Evaluation - Meaning and its Benefits

Evaluation involves the assessment of the effectiveness of the training programs. This assessment is done by collecting data on whether the participants were satisfied with the deliverables of the training program, whether they learned something from the training and are able to apply those skills at their workplace. There are different tools for assessment of a training program depending upon the kind of training conducted. Since organisations spend a large amount of money, it is therefore important for them to understand the usefulness of the same. For example, if a certain technical training was conducted, the organisation would be interested in knowing whether the new skills are being put to use at the workplace or in other words whether the effectiveness of the worker is enhanced. Similarly in case of behavioural training, the same would be evaluated on whether there is change in the behaviour, attitude and learning ability of the participants.

Benefits of Training Evaluation

Evaluation acts as a check to ensure that the training is able to fill the competency gaps within the organisation in a cost effective way. This is specially very important in wake of the fact the organisations are trying to cut costs and increase globally. Some of the benefits of the training evaluation are as under: Evaluation ensures accountability - Training evaluation ensures that training programs comply with the competency gaps and that the deliverables are not compromised upon. Check the Cost - Evaluation ensures that the training programs are effective in improving the work quality, employee behaviour, attitude and development of new skills within the employee within a certain budget. Since globally companies are trying to cut their costs without compromising upon the quality, evaluation just aims at achieving the same with training. Feedback to the Trainer / Training - Evaluation also acts as a feedback to the trainer or the facilitator and the entire training process. Since evaluation accesses individuals at the level of their work, it gets easier to understand the loopholes of the training and the changes required in the training methodology. Not many organisations believe in the process of evaluation or at least do not have an evaluation system in place. Many organisations conduct training programs year after year only as a matter of faith and not many have a firm evaluation mechanism in place. Organisations like IBM, Motorala only, it was found out, have a firm evaluation mechanism in place.

The Way Forward

There are many methods and tools available for evaluating the effectiveness of training programs. Their usability depends on the kind of training program that is under evaluation. Generally most of the organisations use the Kirk Patrick model for training evaluations which evaluates training at four levels reactions, learning, behaviour and results. After it was found out that training costs organisations a lot of money and no evaluation measures the return on investment for training, the fifth level for training evaluation was added to the training evaluation model by Kirk Patrick which is called as the ROI. Most of the evaluations contain themselves to the reaction data, only few collected the learning data, still lesser measured and analysed the change in behaviour and very few took it to the level of increase in business results. The evaluation tools including the Kirk Patrick model will be discussed in detail in other articles.

Kirkpatricks Model of Training Evaluation

Organizations spend a huge amount of money for training their employees at various levels and on various competencies, behavioral and technical. Every year new tools are designed to try and cater to individual learning styles and make the training more effective. After all an organization is concerned about its spending and the return on the same! Donald Kirkpatrick, professor emeritus, university of Wisconsin began working on evaluating the effectiveness of training very early in his life. His early work on the same was published in the year 1959 in a journal of American Society of Training Directors. He laid out four levels for evaluation of any training. This model is arguably the most widespread for evaluation in use. It is simple, very flexible and complete. The four levels as described by Kirkpatrick are as follows: Reaction of the Trainee - thoughts and feelings of the participants about the training Learning - the increase in knowledge or understanding as a result of the training Behavior - extent of change in behavior, attitude or capability Results - the effect on the bottom line of the company as a result of the training. The fifth level which is the ROI has been recently added which is not but a part of the original model. The graphic description is as follows: Level 4 - Results Was it worth it ?

Level 3 - Behaviour

KSAs being used on the Job ?

Level 2 - Knowledge Did they learn anything ?

Level 1 - Reaction Was the environment suitable ? The beauty of the model is that each level can only be predicted when the lower level prediction is complete. Thus evaluation at the level of behaviour may not be useful unless evaluation at the knowledge has been completed. Reaction Reaction implies how favorably the participants have responded to the training. This evaluation is primarily quantitative in nature and is a feedback to the training and the trainer. The most common collection tool is the questionnaire that analyses the content, methodology, facilities and the course content. Learning At the level of learning the evaluation is done on the basis of change in the ASK (Attitudes, skills and knowledge) of the trainees. The evaluation involves observation and analysis of the voice, behaviour, text. Other tools used apart from the observation are interviews, surveys, pre and post tests etc. Behaviour Behaviour evaluation analyses the transfer of learning from the training session to the work place. Here the primary tool for evaluation is predominantly the observation. Apart from the observation, a combination of questionnaires and 360 feedbacks are also used. Results The results stage makes evaluations towards the bottom line of the organization. Here the definition of the results depends upon the goal of the training program. The evaluation is done by using a control group allowing certain time for the results to be achieved. There are many other models that are unique in their own ways, nut as mentioned earlier Kirkpatricks Model is the one that is accepted and used widely across all industries and with wider applications.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT
People are the most important resource an organization can have. So, it becomes prime responsibility of the organizations to take care of their employees and give them an opportunity to grow especially to those who are career conscious and deliver performance. Career in 21st century is measured by continuous learning of the employees and identity changes in due course of time rather than changes in age and life stages. Career development of employees is not a mere responsibility of organizations, rather it is their obligation to address the ambitions of employees and create such job positions where they can accommodate their growing ambitions. Employees are career conscious and theyll stick to an organization where they feel that they have an opportunity to showcase their talent, grow to the maximum possible level and achieve their objectives. When we talk about growth, it can have different meanings to different people. Some may look at it as a fat package, some may want to climb up the ladder in the hierarchy and reach the topmost position while some want to acquire higher skills and competencies along with their growth as a human being. Some people may take it as an opportunity to avail some exclusive perks and benefits. Depending upon ones own thinking, different people take different actions in order achieve their objectives. Given the present situations, if employees want their organization to give them an opportunity to grow and achieve their ambitions, they need to be prepared for the future jobs. The main focus of organizations is on the employability of their people. Therefore, individuals should make sure that they have skills and competencies plus willingness to perform a specific job efficiently. Although the organizations can hire employees from outside but they require portable competencies in order to get the job done. For this, they will need to impart training to them and develop skills and competencies according to the job profile. But this is a troublesome process and takes hell lot of time to prepare the employees for a specific job. In order to avoid this situation to the maximum possible extent, organizations take control of the careers of their already existing employees and foster succession planning to fill the topmost positions. Individuals need to develop new and better skills so that they are fit for promotion and reach to a higher level in the organization. Organizations likewise need to become proactive in designing and implementing career development programs for their employees. It is the best thing they can do to decrease employee turnover. Although it is employees responsibility to plan their career but in todays turbulent and terrifically ambiguous world of work it is the employers responsibility to provide them with opportunities achieve their ambitions. They need to create that environment and culture for continuous learning and support their employees by motivating and rewarding them. Career development is a continuous process where both employees as well as employers have to put efforts in order to create conducive environment so that they can achieve their objectives at the same time.

Importance of Career Development

Although the business environment has been endlessly experiencing negative changes such as economic downsizing and restructuring resulting in fewer hierarchical positions but at the same time the need for improving productivity while keeping a pace with continuously changing technology has also increased. Organizations, therefore, instead of hiring a new individual from the market prefer to promote their already existing employee to a specific position as he or she is already aware of the organizational culture and does not need to be trained. This requires a careful succession planning of employees and developing and preparing them continuously for filling topmost designations in future. The process of organizational career development is important for both employees and employers. There may be several unintended and undesired changes as well as consequences that can change the entire scenario. In such a situation both employees and employers must be ready to keep with the changing environment and act accordingly. Employees continuously need to upgrade their skills and competencies to meet the current demands where as organizations must be ready with those employees who can handle the pressure efficiently and cease the risk of falling prey to the changed scenario. Therefore, understanding the importance of career development is very necessary for both the parties. Business Environment Factors that can Bring Undesired Changes 1. Economic Downsizing: The biggest of all the factors that has badly affected the careers of millions of individuals is economic downsizing. The jobs are cut from the organizations and the fittest of all employees survive. If employees continuously learn new and better skills, chances are that economic conditions wont hurt them that badly as compared to other individuals. 2. De-layering: De-layering means reclassification of jobs. This is an organizational change initiative where a company decides to reclassify the jobs more broadly. However, old reporting lines do exist in order to maintain managerial control but some jobs may be removed or cut down during the process. Again, those individuals have to leave the organization who are not competent enough to be shifted to other job with different nature. 3. Cost Reduction Strategies of the Organization: Cost-reduction strategies of the organizations are again very dangerous for those individuals who are not prepared to move on to the next level. If organizations have to cut down their operating costs, the employment of those individuals is at stake who are not employable or who have not performed up to the mark in past. Employees continuously need to upgrade themselves and show their talent in order to remain in the organizations till long. 4. IT Innovations: Continuous changes and upgradation in the technology is also one of the major factors that bring change. Some individuals can keep a pace with the changing technology and are always ready to learn and adopt new IT applications while some show immense resistance which is not acceptable to the organizations. Employees need to keep themselves updated and show willingness to accept changes as and when they occur and mould themselves accordingly.

The business changes affect both organizations and employees. The need is to understand them and find a way to cope with them effectively.

Designing Career Development Systems

Organizational career development process includes both individuals and institutions. Individuals plan their own careers whereas institutions or organizations manage the careers of the employees. Career planning by an individual includes several sub processes such as occupational choices, organizational choices, job assignment choices and career self-development. While the major sub processes of career management by organizations include recruitment and selection, human resource allocation, appraisal and evaluation and training and development. In order to have effective career development attempts by the organizations, designing automated career development systems plays a crucial role as it integrates a series of activities related to individual career planning and organizational career management involving employees, management and the organization. An individuals career is a series or sequence of work-related activities as well as his or her future aspirations. It is affected by several factors such as his or her behaviour, attitude, values, ambitions and desires and opportunities and threats and weaknesses and strengths plus the outer environment and economic conditions. It is a deliberate process followed by an individual depending upon his or her desires and aspirations over the span of ones life. Career management is an ongoing process that takes into account a particular job title or designation while preparing, implementing and monitoring succession planning depending upon the future requirements of an organization. Obviously, it also takes human factors in account but the entire process is directed and operated as per the needs and convenience of an organization. The best planning takes into account both organizations and individuals aspirations and creates a perfect mix where both the parties can be benefited.

Designing Career Development Systems

Designing career development systems according to specific needs and requirements of an organization can help HR specialists in bringing efficiency to the entire process of career management. Since the system tries to integrate all the activities of an employee, management as well as an organization, it has to be tailor-designed. There is nothing that fits all since the nature of the every business is different and aspirations of every employee in every industry are different. Most companies along with career management programs also involve career assessment process by the employee. If they have supportive environment such as a facilitator and properly automated system, they will properly assess their careers and fill genuine information about themselves. Most organizations such as Xerox, IBM, Wal-Mart, Lincoln electric and Bell Atlantic have their own specific career development systems. Along with this, they provide their employees with supportive environment and a culture that supports the whole process of career development. This is the reason why these companies are considered as the best places to work. Since they manage the careers of their

employees seriously and treat them as the most valuable assets of the organization, a very high percentage of university graduates prefer joining them even if they offer low compensation. While designing career development system for an organization, the nature of their business, the industry and the business environment they are operating in should also be considered. Although it is an internal process of an organization but outer environment factors such as job market, current trends, economic conditions, etc affect the entire process.

Benefits of a Career Development System

Career development programs are most effective when they are integrated with the organizations ongoing training and development strategies. For being able to do this, an organization must have a carefully designed career development system especially designed to meet its own unique needs and requirements. An automated and well-designed career management system not only benefits organizations but also help employees and managers or supervisors in establishing effective communication with each other. All the parties gain different benefits and combining which they can together set an organizational culture that supports such types of activities in an organization. Benefits of a Career Development System to Organization Once organization has a fair idea about employees strengths and weaknesses, attitude and behaviour, values and future aspirations and skills and competencies, they are able to make better use of employee skills and put them at the right place. The organization can disseminate all important details and information at all organizational levels in order to ensure effective communication at all levels. It fosters and lays emphasis on better communication within the organization as a whole. It also helps organization retain valued employees by providing them what they want. Since the organization is able to collect all necessary information about a specific individual, it can make efforts to retain them. It establishes a reputation of the organization in the market. More and more working professionals see it as a people developer and get attracted towards it.

Benefits of a Career Development System to Employees The major benefit of career development system to employees is that they get helpful assistance and guidance with their career decisions. They get to know about their own aspirations, objectives and desires and understand how to shape their career. By using this system, they can set more realistic goals and objectives that are feasible to be accomplished over the span of ones life. It fosters better communication between the employee and the manager as well as at all levels of the organization. The best part is that they can get feedback on their performance. This helps them improve their working style and compels them to upgrade their skills.

The process leads to job enrichment and enhanced job satisfaction.

Benefits of a Career Development System to Managers/Supervisors A career development system helps managers and supervisors in improving and upgrading their skills in order to manage their own career. Even they get to where they are heading to and what their aspirations are. It fosters better communication between managers and employees. It helps them in retaining valued employees as they get to know about their skills and competencies and future aspirations as well. It helps in discussing productive performance appraisal of employees and planning their promotions as well as their career graph. It leads to greater understanding of the organization as a whole and cultivate a supportive and conducive culture in the organization. It helps managers in understanding the hidden aspects of employees and guides them to allocate employees the right job that matches to their skills and competencies.

Components of a Career Development System

A career development system includes a variety of components for use in the organizations. In order to increase the efficiency of the system, the HR mangers must have complete knowledge about these tools since they play a role of consultant when employees and supervisors use this system. Plus, they are responsible for designing and developing an effective career development system for their organization. Some activities or components are known as individual career planning tools while some are used for organizational career management. To achieve greater efficiency, most organizations use a right combination of both types of activities. Let us understand these tools and activities to learn in-depth about career development system: Self Assessment Tools: This is the first technique that is widely used by organizations in their efforts to career management of their employees. This is a career exploration tool where individuals complete self-assessment exercises and fill information about their skills, interests, competencies, work attitudes and preferences, long and short term goals and obstacles and opportunities. The whole exercise helps them understand their own desires and aspirations and likes and dislikes. Career Planning Workshops: Once employees are through their self-assessment, they share their findings with other individuals and their supervisors in career-planning workshops. It allows them to receive feedback from others and check the reality of their plans and aspirations. They may change their plans if they find them unrealistic and move in new direction. Individual Counseling: It is one of the most common activities that are undertaken by almost all people developing organizations. Generally, individual counseling is provided by career development specialists, HR specialists or life skills development trainers. Some organizations

hire them from outside while some have their own full fledged departments where they recruit and hire trainers for full time. It helps employees in understanding their own goals, making a change in them if required and working on improving their skills and competencies. Organizational Assessment Programs: Organizational assessment programs include tools and methods for evaluating employees potential for growth within the organization. Johnson & Johnson is one company that uses these programs to assess the careers of their employees and evaluate their potential in order to facilitate the staffing and development of special teams known as tiger teams. These special teams are formed to speed up the development of new products. The most popular programs under this category include assessment centers, psychological testing, 360 degree appraisal, promotability forecasts and succession planning. Developmental Programs: Developmental programs are used by an organization to develop their employees for future positions. They can be internal as well as external and can be performed under the supervision of human resource staff or trainers and specialists from outside. These programs include assessment centers, job rotation programs, tuition refund plans, internal training programs, external training seminars and formal mentoring programs.

In addition to these programs, there are several other components of a career development system such as career programs for special target groups, fast-track or high potential employees, supervisors, senior-level employees, women, technical employees, minorities and employees with disabilities, etc.

Objectives of Career Development Systems

Career development has become primary activity of organizations in order to create a pool of talented employees as well as enhance their career satisfaction. Along with this, it is also considered as an organized and planned process to improve the efficiency of organization. In common terms, we may look upon it as an effort to strike a balance between organizational workforce requirements and individual career needs. Employees have their own personal desires and aspirations and need to effectively utilize their personal skills to attain their career goals and objectives. On the other hand, organizations have needs for staffing and meeting present and future human resource requirements. A career development system is a mechanism that takes both the parties in to consideration and helps them meet their requirements as well as objectives.

Objectives of Career Development Systems

1. Fostering Better Communication in Organization: The main objective of designing a career development system is to foster better communication within the organization as a whole. It promotes communication at all levels of organizations for example manager and employee and managers and top management. Proper communication is the lifeblood of any organization and helps in solving several big issues. 2. Assisting with Career Decisions: A career development system provides employees as well as managers with helpful assistance with career decisions. They get an opportunity to assess their

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

skills and competencies and know their goals and future aspirations. It helps them give a direction so that they can focus on achieving their long term career goals. Better Use of Employee Skills: A career development system helps organization make better use of employee skills. Since managers know their skills and competencies and therefore, can put them at a job where they will be able to produce maximum output. Setting Realistic Goals: Setting realistic goals and expectations is another main objective of a career development system. It helps both employees and organization to understand what is feasible for them and how they can achieve their goals. Creating a Pool of Talented Employees: Creating a pool of talented employees is the main objective of organizations. After all, they need to meet their staffing needs in present and future and a career development system helps them fulfill their requirements. Enhancing the Career Satisfaction: Organizations especially design career development systems for enhancing the career satisfaction of their employees. Since they have to retain their valuable assets and prepare them for top notch positions in future, they need to understand their career requirements and expectations from their organization. Feedback: Giving feedback on every step is also required within an organization to measure the success rate of a specific policy implemented and initiatives taken by the organization. In addition to this, it also helps managers to give feedback for employees performance so that they can understand what is expected of them.

A career development system can be very effective in creating a supportive culture in the organization and help employees grow and utilize their skills to achieve their desires and aspirations related to their career. Both organization and employees can meet their goals simultaneously.

SUCCESSION PLANNING
Succession planning is one of the most important career development tools used by organizations. This is done to determine the backups for each senior position by identifying and training the executives who are at the next-lower levels. This is an important process as most organizations rely on it to find their next CEO and other top notch executives. This includes an overall development of lower level employees to make sure that they can effectively handle the responsibilities that they will be handed over in next few years. Formal succession planning is an examination of organizations long range plans and strategies and HR forecasts. It also offers several other benefits and has a positive impact on organizational culture and efficiency.

Benefits of Formal Succession Planning

Formal succession planning is a systematic approach for preparing employees at lower levels to handle the responsibilities of next higher levels in the coming years. The process involves a lot of serious planning and careful HR forecasts in identifying the capable employees who have the potential to be promoted to next level in the hierarchy. It provides a logical approach for succession of top notch positions by the next lower-level employee. It is all about identifying the skills and competencies and potential of an employee so that he or she can be deployed at different jobs in the time of crisis. Succession planning gives the answers to all the questions regarding preparing an individual for the next level in the organizational hierarchy. It helps HR specialists in knowing and understanding why a specific individual should be developed and trained to promote to the next level. It reduces the randomness in organizations processes and managerial development movements and establishes formal steps and actions, policies and procedures to support the process of selecting the CEO and other top management executives. A formal succession planning process is a proactive approach to fill a top position. It helps HR professionals to anticipate problems in the process before they get started. This is very important to avoid negative and dysfunctional situations. It fosters cross-functional development and facilitates the integration of HR planning components, processes and procedures. Not only this, it supports connecting formats, guidelines, analyses, judgments and discussions at their front. Formal succession planning helps in further exploitation of computer systems, HRP software applications, HR tools and techniques in order to support the identification, development and training of the individuals. It helps HR managers in overcoming the limitations of reactive management approaches and fosters pro-active management approaches to make organization a better place to work. It establishes a logical basis for making choices among qualified candidates. Who should be selected, why they should be selected and what skills and competencies they own and what needs to be developed in them are critical factors while identifying the employees for succession planning. The process establishes a specific connection between the business objectives and HR strategic planning. Along with this, it also increases internal promotion opportunities.