4.

Management Development

INTRODUCTION:

Any organizational development expert will tell you that the effectiveness of management holds a
direct correlation to the organization's overall success. By taking the time to invest in good
Management Development, the economic benefit to the organization can be increased. The better
trained the staff is, the less likelihood there will be costly errors or oversights, efficiencies will be
improved, sales and marketing campaigns will run smoother, and overall company positioning will
be improved. It all boils down to training and leadership at all levels.

MANAGEMENT:

Simply it is the art of getting work done through people, the way you would have done it yourself
and with the available resources. Optimum utilization of resources is the first rule of management.
Making the best out of whatever is available with you is a management art. It involves four major
functions viz planning, organizing, staffing and controlling / coordinating.

DEVELOPMENT:

As the word suggests, it is progress i.e. a growth or success over a period of time. For a business, it
can be expansion and diversification and for an individual may be a promotion or a salary hike.

MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT:

If we put the two together, it simple means one's improved abilities to manage businesses or self. It
is a conscious effort, planned in nature, which makes a person capable and increases their capacity
to manage an organization, its people and also their own self. Best explained, it is the process by
which managers discover as well as improve their abilities and skills, which would not only be
advantageous to them but also to the organizations for which they work.

The most common traits required in a manger are good communication skills, leadership qualities,
problem identification and solving, and most importantly persuading and encouraging others to give
in their best. These traits if not present in a manager or are dormant, can be identified and
developed over a period of time through proper management development programs.

WHY IS IT NEEDED?

* It is acknowledged as one of the determinants for organizational success having a direct impact on
its economical benefits.

* For organizations, making available such techniques to their managers helps the company to hold
on to their prized employees.

* It also helps the organization to serve their customers better.

* The productivity of the managers as well as employees increases.

* Leadership and risk taking ability of the manager is enhanced, making the overall working
environment of an organization, challenging.
* It helps in exploring skills of a manager and the employees which were till now not active or
unresponsive.

Management Development is best described as the process from which managers learn and improve
their skills not only to benefit themselves but also their employing organizations. In organizational
development (OD), the effectiveness of management is recognized as one of the determinants of
organizational success. Therefore, investment in management development can have a direct
economic benefit to the organization. Managers are exposed to learning opportunities whilst doing
their jobs, if this informal learning is used as a formal process then it is regarded as management
development.

9 MODERN APPROACHES TO MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT

1. DYSFUNCTION ANALYSIS: Simply put, this is a sort of test carried out in order to check a person's
mental stability and whether or not he has any psychological disorder. This can also help in
assessing a person's mental strength and ultimately also guides us whether or not the individual
needs to undergo a psychological training program.

2. MENTORING: Mentorship is a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced

or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person.
However, true mentoring is more than just answering occasional questions or providing ad hoc help.
It is about an ongoing relationship of learning, dialog, and challenge.

The person in receipt of mentorship may be referred to as a protégé (male), a protégée (female),
and an apprentice or, in recent years, a mentee.

"Mentoring" is a process that always involves communication and is relationship based, but its
precise definition is elusive. One definition of the many that have been proposed, is

Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the
psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional
development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a
sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge,
wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé)".

3. COACHING: Coaching, when referring to getting coached by a professional coach, is a teaching,

training or development process in which an individual gets support while learning to achieve a
specific personal or professional result or goal. The individual receiving coaching may be referred to
as the client or coachee, or they may be in an intern or apprenticeship relationship with the person
coaching them. Occasionally the term coaching may be applied to an informal relationship between
one individual who has greater experience and expertise than another and offers advice and
guidance as the other goes through a learning process. This form of coaching is similar to mentoring.

4. JOB ROTATION: Job rotation is a management technique that assigns trainees to various jobs and
departments over a period of a few years. Surveys show that an increasing number of companies are
using job rotation to train employees. There are both positive and negative effects involved with job
rotation that need to be taken into consideration when a company makes the decision to use this
technique.

Job rotation is also a control to detect errors and frauds. It reduces the risk of collusion between
individuals. Organizations dealing with sensitive information or system (e.g. bank) where there is an
opportunity for personal gain can benefit by job rotation. Job rotation also helps in business
continuity as multiple people are equally equipped to perform a job function. If an employee is not
available other can handle his/her position with similar efficiency

5. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Professional development refers to skills and knowledge attained

for both personal development and career advancement. Professional development encompasses all
types of facilitated learning opportunities, ranging from college degrees to formal coursework,
conferences and informal learning opportunities situated in practice. It has been described as
intensive and collaborative, ideally incorporating an evaluative stage. There are a variety of
approaches to professional development, including consultation, coaching, communities of practice,
lesson study, mentoring, reflective supervision and technical assistance

6. BUSINESS WORKFLOW ANALYSIS: Business Workflow Analysis (BWA), aka Business management
systems p2p, is a management tool that streamlines, automates and improves the efficiency of
business procedures. As part of the move towards the paperless office, BWA is a method allowing
businesses to better comprehend their current needs and to establish future goals. The long-term
objectives of BWA are those of reducing transaction costs and managing performance.

BWA generally necessitates the participation of:

* Employees whose everyday role includes the processing, handling and sharing of documents.
* Experts with a vision of how the work should be done.
* IT staff with an understanding about how the vision could be translated into a realistic solution.
* A facilitator whose role it is to manage the project and keep to specified limits in time and
expenditure.
* BWA in actions such as routing documents to different locations, securing approvals, scheduling
and generating reports.

7. UPWARD FEEDBACK: Upward feedback is the process by which superiors or management are
rated by employees or subordinates, while downward feedback is the flow of information from
superiors or management to employees or subordinates.

8. EXECUTIVE EDUCATION: Executive education (Exec. Ed) refers to academic programs at graduate-
level business schools worldwide for executives, business leaders and functional managers. These
programs are generally non-credit and non-degree-granting, but sometimes lead to certificates

9. SUPERVISORY TRAINING: Programs providing information related to rules/regulations,

interpersonal skills, as well as the acquisition of skills enhancing supervisory effectiveness. Examples:
Hiring Procedures for Classified Positions; Position Description Development.

Advantages of Management Development methods: There can be many training and development
advantages of the staff as they could use it for their company’s growth.

1. Stay ahead of competitors: In order to stay ahead of competitors it is mandatory to monitor that

your employees are advancing. By undergoing staff training, the organization with its employees

would definitely be ahead of their competitors.

2. Keep up with industry changes: In order to be parallel with all industries and not left behind, staff

training is necessary. With the help of staff training the industry is said to be abiding by the industry

regulations and also makes sure that the employees are updated with the latest skills.

3. An opportunity to learn: When staff training is provided in the development path, the employees

would have the interest to learn, implement the new strategies learned.

4. Grabs in new talent: The aim for any organization would be to possess the best talents in their

industry. With the help of staff training not only employee retention is attained, best talents from

outside are also grabbed in. With staff training, good image is developed for business which is

desired by most job seekers.

5. Self-confidence: There is more of self-confidence for employees when staff training is offered.

There is more of adjustment amongst workers and the employees are not humiliated in the

presence of seniors. With self-confidence the employees are able to put in best effortsfor future.

6. Positive attitude: With the help of staff training, there is positive attitude amongst employees,

along with enhanced motivation levels which enhances the result of the organization.

7. Group effort: Staff training not only trains the staff but also helps them understand about working

with a team with complete efforts. With such training group efforts are achieved.

8. Handles customers well: Trained staffs are ones who know the techniques to handle customer in

the right manner. By this way the business is run in the better manner where customer inquiries,

sales and lot more are handled effectively.

Disadvantages of Management Development methods:

1. Waste of time and money: There is surely waste of valuable resources, as the organization needs
to spend money, time, and hire other people for training. They also need to pay wages for both the
trainer as well as the employees.
2. Increased stress: In order to keep the staffs up to date with latest trends and knowledgeable in

their specific area, training staffs for more number of hours can make them stressed. As they are

stressed, their job levels may go down too.

3. Too much of theory: Training programs for certain departments are too much of theory than

application. These kinds of lectures make it tough for employees to learn the subject.

Thus theoretical lectures make the whole training program boring when it’s for prolonged period.

4. Loss of interest: At times of training sessions which lead for long hours, employees are bored and

aren’t interested in their session.

Data and information is thus not retained for employees who do not listen. When training programs
are conducted continuously with same data or theory again and again, the employees lose interest.

5. Leave for new job: When an employee is trained and updated with all the latest knowledge and

skills. They are prepared and ready to jump to another organization which offers good perks and

salary.

6. Time requirements: The other main important disadvantages of employee training is that there

may not be enough time for staff training with the daily hectic schedule.

There are many organizations who dedicate very less time, which may not be helpful in making the
employee productive or knowledgeable. With very less time, the trainer usually rushed through the
main parts of job which is to be understood by the employees.

7. Control of training: When your responsibility of training for new employees is delegated to some

other trainer or employee, then it is mandatory to think about what the employees are learning.

The trainer may not be a skilled and talented one like you; hence the employees may pick some bad
habits and end up with quality less training. This would spoil the complete training. Hence having a
good control over training is necessary.
Above mentioned are a few advantages and disadvantages of staff training, benefits and importance
of staff training. Staff training is mandatory and can be forced to be conducted in all organizations
for the various benefits it brings in. The best part of staff training is that the organization and
productivity increases. The organization earns a special image by providing quality training for the
organization. Higher officials and managers must thus focus on such training and make it mandatory
in organizations at required sessions.

Not all employees have the same level of talent when they step into the organization. They are
hence required to be provided with good training at regular intervals in order to enhance their
knowledge on specialized work. Only staff training can push the employees to achieve and do
something extraordinary in their career field.

Employees are maintained fresh and evergreen with such kind of staff training. Hence it is important
to conduct staff training when required. These are a few hints which present the importance of staff
training and makes any organization fruitful. Employees can read through these hints and get
benefitted.

CONCLUSION:

Managers are exposed to learning opportunities whilst doing their jobs, if this informal learning is
used as a formal process then it is regarded as management development. The conflicts are the best
part of career consequences are those that take place between employees and their bosses. The
number one reason people leave their jobs is conflict with their bosses. And yet, as author,
workplace relationship authority, and executive coach, Dr. John Hoover points out, "Tempting as it
is, nobody ever enhanced his or her career by making the boss look stupid." Training an employee
to get along well with authority and with people who entertain diverse points of view is one of the
best guarantees of long-term success. Talent, knowledge, and skill alone won't compensate for a
sour relationship with a superior, peer, or customer.

Management Development and Staff training is important for the following

reasons.

1. Enhancement in performance:

When weakness and shortcomings are identified, then employees are required to be trained.

Hence employee training is important as it amplifies skills and helps the staffs to gain new skills. It
has become important for companies to focus on training needs for individuals.
For example, there are many organizations where training groups are available for every
department. Like training to improve performance are QA training, product development training,
PMP and lot more.

2. Enhanced productivity:

With the state of the art situations, productivity mainly depends on the technology being used
rather than the staffs. Training and development these days focuses how well the employees are
making use of technologies.

The employees are trained on existing technologies where they abandon the out-of-date ones. By
this way of training, work runs in an efficient manner and hence productivity increases.

3. Tackle shortcomings:

There are shortcomings faced by every staff and hence training for employees is important as
it helps them face any shortcomings. Training can be given appropriate to a specific group so that
they turn out to be skilled.

4. Employee satisfaction:

Training is important in an organization as organizations that arrange for training are said to have
satisfied their employees. Training must be ones that are relevant for employees and they have
something to educate themselves.

If training is dull, boring and tedious, then they would result to be fruitless. With proper training,
employees are also sent out for a number of conferences and seminars which is beneficial for them.
With the help of training, employees learn real aspect of job and are satisfied in doing their job.

5. They are up-to-date:

Whether it is work, training, methods or legislation there are many things that keep changing in
work place.
With the aid of continuous training, the staffs as well as business do not lag behind and they work at
the best every day and also in future.

6. Sharing higher knowledge:

Promotion and career growth are some parameters that are mandatory at workplace. By
conducting training, the employees are able to share knowledge about higher job postings and the
responsibilities they handle.

7. Retain star players:

Staff training important as they help to enhance skill set and improve performance of staffs. By this
way retention is increased and star players are kept back in the organization.

8. Consistency:

With the help of training program for employees, the employees possess a consistent experience
along with background knowledge. The consistency of an employee is associated with the
organizations policies and procedures.

9. Reduces training time:

When systematic training is provided by means of trained instructors, then training period is
reduced.

Staffs usually take a long time when they learn through trail and error method. They may also not
make use of the right methods to learn and hence formal training for staffs is important.

10. Safety in industries:

Staff training is important so that they handle machinery in a safe manner. Such trained staffs are
well known about safety devices in the industry and result in less industrial accidents.

Benefits of Staff Training and Development:

The following mentioned are few benefits of training and development in an organization

1. Improves employee morale:

With the help of training, the employees gain job satisfaction and security. When a staffer is very
much satisfied, then his morale is greater.

By this way the employee contributes more to organizational success and hence the absenteeism
and turn over would be less.

2. Minimal supervision:

When an employee is trained he is well accustomed to the job and hence requires very less
supervision. By this way times and efforts are reduced.

3. Opportunities for promotion:

At times of training, employees get the chance to acquire enhanced skills and knowledge which
offers them a clear way and enhanced opportunity for promotion.

By this way they become an asset for the organization. This is one of the benefits of training staff.

4. Productivity increases:

With trained employees the efficiency is increased which in turn increases the productivity. Quantity
as well as quality performance is achieved by the employees as they are well trained.

5. Better economic usage:

Trained staff would have the knowledge to make best economic usage of materials and equipment’s.

There will be less wastage, apart from accidents; damaged equipment’s in the organization would be
minimal in the case of trained employees.

6. Uniform procedures:
The best methods required for the specific work are standardized and adopted by all the staff as an
effect of training. With the assistance of standardization, there is improved level of performance.

7. Systematic usage of skills:

The main benefit of a training program in an organization is that it helps to lessen the learning time
so that a level of performance is reached. The employees can learn from training methods instead of
following others or by trial and error method.

8. New inventory skills are developed:

An organization may be in need of new skills for its operation and may face hindrance with
employment. Training can be beneficial in picking out the perfect fit and eradicating defects if
present in the recruitment process.

Another good suggestion would be to pick employees from within the organization and train them
rather than recruiting new employees.

9. Updated with latest technology:

There are constant changes with the industry and hence it is important for employees to be updated
with the latest trends. It is quite often that new technology pops up and hence one off training
session would not be complete.

In order to make sure that the organization is making use of latest technology, regular training is
conducted.

5. A Successful First Assignment

The first assignment is significant for several reasons. When all goes well, it can serve to build
confidence in the new role, positions the employee for a successful start, and helps to establish
productive interaction between the employee and his/her manager and co-workers.

To ensure that the first assignment is successful, consider the following to help set expectations
and outcomes:

Explain the expected outcome(s) of the assignment.

  What will be the end result of the assignment? Will it be newly created or updated?
 What will the desired outcome look like? (Provide examples, if possible.)
 How will success be measured?
Clarify the importance of the outcome(s).
This will help the employee connect the assignment to the overall organization.

 Where do the results fit in the larger organizational picture? (Consider missions, goals,
and priorities). This will help the employee understand the impact the job has on the
organization.
 Who will benefit from the results (students, faculty, staff, alumni, external stakeholders,
others)?
Describe the key features of the assignment.
 What actions or steps are required?
 What resources or resource limitations may apply?
 What are the deadlines? Will there be milestones to meet prior to the final deadline?
 What is the priority of the assignment for the employee?
 How will progress be monitored?
Define the level of authority the employee will exercise throughout the
assignment.
 Should the employee carry out exact instructions?
 Should the employee bring recommendations to be decided by the manager?
 What recommendations should the manager and new hire decide together?
 If the new employee has the authority to make decisions, should he/she inform
management before acting?
 Will the new employee have the authority to make decisions, act, and then inform
management of the outcome?
Let the employee know who else will be involved in the assignment.
 Who can influence success?
 Who will the employee need to consult with? (Ensure that the employee knows how to
contact any relevant individuals.)
 Who will the employee need to get resources from, if needed?
Identify potential issues, and determine how they will be addressed.
 What could possibly interrupt or stand in the way of success in this assignment?
 How should any potential issues be resolved?
In moving through this process, continue to check with the employee to ensure clear
expectations are established and understood. Encourage questions and clarify what
management will do to support the employee’s success.

Following completion of the assignment, it is recommended that the manager debrief with the
new employee to gain his/her perspective on what went well, and what may have been
challenging. The conversation should also include the assignment’s outcomes, as well as how
his/her interaction with other employees went and what may have been done differently.