Executive Development
It is also known as 'management
development‘or ‗executive development‘.It is one of the fastest- developing
areas in personnel. It is realized that an effective management team may be as
important to the survival of an organization as any tangible item on the
balance sheet. Interest in management development is great partly due to the
shortage of well-trained managers. Executive development or management
development is a systematic process of learning and growth by which managerial
personnel gain and apply knowledge, skills, attitudes and insights to manage
the work in their organization effectively and efficiently.
The
program of executive development aims at achieving following purposes: -
To sustain good performance of managers throughout
their careers by exploiting their full potential. To understand economic,
technical, and institutional forces in order to solve business problems. To
acquire knowledge about problems of human resources.
To think through problems this may confront the
organization now or in the future. To develop responsible leaders.
To inculcate knowledge of human motivation and human
relationships.
To increase proficiency in management
techniques such as work study, inventory control, operations research and
quality control.
Johnson
and Sorcher write, ―Management development focuses on
developing in a systematic manner, the knowledge base, attitudes, basic
skills, interpersonal skills and technical skills of the managerial cadre.
According to Flippo ―executive
development includes the process by which managers and executives acquire
not only skills and competency in their present job but also capabilities for
future managerial tasks of increasing difficulty and scope.‖
The
characteristics of executive development are as following: -
Executive development is a planned and organized
process of learning. It is an ongoing and never ending exercise.
Executive development is a long term process as
managerial skills cannot be developed overnight. It aims at preparing managers
for managers.
Today, it is the growth that makes one person stay
at the company. The opportunity and challenges iswhat keeps a person satisfied
and charmed with his job. Companies have understood this fact and therefore are
forming policies and procedures to develop their employees.
Executive development Program (EDP) is one such
program. With Human resource making a move from a welfare department to a
strategic partner, more and more companies are undertaking this program. We at
Career Solutions provide you the opportunity of developing a specific EDP for
your company. There are four major steps to be covered during the EDP-
1) Problem
Assessment: the experts along with the concerned
employees and CEO shall begin with an assessment of the company‘scurrent
problem and owner‘splans of the future.
2) Management
Audit and Appraisal: there shall be regular feedback sessions
to check as to whether we are reaching where we are supposed to reach.
3) Analysis
of Development Needs: here the problem that has been
uncovered shall be tried to and remedied via a development program.
4) Identify
Replacement Needs: the assessment may uncover a need to
recruit and select new management talent. The format of EDP will vary
with company‘ssize and nature of operation so as to provide optimum result.
Importance
and Factors Influencing Executive Development
Executive development is more future oriented. It is
more concerned with education than is employee training. In today‘scompetitive environment,
an organization has to be concerned about the development of supervisors,
middle level managers and top-level executive.
Executive
development is important for the following reasons: -
Executive development programmes are required to
train and develop professional managers. It helps managers to develop skills to
face cut throat competition.
It enables managers to face problems related to
technology and institution. It helps in developing better relations with the
labors.
Executives need training and education
to understand and adjust to changes in socio-economic changes.
Executive development is required to broader the
outlook of managers.
Factors
Influencing Executive Development
A
host of factors influencing the executive development processes in
organizations are as follows:-
Failure
to train the managers will lead to ineffective and inefficient managers who
negatively affect the organization‘sperformance.
In the absence of
training and developmental avenues, the performing managers may get
de-motivated and frustrated in leading the organizations. This would lead to
severe losses for the organization in financial parameters, in terms of the
cost of recruiting and training the new incumbent.
The organizational
performance may be affected by the loss of market shares, lower sales, reduced
profitability, etc.
The absence/ shortage
of trained and skilled managers make it important for the organizations to have
appropriate retention strategies. Training and development is being used by
organizations as a part of their retention strategy.
The competitive pressures
make it necessary for organizations to continuously roll out new products and
services, and also maintain the quality of the existing ones. The training and
development of managers would help them in developing the competencies in these
areas.
The competitive
environment is making it imperative for the organizations to continuously
restructure and re-engineer, and to embark upon these processes, it is
essential for the organizations to train the managers for the new scenarios.
Process
Contemporary
organizations have realized the importance of human capital and increasingly
finding its necessary to continuously train and develop human resources. The
training and development needs of the employees cannot be looked at in
isolation; any proactive organization has to view the individual training needs
in the overall organizational context. The training and development processes
are not longer adjunct to other departments but have become a part of
organizational strategy and one of the key organizational objectives. The
process of arriving at the development needs of the executives can be
comprehensively viewed through the process given in Fig.-
The Process of Executive Development
Stage I: In
the Stage I, at the macro level, there are three key elements are considered as
competitive advantage, organizational strategy and organizational
objectives. The analysis of competitive environment helps the organization to
decide its competitive positioning in the market place, based on which the
organizational strategy is drawn out in an attempt to transform or reposition
of the organization. The macro view is broken down into specific organizational
objectives for further dissemination to functional/ departmental, and
individual level.
Stage II: This
stage is most important and crucial phase of executive development process.
This stage deals analysis on the competency mapping, identification of
competency gap and career planning. In the competency stage which helps to
capture the competencies of all the employees of the organization which
includes the capacities of the management also. In the second stage, the
organizational requirements and competency gap to be analyzed. In the third
phase, this deals with identifying and verifying the organizational needs,
individual growth and along with career planning of the executives.
Stage III: This
stage is consisting of three levels. The first level of this stage deals with
the activities involving training need assessment of individuals and of
all employees based on which Annual Training Plan (ATP) is drawn. Based on the
annual training plan the employees are chosen to expose to either corporate
training program, for internal training programs and external organizations.
While deciding the venue and types and nature of the training program the
personnel department and training facilitator should consider the various
issues like no of executives, cost, outsourcing and availability of technical
expertise in the organizations. In case of organizational development related
exercises, the combination of internal and external training programs should be
arrange for the all employee of the organization.
Though the money, infrastructure and finally the
manpower to be utilized in the whole process keeping into this, the top
management has to take decision in this regard. The training department,
management and HR Department should work in union. It is a collective
phenomenon, which is mostly initiatives, motives of the top management. If
entire process of executive development is mostly determined by its efficacyand
its effectiveness.
Apart from this the process of executive development
can be defined in several other ways with slight difference.
The
process of executive development is as follows:
1. Analysis
of Development Needs: First of all the present and future
development needs of the organization are ascertained. It is necessary
to determine how many and what type of executives are required to meet the
present and future needs of the enterprise.
2. Appraisal
of the Present Managerial Talent: A qualitative
assessment of the existing executives is made to determine the type of
executive talent available within the organization.
3. Planning
Individual Development Programmes: Each one of us has a
unique set of physical, intellectual and emotional characteristics.
Therefore, development plan should be tailor-made for each individual.
4. Establishing
Training and Development Programme: The HR department
prepares comprehensive and well conceived programmes.
5. Evaluating
Developing Programs: Considerable money, time and efforts are
spent on executive development programmes. It is therefore natural to
find out to what extent the programme‘s objective has been achieved.
Evaluation of
Executive Development
In the competition scenario, where the focus is on
efficiency and profitability and the return on investment (ROI) on all the
activities of the organization, executive development cannot be an exception to
the phenomenon. The evaluation of the process assumes importance from the
following perspectives:
Improving the quality of the training and development
process.
Improving the efficiency and competency of the
trainers.
Making improvements in the system to make it more
responsive and realistic.
Aligning the training activities to the
organizational objectives.
Building the cost implications of the training into
the organizational budget.
Evaluating the ROI on account of training and
development to justify further investments.
Changing the perception of the
management on training as expenditure to more as an investment for the future
growth of the organization.
The levels of evaluation include the reaction level,
immediate level, intermediate level, and ultimate level. For the purpose of
evaluation, it is essential to collect the data for which there should be
appropriate measures for data collection, both during the course of the
training programme and after the training programme. Some of the methods being
used by experts are self-complete questionnaires, interviews, observations, and
desk research. The desk research involves low cost and less amount of time.
Methods
of Executive Development
Management
development programs help in acquiring and developing managerial skill and
knowledge. A Varity of methods of management development have come into
prominence these days. Different types of techniques are used to acquire and
develop various types of managerial skill and knowledge as given in the table
below:
S.NO Competency Development Area Methods
1. Decision-making skill : In-basket,
Business games, Case study
2. Interpersonal skill : Role plying, Sensitivity Training
3. Job Knowledge : On-the-Job experiences, Coaching, Understudy
4. Organizational Knowledge : Job Rotation, Multiple Management
5. General Knowledge : Special course, Special Meeting, Specific
Reading
6. Specific Individual Needs : Special Projects, Committee
Assignments
Managerial
Training / Management development: The following diagram
shows the stages involved in the managerial training.
Stages
of Managerial Training
In all above stages, we
should satisfy the following essential aspects in order to make the programmes
a success:
1. Policy
decisions
2. Acceptance
3. Appreciation
4. Support
5. Conductive
atmosphere
6. Strong
urge for learning
7. Participation
8. Identification
of strength and weakness
9. Involvement
10.
Self-development
A number of executive
development methods are available. Generally these methods are used in
combination of two or more.
The
various techniques of executive development may be classified into two broad
categories: -
1. On
the Job Techniques: It is delivered to employees while they
perform their regular jobs. In this way, they do not lose time while
they are learning. After a plan is developed for what should be taught,
employees should be informed of the details. A time-table should be established
with periodic evaluations to inform employees about their progress. On-the-job
techniques include orientations, job instruction training, apprenticeships,
internships and assistantships, job rotation and coaching. It consists of: -
Coaching-Coaching
is a one-to-one relationship between trainees and supervisors which offers workers
continued guidance and feedback on how well they are handling their tasks. The
coach assigns the task, monitors the trainee behavior, and provides
reinforcement and feedback. Coaching is commonly used for all kinds of
trainees, from unskilled to managerial position. This method is critically
depends on the quality of the coach.
Under Study- An
understudy may be assistant to someone or special assistant to some supervisory
or executive positions. He learns by experience, observation, guidance and
coaching.
Position Rotation-This
involves the movement of the trainee from one job to another. This helps him
to have a general understanding of how the organization functions. Apart from
releasing boredom, Job rotation allows workers to build rapport with a wide
range of individuals within the organization, facilitating future cooperation
among various departments. Such cross-trained personnel offer a great deal of
flexibility for organizations when transfers, promotions or replacement become
inevitable.
Multiple Management-
It provides knowledge about the organization to the junior and middle managerial
personnel. Here the members are exposed to all types of the decision taken at
higher level.
2.Off-the-Job
Technique: It consists of :
Lectures-
It is a traditional and direct method of instruction. The instructor organizes
the material and gives it to a group of trainees in the form of a talk.
To be effective, the lecture must motivate and create interest among the
trainees. An advantage of this method is that it is direct and can be used for
a large group of trainees. The major limitation of this method is that it does
not providefor the transfer of training effectively.
Case Studies- It
presents the trainees with a written description of a business or organizational
problem. The object of the case method is to teach the trainees how to analyze
information, generate alternative decisions, and evaluate the alternatives.
Cases can be analyzed by individuals or small groups. Feedback and
reinforcement are provided through oral discussion or written comments from the
instructor.
Group Discussions- This
method is a direct discussion on a specific topic conducted with a relatively
small group of trainees. This method is useful for teaching and exploring difficult
conceptual materials, and for changing attitudes and opinions. It provides
opportunity for feedback, reinforcement practice, motivation, and transfer,
largely due to the active interchange of ideas between the participants.
Role Playing- In
most of role-playing assignments, each of the student takes the role of a
person affected by an issues on human life and effect the human
activities all around us from the perspective of that person.
Management
Games- Verities of business and management games have
been devised and are being used with the varying degree of success in
the developing programmes. A management game is classroom exercise in which a
number of team of trainees competes against each other to achieve certain
objectives.
Sensitivity Training- It
has been successfully employed by behavioral scientists over the past
thirty years. Sensitivity to the circumstances and feeling of others is the
cornerstone of human relationships. It is important to note that sensitivity is
not just an emotion; it must express itself in actions as well, especially when
people we know are experiencing pain and difficulties.
Benefits:
·
Increased job satisfaction and morale
among employees
·
Increased employee motivation
·
Increased efficiencies in processes,
resulting in financial gain
·
Increased capacity to adopt new
technologies and methods
·
Increased innovation in strategies and
products
·
Reduced employee turnover
·
Enhanced company image, e.g., conducting
ethics training (not a good reason for ethics training!)
· Risk management, e.g., training about sexual harassment, diversity training
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