10The Ethics of HRD and Corporate Social Responsibility

anyaberkut/iStock/Thinkstock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

• Summarize the issues of ethical HRD.

• Describe HRD’s social responsibility.

• Explain social responsibility at the operational level.

• Evaluate work–life balance issues.

• Examine the critical perspective of HRD through the social history of training.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. —Warren Buffet

Introduction Chapter 10

Pretest 1. Using a one-size-fits-all model of employee training contradicts ethical principles for

human resource development. a. true b. false

2. Organizations with dedicated corporate social responsibility programs tend to rank lower and report less return on investment than other companies. a. true b. false

3. The glass ceiling that can keep qualified women and minorities out of leadership posi- tions often manifests as a lack of access to training development. a. true b. false

4. Multitasking is a focusing strategy that allows employees to accomplish more and reduce stress. a. true b. false

5. Rather than simply supporting workers, historically training programs have often served as means of oppression. a. true b. false

Answers can be found at the end of the chapter.

Introduction In this, our final chapter, we now change our focus from HRD as the interdisciplinary field with the processes and goals to enhance employee performance through learning, to HRD’s impact on, and responsibilities to, the environment in which it operates, both internal and external. Specifically, as discussed in Chapter 1, we will recall Swanson’s metaphor for HRD as a three-legged stool—psychological, economic, and systems—which sat on a base of ethics.

We will discuss HRD not only in the context of ethics, but also as an extension of social respon- sibility known as corporate social responsibility (CSR), which includes organizational issues such as work–life balance, equal opportunity, and access to career-advancing training and development.

Although the field of human resource development (HRD) is dedicated to the activities and processes that influence organizational and individual learning and development, HRD has not ignored or overlooked ethics. As early as 1978, there was an awareness and recommenda- tions of ethical practice for training and development professionals (Clement, Pinto, & Walker,

Ethical Human Resource Development Chapter 10

1978). Currently, there exists the Academy of Human Resource Development’s Standards on Ethics and Integrity (http://www.ahrd.org).

Recently, however, an emerging theme in HRD surrounds how human resource development is increasingly expected to facilitate ethics and corporate social responsibility; that is, organiza- tions are taking the initiative to assess and assume responsibility for the organization’s effects on the environment and impact on social welfare (Ardichvili, 2013; Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; Hatcher, 2003; Hatcher, 2002; MacKenzie, Garavan, & Garbery, 2012). This expanding responsibility extends HRD stakeholders to include not only the individual, group, and orga- nization, but also society (Ardichvili, 2013; Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; McLean, 2004).

By placing this CSR lens onto HRD, we focus in on the so-called triple bottom-line approach (Savitz, 2013); that is, a balanced attention to both the economic aspects of organizational performance and the organization’s impact on the environment and attention to social justice (Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; Kim, 2012a; MacKenzie et al., 2012; Marquardt & Berger, 2003).

10.1 Ethical Human Resource Development Not unlike other disciplines, HRD affirmed early on how the field’s effectiveness and credibil- ity depended on ethical practice (Clement et al., 1978; Hatcher, 2010; McLagan & Suhadolnik, 1989; Russ-Eft & Hatcher, 2003; Swanson & Holton, 2001). The initial practice of HRD dealt with ethical issues that were relatively straightforward, including maintaining confidentiality, striking a balance between organizational and individual needs, and using influence appro- priately (Jerling, 1996; McLagan & Suhadolnik, 1989). McLagan et al. (1989) put forth 13 ethical issues a training and development professional needs to consider:

1. Maintain appropriate confidentiality. For example, do not reveal a trainee’s deficien- cies to other organizational members.

2. Decline inappropriate training requests. For example, decline a manager’s request to create training that is not really needed or to conduct the training at an unnecessarily expensive venue when more economical venues are adequate.

3. Respect copyrighted sources and intellectual property. For example, acknowledge the work of an original author whose work is used, and ask permission to use copy- righted training materials.

4. Ensure truth in any claims, data, and recommendations. For example, do not falsify training results to make them appear better, including the training’s ROI.

5. Balance the organization’s needs with the employee’s training and development needs. For example, avoid only looking at cost as the sole factor for training effectiveness or not favoring certain employees for training over others.

6. Ensure that all customers and users have an opportunity to participate and take owner- ship. For example, be sure to involve line management in the assessment of training needs.

7. Avoid conflicts of interest. For example, do not promote nepotism (favoring family members) in the marketing to vendors of training programs.

8. Manage personal biases. For example, guard against using training techniques or modalities that only satisfy the trainer rather than the trainees.

9. Be guided by the trainees’ needs. For example, ensure that training objectives are guided by the assessment performed in the needs analysis phase of ADDIE.

Ethical Human Resource Development Chapter 10

10. Regarding diversity, show respect for, interest in, and representation in the workplace. For example, treat trainees equally and avoid discrimination based on sex, race, eth- nicity, or age.

11. Be aware of the direct and indirect effects of intervention and act to rectify negative consequences. For example, consider trainee expectations and even the unintended effects on the trainees.

12. Price and cost products or services fairly. For example, ensure that training programs are not overpriced and provide the organization a fair return on investment.

13. Do not use power inappropriately. For example, avoid using personal power to influ- ence training processes to favor certain groups or departments.

Werner and DeSimone (2011) further extended the awareness of ethical HRD practice by including warnings about the use of deception, as well as the pressure to produce positive ROI results. For example, a trainer may state some other reason why she is observing the employ- ees in a department rather than the truthful reason of observing to see if they are applying (level 3) the training they received weeks earlier.

Also, with the growing need for organizations to show competitive advantage, organizations may tend to focus more on transactional (performance-driven) versus transformational (developmentally based) outcomes (Rousseau, 1989). Doing so puts additional pressure on HRD ethical practice. As a result, HRD professionals might feel compelled to show that a train- ing program was effective, especially at times when the HRD professional is the person who purchases or designs, develops, and implements the training. The implication is that if the evaluation of that training is shown to be ineffective, the HRD department may lose funding and support (Werner & DeSimone, 2011).

Different Ethical Frameworks

According to Northouse (2012), in an organizational context, applying business ethics out- comes can be framed from a shareholder to stakeholder continuum. Let us review a few frame- works for organizational ethics:

• Ethical egoism. In this ethical framework, organizations act to create the greatest benefits they can for themselves. An organization and its employees therefore make decisions to achieve the organizational goal of maximizing profits. Here is a case in point from Clemson University’s Institute for the Study of Capitalism: Although Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Sam Walton greatly benefited humanity by provid- ing it with lightbulbs, cheap automobiles, or cheap consumer retailing, each was motivated by self-interest and his own satisfaction and fulfillment. With such an ethical framework, the most efficient and productive businesses can earn the most profit while simultaneously providing consumers with affordable goods and services (Clemson University, 2014). From a training and development standpoint, this frame- work supports the resource-based view of human capital described in Chapter 9; that is, leveraging the economic benefits of a highly trained and developed workforce towards achieving competitive advantage.

• Utilitarianism. In this ethical framework, organizations balance their self-interest with the interests of society. Specifically, they try to benefit the greatest number and maximize social benefits while minimizing social costs. An example of an organiza- tion that practices this is the ice cream maker Ben and Jerry’s™, whose social mission

Ethical Human Resource Development Chapter 10

statement articulates such a utilitarian framework (visit http://www.benjerry.com/ values to read the company’s mission statement). Ben and Jerry’s actively seeks out and financially supports causes that the company feels will have a positive impact on the community at large. For example, Ben and Jerry’s promotes the Refinery Efficiency Initiative, whose goal is to reduce refinery accidents to prevent the release thousands of pounds of toxins into the air; and ETC Group, which strives to promote biodiversity, democratic technology assessment, and just and sustainable food security and liveli- hood systems for the benefit of society.

Panera Bread Company, too, has its Panera Cares program, in which customers who are going through a difficult financial time can “pay whatever they can afford” (“Panera Cares,” 2013) for food. The training of Panera employees also reflects this ethical framework, and it is a job requirement that all employees at a Panera Cares location understand or critically reflect on being a good corporate citizen. Panera Cares workers are specifically trained to deal with a population that is in need. “What they told us to do is just to smile at every customer, so even if they don’t want to make eye contact with us, the fact that we’re smiling is a sign that we’re here and that we care. The smile is everything that will make their day,” (“Panera Cares,” 2013) says employee Yetunde Bankol.

• Altruism. In this ethical framework, actions are moral if their primary purpose is to promote the best interest of society; naturally, many nonprofit organizations adopt this framework as part of their mission. Recently, Entrepreneur magazine spotlighted five organizations considered to be exceptionally altruistic. Included on the list was the Salesforce.com Foundation, whose a philanthropic approach is to leverage not only technology and resources, but also its people to build collective knowledge—a core component of strategic human resource development (Swart, Mann, Brown, & Price, 2012)—to take action to improve communities throughout the world.

Did You Know? Altruism for Generation Y Employees

According to an article from Forbes on the new generation of employees entering the workforce, the millennial generation—the so-called generation Y—recent research from the Center for Work-Life Policy shows that ambition, dedication and, above all, concern for social welfare are alive and well among this cohort.

Author Sylvia Hewlett writes:

Perhaps it’s not surprising that the children of the Me generation are developing into a We generation. The baby boomers wanted to stop war and promote peace; the echo boomers have equally ambitious goals to connect cultures and save the planet. What’s new is that they not only want their employers to recognize their enthusiasm, they expect them to support it. Corporate social responsibility isn’t just talk for Gen Ys. They volunteer extensively, care deeply and seek employers who feel the same: 88% of Gen Y women and 82% of Y men believe it’s important to be able to give back to community through work.

Source: Hewlett, S. A. (2009, July). The altruistic gen Y employee. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/07/gen-y-volunteer-mentor- forbes-woman-leadership-communit y.html

Ethical Human Resource Development Chapter 10

Globalization Means Global HRD

Consider, too, that the practice of ethical HRD may become more complex because many organi- zations continue to expand globally. For example, of McDonald’s $24 billion in revenue in 2013, 66% was from overseas markets, the majority of its revenue from Europe and Asia (about 400 stores in China alone!). About 315 (45%) of the 700 hotels Marriott is developing will be located outside North America (Newman, 2014; International Trade Administration, 2014).

Clearly, one HRD framework will not fit all organizations (or countries). As organizations become more global and diverse, global HRD must adapt its practices. A notable example is found in Gary McLean, Professor Emeritus of HRD at the University of Minnesota and CEO of McLean Global Consulting. McLean introduces a general HRD framework to his international initiatives (such as assessing the gap between the present state and the desired future state), but then adapts it to the international community and social projects, including projects in Pakistan, Thailand, and Morocco (McLean, 2004). In Pakistan, for example, McLean and his colleagues, under a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development, worked with a group of Pakistani consultants from social development agencies and nongovernmental agen- cies (NGOs) to develop their organization development consulting competencies. In Thailand, McLean and his colleagues used HRD processes for the purposes of moral, social, and commu- nity development; HRD tools identified and assessed leadership development, training, and social and moral development through retreats and instruction.

These and other projects underscored McLean’s and other HRD practitioners’ assertion that the field of HRD can ultimately serve all of humanity (Kim, 2012b). McLean particularly has promoted HRD practice to assist with the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015. As articulated by United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, the UN’s MDGs include:

Eradicating extreme poverty continues to be one of the main challenges of our time, and is a major concern of the international community. Ending this scourge will require the combined efforts of all, governments, civil society organizations and the private sector, in the context of a stronger and more effective global partnership for development. The Millennium Development

Goals set time-bound targets, by which progress in reducing income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shel- ter and exclusion—while promoting gender equality, health, education and environmental sustainability—can be measured. They also embody basic human rights—the rights of each per- son on the planet to health, education, shelter and security. The Goals are ambitious but feasible and, together with the comprehensive United Nations development agenda, set the course for the world’s efforts to alleviate extreme poverty by 2015. (as cited in United Nations, n.d.)

Comstock/Stockbyte/Thinkstock

Maintaining ethical practices becomes more com- plex as companies expand globally.

HRD and Social Responsibility Chapter 10

With global HRD, cross-cultural understanding of the meaning and goals of HRD will vary from country to country, as will the way HRD is viewed as national policy around the world (McLean, 2004). For example, how is HRD practiced in India? (See India’s National HRD Net- work, https://www.nationalhrd.org/about-nhrdn/overview.) Consider that, unlike in the United States, India has a collectivist culture with a historical focus on the group versus the individual (Hofstede, 1984; Hong & Lee, 2014). As a result, it is possible that decisions regard- ing who gets access to career-advancing training in India is influenced by whether or not the employee is in the in-group. Compare this to the United States, where those decisions are supposed to be based on qualifications with equal access guided by labor laws (Gelfand, Chiu, & Hong, 2010). Wang and McLean (2007) suggested discussions be ongoing regarding the practice of international HRD because the field of HRD still struggles over the meaning of the term; specifically, they assert that there exists a dilemma in defining international and cross-national HRD.

Although culture differences make it difficult to operationalize global, homogeneous HRD practice, Russ-Eft & Hatcher (2003) assert there is a rationale for an international HRD code of ethics, with the AHRD Standards on Ethics and Integrity providing a good first step, albeit still tied to a North American view.

10.2 HRD and Social Responsibility Like other social sciences, HRD invokes at a minimum a do no harm principle, a primary ethi- cal obligation to avoid doing harm to employees of the organization (Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; Fenwick & Bierema, 2008; Hatcher, 2010; Porter, 2008) and the community from which they operate. Corporate social responsibility includes organizations who choose to assess and take the initiative and responsibility for how the organization affects the environment, as well as social justice and welfare (Ardichvili, 2013; Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; Hatcher, 2003; Hatcher, 2002; Kopp & Desiderio, 2009; MacKenzie et al., 2012).

This perspective extends HRD stakeholders to include not only the individual, group, and organizational levels, but also society (Ardichvili, 2013; Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; McLean, 2004). Corporate social responsibility itself has evolved and is typically divided into four eras (Frederick, 1998):

• Corporate social stewardship, 1950s–1960s • Corporate social responsiveness, 1960s–1970s • Corporate and business ethics, 1980s–1990s • Corporate and global citizenship, 1990s–21st century

Although the field of HRD continues to demonstrate increasing concern with ethics, integ- rity, and sustainability, moving away from a strict performance model and evincing a “greater attention to power relations, equity, social justice and reflexivity in HRD” (Fenwick & Bier- ema, 2008, p. 26), HRD’s focus on social responsibility is still evolving (Garavan & McGuire, 2010). Some might even contend that it is getting off to an inauspicious start; in reviewing 600 articles from 1996 to 2000, Bierema and Cseh (2003) concluded that “HRD focuses little on issues concerning social justice in the workplace or larger social context” (p. 23). Addition- ally, Hatcher (2002) considered that HRD professionals were part of the problem because so little was done to enhance the human spirit or protect the environment. As discussed, with

HRD and Social Responsibility Chapter 10

CSR, organizations focus on the triple bottom-line approach (Savitz, 2013). Furthermore, the employee relations component of CSR is a significant part of the corporate citizen scoring, tied for the highest component at 19.5%.

The 100 Best Corporate Citizens list from Corporate Responsibility Magazine ranks firms according to how well they perform in these eight categories: shareholders, community, governance, diversity, employees, environment, human rights, and product. Their scores reflect financial information, as well as measures of corporate social performance; the Global Reporting Initiative also developed guidelines to enable organizations to comparably report on the social impact of a business.

According to Gatewood and Carroll (1981), organizations fall on a spectrum as they adopt certain responses to societal demands. They range from being proactive, where the organi- zation actively takes social initiatives, to obstructive, where the organization denies social responsibility Carroll (Gatewood & Carroll, 1981) (see Figure 10.1). Therefore, where an organization operates will determine where its HRD practice and philosophy fall.

Specifically, within the context of HRD, corporate social responsibility can be framed as how organizational activities affect an employee’s physical and mental health and well-being—in short, how the stress of work practices affect human systems (Fenwick & Bierema, 2008; Pfef- fer, 2010). This consideration includes avoiding direct and immediate harm and implies an obligation to weigh carefully how the decisions, future consequences, and impacts of training affect others from both the internal and external environments (Kotler & Lee, 2011). This pri- mary obligation, therefore, should supersede the outcomes of training and performance for society’s macro goals (Fenwick & Bierema, 2008; Garavan & McGuire, 2010; Hatcher, 2003). Examples of practice could include aspects of work–life balance or ethical mentoring.

Figure 10.1: Spectrum of corporate social responsibility standard

Levels of CSR vary among organizations. Depending on their philosophy, organizations may be proactive, seeking out inequities; or obstructionist, taking the view that social responsibility is not the role of business.

f10.01_BUS375.ai

• Obstructive— Organization denies all social responsibility

• Defensive— Organization does only what is legally required

• Accomodative— Organization accepts ethical responsibility

• Proactive— Organization takes social initiatives

Developed

Developing

High Low

Source: Adpated from Gatewood, E., & Carroll, A. B. (1981). The anatomy of corporate social response. Business Horizons, 24, 9–16.

HRD and Social Responsibility Chapter 10

Nurturing Corporate Social Responsibility Within the Organization

According to Kash Rangan, a professor at Harvard Business School, in many companies, “There’s always a marketing strategy, an operations strategy, an HR strategy, but what is the CSR strategy?” (as cited in Filtz, 2013). Within his executive leadership courses, Rangan teaches organizational leaders to integrate CSR aspects into their corporate strategies by adopting these practices:

• Align social responsibility strategies and goals with organizational objectives. • Sustain the CSR strategy over the long term by embedding CSR within the business

culture. • Use hiring and partnerships to build CSR expertise; for example, recently, the Silicon

Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) and YourCause, both leaders in CSR, teamed up to create a corporate social responsibility center where organizations can look for and develop their CSR acumen (http://ef.siliconvalleycf.org/blog/silicon-valley- community-foundation-and-yourcause-announce-partnership-create-csr-center).

• Integrate social responsibility metrics into general performance management sys- tems; for example, in addition to accessing the so-called triple bottom line, organiza- tions are mindful of the CSR metrics of community, governance, diversity, employees, environment, and human rights.

• Share information about CSR policies throughout the organization. • Demonstrate how CSR practices continue to affect individuals and departments. • Communicate the impact of social responsibility to capital markets, shareholders, and

other stakeholders. Accurate and timely communication is key to CSR efforts. Interest- ingly, unless corporations communicate their CSR achievements accurately, they risk being accused of “greenwashing,” a new term that, according to communications pro- fessor Laura Illia (Illia, Zyglidopoulos, Romenti, Rodríguez-Cánovas, & González del Valle Brena, 2013), refers to the use of environmentalism to suggest that a company’s policies and products are environmentally friendly. More broadly, the term describes public relations aimed at giving the false impression that a corporation is genuinely engaged in CSR and has green credentials.

HRD in Practice: Unethical Mentoring

In a recent blog, business coach Catherine Day reflected on the ethics of mentoring:

I am passionate about mentoring and cannot understand why some organizations allow behaviors from mentors that are destructive or corrosive. Not only do these behaviors undermine the mentee and diminish their trust with the organization, they send a message that the mentor’s behavior is condoned. The following is a recent example shared with me by a senior executive I am now mentoring.

”A mentor was appointed by the organization to address perceived gaps in the experience of the newly appointed executive. This was the first mistake— arbitrarily appointing a mentor without giving a choice to the person being mentored. It’s so important for a rapport to develop between the two for the mentor to be effective.

(continued)

HRD and Social Responsibility Chapter 10

Mistake number two was not agreeing on the rules of engagement between the mentor and the company. In this case, the mentee discovered that matters discussed during a mentoring session were reported back to his superior. This was entirely unethical on behalf of the mentor, and shouldn’t have been condoned by the CEO. The probable motivation of the mentor was to ingratiate himself with the CEO to gain more business in the organization. The mentee had a discussion with the CEO and it was agreed that a new mentor would be found who would meet the gap criteria and clear guidelines would be agreed by all concerned.”

Source: Reprinted with permission from Day, C. Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, Executive Mentor. (2014.) Unethical mentoring. Retrieved from The CDA Blog: http://cdainspired.com.au/unethical-mentoring

Consider This 1. How should the “rules of engagement” in mentor–mentee relationships be formalized? 2. Is there ever a rationale for the mentor to discuss the mentoring session with the

mentee’s supervisor? 3. How does Day’s story underscore the risks of assigning mentors versus letting this type

of relationship emerge?

Not everyone is sold on the idea that organizations should be in the CSR business. Table 10.1 reviews arguments for and against corporate social responsibility (see http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=5nRQNNidbV8).

Table 10.1: Arguments for and against corporate social responsibility

Should organizations be in the CSR business?

For Against

Social problems have resulted from the rise of the modern corporation. Therefore, the corporate world should take the lead in addressing these problems.

Confronting social and moral issues is not economi- cally feasible. Corporations should focus on earning a profit for their shareholders and leave social issues to others.

Assuming social responsibilities is in the long-term best interests of corporations. Doing so will increase the chances that corporations will have a future and will reduce the chances of increased governmental regulation.

Corporations that assume social responsibilities are at a competitive disadvantage relative to those who do not.

Large corporations enjoy the benefits of huge reserves of human and financial capital. They should devote at least some of their resources to addressing social issues.

Those who are most capable should address social issues. Those in the corporate world are not equipped to deal with social problems.

Source: Adapted from Reference for Business. (2014). Corporate social responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Comp-De/ Corporate-Social-Responsibilit y.html#ixzz2LSk4PPE7

Notwithstanding the for or against arguments of CSR, it is important to note that organiza- tions can take a middle ground. Rarely is an organization’s CSR policy a binary, all-or-nothing proposition. For example, early on, Gatewood and Carroll (1981) proposed that in addition to being proactive (for) or obstructionist (against) regarding CSR, there were the midline

HRD and Social Responsibility Chapter 10

propositions of an organization being accommodative and accepting ethical responsibility of CSR and, at the very least, complying with the legal requirements that support CSR (for exam- ple, phasing out incandescent office lightbulbs with efficiency lighting as they will be illegal to produce in 2016).

Going back to the Panera Cares example, coauthor of Understanding Business Ethics Peter Stanwick points out that the ethical framework could be a middle ground between ethical egoism and utilitarianism because it could be argued that because Panera Bread “expects that the payments needy people will make will be close to the actual cost of the food” (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2014, p. 9).

Case Study: When Job Performance Aids Attack

As discussed, job aids can be designed to assist in work or life; they give information that enables the user to know what actions and decisions a specific task requires. Instructions or directions themselves are considered forms of job aids. Consider this interesting story.

In the summer of 1905, an exasperated mother retrieved a box of Kopp’s Baby’s Friend (no relation to author) from the washroom cabinet. Inside the box was a small bottle of the elixir she had purchased through mail order. This “king of baby soothers” offered the promise of putting crying babies to sleep (Adams, 1912). Indeed, the young mother must have thought that it would make her crying, 9-month-old, colicky baby feel better. She was unclear on the dosing instructions and read the directions from the box to assist her.

A few hours after giving her infant half a teaspoon—per the dosing instructions—“the baby went into a stupor, his pupils were pin-pointed, skin cool and clammy, heart and respiration slowed” (“Poisoned a Child,” 1905, p. 24). Minutes later, her baby was dead. An autopsy later revealed the cause of death to be a morphine overdose—morphine being the elixir’s main ingredient.

Certainly, this is a dramatic example that shows that, at the detail level, we cannot always assume that job aids are giving out safe information. However, in the ethics of training and social responsibility, the larger issue is that, although job aids are—axiologically speaking— value neutral on their face, there are examples where they have historically been the means to facilitate the ends of what might be considered dubious performance. From patented medicines of the 19th and early 20th centuries to vocational training and labor methods used within the Third Reich, what emerges is how ordinary training processes, including job aids, were part of extraordinary and, sometimes, perverse contexts!

Consider This 1. Although an extreme example of a job performance aid, do you see any parallels in

today’s consumer world? 2. What, if any, role should the training and development profession take in ensuring that

training tools are used ethically by end users?

CSR and Social Justice Within the Organization Chapter 10

“Walking the Walk” of Social Responsibility

Among the organizational strategies for promoting CSR are action learning and field projects and global-service learning projects (Ardichvili, 2013; Kim, 2012b; McLean, 2004). Ardichvili (2013) gives an example of a CSR initiative at Unilever. Here, hundreds of leaders from the company’s Asian division worked together with Westerners

to create communities of learning and sharing, by completing development projects in villages, schools, and shrines in various parts of Asia. An important part of these projects was time, set aside for self-reflection, journaling, story- telling, group discussions on learned lessons, and other methods of generating and sharing individual and group insights, which could ultimately contribute to organizational learning. (p. 467)

Unilever’s Corporate Social Responsibility program has had great success in affecting com- munities, both local and global, with regular updates to its stakeholders. This program goes beyond the minimum do no harm principle, and is an example of how organizations take the initiative and responsibility for how they affect the environment, social justice, and welfare.

10.3 CSR and Social Justice Within the Organization Does an employer have a social responsibility to train employees who lack basic literacy and numeracy skills? According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s 2013 report, the U.S. skills gap appears to be getting worse. Although Americans aged 55 to 65 maintained their overall educational and skills advantage over other nations, those in the 45 to 54 age group were only average. Younger Americans again fared worse, consistently scoring in the bottom half compared to their counterparts in other countries. Such statis- tics suggest that an organization’s responsibility to its adult workers cannot be a theoretical proposition; specifically, while corporate social responsibility and ethical HRD are noble calls to action, organizations must act on them every day at the operational level. In other words, organizations must ensure that they fulfill their legal duty to train (the minimal requirement), including enabling employees to have equal access to career-advancing training and technol- ogy (Luftman, 2011; Piskurich, 2010).

An example of this is seen in the so-called glass ceiling, the unseen barriers preventing minorities and women from rising to the top of the corporate ladder, even despite their quali- fications or achievements (Blalock, 2013; Morrison, White, & Van Velsor, 1992).

If two employees—one male, one female—are equally qualified for an open promotion, should preference be given to the female? To be sure, several federal laws legally require or strongly recommend employee training. For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Administra- tion (OSHA) put forth a series of training programs; these include training in blood-borne pathogens, confined spaces, and back safety (see Did You Know? feature). Federal law also recommends companies provide training in sexual harassment, as well as ethics (U.S. Depart- ment of Labor, 2014b). Some laws, too, mandate equal treatment of minorities, women, and those accommodating trainees with disabilities; they must make training facilities readily accessible to, and usable by, individuals with disabilities. However, no laws require organiza- tions to develop their employees.

CSR and Social Justice Within the Organization Chapter 10

Did You Know? Employers’ Legal Duty to Train

Complainants filed more than 95,000 complaints alleging workplace discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in fiscal year 2012. The EEOC obtained more than $274.4 million in awards for complainants and other parties; these awards exclude benefits gained through litigation. These 2012 statistics show the importance of providing training in the workplace to protect workers.

• Employees filed more than 32,000 sexual harassment complaints, for which the EEOC obtained $74.8 million in awards.

• Some 5,071 fatal work injuries occurred, making the rate of fatal injury for U.S. workers 3.6 fatal work injuries per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.

• More than 4.5 million workers suffered nonfatal work injuries. Median days away from work—an important measure of injury severity —increased to 8 days. This represented the first increase in 4 years

Source: US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2013). EEOC reports nearly 100,000 job bias charges in fiscal year 2012. Retrieved from http://ww w.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/1-28-13.cfm

Access to Training: The Glass Ceiling of Training and Development

The glass ceiling keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper levels of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements (Blalock, 2013; Morrison, White, & Van Velsor, 1992 ). Many times, this barrier takes on the form of not being given access to training and development that could enable this group to advance within organization, such as leadership and management development training.

According to the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission report (McGuire, Nicolau, Trujillo, & Project, 1996; Robles, Leondar-Wright, Brewer, & Lui, 2013; Steinmetz, 2011), organizations whose organizational culture promotes a sense of social responsibility to eliminate career development barriers minorities and women face typically have a specific executive training program that would have:

• rotational and nontraditional job assignments that broaden a candidate’s base of experience and visibility;

• specific career path programs that identify objective performance, skill, and knowl- edge criteria for advancement;

• employee-sponsored networks and affinity groups; • access to specialized training, seminars and workshops; and • formal succession planning

Catalyst is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and minorities. Table 10.2 presents findings from the group’s 2012 study on the state of the glass ceiling.

CSR and Social Justice Within the Organization Chapter 10

Table 10.2: Catalyst’s current state of the glass ceiling

Access to career development opportunities Statistics comparing men’s and women’s access

Access to “hot jobs” that predict advancement: high-visibility projects, mission-critical roles, and international experiences

• More men than women got “hot jobs,” particularly after being in formal leadership development programs.

• More men were promoted within a year of program completion: 51% of men vs. 37% of women.

Access to leadership experience • 62% credit high-profile assignments with influencing their careers.

• Only 10% cited formal training programs as most impactful.

Access to prestige assignments • Men led projects with budgets more than twice the size of women’s budgets

• Men led teams having more than three times as many staff as women’s teams.

• Men’s projects posed higher risk to the company: 30% of men vs. 22% of women.

• Men had more C-suite visibility or titles that started with the letter C, for chief, as in chief executive officer or chief operating officer: 35% of men vs. 26% of women.

Access to roles with critical responsibility Men had more roles with critical responsibility: • profit and loss: 56% of men vs. 46% of women, • management of direct reports: 77% of men vs. 70% of

women • budgets over $10 million: 30% of men vs. 22% of

women

Access to international assignments predicting advancement

Women get fewer international assignments than men do—but not because women will not relocate. Of those most willing to relocate: • More men than women got those assignments: 35%

versus 26%. • More women than men were never offered the opportu-

nity: 64% versus 55%.

Source: Catalyst, 2012.

In 2014 Jena McGregor and Pam Tobey published a “glass-ceiling update,” writing that “not much has changed in the years following the previous glass-ceiling studies. On average, women still hold fewer than 20 percent of leadership positions across all sectors.” Using both primary research and secondary sources, the updated report also went beyond the original glass-ceiling studies by making comparisons between the general prevalence of women at the top and the frequency with which women appear among many of the sectors’ top performers.

Access to career-advancing training is not only part of ethical HRD, but can be costly to orga- nizations who do not offer equal access. Wal-Mart recently lost an appeal on a gender-bias lawsuit that originally had been filed on behalf of six female Wal-Mart employees; the lawsuit eventually represented as many as 1.6 million employees, making it the largest private civil rights case in U.S. history. The workers claimed that Walmart discriminated against female employees by paying them less than it paid men for comparable jobs, and bypassing women for promotions.

Work–Life Balance Chapter 10

The Coca-Cola Company lost the largest racial discrimination settlement in U.S. history. The company had to pay $192.5 million to settle allegations that it routinely discriminated against African-American employees in pay, performance evaluations, and promotions. In 1996 Tex- aco Inc. had to pay $176 million to end a similar suit by its African-American employees.

Training Considerations for Speakers of Other Languages

With the ever-diverse workplace, organizations will need to better accommodate speakers of other languages. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Robles et al., 2013), the Span- ish-speaking or Hispanic workforce increased 36% faster than other ethnic groups between 1996 and 2006; by 2050 it will make up more than 15% of the U.S. workforce. Accordingly, OSHA requires that companies make special accommodations when English is not the work- er’s native language and the worker may not yet be fluent:

According to OSHA’s training standards policy statement, if an employee does not speak or comprehend English, instruction must be provided by the employer in a language the employee can understand. Similarly, if the employee’s vocabu- lary is limited, the training must account for that limitation. According to OSHA, an employer’s responsibility to provide employees with safety information and training doesn’t go away because an employee can’t understand standard English-language training programs. When that is the case, employers must inform and train these workers in a language they can understand. (OSHA, 2010)

Trainees who are speakers of other languages present another level of consideration to train- ing design, implementation, and potential barrier. Serving this group is an additional compo- nent for those organizations who, as part of their CSR platform, proactively pursue diversity in the workplace.

Another variable to CSR is ensuring the well-being and quality of work life of the employees and the workforce, at large, in the form of work–life balance issues.

10.4 Work–Life Balance For organizations committed to corporate social responsibility, providing work–life bal- ance—designing practices to help employees balance their work lives and personal lives—is imperative both because it is ethical and because it has been shown to favorably affect the organization’s performance (Gond, Igalens, Swaen, & Akremi, 2011; Kelly, 2011). According to a study Deloitte and Touche conducted, 91% of employed adults agree that employees who have a good work–life balance are more likely to behave ethically on the job. Likewise, 60% of those surveyed believe job dissatisfaction is a significant reason for people to make unethical decisions at work (Deloitte & Touche, 2007).

Further, according to Sharon L. Allen, chair of the board at Deloitte & Touche:

Work–life balance is not only key to job satisfaction and retaining the most val- ued employees, but it is also critical in fostering an ethical workplace culture. The knowledge that work/life benefits result in more ethical behavior in this

Work–Life Balance Chapter 10

post-Enron and WorldCom business environment could be a huge driver for companies to create such programs. (as cited by Worthington, 2007)

A recent 2014 work–life balance study put out by the Organization for Economic Coopera- tion and Development had the United States ranked 26th out of 36 countries in percentage of workers working more than 50 hours per week (11%) and 33rd out of 36 in number of leisure hours per week.

Food for Thought: Work–Life Balance

Nigel Marsh, author of Fit, Fifty and Fired Up, speaks on work–life balance: http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=jdpIKXLLYYM.

Consider This 1. What were Marsh’s symptoms of this workaholism? 2. What were some of the challenges that Marsh found in curbing his workaholism? 3. What is the significance of Marsh’s story about the day he spent with his son?

Table 10.3 presents typical components of work–life balance practices; practices vary among organizations, but usually share at least one of these components, according to Catalyst.

Table 10.3: Typical components of work–life balance practices

Work-life balance practice Definition

Flextime Employees choose start and end times, but typically must work during “core” periods (e.g., 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.).

Flexible week A “compressed workweek” lets employees work longer hours over fewer days or fewer hours each day over a six- day workweek.

Work at home, flex place, or telecommuting Employees do some or all of their work off-site at home or at satellite offices located central to where clusters of employees live. Computers and networks connect employ- ees to the office. Insurance protection is needed when establishing a telecommuting arrangement.

Part-time work Employees work a reduced work schedule.

Job sharing Two employees share the workload of one job.

Part-time telecommuting This option combines part-time or reduced hours with an off-site working location.

Source: Catalyst, n.d.

Fuji Xerox takes a broader approach to its work–life balance program. The company views work–life balance as successfully combining work and family life, but also promotes employee awareness to transform working styles. The hope is that this transformation will elevate employee morale and enhance organizational productivity. (Figure 10.2 presents an outline

Work–Life Balance Chapter 10

of their child care support system.) Since launching the New Work Way management innova- tion initiative in fiscal year 1988, Fuji Xerox has provided a working environment that lets employees combine work and family life. The company introduced a childcare leave system in fiscal 1988 and a family nursing care system in fiscal 1990. This progressive approach to work–life balance in the workplace has created a culture that supports continuing to work by taking advantage of these systems. The average length of employment at Fuji Xerox in fiscal 2011 was 19.6 years for men and 15.3 years for women.

Figure 10.2: Fuji Xerox child care support systems

Fuji Xerox has a detailed child care support system that spans and considers the employee’s work–life milestones from the pregnancy to the end of the 6th year of elementary school.

f10.02_BUS375.ai

Pregnancy Childbirth One year

old Four years

old Start of school

End of third year of

elementary school

End of sixth year of

elementary school

Maternity leave before childbirth (six weeks)

Shortened work hours • Up to two hours • During pregnancy and until the end of the child’s third year of elementary

school

Limits on late night and overtime working, until the end of the child’s sixth year of elementary school (no overtime in principle, until the end of the child’s sixth year of elementary school.

24-hour toll-free hotline providing information on childcare, child health, pregnancy, childbirth, and medical institutions available at night and during holidays.

Flex-time

Accrued paid leave can be used for nursing care for family members or for volunteer activities (up to 60 days of paid leave that has lapsed can be accumulated.)

Re-employment system for former employees who left the company due to childbirth, childcare or transfer or spouses.

Leave for child nursing care

Maternity leave after childbirth (eight weeks)

House- work assistance subsidy

Hours spent for pregnancy check-ups / The employee is deemed to be working (up to seven times)

Childcare leave / Until the child reaches one year old / Can be extended up to six months

Distribution of monthly publication, Baby and Mother

Source: Adapted from Fuji Xerox. (2013.) Initiatives for work–life balance. Retrieved from http://www.fujixerox.com/eng/company/sr/2013/stakeholder/employee/ balance.html

Work–Life Balance Chapter 10

Workaholism—Performance, but at What Cost?

A factor that directly affects work–life balance is workaholism, the dysfunctional choice an employee makes to focus exclusively on work, neglecting other areas of life; the result is a poor work–life balance (Christensen & Schneider, 2010). While having a strong work ethic is distinct from being a workaholic, organizations that have a well-defined CSR plan measure employee productivity and examine the social costs of that activity (Frederick, 1998; Gond et al., 2011).

Workaholism is a high risk in the United States, where Americans have the highest average productivity compared to workers in other countries (U.S. Department of Labor, 2014b). (Pro- ductivity is a figure derived by dividing the country’s gross domestic product by the number of people employed.) Workaholism can have dire consequences, as seen recently in Japan where a spate of deaths has occurred resulting from overwork—what the Japanese call “karo- shi.” Japan is at the top of the list for employees who used the least amount of their vacation days, with only 33%; the United States ranked fifth (Goldman, 2011).

In fact, in March 2014 the Japanese government introduced a bill stating that both companies and local governments have a responsibility to ensure that workers are not being so over- worked they will die from it.

Food for Thought: Workaholic Behavior: Not Limited to the Working and Middle Classes

Professional of management at Cornell University Robert H. Frank recounts his experiences with wealthy workaholics:

Last week I had dinner with a billionaire in California. During the two hours I was at his house, he took six cellphone calls, sent 18 emails, and thought up two new business ideas.… At the end of dinner he took his last sip of wine and said, “It’s so nice to be able to have a relaxing dinner at home.” I laughed. He didn’t get the joke. In short, the “leisure class” has given way to what I call the “workaholic rich.” Even when they’re sitting by the pool at their beach homes in Palm Beach and the Hamptons, they’re tapping away at their laptops and screaming into their cellphones.… But this new generation of workaholic wealthy has dramatically changed the classic equation between money and leisure time. As my billionaire friend said after our dinner: “I’m the most relaxed when I’m working.” (Frank, 2007)

Source: Williams, R. B. (2011). How workaholism may be the price we pay for productivity. Retrieved from Psychology Today website: http://www. psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201104/how-workaholism-may-be-the-price-we-pay-productivit y

Consider This 1. Can a case be made that so-called “successful” people are more apt to be workaholics? 2. Frank’s friend said that he is most relaxed when he is working. Why would he still be

considered a workaholic?

Work–Life Balance Chapter 10

According to work–life balance expert Jeff Davidson (2014) of Work-LifeBalance.com, people must manage six keys to work–life balance:

1. Self-Management. Sufficiently managing our lives means more than getting proper sleep, eating right, and exercising. When we effectively self-manage our lives, we rec- ognize that our resources, time, and lives are finite.

2. Time Management. Effectively managing our time means making the best use of our time and any resources we can summon. We keep pace by matching our challenges with our resources. We set appropriate goals and discern what is both important and urgent, versus either important or urgent. Know what you do best and when, and gather the right tools to perform the work.

3. Stress Management. Societies tend to become more complex over time. Our increas- ingly complex lives mean individual stress is inevitable. We need to figure out how to be tranquil and handle stressful situations; doing so is especially challenging when we deal with more people, distractions, and noise. Multi-tasking tends to increase our stress, rather than help us to focus on one thing at a time.

4. Change Management. In our fast-paced world, change is a constant. We must con- stantly adopt new approaches or adapt existing ones to enjoy a successful career and a happy home life. When we effectively manage change, we ensure that the volume and rate of change at work and at home does not overwhelm or defeat us.

5. Technology Management. We want technology to serve us, not abuse us. Our world has had technology since man’s first tools. Change now happens faster and faster, with vendors expanding their market share. Even when we are forced to keep up, we must rule technology, and avoid it ruling us.

6. Leisure Management. We often overlook the work–life balance area of leisure manage- ment, which acknowledges how important rest and relaxation can be. Down time is a vital to our health and well-being.

As a pracical matter, training programs, too, should complement work–life balance programs and ensure that employees ultimately are working smarter, not necessarily harder. For exam- ple, trainers must manage the attendant stress and anxiety that comes with changing to a new training program with its new procedures. As discussed in Chapter 2, the slide down the zone of proximal development during a learning curve should be efficient enough to ensure that the training time period is reasonable and finite so the trainee can still attend her son’s soccer game that weekend.

“I haven’t taken a vacation in over 2 years,” I once heard a colleague say. Indeed, the line between working hard and working too hard sometimes is not a clear one. As part of CSR, an organization must monitor its workforce to ensure that effective employee performance is not coming with the long-term costs of burnout, compromised lesiure time, and strife to the employee’s family. In the final analyis, organizations must just be empathic enough to act on situations like my workaholic colleague; that is, just because an employee can work 60 hours a week, should he?

Critical HRD and Lessons Learned From the Social History of Training Chapter 10

10.5 Critical HRD and Lessons Learned From the Social History of Training The social history of training and its implications was first addressed by Kopp and Desiderio in their seminal 2009 article, “Training’s Woeful Countenance,” which addressed how many salespeople, as late as the 1930s, were trained in the so-called folk science of physiognomy— the notion that a person’s outer appearance, especially the face, could provide insight into his or her true character or personality. For example, the following excerpt from automaker Henry Ford’s 1923 training manual contained instructions on how to vary selling techniques with prospective buyers by evaluating the size and shape of the customer’s—forehead:

We find the high headed man comparatively idealistic and should be appealed to with that thought in mind. The low-headed prospect is to be approached with a sense of the physical, through seeing the car, and through a grosser appeal. (as cited in Tedlow, 1996, p. 157)

As incredible as it may sound today, salespeople were taught to focus on the customer’s facial features, including hair and chin. People with large, clear blue eyes were said to be open, and people with small, sparkling black eyes were thought to be cunning. Additionally, “the pointed chin signifies acuteness or craft. The soft, fat double chin marks the epicure; the round chin with a dimple speaks to benevolence” (Goddard, 1889, p. 109). These physiognomic sales training manuals were prominent in the early 20th century. The Library of Congress listed more than 350 titles under the subject heading “salesmanship manuals” in 1925!

Sales training manuals that relied on physiognomy for their training techniques were, at best—by today’s standards—politically incorrect and, at worst, blatantly bigoted, exploiting historical stereotypes. Dubious training practices continued, including the vocational train- ing methods of slave labor in the Third Reich and the apprenticeship programs targeted to the negro worker (Kopp & Desidero, 2009). Even the terrorist group Al Qaeda’s training is memorialized through their official training manual with advice regarding training venue, the trainers, and the trainees, including its seemingly innocent training recommendations of “proper utilization of individuals’ unused capabilities … and small ratio of trainees to trainers and a small size that should be together during the training (7–10 individuals)” (as cited in U.S. Department of Justice, n.d.)

Such reflections fall under the critical perspective to HRD (Fenwick, 2004; Stewart, Rigg, & Trehan, 2007); specifically, critical HRD includes contemplations such as:

• the consequences of training and development to society, organizations, and individuals;

• the moral base and ethical dilemmas raised by HRD practice; • considering power differences and repressive practices; and, • the overall social responsibility of training and development practice

Part of critical HRD, and aligned with the principles of social responsibility, sustainability, and ethics, is the practice of reflecting on training practices, as memorialized by training manu- als (Kopp, 2007; Kopp & Desiderio, 2009), and specifically, the axiology of training; that is, whether training is value neutral. Clearly, while training itself may be value neutral, training programs have historically been the means to sustain stereotypes, racism, anti-Semitism, and

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

prejudice, in general. Whether as part of sexist ephemera (for example, airline hostess train- ing) or fanatical cultural movements (for example, the Hitler Youth training manual) train- ing—especially vocational training has borne witness to and/or aided and abetted human events, in both triumph and in disgrace. Training materials are important, too, because they become artifacts of the organization and society at-large. What might future trainers think of the Hooters™ training material 70 years from now?

It is generally believed that the field of training and development only advances through criti- cal reflection. It’s important to question training’s role within a broader context, including social justice. While training and developing employees, we must ensure that both training outcomes and interventions are ethical.

Summary and Resources Chapter Summary

• We view HRD as a three-legged stool of psychological theory, economic theory, and systems theory, and then focus on ethics. Specific ethical issues within HRD include the pressure to produce positive return-on-training investment results and the emerging trend of corporate social responsibility. Studies have shown that organiza- tions with advanced CSR philosophies perform better and regularly are ranked as some of the best organizations.

• Organizations must act on corporate social responsibility and ethical HRD every day. They must fulfill their legal duty to train (the minimal requirement), and give employ- ees equal access to career-advancing training and technology, avoiding the so-called glass ceiling.

• Critical perspectives of HRD reflect on the consequences of training and development to society, organizations, and individuals; the moral base and ethical dilemmas raised by HRD practice; power differences and repressive practice; and the overall social responsibility of training and development practice.

• Organizations committed to corporate social responsibility are dedicated to help- ing employees achieve work–life balance—those practices designed to improve the balance between the demands of an employee’s work and personal life. Not only is this practice ethical, it has also been shown to favorably affect the organization’s performance.

• One common theme is that the field of training and development only advances through critical reflection, which includes questioning training’s role within a broader context, including issues of social justice. While training and developing employees, we must ensure that both training outcomes and interventions are ethical.

Posttest 1. Acting against one’s own self-interests in order to benefit others is part of which ethi-

cal framework? a. ethical egoism b. utilitarianism c. altruism d. pragmatism

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

2. The most recent additions to the ethical guidelines for human resource development focus on . a. respecting intellectual property and copyrighted sources b. benefiting the greatest number of people by maximizing social benefits while

minimizing costs c. applying human resource development recommendations on a global scale d. avoiding the temptation to produce false positive return on investment results

3. What is the relationship between employee relations and corporate social responsi- bility (CSR)? a. Employee relations is one of the biggest factors that make up CSR. b. CSR is to large companies what employee relations is to small businesses. c. A company’s corporate citizenship ranking is based on a combination of its

employee relations and CSR ratings. d. Employee relations is at one end of an ethical spectrum, with CSR at the other end.

4. Which of the following best describes the human resource development role in corpo- rate social responsibility? a. aligning social responsibility strategies with the organization’s overall goals b. developing guidelines for reporting on the social impact of a business c. evaluating how work practices affect employees’ health and well-being d. sharing information about CSR with an organization’s employees

5. What is NOT required or strongly recommended by federal legislation? a. employee development b. accommodations for trainees with disabilities c. ethics trainings d. training sessions about sexual harassment

6. Which of the following is reported by employees to be most beneficial to their career development? a. formal training programs b. high-profile leadership assignments c. employee-sponsored affinity groups and networks d. federal nondiscrimination regulations and other workplace-related legislation

7. In addition to increasing employee satisfaction and retention, providing work–life bal- ance is important because it . a. is monitored and regulated by federal legislation b. is positively correlated with employees’ ethical behavior c. supports change management within an organization d. contributes to quasi-equilibrium, according to force-field analysis

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

8. Which of the following is true about workaholism? a. It is an exaggerated concept that detracts attention from the seriousness of real

work–life balance issues. b. It is more of a problem in Japan, where employees have died from it, than in the

United States. c. It is on the decrease worldwide, with fewer employees overworking today than in

years past. d. It is a real danger in the United States, where workers have the highest productiv-

ity of any country. 9. The practice of involves considering the consequences of training for

individuals and society, including ethical dilemmas and issues of power differences. a. critical human resource development b. work–life balance c. reflective ethical training d. do no harm

10. The assessment of whether a training is value neutral or contains some bias is known as . a. physiognomy b. the critical perspective c. the axiology of training d. ethical egoism

Assess Your Learning: Critical Reflection 1. Are training and development value neutral? Explain your answer. 2. How is an organization’s goal of maximizing profits an ethical stance? 3. Beyond the legal requirements of training, such as required by OSHA, does an organi-

zation have a social responsibility to develop its employees? 4. Are there some careers where a work–life balance is not possible? 5. Explain how an organization might be complicit to an employee’s workaholism.

Additional Resources Web Resources

Social development through HRD: http://www.uf hrd.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/ uploads/2008/06/37-1_mclean_kuo_budhwani_yamnill.pdf

India’s National HRD Network: https://www.nationalhrd.org/about-nhrdn/overview

The 100 Best Corporate Citizens 2013 list from Corporate Responsibility Magazine: http://www.thecro.com/files/100Best2013_web.pdf

For detailed news about the latest initiatives in corporate social responsibility: www.csrwire.com

JetBlue CSR blog: http://blog.jetblue.com/index.php/2012/10/11/a-day-in-the-life- corporate-social-responsibility

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

About countries with the most workaholics: http://www.businessinsider.com/ countries-with-the-most-workaholics-2011-2?op=1#ixzz2yoldEnvi

A “worked-to-death” bill introduced by the Japanese government: http://digitaljournal. com/life/health/japan-ruling-party-proposes-worked-to-death-bill/article/377911

For keys to work–life balance: http://work-lifebalance.com

Further Reading

Ardichvili, A. (2013). Sustainability of nations, communities, organizations, and individuals: The role of HRD. Human Resource Development International, 14, 371–374.

Fenwick, T., & Bierema, L. (2008). Corporate social responsibility: Issues for human resource development professionals. International Journal of Training and Development, 12(1), 24–35. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2419.2007.00293.x

Garavan, T., & McGuire, D. (2010). Human resource development and society: Human resource development’s role in embedding corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and ethics in organizations. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 12, 487–507.

Hatcher, T. (2010). Ethics and HRD: A new approach to leading responsible organizations. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.

Kopp, D. M., & Desiderio, K. P. (2009). Training’s woeful countenance. Human Resource Devel- opment Quarterly, 20(1), 135–142.

Savitz, A. (2013). The triple bottom line: How today’s best-run companies are achieving eco- nomic, social and environmental success—and how you can too. New York: Wiley.

Answers and Rejoinders to Chapter Pretest

1. true. A key ethical concept for human resource development is that training should be determined by the trainees’ needs. Using a cure-all program, rather than the needs- assessment analysis that is part of ADDIE, violates this concept.

2. false. Studies have shown that organizations with advanced corporate social responsi- bility philosophies tend to outperform other companies.

3. true. Denying women and minorities training opportunities that could allow them to advance, such as leadership and management development training, is a cause of the glass ceiling. Executive training programs that include formal succession planning, affinity networks, and job rotations can remedy this.

4. false. Multitasking has actually been found to increase stress. However, while it may be better to focus on one thing at a time, this can be difficult in today’s complex soci- eties and workplaces.

5. true. Training materials and programs have been used at various times in history to further stereotypes and racist ideas. Examples range from the Third Reich’s training of slave labor to Henry Ford’s sales training manuals asserting that facial character- istics reveal a customer’s character. It is essential that organizations evaluate their training programs critically to remove any biases or stereotypes.

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

Answers and Rejoinders to Chapter Posttest

1. c. In altruism, actions are considered moral if they are intended to help others. Orga- nizations and their leaders sometimes act altruistically by putting others’ interests ahead of their own.

2. d. The growing need to show that training programs offer a competitive advantage and strong return on investment puts pressure on trainers. Recent ethical recommen- dations have centered on avoiding deception, especially when it comes to evaluating trainings.

3. a. An organization’s CSR is made up of several factors, including the environment, human rights, and diversity, among others. According to rankings of the best cor- porate citizens, employee relations is tied for the most significant component that contributes to a company’s CSR.

4. c. In a human resource development context, corporate social responsibility means evaluating how the organization’s decisions affect human systems—particularly employees’ mental and physical health. The top consideration is making sure these decisions avoid harm.

5. a. Federal law requires that individuals with disabilities be accommodated so they can participate in training sessions (and all other aspects of a job). It also recommends that organizations provide training about ethics and sexual harassment. However, no laws require that companies develop their employees.

6. b. Although executive training programs are a good start for breaking through the glass ceiling, employees report that the best thing for their career development has been not formal training, but rather high-profile leadership assignments. Many more men than women still receive these high-profile assignments.

7. b. In one survey, 91% of employed respondents felt that employees with good work– life balance were more likely to act ethically. Sixty percent agreed that job dissatisfac- tion is a major cause of unethical employee behavior.

8. d. Workaholism is an increasing concern in many countries around the world, includ- ing the United States, where worker productivity is highest.

9. a. The critical perspective on human resource development necessitates reflecting on the social responsibility of training and development. This includes the consequences of training and development to society, organizations, and individuals; potential power differences and repressive practice; and the moral and ethical dilemmas raised by HRD practice.

10. c. Axiology is the philosophy or study of value. Thus, the axiology of training addresses whether training is value neutral or whether it maintains prejudice or oppression, as some training programs have historically done.

Key Terms altruism An ethical framework that views actions as moral if their primary purpose is to promote the best interest of others.

axiology The study of values. For example, is training value neutral?

corporate social responsibility (CSR) An extension of social responsibility; organiza- tions’ choice to assess and take the initiative

and responsibility for the organization’s effects on the environment and its impact on social justice and welfare.

critical perspective An HRD view that considers the consequences of training and development to society, organizations and individuals; power differences and repres- sive practices; and so on.

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

do no harm principle A primary ethical obligation to avoid doing harm not only to employees of the organization, but also to the community in which the organization operates.

ethical egoism An ethical framework in which organizations act so as to create the greatest good for themselves.

ethics Moral principles that govern a per- son’s or group’s behavior.

Federal Glass Ceiling Commission report The fact-finding report released by the Glass Ceiling Commission, initiated by the Glass Ceiling Act in 1991.

flexible week A work–life balance practice, sometimes called a compressed workweek; this approach allows employees to work lon- ger hours over a smaller number of days.

flextime A work–life balance practice in which employees choose starting and ending hours, but typically must be present in the office during “core” periods.

glass ceiling Unseen barriers that keep minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regard- less of their qualifications or achievements.

Global Reporting Initiative A nonprofit organization that promotes economic sus- tainability. It produces one of the world’s most prevalent standards for sustainability reporting.

job sharing Two employees share or divide the workload of a single job; a work–life bal- ance practice.

part time Most familiar to employers, this option offers employees a reduced work schedule; a work–life balance practice.

part-time telecommuting A combination of part-time or reduced hours coupled with an off-site working location; a work–life bal- ance practice.

physiognomic sales training manu- als Sales training manuals that emphasized paying attention to the customer’s face, forehead, eyes, teeth, hair, and chin.

physiognomy The notion that a person’s outer appearance, especially the face, could provide insight into his or her true character or personality.

triple bottom-line approach Balanced attention not only to the economic aspects of organizational performance but also the environmental and social justice aspects.

utilitarianism An ethical framework in which organizations behave so as to create the greatest good for the greatest number and maximize social benefits while minimiz- ing social costs.

workaholism A dysfunctional choice an employee makes to focus exclusively on work and neglect other areas of life, result- ing in a poor work–life balance.

work at home, flex place, or telecommut- ing A work–life balance practice in which some or all of the work is done off-site at the employee’s home or at local satellite offices set up near where clusters of employees live.

work–life balance A practice designed to improve the balance between the demands of an employee’s work and personal life.

10The Ethics of HRD and Corporate Social Responsibility

anyaberkut/iStock/Thinkstock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

• Summarize the issues of ethical HRD.

• Describe HRD’s social responsibility.

• Explain social responsibility at the operational level.

• Evaluate work–life balance issues.

• Examine the critical perspective of HRD through the social history of training.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. —Warren Buffet

Introduction Chapter 10

Pretest 1. Using a one-size-fits-all model of employee training contradicts ethical principles for

human resource development. a. true b. false

2. Organizations with dedicated corporate social responsibility programs tend to rank lower and report less return on investment than other companies. a. true b. false

3. The glass ceiling that can keep qualified women and minorities out of leadership posi- tions often manifests as a lack of access to training development. a. true b. false

4. Multitasking is a focusing strategy that allows employees to accomplish more and reduce stress. a. true b. false

5. Rather than simply supporting workers, historically training programs have often served as means of oppression. a. true b. false

Answers can be found at the end of the chapter.

Introduction In this, our final chapter, we now change our focus from HRD as the interdisciplinary field with the processes and goals to enhance employee performance through learning, to HRD’s impact on, and responsibilities to, the environment in which it operates, both internal and external. Specifically, as discussed in Chapter 1, we will recall Swanson’s metaphor for HRD as a three-legged stool—psychological, economic, and systems—which sat on a base of ethics.

We will discuss HRD not only in the context of ethics, but also as an extension of social respon- sibility known as corporate social responsibility (CSR), which includes organizational issues such as work–life balance, equal opportunity, and access to career-advancing training and development.

Although the field of human resource development (HRD) is dedicated to the activities and processes that influence organizational and individual learning and development, HRD has not ignored or overlooked ethics. As early as 1978, there was an awareness and recommenda- tions of ethical practice for training and development professionals (Clement, Pinto, & Walker,

Ethical Human Resource Development Chapter 10

1978). Currently, there exists the Academy of Human Resource Development’s Standards on Ethics and Integrity (http://www.ahrd.org).

Recently, however, an emerging theme in HRD surrounds how human resource development is increasingly expected to facilitate ethics and corporate social responsibility; that is, organiza- tions are taking the initiative to assess and assume responsibility for the organization’s effects on the environment and impact on social welfare (Ardichvili, 2013; Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; Hatcher, 2003; Hatcher, 2002; MacKenzie, Garavan, & Garbery, 2012). This expanding responsibility extends HRD stakeholders to include not only the individual, group, and orga- nization, but also society (Ardichvili, 2013; Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; McLean, 2004).

By placing this CSR lens onto HRD, we focus in on the so-called triple bottom-line approach (Savitz, 2013); that is, a balanced attention to both the economic aspects of organizational performance and the organization’s impact on the environment and attention to social justice (Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; Kim, 2012a; MacKenzie et al., 2012; Marquardt & Berger, 2003).

10.1 Ethical Human Resource Development Not unlike other disciplines, HRD affirmed early on how the field’s effectiveness and credibil- ity depended on ethical practice (Clement et al., 1978; Hatcher, 2010; McLagan & Suhadolnik, 1989; Russ-Eft & Hatcher, 2003; Swanson & Holton, 2001). The initial practice of HRD dealt with ethical issues that were relatively straightforward, including maintaining confidentiality, striking a balance between organizational and individual needs, and using influence appro- priately (Jerling, 1996; McLagan & Suhadolnik, 1989). McLagan et al. (1989) put forth 13 ethical issues a training and development professional needs to consider:

1. Maintain appropriate confidentiality. For example, do not reveal a trainee’s deficien- cies to other organizational members.

2. Decline inappropriate training requests. For example, decline a manager’s request to create training that is not really needed or to conduct the training at an unnecessarily expensive venue when more economical venues are adequate.

3. Respect copyrighted sources and intellectual property. For example, acknowledge the work of an original author whose work is used, and ask permission to use copy- righted training materials.

4. Ensure truth in any claims, data, and recommendations. For example, do not falsify training results to make them appear better, including the training’s ROI.

5. Balance the organization’s needs with the employee’s training and development needs. For example, avoid only looking at cost as the sole factor for training effectiveness or not favoring certain employees for training over others.

6. Ensure that all customers and users have an opportunity to participate and take owner- ship. For example, be sure to involve line management in the assessment of training needs.

7. Avoid conflicts of interest. For example, do not promote nepotism (favoring family members) in the marketing to vendors of training programs.

8. Manage personal biases. For example, guard against using training techniques or modalities that only satisfy the trainer rather than the trainees.

9. Be guided by the trainees’ needs. For example, ensure that training objectives are guided by the assessment performed in the needs analysis phase of ADDIE.

Ethical Human Resource Development Chapter 10

10. Regarding diversity, show respect for, interest in, and representation in the workplace. For example, treat trainees equally and avoid discrimination based on sex, race, eth- nicity, or age.

11. Be aware of the direct and indirect effects of intervention and act to rectify negative consequences. For example, consider trainee expectations and even the unintended effects on the trainees.

12. Price and cost products or services fairly. For example, ensure that training programs are not overpriced and provide the organization a fair return on investment.

13. Do not use power inappropriately. For example, avoid using personal power to influ- ence training processes to favor certain groups or departments.

Werner and DeSimone (2011) further extended the awareness of ethical HRD practice by including warnings about the use of deception, as well as the pressure to produce positive ROI results. For example, a trainer may state some other reason why she is observing the employ- ees in a department rather than the truthful reason of observing to see if they are applying (level 3) the training they received weeks earlier.

Also, with the growing need for organizations to show competitive advantage, organizations may tend to focus more on transactional (performance-driven) versus transformational (developmentally based) outcomes (Rousseau, 1989). Doing so puts additional pressure on HRD ethical practice. As a result, HRD professionals might feel compelled to show that a train- ing program was effective, especially at times when the HRD professional is the person who purchases or designs, develops, and implements the training. The implication is that if the evaluation of that training is shown to be ineffective, the HRD department may lose funding and support (Werner & DeSimone, 2011).

Different Ethical Frameworks

According to Northouse (2012), in an organizational context, applying business ethics out- comes can be framed from a shareholder to stakeholder continuum. Let us review a few frame- works for organizational ethics:

• Ethical egoism. In this ethical framework, organizations act to create the greatest benefits they can for themselves. An organization and its employees therefore make decisions to achieve the organizational goal of maximizing profits. Here is a case in point from Clemson University’s Institute for the Study of Capitalism: Although Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Sam Walton greatly benefited humanity by provid- ing it with lightbulbs, cheap automobiles, or cheap consumer retailing, each was motivated by self-interest and his own satisfaction and fulfillment. With such an ethical framework, the most efficient and productive businesses can earn the most profit while simultaneously providing consumers with affordable goods and services (Clemson University, 2014). From a training and development standpoint, this frame- work supports the resource-based view of human capital described in Chapter 9; that is, leveraging the economic benefits of a highly trained and developed workforce towards achieving competitive advantage.

• Utilitarianism. In this ethical framework, organizations balance their self-interest with the interests of society. Specifically, they try to benefit the greatest number and maximize social benefits while minimizing social costs. An example of an organiza- tion that practices this is the ice cream maker Ben and Jerry’s™, whose social mission

Ethical Human Resource Development Chapter 10

statement articulates such a utilitarian framework (visit http://www.benjerry.com/ values to read the company’s mission statement). Ben and Jerry’s actively seeks out and financially supports causes that the company feels will have a positive impact on the community at large. For example, Ben and Jerry’s promotes the Refinery Efficiency Initiative, whose goal is to reduce refinery accidents to prevent the release thousands of pounds of toxins into the air; and ETC Group, which strives to promote biodiversity, democratic technology assessment, and just and sustainable food security and liveli- hood systems for the benefit of society.

Panera Bread Company, too, has its Panera Cares program, in which customers who are going through a difficult financial time can “pay whatever they can afford” (“Panera Cares,” 2013) for food. The training of Panera employees also reflects this ethical framework, and it is a job requirement that all employees at a Panera Cares location understand or critically reflect on being a good corporate citizen. Panera Cares workers are specifically trained to deal with a population that is in need. “What they told us to do is just to smile at every customer, so even if they don’t want to make eye contact with us, the fact that we’re smiling is a sign that we’re here and that we care. The smile is everything that will make their day,” (“Panera Cares,” 2013) says employee Yetunde Bankol.

• Altruism. In this ethical framework, actions are moral if their primary purpose is to promote the best interest of society; naturally, many nonprofit organizations adopt this framework as part of their mission. Recently, Entrepreneur magazine spotlighted five organizations considered to be exceptionally altruistic. Included on the list was the Salesforce.com Foundation, whose a philanthropic approach is to leverage not only technology and resources, but also its people to build collective knowledge—a core component of strategic human resource development (Swart, Mann, Brown, & Price, 2012)—to take action to improve communities throughout the world.

Did You Know? Altruism for Generation Y Employees

According to an article from Forbes on the new generation of employees entering the workforce, the millennial generation—the so-called generation Y—recent research from the Center for Work-Life Policy shows that ambition, dedication and, above all, concern for social welfare are alive and well among this cohort.

Author Sylvia Hewlett writes:

Perhaps it’s not surprising that the children of the Me generation are developing into a We generation. The baby boomers wanted to stop war and promote peace; the echo boomers have equally ambitious goals to connect cultures and save the planet. What’s new is that they not only want their employers to recognize their enthusiasm, they expect them to support it. Corporate social responsibility isn’t just talk for Gen Ys. They volunteer extensively, care deeply and seek employers who feel the same: 88% of Gen Y women and 82% of Y men believe it’s important to be able to give back to community through work.

Source: Hewlett, S. A. (2009, July). The altruistic gen Y employee. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/07/gen-y-volunteer-mentor- forbes-woman-leadership-communit y.html

Ethical Human Resource Development Chapter 10

Globalization Means Global HRD

Consider, too, that the practice of ethical HRD may become more complex because many organi- zations continue to expand globally. For example, of McDonald’s $24 billion in revenue in 2013, 66% was from overseas markets, the majority of its revenue from Europe and Asia (about 400 stores in China alone!). About 315 (45%) of the 700 hotels Marriott is developing will be located outside North America (Newman, 2014; International Trade Administration, 2014).

Clearly, one HRD framework will not fit all organizations (or countries). As organizations become more global and diverse, global HRD must adapt its practices. A notable example is found in Gary McLean, Professor Emeritus of HRD at the University of Minnesota and CEO of McLean Global Consulting. McLean introduces a general HRD framework to his international initiatives (such as assessing the gap between the present state and the desired future state), but then adapts it to the international community and social projects, including projects in Pakistan, Thailand, and Morocco (McLean, 2004). In Pakistan, for example, McLean and his colleagues, under a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development, worked with a group of Pakistani consultants from social development agencies and nongovernmental agen- cies (NGOs) to develop their organization development consulting competencies. In Thailand, McLean and his colleagues used HRD processes for the purposes of moral, social, and commu- nity development; HRD tools identified and assessed leadership development, training, and social and moral development through retreats and instruction.

These and other projects underscored McLean’s and other HRD practitioners’ assertion that the field of HRD can ultimately serve all of humanity (Kim, 2012b). McLean particularly has promoted HRD practice to assist with the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015. As articulated by United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, the UN’s MDGs include:

Eradicating extreme poverty continues to be one of the main challenges of our time, and is a major concern of the international community. Ending this scourge will require the combined efforts of all, governments, civil society organizations and the private sector, in the context of a stronger and more effective global partnership for development. The Millennium Development

Goals set time-bound targets, by which progress in reducing income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shel- ter and exclusion—while promoting gender equality, health, education and environmental sustainability—can be measured. They also embody basic human rights—the rights of each per- son on the planet to health, education, shelter and security. The Goals are ambitious but feasible and, together with the comprehensive United Nations development agenda, set the course for the world’s efforts to alleviate extreme poverty by 2015. (as cited in United Nations, n.d.)

Comstock/Stockbyte/Thinkstock

Maintaining ethical practices becomes more com- plex as companies expand globally.

HRD and Social Responsibility Chapter 10

With global HRD, cross-cultural understanding of the meaning and goals of HRD will vary from country to country, as will the way HRD is viewed as national policy around the world (McLean, 2004). For example, how is HRD practiced in India? (See India’s National HRD Net- work, https://www.nationalhrd.org/about-nhrdn/overview.) Consider that, unlike in the United States, India has a collectivist culture with a historical focus on the group versus the individual (Hofstede, 1984; Hong & Lee, 2014). As a result, it is possible that decisions regard- ing who gets access to career-advancing training in India is influenced by whether or not the employee is in the in-group. Compare this to the United States, where those decisions are supposed to be based on qualifications with equal access guided by labor laws (Gelfand, Chiu, & Hong, 2010). Wang and McLean (2007) suggested discussions be ongoing regarding the practice of international HRD because the field of HRD still struggles over the meaning of the term; specifically, they assert that there exists a dilemma in defining international and cross-national HRD.

Although culture differences make it difficult to operationalize global, homogeneous HRD practice, Russ-Eft & Hatcher (2003) assert there is a rationale for an international HRD code of ethics, with the AHRD Standards on Ethics and Integrity providing a good first step, albeit still tied to a North American view.

10.2 HRD and Social Responsibility Like other social sciences, HRD invokes at a minimum a do no harm principle, a primary ethi- cal obligation to avoid doing harm to employees of the organization (Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; Fenwick & Bierema, 2008; Hatcher, 2010; Porter, 2008) and the community from which they operate. Corporate social responsibility includes organizations who choose to assess and take the initiative and responsibility for how the organization affects the environment, as well as social justice and welfare (Ardichvili, 2013; Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; Hatcher, 2003; Hatcher, 2002; Kopp & Desiderio, 2009; MacKenzie et al., 2012).

This perspective extends HRD stakeholders to include not only the individual, group, and organizational levels, but also society (Ardichvili, 2013; Bierema & D’Abundo, 2004; McLean, 2004). Corporate social responsibility itself has evolved and is typically divided into four eras (Frederick, 1998):

• Corporate social stewardship, 1950s–1960s • Corporate social responsiveness, 1960s–1970s • Corporate and business ethics, 1980s–1990s • Corporate and global citizenship, 1990s–21st century

Although the field of HRD continues to demonstrate increasing concern with ethics, integ- rity, and sustainability, moving away from a strict performance model and evincing a “greater attention to power relations, equity, social justice and reflexivity in HRD” (Fenwick & Bier- ema, 2008, p. 26), HRD’s focus on social responsibility is still evolving (Garavan & McGuire, 2010). Some might even contend that it is getting off to an inauspicious start; in reviewing 600 articles from 1996 to 2000, Bierema and Cseh (2003) concluded that “HRD focuses little on issues concerning social justice in the workplace or larger social context” (p. 23). Addition- ally, Hatcher (2002) considered that HRD professionals were part of the problem because so little was done to enhance the human spirit or protect the environment. As discussed, with

HRD and Social Responsibility Chapter 10

CSR, organizations focus on the triple bottom-line approach (Savitz, 2013). Furthermore, the employee relations component of CSR is a significant part of the corporate citizen scoring, tied for the highest component at 19.5%.

The 100 Best Corporate Citizens list from Corporate Responsibility Magazine ranks firms according to how well they perform in these eight categories: shareholders, community, governance, diversity, employees, environment, human rights, and product. Their scores reflect financial information, as well as measures of corporate social performance; the Global Reporting Initiative also developed guidelines to enable organizations to comparably report on the social impact of a business.

According to Gatewood and Carroll (1981), organizations fall on a spectrum as they adopt certain responses to societal demands. They range from being proactive, where the organi- zation actively takes social initiatives, to obstructive, where the organization denies social responsibility Carroll (Gatewood & Carroll, 1981) (see Figure 10.1). Therefore, where an organization operates will determine where its HRD practice and philosophy fall.

Specifically, within the context of HRD, corporate social responsibility can be framed as how organizational activities affect an employee’s physical and mental health and well-being—in short, how the stress of work practices affect human systems (Fenwick & Bierema, 2008; Pfef- fer, 2010). This consideration includes avoiding direct and immediate harm and implies an obligation to weigh carefully how the decisions, future consequences, and impacts of training affect others from both the internal and external environments (Kotler & Lee, 2011). This pri- mary obligation, therefore, should supersede the outcomes of training and performance for society’s macro goals (Fenwick & Bierema, 2008; Garavan & McGuire, 2010; Hatcher, 2003). Examples of practice could include aspects of work–life balance or ethical mentoring.

Figure 10.1: Spectrum of corporate social responsibility standard

Levels of CSR vary among organizations. Depending on their philosophy, organizations may be proactive, seeking out inequities; or obstructionist, taking the view that social responsibility is not the role of business.

f10.01_BUS375.ai

• Obstructive— Organization denies all social responsibility

• Defensive— Organization does only what is legally required

• Accomodative— Organization accepts ethical responsibility

• Proactive— Organization takes social initiatives

Developed

Developing

High Low

Source: Adpated from Gatewood, E., & Carroll, A. B. (1981). The anatomy of corporate social response. Business Horizons, 24, 9–16.

HRD and Social Responsibility Chapter 10

Nurturing Corporate Social Responsibility Within the Organization

According to Kash Rangan, a professor at Harvard Business School, in many companies, “There’s always a marketing strategy, an operations strategy, an HR strategy, but what is the CSR strategy?” (as cited in Filtz, 2013). Within his executive leadership courses, Rangan teaches organizational leaders to integrate CSR aspects into their corporate strategies by adopting these practices:

• Align social responsibility strategies and goals with organizational objectives. • Sustain the CSR strategy over the long term by embedding CSR within the business

culture. • Use hiring and partnerships to build CSR expertise; for example, recently, the Silicon

Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) and YourCause, both leaders in CSR, teamed up to create a corporate social responsibility center where organizations can look for and develop their CSR acumen (http://ef.siliconvalleycf.org/blog/silicon-valley- community-foundation-and-yourcause-announce-partnership-create-csr-center).

• Integrate social responsibility metrics into general performance management sys- tems; for example, in addition to accessing the so-called triple bottom line, organiza- tions are mindful of the CSR metrics of community, governance, diversity, employees, environment, and human rights.

• Share information about CSR policies throughout the organization. • Demonstrate how CSR practices continue to affect individuals and departments. • Communicate the impact of social responsibility to capital markets, shareholders, and

other stakeholders. Accurate and timely communication is key to CSR efforts. Interest- ingly, unless corporations communicate their CSR achievements accurately, they risk being accused of “greenwashing,” a new term that, according to communications pro- fessor Laura Illia (Illia, Zyglidopoulos, Romenti, Rodríguez-Cánovas, & González del Valle Brena, 2013), refers to the use of environmentalism to suggest that a company’s policies and products are environmentally friendly. More broadly, the term describes public relations aimed at giving the false impression that a corporation is genuinely engaged in CSR and has green credentials.

HRD in Practice: Unethical Mentoring

In a recent blog, business coach Catherine Day reflected on the ethics of mentoring:

I am passionate about mentoring and cannot understand why some organizations allow behaviors from mentors that are destructive or corrosive. Not only do these behaviors undermine the mentee and diminish their trust with the organization, they send a message that the mentor’s behavior is condoned. The following is a recent example shared with me by a senior executive I am now mentoring.

”A mentor was appointed by the organization to address perceived gaps in the experience of the newly appointed executive. This was the first mistake— arbitrarily appointing a mentor without giving a choice to the person being mentored. It’s so important for a rapport to develop between the two for the mentor to be effective.

(continued)

HRD and Social Responsibility Chapter 10

Mistake number two was not agreeing on the rules of engagement between the mentor and the company. In this case, the mentee discovered that matters discussed during a mentoring session were reported back to his superior. This was entirely unethical on behalf of the mentor, and shouldn’t have been condoned by the CEO. The probable motivation of the mentor was to ingratiate himself with the CEO to gain more business in the organization. The mentee had a discussion with the CEO and it was agreed that a new mentor would be found who would meet the gap criteria and clear guidelines would be agreed by all concerned.”

Source: Reprinted with permission from Day, C. Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, Executive Mentor. (2014.) Unethical mentoring. Retrieved from The CDA Blog: http://cdainspired.com.au/unethical-mentoring

Consider This 1. How should the “rules of engagement” in mentor–mentee relationships be formalized? 2. Is there ever a rationale for the mentor to discuss the mentoring session with the

mentee’s supervisor? 3. How does Day’s story underscore the risks of assigning mentors versus letting this type

of relationship emerge?

Not everyone is sold on the idea that organizations should be in the CSR business. Table 10.1 reviews arguments for and against corporate social responsibility (see http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=5nRQNNidbV8).

Table 10.1: Arguments for and against corporate social responsibility

Should organizations be in the CSR business?

For Against

Social problems have resulted from the rise of the modern corporation. Therefore, the corporate world should take the lead in addressing these problems.

Confronting social and moral issues is not economi- cally feasible. Corporations should focus on earning a profit for their shareholders and leave social issues to others.

Assuming social responsibilities is in the long-term best interests of corporations. Doing so will increase the chances that corporations will have a future and will reduce the chances of increased governmental regulation.

Corporations that assume social responsibilities are at a competitive disadvantage relative to those who do not.

Large corporations enjoy the benefits of huge reserves of human and financial capital. They should devote at least some of their resources to addressing social issues.

Those who are most capable should address social issues. Those in the corporate world are not equipped to deal with social problems.

Source: Adapted from Reference for Business. (2014). Corporate social responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Comp-De/ Corporate-Social-Responsibilit y.html#ixzz2LSk4PPE7

Notwithstanding the for or against arguments of CSR, it is important to note that organiza- tions can take a middle ground. Rarely is an organization’s CSR policy a binary, all-or-nothing proposition. For example, early on, Gatewood and Carroll (1981) proposed that in addition to being proactive (for) or obstructionist (against) regarding CSR, there were the midline

HRD and Social Responsibility Chapter 10

propositions of an organization being accommodative and accepting ethical responsibility of CSR and, at the very least, complying with the legal requirements that support CSR (for exam- ple, phasing out incandescent office lightbulbs with efficiency lighting as they will be illegal to produce in 2016).

Going back to the Panera Cares example, coauthor of Understanding Business Ethics Peter Stanwick points out that the ethical framework could be a middle ground between ethical egoism and utilitarianism because it could be argued that because Panera Bread “expects that the payments needy people will make will be close to the actual cost of the food” (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2014, p. 9).

Case Study: When Job Performance Aids Attack

As discussed, job aids can be designed to assist in work or life; they give information that enables the user to know what actions and decisions a specific task requires. Instructions or directions themselves are considered forms of job aids. Consider this interesting story.

In the summer of 1905, an exasperated mother retrieved a box of Kopp’s Baby’s Friend (no relation to author) from the washroom cabinet. Inside the box was a small bottle of the elixir she had purchased through mail order. This “king of baby soothers” offered the promise of putting crying babies to sleep (Adams, 1912). Indeed, the young mother must have thought that it would make her crying, 9-month-old, colicky baby feel better. She was unclear on the dosing instructions and read the directions from the box to assist her.

A few hours after giving her infant half a teaspoon—per the dosing instructions—“the baby went into a stupor, his pupils were pin-pointed, skin cool and clammy, heart and respiration slowed” (“Poisoned a Child,” 1905, p. 24). Minutes later, her baby was dead. An autopsy later revealed the cause of death to be a morphine overdose—morphine being the elixir’s main ingredient.

Certainly, this is a dramatic example that shows that, at the detail level, we cannot always assume that job aids are giving out safe information. However, in the ethics of training and social responsibility, the larger issue is that, although job aids are—axiologically speaking— value neutral on their face, there are examples where they have historically been the means to facilitate the ends of what might be considered dubious performance. From patented medicines of the 19th and early 20th centuries to vocational training and labor methods used within the Third Reich, what emerges is how ordinary training processes, including job aids, were part of extraordinary and, sometimes, perverse contexts!

Consider This 1. Although an extreme example of a job performance aid, do you see any parallels in

today’s consumer world? 2. What, if any, role should the training and development profession take in ensuring that

training tools are used ethically by end users?

CSR and Social Justice Within the Organization Chapter 10

“Walking the Walk” of Social Responsibility

Among the organizational strategies for promoting CSR are action learning and field projects and global-service learning projects (Ardichvili, 2013; Kim, 2012b; McLean, 2004). Ardichvili (2013) gives an example of a CSR initiative at Unilever. Here, hundreds of leaders from the company’s Asian division worked together with Westerners

to create communities of learning and sharing, by completing development projects in villages, schools, and shrines in various parts of Asia. An important part of these projects was time, set aside for self-reflection, journaling, story- telling, group discussions on learned lessons, and other methods of generating and sharing individual and group insights, which could ultimately contribute to organizational learning. (p. 467)

Unilever’s Corporate Social Responsibility program has had great success in affecting com- munities, both local and global, with regular updates to its stakeholders. This program goes beyond the minimum do no harm principle, and is an example of how organizations take the initiative and responsibility for how they affect the environment, social justice, and welfare.

10.3 CSR and Social Justice Within the Organization Does an employer have a social responsibility to train employees who lack basic literacy and numeracy skills? According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s 2013 report, the U.S. skills gap appears to be getting worse. Although Americans aged 55 to 65 maintained their overall educational and skills advantage over other nations, those in the 45 to 54 age group were only average. Younger Americans again fared worse, consistently scoring in the bottom half compared to their counterparts in other countries. Such statis- tics suggest that an organization’s responsibility to its adult workers cannot be a theoretical proposition; specifically, while corporate social responsibility and ethical HRD are noble calls to action, organizations must act on them every day at the operational level. In other words, organizations must ensure that they fulfill their legal duty to train (the minimal requirement), including enabling employees to have equal access to career-advancing training and technol- ogy (Luftman, 2011; Piskurich, 2010).

An example of this is seen in the so-called glass ceiling, the unseen barriers preventing minorities and women from rising to the top of the corporate ladder, even despite their quali- fications or achievements (Blalock, 2013; Morrison, White, & Van Velsor, 1992).

If two employees—one male, one female—are equally qualified for an open promotion, should preference be given to the female? To be sure, several federal laws legally require or strongly recommend employee training. For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Administra- tion (OSHA) put forth a series of training programs; these include training in blood-borne pathogens, confined spaces, and back safety (see Did You Know? feature). Federal law also recommends companies provide training in sexual harassment, as well as ethics (U.S. Depart- ment of Labor, 2014b). Some laws, too, mandate equal treatment of minorities, women, and those accommodating trainees with disabilities; they must make training facilities readily accessible to, and usable by, individuals with disabilities. However, no laws require organiza- tions to develop their employees.

CSR and Social Justice Within the Organization Chapter 10

Did You Know? Employers’ Legal Duty to Train

Complainants filed more than 95,000 complaints alleging workplace discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in fiscal year 2012. The EEOC obtained more than $274.4 million in awards for complainants and other parties; these awards exclude benefits gained through litigation. These 2012 statistics show the importance of providing training in the workplace to protect workers.

• Employees filed more than 32,000 sexual harassment complaints, for which the EEOC obtained $74.8 million in awards.

• Some 5,071 fatal work injuries occurred, making the rate of fatal injury for U.S. workers 3.6 fatal work injuries per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.

• More than 4.5 million workers suffered nonfatal work injuries. Median days away from work—an important measure of injury severity —increased to 8 days. This represented the first increase in 4 years

Source: US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2013). EEOC reports nearly 100,000 job bias charges in fiscal year 2012. Retrieved from http://ww w.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/1-28-13.cfm

Access to Training: The Glass Ceiling of Training and Development

The glass ceiling keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper levels of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements (Blalock, 2013; Morrison, White, & Van Velsor, 1992 ). Many times, this barrier takes on the form of not being given access to training and development that could enable this group to advance within organization, such as leadership and management development training.

According to the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission report (McGuire, Nicolau, Trujillo, & Project, 1996; Robles, Leondar-Wright, Brewer, & Lui, 2013; Steinmetz, 2011), organizations whose organizational culture promotes a sense of social responsibility to eliminate career development barriers minorities and women face typically have a specific executive training program that would have:

• rotational and nontraditional job assignments that broaden a candidate’s base of experience and visibility;

• specific career path programs that identify objective performance, skill, and knowl- edge criteria for advancement;

• employee-sponsored networks and affinity groups; • access to specialized training, seminars and workshops; and • formal succession planning

Catalyst is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and minorities. Table 10.2 presents findings from the group’s 2012 study on the state of the glass ceiling.

CSR and Social Justice Within the Organization Chapter 10

Table 10.2: Catalyst’s current state of the glass ceiling

Access to career development opportunities Statistics comparing men’s and women’s access

Access to “hot jobs” that predict advancement: high-visibility projects, mission-critical roles, and international experiences

• More men than women got “hot jobs,” particularly after being in formal leadership development programs.

• More men were promoted within a year of program completion: 51% of men vs. 37% of women.

Access to leadership experience • 62% credit high-profile assignments with influencing their careers.

• Only 10% cited formal training programs as most impactful.

Access to prestige assignments • Men led projects with budgets more than twice the size of women’s budgets

• Men led teams having more than three times as many staff as women’s teams.

• Men’s projects posed higher risk to the company: 30% of men vs. 22% of women.

• Men had more C-suite visibility or titles that started with the letter C, for chief, as in chief executive officer or chief operating officer: 35% of men vs. 26% of women.

Access to roles with critical responsibility Men had more roles with critical responsibility: • profit and loss: 56% of men vs. 46% of women, • management of direct reports: 77% of men vs. 70% of

women • budgets over $10 million: 30% of men vs. 22% of

women

Access to international assignments predicting advancement

Women get fewer international assignments than men do—but not because women will not relocate. Of those most willing to relocate: • More men than women got those assignments: 35%

versus 26%. • More women than men were never offered the opportu-

nity: 64% versus 55%.

Source: Catalyst, 2012.

In 2014 Jena McGregor and Pam Tobey published a “glass-ceiling update,” writing that “not much has changed in the years following the previous glass-ceiling studies. On average, women still hold fewer than 20 percent of leadership positions across all sectors.” Using both primary research and secondary sources, the updated report also went beyond the original glass-ceiling studies by making comparisons between the general prevalence of women at the top and the frequency with which women appear among many of the sectors’ top performers.

Access to career-advancing training is not only part of ethical HRD, but can be costly to orga- nizations who do not offer equal access. Wal-Mart recently lost an appeal on a gender-bias lawsuit that originally had been filed on behalf of six female Wal-Mart employees; the lawsuit eventually represented as many as 1.6 million employees, making it the largest private civil rights case in U.S. history. The workers claimed that Walmart discriminated against female employees by paying them less than it paid men for comparable jobs, and bypassing women for promotions.

Work–Life Balance Chapter 10

The Coca-Cola Company lost the largest racial discrimination settlement in U.S. history. The company had to pay $192.5 million to settle allegations that it routinely discriminated against African-American employees in pay, performance evaluations, and promotions. In 1996 Tex- aco Inc. had to pay $176 million to end a similar suit by its African-American employees.

Training Considerations for Speakers of Other Languages

With the ever-diverse workplace, organizations will need to better accommodate speakers of other languages. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Robles et al., 2013), the Span- ish-speaking or Hispanic workforce increased 36% faster than other ethnic groups between 1996 and 2006; by 2050 it will make up more than 15% of the U.S. workforce. Accordingly, OSHA requires that companies make special accommodations when English is not the work- er’s native language and the worker may not yet be fluent:

According to OSHA’s training standards policy statement, if an employee does not speak or comprehend English, instruction must be provided by the employer in a language the employee can understand. Similarly, if the employee’s vocabu- lary is limited, the training must account for that limitation. According to OSHA, an employer’s responsibility to provide employees with safety information and training doesn’t go away because an employee can’t understand standard English-language training programs. When that is the case, employers must inform and train these workers in a language they can understand. (OSHA, 2010)

Trainees who are speakers of other languages present another level of consideration to train- ing design, implementation, and potential barrier. Serving this group is an additional compo- nent for those organizations who, as part of their CSR platform, proactively pursue diversity in the workplace.

Another variable to CSR is ensuring the well-being and quality of work life of the employees and the workforce, at large, in the form of work–life balance issues.

10.4 Work–Life Balance For organizations committed to corporate social responsibility, providing work–life bal- ance—designing practices to help employees balance their work lives and personal lives—is imperative both because it is ethical and because it has been shown to favorably affect the organization’s performance (Gond, Igalens, Swaen, & Akremi, 2011; Kelly, 2011). According to a study Deloitte and Touche conducted, 91% of employed adults agree that employees who have a good work–life balance are more likely to behave ethically on the job. Likewise, 60% of those surveyed believe job dissatisfaction is a significant reason for people to make unethical decisions at work (Deloitte & Touche, 2007).

Further, according to Sharon L. Allen, chair of the board at Deloitte & Touche:

Work–life balance is not only key to job satisfaction and retaining the most val- ued employees, but it is also critical in fostering an ethical workplace culture. The knowledge that work/life benefits result in more ethical behavior in this

Work–Life Balance Chapter 10

post-Enron and WorldCom business environment could be a huge driver for companies to create such programs. (as cited by Worthington, 2007)

A recent 2014 work–life balance study put out by the Organization for Economic Coopera- tion and Development had the United States ranked 26th out of 36 countries in percentage of workers working more than 50 hours per week (11%) and 33rd out of 36 in number of leisure hours per week.

Food for Thought: Work–Life Balance

Nigel Marsh, author of Fit, Fifty and Fired Up, speaks on work–life balance: http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=jdpIKXLLYYM.

Consider This 1. What were Marsh’s symptoms of this workaholism? 2. What were some of the challenges that Marsh found in curbing his workaholism? 3. What is the significance of Marsh’s story about the day he spent with his son?

Table 10.3 presents typical components of work–life balance practices; practices vary among organizations, but usually share at least one of these components, according to Catalyst.

Table 10.3: Typical components of work–life balance practices

Work-life balance practice Definition

Flextime Employees choose start and end times, but typically must work during “core” periods (e.g., 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.).

Flexible week A “compressed workweek” lets employees work longer hours over fewer days or fewer hours each day over a six- day workweek.

Work at home, flex place, or telecommuting Employees do some or all of their work off-site at home or at satellite offices located central to where clusters of employees live. Computers and networks connect employ- ees to the office. Insurance protection is needed when establishing a telecommuting arrangement.

Part-time work Employees work a reduced work schedule.

Job sharing Two employees share the workload of one job.

Part-time telecommuting This option combines part-time or reduced hours with an off-site working location.

Source: Catalyst, n.d.

Fuji Xerox takes a broader approach to its work–life balance program. The company views work–life balance as successfully combining work and family life, but also promotes employee awareness to transform working styles. The hope is that this transformation will elevate employee morale and enhance organizational productivity. (Figure 10.2 presents an outline

Work–Life Balance Chapter 10

of their child care support system.) Since launching the New Work Way management innova- tion initiative in fiscal year 1988, Fuji Xerox has provided a working environment that lets employees combine work and family life. The company introduced a childcare leave system in fiscal 1988 and a family nursing care system in fiscal 1990. This progressive approach to work–life balance in the workplace has created a culture that supports continuing to work by taking advantage of these systems. The average length of employment at Fuji Xerox in fiscal 2011 was 19.6 years for men and 15.3 years for women.

Figure 10.2: Fuji Xerox child care support systems

Fuji Xerox has a detailed child care support system that spans and considers the employee’s work–life milestones from the pregnancy to the end of the 6th year of elementary school.

f10.02_BUS375.ai

Pregnancy Childbirth One year

old Four years

old Start of school

End of third year of

elementary school

End of sixth year of

elementary school

Maternity leave before childbirth (six weeks)

Shortened work hours • Up to two hours • During pregnancy and until the end of the child’s third year of elementary

school

Limits on late night and overtime working, until the end of the child’s sixth year of elementary school (no overtime in principle, until the end of the child’s sixth year of elementary school.

24-hour toll-free hotline providing information on childcare, child health, pregnancy, childbirth, and medical institutions available at night and during holidays.

Flex-time

Accrued paid leave can be used for nursing care for family members or for volunteer activities (up to 60 days of paid leave that has lapsed can be accumulated.)

Re-employment system for former employees who left the company due to childbirth, childcare or transfer or spouses.

Leave for child nursing care

Maternity leave after childbirth (eight weeks)

House- work assistance subsidy

Hours spent for pregnancy check-ups / The employee is deemed to be working (up to seven times)

Childcare leave / Until the child reaches one year old / Can be extended up to six months

Distribution of monthly publication, Baby and Mother

Source: Adapted from Fuji Xerox. (2013.) Initiatives for work–life balance. Retrieved from http://www.fujixerox.com/eng/company/sr/2013/stakeholder/employee/ balance.html

Work–Life Balance Chapter 10

Workaholism—Performance, but at What Cost?

A factor that directly affects work–life balance is workaholism, the dysfunctional choice an employee makes to focus exclusively on work, neglecting other areas of life; the result is a poor work–life balance (Christensen & Schneider, 2010). While having a strong work ethic is distinct from being a workaholic, organizations that have a well-defined CSR plan measure employee productivity and examine the social costs of that activity (Frederick, 1998; Gond et al., 2011).

Workaholism is a high risk in the United States, where Americans have the highest average productivity compared to workers in other countries (U.S. Department of Labor, 2014b). (Pro- ductivity is a figure derived by dividing the country’s gross domestic product by the number of people employed.) Workaholism can have dire consequences, as seen recently in Japan where a spate of deaths has occurred resulting from overwork—what the Japanese call “karo- shi.” Japan is at the top of the list for employees who used the least amount of their vacation days, with only 33%; the United States ranked fifth (Goldman, 2011).

In fact, in March 2014 the Japanese government introduced a bill stating that both companies and local governments have a responsibility to ensure that workers are not being so over- worked they will die from it.

Food for Thought: Workaholic Behavior: Not Limited to the Working and Middle Classes

Professional of management at Cornell University Robert H. Frank recounts his experiences with wealthy workaholics:

Last week I had dinner with a billionaire in California. During the two hours I was at his house, he took six cellphone calls, sent 18 emails, and thought up two new business ideas.… At the end of dinner he took his last sip of wine and said, “It’s so nice to be able to have a relaxing dinner at home.” I laughed. He didn’t get the joke. In short, the “leisure class” has given way to what I call the “workaholic rich.” Even when they’re sitting by the pool at their beach homes in Palm Beach and the Hamptons, they’re tapping away at their laptops and screaming into their cellphones.… But this new generation of workaholic wealthy has dramatically changed the classic equation between money and leisure time. As my billionaire friend said after our dinner: “I’m the most relaxed when I’m working.” (Frank, 2007)

Source: Williams, R. B. (2011). How workaholism may be the price we pay for productivity. Retrieved from Psychology Today website: http://www. psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201104/how-workaholism-may-be-the-price-we-pay-productivit y

Consider This 1. Can a case be made that so-called “successful” people are more apt to be workaholics? 2. Frank’s friend said that he is most relaxed when he is working. Why would he still be

considered a workaholic?

Work–Life Balance Chapter 10

According to work–life balance expert Jeff Davidson (2014) of Work-LifeBalance.com, people must manage six keys to work–life balance:

1. Self-Management. Sufficiently managing our lives means more than getting proper sleep, eating right, and exercising. When we effectively self-manage our lives, we rec- ognize that our resources, time, and lives are finite.

2. Time Management. Effectively managing our time means making the best use of our time and any resources we can summon. We keep pace by matching our challenges with our resources. We set appropriate goals and discern what is both important and urgent, versus either important or urgent. Know what you do best and when, and gather the right tools to perform the work.

3. Stress Management. Societies tend to become more complex over time. Our increas- ingly complex lives mean individual stress is inevitable. We need to figure out how to be tranquil and handle stressful situations; doing so is especially challenging when we deal with more people, distractions, and noise. Multi-tasking tends to increase our stress, rather than help us to focus on one thing at a time.

4. Change Management. In our fast-paced world, change is a constant. We must con- stantly adopt new approaches or adapt existing ones to enjoy a successful career and a happy home life. When we effectively manage change, we ensure that the volume and rate of change at work and at home does not overwhelm or defeat us.

5. Technology Management. We want technology to serve us, not abuse us. Our world has had technology since man’s first tools. Change now happens faster and faster, with vendors expanding their market share. Even when we are forced to keep up, we must rule technology, and avoid it ruling us.

6. Leisure Management. We often overlook the work–life balance area of leisure manage- ment, which acknowledges how important rest and relaxation can be. Down time is a vital to our health and well-being.

As a pracical matter, training programs, too, should complement work–life balance programs and ensure that employees ultimately are working smarter, not necessarily harder. For exam- ple, trainers must manage the attendant stress and anxiety that comes with changing to a new training program with its new procedures. As discussed in Chapter 2, the slide down the zone of proximal development during a learning curve should be efficient enough to ensure that the training time period is reasonable and finite so the trainee can still attend her son’s soccer game that weekend.

“I haven’t taken a vacation in over 2 years,” I once heard a colleague say. Indeed, the line between working hard and working too hard sometimes is not a clear one. As part of CSR, an organization must monitor its workforce to ensure that effective employee performance is not coming with the long-term costs of burnout, compromised lesiure time, and strife to the employee’s family. In the final analyis, organizations must just be empathic enough to act on situations like my workaholic colleague; that is, just because an employee can work 60 hours a week, should he?

Critical HRD and Lessons Learned From the Social History of Training Chapter 10

10.5 Critical HRD and Lessons Learned From the Social History of Training The social history of training and its implications was first addressed by Kopp and Desiderio in their seminal 2009 article, “Training’s Woeful Countenance,” which addressed how many salespeople, as late as the 1930s, were trained in the so-called folk science of physiognomy— the notion that a person’s outer appearance, especially the face, could provide insight into his or her true character or personality. For example, the following excerpt from automaker Henry Ford’s 1923 training manual contained instructions on how to vary selling techniques with prospective buyers by evaluating the size and shape of the customer’s—forehead:

We find the high headed man comparatively idealistic and should be appealed to with that thought in mind. The low-headed prospect is to be approached with a sense of the physical, through seeing the car, and through a grosser appeal. (as cited in Tedlow, 1996, p. 157)

As incredible as it may sound today, salespeople were taught to focus on the customer’s facial features, including hair and chin. People with large, clear blue eyes were said to be open, and people with small, sparkling black eyes were thought to be cunning. Additionally, “the pointed chin signifies acuteness or craft. The soft, fat double chin marks the epicure; the round chin with a dimple speaks to benevolence” (Goddard, 1889, p. 109). These physiognomic sales training manuals were prominent in the early 20th century. The Library of Congress listed more than 350 titles under the subject heading “salesmanship manuals” in 1925!

Sales training manuals that relied on physiognomy for their training techniques were, at best—by today’s standards—politically incorrect and, at worst, blatantly bigoted, exploiting historical stereotypes. Dubious training practices continued, including the vocational train- ing methods of slave labor in the Third Reich and the apprenticeship programs targeted to the negro worker (Kopp & Desidero, 2009). Even the terrorist group Al Qaeda’s training is memorialized through their official training manual with advice regarding training venue, the trainers, and the trainees, including its seemingly innocent training recommendations of “proper utilization of individuals’ unused capabilities … and small ratio of trainees to trainers and a small size that should be together during the training (7–10 individuals)” (as cited in U.S. Department of Justice, n.d.)

Such reflections fall under the critical perspective to HRD (Fenwick, 2004; Stewart, Rigg, & Trehan, 2007); specifically, critical HRD includes contemplations such as:

• the consequences of training and development to society, organizations, and individuals;

• the moral base and ethical dilemmas raised by HRD practice; • considering power differences and repressive practices; and, • the overall social responsibility of training and development practice

Part of critical HRD, and aligned with the principles of social responsibility, sustainability, and ethics, is the practice of reflecting on training practices, as memorialized by training manu- als (Kopp, 2007; Kopp & Desiderio, 2009), and specifically, the axiology of training; that is, whether training is value neutral. Clearly, while training itself may be value neutral, training programs have historically been the means to sustain stereotypes, racism, anti-Semitism, and

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

prejudice, in general. Whether as part of sexist ephemera (for example, airline hostess train- ing) or fanatical cultural movements (for example, the Hitler Youth training manual) train- ing—especially vocational training has borne witness to and/or aided and abetted human events, in both triumph and in disgrace. Training materials are important, too, because they become artifacts of the organization and society at-large. What might future trainers think of the Hooters™ training material 70 years from now?

It is generally believed that the field of training and development only advances through criti- cal reflection. It’s important to question training’s role within a broader context, including social justice. While training and developing employees, we must ensure that both training outcomes and interventions are ethical.

Summary and Resources Chapter Summary

• We view HRD as a three-legged stool of psychological theory, economic theory, and systems theory, and then focus on ethics. Specific ethical issues within HRD include the pressure to produce positive return-on-training investment results and the emerging trend of corporate social responsibility. Studies have shown that organiza- tions with advanced CSR philosophies perform better and regularly are ranked as some of the best organizations.

• Organizations must act on corporate social responsibility and ethical HRD every day. They must fulfill their legal duty to train (the minimal requirement), and give employ- ees equal access to career-advancing training and technology, avoiding the so-called glass ceiling.

• Critical perspectives of HRD reflect on the consequences of training and development to society, organizations, and individuals; the moral base and ethical dilemmas raised by HRD practice; power differences and repressive practice; and the overall social responsibility of training and development practice.

• Organizations committed to corporate social responsibility are dedicated to help- ing employees achieve work–life balance—those practices designed to improve the balance between the demands of an employee’s work and personal life. Not only is this practice ethical, it has also been shown to favorably affect the organization’s performance.

• One common theme is that the field of training and development only advances through critical reflection, which includes questioning training’s role within a broader context, including issues of social justice. While training and developing employees, we must ensure that both training outcomes and interventions are ethical.

Posttest 1. Acting against one’s own self-interests in order to benefit others is part of which ethi-

cal framework? a. ethical egoism b. utilitarianism c. altruism d. pragmatism

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

2. The most recent additions to the ethical guidelines for human resource development focus on . a. respecting intellectual property and copyrighted sources b. benefiting the greatest number of people by maximizing social benefits while

minimizing costs c. applying human resource development recommendations on a global scale d. avoiding the temptation to produce false positive return on investment results

3. What is the relationship between employee relations and corporate social responsi- bility (CSR)? a. Employee relations is one of the biggest factors that make up CSR. b. CSR is to large companies what employee relations is to small businesses. c. A company’s corporate citizenship ranking is based on a combination of its

employee relations and CSR ratings. d. Employee relations is at one end of an ethical spectrum, with CSR at the other end.

4. Which of the following best describes the human resource development role in corpo- rate social responsibility? a. aligning social responsibility strategies with the organization’s overall goals b. developing guidelines for reporting on the social impact of a business c. evaluating how work practices affect employees’ health and well-being d. sharing information about CSR with an organization’s employees

5. What is NOT required or strongly recommended by federal legislation? a. employee development b. accommodations for trainees with disabilities c. ethics trainings d. training sessions about sexual harassment

6. Which of the following is reported by employees to be most beneficial to their career development? a. formal training programs b. high-profile leadership assignments c. employee-sponsored affinity groups and networks d. federal nondiscrimination regulations and other workplace-related legislation

7. In addition to increasing employee satisfaction and retention, providing work–life bal- ance is important because it . a. is monitored and regulated by federal legislation b. is positively correlated with employees’ ethical behavior c. supports change management within an organization d. contributes to quasi-equilibrium, according to force-field analysis

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

8. Which of the following is true about workaholism? a. It is an exaggerated concept that detracts attention from the seriousness of real

work–life balance issues. b. It is more of a problem in Japan, where employees have died from it, than in the

United States. c. It is on the decrease worldwide, with fewer employees overworking today than in

years past. d. It is a real danger in the United States, where workers have the highest productiv-

ity of any country. 9. The practice of involves considering the consequences of training for

individuals and society, including ethical dilemmas and issues of power differences. a. critical human resource development b. work–life balance c. reflective ethical training d. do no harm

10. The assessment of whether a training is value neutral or contains some bias is known as . a. physiognomy b. the critical perspective c. the axiology of training d. ethical egoism

Assess Your Learning: Critical Reflection 1. Are training and development value neutral? Explain your answer. 2. How is an organization’s goal of maximizing profits an ethical stance? 3. Beyond the legal requirements of training, such as required by OSHA, does an organi-

zation have a social responsibility to develop its employees? 4. Are there some careers where a work–life balance is not possible? 5. Explain how an organization might be complicit to an employee’s workaholism.

Additional Resources Web Resources

Social development through HRD: http://www.uf hrd.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/ uploads/2008/06/37-1_mclean_kuo_budhwani_yamnill.pdf

India’s National HRD Network: https://www.nationalhrd.org/about-nhrdn/overview

The 100 Best Corporate Citizens 2013 list from Corporate Responsibility Magazine: http://www.thecro.com/files/100Best2013_web.pdf

For detailed news about the latest initiatives in corporate social responsibility: www.csrwire.com

JetBlue CSR blog: http://blog.jetblue.com/index.php/2012/10/11/a-day-in-the-life- corporate-social-responsibility

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

About countries with the most workaholics: http://www.businessinsider.com/ countries-with-the-most-workaholics-2011-2?op=1#ixzz2yoldEnvi

A “worked-to-death” bill introduced by the Japanese government: http://digitaljournal. com/life/health/japan-ruling-party-proposes-worked-to-death-bill/article/377911

For keys to work–life balance: http://work-lifebalance.com

Further Reading

Ardichvili, A. (2013). Sustainability of nations, communities, organizations, and individuals: The role of HRD. Human Resource Development International, 14, 371–374.

Fenwick, T., & Bierema, L. (2008). Corporate social responsibility: Issues for human resource development professionals. International Journal of Training and Development, 12(1), 24–35. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2419.2007.00293.x

Garavan, T., & McGuire, D. (2010). Human resource development and society: Human resource development’s role in embedding corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and ethics in organizations. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 12, 487–507.

Hatcher, T. (2010). Ethics and HRD: A new approach to leading responsible organizations. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.

Kopp, D. M., & Desiderio, K. P. (2009). Training’s woeful countenance. Human Resource Devel- opment Quarterly, 20(1), 135–142.

Savitz, A. (2013). The triple bottom line: How today’s best-run companies are achieving eco- nomic, social and environmental success—and how you can too. New York: Wiley.

Answers and Rejoinders to Chapter Pretest

1. true. A key ethical concept for human resource development is that training should be determined by the trainees’ needs. Using a cure-all program, rather than the needs- assessment analysis that is part of ADDIE, violates this concept.

2. false. Studies have shown that organizations with advanced corporate social responsi- bility philosophies tend to outperform other companies.

3. true. Denying women and minorities training opportunities that could allow them to advance, such as leadership and management development training, is a cause of the glass ceiling. Executive training programs that include formal succession planning, affinity networks, and job rotations can remedy this.

4. false. Multitasking has actually been found to increase stress. However, while it may be better to focus on one thing at a time, this can be difficult in today’s complex soci- eties and workplaces.

5. true. Training materials and programs have been used at various times in history to further stereotypes and racist ideas. Examples range from the Third Reich’s training of slave labor to Henry Ford’s sales training manuals asserting that facial character- istics reveal a customer’s character. It is essential that organizations evaluate their training programs critically to remove any biases or stereotypes.

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

Answers and Rejoinders to Chapter Posttest

1. c. In altruism, actions are considered moral if they are intended to help others. Orga- nizations and their leaders sometimes act altruistically by putting others’ interests ahead of their own.

2. d. The growing need to show that training programs offer a competitive advantage and strong return on investment puts pressure on trainers. Recent ethical recommen- dations have centered on avoiding deception, especially when it comes to evaluating trainings.

3. a. An organization’s CSR is made up of several factors, including the environment, human rights, and diversity, among others. According to rankings of the best cor- porate citizens, employee relations is tied for the most significant component that contributes to a company’s CSR.

4. c. In a human resource development context, corporate social responsibility means evaluating how the organization’s decisions affect human systems—particularly employees’ mental and physical health. The top consideration is making sure these decisions avoid harm.

5. a. Federal law requires that individuals with disabilities be accommodated so they can participate in training sessions (and all other aspects of a job). It also recommends that organizations provide training about ethics and sexual harassment. However, no laws require that companies develop their employees.

6. b. Although executive training programs are a good start for breaking through the glass ceiling, employees report that the best thing for their career development has been not formal training, but rather high-profile leadership assignments. Many more men than women still receive these high-profile assignments.

7. b. In one survey, 91% of employed respondents felt that employees with good work– life balance were more likely to act ethically. Sixty percent agreed that job dissatisfac- tion is a major cause of unethical employee behavior.

8. d. Workaholism is an increasing concern in many countries around the world, includ- ing the United States, where worker productivity is highest.

9. a. The critical perspective on human resource development necessitates reflecting on the social responsibility of training and development. This includes the consequences of training and development to society, organizations, and individuals; potential power differences and repressive practice; and the moral and ethical dilemmas raised by HRD practice.

10. c. Axiology is the philosophy or study of value. Thus, the axiology of training addresses whether training is value neutral or whether it maintains prejudice or oppression, as some training programs have historically done.

Key Terms altruism An ethical framework that views actions as moral if their primary purpose is to promote the best interest of others.

axiology The study of values. For example, is training value neutral?

corporate social responsibility (CSR) An extension of social responsibility; organiza- tions’ choice to assess and take the initiative

and responsibility for the organization’s effects on the environment and its impact on social justice and welfare.

critical perspective An HRD view that considers the consequences of training and development to society, organizations and individuals; power differences and repres- sive practices; and so on.

Summary and Resources Chapter 10

do no harm principle A primary ethical obligation to avoid doing harm not only to employees of the organization, but also to the community in which the organization operates.

ethical egoism An ethical framework in which organizations act so as to create the greatest good for themselves.

ethics Moral principles that govern a per- son’s or group’s behavior.

Federal Glass Ceiling Commission report The fact-finding report released by the Glass Ceiling Commission, initiated by the Glass Ceiling Act in 1991.

flexible week A work–life balance practice, sometimes called a compressed workweek; this approach allows employees to work lon- ger hours over a smaller number of days.

flextime A work–life balance practice in which employees choose starting and ending hours, but typically must be present in the office during “core” periods.

glass ceiling Unseen barriers that keep minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regard- less of their qualifications or achievements.

Global Reporting Initiative A nonprofit organization that promotes economic sus- tainability. It produces one of the world’s most prevalent standards for sustainability reporting.

job sharing Two employees share or divide the workload of a single job; a work–life bal- ance practice.

part time Most familiar to employers, this option offers employees a reduced work schedule; a work–life balance practice.

part-time telecommuting A combination of part-time or reduced hours coupled with an off-site working location; a work–life bal- ance practice.

physiognomic sales training manu- als Sales training manuals that emphasized paying attention to the customer’s face, forehead, eyes, teeth, hair, and chin.

physiognomy The notion that a person’s outer appearance, especially the face, could provide insight into his or her true character or personality.

triple bottom-line approach Balanced attention not only to the economic aspects of organizational performance but also the environmental and social justice aspects.

utilitarianism An ethical framework in which organizations behave so as to create the greatest good for the greatest number and maximize social benefits while minimiz- ing social costs.

workaholism A dysfunctional choice an employee makes to focus exclusively on work and neglect other areas of life, result- ing in a poor work–life balance.

work at home, flex place, or telecommut- ing A work–life balance practice in which some or all of the work is done off-site at the employee’s home or at local satellite offices set up near where clusters of employees live.

work–life balance A practice designed to improve the balance between the demands of an employee’s work and personal life.

9Employee and Organizational Development

PhotoAlto/SuperStock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

• Explain HRD’s strategic link to development.

• Describe aspects of employee development.

• Apply appropriate leadership style for employee development.

• Explain the processes of career development.

• Define and recognize the driving forces of organizational development.

All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.

—Albert Einstein

Introduction Chapter 9

Pretest 1. Though organizations usually lose money paying for employee development, it makes

companies attractive to potential employees. a. true b. false

2. Coaching is a recent term for the centuries-old process of mentoring. a. true b. false

3. Coaching is the best leadership style for working with an employee who is highly competent and highly committed. a. true b. false

4. Individuals’ careers tend to progress through a common, predictable sequence of stages. a. true b. false

5. Some frameworks of organizational change can be applied to personal lives as well as professional. a. true b. false

Answers can be found at the end of the chapter.

Introduction Another aspiration of HRD is that of employee development. We will discuss how to avoid what is known as the Peter principle (Peter & Hull, 1969), which was named after Dr. Lau- rence J. Peter. This principle says that employees who may be performing well at their current job are promoted without developing the new KSAs required for the new job; or, effectively, promoting someone to his or her level of incompetence.

Having detailed the ADDIE training process from needs analysis to evaluation, we can now bet- ter appreciate the technical connection between learning and performance in the workplace, whether depicting that relationship using the so-called performance formula or Kirkpatrick’s learning and performance evaluation levels 2, 3, and 4. Yet although the ADDIE processes for training are methodical, tactical, and systematic, we should remember that in addition to equipping employees with the KSAs to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently, the ultimate goal in human resource development (as the term suggests) is the development of

Development and Strategic HRD Chapter 9

the workforce—and the organization—for the ever-changing future environment (Argyris, 1977, 1999; Cummings & Worley, 2014; Francis, Holbeche, & Reddington, 2012; Hameed & Waheed, 2011).

The premise here is that ADDIE-constructed training programs should not only promote workplace learning that leads to short-term tactical performance improvement, but also ensure that the improved performance leads strategically to long-term development—both at the employee and organizational levels (Gilley, Eggland, & Gilley, 2002; Hameed & Waheed, 2011; McDowall & Saunders, 2010; Rowan, 2005). Let us now delve deeper into HRD’s stra- tegic link.

9.1 Development and Strategic HRD Exploring HRD’s strategic aspect of development takes us back to the beginning, when we first discussed Gilley and colleagues’ (2002) original depiction of HRD in Chapter 1. As you may recall, Gilley and colleagues’ framework for HRD included not only the short-term focus of training individual employees and tactically managing the performance of the organization, but also the long-term focus of employee career development, as well as organization devel- opment (see Table 9.1), which we explore now.

Table 9.1: Framework for HRD

Focus Individual Organization

Short term Training Performance management

Long term Employee development Organizational development

Source: Gilley et al., 2002.

To fully appreciate these longer term goals of HRD, we now need to think of training not as an outcome, but as a process that feeds continuous development—specifically, the idea of training for development (Duggan, 2013; Ford, 2014; Gilley, Maycunich, & Gilley, 2000; Noe, 2012; Stewart & Sambrook, 2012). Viewing training as a process with developmental outcomes ultimately speaks to how training is but one part of human resource development (Cummings & Worley, 2014; Ford, 2014; Neirotti & Paolucci, 2013).

And, similar to the debate on the definitional nuances for training that we discussed in Chap- ter 1, the concept of development, too, is often contextual. For example, this is true when we compare development to learning. Although the concepts of development and learning cer- tainly overlap and are codependent—Leadersmiths CEO David Smith (2013) calls them the conjoined twins—development involves learning, but not all learning is development. Spe- cifically, we can say that learning relates to the employee’s present job requirements, whereas development, our focus in this chapter, facilitates employee career growth within the present job and organization (Gilley et al., 2002; Hameed & Waheed, 2011; Laird, Naquin, & Holton, 2003; Mayo & DuBois, 1987).

Development and Strategic HRD Chapter 9

Food for Thought: Conjoined Twins

Listen to Leadersmiths CEO David Smith discuss the conjoined twins of learning and development: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9bDqMmL4lw&feature=youtu.be.

Consider This 1. As described in the video, what is the significance of defining an organization’s core

competencies as they relate to organizational development? 2. Describe the similarities of the 7S model of organizational development to the

characteristics of Senge’s learning organization.

As Figure 9.1 depicts, the goal of strategic HRD systems is not only to introduce ADDIE- designed training that will promote employee and organizational performance improve- ment outcomes (levels 3 and 4) through learning (level 2), but also ultimately to stimulate employee and organizational development (OD) outcomes, as well.

Figure 9.1: ADDIE promotes learning, performance, and ultimately development

The ADDIE framework promotes performance improvement through learning. Over time, such performance through learning gives rise to development, both at the employee and organizational levels.

f09.01_BUS375.ai

ADDIE

Level 2

Learning

HRD

Level 3

Performance

Level 4

Employee development

Organizational development∑

Development and Strategic HRD Chapter 9

While HRD is not OD, employee development cannot be separated from organizational development (Burke, 2008; Francis et al., 2012; Hameed & Waheed, 2011); that is, employee development gives a “line of sight” to organizational development (Guidroz, Luce, & Denison, 2010; Hameed & Waheed, 2011). Operationally, as each employee learns and develops, syner- gies arise; specifically, as employees develop, the aggregated effect or the summation (∑) of a developed workforce facilitates and promotes organizational development, which enables the organization to better achieve its strategic goals in an ever-changing work environment (Garavan, Gunnigle, & Morley, 2000). As the organization develops, it then stimulates the need for employees to develop further, too; Crossan, Lane, and White (1999) call this employee- organization-employee dynamic the feed forward-feedback loop. And HRD scholars advise that, in fact, an endless loop of learning-performance-development exists whereby, as employ- ees develop, they must continue to pursue improved performance through learning (Holton & Baldwin, 2003; Swanson, 2002; Swanson & Holton, 2001).

This learning-performance-development loop is consistent with our discussions in Chapter 2 regarding expertise seeking; that is, development is never done because expertise itself has a shelf life (Selinger & Crease, 2006).

Development for Competitive Advantage

Semantics and recursive loops aside, concrete, operational reasons also encourage the idea of pursuing continuous development. Specifically, continuous development of the workforce, including management and leadership development (Harrison, 2009), has been shown to contribute to an organization’s competitive advantage—an organization’s ability to gain a specific advantage over its rivals and generate greater value for its stakeholders, as well as organizational sustainability (Berger & Berger, 2003; Dyer, 1993; Hafler, 2011; Hameed & Waheed, 2011; Porter, 2004, 2008).

Although earlier frameworks of an organization’s competitive advantage centered on market position and pricing, today’s competitive advantage includes the specific benefits gained by organizing and leveraging the capabilities and potential offered by continuous development of employees, as well as the organization (Jennings, Tucker, & Rutherford, 2013; Porter, 2008).

One study from the hospitality industry concluded that creating high-performing human capital systems could improve an organization’s market value by $15,000 to $60,000 per employee (Walsh, Sturman, & Longstreet, 2010). Further, in its seminal study, the human resource con- sulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide introduced the human capital index, which quantified the economic value of human capital. Over a 2-year period, Watson Wyatt evaluated the link between specific human capital practices and shareholder value. More than 750 large publicly traded companies in the United States, Canada, and Europe took part in the study; the results of the study suggested that more than 49 specific human resources practices were linked to a 47% increase in market value for the organizations surveyed (Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 2002).

This literal asset value perspective of a well-trained and well-developed workforce is part of the resource-based view of strategic human resource development (Agbettor, 2013; Hatch & Dyer, 2004; McGoldrick, Stewart, & Watson, 2003; Weatherly, 2003), which expressly evalu- ates the economic benefits of a highly trained and developed workforce (Alagaraja, 2012; Kandula, 2011; Swanson, 2002). This underscores a major theme of HRD—that HRD is about not just learning, but also performance through learning.

Employee Development Chapter 9

Within the pursuit of an organization’s competitive advantage through the continuous devel- opment of its workforce are considerations to succession planning and assessing the future labor needs of the organization, specifically strategic workforce planning (SWP). SWP focuses on maintaining a well-trained and developed workforce by implementing a talent management program that prepares the organization for future workforce needs. Specifi- cally, the organization scans both its internal and external operating environments to assess and identify any potential skills gaps its workforce may face as a function of the effects of dynamics such as labor segments retiring, new technology requirements, or a volatile econ- omy (DeTuncq & Schmidt, 2013). Today HR professionals can even get credentialed in strate- gic workforce planning and pursue an SWP certification through the human capital institute (http://www.hci.org/hr-training-courses/strategic-workforce-planning).

HRD in Practice: Southwest Airlines: Developing Employees for Competitive Advantage

Julie Weber, Southwest Airlines’ vice president of people, recently described Southwest’s philosophy for developing its workforce as follows: “Our people are our difference who will help us continue to thrive.… We hire the best people who naturally put others first; we allow them to shine and help them develop their full potential.”

Jeff Lamb, Southwest’s executive vice president and chief people and administrative officer, guides this effort. “The key differentiator for us is our underlying philosophy of putting our people first,” he explains.

That philosophy is paying off: Southwest’s turnover tends to run below 5%; in 2011 it was 1.5%.

Lamb says the company has a simple goal for talent management: “The company wants to help all of its employees develop to reach their full potential in a best-place-to-work environment.” Lamb oversees a team of 2,000 within Southwest’s overall workforce of 45,000.

Consider This 1. What do think Weber means when she says that Southwest allows its employees to shine?

Explain your reasoning. 2. Other than low turnover, what would be other indicators Southwest could draw on to

demonstrate the success of their employee development program?

Source: Excerpt from Margolis, D. (2012, July 31). Clear skies ahead: Southwest Airlines’ Jeff Lamb. Talent Management. Retrieved from http://talentmgt. com/articles/view/clear-skies-ahead-southwest-airlines-jeff-lamb

9.2 Employee Development Employee development is generally thought of as the deliberate methods taken within an organization to encourage employee professional and personal growth (ASTD, 2013; Cum- mings & Worley, 2014; Ford, 2014; Neirotti & Paolucci, 2013; Harvard Business Review Press, 2013; Wan, 2013). The strategic premise here is that by developing employees both profes- sionally and personally, the organization benefits through its own development.

Employee Development Chapter 9

Aspects of Employee Development

According to the Society for Human Resource Management’s recent survey of 248 employ- ers (see Table 9.2), numerous methods are used to facilitate employee development, from various forms of mentoring to designing training with specific developmental opportunities embedded within them. For example, immediately following on-the-job training on how to operate an industrial web five-color press printer (for example, lifting a pallet of paper, check- ing that the rollers are clear, monitoring machine temperature), a subsequent developmental activity could include adding an e-learning module, available on mobile devices, regarding how web printers are manufactured or how upcoming technology could improve the print- ing process; see the Food for Thought feature box titled “Example of Employee Development: New Possibilities in Printing” for an example of such a video.

Food for Thought: Example of Employee Development

Watch the video to learn more about the new possibilities in printing and what companies are doing with the technology. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae_aU5QjyoI

Consider This 1. From a developmental standpoint, what is the value of informing the trainee who the

largest customers for the HP Indigo Digital Press are? 2. The video discusses trends in the marketplace; what other developmental features to the

HP Indigo Digital Press video can you find?

Table 9.2: Employee development methods

Employers sampled Use method

Training other than leadership training 84%

Cross-functional training 80%

Leadership training 71%

Developmental planning 70%

Apprenticeships and internships (to assess potential future hires) 57%

Formal coaching 55%

Matching employees with “stretch” assignments and opportunities 47%

High-visibility assignments and opportunities to work with executives (e.g., executive task forces)

47%

Leadership forums 44%

Formal identification of high-potential employees 40%

Formal succession planning processes 35%

(continued)

Employee Development Chapter 9

Employers sampled Use method

Job rotation 30%

Formal career mentoring (internal programs) 25%

Job sharing 25%

Formal career mentoring (external programs) 10%

Source: Esen & Collison, 2005.

Other popular employee development methods include cross-functional training and so-called stretch assignments and opportunities. In cross-functional training, for example, employees are exposed to and perform other tasks within the production or service process beyond their own job. Sometimes called job enlargement or horizontal development, this method allows employees to get a better appreciation of the larger picture and the interrelationships of differ- ent jobs (Werner & DeSimone, 2011). For example, asking the fast-food-counter employee to work the drive-through window gives him not only a new skill set (such as using a headset and having to articulate clearly using a microphone), but also an appreciation of how the counter employee’s performance impacts the drive-through efficiency: counter employees not getting the orders in correctly impacts the cook who, in turn, cannot get to the drive-through orders.

Stretch assignments and opportunities include exposing employees to deeper dimensions of their own job, sometimes known as job enrichment (Werner & DeSimone, 2011). Specifically, employees are introduced to more in-depth aspects or features of their job; for example, a salesperson in the sporting goods department may start participating in the inventory man- agement meetings of the sales department to gain an understanding of the monthly inventory reports. Other cross-functional developmental tactics include job rotation and job sharing.

Employee development is also facilitated by critical reflection (Brookfield, 1990; Mezirow, 1990) following the training. Critical reflection, sometimes known as after-action reviews (Lipshitz, Popper, Friedman, & Friedman, 2006), is a generative process whereby the trainee is encouraged to reflect and make meaning of the training experience, including what the formal training entailed as well as lessons learned from any errors, informal and incidental learning, and even unlearning (Hedberg & Arbetslivscentrum, 1979); poor habits are an example.

An example of critical reflection in the nursing field includes having nurse trainees honestly contemplate and attempt to reconcile their own biases and prejudices regarding certain demo- graphics they will encounter in their nursing practice (Fook & Gardner, 2007). This process of seeking equilibrium with one’s environment is what organizational theorist Karl Weick (1995) called sense making and social scientist Donald Schön called reflection on practice (Schön, 1983).

In general, critical reflection affords opportunities to think creatively about alternatives to make processes more effective, efficient, or innovative; this process is also known as thinking outside the box (Eisner, 2011) through experimentation and risk taking that may differ from the status quo.

An example of this type of innovative outcome in critical reflection can be seen at Google. Employees at Google are encouraged to spend up to 30% of their time reflecting and pursuing their own creative interests and ideas; this approach has led to innovative products such as Google Maps™ and Google AdSense™ and made Google more than a search engine (Hephaestus

Employee Development Chapter 9

Books, 2011; Duthel, 2008). Figure 9.2 depicts the process of critical reflection (Brookfield, 1990; Dirkx, 2005; Elliott & Turnbull, 2004; Mezirow, 1990; Wang & Wilcox, 2006).

Figure 9.2: The critical reflection process

In a development setting, the critical reflection process allows employees to describe not only the developmental experience and the circumstances, but also their interpretation of how the experience affected them and how they will use that experience to inform their future.

f09.02_BUS375.ai

What happened (describe the experience)?

What is your new interpretation of the experience? What is

the significance? What did you learn about yourself and

others?

What will you do as a result of this

experience? How will you use it to

inform your future?

Why / how did it happen? What

factors contributed? How do you feel

about it?

Source: Adapted from Brookfield, S. D. (1990). Using critical incidents to explore learners’ assumptions. In J. Mezirow (Ed.), Fostering critical reflection in adulthood (pp. 177–193). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; Mezirow, J. (1990). How critical reflection triggers transformative learning. In J. Mezirow (Ed.), Fostering critical reflection in adulthood (pp. 1–20). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Did You Know? Thinking Outside the Box: But Which Box?

The phrase “thinking outside the box” is not simply metaphorical. The expression refers to a specific box, a two-dimensional square introduced in the 1914 book Sam Lloyd’s Encyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles, Tricks, and Conundrums (With Answers) (Lloyd, 1914). The puzzle is known as the nine dots puzzle:

“Draw a continuous line through the center of all the dots without lifting your pencil.”

Many people find this puzzle difficult to solve initially because of the perceived limitations (of the box). To solve the puzzle, one must sometimes go beyond the bounds of the box (or the situation) to solve a problem—which is the lesson learned here.

Management gurus in the 1960s and 1970s who coached organizations using the phrase “think outside the box” used this nine dots puzzle as a test to illustrate this point.

Employee Development Chapter 9

Employee Development and Mentoring

Although aspects of self-directed learning are clearly evident in employee development—for example, employees today can use Internet sites like Khan Academy, TED, and Harvard Busi- ness Review’s Management Tip of the Day to develop at their own time and pace—generally, employee development is typically in the context of the dyadic relationship between a trainer and trainee. As differentiated from formal, codified career mentoring programs, which only focus on the skill sets and task expertise needed for career advancement per se (Esen & Col- lison, 2005), mentoring for employee development is oftentimes informal and emergent, not prescribed. In fact, many times the employee may choose his or her mentor versus being man- dated one. Semantics aside—some organizations refer to the mentors as coaches—approxi- mately 75% of Fortune 500 companies have some type of mentoring program (Ensher & Mur- phy, 2011; Murrell, Forte-Trammell, & Bing, 2008).

Although the supervisor is ultimately responsible for performance management issues (Daft, 2014; Singh, 2013; Sales Performance International, 2014; Strange, 2012), in a mentoring arrangement the employee (known as the protégé) works with—and is guided by—the direct supervisor (the mentor) (Allen, Poteet, & Russell, 2000; Daft, 2014; Ibrahim et al., 2009; Singh, 2013; Sales Performance International, 2014). The focus is both the formal and informal transmission of KSAs relevant to the required job performance, including personal and professional direction, advice, and psychosocial support in the employee’s career devel- opment (Bijker, Van der Klink, & Boshuizen, 2010; Ibrahim et al., 2009; Ismail, Abdullah, & Francis, 2009).

Food for Thought: Characteristics of an Effective Mentor

So, what makes for a good mentor?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC2YD4ne-bE

Consider This 1. What would be the advantages of an employee choosing his or her own mentor?

Disadvantages? 2. What specific type of feedback should a protégé expect from a mentor? 3. Describe the importance of trust between mentor and protégé.

This specific focus of mentoring makes it different from coaching (see Table 9.3):

• Coaching is generally performance-based, not development-based (Allen et al., 2000; Ibrahim et al., 2009). That is, whereas a mentor may coach, a coach does not necessar- ily mentor.

Employee Development Chapter 9

• Mentoring is usually relationship based, whereas coaching is more task driven (Ensher & Murphy, 2011; Hendricks, 2005; Rihs, 2009).

• Mentoring tends to be informal and without deadlines, whereas coaching is usually formal and time bound.

• Overall, coaches focus on short-term performance improvement, whereas mentors focus on the long-term development of KSAs to drive an employee’s career develop- ment (Hendricks, 1994).

Table 9.3: Differences in focus between a mentor and a coach

Mentor Coach

Strategic Tactical

Learning Training

Long term Short term

General Specific

Relationship based Task driven

Focus is on the trainee Focus is on the training

Source: Allen et al., 2000; Hendricks, 1994; Ibrahim et al., 2009.

Mentoring for development requires effective communication and requires the mentor and protégé to use active listening skills, including using open-ended versus closed-ended (yes– no) questions (Allen et al., 2000; Ensher & Murphy, 2011; Hendricks, 2005; Murrell et al., 2008). An effective technique mentors use is that of mirroring (Ensher & Murphy, 2011; Rihs, 2009). Specifically, when the mentor and protégé mirror, they repeat ideas back to each other to avoid miscommunication. So, if a mentor makes a specific suggestion to the protégé about how to interact with a major client customer, for example, the protégé might respond: “So, it sounds like you’re saying when it comes to this particular client, I should always assume that they want feedback prior to close of business that day? Does that sound right?”

Likewise, a mirroring mentor might clarify with the protégé: “It sounds like your biggest chal- lenge has been that particular customer. Is that what I’m hearing?”

Framing the communication this way lets both the mentor and the protégé evaluate whether they understood the other correctly. If they did not, they can clarify their message to avoid misunderstanding (Lundsteen, 1979; Management Mentors, 2014; Smith & Keyton, 2001).

According to the firm Management Mentors, mentors use another communication technique called verbal nodding, which supports nonverbal gestures (such as making eye contact, nod- ding your head). Verbal nodding emphasizes that you are listening; as you follow the conversa- tion, you say things like “Right” or “Yes” or “Mmm” or “Really?” (Management Mentors, 2014).

Leading Employee Development Chapter 9

HRD in Practice: Promoted to Her Level of Incompetence?

It was embarrassing, really. And the vice president of operations, Harvey Sizemore, felt awful about it. Just 6 months ago, he had promoted Ellen Kaye to department manager. Ellen would be supervising 12 line workers and had some real decision-making authority. Ellen was thrilled at the news of her promotion; she celebrated by purchasing a new car—she had earned it. Ellen had been a skilled and loyal line worker for 11 years with the company. She had a great attitude, was a team player, and rarely made production errors. Ellen knew her job well, and other supervisors often asked her to train new employees. Harvey was pleased to offer Ellen this promotion.

But, now—6 months later—Harvey waited in his office for Ellen to arrive; he had to tell her she was being put back on the line or transferred to another department. Four of the 12 employees she supervised had stopped him in the break room on Tuesday and— representing the other eight, as well—told him it was Ellen or them. “We warned you 2 months ago, Harvey; either Ellen goes, or we walk. We’ve had it with her!”

Harvey tried to advise Ellen a couple of months ago when grievances arose about her supervisory style, but the situation continued to deteriorate. Most telling now was that production quotas were not being met and her department had numerous and frequent errors.

Harvey wondered, “How did this happen? How can such a great line worker be such a lousy supervisor?” Harvey had spoken briefly to his wife about Ellen, and something Harvey’s wife said had resonated with him:

“This is awful, Harv. It’s almost as if you promoted Ellen to her level of incompetence.”

Consider This 1. What could Harvey have done to ensure that Ellen was ready for the next level of

advancement? 2. Other than advising Ellen of the prior complaints about her, what more could Harvey

have done during Ellen’s learning curve to assist in her transition to supervisor? 3. If Ellen agrees to go back to the shop floor, what should Harvey advise her to do to move

forward?

9.3 Leading Employee Development Whether a leader is known as a mentor, coach, or supervisor is not as important as how that person leads employees toward and facilitates development. Even the most self-directed employee can benefit from a leader who uses a developmental framework and leads as a func- tion of the employee’s developmental level. One popular framework used to lead employees based on their particular developmental level was created by management expert Ken Blanchard; it built on prior leadership frameworks such as Robert House’s path–goal theory and George Graen’s leader–member exchange.

The premise of Blanchard’s situational leadership (Blanchard & Blanchard Training and Development, 1994; Shriberg & Shriberg, 2011), which we briefly discussed in Chapter 2,

f09.03_BUS375.ai

Developed

Developing

D1 Enthusiastic beginner

Low competence

High commitment

D2 Disillusioned learner

Low to some competence

Low commitment

D3 Capable, but cautious, performer

Moderate to high competence

Variable commitment

D4 Self-reliant achiever

High competence

High commitment

Figure 9.3: Blanchard’s state of employees’ competence and commitment

Using Blanchard’s developmental continuum for employees, we can see how an employee’s competence or ability in the job is linked to his or her commitment or willingness to do the job.

Leading Employee Development Chapter 9

is that employees move through a cycle of develop- ment as a function of their willingness and ability. Blanchard frames employee development as a state of the employee’s competence and commitment—each can be either high or low (see Figure 9.3). Competence is defined as the abilities framework, specifically, the employee’s KSAs from training, education, and expe- rience (Blanchard et al., 1994; Blanchard & Thacker, 2010; Hersey & Blanchard, 1977). Commitment is the employee’s willingness, based on a combination of confidence and motivation. Confidence and moti- vation are interdependent here; that is, confidence reflects employees’ self-assessments about how effec- tively they think they perform a task, known as self- efficacy (Bandura, 1997), and is directly linked to their motivation to continue to do future tasks. This is simi- lar to the discussion in Chapter 2 on Vroom’s model of expectancy process theory of motivation that proposes that employees will decide to behave or act in a certain way because they are motivated due to the value (called “valence”) they place on a certain outcome and the prob- ability of that outcome occurring (Latham, 2011).

Without the appropriate leadership, employees may not get the intervention they need in order for the develop- ment process to progress. Blanchard frames leadership as a function of the leader modulating between task- directive behavior and supportive-relationship behavior. For example, directive behavior involves describing when and how to perform the behavior and showing peo- ple what to do; it also involves providing frequent feed- back. Supportive behavior engages others in decision making and uses praise, listening, and encouragement. Appropriate leadership style is based on the amount of directive and supportive behavior the supervisor gives the employee. Each employee development level has a matching leadership style (Blanchard et al., 1994). Let us discuss each employee developmental level and its rec- ommended leadership styles per Blanchard.

D1 With S1

Blanchard’s first developmental level is called a D1, for “developmental level 1.” In this level, the employee has a low skill level but is highly committed. An example of this level would be seen in a new employee or perhaps a current employee assigned a new task or job; that person might say, “I’m anxious to start … now show me how!” This means the appropriate leadership style would be S1 (S is for “style”), or directing, because D1s need a highly direc- tive approach, sometimes including micromanagement techniques; the supervisor is directly

HRD in Practice: Promoted to Her Level of Incompetence?

It was embarrassing, really. And the vice president of operations, Harvey Sizemore, felt awful about it. Just 6 months ago, he had promoted Ellen Kaye to department manager. Ellen would be supervising 12 line workers and had some real decision-making authority. Ellen was thrilled at the news of her promotion; she celebrated by purchasing a new car—she had earned it. Ellen had been a skilled and loyal line worker for 11 years with the company. She had a great attitude, was a team player, and rarely made production errors. Ellen knew her job well, and other supervisors often asked her to train new employees. Harvey was pleased to offer Ellen this promotion.

But, now—6 months later—Harvey waited in his office for Ellen to arrive; he had to tell her she was being put back on the line or transferred to another department. Four of the 12 employees she supervised had stopped him in the break room on Tuesday and— representing the other eight, as well—told him it was Ellen or them. “We warned you 2 months ago, Harvey; either Ellen goes, or we walk. We’ve had it with her!”

Harvey tried to advise Ellen a couple of months ago when grievances arose about her supervisory style, but the situation continued to deteriorate. Most telling now was that production quotas were not being met and her department had numerous and frequent errors.

Harvey wondered, “How did this happen? How can such a great line worker be such a lousy supervisor?” Harvey had spoken briefly to his wife about Ellen, and something Harvey’s wife said had resonated with him:

“This is awful, Harv. It’s almost as if you promoted Ellen to her level of incompetence.”

Consider This 1. What could Harvey have done to ensure that Ellen was ready for the next level of

advancement? 2. Other than advising Ellen of the prior complaints about her, what more could Harvey

have done during Ellen’s learning curve to assist in her transition to supervisor? 3. If Ellen agrees to go back to the shop floor, what should Harvey advise her to do to move

forward?

9.3 Leading Employee Development Whether a leader is known as a mentor, coach, or supervisor is not as important as how that person leads employees toward and facilitates development. Even the most self-directed employee can benefit from a leader who uses a developmental framework and leads as a func- tion of the employee’s developmental level. One popular framework used to lead employees based on their particular developmental level was created by management expert Ken Blanchard; it built on prior leadership frameworks such as Robert House’s path–goal theory and George Graen’s leader–member exchange.

The premise of Blanchard’s situational leadership (Blanchard & Blanchard Training and Development, 1994; Shriberg & Shriberg, 2011), which we briefly discussed in Chapter 2,

f09.03_BUS375.ai

Developed

Developing

D1 Enthusiastic beginner

Low competence

High commitment

D2 Disillusioned learner

Low to some competence

Low commitment

D3 Capable, but cautious, performer

Moderate to high competence

Variable commitment

D4 Self-reliant achiever

High competence

High commitment

Figure 9.3: Blanchard’s state of employees’ competence and commitment

Using Blanchard’s developmental continuum for employees, we can see how an employee’s competence or ability in the job is linked to his or her commitment or willingness to do the job.

Leading Employee Development Chapter 9

involved in assigning work and demonstrating how to perform the job. The supervisor teaches employees about the organization and its values and helps employees set goals and learn skills needed to perform the job. Directing is a teaching style (Blanchard et al., 1994).

D2 With S2

The next employee development level is D2. Now the new employee or current employee given a new task or job has been on the learning curve and the realities of the job have set in, along with possible frustration or failure. Blanchard referred to this as “the honeymoon is over” level, and one could argue that this is the most challenging type of employee devel- opment phase to lead. While the employee is slowly moving from incompetence to compe- tence, his or her commitment can suffer, and the employee’s self-esteem can be negatively impacted. An employee’s commitment level is directly linked to his or her self-efficacy—an employee’s self-assessment about effectiveness performing a task. As a result, the employ- ee’s developmental potential (Bandura, 1997), as discussed in Chapter 4, may be a function of a symbolic ratio that drives employee self-esteem; think of it as what psychologist Wil- liam James (1891) called successes over pretensions. Today we call this achievements over attempts. We would expect D2s to have a lower achievement-to-attempt ratio.

Employee Self-Esteem = Achievements ÷ Attempts

The premise here is that only through achievement success can an employee build his or her confidence and commit to continuous learning and development; yet the opposite holds true, too. Modern interpretations of this notion can be seen in small win theory: Small successes build on one another to slowly build an employee’s confidence to take on more challenges (Amabile & Kramer, 2013; Peters, 2010; Weick, 1984). If an employee continuously encoun- ters failure and frustration, he or she is apt to become apathetic; that is, not willing and not able (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Tracy, 1998).

For D2s, the appropriate leadership style is S2, or a coaching style. To combat D2s’ wan- ing commitment, they need a leader who can correct remaining performance problems, set the standard for good performance, and remind them of their potential. Here, particularly, the leader gives immediate feedback and is quick to praise and reward good performance (Blanchard et al., 1994).

D3 With S3

D3s are highly competent; that is, they successfully made it through the learning curve but still may have varied commitment or caution concerning the job—particularly if a large gap exists between what the employee thought the job would be and what it turned out to be (Myers, Jahn, Gailliard, & Stoltzfus, 2011). Psychologist David McClelland (1970) also called this aspiration management. These perceived barriers may keep D3s from being con- sistently committed to the job; Blanchard (1994) says employees can get stuck here with- out leadership intervention. The appropriate leadership style here is S3, or supporting. D3s do not need much direction, but they do need relational support. For D3s to move for- ward developmentally, listening is key; a D3 needs to discuss with the leader the issues of aspiration management and the expectation versus reality of the job that may be affecting his or her commitment. As a result, D3s may need help crafting new goals or expectations

Process of Career Development Chapter 9

for the job or for their place in the organization. In sum, D3s may need help renewing their commitment in the job and at the organization.

D4 With S4

D4s are both willing and able, and they have high competence and high commitment; in short, they are developed. They work independently and usually are chosen as the employees who train D1s. The leadership style here is relatively straightforward; that is, S4, or delegate. Because D4s are developed, leaders do not, in fact, have to lead D4s but only have to keep them challenged and empowered to develop. D4s seek out new growth opportunities and goals and, as discussed in Chapter 2, upon starting a new opportunity or goal, D4s then cycle back to D1s again, following the cycle of the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978).

Food for Thought: Application of Blanchard’s Situational Leadership

Sabrina knows the ins and outs of her job. She manages all the job tasks, but sometimes she does not think she can make a difference.

(+/-) ? Competence

(+/-) ? Commitment

Consider This 1. What leadership style would you choose in this situation?

What a leader is called—whether mentor, coach, or supervisor—is not as important as how that person leads his or her employee toward development. Especially as it relates to employee development, some leadership styles have been shown to be more developmentally appropriate than others. Factors in leading development include assessing the state not only of an employee’s job abilities, but also of his or her willingness to do the job.

9.4 Process of Career Development Although employee development initiatives have been associated with higher retention rates, more satisfied and motivated employees, and enhanced organizational performance (Hameed & Waheed, 2011; Levinson et al., 1978), at the heart of employee development is career devel- opment. Simply put, career development helps employees achieve their career goals.

Greenhaus and colleagues define a career as the pattern of work-related experiences that occur over a person’s life (Greenhaus, Callanan, & Godshalk, 2009), including the subjective aspects of work such as an employee’s attitudes, values, and expectations (Werner & DeSim- one, 2011). This definition is consistent with the notion that careers, like individuals, develop over time (Greenhaus et al., 2009; Werner & DeSimone, 2011).

Process of Career Development Chapter 9

Did You Know: Importance of Career Development

A recent Harvard Business Review article, “Why Top Young Managers Are in a Nonstop Job Hunt,” described a study that analyzed international databases of more than 1,200 young high achievers. The study concluded that many of the brightest and most inspired achievers lack the career development support they need (Hamori, Cao, & Koyuncu, 2012).

Careers—like adults—develop over time in a predictable, common sequence of stages; this idea underscores how career development and life development are linked. An employee’s stage of career development will be a function of his or her development in life (Super, 1990). It is with that notion in mind that many in the career development field draw on theories of adult and life development.

Stages of Life and Career Development

Because a person’s career is a part of life, influenced by other major life events, career develop- ment models are based on adult development typologies. Many career development models still are based on the seminal works of psychologists Erik Erikson (1980) and Daniel Levin- son (Levinson et al., 1978). Each offered stage models of adult development that provide a meaningful basis for understanding career development today (Strauser, 2013).

Erikson’s Model of Adult Development The late developmental psychologist Erik Erikson proposed that people progress through eight stages (see Figure 9.4) over their lives; this is known as Erikson’s model of adult development. Each stage has productive and counterproductive outcomes. So, for example, what lay in the balance following a young adult’s experiences could be intimacy or isolation, depending on the totality of that person’s experiences in that stage of life. Likewise, in Erik- son’s final stage, older adults reflect back on their lives and are left with either a sense of fulfillment from an honest life lived (ego integrity) or a sense of regret and despair over a life misspent (Strauser, 2013).

Levinson, too, stratified adult life development into seasons of life, from early to late adult- hood. Of particular note was the midlife transition (ages 40 to 45) of middle adulthood. Dur- ing this stage a person’s life changes significantly. People in midlife tend to experience a major questioning of their life structure (for example, goals and ambitions) and the dreams they so vigorously pursued at the end of early adulthood (Werner & DeSimone, 2011). Questions often asked during this transition include:

• What have I done with my life? • What do I want to accomplish before I die? • What do I want to leave behind for my family and others?

f09.04_BUS375.ai

Infant Trust vs. Mistrust

Toddler Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt

Pre-schooler Initiative vs. Guilt

Grade-schooler Industry vs. Inferiority

Teenager Identity vs. Role confusion

Young adult Intimacy vs. Isolation

Middle-age adult Generativity vs. Stagnation

Older adult Integrity vs. Despair

Figure 9.4: Erikson’s stages of adult development

Erickson’s eight-stage developmental ladder illustrated the phases in a person’s life from birth to older adulthood. Each stage not only grows more complex, but also reconciles productive or counterproductive outcomes.

Process of Career Development Chapter 9

Did You Know: Importance of Career Development

A recent Harvard Business Review article, “Why Top Young Managers Are in a Nonstop Job Hunt,” described a study that analyzed international databases of more than 1,200 young high achievers. The study concluded that many of the brightest and most inspired achievers lack the career development support they need (Hamori, Cao, & Koyuncu, 2012).

Careers—like adults—develop over time in a predictable, common sequence of stages; this idea underscores how career development and life development are linked. An employee’s stage of career development will be a function of his or her development in life (Super, 1990). It is with that notion in mind that many in the career development field draw on theories of adult and life development.

Stages of Life and Career Development

Because a person’s career is a part of life, influenced by other major life events, career develop- ment models are based on adult development typologies. Many career development models still are based on the seminal works of psychologists Erik Erikson (1980) and Daniel Levin- son (Levinson et al., 1978). Each offered stage models of adult development that provide a meaningful basis for understanding career development today (Strauser, 2013).

Erikson’s Model of Adult Development The late developmental psychologist Erik Erikson proposed that people progress through eight stages (see Figure 9.4) over their lives; this is known as Erikson’s model of adult development. Each stage has productive and counterproductive outcomes. So, for example, what lay in the balance following a young adult’s experiences could be intimacy or isolation, depending on the totality of that person’s experiences in that stage of life. Likewise, in Erik- son’s final stage, older adults reflect back on their lives and are left with either a sense of fulfillment from an honest life lived (ego integrity) or a sense of regret and despair over a life misspent (Strauser, 2013).

Levinson, too, stratified adult life development into seasons of life, from early to late adult- hood. Of particular note was the midlife transition (ages 40 to 45) of middle adulthood. Dur- ing this stage a person’s life changes significantly. People in midlife tend to experience a major questioning of their life structure (for example, goals and ambitions) and the dreams they so vigorously pursued at the end of early adulthood (Werner & DeSimone, 2011). Questions often asked during this transition include:

• What have I done with my life? • What do I want to accomplish before I die? • What do I want to leave behind for my family and others?

f09.04_BUS375.ai

Infant Trust vs. Mistrust

Toddler Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt

Pre-schooler Initiative vs. Guilt

Grade-schooler Industry vs. Inferiority

Teenager Identity vs. Role confusion

Young adult Intimacy vs. Isolation

Middle-age adult Generativity vs. Stagnation

Older adult Integrity vs. Despair

Figure 9.4: Erikson’s stages of adult development

Erickson’s eight-stage developmental ladder illustrated the phases in a person’s life from birth to older adulthood. Each stage not only grows more complex, but also reconciles productive or counterproductive outcomes.

During this stage of life, it is not surprising that people are at risk for what has been termed a midlife crisis (Jacques, 1965).

Informed by Erikson’s and Levinson’s adult-development models, Greenhaus and colleagues (2009) developed the four-stage model for career development that spans from preparation for career to retirement.

1. Preparing for work: Making occupational and organizational choices The typical age range for this stage is initially 0 to 25, and then it varies. The major tasks of this stage are first to develop a career self-image, assess other careers, develop an initial career choice, and pursue the required education and skills. Then, one would get job offer(s) from selected organization(s) and choose a job based on accurate information.

2. Establishing oneself and achieving in one’s early career The typical age range for this stage is 25 to 40. During this stage, the major tasks are to learn the job and the organization’s rules and culture, as well as to become acclimated to the job and organization. During this time, people increase skill and pursue “the dream.”

3. Excelling in midcareer The typical age range for this stage is 40 to 55. During this stage, workers typically will reassess their early career and early adult years, recom- mit to their goals or modify them, make deci- sions appropriate to their middle-adult years, and remain productive in their work.

4. Navigating late career The typical age range for this stage is 55 to retirement. The major tasks of the late career stage are to remain productive on the job, nur- ture self-esteem, and anticipate retirement.

Career Management

Greenhaus and colleagues’ (2009) model for career development includes tasks on how indi- viduals should manage their career development process or career management. Effective

Process of Career Development Chapter 9

career management begins as the individual responds to the need to make a career decision and then sets about acquiring the KSAs required. In this spirit Jones and DeFillippi (1996) developed the six knows of career management:

1. Knowing what—understanding the industry’s opportunities, threats, and requirements

2. Knowing why—understanding the meaning, motives, and interests for pursuing a career 3. Knowing where—understanding the locations and boundaries for entering, training,

and advancing within a career system 4. Knowing whom—forming relationships based on attraction and social capital that will

gain access to opportunities and resources 5. Knowing when—understanding the timing and choice of activities within one’s career 6. Knowing how—understanding and acquiring the skill and talents needed for effective

performance in assignments and responsibilities

Specifically, the career management cycle involves problem solving and decision making. The career management cycle includes information gathering so employees can become more aware of themselves, as well as the world around them (Bijker et al., 2010; Greenhaus et al., 2009; Super, 1990). As part of an individual development plan, for example, an employee establishes goals, develops and implements plans or strategies, and solicits feedback for con- tinuing to manage one’s career (Mooney, 2011).

Greenhaus and colleagues (2009) and Werner and DiSimone (2011) detailed these career management steps:

1. Career exploration. Gathering information about one’s self and the environment; this is not the same as job searching. Job searching is a short-term tactical search for a job that matches the individual’s financial and career goals. Career exploration is a lon- ger term strategic and progressive process of choosing education, training, and jobs that fit the individual’s interests and skills. For example, you might investigate careers in travel if you have an interest in seeing the world.

2. Goal setting. A career goal is an outcome the individual decides to try to obtain. Such goals may be specific (“I want to be a principal of a school by the time I am 40”) or general (“I want to be a successful and respected writer”). To the extent career goals are based on an awareness of the self and environment, they are likely to be realistic.

3. Strategy development. A career strategy is an action plan for accomplishing the career goal. An effective strategy typically includes the actions to be carried out and a timetable for performing them. So, let us say your career goal was to be a division manager. You might develop a strategy to take some professional development work- shops in effective supervision or team building, and then prepare to sit for the super- visory exam next year when it is offered.

4. Strategy implementation. This involves carrying out your career strategy. Following a realistic strategy (perhaps using the SMART goal-setting template discussed in Chap- ter 4), we execute the action plan. Strategy implementation then leads to progress toward the goal and feedback from work as well as nonwork sources.

5. Progress toward the goal. This is a status check to see where the individual is in near- ing the career goal.

Process of Career Development Chapter 9

6. Feedback from work and nonwork sources. Valuable information about the progress toward the career goal can be obtained from work sources such as coworkers, super- visors, and subject matter experts, as well as from nonwork sources such as friends and family.

7. Career appraisal. Feedback and information now permits the individual to appraise his or her career. Career appraisal may lead to reengagement in career exploration, in which case the career management process will begin again as an iterative cycle.

The outcome of career development and management for the organization culminates in a talent management; that is, in developing the workforce (talent) potential to the point that employees are not only reaching their career potential, but also effectively performing so the organization may reach its goals and develop, as well (see Table 9.4) (Berger & Berger, 2003; Hendricks, 1994; Singh, 2013; Strange, 2012). This is part of the SWP process discussed in Section 9.1. One implication to the talent management grid is that employees who are both high performing and high potential should be targeted as the organization’s next generation of leaders.

Likewise, for underachieving employees—those who have been deemed to have high poten- tial but are not performing—the leader must assess why there is a lack of performance. Using the performance formula, for example, the leader can determine whether the performance is weak because of a lack of motivation, lack of ability, or something in the work environment that is impinging on the employee.

Table 9.4: Talent management model

Potential

Performance

High Enigma: High poten- tial to advance further although underperforming

May be in wrong job/ wrong manager; needs intervention

Growth employee: Demonstrates high potential to advance further

Valued talent, chal- lenge, reward, recog- nize and develop

Future leader: High- est potential–best for senior succession

Top talent, reward, recognize, promote, develop

Medium Dilemma: Likely to have scope to move one level/chal- lenge is necessary as underperforming

Provide coaching

Core employee: Motivate, engage, and reward

High-impact performer: Strong contributor, challenge, reward, grow, and motivate

Low Underperformer: Has reached job potential and is underperforming

Performance manage or exit

Effective: Special- ized or expert tal- ent reached career potential

Engage, focus, motivate

Trusted professional: Specialized or expert talent reached career potential

Retain, reward, help with developing others

Low Medium High

Source: Adapted from Silzer, R., & Dowell, B. E. (2009). Strategy-driven talent management: A leadership imperative. New York: Wiley. Retrieved from http:// cgconsultinggroup.net/blog/how-to-use-a-9-box-talent-management-model-to-assess-your-future-potential

Organizational Development Chapter 9

9.5 Organizational Development If you do a search for books currently on Amazon.com that include the words organizational development in the title, you will get more than 400 results! Organizational development is a discipline unto itself, with extensive theory and practice undergirding it; as a result, we will only be discussing OD and its interrelationship with HRD, specifically.

We should note that, similar to the equivocal definitions of human resource development (HRD) we discussed in Chapter 1, no unified definition exists for OD, either (Bingham & Conner, 2010; Egan, 2002; Guidroz et al., 2010). In fact, Egan (2002) reviewed numerous definitions of organization development published since 1969 and found that OD definitions included as many as 60 different variables. Egan did, however, find consensus within the varied definitions of OD on a common theme of organizational development as a process of increasing organizational effectiveness and facilitating personal and organizational change through the use of learning interventions (Egan, 2002; Iles & Yolles, 2003).

As Figure 9.5 depicts, Kirkpatrick’s level 4 outcomes link to OD because performance out- comes such as reduced costs, improved quality, increased production, and efficiency are part of organizational development through process improvement underscoring that OD is also about developing processes, systems and structures. (Anderson, 2011). As discussed, how- ever, employee development gives a line of sight to organizational development (Guidroz et al., 2010; Hameed & Waheed, 2011). That is, as employees become developed, this developed workforce helps the organization achieve its strategic goals and experience organizational development. Employee development is also linked to organizational development (Guidroz et al., 2010; Hameed & Waheed, 2011) because organizational development is based on the holistic organization (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2012); that is, the organization itself is looked on as a living, breathing organism because it is filled with living, breathing organisms. Margulies (1972) described ODs underlying humanistic values as follows:

• They allow people to function as human beings rather than as resources in the pro- ductive process.

• They provide each organization member, and the organization itself, opportunities to develop to their full potential.

• They seek to increase organization’s effectiveness in terms of its goals. • They attempt to create an environment in which workers find exciting and challeng-

ing work. • They provide people in organizations opportunities to influence how they relate to

work, the organization, and the environment. • They treat each human being as a person who has a complex set of needs, all of which

are important to their work and their life. (p. 3)

To develop means to change; as a result, OD is usually discussed in the context of organiza- tional change (Beer & Nohria, 2000; McLean, 2005). Clearly, although some change occurs within organizations without a specific change management plan—even a broken clock is correct twice a day—organizations stand a better chance of development when organiza- tional change is well managed—both reactively and proactively.

Of course, organizational change can occur at varied levels and focus within the organiza- tion; these are known as the objects of change (Beer & Nohria, 2000). These objects for

Organizational Development Chapter 9

organizational change include employee task behaviors such as skill variety or autonomy, organizational processes such as organizational learning, or change within the organizational culture itself. Frequently, such changes create new capability and require organization mem- bers to learn specific new skills or systems (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Cummings & Worley, 2014; Guidroz et al., 2010).

Figure 9.5: HRD’s link to organizational development

Over time it is the aggregate effect, or ∑, of HRD’s performance through learning that enables organizational development.

f09.05_BUS375.ai

ADDIE

Level 2

Learning

HRD

Level 3

Performance

Level 4

Employee development

Organizational development∑

A Model for Organizational Change

One of the tools frequently used to frame and manage organizational change is Kurt Lewin’s classic force-field analysis (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Cummings & Worley, 2014; Lewin, 1943). The major premise of Lewin’s force-field analysis is that change occurs only when there is an imbalance in the environment (field) as a function of driving forces (such as new personnel, changing markets, or new technology) having more power than restraining forces (such as poor supervision or organizational inertia) so to move the change forward. A full force-field analysis is a three-step process, as follows:

1. First, an organization must unfreeze the status quo that keeps it in a state of quasi-equilibrium.

Organizational Development Chapter 9

2. Second, if change is to take place, an imbalance of driving forces and restraining forces is needed so there is change; an organization can achieve this change by increasing the drivers, reducing the restrainers, or doing both.

3. Third, once the organization accomplishes the change, it brings the forces back into quasi-equilibrium, and they are refrozen.

Consider the following example:

• A furniture company’s current state (status quo) is that it cuts and stitches seat cov- ers using old technology that is quickly becoming obsolete.

• To keep up with the competition, the company’s desired state (change) must install and train workers on sewing machines with 21st-century technology to cut and stitch seat covers.

Following are some of the driving and restraining forces that will dictate the change:

• Other departments will be affected by production changes. • A third shift will be added to make the new machine cost-effective. • Offices will be moved to make room for the larger equipment. • Job descriptions for cutters and sewers will be revised. • Computer keyboarding skills are now required.

Force-field analysis is a very practical model, too, and can be applied to evaluate the change process at any level of the organization; in fact, force-field analysis can be applied both pro- fessionally and personally. For example, do you know someone who has tried to quit smoking but has failed? Try framing it (as shown in Figure 9.6) as driving forces not (yet) being strong enough to move the restraining forces!

Figure 9.6: Force-field analysis: Stop smoking

These are examples of the driving forces and restraining forces that dictate whether or not someone will quit smoking. Metaphorically, whichever side is stronger will win out.

f09.06_BUS375.ai

Cost Spouse smokes

Cancer Camaraderie

New laws

Status Quo

Change: Quit Smoking

DRIVING FORCES RESTRAINING FORCES

Social Pressure Habit

Relieves anxiety

Source: Adapted from Lewin, K. (1943). Defining the field at a given time. Psychological Review (50), 292-310.

Organizational Development Chapter 9

Dimensions to Organizational Change

Organizational change is not a monolithic concept; that is, it not only has a structure (even if it is unplanned), but also processes that define and dictate it. As a result, when overseeing organizational change, one must consider not only the scope and depth, but also potential barriers to the change that must be managed. Let us discuss each dimension.

Scope and Depth of Change Some organizational changes are planned and some emerge; as a result, not every organi- zational change has the same tempo and scope of change. Continuous change is linked to incremental change (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Connor, Lake, & Stackman, 2003; Cummings & Worley, 2014; Dunphy, Griffiths, & Benn, 2003). When organizational change is continuous, it gives members the opportunity to fine-tune the change because of its regularity and long- term nature. Additionally, because the change is incremental, it supports employee develop- ment because employees get the opportunity not only to participate, but also adapt. Creating a quality management process or implementing a new computer system to increase efficien- cies are examples of continuous incremental changes.

Sometimes, of course, organizational change is not planned but happens spontaneously or is required due to some major external or internal disruption (episode), what Beer and Nohria (2000) called a major divergence from equilibrium. Episodic change is short term and linked to transformational change, and it usually is organization-wide, often demanding a new paradigm. An organization might need to change its structure and culture from a traditional top-down structure to one relying on self-directed teams; this is an example of transforma- tional change.

Today these types of major divergence changes may come about as a function of the speed of social media. For example, citizens posting webcam videos of a member of law enforcement using excessive force or inappropriate language may immediately force a department to make a swift change in policy.

The Barriers to Organizational Change Clearly, not all organizational changes will be readily accepted by all organizational members all of the time; specifically, there will challenges to unfreezing the status quo. Generally, resis- tance to organizational change can be broken down into three categories:

1. Questioning the need for a change. Organizational members may not see why a change is even needed. Many times, this question is due to perceived loss of control and uncertainty and fear of the unknown.

2. Accepting the change. Organizational members wonder why the organization is chang- ing, but they do not accept the particular change.

3. Acting out the change. Organizational members understand why the organization needs to change and have accepted that the change is coming, but they will not com- mit to new behavior based on what has changed.

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

Management guru Peter Drucker once observed that profits are to a corporation what oxygen is to a human but that life is more than just breathing. It is this sentiment that guides and stim- ulates organizational development initiatives. Although the development of both employees and organizations is a gradual process, with the benefits sometimes not as tangible as the related expenses, the wise leader understands that developmental processes are an invest- ment in the organization’s future effectiveness.

Summary and Resources Chapter Summary

• Remember that the ultimate goal in human resource development is to promote workplace learning that leads not only to tactical performance improvement in the short term but also strategically to longer term development—both at the employee and organizational levels.

• Numerous methods are used to facilitate employee development, from mentoring to designing training with specific developmental opportunities embedded within. In mentoring, the employee–supervisor dynamic is enhanced; the employee becomes the protégé and the supervisor the mentor.

• Whether organizations use mentors, coaches, or supervisors is not as important as how the employee is specifically led and facilitated toward development. A leader needs to be aware of the employee’s developmental level. A popular framework used specifically to lead an employee based on his or her particular developmental level is situational leadership, created by management expert Ken Blanchard.

• Careers—like adults—develop over time in a predictable, common sequence of stages that underscore how career development and life development are linked; many times an employee’s stage of career development will be a function of where he or she is in life. As a result, the career development field draws on theories of adult and life development.

• Organizational development is the process of increasing organizational effective- ness and facilitating personal and organizational change through the use of learning interventions. Performance is linked to OD because performance outcomes such as reduced costs, improved quality, increased production, and efficiency are part of orga- nizational development through process improvement.

Posttest 1. Human resource development is best represented graphically as a .

a. loop b. ladder c. curve d. wave

2. Though pricing and market position used to be considered key, workforce develop- ment is now recognized as a major contributor to an organization’s . a. critical perspective b. cross-functional leadership

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

c. competitive advantage d. profit margin

3. The process in which a trainee reflects on a training and generates meaning from it is known as . a. a recursive view b. methodical deliberation c. creative analysis d. an after-action review

4. One difference between mentoring and coaching is that . a. coaching is relationship based, whereas mentoring is task driven b. coaching is formal, whereas mentoring is usually an informal arrangement c. coaching is development based, and mentoring is performance based d. coaching is focused on long-term goals, whereas mentoring is focused on the

short term 5. An employee’s confidence in how well he or she performs a task is called

. a. self-efficacy b. commitment c. self-worth d. competence

6. An employee with high competence and variable commitment is considered a(n) .

a. self-reliant achiever b. enthusiastic beginner c. capable but cautious performer d. disillusioned learner

7. Which model of adult development describes ego integrity, the sense of fulfillment that comes from looking back on one’s life and finding it honestly spent? a. Levinson’s model b. Erikson’s model c. the seasons of life model d. the four-stage model for career development

8. Questioning one’s own goals and ambitions often occurs at an age that coincides with which stage of career development? a. preparing for work b. establishing oneself and achieving in one’s early career c. excelling in midcareer d. navigating late career

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

9. To manage organizational change according to the force-field analysis model, an orga- nization begins by . a. creating an imbalance of driving forces b. increasing restraining forces c. bringing forces into a quasi-equilibrium d. unfreezing the status quo

10. Which type of organizational change supports employee development by allowing employees to participate and adapt? a. incremental change b. episodic change c. transformational change d. divergent change

Assess Your Learning: Critical Reflection 1. Explain how self-directed learning might influence the Peter principle. 2. Explain why, when developed employees facilitate organizational development, there

becomes a continued need for employees to develop. 3. Describe how you might lead an unable and unwilling employee using Blanchard’s

situational leadership with consideration to the James self-esteem ratio. 4. Why is incremental change more suited to employee development? 5. Can you defend this statement? Not all employees need or want career development. 6. What is the value of critical reflection in career development?

Additional Resources Web Resources

For a brief explanation of critical reflection: http://www.nickykaa.com/Hyperlexicon/critical_ref lection.html and http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/development/ref lection.html

Tips for thinking outside the box and puzzle solving: http://www.archimedes-lab.org/sarcone_rules.html

Free learning website resource—Khan Academy: www.khanacademy.org

Short speeches on a variety of interesting topics: https://www.ted.com/talks/browse

Harvard Business Review’s management tip of the day: http://hbr.org/tip

For more information on mentoring: http://www.management-mentors.com

More on Blanchard’s situational leadership: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_44.htm

Watch Ken Blanchard speak about situational leadership and employee development: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1uyU3YSqes

A study on young high achievers, “Why Top Young Managers Are in a Nonstop Job Hunt”: http://hbr.org/2012/07/why-top-young-managers-are-in-a-nonstop-job-hunt

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

Erikson’s model of adult development: http://zanl13.wordpress.com/about

A review of Kirkpatrick’s four-level training model: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/kirkpatrick.htm

For more explanation of Lewin’s force-field analysis: http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/force_field_analysis.pdf

Why do employees resist change? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcz1aZ60k7w

Further Reading

Agbettor, E. O. (2013, March). Attaining competitive advantage through human capital man- agement. HR Focus, 23. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA 326660083&v=2.1&u=miam50083&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w

Anderson, D. L. (2011). Cases and exercises in organization development & change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Blanchard, K. H., & Blanchard Training and Development. (1994). Ken Blanchard’s situational leadership II: The article. Escondido, CA: Blanchard Training and Development.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row.

Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2014). Organization development and change. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Management Mentors. (2014). Corporate mentoring communication tips. Retrieved from http://www.management-mentors.com/resources/march-2011/ corporate-mentoring-communication-tips

Weick, K. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Answers and Rejoinders to Chapter Pretest

1. false. A highly trained and developed workforce has actually been found to have economic benefits for companies. The resource-based view of strategic development looks at the asset value of development and how it can contribute to an organization’s bottom line.

2. false. Coaching and mentoring are different processes. Although mentoring often includes coaching, a coach does not always mentor.

3. false. Employees at this high level of commitment and competence benefit most from a delegating style of leadership in which they are kept engaged and challenged. Coaching is most effectively used with employees who have low or moderate compe- tence along with low commitment.

4. true. Career development occurs over time in a predictable series of stages, as does overall life development. Theories of adult and life development are the basis of many career development theories.

5. true. Force-field analysis is one example of a practical organizational model that can also be applied to individuals’ personal lives. Someone who wants to change a bad habit, for example, can examine it in terms of restraining forces versus driving forces and modify those forces accordingly.

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

Answers and Rejoinders to Chapter Posttest

1. a. Employee development leads to organizational development, and these changes to the organization require employees to learn even more. The process can be seen as a continuous loop in which development is never finished.

2. c. Competitive advantage refers to the organization’s ability to gain advantage over competitors and generate more value for stakeholders. Although models of competi- tive advantage were once focused mainly on market position and pricing, today the economic benefits of development are recognized.

3. d. After-action reviews, also known as critical reflection, encourage employees to make meaning of a training experience. Through such reviews, employees consider the formal training, lessons learned from incidental or informal learning, and possible creative alternatives.

4. b. Coaching tends to be an informal process based on improving short-term task performance. Mentoring, on the other hand, is often a long-term, relationship-based program focused on an employee’s career development.

5. a. Self-efficacy is an employee’s confidence, based on his or her self-assessment of how effectively he or she performs a task. This confidence and the motivation it cre- ates are the two aspects that make up an employee’s level of commitment.

6. c. Employee development can be framed as a state related to the employee’s commit- ment and competence. An employee with low competence but high commitment is an enthusiastic beginner, and one with high competence but variable commitment is a capable but cautious performer.

7. b. Erikson described eight stages through which people progress over their lives, each with possible productive and counterproductive outcomes. In the final stage, older adults look back on their lives with either a sense of despair over a life misspent or a sense of fulfillment, which Erikson called ego integrity.

8. c. Levinson describes a midlife transition that tends to occur around ages 40 to 45, in which people may begin to question their life structure and the dreams they have pur- sued. In the four-stage model for career development, these ages fall into the excelling in midcareer phase (ages 40 to 55), when workers reassess their earlier careers and recommit to or modify their goals.

9. d. The first phase of force-field analysis necessitates unfreezing the status quo that has been keeping the organization in a state of quasi-equilibrium. After this, the organization is able to change, before refreezing the forces back into a new quasi-equilibrium.

10. a. Incremental change is related to continuous change. Change that is continuous offers regularity and long-term opportunities to participate in fine-tuning the change. Incremental change, because it happens a bit at a time, gives members time to adapt.

Key Terms achievements over attempts A function of a symbolic ratio that drives employee self-esteem; also called successes over pretensions.

career The pattern of work-related experi- ences that span the course of a person’s life.

career appraisal An evaluation of one’s career; feedback and information on prog- ress toward the career goal permits the individual to appraise his or her career.

career exploration A long, progressive process of choosing education, training, and jobs that fit one’s interests and skills; differ- ent from job searching.

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

career management A problem-solving and decision-making career development process; effective career management begins as the individual responds to the need to make a career decision and then how to acquire the necessary KSAs.

career strategy An action plan for accom- plishing the career goal.

coaching A short-term, formal, time-bound, and task-driven program for performance improvement.

commitment An employee’s willingness, based on a combination of confidence and motivation.

competitive advantage The specific advan- tage that gives an organization an edge over its rivals and an ability to generate greater value for the firm and its shareholders.

confidence A person’s ability to do a task well.

conjoined twins A term that describes the relationship between development and learning; development involves learning, but not all learning is development—learn- ing relates to the employee’s present job requirements, whereas development facili- tates employee career growth within the present job and organization.

continuous change Change that is regular and long term; continuous organizational change gives the members the opportunity to fine-tune the change and is a quality man- agement process.

critical reflection A generative process whereby the trainee is encouraged to reflect and make meaning of the training experi- ence; also known as after-action reviews, reflection on practice, or sense making.

directive behavior Telling and showing people what, when, and how to do some- thing and providing frequent feedback.

employee development A strategy of developing employees both professionally

and personally, whereby the organization benefits through its own development.

employee development level Ken Blanchard’s popular framework, used spe- cifically to lead an employee based on his or her particular developmental level.

episodic change A short-term trans- formational change that is usually organization-wide and many times demands a new paradigm, for example, changing an organization’s structure and culture from the traditional top-down to largely self- directing teams.

Erikson’s model of adult development  An adult development model proposed by the late developmental psychologist Erik Erikson that people progress through eight stages during the course of their lives.

feed forward-feedback loop Employee- organization-employee dynamic that explains as employees become developed, the developed workforce facilitates orga- nizational development, enabling the orga- nization to achieve its strategic goals in an ever-changing work environment.

four-stage model for career develop- ment A career development model that spans from preparation for career to retirement.

incremental change Organizational change that takes place in small stages and supports employee development because employees get the opportunity not only to participate, but also adapt; for example, implementa- tion of new computer system to increase efficiencies.

mentor A person who is responsible for formal transmission of KSAs relevant to the job but also informal personal and profes- sional direction, advice, and psychosocial support for the employee; usually, the supervisor in the context of employee career development.

mentoring A relationship-based, informal without deadlines, and long-term process

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

of employee development of KSAs toward career development.

midlife crisis A potential turning point in which a person’s life changes significantly during the midlife transition of middle adulthood.

mirroring A technique used in mentoring, whereby the mentor and protégé repeat ideas back to each other to ensure that there is no miscommunication.

objects of change The varied levels and focus within the organization at which orga- nizational change can occur.

organizational change Change that occurs within organizations. Objects for organi- zational change include employee task behaviors such as skill variety or autonomy, organizational processes such as organiza- tional learning, or change within the organi- zational culture itself.

protégé A person who works with or is guided by a mentor in a mentoring arrange- ment; the employee in the employee devel- opment program for an organization.

resource-based view A strategic HRD view that expressly evaluates the economic benefits of a highly trained and developed workforce by using the literal asset value of a well-trained and developed workforce; underscores a major theme of HRD, that it is not just about learning, but also performance through learning.

scope of change The extent of change; can be incremental or transformational change in the organization.

self-efficacy A self-assessment about how effective an employee thinks he or she is at performing a task.

strategic workforce planning (SWP)  Maintaining a well-trained and developed workforce by implementing a talent man- agement program to prepare the organiza- tion for future workforce needs.

supportive behavior The act of praising, listening, encouraging, and involving oth- ers in decision making.

talent management The process of devel- oping the workforce (talent) potential to a point that not only are employees reaching their career potential, but also effectively performing in a way that the organization may reach its goals and develop, as well.

tempo Speed or rate, which may have an occasional interruption or divergence from equilibrium; the tempo of change in HRD refers to continuous versus episodic change.

training for development A view of train- ing not as an outcome, but as a process that feeds continuous development.

transformational change A change in organizational structure and culture, such as from a traditional top-down structure to one relying on self-directed teams.

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT: PERFORMANCE THROUGH LEARNING

David M. Kopp Adrian Dominican School of Education at

Barry University in Miami, Florida

David M. Kopp

Human Resource Development: Performance Through Learning

Editor in Chief, AVP: Steve Wainwright

Sponsoring Editors: Mireille Yanow and Cheryl Cechvala

Development Editors: Carrie Brandt and Susan Walker

Assistant Editor: Kristle Maglunob

Senior Editorial Assistant: Nicole Sanchez-Sullivan

Production Editor: Catherine Morris

Copyeditor: LSF Editorial

Cover Design: Jelena Mirkovic

Printing Services: Bordeaux

Production Services: Hespenheide Design

ePub Development: M & R Consultants Corporation

Permission Editor: Sheri Gilbert

Cover Image: Robert Chruchill/iStock/Thinkstock, monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Thinkstock, Jetta Productions/ Iconica/Getty Images

ISBN-10: 1621781739

ISBN-13: 978-1-62178-173-8

Copyright © 2014 Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.

GRANT OF PERMISSION TO PRINT: The copyright owner of this material hereby grants the holder of this publica- tion the right to print these materials for personal use. The holder of this material may print the materials herein for personal use only. Any print, reprint, reproduction, or distribution of these materials for commercial use without the express written consent of the copyright owner constitutes a violation of the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101-810, as amended.

Chapter 1 Introduction to Human Resource Development: Performance Through Learning 1

Chapter 2 Performance Management 29

Chapter 3 Introduction to ADDIE: (A)nalyzing Training Needs 59

Chapter 4 (D)esigning Effective Training 89

Chapter 5 (D)evelopment—Putting Theory Into Practice 119

Chapter 6 (I)mplementation—Execution 147

Chapter 7 (E)valuation of Training and Development 167

Chapter 8 Transfer of Training 195

Chapter 9 Employee and Organizational Development 223

Chapter 10 The Ethics of HRD and Corporate Social Responsibility 253

Glossary 279

References 297

Brief Contents

Contents

Dedication­ xi

About­the­Author xiii

Acknowledgments xiv

Preface xv

Chapter 1 Introduction to Human Resource Development: Performance Through Learning 1

1.1  Defining Human Resource Development 3

1.2  Distinguishing Between Human Resource Development and Human Resource Management 4

1.3  The Advent of Human Resource Development 6 Training­in­the­Late­1800s­and­Early­1900s 6 World­Wars­Change­Jobs­and­Influence­Training 8 1950s­Workplace­Training­Developments 9 The­1960s­and­1970s:­The­Introduction­of­Computer-Based­Training 9 The­1980s­and­1990s:­The­Emergence­of­Intellectual­Capital 10 21st-Century­Training­and­Today’s­Influences­on­HRD 11

1.4  HRD Consensus and Debate 12 HRD­Consensus 12 HRD­Debate 13 Performance-Based­View­of­HRD 14 Developmental­View­of­HRD 16

1.5  Competencies of the Training and Development Professional 16 Certifications­in­Training­and­Development 18

Summary and Resources 20

Contents

Chapter 2 Performance Management 29

2.1  Perspectives in Workplace Performance 31 Performance­as­a­Natural­Outcome­of­Human­Activity 31 Performance­as­Necessary­for­Economic­Activity 32 Performance­as­an­Instrument­of­Organizational­Oppression 32

2.2  A Formula for Job Performance 32 Breaking­Down­the­Performance­Formula 34 Job Aids—Cost-Effective Way to Improve Knowledge and Skills Immediately 36 FLOW­and­SVVE 41

2.3  Quality of Performance: Expertise, Competence, and Incompetence 44

2.4  New Employees: On-Boarding Job Performance 46

2.5  Poor Performance Analysis—Managing the Gap 48 Managing­Performance­Gaps­With­Attribution­Analysis 50­ Returning­to­Opening­Case—Job­Performance 50

Summary and Resources 51

Chapter 3 Introduction to ADDIE: (A)nalyzing Training Needs 59

3.1  Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation 61 Where­Is­ADDIE­in­the­HRD­System? 62

3.2  Analysis—Defining the Needs 63

3.3  Levels of Needs Assessment 65 Organizational­Analysis 65 Job-Task­Analysis 68

3.4  Other Data Collection Methods 73 Individual­or­Person­Analysis 75 Why­Are­Needs­Assessments­Not­Done­More­Often? 79

3.5  Prioritizing the Training Needs 79

Summary and Resources 81

Contents

Chapter 4 (D)esigning Effective Training 89

4.1  Developing Training Objectives 91

4.2  Setting and Delivery Method Considerations 94 Train­the­Trainer 98 Preparing­Your­Training­Environment­Room 98

4.3  Individual Trainee Differences 100 Self-Directed­Trainees 102 Locus­of­Control 103

4.4  Training Design Sequencing 103 WPW­Learning­Model­in­Training­Design 104

4.5  Preparing Lesson Plan 106

4.6  Designing Learning Assessment 110

Summary and Resources 111

Chapter 5 (D)evelopment—Putting Theory Into Practice 119

5.1  Creating Training Materials 121 Trainer­and­Participant­Assessment­Instruments 122 Materials­Development­Process 125

5.2  Choosing Appropriate Instructional Method and Media 127 Training­Methods 128 E-learning 134 Selecting­Training­Media 136

5.3  Training Setting 138 Seating­Arrangements­Conducive­to­Learning 139

5.4  Editorial Process and Technical Review 140 Content­Review 140 Design­Review 140 Organizational­Review 141 Editorial­Review 141

Summary and Resources 141

Contents

Chapter 6 (I)mplementation—Execution 147

6.1  Beta and Pilot Testing of Training 148 Outcomes­of­Testing 149

6.2  Trainer KSAs 151 The­Anatomy­of­the­Excellent­Trainer 151

6.3  Barriers to Implementing Training 155 E-learning­Readiness:­Potential­Barriers 156

6.4  Outsourcing Training 157 Outsourcing:­A­Rising­Trend 157

Summary and Resources 160

Chapter 7 (E)valuation of Training and Development  167

7.1  Formative Evaluation 169

7.2  Summative Evaluation 170

7.3  Kirkpatrick’s Four-Level Evaluation Framework 171 Level­1—Reaction:­Did­They­Like­It? 172 Level­2—Learning:­Did­They­Learn­It? 173 Level­3—Behavior:­Did­They­Apply­It? 175 Level­4—Results:­Did­the­Organization­Benefit? 175 Linking­Kirkpatrick­Outcome­Levels­to­the­Performance­Formula 177

7.4  Return on Investment 179 Hard­Data­Versus­Soft­Data 181 Data­Gathering­Methods 181

7.5  Evaluation: Essential, but Often Neglected 183 Sampling­of­Evaluation­Models 184

Summary and Resources 187

Contents

Chapter 8 Transfer of Training 195

8.1  A Framework for Training Transfer 197 Trainee­Characteristics 197 Training­Design 199 Work­Environment 202 On­the­Quality­of­Transfer:­Negative­and­Positive 204

8.2  Accountability for Training Transfer 205 The­Who,­What,­and­When­of­Transfer 206

8.3  Barriers to Training Transfer 208 Transfer­of­Training­as­Change­Management 209

8.4  Transfer and the Learning Organization 211 Organizational­Learning­and­the­Learning­Organization 213

Summary and Resources 214

Chapter 9 Employee and Organizational Development 223

9.1  Development and Strategic HRD 225 Development­for­Competitive­Advantage 227

9.2  Employee Development 228 Aspects­of­Employee­Development 229 Employee­Development­and­Mentoring 232

9.3  Leading Employee Development 234 D1­With­S1 235 D2­With­S2 236 D3­With­S3 236 D4­With­S4 237

9.4  Process of Career Development 237 Stages­of­Life­and­Career­Development 238 Career­Management 239

Contents

9.5  Organizational Development 242 A­Model­for­Organizational­Change 243 Dimensions­to­Organizational­Change 245

Summary and Resources 246

Chapter 10 ­The Ethics of HRD and Corporate Social Responsibility 253

10.1  Ethical Human Resource Development 255 Different­Ethical­Frameworks 256 Globalization­Means­Global­HRD 258

10.2  HRD and Social Responsibility 259 Nurturing­Corporate­Social­Responsibility­Within­the­Organization 261 “Walking­the­Walk”­of­Social­Responsibility 264

10.3  CSR and Social Justice Within the Organization 264 Access­to­Training:­The­Glass­Ceiling­of­Training­and­Development 265 Training­Considerations­for­Speakers­of­Other­Languages 267

10.4  Work–Life Balance 267 Workaholism—Performance,­but­at­What­Cost? 270

10.5  Critical HRD and Lessons Learned From the Social History of Training 272

Summary and Resources 273

Glossary 279

References 297

Sandra Huzenman: my unfailing

supporter and my North; from the first

keystroke to my last breath, te amo

Dr. David M. Kopp is an associate dean and pro- fessor of human resource development in the Adrian Dominican School of Education at Barry University­in­Miami,­Florida.­He­has­taught­and­ developed courses in training and development for more than 15 years. Dr. Kopp is one of the few academics who have earned the CPLP cre- dential­(Certified­Professional­in­Learning­and­ Performance).

Kopp­has­worked­with­both­profit­and­nonprofit­ organizations for more than 20 years, consult- ing and writing on leadership, strategic plan- ning, organizational change, and performance improvement.­He­regularly­hosts­a­community­ affairs television program in Florida, Community Crossroads, and recently spoke about human resource development in Macedonia at the nation’s largest public and private universities.

Dr. Kopp was Dr. Shaquille O’Neal’s doctoral advisor­and­is­also­an­expert­on­the­Beatles.

About the Author

The author would like to acknowledge the many people who were involved in the development­of­this­text.­Terry­Piper,­Lucia­Rhee,­Isaac­Levi,­Katie­Desiderio,­Valerie­ Dahan, Joanne Ittilucksatit, and Barry, Marilyn, Zak, Nik, Isaac, and Ash. Special thanks are due to Mireille Yanow and Cheryl Cechvala, sponsoring editors; Carrie Brandt and Susan Walker, development editors; Kristle Maglunob, assistant editor; Nicole Sanchez-Sullivan, senior editorial assistant; Catherine Morris, production editor; and Jermaine Jackson, video editor. Thanks also to the following Ashford faculty and advi- sors for their helpful advice and suggestions: Charles Nichols, Adrienne Osborne, and Maja Zelihic.

Finally, the author would like to thank the following reviewers for their valuable feed- back and insight:

Shani­Carter,­Rhode­Island­College

Rod­Githens,­University­of­Louisville

C. Allen Gorman, East Tennessee State University

Kathy­A.­Hanisch,­Iowa­State­University

Consuelo­Waight,­University­of­Houston

Chris Zirkle, Ohio State University

Acknowledgments

Preface

Human Resource Development: Performance Through Learning provides an introduction to the essentials of training theory and its practical applications in—and implications for—the business and management environment. Students will learn not only the func- tions, duties, and responsibilities of training through every phase of the training pro- cess, but also about the social responsibility of training and development. A primary objective­of­this­text­is­for­organizational­leaders­to­understand­the­means,­manner,­and­ methods of employee training, as well as how a trained and developed workforce affects and drives organizational performance.

Textbook Features To enhance, enrich, and enliven student learning, Human Resource Development: Performance Through Learning includes several features:

Case Studies feature scenarios that illustrate key concepts through real-world situa- tions. Students are challenged to analyze and solve problems by weighing the multiple variables of human resource development decisions.

Assess Your Learning: Critical Ref lection questions prompt students to critically examine­the­information­presented­in­the­chapter­and­apply­their­knowledge.­

Video lectures provide additional instruction in core concepts to human resource development.

Pretests and Posttests prompt students to answer multiple-choice questions that pro- vide real-time feedback on their understanding of chapter concepts.

Preface

9Employee and Organizational Development

PhotoAlto/SuperStock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

• Explain HRD’s strategic link to development.

• Describe aspects of employee development.

• Apply appropriate leadership style for employee development.

• Explain the processes of career development.

• Define and recognize the driving forces of organizational development.

All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.

—Albert Einstein

Introduction Chapter 9

Pretest 1. Though organizations usually lose money paying for employee development, it makes

companies attractive to potential employees. a. true b. false

2. Coaching is a recent term for the centuries-old process of mentoring. a. true b. false

3. Coaching is the best leadership style for working with an employee who is highly competent and highly committed. a. true b. false

4. Individuals’ careers tend to progress through a common, predictable sequence of stages. a. true b. false

5. Some frameworks of organizational change can be applied to personal lives as well as professional. a. true b. false

Answers can be found at the end of the chapter.

Introduction Another aspiration of HRD is that of employee development. We will discuss how to avoid what is known as the Peter principle (Peter & Hull, 1969), which was named after Dr. Lau- rence J. Peter. This principle says that employees who may be performing well at their current job are promoted without developing the new KSAs required for the new job; or, effectively, promoting someone to his or her level of incompetence.

Having detailed the ADDIE training process from needs analysis to evaluation, we can now bet- ter appreciate the technical connection between learning and performance in the workplace, whether depicting that relationship using the so-called performance formula or Kirkpatrick’s learning and performance evaluation levels 2, 3, and 4. Yet although the ADDIE processes for training are methodical, tactical, and systematic, we should remember that in addition to equipping employees with the KSAs to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently, the ultimate goal in human resource development (as the term suggests) is the development of

Development and Strategic HRD Chapter 9

the workforce—and the organization—for the ever-changing future environment (Argyris, 1977, 1999; Cummings & Worley, 2014; Francis, Holbeche, & Reddington, 2012; Hameed & Waheed, 2011).

The premise here is that ADDIE-constructed training programs should not only promote workplace learning that leads to short-term tactical performance improvement, but also ensure that the improved performance leads strategically to long-term development—both at the employee and organizational levels (Gilley, Eggland, & Gilley, 2002; Hameed & Waheed, 2011; McDowall & Saunders, 2010; Rowan, 2005). Let us now delve deeper into HRD’s stra- tegic link.

9.1 Development and Strategic HRD Exploring HRD’s strategic aspect of development takes us back to the beginning, when we first discussed Gilley and colleagues’ (2002) original depiction of HRD in Chapter 1. As you may recall, Gilley and colleagues’ framework for HRD included not only the short-term focus of training individual employees and tactically managing the performance of the organization, but also the long-term focus of employee career development, as well as organization devel- opment (see Table 9.1), which we explore now.

Table 9.1: Framework for HRD

Focus Individual Organization

Short term Training Performance management

Long term Employee development Organizational development

Source: Gilley et al., 2002.

To fully appreciate these longer term goals of HRD, we now need to think of training not as an outcome, but as a process that feeds continuous development—specifically, the idea of training for development (Duggan, 2013; Ford, 2014; Gilley, Maycunich, & Gilley, 2000; Noe, 2012; Stewart & Sambrook, 2012). Viewing training as a process with developmental outcomes ultimately speaks to how training is but one part of human resource development (Cummings & Worley, 2014; Ford, 2014; Neirotti & Paolucci, 2013).

And, similar to the debate on the definitional nuances for training that we discussed in Chap- ter 1, the concept of development, too, is often contextual. For example, this is true when we compare development to learning. Although the concepts of development and learning cer- tainly overlap and are codependent—Leadersmiths CEO David Smith (2013) calls them the conjoined twins—development involves learning, but not all learning is development. Spe- cifically, we can say that learning relates to the employee’s present job requirements, whereas development, our focus in this chapter, facilitates employee career growth within the present job and organization (Gilley et al., 2002; Hameed & Waheed, 2011; Laird, Naquin, & Holton, 2003; Mayo & DuBois, 1987).

Development and Strategic HRD Chapter 9

Food for Thought: Conjoined Twins

Listen to Leadersmiths CEO David Smith discuss the conjoined twins of learning and development: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9bDqMmL4lw&feature=youtu.be.

Consider This 1. As described in the video, what is the significance of defining an organization’s core

competencies as they relate to organizational development? 2. Describe the similarities of the 7S model of organizational development to the

characteristics of Senge’s learning organization.

As Figure 9.1 depicts, the goal of strategic HRD systems is not only to introduce ADDIE- designed training that will promote employee and organizational performance improve- ment outcomes (levels 3 and 4) through learning (level 2), but also ultimately to stimulate employee and organizational development (OD) outcomes, as well.

Figure 9.1: ADDIE promotes learning, performance, and ultimately development

The ADDIE framework promotes performance improvement through learning. Over time, such performance through learning gives rise to development, both at the employee and organizational levels.

f09.01_BUS375.ai

ADDIE

Level 2

Learning

HRD

Level 3

Performance

Level 4

Employee development

Organizational development∑

Development and Strategic HRD Chapter 9

While HRD is not OD, employee development cannot be separated from organizational development (Burke, 2008; Francis et al., 2012; Hameed & Waheed, 2011); that is, employee development gives a “line of sight” to organizational development (Guidroz, Luce, & Denison, 2010; Hameed & Waheed, 2011). Operationally, as each employee learns and develops, syner- gies arise; specifically, as employees develop, the aggregated effect or the summation (∑) of a developed workforce facilitates and promotes organizational development, which enables the organization to better achieve its strategic goals in an ever-changing work environment (Garavan, Gunnigle, & Morley, 2000). As the organization develops, it then stimulates the need for employees to develop further, too; Crossan, Lane, and White (1999) call this employee- organization-employee dynamic the feed forward-feedback loop. And HRD scholars advise that, in fact, an endless loop of learning-performance-development exists whereby, as employ- ees develop, they must continue to pursue improved performance through learning (Holton & Baldwin, 2003; Swanson, 2002; Swanson & Holton, 2001).

This learning-performance-development loop is consistent with our discussions in Chapter 2 regarding expertise seeking; that is, development is never done because expertise itself has a shelf life (Selinger & Crease, 2006).

Development for Competitive Advantage

Semantics and recursive loops aside, concrete, operational reasons also encourage the idea of pursuing continuous development. Specifically, continuous development of the workforce, including management and leadership development (Harrison, 2009), has been shown to contribute to an organization’s competitive advantage—an organization’s ability to gain a specific advantage over its rivals and generate greater value for its stakeholders, as well as organizational sustainability (Berger & Berger, 2003; Dyer, 1993; Hafler, 2011; Hameed & Waheed, 2011; Porter, 2004, 2008).

Although earlier frameworks of an organization’s competitive advantage centered on market position and pricing, today’s competitive advantage includes the specific benefits gained by organizing and leveraging the capabilities and potential offered by continuous development of employees, as well as the organization (Jennings, Tucker, & Rutherford, 2013; Porter, 2008).

One study from the hospitality industry concluded that creating high-performing human capital systems could improve an organization’s market value by $15,000 to $60,000 per employee (Walsh, Sturman, & Longstreet, 2010). Further, in its seminal study, the human resource con- sulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide introduced the human capital index, which quantified the economic value of human capital. Over a 2-year period, Watson Wyatt evaluated the link between specific human capital practices and shareholder value. More than 750 large publicly traded companies in the United States, Canada, and Europe took part in the study; the results of the study suggested that more than 49 specific human resources practices were linked to a 47% increase in market value for the organizations surveyed (Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 2002).

This literal asset value perspective of a well-trained and well-developed workforce is part of the resource-based view of strategic human resource development (Agbettor, 2013; Hatch & Dyer, 2004; McGoldrick, Stewart, & Watson, 2003; Weatherly, 2003), which expressly evalu- ates the economic benefits of a highly trained and developed workforce (Alagaraja, 2012; Kandula, 2011; Swanson, 2002). This underscores a major theme of HRD—that HRD is about not just learning, but also performance through learning.

Employee Development Chapter 9

Within the pursuit of an organization’s competitive advantage through the continuous devel- opment of its workforce are considerations to succession planning and assessing the future labor needs of the organization, specifically strategic workforce planning (SWP). SWP focuses on maintaining a well-trained and developed workforce by implementing a talent management program that prepares the organization for future workforce needs. Specifi- cally, the organization scans both its internal and external operating environments to assess and identify any potential skills gaps its workforce may face as a function of the effects of dynamics such as labor segments retiring, new technology requirements, or a volatile econ- omy (DeTuncq & Schmidt, 2013). Today HR professionals can even get credentialed in strate- gic workforce planning and pursue an SWP certification through the human capital institute (http://www.hci.org/hr-training-courses/strategic-workforce-planning).

HRD in Practice: Southwest Airlines: Developing Employees for Competitive Advantage

Julie Weber, Southwest Airlines’ vice president of people, recently described Southwest’s philosophy for developing its workforce as follows: “Our people are our difference who will help us continue to thrive.… We hire the best people who naturally put others first; we allow them to shine and help them develop their full potential.”

Jeff Lamb, Southwest’s executive vice president and chief people and administrative officer, guides this effort. “The key differentiator for us is our underlying philosophy of putting our people first,” he explains.

That philosophy is paying off: Southwest’s turnover tends to run below 5%; in 2011 it was 1.5%.

Lamb says the company has a simple goal for talent management: “The company wants to help all of its employees develop to reach their full potential in a best-place-to-work environment.” Lamb oversees a team of 2,000 within Southwest’s overall workforce of 45,000.

Consider This 1. What do think Weber means when she says that Southwest allows its employees to shine?

Explain your reasoning. 2. Other than low turnover, what would be other indicators Southwest could draw on to

demonstrate the success of their employee development program?

Source: Excerpt from Margolis, D. (2012, July 31). Clear skies ahead: Southwest Airlines’ Jeff Lamb. Talent Management. Retrieved from http://talentmgt. com/articles/view/clear-skies-ahead-southwest-airlines-jeff-lamb

9.2 Employee Development Employee development is generally thought of as the deliberate methods taken within an organization to encourage employee professional and personal growth (ASTD, 2013; Cum- mings & Worley, 2014; Ford, 2014; Neirotti & Paolucci, 2013; Harvard Business Review Press, 2013; Wan, 2013). The strategic premise here is that by developing employees both profes- sionally and personally, the organization benefits through its own development.

Employee Development Chapter 9

Aspects of Employee Development

According to the Society for Human Resource Management’s recent survey of 248 employ- ers (see Table 9.2), numerous methods are used to facilitate employee development, from various forms of mentoring to designing training with specific developmental opportunities embedded within them. For example, immediately following on-the-job training on how to operate an industrial web five-color press printer (for example, lifting a pallet of paper, check- ing that the rollers are clear, monitoring machine temperature), a subsequent developmental activity could include adding an e-learning module, available on mobile devices, regarding how web printers are manufactured or how upcoming technology could improve the print- ing process; see the Food for Thought feature box titled “Example of Employee Development: New Possibilities in Printing” for an example of such a video.

Food for Thought: Example of Employee Development

Watch the video to learn more about the new possibilities in printing and what companies are doing with the technology. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae_aU5QjyoI

Consider This 1. From a developmental standpoint, what is the value of informing the trainee who the

largest customers for the HP Indigo Digital Press are? 2. The video discusses trends in the marketplace; what other developmental features to the

HP Indigo Digital Press video can you find?

Table 9.2: Employee development methods

Employers sampled Use method

Training other than leadership training 84%

Cross-functional training 80%

Leadership training 71%

Developmental planning 70%

Apprenticeships and internships (to assess potential future hires) 57%

Formal coaching 55%

Matching employees with “stretch” assignments and opportunities 47%

High-visibility assignments and opportunities to work with executives (e.g., executive task forces)

47%

Leadership forums 44%

Formal identification of high-potential employees 40%

Formal succession planning processes 35%

(continued)

Employee Development Chapter 9

Employers sampled Use method

Job rotation 30%

Formal career mentoring (internal programs) 25%

Job sharing 25%

Formal career mentoring (external programs) 10%

Source: Esen & Collison, 2005.

Other popular employee development methods include cross-functional training and so-called stretch assignments and opportunities. In cross-functional training, for example, employees are exposed to and perform other tasks within the production or service process beyond their own job. Sometimes called job enlargement or horizontal development, this method allows employees to get a better appreciation of the larger picture and the interrelationships of differ- ent jobs (Werner & DeSimone, 2011). For example, asking the fast-food-counter employee to work the drive-through window gives him not only a new skill set (such as using a headset and having to articulate clearly using a microphone), but also an appreciation of how the counter employee’s performance impacts the drive-through efficiency: counter employees not getting the orders in correctly impacts the cook who, in turn, cannot get to the drive-through orders.

Stretch assignments and opportunities include exposing employees to deeper dimensions of their own job, sometimes known as job enrichment (Werner & DeSimone, 2011). Specifically, employees are introduced to more in-depth aspects or features of their job; for example, a salesperson in the sporting goods department may start participating in the inventory man- agement meetings of the sales department to gain an understanding of the monthly inventory reports. Other cross-functional developmental tactics include job rotation and job sharing.

Employee development is also facilitated by critical reflection (Brookfield, 1990; Mezirow, 1990) following the training. Critical reflection, sometimes known as after-action reviews (Lipshitz, Popper, Friedman, & Friedman, 2006), is a generative process whereby the trainee is encouraged to reflect and make meaning of the training experience, including what the formal training entailed as well as lessons learned from any errors, informal and incidental learning, and even unlearning (Hedberg & Arbetslivscentrum, 1979); poor habits are an example.

An example of critical reflection in the nursing field includes having nurse trainees honestly contemplate and attempt to reconcile their own biases and prejudices regarding certain demo- graphics they will encounter in their nursing practice (Fook & Gardner, 2007). This process of seeking equilibrium with one’s environment is what organizational theorist Karl Weick (1995) called sense making and social scientist Donald Schön called reflection on practice (Schön, 1983).

In general, critical reflection affords opportunities to think creatively about alternatives to make processes more effective, efficient, or innovative; this process is also known as thinking outside the box (Eisner, 2011) through experimentation and risk taking that may differ from the status quo.

An example of this type of innovative outcome in critical reflection can be seen at Google. Employees at Google are encouraged to spend up to 30% of their time reflecting and pursuing their own creative interests and ideas; this approach has led to innovative products such as Google Maps™ and Google AdSense™ and made Google more than a search engine (Hephaestus

Employee Development Chapter 9

Books, 2011; Duthel, 2008). Figure 9.2 depicts the process of critical reflection (Brookfield, 1990; Dirkx, 2005; Elliott & Turnbull, 2004; Mezirow, 1990; Wang & Wilcox, 2006).

Figure 9.2: The critical reflection process

In a development setting, the critical reflection process allows employees to describe not only the developmental experience and the circumstances, but also their interpretation of how the experience affected them and how they will use that experience to inform their future.

f09.02_BUS375.ai

What happened (describe the experience)?

What is your new interpretation of the experience? What is

the significance? What did you learn about yourself and

others?

What will you do as a result of this

experience? How will you use it to

inform your future?

Why / how did it happen? What

factors contributed? How do you feel

about it?

Source: Adapted from Brookfield, S. D. (1990). Using critical incidents to explore learners’ assumptions. In J. Mezirow (Ed.), Fostering critical reflection in adulthood (pp. 177–193). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; Mezirow, J. (1990). How critical reflection triggers transformative learning. In J. Mezirow (Ed.), Fostering critical reflection in adulthood (pp. 1–20). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Did You Know? Thinking Outside the Box: But Which Box?

The phrase “thinking outside the box” is not simply metaphorical. The expression refers to a specific box, a two-dimensional square introduced in the 1914 book Sam Lloyd’s Encyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles, Tricks, and Conundrums (With Answers) (Lloyd, 1914). The puzzle is known as the nine dots puzzle:

“Draw a continuous line through the center of all the dots without lifting your pencil.”

Many people find this puzzle difficult to solve initially because of the perceived limitations (of the box). To solve the puzzle, one must sometimes go beyond the bounds of the box (or the situation) to solve a problem—which is the lesson learned here.

Management gurus in the 1960s and 1970s who coached organizations using the phrase “think outside the box” used this nine dots puzzle as a test to illustrate this point.

Employee Development Chapter 9

Employee Development and Mentoring

Although aspects of self-directed learning are clearly evident in employee development—for example, employees today can use Internet sites like Khan Academy, TED, and Harvard Busi- ness Review’s Management Tip of the Day to develop at their own time and pace—generally, employee development is typically in the context of the dyadic relationship between a trainer and trainee. As differentiated from formal, codified career mentoring programs, which only focus on the skill sets and task expertise needed for career advancement per se (Esen & Col- lison, 2005), mentoring for employee development is oftentimes informal and emergent, not prescribed. In fact, many times the employee may choose his or her mentor versus being man- dated one. Semantics aside—some organizations refer to the mentors as coaches—approxi- mately 75% of Fortune 500 companies have some type of mentoring program (Ensher & Mur- phy, 2011; Murrell, Forte-Trammell, & Bing, 2008).

Although the supervisor is ultimately responsible for performance management issues (Daft, 2014; Singh, 2013; Sales Performance International, 2014; Strange, 2012), in a mentoring arrangement the employee (known as the protégé) works with—and is guided by—the direct supervisor (the mentor) (Allen, Poteet, & Russell, 2000; Daft, 2014; Ibrahim et al., 2009; Singh, 2013; Sales Performance International, 2014). The focus is both the formal and informal transmission of KSAs relevant to the required job performance, including personal and professional direction, advice, and psychosocial support in the employee’s career devel- opment (Bijker, Van der Klink, & Boshuizen, 2010; Ibrahim et al., 2009; Ismail, Abdullah, & Francis, 2009).

Food for Thought: Characteristics of an Effective Mentor

So, what makes for a good mentor?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC2YD4ne-bE

Consider This 1. What would be the advantages of an employee choosing his or her own mentor?

Disadvantages? 2. What specific type of feedback should a protégé expect from a mentor? 3. Describe the importance of trust between mentor and protégé.

This specific focus of mentoring makes it different from coaching (see Table 9.3):

• Coaching is generally performance-based, not development-based (Allen et al., 2000; Ibrahim et al., 2009). That is, whereas a mentor may coach, a coach does not necessar- ily mentor.

Employee Development Chapter 9

• Mentoring is usually relationship based, whereas coaching is more task driven (Ensher & Murphy, 2011; Hendricks, 2005; Rihs, 2009).

• Mentoring tends to be informal and without deadlines, whereas coaching is usually formal and time bound.

• Overall, coaches focus on short-term performance improvement, whereas mentors focus on the long-term development of KSAs to drive an employee’s career develop- ment (Hendricks, 1994).

Table 9.3: Differences in focus between a mentor and a coach

Mentor Coach

Strategic Tactical

Learning Training

Long term Short term

General Specific

Relationship based Task driven

Focus is on the trainee Focus is on the training

Source: Allen et al., 2000; Hendricks, 1994; Ibrahim et al., 2009.

Mentoring for development requires effective communication and requires the mentor and protégé to use active listening skills, including using open-ended versus closed-ended (yes– no) questions (Allen et al., 2000; Ensher & Murphy, 2011; Hendricks, 2005; Murrell et al., 2008). An effective technique mentors use is that of mirroring (Ensher & Murphy, 2011; Rihs, 2009). Specifically, when the mentor and protégé mirror, they repeat ideas back to each other to avoid miscommunication. So, if a mentor makes a specific suggestion to the protégé about how to interact with a major client customer, for example, the protégé might respond: “So, it sounds like you’re saying when it comes to this particular client, I should always assume that they want feedback prior to close of business that day? Does that sound right?”

Likewise, a mirroring mentor might clarify with the protégé: “It sounds like your biggest chal- lenge has been that particular customer. Is that what I’m hearing?”

Framing the communication this way lets both the mentor and the protégé evaluate whether they understood the other correctly. If they did not, they can clarify their message to avoid misunderstanding (Lundsteen, 1979; Management Mentors, 2014; Smith & Keyton, 2001).

According to the firm Management Mentors, mentors use another communication technique called verbal nodding, which supports nonverbal gestures (such as making eye contact, nod- ding your head). Verbal nodding emphasizes that you are listening; as you follow the conversa- tion, you say things like “Right” or “Yes” or “Mmm” or “Really?” (Management Mentors, 2014).

Leading Employee Development Chapter 9

HRD in Practice: Promoted to Her Level of Incompetence?

It was embarrassing, really. And the vice president of operations, Harvey Sizemore, felt awful about it. Just 6 months ago, he had promoted Ellen Kaye to department manager. Ellen would be supervising 12 line workers and had some real decision-making authority. Ellen was thrilled at the news of her promotion; she celebrated by purchasing a new car—she had earned it. Ellen had been a skilled and loyal line worker for 11 years with the company. She had a great attitude, was a team player, and rarely made production errors. Ellen knew her job well, and other supervisors often asked her to train new employees. Harvey was pleased to offer Ellen this promotion.

But, now—6 months later—Harvey waited in his office for Ellen to arrive; he had to tell her she was being put back on the line or transferred to another department. Four of the 12 employees she supervised had stopped him in the break room on Tuesday and— representing the other eight, as well—told him it was Ellen or them. “We warned you 2 months ago, Harvey; either Ellen goes, or we walk. We’ve had it with her!”

Harvey tried to advise Ellen a couple of months ago when grievances arose about her supervisory style, but the situation continued to deteriorate. Most telling now was that production quotas were not being met and her department had numerous and frequent errors.

Harvey wondered, “How did this happen? How can such a great line worker be such a lousy supervisor?” Harvey had spoken briefly to his wife about Ellen, and something Harvey’s wife said had resonated with him:

“This is awful, Harv. It’s almost as if you promoted Ellen to her level of incompetence.”

Consider This 1. What could Harvey have done to ensure that Ellen was ready for the next level of

advancement? 2. Other than advising Ellen of the prior complaints about her, what more could Harvey

have done during Ellen’s learning curve to assist in her transition to supervisor? 3. If Ellen agrees to go back to the shop floor, what should Harvey advise her to do to move

forward?

9.3 Leading Employee Development Whether a leader is known as a mentor, coach, or supervisor is not as important as how that person leads employees toward and facilitates development. Even the most self-directed employee can benefit from a leader who uses a developmental framework and leads as a func- tion of the employee’s developmental level. One popular framework used to lead employees based on their particular developmental level was created by management expert Ken Blanchard; it built on prior leadership frameworks such as Robert House’s path–goal theory and George Graen’s leader–member exchange.

The premise of Blanchard’s situational leadership (Blanchard & Blanchard Training and Development, 1994; Shriberg & Shriberg, 2011), which we briefly discussed in Chapter 2,

f09.03_BUS375.ai

Developed

Developing

D1 Enthusiastic beginner

Low competence

High commitment

D2 Disillusioned learner

Low to some competence

Low commitment

D3 Capable, but cautious, performer

Moderate to high competence

Variable commitment

D4 Self-reliant achiever

High competence

High commitment

Figure 9.3: Blanchard’s state of employees’ competence and commitment

Using Blanchard’s developmental continuum for employees, we can see how an employee’s competence or ability in the job is linked to his or her commitment or willingness to do the job.

Leading Employee Development Chapter 9

is that employees move through a cycle of develop- ment as a function of their willingness and ability. Blanchard frames employee development as a state of the employee’s competence and commitment—each can be either high or low (see Figure 9.3). Competence is defined as the abilities framework, specifically, the employee’s KSAs from training, education, and expe- rience (Blanchard et al., 1994; Blanchard & Thacker, 2010; Hersey & Blanchard, 1977). Commitment is the employee’s willingness, based on a combination of confidence and motivation. Confidence and moti- vation are interdependent here; that is, confidence reflects employees’ self-assessments about how effec- tively they think they perform a task, known as self- efficacy (Bandura, 1997), and is directly linked to their motivation to continue to do future tasks. This is simi- lar to the discussion in Chapter 2 on Vroom’s model of expectancy process theory of motivation that proposes that employees will decide to behave or act in a certain way because they are motivated due to the value (called “valence”) they place on a certain outcome and the prob- ability of that outcome occurring (Latham, 2011).

Without the appropriate leadership, employees may not get the intervention they need in order for the develop- ment process to progress. Blanchard frames leadership as a function of the leader modulating between task- directive behavior and supportive-relationship behavior. For example, directive behavior involves describing when and how to perform the behavior and showing peo- ple what to do; it also involves providing frequent feed- back. Supportive behavior engages others in decision making and uses praise, listening, and encouragement. Appropriate leadership style is based on the amount of directive and supportive behavior the supervisor gives the employee. Each employee development level has a matching leadership style (Blanchard et al., 1994). Let us discuss each employee developmental level and its rec- ommended leadership styles per Blanchard.

D1 With S1

Blanchard’s first developmental level is called a D1, for “developmental level 1.” In this level, the employee has a low skill level but is highly committed. An example of this level would be seen in a new employee or perhaps a current employee assigned a new task or job; that person might say, “I’m anxious to start … now show me how!” This means the appropriate leadership style would be S1 (S is for “style”), or directing, because D1s need a highly direc- tive approach, sometimes including micromanagement techniques; the supervisor is directly

HRD in Practice: Promoted to Her Level of Incompetence?

It was embarrassing, really. And the vice president of operations, Harvey Sizemore, felt awful about it. Just 6 months ago, he had promoted Ellen Kaye to department manager. Ellen would be supervising 12 line workers and had some real decision-making authority. Ellen was thrilled at the news of her promotion; she celebrated by purchasing a new car—she had earned it. Ellen had been a skilled and loyal line worker for 11 years with the company. She had a great attitude, was a team player, and rarely made production errors. Ellen knew her job well, and other supervisors often asked her to train new employees. Harvey was pleased to offer Ellen this promotion.

But, now—6 months later—Harvey waited in his office for Ellen to arrive; he had to tell her she was being put back on the line or transferred to another department. Four of the 12 employees she supervised had stopped him in the break room on Tuesday and— representing the other eight, as well—told him it was Ellen or them. “We warned you 2 months ago, Harvey; either Ellen goes, or we walk. We’ve had it with her!”

Harvey tried to advise Ellen a couple of months ago when grievances arose about her supervisory style, but the situation continued to deteriorate. Most telling now was that production quotas were not being met and her department had numerous and frequent errors.

Harvey wondered, “How did this happen? How can such a great line worker be such a lousy supervisor?” Harvey had spoken briefly to his wife about Ellen, and something Harvey’s wife said had resonated with him:

“This is awful, Harv. It’s almost as if you promoted Ellen to her level of incompetence.”

Consider This 1. What could Harvey have done to ensure that Ellen was ready for the next level of

advancement? 2. Other than advising Ellen of the prior complaints about her, what more could Harvey

have done during Ellen’s learning curve to assist in her transition to supervisor? 3. If Ellen agrees to go back to the shop floor, what should Harvey advise her to do to move

forward?

9.3 Leading Employee Development Whether a leader is known as a mentor, coach, or supervisor is not as important as how that person leads employees toward and facilitates development. Even the most self-directed employee can benefit from a leader who uses a developmental framework and leads as a func- tion of the employee’s developmental level. One popular framework used to lead employees based on their particular developmental level was created by management expert Ken Blanchard; it built on prior leadership frameworks such as Robert House’s path–goal theory and George Graen’s leader–member exchange.

The premise of Blanchard’s situational leadership (Blanchard & Blanchard Training and Development, 1994; Shriberg & Shriberg, 2011), which we briefly discussed in Chapter 2,

f09.03_BUS375.ai

Developed

Developing

D1 Enthusiastic beginner

Low competence

High commitment

D2 Disillusioned learner

Low to some competence

Low commitment

D3 Capable, but cautious, performer

Moderate to high competence

Variable commitment

D4 Self-reliant achiever

High competence

High commitment

Figure 9.3: Blanchard’s state of employees’ competence and commitment

Using Blanchard’s developmental continuum for employees, we can see how an employee’s competence or ability in the job is linked to his or her commitment or willingness to do the job.

Leading Employee Development Chapter 9

involved in assigning work and demonstrating how to perform the job. The supervisor teaches employees about the organization and its values and helps employees set goals and learn skills needed to perform the job. Directing is a teaching style (Blanchard et al., 1994).

D2 With S2

The next employee development level is D2. Now the new employee or current employee given a new task or job has been on the learning curve and the realities of the job have set in, along with possible frustration or failure. Blanchard referred to this as “the honeymoon is over” level, and one could argue that this is the most challenging type of employee devel- opment phase to lead. While the employee is slowly moving from incompetence to compe- tence, his or her commitment can suffer, and the employee’s self-esteem can be negatively impacted. An employee’s commitment level is directly linked to his or her self-efficacy—an employee’s self-assessment about effectiveness performing a task. As a result, the employ- ee’s developmental potential (Bandura, 1997), as discussed in Chapter 4, may be a function of a symbolic ratio that drives employee self-esteem; think of it as what psychologist Wil- liam James (1891) called successes over pretensions. Today we call this achievements over attempts. We would expect D2s to have a lower achievement-to-attempt ratio.

Employee Self-Esteem = Achievements ÷ Attempts

The premise here is that only through achievement success can an employee build his or her confidence and commit to continuous learning and development; yet the opposite holds true, too. Modern interpretations of this notion can be seen in small win theory: Small successes build on one another to slowly build an employee’s confidence to take on more challenges (Amabile & Kramer, 2013; Peters, 2010; Weick, 1984). If an employee continuously encoun- ters failure and frustration, he or she is apt to become apathetic; that is, not willing and not able (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Tracy, 1998).

For D2s, the appropriate leadership style is S2, or a coaching style. To combat D2s’ wan- ing commitment, they need a leader who can correct remaining performance problems, set the standard for good performance, and remind them of their potential. Here, particularly, the leader gives immediate feedback and is quick to praise and reward good performance (Blanchard et al., 1994).

D3 With S3

D3s are highly competent; that is, they successfully made it through the learning curve but still may have varied commitment or caution concerning the job—particularly if a large gap exists between what the employee thought the job would be and what it turned out to be (Myers, Jahn, Gailliard, & Stoltzfus, 2011). Psychologist David McClelland (1970) also called this aspiration management. These perceived barriers may keep D3s from being con- sistently committed to the job; Blanchard (1994) says employees can get stuck here with- out leadership intervention. The appropriate leadership style here is S3, or supporting. D3s do not need much direction, but they do need relational support. For D3s to move for- ward developmentally, listening is key; a D3 needs to discuss with the leader the issues of aspiration management and the expectation versus reality of the job that may be affecting his or her commitment. As a result, D3s may need help crafting new goals or expectations

Process of Career Development Chapter 9

for the job or for their place in the organization. In sum, D3s may need help renewing their commitment in the job and at the organization.

D4 With S4

D4s are both willing and able, and they have high competence and high commitment; in short, they are developed. They work independently and usually are chosen as the employees who train D1s. The leadership style here is relatively straightforward; that is, S4, or delegate. Because D4s are developed, leaders do not, in fact, have to lead D4s but only have to keep them challenged and empowered to develop. D4s seek out new growth opportunities and goals and, as discussed in Chapter 2, upon starting a new opportunity or goal, D4s then cycle back to D1s again, following the cycle of the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978).

Food for Thought: Application of Blanchard’s Situational Leadership

Sabrina knows the ins and outs of her job. She manages all the job tasks, but sometimes she does not think she can make a difference.

(+/-) ? Competence

(+/-) ? Commitment

Consider This 1. What leadership style would you choose in this situation?

What a leader is called—whether mentor, coach, or supervisor—is not as important as how that person leads his or her employee toward development. Especially as it relates to employee development, some leadership styles have been shown to be more developmentally appropriate than others. Factors in leading development include assessing the state not only of an employee’s job abilities, but also of his or her willingness to do the job.

9.4 Process of Career Development Although employee development initiatives have been associated with higher retention rates, more satisfied and motivated employees, and enhanced organizational performance (Hameed & Waheed, 2011; Levinson et al., 1978), at the heart of employee development is career devel- opment. Simply put, career development helps employees achieve their career goals.

Greenhaus and colleagues define a career as the pattern of work-related experiences that occur over a person’s life (Greenhaus, Callanan, & Godshalk, 2009), including the subjective aspects of work such as an employee’s attitudes, values, and expectations (Werner & DeSim- one, 2011). This definition is consistent with the notion that careers, like individuals, develop over time (Greenhaus et al., 2009; Werner & DeSimone, 2011).

Process of Career Development Chapter 9

Did You Know: Importance of Career Development

A recent Harvard Business Review article, “Why Top Young Managers Are in a Nonstop Job Hunt,” described a study that analyzed international databases of more than 1,200 young high achievers. The study concluded that many of the brightest and most inspired achievers lack the career development support they need (Hamori, Cao, & Koyuncu, 2012).

Careers—like adults—develop over time in a predictable, common sequence of stages; this idea underscores how career development and life development are linked. An employee’s stage of career development will be a function of his or her development in life (Super, 1990). It is with that notion in mind that many in the career development field draw on theories of adult and life development.

Stages of Life and Career Development

Because a person’s career is a part of life, influenced by other major life events, career develop- ment models are based on adult development typologies. Many career development models still are based on the seminal works of psychologists Erik Erikson (1980) and Daniel Levin- son (Levinson et al., 1978). Each offered stage models of adult development that provide a meaningful basis for understanding career development today (Strauser, 2013).

Erikson’s Model of Adult Development The late developmental psychologist Erik Erikson proposed that people progress through eight stages (see Figure 9.4) over their lives; this is known as Erikson’s model of adult development. Each stage has productive and counterproductive outcomes. So, for example, what lay in the balance following a young adult’s experiences could be intimacy or isolation, depending on the totality of that person’s experiences in that stage of life. Likewise, in Erik- son’s final stage, older adults reflect back on their lives and are left with either a sense of fulfillment from an honest life lived (ego integrity) or a sense of regret and despair over a life misspent (Strauser, 2013).

Levinson, too, stratified adult life development into seasons of life, from early to late adult- hood. Of particular note was the midlife transition (ages 40 to 45) of middle adulthood. Dur- ing this stage a person’s life changes significantly. People in midlife tend to experience a major questioning of their life structure (for example, goals and ambitions) and the dreams they so vigorously pursued at the end of early adulthood (Werner & DeSimone, 2011). Questions often asked during this transition include:

• What have I done with my life? • What do I want to accomplish before I die? • What do I want to leave behind for my family and others? f09.04_BUS375.ai

Infant Trust vs. Mistrust

Toddler Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt

Pre-schooler Initiative vs. Guilt

Grade-schooler Industry vs. Inferiority

Teenager Identity vs. Role confusion

Young adult Intimacy vs. Isolation

Middle-age adult Generativity vs. Stagnation

Older adult Integrity vs. Despair

Figure 9.4: Erikson’s stages of adult development

Erickson’s eight-stage developmental ladder illustrated the phases in a person’s life from birth to older adulthood. Each stage not only grows more complex, but also reconciles productive or counterproductive outcomes.

Process of Career Development Chapter 9

Did You Know: Importance of Career Development

A recent Harvard Business Review article, “Why Top Young Managers Are in a Nonstop Job Hunt,” described a study that analyzed international databases of more than 1,200 young high achievers. The study concluded that many of the brightest and most inspired achievers lack the career development support they need (Hamori, Cao, & Koyuncu, 2012).

Careers—like adults—develop over time in a predictable, common sequence of stages; this idea underscores how career development and life development are linked. An employee’s stage of career development will be a function of his or her development in life (Super, 1990). It is with that notion in mind that many in the career development field draw on theories of adult and life development.

Stages of Life and Career Development

Because a person’s career is a part of life, influenced by other major life events, career develop- ment models are based on adult development typologies. Many career development models still are based on the seminal works of psychologists Erik Erikson (1980) and Daniel Levin- son (Levinson et al., 1978). Each offered stage models of adult development that provide a meaningful basis for understanding career development today (Strauser, 2013).

Erikson’s Model of Adult Development The late developmental psychologist Erik Erikson proposed that people progress through eight stages (see Figure 9.4) over their lives; this is known as Erikson’s model of adult development. Each stage has productive and counterproductive outcomes. So, for example, what lay in the balance following a young adult’s experiences could be intimacy or isolation, depending on the totality of that person’s experiences in that stage of life. Likewise, in Erik- son’s final stage, older adults reflect back on their lives and are left with either a sense of fulfillment from an honest life lived (ego integrity) or a sense of regret and despair over a life misspent (Strauser, 2013).

Levinson, too, stratified adult life development into seasons of life, from early to late adult- hood. Of particular note was the midlife transition (ages 40 to 45) of middle adulthood. Dur- ing this stage a person’s life changes significantly. People in midlife tend to experience a major questioning of their life structure (for example, goals and ambitions) and the dreams they so vigorously pursued at the end of early adulthood (Werner & DeSimone, 2011). Questions often asked during this transition include:

• What have I done with my life? • What do I want to accomplish before I die? • What do I want to leave behind for my family and others? f09.04_BUS375.ai

Infant Trust vs. Mistrust

Toddler Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt

Pre-schooler Initiative vs. Guilt

Grade-schooler Industry vs. Inferiority

Teenager Identity vs. Role confusion

Young adult Intimacy vs. Isolation

Middle-age adult Generativity vs. Stagnation

Older adult Integrity vs. Despair

Figure 9.4: Erikson’s stages of adult development

Erickson’s eight-stage developmental ladder illustrated the phases in a person’s life from birth to older adulthood. Each stage not only grows more complex, but also reconciles productive or counterproductive outcomes.

During this stage of life, it is not surprising that people are at risk for what has been termed a midlife crisis (Jacques, 1965).

Informed by Erikson’s and Levinson’s adult-development models, Greenhaus and colleagues (2009) developed the four-stage model for career development that spans from preparation for career to retirement.

1. Preparing for work: Making occupational and organizational choices The typical age range for this stage is initially 0 to 25, and then it varies. The major tasks of this stage are first to develop a career self-image, assess other careers, develop an initial career choice, and pursue the required education and skills. Then, one would get job offer(s) from selected organization(s) and choose a job based on accurate information.

2. Establishing oneself and achieving in one’s early career The typical age range for this stage is 25 to 40. During this stage, the major tasks are to learn the job and the organization’s rules and culture, as well as to become acclimated to the job and organization. During this time, people increase skill and pursue “the dream.”

3. Excelling in midcareer The typical age range for this stage is 40 to 55. During this stage, workers typically will reassess their early career and early adult years, recom- mit to their goals or modify them, make deci- sions appropriate to their middle-adult years, and remain productive in their work.

4. Navigating late career The typical age range for this stage is 55 to retirement. The major tasks of the late career stage are to remain productive on the job, nur- ture self-esteem, and anticipate retirement.

Career Management

Greenhaus and colleagues’ (2009) model for career development includes tasks on how indi- viduals should manage their career development process or career management. Effective

Process of Career Development Chapter 9

career management begins as the individual responds to the need to make a career decision and then sets about acquiring the KSAs required. In this spirit Jones and DeFillippi (1996) developed the six knows of career management:

1. Knowing what—understanding the industry’s opportunities, threats, and requirements

2. Knowing why—understanding the meaning, motives, and interests for pursuing a career 3. Knowing where—understanding the locations and boundaries for entering, training,

and advancing within a career system 4. Knowing whom—forming relationships based on attraction and social capital that will

gain access to opportunities and resources 5. Knowing when—understanding the timing and choice of activities within one’s career 6. Knowing how—understanding and acquiring the skill and talents needed for effective

performance in assignments and responsibilities

Specifically, the career management cycle involves problem solving and decision making. The career management cycle includes information gathering so employees can become more aware of themselves, as well as the world around them (Bijker et al., 2010; Greenhaus et al., 2009; Super, 1990). As part of an individual development plan, for example, an employee establishes goals, develops and implements plans or strategies, and solicits feedback for con- tinuing to manage one’s career (Mooney, 2011).

Greenhaus and colleagues (2009) and Werner and DiSimone (2011) detailed these career management steps:

1. Career exploration. Gathering information about one’s self and the environment; this is not the same as job searching. Job searching is a short-term tactical search for a job that matches the individual’s financial and career goals. Career exploration is a lon- ger term strategic and progressive process of choosing education, training, and jobs that fit the individual’s interests and skills. For example, you might investigate careers in travel if you have an interest in seeing the world.

2. Goal setting. A career goal is an outcome the individual decides to try to obtain. Such goals may be specific (“I want to be a principal of a school by the time I am 40”) or general (“I want to be a successful and respected writer”). To the extent career goals are based on an awareness of the self and environment, they are likely to be realistic.

3. Strategy development. A career strategy is an action plan for accomplishing the career goal. An effective strategy typically includes the actions to be carried out and a timetable for performing them. So, let us say your career goal was to be a division manager. You might develop a strategy to take some professional development work- shops in effective supervision or team building, and then prepare to sit for the super- visory exam next year when it is offered.

4. Strategy implementation. This involves carrying out your career strategy. Following a realistic strategy (perhaps using the SMART goal-setting template discussed in Chap- ter 4), we execute the action plan. Strategy implementation then leads to progress toward the goal and feedback from work as well as nonwork sources.

5. Progress toward the goal. This is a status check to see where the individual is in near- ing the career goal.

Process of Career Development Chapter 9

6. Feedback from work and nonwork sources. Valuable information about the progress toward the career goal can be obtained from work sources such as coworkers, super- visors, and subject matter experts, as well as from nonwork sources such as friends and family.

7. Career appraisal. Feedback and information now permits the individual to appraise his or her career. Career appraisal may lead to reengagement in career exploration, in which case the career management process will begin again as an iterative cycle.

The outcome of career development and management for the organization culminates in a talent management; that is, in developing the workforce (talent) potential to the point that employees are not only reaching their career potential, but also effectively performing so the organization may reach its goals and develop, as well (see Table 9.4) (Berger & Berger, 2003; Hendricks, 1994; Singh, 2013; Strange, 2012). This is part of the SWP process discussed in Section 9.1. One implication to the talent management grid is that employees who are both high performing and high potential should be targeted as the organization’s next generation of leaders.

Likewise, for underachieving employees—those who have been deemed to have high poten- tial but are not performing—the leader must assess why there is a lack of performance. Using the performance formula, for example, the leader can determine whether the performance is weak because of a lack of motivation, lack of ability, or something in the work environment that is impinging on the employee.

Table 9.4: Talent management model

Potential

Performance

High Enigma: High poten- tial to advance further although underperforming

May be in wrong job/ wrong manager; needs intervention

Growth employee: Demonstrates high potential to advance further

Valued talent, chal- lenge, reward, recog- nize and develop

Future leader: High- est potential–best for senior succession

Top talent, reward, recognize, promote, develop

Medium Dilemma: Likely to have scope to move one level/chal- lenge is necessary as underperforming

Provide coaching

Core employee: Motivate, engage, and reward

High-impact performer: Strong contributor, challenge, reward, grow, and motivate

Low Underperformer: Has reached job potential and is underperforming

Performance manage or exit

Effective: Special- ized or expert tal- ent reached career potential

Engage, focus, motivate

Trusted professional: Specialized or expert talent reached career potential

Retain, reward, help with developing others

Low Medium High

Source: Adapted from Silzer, R., & Dowell, B. E. (2009). Strategy-driven talent management: A leadership imperative. New York: Wiley. Retrieved from http:// cgconsultinggroup.net/blog/how-to-use-a-9-box-talent-management-model-to-assess-your-future-potential

Organizational Development Chapter 9

9.5 Organizational Development If you do a search for books currently on Amazon.com that include the words organizational development in the title, you will get more than 400 results! Organizational development is a discipline unto itself, with extensive theory and practice undergirding it; as a result, we will only be discussing OD and its interrelationship with HRD, specifically.

We should note that, similar to the equivocal definitions of human resource development (HRD) we discussed in Chapter 1, no unified definition exists for OD, either (Bingham & Conner, 2010; Egan, 2002; Guidroz et al., 2010). In fact, Egan (2002) reviewed numerous definitions of organization development published since 1969 and found that OD definitions included as many as 60 different variables. Egan did, however, find consensus within the varied definitions of OD on a common theme of organizational development as a process of increasing organizational effectiveness and facilitating personal and organizational change through the use of learning interventions (Egan, 2002; Iles & Yolles, 2003).

As Figure 9.5 depicts, Kirkpatrick’s level 4 outcomes link to OD because performance out- comes such as reduced costs, improved quality, increased production, and efficiency are part of organizational development through process improvement underscoring that OD is also about developing processes, systems and structures. (Anderson, 2011). As discussed, how- ever, employee development gives a line of sight to organizational development (Guidroz et al., 2010; Hameed & Waheed, 2011). That is, as employees become developed, this developed workforce helps the organization achieve its strategic goals and experience organizational development. Employee development is also linked to organizational development (Guidroz et al., 2010; Hameed & Waheed, 2011) because organizational development is based on the holistic organization (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2012); that is, the organization itself is looked on as a living, breathing organism because it is filled with living, breathing organisms. Margulies (1972) described ODs underlying humanistic values as follows:

• They allow people to function as human beings rather than as resources in the pro- ductive process.

• They provide each organization member, and the organization itself, opportunities to develop to their full potential.

• They seek to increase organization’s effectiveness in terms of its goals. • They attempt to create an environment in which workers find exciting and challeng-

ing work. • They provide people in organizations opportunities to influence how they relate to

work, the organization, and the environment. • They treat each human being as a person who has a complex set of needs, all of which

are important to their work and their life. (p. 3)

To develop means to change; as a result, OD is usually discussed in the context of organiza- tional change (Beer & Nohria, 2000; McLean, 2005). Clearly, although some change occurs within organizations without a specific change management plan—even a broken clock is correct twice a day—organizations stand a better chance of development when organiza- tional change is well managed—both reactively and proactively.

Of course, organizational change can occur at varied levels and focus within the organiza- tion; these are known as the objects of change (Beer & Nohria, 2000). These objects for

Organizational Development Chapter 9

organizational change include employee task behaviors such as skill variety or autonomy, organizational processes such as organizational learning, or change within the organizational culture itself. Frequently, such changes create new capability and require organization mem- bers to learn specific new skills or systems (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Cummings & Worley, 2014; Guidroz et al., 2010).

Figure 9.5: HRD’s link to organizational development

Over time it is the aggregate effect, or ∑, of HRD’s performance through learning that enables organizational development.

f09.05_BUS375.ai

ADDIE

Level 2

Learning

HRD

Level 3

Performance

Level 4

Employee development

Organizational development∑

A Model for Organizational Change

One of the tools frequently used to frame and manage organizational change is Kurt Lewin’s classic force-field analysis (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Cummings & Worley, 2014; Lewin, 1943). The major premise of Lewin’s force-field analysis is that change occurs only when there is an imbalance in the environment (field) as a function of driving forces (such as new personnel, changing markets, or new technology) having more power than restraining forces (such as poor supervision or organizational inertia) so to move the change forward. A full force-field analysis is a three-step process, as follows:

1. First, an organization must unfreeze the status quo that keeps it in a state of quasi-equilibrium.

Organizational Development Chapter 9

2. Second, if change is to take place, an imbalance of driving forces and restraining forces is needed so there is change; an organization can achieve this change by increasing the drivers, reducing the restrainers, or doing both.

3. Third, once the organization accomplishes the change, it brings the forces back into quasi-equilibrium, and they are refrozen.

Consider the following example:

• A furniture company’s current state (status quo) is that it cuts and stitches seat cov- ers using old technology that is quickly becoming obsolete.

• To keep up with the competition, the company’s desired state (change) must install and train workers on sewing machines with 21st-century technology to cut and stitch seat covers.

Following are some of the driving and restraining forces that will dictate the change:

• Other departments will be affected by production changes. • A third shift will be added to make the new machine cost-effective. • Offices will be moved to make room for the larger equipment. • Job descriptions for cutters and sewers will be revised. • Computer keyboarding skills are now required.

Force-field analysis is a very practical model, too, and can be applied to evaluate the change process at any level of the organization; in fact, force-field analysis can be applied both pro- fessionally and personally. For example, do you know someone who has tried to quit smoking but has failed? Try framing it (as shown in Figure 9.6) as driving forces not (yet) being strong enough to move the restraining forces!

Figure 9.6: Force-field analysis: Stop smoking

These are examples of the driving forces and restraining forces that dictate whether or not someone will quit smoking. Metaphorically, whichever side is stronger will win out.

f09.06_BUS375.ai

Cost Spouse smokes

Cancer Camaraderie

New laws

Status Quo

Change: Quit Smoking

DRIVING FORCES RESTRAINING FORCES

Social Pressure Habit

Relieves anxiety

Source: Adapted from Lewin, K. (1943). Defining the field at a given time. Psychological Review (50), 292-310.

Organizational Development Chapter 9

Dimensions to Organizational Change

Organizational change is not a monolithic concept; that is, it not only has a structure (even if it is unplanned), but also processes that define and dictate it. As a result, when overseeing organizational change, one must consider not only the scope and depth, but also potential barriers to the change that must be managed. Let us discuss each dimension.

Scope and Depth of Change Some organizational changes are planned and some emerge; as a result, not every organi- zational change has the same tempo and scope of change. Continuous change is linked to incremental change (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Connor, Lake, & Stackman, 2003; Cummings & Worley, 2014; Dunphy, Griffiths, & Benn, 2003). When organizational change is continuous, it gives members the opportunity to fine-tune the change because of its regularity and long- term nature. Additionally, because the change is incremental, it supports employee develop- ment because employees get the opportunity not only to participate, but also adapt. Creating a quality management process or implementing a new computer system to increase efficien- cies are examples of continuous incremental changes.

Sometimes, of course, organizational change is not planned but happens spontaneously or is required due to some major external or internal disruption (episode), what Beer and Nohria (2000) called a major divergence from equilibrium. Episodic change is short term and linked to transformational change, and it usually is organization-wide, often demanding a new paradigm. An organization might need to change its structure and culture from a traditional top-down structure to one relying on self-directed teams; this is an example of transforma- tional change.

Today these types of major divergence changes may come about as a function of the speed of social media. For example, citizens posting webcam videos of a member of law enforcement using excessive force or inappropriate language may immediately force a department to make a swift change in policy.

The Barriers to Organizational Change Clearly, not all organizational changes will be readily accepted by all organizational members all of the time; specifically, there will challenges to unfreezing the status quo. Generally, resis- tance to organizational change can be broken down into three categories:

1. Questioning the need for a change. Organizational members may not see why a change is even needed. Many times, this question is due to perceived loss of control and uncertainty and fear of the unknown.

2. Accepting the change. Organizational members wonder why the organization is chang- ing, but they do not accept the particular change.

3. Acting out the change. Organizational members understand why the organization needs to change and have accepted that the change is coming, but they will not com- mit to new behavior based on what has changed.

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

Management guru Peter Drucker once observed that profits are to a corporation what oxygen is to a human but that life is more than just breathing. It is this sentiment that guides and stim- ulates organizational development initiatives. Although the development of both employees and organizations is a gradual process, with the benefits sometimes not as tangible as the related expenses, the wise leader understands that developmental processes are an invest- ment in the organization’s future effectiveness.

Summary and Resources Chapter Summary

• Remember that the ultimate goal in human resource development is to promote workplace learning that leads not only to tactical performance improvement in the short term but also strategically to longer term development—both at the employee and organizational levels.

• Numerous methods are used to facilitate employee development, from mentoring to designing training with specific developmental opportunities embedded within. In mentoring, the employee–supervisor dynamic is enhanced; the employee becomes the protégé and the supervisor the mentor.

• Whether organizations use mentors, coaches, or supervisors is not as important as how the employee is specifically led and facilitated toward development. A leader needs to be aware of the employee’s developmental level. A popular framework used specifically to lead an employee based on his or her particular developmental level is situational leadership, created by management expert Ken Blanchard.

• Careers—like adults—develop over time in a predictable, common sequence of stages that underscore how career development and life development are linked; many times an employee’s stage of career development will be a function of where he or she is in life. As a result, the career development field draws on theories of adult and life development.

• Organizational development is the process of increasing organizational effective- ness and facilitating personal and organizational change through the use of learning interventions. Performance is linked to OD because performance outcomes such as reduced costs, improved quality, increased production, and efficiency are part of orga- nizational development through process improvement.

Posttest 1. Human resource development is best represented graphically as a .

a. loop b. ladder c. curve d. wave

2. Though pricing and market position used to be considered key, workforce develop- ment is now recognized as a major contributor to an organization’s . a. critical perspective b. cross-functional leadership

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

c. competitive advantage d. profit margin

3. The process in which a trainee reflects on a training and generates meaning from it is known as . a. a recursive view b. methodical deliberation c. creative analysis d. an after-action review

4. One difference between mentoring and coaching is that . a. coaching is relationship based, whereas mentoring is task driven b. coaching is formal, whereas mentoring is usually an informal arrangement c. coaching is development based, and mentoring is performance based d. coaching is focused on long-term goals, whereas mentoring is focused on the

short term 5. An employee’s confidence in how well he or she performs a task is called

. a. self-efficacy b. commitment c. self-worth d. competence

6. An employee with high competence and variable commitment is considered a(n) .

a. self-reliant achiever b. enthusiastic beginner c. capable but cautious performer d. disillusioned learner

7. Which model of adult development describes ego integrity, the sense of fulfillment that comes from looking back on one’s life and finding it honestly spent? a. Levinson’s model b. Erikson’s model c. the seasons of life model d. the four-stage model for career development

8. Questioning one’s own goals and ambitions often occurs at an age that coincides with which stage of career development? a. preparing for work b. establishing oneself and achieving in one’s early career c. excelling in midcareer d. navigating late career

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

9. To manage organizational change according to the force-field analysis model, an orga- nization begins by . a. creating an imbalance of driving forces b. increasing restraining forces c. bringing forces into a quasi-equilibrium d. unfreezing the status quo

10. Which type of organizational change supports employee development by allowing employees to participate and adapt? a. incremental change b. episodic change c. transformational change d. divergent change

Assess Your Learning: Critical Reflection 1. Explain how self-directed learning might influence the Peter principle. 2. Explain why, when developed employees facilitate organizational development, there

becomes a continued need for employees to develop. 3. Describe how you might lead an unable and unwilling employee using Blanchard’s

situational leadership with consideration to the James self-esteem ratio. 4. Why is incremental change more suited to employee development? 5. Can you defend this statement? Not all employees need or want career development. 6. What is the value of critical reflection in career development?

Additional Resources Web Resources

For a brief explanation of critical reflection: http://www.nickykaa.com/Hyperlexicon/critical_reflection.html and http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/development/reflection.html

Tips for thinking outside the box and puzzle solving: http://www.archimedes-lab.org/sarcone_rules.html

Free learning website resource—Khan Academy: www.khanacademy.org

Short speeches on a variety of interesting topics: https://www.ted.com/talks/browse

Harvard Business Review’s management tip of the day: http://hbr.org/tip

For more information on mentoring: http://www.management-mentors.com

More on Blanchard’s situational leadership: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_44.htm

Watch Ken Blanchard speak about situational leadership and employee development: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1uyU3YSqes

A study on young high achievers, “Why Top Young Managers Are in a Nonstop Job Hunt”: http://hbr.org/2012/07/why-top-young-managers-are-in-a-nonstop-job-hunt

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

Erikson’s model of adult development: http://zanl13.wordpress.com/about

A review of Kirkpatrick’s four-level training model: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/kirkpatrick.htm

For more explanation of Lewin’s force-field analysis: http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/force_field_analysis.pdf

Why do employees resist change? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcz1aZ60k7w

Further Reading

Agbettor, E. O. (2013, March). Attaining competitive advantage through human capital man- agement. HR Focus, 23. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA 326660083&v=2.1&u=miam50083&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w

Anderson, D. L. (2011). Cases and exercises in organization development & change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Blanchard, K. H., & Blanchard Training and Development. (1994). Ken Blanchard’s situational leadership II: The article. Escondido, CA: Blanchard Training and Development.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row.

Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2014). Organization development and change. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Management Mentors. (2014). Corporate mentoring communication tips. Retrieved from http://www.management-mentors.com/resources/march-2011/ corporate-mentoring-communication-tips

Weick, K. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Answers and Rejoinders to Chapter Pretest

1. false. A highly trained and developed workforce has actually been found to have economic benefits for companies. The resource-based view of strategic development looks at the asset value of development and how it can contribute to an organization’s bottom line.

2. false. Coaching and mentoring are different processes. Although mentoring often includes coaching, a coach does not always mentor.

3. false. Employees at this high level of commitment and competence benefit most from a delegating style of leadership in which they are kept engaged and challenged. Coaching is most effectively used with employees who have low or moderate compe- tence along with low commitment.

4. true. Career development occurs over time in a predictable series of stages, as does overall life development. Theories of adult and life development are the basis of many career development theories.

5. true. Force-field analysis is one example of a practical organizational model that can also be applied to individuals’ personal lives. Someone who wants to change a bad habit, for example, can examine it in terms of restraining forces versus driving forces and modify those forces accordingly.

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

Answers and Rejoinders to Chapter Posttest

1. a. Employee development leads to organizational development, and these changes to the organization require employees to learn even more. The process can be seen as a continuous loop in which development is never finished.

2. c. Competitive advantage refers to the organization’s ability to gain advantage over competitors and generate more value for stakeholders. Although models of competi- tive advantage were once focused mainly on market position and pricing, today the economic benefits of development are recognized.

3. d. After-action reviews, also known as critical reflection, encourage employees to make meaning of a training experience. Through such reviews, employees consider the formal training, lessons learned from incidental or informal learning, and possible creative alternatives.

4. b. Coaching tends to be an informal process based on improving short-term task performance. Mentoring, on the other hand, is often a long-term, relationship-based program focused on an employee’s career development.

5. a. Self-efficacy is an employee’s confidence, based on his or her self-assessment of how effectively he or she performs a task. This confidence and the motivation it cre- ates are the two aspects that make up an employee’s level of commitment.

6. c. Employee development can be framed as a state related to the employee’s commit- ment and competence. An employee with low competence but high commitment is an enthusiastic beginner, and one with high competence but variable commitment is a capable but cautious performer.

7. b. Erikson described eight stages through which people progress over their lives, each with possible productive and counterproductive outcomes. In the final stage, older adults look back on their lives with either a sense of despair over a life misspent or a sense of fulfillment, which Erikson called ego integrity.

8. c. Levinson describes a midlife transition that tends to occur around ages 40 to 45, in which people may begin to question their life structure and the dreams they have pur- sued. In the four-stage model for career development, these ages fall into the excelling in midcareer phase (ages 40 to 55), when workers reassess their earlier careers and recommit to or modify their goals.

9. d. The first phase of force-field analysis necessitates unfreezing the status quo that has been keeping the organization in a state of quasi-equilibrium. After this, the organization is able to change, before refreezing the forces back into a new quasi-equilibrium.

10. a. Incremental change is related to continuous change. Change that is continuous offers regularity and long-term opportunities to participate in fine-tuning the change. Incremental change, because it happens a bit at a time, gives members time to adapt.

Key Terms achievements over attempts A function of a symbolic ratio that drives employee self-esteem; also called successes over pretensions.

career The pattern of work-related experi- ences that span the course of a person’s life.

career appraisal An evaluation of one’s career; feedback and information on prog- ress toward the career goal permits the individual to appraise his or her career.

career exploration A long, progressive process of choosing education, training, and jobs that fit one’s interests and skills; differ- ent from job searching.

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

career management A problem-solving and decision-making career development process; effective career management begins as the individual responds to the need to make a career decision and then how to acquire the necessary KSAs.

career strategy An action plan for accom- plishing the career goal.

coaching A short-term, formal, time-bound, and task-driven program for performance improvement.

commitment An employee’s willingness, based on a combination of confidence and motivation.

competitive advantage The specific advan- tage that gives an organization an edge over its rivals and an ability to generate greater value for the firm and its shareholders.

confidence A person’s ability to do a task well.

conjoined twins A term that describes the relationship between development and learning; development involves learning, but not all learning is development—learn- ing relates to the employee’s present job requirements, whereas development facili- tates employee career growth within the present job and organization.

continuous change Change that is regular and long term; continuous organizational change gives the members the opportunity to fine-tune the change and is a quality man- agement process.

critical reflection A generative process whereby the trainee is encouraged to reflect and make meaning of the training experi- ence; also known as after-action reviews, reflection on practice, or sense making.

directive behavior Telling and showing people what, when, and how to do some- thing and providing frequent feedback.

employee development A strategy of developing employees both professionally

and personally, whereby the organization benefits through its own development.

employee development level Ken Blanchard’s popular framework, used spe- cifically to lead an employee based on his or her particular developmental level.

episodic change A short-term trans- formational change that is usually organization-wide and many times demands a new paradigm, for example, changing an organization’s structure and culture from the traditional top-down to largely self- directing teams.

Erikson’s model of adult development  An adult development model proposed by the late developmental psychologist Erik Erikson that people progress through eight stages during the course of their lives.

feed forward-feedback loop Employee- organization-employee dynamic that explains as employees become developed, the developed workforce facilitates orga- nizational development, enabling the orga- nization to achieve its strategic goals in an ever-changing work environment.

four-stage model for career develop- ment A career development model that spans from preparation for career to retirement.

incremental change Organizational change that takes place in small stages and supports employee development because employees get the opportunity not only to participate, but also adapt; for example, implementa- tion of new computer system to increase efficiencies.

mentor A person who is responsible for formal transmission of KSAs relevant to the job but also informal personal and profes- sional direction, advice, and psychosocial support for the employee; usually, the supervisor in the context of employee career development.

mentoring A relationship-based, informal without deadlines, and long-term process

Summary and Resources Chapter 9

of employee development of KSAs toward career development.

midlife crisis A potential turning point in which a person’s life changes significantly during the midlife transition of middle adulthood.

mirroring A technique used in mentoring, whereby the mentor and protégé repeat ideas back to each other to ensure that there is no miscommunication.

objects of change The varied levels and focus within the organization at which orga- nizational change can occur.

organizational change Change that occurs within organizations. Objects for organi- zational change include employee task behaviors such as skill variety or autonomy, organizational processes such as organiza- tional learning, or change within the organi- zational culture itself.

protégé A person who works with or is guided by a mentor in a mentoring arrange- ment; the employee in the employee devel- opment program for an organization.

resource-based view A strategic HRD view that expressly evaluates the economic benefits of a highly trained and developed workforce by using the literal asset value of a well-trained and developed workforce; underscores a major theme of HRD, that it is not just about learning, but also performance through learning.

scope of change The extent of change; can be incremental or transformational change in the organization.

self-efficacy A self-assessment about how effective an employee thinks he or she is at performing a task.

strategic workforce planning (SWP)  Maintaining a well-trained and developed workforce by implementing a talent man- agement program to prepare the organiza- tion for future workforce needs.

supportive behavior The act of praising, listening, encouraging, and involving oth- ers in decision making.

talent management The process of devel- oping the workforce (talent) potential to a point that not only are employees reaching their career potential, but also effectively performing in a way that the organization may reach its goals and develop, as well.

tempo Speed or rate, which may have an occasional interruption or divergence from equilibrium; the tempo of change in HRD refers to continuous versus episodic change.

training for development A view of train- ing not as an outcome, but as a process that feeds continuous development.

transformational change A change in organizational structure and culture, such as from a traditional top-down structure to one relying on self-directed teams.

Get help from top-rated tutors in any subject.

Efficiently complete your homework and academic assignments by getting help from the experts at homeworkarchive.com