Employee training and career development strategies

Employee Training & Career Development:

Employee development in an organization basically entails training these workers to develop hidden talents or obtain new skills in order to keep them acquainted with technological changes, maintain proficiency and improve performance. Employee development is centered on improving the employee's individual potential by enhancing his/her current skills, expanding his/her qualifications and improving his/her attitudes. Furthermore, employee development also focuses on improving employees' work habits and promoting their understanding of the objectives, policies and practices of the organization. While this process also includes training, it's not only the impartation of knowledge but also the preparation of employees to advance with the organization as it grows and change ("Employee Development Series," n.d.).

This process of employee training and career development has a crucial role in an organization particularly on the overall management process. The main role of employee development and training in an organization is that it determines the long-term success of the organization in achieving its objectives and goals. Employee training and career development can be conducted in various ways depending the specific jobs or responsibility of these employees. Whereas some employees can assume more office responsibility in their development, others develop through training on how to operate new machinery. These new levels of employee responsibility and work can be attained by demonstrating individual growth in the organization. This is in turn achieved through the establishment of professional goals within the organization and evaluating them within a specified period of time. Some of the major employee development methods include & #8230;

On-the-Job Development Techniques:

on-the-job training or development techniques are also referred to as in-house training and are conducted while the employees perform their normal and regular jobs. These development techniques basically involve the formulation of plans regarding what will be taught and communicating the details to the employees. In-house or on-the-job training techniques include job coaching, job instruction training, internships and apprenticeships. The major benefits of this employee development method includes it enables the employees not to lose time while they are learning as well as the fact that they are generally cost-effective.

Off-the-job Training:

These kinds of employee development techniques occur when employees are taken away from the organization or workplace to be trained. These techniques include discussions, conferences, lectures, case study, laboratory training and distance learning ("Employee Training and Development," n.d.). It's important to note that these employee development methods can be utilized by both small and large organizations though they may be too expensive. These development methods have various benefits including the fact that they result in the attainment of a broad range of skills and give employees and opportunity to learn from external specialists.

Induction or Orientation Training:

These employee development methods are specifically for new employees and are important in enabling them to become more productive as soon as possible. The duration of induction or orientation development methods vary depending on various factors including size of the organization, complexity of the job and the position of the new employees in the firm. Basically, these kinds of trainings include areas like learning about the specific responsibilities of the job, organizational objectives, internal workings and meeting new colleagues. The main benefit of these methods is that they enable the new employees to avoid costly mistakes and understand the responsibilities of their new jobs.

Employee Development and Organizational Development:

Organizational development is basically considered as the process with which an organization develops the internal ability to enable it to carry out its mission effectively and efficiently. This process also involves the development of internal capacities that enable the organization to sustain itself on the long-term. In most cases, organizational development usually covers organizational design, evaluation and process improvement. Employee development and organizational development are closely connected since the evaluation process of organizational development also includes employee engagement and satisfaction. An organization determines employee engagement and satisfaction through employee development techniques. Through organizational development, an organization's effectiveness is improved which is in turn dependent on employee effectiveness that is enhanced by employee development.