SELECTION, TRAINING, AND DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONNEL:DEVELOPMENT

DEVELOPMENT

The distinction between training and development is ill defined. For purposes of this chapter, we define development in organizational contexts as ‘‘Plans and activities intended to achieve long-term changes in employees and their organizations.’’ As such, development may include education, train- ing, organizational realignment, values clarification, modifications to feedback and reward systems, mentoring, and a host of other interventions. In this section, we briefly mention a few forms of development in terms of research results.

Individual Performance Enhancement

In the 1940s and 1950s, much research on individual performance enhancement focused on person- ality development. By the 1960s, however, it had become clear that a wide variety of personalities could function successfully in nearly all jobs. One of the most widely used psychometric tools in business and industry, the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), purports to measure personality types. However, both Druckman and Bjork (1991) and Pittenger (1993) showed that data obtained via the MBTI have very little predictive validity in terms of job performance. Although research into the predictive value of personality testing continues today, it remains questionable whether devel- opment that focuses on personality traits as predictors will lead to significant results with respect to job performance.

Recently, the issue of competencies has also become popular in training circles. Most research on competencies can be divided into two types:

1. Those that address specific job skills, e.g., ‘‘can calibrate a variety of instruments used to measure tensile strength’’

2. Those that address traits, (sometimes disguised in behavioral terms), e.g., ‘‘demonstrates the ability to work well with others in a variety of situations’’

Although training may be an appropriate development activity for the first type of competency, the second may not benefit from any development activity. For development activities to be useful, their outcomes must be clearly specified. If ‘‘works well with others’’ is defined in operational terms (e.g., others report that the individual contributes well in team situations), then development activities, such as training, coaching, and mentoring, may be appropriate.

A variety of experiential forms of training are in use as development activities. These range from wilderness survival courses to games and specially designed on-the-job training experiences that focus on an individual’s performance. Spitzer (1986) reviews the preparation, conduct, and follow up of a variety of specially designed on-the-job training experiences. Most such experiential approaches have not been validated via careful research. Thiagarajan (1980) also summarizes advantages and disad- vantages of games and other forms of experiential learning. He notes that, while experiential learning is often shown to produce the same results as more conventional forms of training, it occasionally leads to poorer skill acquisition. However, he argues that because such experiential techniques are often fun, they may gain trainee acceptance and therefore be a good vehicle for individual skill enhancement. We tend to disagree with this view.

Coaching and mentoring are other methods of performance enhancement used in development situations. In coaching, a coach works with a student during one or more sessions to help the student develop and apply skills on the job. Pearlstein and Pearlstein (1991) present an ISD-based approach to coaching, and Fournies (1987) describes a wide variety of contexts for coaching. Generally, men- toring is a long-term relationship between an experienced and a less-experienced individual that is designed to bring about changes in behavior via counseling, feedback, and a variety of other tech- niques. Murray (1991) provides an overview of factors and techniques contributing to effective men- toring.

Career planning as a development activity can also be an effective means of enhancing perform- ance. In career planning, individuals and their supervisors and / or human resources departments de- velop and plan a series of steps to help align individual goals with organizational goals and career progression. These steps may include training and education (either on or off the job), coaching, mentoring, special assignments, and job rotations. Schein (1978) provide a detailed model for career planning. While most employee-assessment systems appear to be a sound basis for individual per- formance enhancement, their unsuccessful implementation may work against job performance. Ac- cording to Scherkenbach (1988), Deming’s total quality management (TQM) process argues against such systems precisely because poor implementation can cause major roadblocks to success of both individuals and organizations. Since most employee assessment systems are linked to pay decisions, employees who admit to development needs may, in effect, be arguing against raises. This link thus creates both unsuccessful implementations and possible conflicts of interest.

Organizational Performance Enhancement

Two commonly practiced forms of organizational performance enhancement are management and leadership development and organization development. Management and leadership development fo- cuses on improving organizational outcomes by improving the performance of those responsible for the outcomes. Organization development focuses on developing a total organization, as opposed to some particular aspect(s) of the organization, such as its leadership, management, or employee skills (see Gallessich 1982; Vaill 1971). Pearlstein (1991) argues that leadership development cannot be separated from organization development because leaders cannot be developed outside of the context of organization-wide goals for development.

Management and Leadership Development

Stodgill (1974), in a summary of over 3000 books and articles, found hundreds of definitions of leaders and managers. Some of these define management as focusing on support of organizational activities in their current state, as contrasted with leadership, which focuses on changing an organi- zation to meet new challenges. In this context, a distinction is often made based upon topic areas, with management focusing on basics such as making assignments, delegating, and feedback and leadership focusing on more advanced areas such as communicating vision, establishing shared val- ues, and individual employee empowerment. However, in the context of current organizational chal- lenges, arbitrary distinctions between management and leadership are increasingly less relevant. Vaill (1989) asserts that organizations often find themselves, like kayakers, in ‘‘permanent white water.’’ This is even more the case now, with today’s greater impacts of increasing globalization and rapidly accelerating technology.

Pearlstein (1992) notes that ‘‘Research (on leadership and management) . . . does not show conclusively that any leadership development training approach based on skill-building has led to long-term improvements in organizational functioning. Research does not show conclusively that any leadership development approach based on personal / awareness development or values clarification has led to long-term organizational improvements.’’ Howard and Bray (1988) summarize the research of over 30 years of research on longitudinal management development studies. Complex and sur- prising results are the rule. For example, interpersonal skills, considered by many assessment centers to be one of the most critical predictors of management success, decline over time for many managers. Worse, managers selected in the 1980s had lower levels of interpersonal skills than those selected in the 1950s. Similarly, Kotter (1982) reports on intensive studies of 15 general managers and concludes that training does not seem as important to leaders’ development as do childhood and early work experiences. McCall et al. (1988) summarize the responses of nearly 400 corporate leaders on factors important to their development and note that leaders cited a 12:1 ratio of nontraining to training factors. Finally, Pearlstein (1991) indicates that management and leadership development programs are usually generic, offered out of the context of specific management and leadership jobs, do not last long enough, and focus either on skills or on personal development but not on both.

Organization Development

Organization development (OD) is practiced in many large organizations today. OD practitioners use a form of experimentation called action research, which includes five major phases:

1. Reaching agreement on goals and procedures of the OD activity

2. Designing ways to diagnose needs for organizational change

3. Presenting diagnostic findings in a useful way

4. Using the diagnostic findings to plan an organizational change strategy.

5. Applying the change strategy and evaluating its outcomes

Both Lippitt et al. (1958) and Argyris (1970) provide examples of using this phased approach. The examples have in common behavioral approaches to collecting the data on which to base the change strategies. Pearlstein (1997) provides nine OD principles for those who wish to practice within a human performance technology context:

1. Develop work units (not necessarily the entire organization).

2. Make sure that you are interacting with the appropriate decision maker.

3. Start by reaching agreement on desired outcomes, measurements, roles, and activities.

4. Insist on behavioral measurement, but first listen carefully to the client’s statements of values and visions.

5. Make sure that the client considers the impacts of change on individuals, work units, the entire organization, and the larger community of which the organization is a part.

6. Meet with all key players, both individually and in groups.

7. Seek consensus but don’t withhold expertise.

8. Give interventions sufficient time to work.

9. Close well with the client by helping to: (a) collect and disseminate summative evaluation data, (b) celebrate organizational successes, and (c) plan next steps.