Noe (2010) distinguishes the differences between employee training and employee development:“Development is future oriented, it involves learning that is not necessarily related to the employee’s current job” and “training is focused on helping improve employees jobs” (p. 347). Development is the function that helps individuals grow and prepare for job advancement/growth or even those jobs that currently do not exist within the organization.
Development refers to formal education, job experiences, relationships, and assessments of personalities and abilities that help employees perform effectively in their current or future job and company (Noe; 2010, p. 346). I now have some formal education to be an instructional designer; it is future development that will help me be an effective instructional designer.
For this week's assignment I am to develop my own development plan. I think this is good timing as I am coming to the end of my pursuit of my Master’s Degree in Instructional Design and Technology and my desire to apply that knowledge.
I believe development is a lifelong, ongoing process. Below is my development plan to help me begin to achieve my goals as an instructional designer.
Type of Development | Action Plan | Rationale |
Formal Education – Noe (2010) describes formal education programs to “include off-site and on-site programs designed specifically for the company’s employees, short courses offered by consultants or universities, executive MBA programs, and university programs…” (p. 350). |
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Benchmarks – Method of measuring management performance/effectiveness |
| Benchmarks support growth. I actually view benchmarks as personal development plans. Through benchmarking I am identifying goals and objectives to be met that will improve not only my overall performance, but also my department. The success of these goals/objectives are determined and reviewed by others and aligned with the organization’s overall goals. |
Job Enlargement – Increasing responsibility or level of difficulty to one’s job. Job enlargement is beneficial to both the employee and employer. Through job enlargement employees are able to take on tasks that are beneficial to the organization. This gives the employee the ability to show their level of ability and apply skills/knowledge not normally demonstrated. |
| Time management is something many employees within the organization struggle with. A recent employee survey identified a desire for a Time Management Program. Developing a new system-wide program from the beginning would be a new initiative for me and help me to achieve my goal of expanding my department’s role in staff education. This is also a critical issue for the organization as we struggle to become more “Lean” and do more with less. |
Temporary Assignments, Projects and Volunteer Work – “Employee exchange is one example of temporary assignments in which two companies agree to exchange employees” (p. 370). |
| My participation with the school of nursing is not necessarily an exchange between two companies; it is an exchange between two different industries. Both of these initiatives will allow me exposure to the academic setting. My organization has a direct link with an educational institutional and working within the academic setting helps me to better prepare future training within the organizational setting. |
References:
http://www.great-quotes-on-life.com/personal-development.html
Noe, R. A. (2010). Employee Training and development (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.