Session 7
Training and Development
6Individual Skills and Development
6.1Appraisal process and employee development
The appraisal scheme is linked to the control structure. Its purpose clarifies employees’ roles and expectations and improves management awareness. It also links performance to organizational goals and aims to make the behaviour of employees predictable and controllable.
Development is concerned more with changes in attitude, behaviour and potential than with skill. It relates more to career development than to job development.
Management development is the finding, tracking and developing of people for positions of responsibility in the organization.
Armstrong: Management development is a systematic process which aims to ensure that the organization has the effective managers it requires to meet its present and future needs.
Torrington and Hall’s four ways distinguished from management training:
Management development is a broader concept, more concerned with developing the whole person rather than focus on the learning of narrowly defined skills;
It emphasizes the contribution of formal and informal work experience;
It places a greater responsibility on managers to develop themselves than on employees to train themselves;
Managers are developed as much for the jobs they will be doing as for the jobs that they are doing.
Management appraisal
Two main areas of management appraisal are:
Performance: concerned with the manager’s performance in technical and management matters during a specified period. Eg. Objectived achieved? Weakness are pinpointed?
Potential: A matter of judgement by superiors. eg. Promotion or training required?
It covers:
Problem-solving
All facets of communication
Planning and organizing
Relationships with staff
Technical capability
Personal qualities
The career growth cycle: The growth should be triggered by a job that provides challenging, stretching goals. The clear goals will attract employees’ effort which will result in good performance. It the employee does a good job and received positive feedback, he/she will feel successful (psychological success). These will increase a person’s confidence and self-esteem. This should lead to the person becoming more involved in work, which in turn leads to the setting of future stretching goals again.
6.2Role of management and methods to develop skills
Skill is the ability to apply knowledge and do something. Management skills include the ability to
Observe
Communicate
Motivate
Select relevant data
Diagnose problems
Formulate solutions
Take decisions
Participative methods of training include:
Case studies – the trainees diagnose the causes of a particular problem. It provides opportunities for the exchange of ideas and consideration of solutions.
Role-plan – Trainees are asked to play the role that will shortly be part of their job. The trainees can practise and receive expert advice and criticism.
Project work – A task is outlined by the trainer but the plan to follow to achieve the objectives is left to the trainee to decide.
Group dynamics – Trainees are put in a situation in which the behaviour of the group is examined. They can learn the effect of their behaviour on other people, increasing their knowledge of how and why people at work behave as they do.
The skills-development programme involves the following stages:
A job analysis: identify the skills required
An analysis of the knowledge and skills required by the job-holder forms the basis of the person specification.
A record of the current skills from appraisals and observations.
An outline of the development needs
An overall plan
Mentoring is a process where one person offers help, guidance, advice and support to facilitate the learning or development of another. Mentoring offers a constructive alternative to the more traditional development methods by transferring knowledge and skills and providing learners with a sounding board and facility for trust and confidentiality. The mentor provides continuous personal support and motivation, helping the learner to solve real problems and make real decisions.
7’Management of health and safety
The employer and employee both have responsibilities for health and safety at work.
The health and safety policy outlining the company’s rules, regulations and procedures will include the following:
How to report accidents
Where the accident book is
The position of the first aid box
Details of qualified first – aiders
The names of the official safety representatives and the manager in charge of policy
Information on working practices throughout the organization
Accident prevention measures include:
Design of safe systems
Using suitable standards and maintenance programmes
Adoption of a code of practice
Consultation
Safety consciousness, instruction and training
Fire safety is a vital area in any organization. Guidelines on fire safety include the identification of fire risks, the appointment of a fire officer and the introduction of fire prevention policies and practices.
Procedures should be in place to enhance:
Prevention
Detection
Extinguishing
Escape
The modern office environment also presents threats to the health of workers because of the extensive use of computers. Care must be taken to minimize the danger to workers by providing a suitable working environment.
Seating – desks / chairs too near to doors
Lighting – unsafe electric plugs and poorly lit corridors and stairs
Equipment and furniture– top-heavy filing cabinets and wet floors
Supplementary Notes:
A)
Responsibility, delegation and authority are basic supervisory skills. Students are required to show an understanding of the problems and challenges associated with these concepts and to demonstrate a clear distinction between authority and responsibility.
(a) (i) RESPONSIBILITY is the liability of a person to be called to account for his or her actions and is an obligation to perform a task and to deliver a benefit.
Unlike authority, ultimate responsibility cannot be delegated. There is a view that the idea that responsibility cannot be delegated is too simplistic. Any task contains an element of responsibility. It is the notion of accountability and the direction of responsibility that is the relevant concept. It is self evident that it is impossible to exercise authority without responsibility because this could lead to problems of control and therefore undesirable outcomes for the organisation.
However, the important point is that the superior is always ultimately responsible for the actions of his or her subordinates. The key element here is the recognition of discretion by virtue of the person’s position. This underlines the doctrine of absolute responsibility; the superior is always ultimately accountable.
(ii) AUTHORITY is the scope and amount of discretion given to a person to make decisions by virtue of his or her position held within the organisation.
The authority and power structure of an organisation defines:
– the part each member of the organisation is expected to perform
– the relationship between the organisation’s members so that its efforts are effective
The source of authority may be top down (as in formal organisations) or bottom up (as in social organisations and politics).
(iii) DELEGATION involves giving to a subordinate the authority and discretion to make decisions within a certain, defined sphere of influence. Therefore the superior must possess the authority to delegate.
The key element is discretion and the level of authority within a specific sphere.
Without delegation, formal organisations could not exist.
An organisation chart may show the command structure of an organisation, but without authority, responsibility and delegation, a formal organisation cannot be effective.
(b) In any organisations, authority must be delegated because of –
– the size of organisations – even relatively small organisations require an understanding of the need to delegate
– the physical and mental limitations of staff and managers
– the need for routine tasks and decisions to be passed down
– the increasing size and complexity of organisations (this does not necessarily mean size – small organisations can be quite complex in the tasks they undertake)
– superiors must call subordinates to account and co-ordinate their activities.
(c) Effective delegation can be achieved by –
– specifying the expected performance levels and ensuring that they are understood
– assigning agreed tasks to the subordinate
– allocating resources
– ensuring that responsibility is exacted from the subordinate (i.e. responsibility is upwards)
– ensuring that the subordinate has the ability and experience to undertake the tasks
– maintaining frequent contact – ensuring that the subordinate has the authority to do the job and that the nature of the authority is communicated to all concerned. That authority in turn may be specific or general.
B)
Job analysis is an important part of other descriptive documents which relate to the job itself. Before any other job related tasks such as a job description or performance measures can be undertaken, the job must be carefully analysed and described. Accounting Technicians, because of their often supervisory role, need to understand that job analysis underpins a great deal of other human resource issues.
(a) Job analysis may be described as ‘the process of collecting, analysing and setting out information about the content of jobs in order to provide the basis for a job description and data for recruitment, training, job evaluation and performance management. Job analysis concentrates on what job holders are expected to do.’
(** Students are not expected to repeat this definition exactly but are expected to provide a brief explanation of the term)
(b) A job analysis must be carried out systematically in order to obtain the facts about the job. The four stages are:
Stage 1: Obtain all the necessary relevant and appropriate documentation.
Stage 2: Ask managers about the purpose and more general aspects of the job, its main activities and the
responsibilities involved.
Stage 3: Ask the same questions of the job holders since perceptions may differ.
Stage 4: Actually observe the job holders at work.
(c) The purpose of the job. This in not obvious! For example, access to and provision of financial information has to be seen within the context of the whole organisation.
The content of the job. The tasks that are expected to be undertaken, for example, payment of staff will involve many different tasks related to payroll.
The accountabilities of the job. The results for which the job holder is responsible, much in the same way as the task.
The performance criteria. This is the measurement(s) by which the job holder is judged and may be based on task related matters such as work accuracy.
The responsibility of the job. This indicates the importance of the job and may be measured in terms of decision-making responsibility, accountability, discretion and programmed or unpredictable routines.
The organisational factors. To whom does the job holder report and whether by direct line management or function.
The developmental factors. These are the promotion and career prospects of the job.
The environmental factors. Working conditions, security and safety needs and requirements.
(d) Interviews establish the facts about a job, especially from the point of view of the job holder.
The advantages of interviews are:
– the flexibility in terms of time, environment and content
– that an interview is interactive and exchange of views is made possible
– easy to organise and carry out
– further questions and discussion can take place in the light of information already exchanged
– often reveals other problems or opportunities elsewhere in the organisation.
The disadvantages of interviews are:
– they can be extremely time consuming for all parties
– because of their open structure analysis is often difficult
– the interviewee may be on the defence, ill at ease and feel unable to be as open and frank as he or she might like.
C)
Rewards and appraisal
by Dr John Ball04 Sep 2001Professional SchemeRelevant to Paper 1.3Understanding what motivates people is necessary at all levels of management. It is of particular relevance in the accounting environment because technicians are usually supervisors and relationships are often on a personal, one to one basis. Technicians must understand the relevance of individual motivation; unless individuals are well managed and motivated they are unlikely to work to achieve the organisations objectives.
Motivation is frequently based on reward. Many writers describe rewards as having basically two dimensions – intrinsic and extrinsic.
Intrinsic rewards are to a great extent within the control of the individual. They include feelings of personal satisfaction, a sense of achievement, status, recognition, the opportunities for advancement, responsibility and pride in the work. This form of reward forms part of Maslow’s higher order thinking on motivation and is also often seen as akin to Herzberg’s motivators (or ‘satisfiers’); that is those factors directly concerned with the satisfaction gained from the job itself.
Extrinsic rewards on the other hand are those forms of reward which are outside the control of the individual and at the disposal of others; sometimes the individuals superior but more often the organisation itself. Extrinsic rewards can be ‘seen’ and are akin to Herzberg’s hygiene (or maintenance) factors. Because extrinsic rewards are obvious and can be ‘seen,’ not only by the individual concerned but by others, lack of attention can lead to job dissatisfaction and motivation problems. They include such simple matters as salaries and conditions, incentive arrangements (which are discussed later), share schemes, pension schemes, insurance and wider facilities such as creches. Surprisingly, these simple factors are often overlooked by management and can lead to problems in the workplace – even more so if other organisations are seen to be providing better rewards.
Reward systems have to be consistent, transparent and understood. Above all they should be equitable and seen to be fair. But they do not exist for their own sake, they are useful in assisting management in other ways. Prospective employees will wish to know whether a reward system exists and to understand it’s characteristics. For the organisation, a reward system aids recruitment and retention and ensures that employees work to a known and consistent standard. A well thought out reward system will reflect the nature of the post and task and recognise the skills and experience required to fulfil that particular post. A well constructed reward scheme will motivate employees, increasing commitment and effort.
Rewards are of course about performance. This is now an issue across all sectors of business and is not confined to the traditional manufacturing sector. Activities in business once seen as being beyond any kind of reward or bonus are more and more subject to “appraisal.” But how does this work? Appraisal systems are increasingly becoming an everyday part of business life yet remain misunderstood and badly managed.
In some industries, especially manufacturing, a reward scheme can be based on relatively simple matters such as the amount of production achieved within a specific timescale.
Such schemes can not of course apply to services such as accounting. Thus over the years, many service sector concerns (and indeed service departments within manufacturing) where traditional ‘bonuses’ do not readily apply, have adopted performance related pay as a method of reward. Appraisal systems do not of course necessarily occur only for performance related pay schemes. However – and this really is very important for all concerned – performance related pay must be related to some form of formal appraisal.
Appraisal systems are often misunderstood and mismanaged, especially if they form part of the duties of supervisors and lower level managers. All concerned must understand the background to, and the objectives of, the appraisal system.
The appraisal system should be a well constructed scheme which is fair to both individual and organisation. It must be accepted and understood that appraisals are formal events, and that the manager or supervisor carrying out the appraisal must be the appraisee’s immediate superior. It provides an opportunity to both look back at past achievements (and failings) and to look forward. Overall however, appraisal systems exist to improve organisational efficiency by ensuring that individuals perform to the best of their ability and develop their potential. This leads in turn to improved organisational performance.
For the individual being appraised, the appraisal has distinct advantages. It establishes the individual’s activities in relation to the overall objectives of the organisation. It provides key results which the individual needs to achieve within work within an agreed time scale. It compares the individual’s past performance and future activities against an agreed standard and of course provides the basis for performance related pay schemes.
The appraisal is by its very nature two sided. For the business organisation for which the individual works, suitable promotion candidates can be identified and trained, areas of overall organisational improvement can be seen and – in theory at least – communication is improved. For many organisations, the appraisal provides a basis for medium to long term human resource planning whilst at the same time, measures selection processes against results.
Dr John Ball is Examiner for Paper 1.3