Employee Development

Learning Organization

Organizations recognize the need to maintain a competitive position or, especially for nonprofits and governments , to provide services desired by clients and citizens . ^[33] As a result, senior management realizes that employees must develop new skills and increase knowledge. U.S. Department of Labor Studies, OCED Literacy Studies, and American Society for Training and Development research indicate that effective employee development results in increased profits and improved economic well-being for the organization and the employee. ^[34] However, it is easy to argue that training is time-consuming and costly; training attendance diminishes time on the job, which affects productivity and attention to customers.

Although course participation is a significant part of the learning mix, learning can also take place on a day-to-day basis. Organizations are promoting learning as an integral part of worklife. ^[35] In fact, Shoshana Zuboff believes that learning and working should be fully integrated. "The behaviors that define learning and the behaviors that define being productive are one and the same. Learning is not something that requires time out from being engaged in productive activity; learning is the heart of productive activity. To put it simply, learning is the new form of labor." ^[36]

Many organizations promote continuous learning by crafting a learning organization. Peter Senge first described the following parameters of learning organizations in 1990 in his book, The Fifth Discipline:

• Systems thinking is the discipline of seeing wholes, visualizing and acting on the interrelationships of the organization. It is recognizing patterns that may span departments. Systems thinkers do not reason in narrow terms and resist straight-line analysis.

• Personal mastery refers to employee proficiency through continually clarifying and deepening their own personal vision, focusing their energy, developing patience, and seeing reality objectively.

• "Mental models are deeply engrained assumptions, generalizations , or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action." ^[37] Mental models of desired change are necessary before change implementation can be successful.

• Shared vision "binds people together around a common identity and sense of destiny. A genuine vision causes people to do things because they want to, not because they have to." ^[38]

• Team learning raises the collective intelligence and capacity of a group through dialogue, feedback, and problem-solving activities. Team learning is achieved by overcoming defensiveness and the need for personal gain and attention.

According to Nancy Dixon, learning organizations support:

• Acquisition of information through external sources such as conferences, data collection, benchmarking, trend monitoring, collaborations, alliances, and consultants , and through internal sources such as organizational vision, job experience, feedback, and continuous improvement activities.

• Distribution and interpretation of information through messages in newsletters, e- mails , advertising, and press releases.

• Making meaning from shared unspoken but influential assumptions and through reflective, interpretative experiences such as action learning and special assignments.

• Organizational memory from the collection of information and experiences that can be found in records, processes, stories, and symbols.

• Retrieving information through databases and through informal stories and conversations among employees, even though they are limited by personal opinions , distorted perceptions, and aging memories. ^[39]

Learning organizations constantly strive to transform themselves . For example, learning organizations tend to encourage all employees to participate in decision making and view management decisions as "experiments," rather than edicts. Organizational information, formerly viewed as confidential, is used to inform and empower people. For example, accounting and control systems are opened up and designed to support employee inquiry. Employees are rewarded for ideas and actions that contribute to innovation and progress. Learning organizations link customers, suppliers, and the neighboring community with employees to increase communication and cooperation. Learning organizations produce a climate of self-development and inquiry.

Creating and sustaining learning organizations is challenging work. Peter Kline and Bernard Saunders have identified 10 steps for establishing learning organizations. ^[40]

1. Assess your learning culture.

2. Promote the positive.

3. Make the workplace safe for thinking.

4. Reward risk taking.

5. Help people become resources for each other.

6. Put learning power to work.

7. Map out the vision.

8. Bring vision to life.

9. Connect the systems.

10. Get the show on the road.

Sandra Younger compares learning organizations to basketball teams in this way:

"You do your job; you trust your teammates to do theirs. If you can't make the shot, you pass the ball to someone who can. Forget showboating. It's one for all and all for one. Nobody slamdunks in a vacuum . ... In essence, then, basketball is a game of collective intelligence, played best by organizations of players who are constantly learning as a team ”in short, a learning organization." ^[41]

Corporate Universities

As organizations consider the best departmental structure for employee development, many are forming "corporate universities." They are created primarily to align training and employee development with business strategy, provide a highly visible curriculum, and to secure and maintain executive sanction and support. ^[42] For example, GM University was originally headed by the former president of the successful Saturn product line, who was promoted to Chief Learning Officer. GM University, a global learning network, includes the following colleges: quality, brand, sales and service, leadership, communications, purchasing, financial, legal, public policy, engineering, health and safety, human resources, lean operations, and manufacturing. GM's vision is to "be a learning organization with a bias for action. The GM University will be a network of learning opportunities to continuously improve our understanding and skills to conduct and grow the business of General Motors." ^[43]

Corporate universities are becoming vital to organizational strength. "Gradually, major companies are making human resource investments just as they would make capital investments ”in essential education and training that will give employees skills, knowledge, and attitudes that will make them more productive and competitive." ^[44] In fact, "Corporate education and training has evolved from a fairly routine technically necessary but strategically insignificant activity to a potentially important source of competitive advantage." ^[45]

Definition and Scope

Four basic approaches are used for employee development: formal instruction, learning support, job experiences, and interpersonal relationships. ^[46]

1. Formal instruction can be traditional, classroom-based training, college classes attended through tuition assistance, distance learning events (such as Web-based programs), videoconferences, audioconferences, or self-study. Topics include:

   • Executive Retreats

   • Management and Supervision

   • Professional, Technical, and Skilled Trades

   • Clerical or Line Worker

   • Corporate Culture, Change Management, Problem-solving, Quality

   • Reengineering/New Product Launch

2. Learning support includes conference participation, assessment (e.g., performance appraisals , 360 ° feedback, and career inventories), performance support (e.g., embedded computer software help and telephone help desks), or corporate libraries.

3. Job experiences include on-the-job training, job aids and reference manuals, job rotation and special assignments, or team involvement.

4. Interpersonal relationships involve mentoring and coaching, informal suggestions "at the water cooler or mailroom," or advice received at lunch and breaks.

Both the employee and the organization are responsible for employee development. ^[47] In most cases, employees are responsible for learning and implementing changes in the workplace as a result of the learning opportunity. Employees are also responsible for enrolling themselves in the learning activity. Organizations have a responsibility to provide learning opportunities, to provide sufficient information about future jobs, and to honestly appraise current performance, thus allowing people to make wise and useful educational and learning selections.

Who Should Attend ?

One of the challenges in employee development is determining who should have the opportunity. George Odiorne categorizes employees in four groups as follows :

"Employees with high job performance and high potential are stars; those with high job performance and low potential are workhorses; those with low performance and high potential are the problem children; and those with low performance and low potential are the deadwood." ^[48]

Odiorne recommended spending 10 percent of the training budget on stars, 10 percent on problem children, and 80 percent on the workhorses who are the bulk of the workforce. According to Odiorne, the deadwood should be confronted through performance appraisals, and their future should be based on their response to the confrontation.

Working With Requesting Departments/Managing Vendors and Consultants

Good relations between requesting departments and training and development providers is critical for success in employee development. Typically, a manager recognizes a problem and believes that lack of knowledge or skills is at the heart of the matter. The manager contacts the PT practitioner or the training department for assistance in resolving the situation.

Requesting Departments

PT practitioners need to investigate the reason for the request and determine if an intervention will alleviate the problem or enhance competence. Employee development can be provided by external vendors or consultants or in-house trainers . Cost-benefit analysis is used to calculate the costs of various options and to compare them. PT practitioners weigh the advantages and disadvantages to justify their decisions.

Vendor/Consultant Alternatives

Deciding to use external resources to provide employee development means choosing from existing options or designing customized approaches. ^[49] Vendors typically begin with existing materials and adapt their approach, as needed and as budget permits .

Tailoring involves using ready-made materials by supplementing with exercises, case studies, or simulations in auxiliary materials. Tailoring is effective for generic topics, such as computer software, interpersonal skills, benchmarking, or problem solving.

On the other hand, vendors use customizing to modify content and materials in more job-specific situations, such as new-hire orientation or technical training. Customizing is based on generic content that can be used with many other clients. Job-specific diagrams, directions, examples, and exercises are created and placed within the participant materials. For example, machine operation directions need to be clear and precise for safety reasons. If the training was based on generic directions, it would be confusing and could lead to accidents.

Consultants tend to create materials or courses that exactly match the requirements of the situation. Consultants are usually more expensive in the development phase, but can become more cost-efficient during delivery by requiring fewer participation days or by creating targeted learning events.

Selecting Vendors or Consultants

Getting the best vendor or consultant requires careful selection based on fairness. Networking and references are excellent starting points for identifying potential vendors or consultants. Client organizations usually like to create bid lists by prequalifying outside vendors and consultants. Vendors are usually selected by evaluating instructor guides, participant materials, auxiliary materials, and related media. In addition, vendors and consultants are evaluated on their relevant experience, financial stability (if appropriate), size and expertise, reputation and trustworthiness , and ability to fit into the client's organizational culture. The major question is, Will the vendor or consultant meet desired expectations on time and within budget?

Request for Proposals (RFP) and Proposals

Requests for employee development services begin by drafting specifications, including cost projections. Internal requesting departments, along with the PT practitioner, describe the current situation and problem, desired outcomes and deliverables, a timeframe, conditions (such as facilities or printing capabilities), and preferred experience of the bidder. PT practitioners send the requirements to pre-selected vendors or consultants as a request for proposal (RFP). The RFP also includes proposal specifications such as bid date and location for deliverables, quality assurance expectations, and invoicing directions.

Proposals are written by vendors and consultants to convey to the requesting organization their willingness to deliver the desired employee development services. Proposals contain specific information to explain the vendor's recommended approach to resolving the situation, staffing resources, pricing, deliverables, and the conditions necessary to meet the bid requirements (such as access to someone knowledgeable about the situation). Proposals are reviewed using predetermined criteria. The chosen vendor or consultant is notified immediately, after which nonselected vendors are notified.

Confidentiality

Consultants, vendors, and requesting organizations have obligations to respect each other's confidentiality. It is expected that the requesting organizations will not disclose bid contents to other bidders nor will they use any ideas of bidders not selected. Consultants and vendors must keep problem situations, disclosed during the bid process, confidential.

Management and Employee Support

Employee development cannot be effective without the support of workers and management. Without trust, requesting departments are reluctant to share problems and ask for assistance. Participants resist applying what they have learned to the job. In addition, managers and employees might not attend sessions and there could be excessive cancellations .

McDermott recommends that PT practitioners inspire confidence and maintain appropriate communications by doing some of the following:

• Facilitate meetings, especially with senior executives, so they are viewed as helpful and capable of leadership.

• Provide results information by tracking budgets , attendance, post-course results, tuition assistance usage, mentoring successes, job assignments, job aids, etc.

• Chart employee development costs and create reports about the value of employee development.

• Advertise successes and encourage employees to take advantage of employee development opportunities.

• Treat employees and management as valued customers; create partnerships.

• Consult with management and employees about their needs. Focus on solving problems and making a difference in the workplace.

• Link employee development to the organization's objectives and plans. ^[50]

The previous list includes thought starters and represents the myriad of possible actions. The key is the flexibility, confidence, and enthusiasm of the PT practitioner.

Situation

The Managed Care College (MCC) is a professional health care educational development program designed to promote collaborative interdisciplinary practice and clinical improvement. Participants in the college study various approaches to continuous improvement within health care delivery. In addition, they are also introduced to the business side of health care and it how affects their daily work environment. Curriculum topics include Evidence-based Medicine, Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), Outcomes Research, Population and Disease Management, Understanding Patient Needs, Benchmarking, Measurement and Statistical Tools, Team Development, and the Business of Health Care. The purpose of the MCC is to integrate concepts of managed care and CQI into the daily routines and practices of professional staff within the Henry Ford Health System (HFHS).

MCC began in 1993 as part of the Metro Medical Group, which was a professional practice group associated with HFHS. A need to educate physicians on managed care as a new and growing concept in the Detroit area became apparent. Shortly thereafter, this professional practice group was assimilated into the HFHS and, during the transition, the MCC was identified as a new type of applied learning. The concepts taught in the curriculum met a need within the HFHS for education pertaining to managed care principles and applied CQI.

Intervention

The MCC views managed health care as the deliberate integration of health care financing to:

• Provide comprehensive, continuous care to a defined population.

• Conserve human and material resources.

• Distribute resources effectively, rationally, and fairly.

• Enable the continuous improvement of the services being provided.

The MCC is open to all professionals within the HFHS including physicians, nurses, physician assistants, nurse specialists, administrators, and other disciplines. The program is designed to integrate managed care and continuous quality improvement by having participants identify a study population, evaluate risk factors, direct benchmarking efforts, collect and analyze data, plan and implement interventions, assess results, reevaluate, and redesign as necessary. This is accomplished through required classroom sessions of approximately 40 hours over a nine-month period including elective classes on various topics to support content. In addition, the participants complete an integrated work project (IWP) of their choice while participating in an interdisciplinary team. These projects are presented at the end of the curricular year by storyboard presentation and written assignment.

MCC faculty is drawn from medicine, nursing, research, administration, and a variety of other professional disciplines within HFHS. Many are nationally recognized in their field. The focus in the MCC on interdisciplinary teamwork is duplicated in the faculty composition.

Results

Evaluation of learning is both formative and summative . An ongoing formative evaluation of the learners' subjective responses to the material is completed after every class session. This information helps faculty meet participants' ongoing needs. To assist appropriate planning and finetune the following year's curriculum, a summative evaluation is conducted at the end of the curricular year, along with an analysis of events within the HFHS (i.e., impact of legislation on health care) that may need to be included. In addition, a review of each team's storyboard and presentation and the organizational needs of HFHS influence the suggested topics for the next year's interdisciplinary teamwork projects.

One-on-one interviews with various participants and identification of ongoing departmental/regional projects that began within MCC interdisciplinary teams provide further data for an analysis of MCC's effectiveness.

Lessons Learned

Lessons learned during the five years since MCC was established are:

1. Allowing teams to pick their own topics for integrated work projects produces a more enthusiastic team and a more sustainable project.

2. Adjusting class hours to meet the needs of the participants, relative to their job requirements, supports the needs of the system.

3. Soliciting topic suggestions from each session for the upcoming sessions allows for a less structured, learner-focused curriculum that better meets the needs of the learner.

4. Less didacticism and more dialogue promotes effective learning.

5. Ongoing, formative evaluation is critical to implementing effective change processes.

6. CQI is a proven process for improvement; however, conducting a formal cause analysis could help to identify other gaps in professional performance not readily fixed with training and education.

7. Organizational change affects the daily work practices of professional staff whether they are on an inpatient floor, in an outpatient clinic, in an administrative office, or another area of activity.

The MCC tries to instill an awareness of the interrelationship of these factors and how they all impact and improve patient care. Thus, MCC influences employees' daily professional actions and improves health care delivery.

MCC case study was written by Debra Demeester, M . A . , R.N., Curriculum Manager, and John Wisniewski, M.D., M.H.S.A., Director, Managed Care College, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI. Used with permission.

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^[29] Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, 1973

^[30] OCED, 1997

^[31] OCED, 1998, p. 3

^[32] Stata, 1989, p. 64

^[33] Swotzky and Morrison, 1997

^[34] Veum, 1996; Bassi, Cheney, and Van Buren, 1997; OCED, 1997

^[35] Watkins and Marsick, 1993

^[36] Zuboff, 1988, p. 395

^[37] Galagan, 1991, p. 37

^[38] Galagan, 1991, p. 38

^[39] Dixon, 1992

^[40] Kline and Saunders, 1993

^[41] Younger, 1993, p. 1

^[42] Meister, 1998

^[43] Hain, 1998