Introduction
Employee development is a major component of satisfying human resources. However, most organizations establish and tailor their training and development programs to fit the general employees while often bypassing one building block of a stable workforce, namely the management. Just like other personnel, the management officials require training and development as leaders and role models. Employee management development involves training, coaching, refreshing, and imparting skills that are meant to boost organizational growth at the management level. The major force behind management development frameworks is the achievement of organizational goals. Hence, the research interests fall in the area of worker training and development where organizations are expected to offer extra coaching, irrespective of whether an employee or a manager is experienced in his or her line of duty. The research seals the knowledge gap that has existed between the top managers and the general staff members. This paper uses the ABC Oil & Gas Company to investigate the extent to which the company has deployed the strategic employee management development program to help in the retention of the best management force.
Background
ABC Oil & Gas Company is a private business that is located in Bad Axe, MI. The company boasts of its yearly proceeds that range between USD10-20million. Employee management training developed from a period when it was a norm for organizations to treat and perceive employees as servants and mere laborers. The onset of human resource development in modern management has brought about modern human resource development where employees are treated as colleagues and partners. As the component that drives production and efficiency in organizations, the administration needs a pool of talents. Some of these managerial abilities can only be achieved through learning and development. The process of upgrading workers in ABC Oil & Gas Company takes the form of training, development, and education (Jayakumar, David & Sulthan, 2014). These active processes are part of the company’s human resource development department that does the annual calendar employee retention tactics.
Through training, ABC Oil & Gas Company has managed to curb flaws such as incompetence through the employee/management evaluation program. Training is tailored towards the specific job that an individual employee does. ABC Oil & Gas Company’s managers face diverse challenges in their daily jobs. For instance, they are required to be in touch with the latest technology, deal with diversity issues, solve conflicts among employees, allocate duties, supervise them, and evaluate employees (Zwick, 2015). Hence, the only way that they can keep pace with new developments in their field is through constant employee training where practical skills and knowledge are imparted. Therefore, learning is made easy through practice.
Trainees are educated about their specific jobs and the roles that they are likely to assume in the future (Sawitri & Muis, 2014). The evaluation of educational programs is also based on such jobs. For instance, managers are educated on the kind of people they are likely to supervise at the new levels, their levels of education, experience, and expectations. Training is also done on various skills and knowledge areas that are necessary for the management at a particular organizational level. The development program at ABC Oil & Gas Company has been successful to the extent that employees demonstrate wholesome skills in their current jobs and hence the reason why the company takes pride as the market leader, thanks to its well-trained human resources (Zwick, 2015). The training and development program has positioned the company’s managers in a progressive trend of offering their services such as delivering excellent results, being eligible for promotions, and maintaining better communication in the organization. Development is hardly measured due to its progressive nature.
The issue of training and development is a common venture in most of the oil and gas companies across the world (Ji et al., 2012; Sawitri & Muis, 2014). Programs have to be established to cater to the changing employee needs because of the dynamics of the oil and gas industry. ABC Oil & Gas Service Company has been on the frontline in terms of developing the employee training and development program. The program has helped the company to stand amidst any tough economic crisis.
Critical Literature Review
The problem of lack or inadequate employee management development programs in most organizations and human resource development is long overdue. Many organizations enact policies that cater for employee training and development. However, very few organizations have concentrated their efforts on the training of employees at the management level. There is a general assumption that managers are more informed, flawless and that they do not require further training. In addition, the assumption is that for anyone to receive a promotion from the general employee level to a manager, he or she must have portrayed a certain degree of mastery and experience. Hence, the assumption considers training irrelevant. On the contrary, employees at the management level require more training and development. Managers and other employees need to have their energy rejuvenated through the upgrading of their skills. Managers are required to supervise and evaluate fresh employees who bring in new technology and ways of doing things in the organization. Therefore, ABC Oil & Gas Company has invested in its human resources, including managers, who receive regular training and skill development.
The company’s employee management and development program has enabled the Human Resource Development (HRD) to maintain competent human resources in the organization. Under this endeavor, the HRD ensures that the employees and managers have their skills and knowledge improved progressively (Zwick, 2015). The guiding principles in training and development include the job requirements and job description of the individual employee or manager (Ji, Huang, Liu, Zhu & Cai, 2012). Training and development are also guided by the evaluation report for the individuals who partake in the training. Various development programs are implemented to address the issue of competence of various human resource functions in an organization (Juhdi, Pa’wan & Hansaram, 2015). As an organization responds to the dynamics of management, operations, and production processes, the human resources need to be equipped to usher in the change (Teck-Hua & Catherine, 2015). ABC Oil & Gas Company is a working illustration of businesses that have benefited from their employee training and development programs. For instance, with the inception of computerized services, ABC Oil & Gas Company had to train its employees and managers on the required information communications technology. The program has enabled the human resource at ABC Oil & Gas Company to offer services more efficiently and effectively. The computerization of oil and gas services has also translated to timesaving on the part of the customers. Moreover, accuracy and reduced flaws, including oil wastage through spillage, have also been reduced through the establishment of the employee training and development program since employees in the company now appreciate the need to exercise caution when dealing with the company’s resources.
Secondly, employee management development provides an opportunity for human resources to develop their careers. Every employee desire to be a better performer, more equipped, and/or be in a better position to sustain not only him or herself but also people who are around him or her (Jayakumar et al., 2014). However, career development requires employees and managers to have extra skills and knowledge for them to be promoted to the next level. ABC Oil & Gas Company has realized the need for its employees and managers to undergo personal development that matches their training, skills, and job requirement. Through training and development, HRD identifies specific skills and talents that are then hyped to upgrade managers or employees in their careers (Church, Rotolo, Ginther & Levine, 2015). For instance, employee management development has made ABC Oil & Gas Company be one of the best employers in the world. One of the major reasons for turnover is poor or lack of career development plans in organizations. An organization that taps on this rare endeavor in HRD is assured of retaining the best managers in its human resources. Thirdly, according to Ferreira and Leite (2013), employee management development programs enhance human resource work commitment. The training and development program has helped ABC Oil & Gas Company’s employees and managers to improve in terms of their job efficacy and efficiency. When employees believe that they have the necessary skills to handle a particular task, they desire to pledge their allegiance to that job (Khanfar, 2014), contrary to managers and employees who find their jobs more challenging and above their knowledge and skills level. Although jobs should be challenging to human resources, they should not be too tasking to the extent of attracting work-life and work-family conflicts, which fuel employees’ desire to leave their jobs. Loyalty is a major driver of efficiency at ABC Oil & Gas Company. The HRD ensures that right from the trainee level to the actual job position, employees and managers are properly exposed to the nature of work they are expected to do. Job turnover and voice are also reduced through employee management development programs. Employees and managers will not regard training and development as one of the reasons for turnover. Reducing the reasons for turnover in an organization enhances job commitment and loyalty.
Ijigu (2015) reveals how employee management development plans enhance job satisfaction. Satisfied employees or managers are committed to their jobs. Human resources can be difficult to manage when they are not content with what they do and what they get. Through development and training, the HRD ensures that the human resources are well oriented to their job requirement and that any deficient skill is imparted (Shaheen, Ghayyur & Yasmeen, 2014). Therefore, training and development make employees wholesome. Following the satisfaction of employees at ABC Oil & Gas Company, the program has also improved communication within and without the organization and hence the reason why the organization has achieved its goals (Ijigu, 2015). The company has also adopted rewards and recognition tactics to ensure all-around job satisfaction. Following the excellent results that the company has witnessed, thanks to the program, rewarding employees has gone an extra mile to make them feel valued by the organization, owing to their contribution.
According to Khanfar (2014), employee development facilitates change management and succession. Every organization needs to nurture budding leaders who can take over senior management positions when the current bunch of leaders retires or resigns. With succession in mind, whether it is planned or spontaneous, HRD equips employees and managers at junior levels with the knowledge and skills that are required at the senior levels. Organizations run into crisis whenever one or several senior managers die or resign or are headhunted by other organizations (Khoreva & Vaiman, 2015). This situation makes training and development important since an organization that has well-equipped juniors can avoid the huge spending in headhunting and the inefficiency that is caused by the absence of one or several managers (Khanfar, 2014).
Since ABC Oil & Gas Company is aware of the inevitability of change, its HRD has never been embarrassed by any of the above eventualities since its development program enables it to counter such situations by having an employee in place who can take over a vacant position comfortably. When employees and managers are trained and developed, they also live to the expectation that they can hold better jobs and positions in the future of the organization (Ferreira & Leite, 2013). This research counters the assumption that an organization will always hire new people to seal the gap that any retiring, fired, or a dead employee leaves behind. Employees and managers need to be trained before the adoption of new processes.
Conclusion
The program is a major facet of HRD. Although most modern organizations have embraced training and development, there is a general laxity in the training of managers. The above discussion declares employee management development plan crucial since it enables performance improvement, facilitates change management and succession, enhances job satisfaction, enhances human resource commitment, enables the HRD to develop competent human resources, and provides an opportunity for human resources to develop their careers. As illustrated through the ABC Oil & Gas Company, the program has benefited the company to the extent that the company does not witness significant cases of employee turnover and that the company has been able to achieve its organizational goals.
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