Management development is defined as a process in which managers improve and learn their skills and knowledge so that they benefit not only themselves but also the entire organization.
Many organizations find it challenging to develop their leadership. Leadership development is a common problem. The trend seen in the market is that they promote the top performance into management roles, Feed them with training, seminars, and workshops, and throw them in the market. Those who survive in such a harsh and competitive market are promoted, and those who do not usually leave the organization. And surprisingly, most of the people fall in the latter category.
Executive development or management development is the most critical area of human resource management. It is also known as a management revolution. It is a systematic process of training and growth by which individuals apply knowledge and gain insights to manage their workers effectively. It is a planned and guided process undertaken by a manager to help himself become more competent in his current role.
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Two Different Ways by which Managers Develop Themselves
- Active participation in formal courses of instruction and management training programs
- Learning on a job or the field.
Training programs and development opportunities should be provided by the organization for their present as well as potential managers. Common training programs such as role-playing, lectures, case studies, and job rotation cannot guarantee managers’ proper training. Therefore it is essential that focused managerial training is given to such candidates.
The second part of managerial development is the effort of the individual himself. If the person himself is reluctant to put any efforts of his own, then no amount of training can help him. The urge for development should come from within the individual, and therefore, the person has to recognize the need for training in himself in the first place.
Management development has become very crucial in today’s competitive environment. Companies that are in tactical planning with management development are found to be more competitive than other companies.
80% of companies report management development programs than 90% which provides executive leadership training. About 35 to 38% of training budgets are usually dedicated to management development and learning programs.
Importance of Management Development
Management is a crucial asset to an organization. Although it is an asset that is not shown in the balance sheet, it influences the organization’s progress, growth, and profits.
Managerial assets are very costly to acquire, but as compared to other assets, they are low-cost and have a very high-profit potential. Senior management should focus on achieving and maintaining managerial positions because they influence employees’ growth.
Any corporation’s success depends on three types of actions taken by top management in the past. They are:
- Methodical and proper selection of correct people in the management cadre
- Placing the right people at correct positions
- Assuring that these properly placed managers can grow according to the expectations and stand up to the organization’s needs.
Modern companies cannot be successful without planned attention to the development of senior management and managerial staff. The technology market is exploding every day with new innovations.
Managers must adapt to new technology to manage sophisticated, complex, and more dynamic businesses. This will also keep them updated about the nature of competition and help them evolve and adapt to other challenges.
Some of the reasons behind the management development training programs are
- It is the responsibility of management to ensure the success of the organization; therefore, they are at a higher stake.
- Management deals with people from different backgrounds and cultures, languages, and other variations. Therefore management must understand people, and training will help them do that.
- Many vital decisions of an organization like downsizing, cost-cutting, mergers and acquisitions, production decisions, etc. are in the hands of management.
- Management should ensure that the employees are trained in the requirement of the job.
- The management’s responsibility is to ensure that the right people are assigned to the right jobs in the right place.
- Manager’s job is also to coordinate between employees and senior management. The messages from the ground level have to be passed in an orderly fashion to the senior management so that the employees can be heard, and the decisions of top management should be given in an organized manner to the ground level.
- It is entirely management’s decision based on intuition and judgment.
The manager understands the vision, mission, values, ethics, and other crucial organizational jargon and conveys it only to employees.
It is because of all of these reasons that management development programs are essential. The better trained they are, the better they will handle the organization’s problems and help it grow.
Objectives of Management Development
Following are a few of the primary objectives of the management development program:
- Ensuring that the organization is correctly staffed now as well as in the future with a relevant number of managers having the necessary experience and skills. They will have to ensure that the managers are committed to growth and maintaining or increasing the profitability by placing the correct man for the proper job. This will also ensure that there are competent people in the organization at every level.
- Ensuring that the organization’s human resources are entirely used so that humans’ talent and potential as a resource are optimally utilized. They should neither be wasted nor underutilized. Also, to ensure that the needs of both individuals as well as organizations are correctly and timely met.
- Providing Equal opportunity for the staff in the organization so that they can prepare themselves for senior assignments. The career expectations of the staff should be fulfilled with the help of training. Training will enable them for bigger jobs and better responsibilities.
- Apart from that, there could be many other objectives: preventing the obsolescence of managers, expanding the existing business or starting a new business, replacing old executives with young talent, and promoting high ethical values in the organization.
Steps to Develop for Management Development Program
Following are a few of the steps to develop a formalized management development program:
1. Identify goals for the program
The first step in any program development is to identify the ultimate goals that are to be achieved by the group. Usually, it is recommended to have 2 to 4 goals at a time rather than having multiple goals and fulfilling none.
There could be various programs and goals that you want to achieve, depending on the outcome you expect.
2. Determine the learning objective is to achieve each objective
Identify your learning objectives and consider what you want to accomplish with it. You should identify the end goal correctly. Do not think about the method of achieving it perfectly because objectives can be modified as you work your way towards the goal.
Learning activities are the ones that you will conduct to achieve learning objectives. These objectives are designed so that they should accommodate your employee’s style and be accessible to you as well as enjoyable.
3. Consider the use of materials that you may need to achieve your learning objectives
Study materials may be required for orderly implementation programs. The next step is the implementation of the program. During the implementation of the program, ensure that there are no surprises.
All the planned activities should be implemented correctly so that the program’s final implementation happens as expected.
4. The final step is the evaluation and follow-up of your program
Evaluate the quality of the activities which were performed during the program. Ensure that goals are achieved immediately after the program. Find the follow-up after completion so that you can measure the success of the program. Reflect on what you have learned and implement it properly.
Contents of Management Development
There are three areas in which management development training happens. These three areas are as follows:
1. Knowledge
Lower-level managers will not require very high administrative skills, but they will require technical skills a lot. On the other hand, higher-level executives will require abundant administrative skills.
This requirement is based on their functions, which are assigned to them. The managers are more into technicalities, which is why technical knowledge is compulsory.
On the other hand, as you move towards higher-level executives, they’re more involved in people management; therefore, administrative skills are necessary on that level.
2. Skills
There are primarily three skills: industry-specific technical skills, human relation skills, which are skills related to dealing with people at various levels, and finally, conceptual skills. Conceptual skills are a combination of intelligence, vision, and imagination, and all of these skills can be developed over time.
3. Attitudes
Attitudes are thinking like an executive, having empathy, team concept, and recognizing human values. Empathy here is defined as the ability to put yourself in other people’s positions and understand their minds and thoughts.
Improving Management Development
1. Personalized Coaching
One of the best ways to develop your employees is to start paying attention to them. Every employee on your staff has personal aspirations, and you should take the time to discover what they are as soon as possible.
Active listening is one of the strategies which is implemented by the HR interview for different employees casually. They ensure that they make it clear that the discussion’s objective is to help improve their professional development.
This will show great care and empathy as well as attention from the company towards the employee.
2. Professional Training Opportunities
Training opportunities are subject to the industries in which you operate. Professional training may take this in different forms, which are based on employee feedback.
Sometimes the company arranges in-house training, which can be cost-effective. In some cases, they may hire third-party agencies who specialize in hard skills related to niche technicalities. These days, there are also other platforms like Udemy, which can train employees in multiple fields.
3. Cross Department Soft Skill Development
Irrespective of the size of the company, it is essential that employees are encouraged to collaborate. Soft skills play a very crucial role in the development of employees. Therefore it is an excellent practice to place your staff in different projects which involve members from the cross-department.
This increases cooperation and collaboration skills. Ensure that projects consist of people with experience so that they can act as intermediaries between the staff members.
4. Personal Development Avenues
Finally, personal development will always be a high priority. Everybody desires what is best for them. Therefore you can always offer an optional personal development opportunity for the employees.
Your HR department can organize seminars, trips, meetings, etc. You can also offer local gym membership, free sessions to employees, complementary therapies, movie nights, book clubs, etc. usually, employed development channels are not very professional.
Still, they will help to improve the mental activity and productivity of the staff.
Conclusion
Management development is crucial for the improvement of management teams. It is essential for the career development of the managerial candidates and, in turn, necessary for your organization as well.
A company can be considered as profitable and successful if it receives optimum engagement from its top staff. Attending to the personal development and professional needs of the employees will help the organization to progress in the long run.
