Description of process oriented development

The development of the human resources is important for organizations in so far, that their competitiveness more and more stems from the quality of their employees (cf. Chambers, Foulon, Handfield-Jones, Hankin, & Michaels, 1998; Beardwell et al., 2004, p. 269; Drumm, 2008, p.

333 ff.). This is represented well in the critical success factors as collected by Solga, Ryschka, and Mattenklott (2011, p. 28 f.):

. Development goals and contents should be oriented along the organization’s strategy.

. Development activities should be linked with each other and with the HR functions along the organization’s strategic goals.

. Through the establishment of a “learning culture” a framework for the long term develop-ment of strategically relevant qualifications should be created.

. The transfer of knowledge and application of new skills in daily activities should be re-quired, supported, and rewarded.

. Organizational design decisions should support the development of qualifications by em-ployees.

. Development activities should be evaluated.

These factors (cf. Baruch & Peiperl, 2000, p. 360 ff.) heavily influence how a process oriented application of employee development should be understood. While a very broad range of activi-ties can be subsumed under the heading employee development or human resource development (cf. Swanson, 1995; Swanson & Holton III, 2008), here development will be understood as a term for the classical concept of “training and development”, “a process of systematically develop-ing work-related knowledge and expertise in people for the purpose of improvdevelop-ing performance”

(Swanson & Holton III, 2008, p. 204). In a training and development understanding training focuses on the short term, targeting new employees or employees with new responsibilities or

activities, while development is more geared towards the long term with targeting the devel-opment of knowledge and expertise beyond their current activity assignments (e.g., Winterton, 2007, p. 328 ff.). The term development in this thesis encompasses both the short and the long term view. This fits with the development function of the human resource cycle discussed in section 2.2.3, however, it precludes some activities that are more strategically oriented. This lim-itation, however, is acceptable as the focus of this discussion is on the more operative activities that can directly relate to operational business processes.

Following this distinction and the success factors outlined above the need for development stems from three primary sources: the organization, the process and the employee himself (see figure 14). The organizational context provides the overall goals which employee development should support, as well as more broad human resource strategies that involve employee devel-opment and to which it has to adhere (cf. Drumm, 2008, p. 335 f.). The operational processes define qualification requirements, responsibilities, and specific performance goals derived from the overall organizational goals (see also section 4.3.3.3) from which the concrete development needs can be derived. Finally, the employee himself provides the potential that is to be devel-oped as well a personal career plan they wish to fulfill (cf. Klug, 2011, p. 35). In this context career planning offers the requirements for the long term development activities by highlighting the deficit between the employees qualifications and potential future requirements, while perfor-mance appraisals supply the short term training goals by focusing on the discrepancy between currently required qualifications, the performance, and the employees current profile.

A process oriented approach to development should include a process orientation in career planning as well as performance appraisal (cf. the change in development portrayed in Pritchard

& Armistead, 1999). A process oriented approach to appraisals has already been outlined in the previous section (section 4.3.3.3). In summary the appraisal focuses on the goals and targets of the operational business processes the employee is involved in instead of goals derived from functional assignments. In practice the specific goals of an employee do not have to substantially differ. The change lies in the way the goals are derived. The idea is that through the focus of operational business process and process goals the goals derived for individual employees are transparently and explicitly related to business process and, therefore, organizational success.

Careers (“the pattern of work related experiences that span the course of a person’s life”;

Greenhaus, Callanan, & Godshalk, 2009, p. 10) themselves are specific to an individual’s point of view and do not directly relate to one single organization. From an organizational standpoint, however, careers are insofar relevant as they relate to employee retention and succession manage-ment as a part of the staffing function. The managemanage-ment of an employee’s career possibilities by an organization is influence by a broad range of factors: the reward strategy of the organization, the appraisal processes, the culture and values of employees and the organization, training and development opportunities, promotion opportunities, etc. (Bolton & Gold, 1994, p. 8). Four general approaches can be identified in relation to the management of employees careers (or the management of successions; cf. Bolton & Gold, 1994, p. 11). These range from very basic approaches that can be characterized as reactive management to the long term development of each individual employee. The simplest approach is to fill vacancies when they become vacant.

There is no forward planning at all. More active are single step planning approaches in which

organizational context

development

career planning

deficit for future activities

deficit for current activities

employee business

process

performance appraisal

Figure 14: Sources for development needs of employees (based on P. J. Taylor et al., 1998; Scholz, 2000, p. 506; Drumm, 2008, p. 339; Klug, 2011, p. 35).

successors for positions are identified from the organizational layer below. Another approach incorporates the single step planning with specific fast tracking of certain employees that have a high potential. The other end of the spectrum concentrates on each individual employee and how they can achieve their potential resulting in vacancies with many requirements (cf. Baruch

& Peiperl, 2000, p. 358 ff.).

Focusing on operational business processes and process oriented development, career planning provides business processes for which a process performer should be potentially considered. As noted before a process orientation in organizations generally leads to a blurring of fixed positions and rigid career paths (see section 2.4.3). This impact is notable in vocational training (e.g., Bahl, Koch, Meerten, and Zinke 2004; Bahl et al. 2005; Koch 2012; Koch and Meerten 2003) but affects organizational training and development as well. Employees need to be trained in the specific processes they will be performing and not fixed job profiles that might not match the day to day activities anymore.

Based on the short discussion of a process oriented approach to career planning and per-formance appraisal a process oriented development can now be outlined. Figure 15 shows the development activities as they relate to an operational business process and the possible support that can be provided by a proHRIS.

The general steps for the development of employees with regard to an operational business process consist of the employee planning (as seen in section 4.3.3.2), the actual employee devel-opment, and the performance appraisal (see also section 4.3.3.3). The first step in identifying the requirements for the development of employees is the collection of development needs (cf. Arm-strong, 2006, p. 571; Drumm, 2008, p. 342 ff.; Klug, 2011, p. 49 ff.). This is done during employee planning (see section 4.3.3.2; especially figure 11; cf. Drumm, 2005, p. 232) where duties and requirements of employees assigned to specific tasks are identified. During employee planning different scenarios of employee to task assignments are created resulting in different development needs for the planned employees. These represent one part of the needs stemming from the operational business processes. Additionally, development needs resulting from the performance appraisal of the employees factor into these needs. From the employees side his

employee

Figure 15: Process oriented development activities (based on Scholz, 2000, p. 508; Müller et al., 2005; Armstrong, 2006, p. 571 ff.; Drumm, 2008, p. 339; Leyking & Angeli, 2008, p.

41; Noe, 2010, p. 7; Solga et al., 2011, p. 23 ff.).

or her career plans are taken into account and in combination with the process based needs result in the development needs. While shown in a linear relationship in the figure, the reference between the single steps is more circular as they require coordination between the process owner and the (potential) process performers.

Once the development needs have been finalized, fitting development activities have to be selected. There is a broad range of possible development activities and techniques that can be used for the development of employees. A possible classification is shown by Demmerle, Schmidt, Hess, Solga, and Ryschka (2011) and consists of simulation techniques, feedback tech-niques, behavioral modeling training techtech-niques, cognitive techtech-niques, presentation techtech-niques, moderation techniques, casework techniques, and systemic techniques (cf. Armstrong, 2006, p.

579 ff.). Simulation based development activities are, e.g., role-playing, case studies, or business simulations. Here employees are placed in a simulated environment to test, train, and perfect behaviors without having to fear real implications in case of problems (e.g., Ben-Zvi & Carton, 2007; Ruben, 1999). Behavioral modeling training methods at their core consist of the trained employees observing a “model person” performing the activities with the desired behavior. Based on this, learning goals are derived and then trained employees perform the activities themselves, e.g., in the context of a business simulation, and receive feedback about their success. Most

“on-the-job” training, such as job familiarization, can be seen as such training methods. The employees observe coworkers performing the activities and emulates them receiving direct feed-back (cf. Scholz, 2000, p. 511). Another example are casework techniques in which to be trained employees analyze real work challenges they encounter during their day-to-day activities and develop solution approaches with the help of a coach or expert.

Independent on the technique used for a process oriented approach it is important to integrate the operational processes in the development techniques. In the named examples this can be

achieved by, e.g., using process models in the simulation or even simulate business processes on a case to case basis. In casework techniques the focus on the operational processes is inherent through the usage of real world challenges which result from the enactment of the business process and problems in achieving set process targets or goals. Another possibility is the inclusion of reference processes which can serve as guidelines or discussion basis for the analysis of concrete operational processes. Even in a more classical teaching setting (clear “off-the-job” training such as external certifications etc.), processes can be used as the basis for the development of the curriculum, as it is already proposed in vocational education literature (e.g., A. Maurer &

Rauner, 2011; Spöttl & Schulte, 2012), or imported into e-Learning systems (e.g., Kraemer et al., 2007).

This direct reference to operational business processes can also result in changes to the pre-scriptive processes, so that they include “on-the-job” learning opportunities for the process performers. For example, assigning two employees to an activity resulting in an overabundance of capacity, but allowing one employee without the required qualifications to learn from his or her colleague during the enactment of the process.

The last activities of the process oriented development are performed during performance appraisal of the employees. Additionally, to aspects discussed in section 4.3.3.3, the appraisal of employees can relate to development goals of employees. This can serve as basis for an updated employee planning in which the employee fulfills the qualification requirements or can even have an impact on the employees wage (depending on the reward strategy). The appraisal can also relate to the development activities themselves. If they are intended as a method to increase the performance or reduce problems originating from employee behavior or qualification discrepancies there has to be a way to measure their success (cf. Solga, 2011). One possible way is to take into account performance appraisals of the employees after they have completed the development activities (see also the success factors listed at the beginning of this section).