Employee Development in a Recent Trade Magazine Research Paper

Employee Development

In a recent trade magazine an article appeared that states "the training and development world remains largely stuck in dated thinking practices and programs that are increasingly ineffective and often irrelevant" (Bell, Majer, 2011, p. 62). According to the article work in America is no longer just focused on manufacturing goods, with the new global economy, work is also about "coordinating with others both inside and outside of a business to mobilize resources that enable the effective and efficient production of customer satisfaction" (p. 62). If that is true then employee development, which is already gathering steam in today's corporate world becomes more important not only to the major corporations, but to small and medium-sized enterprises as well.

Many managers have finally come to the realization that helping their employees develop additional skills and leadership traits not only benefits the employee, but benefits the employee's co-workers and the company as well. This is true for both large corporations as well as small and medium sized firms, therefore each type of entity should make extended offers to provide as many developmental opportunities as possible.That may not be as possible for small to medium companies as it is for large corporations.

One recent study determined that "human resource issues are emergin as some of the most prominent concerns for owner/managers" (Pajo, Coetzer, Guenole, 2010, p. 281). The study also found that there were certain barriers to small business' that large business' did not face when attempting to provide employees with developmental opportunities. Knowing "the significant economic contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to national economies (Mason, Barrett, 2006; Cardon, Stevens, 2004)

it is likely that the greater impact of employee development could take place in the non-corporate workforce, but that the barriers the small and medium-sized companies face are significant. For one thing how can the small business owner send his employees to developmental training courses (as much as he might want to) if it takes the employee away from ongoing duties that are essential to the viability of the company?

A number of studies have shown that small and medium-sized companies are less likely to provide the developmental opportunities employees might desire due to time constraints,.....