Unit- IV/ HRM

Self Development

Self development describes taking steps to better yourself, such as by learning new skills
or overcoming bad habits. An example of self development is taking courses at the university to
learn new skills and interesting things.

Personal development includes activities that improve awareness and identity, develop
talents and potential, build human capital and facilitates employability, enhance quality of life
and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. The concept is not limited to self-help
but includes formal and informal activities for developing others, in roles such as teacher, guide,
counsellor, manager, coach, or mentor. Finally, as personal development takes place in the
context of institutions, it refers to the methods, programs, tools, techniques, and assessment
systems that support human development at the individual level in organizations.

At the level of the individual, personal development includes the following activities:
improving self-awareness
improving self-knowledge
building or renewing identity
developing strengths or talents
improving wealth
spiritual development
identifying or improving potential
building employability or human capital
enhancing lifestyle or the quality of life
improving health
fulfilling aspirations
initiating a life enterprise or personal autonomy
defining and executing personal development plans
improving social abilities

The concept covers a wider field than self-development or self-help: personal development
also includes developing other people. This may take place through roles such as those of a
teacher or mentor, either through a personal competency (such as the skill of certain managers in
developing the potential of employees) or a professional service (such as providing training,
assessment or coaching).
# Career Management
It is a process that involves preparing, implementing and monitoring career plans
undertaken by an individual alone or within the organizations career systems.

# Organisational career development programmes/ Interventions

1.Self-assessment tools a. Career planning workshops: These workshops are beneficial in helping
employees gain greater self-awareness and insight and learn more about
career opportunities in the organisation.

b. Career work-books: It consists of questions and exercises designed to

guide individuals to figure out their strengths and weaknesses.
2. Individual counseling One common career development activity is career counseling. It helps
individuals to discuss their career goals, current job activities,
performance, etc., using work books and other self-assessment exercises.
3. Information services: a. Job-posting systems: Which are commonly used by companies to
Internal communication inform employees about openings in the organisation using web sites,
systems are used by bulletin boards, newsletters, etc.
organisations to alert
employees about b. Skill inventories: Which are company files of data on employees
employment opportunities skills, abilities, experiences, etc., that are computerized. It is created to
at all levels. help organisations know the characteristics of their workforce so they
can effectively utilize employees skills.

c. Career ladders and career paths: Organisations usually map out the
present and future job positions. It is used to document possible patterns
of job movement including vertical or upward moves. The description of
a career path or ladder illustrates a career plan complete with the final
goal, intermediate steps, and timetable for raching the goal.

d. Career resource center: A centre consists of a small library set up to

distribute career development materials such as reference books, learning
guides, videos and self-study tapes.
4. Organisational a. Assessment centers: Assessment centers conducting variety of
Assessment programmes: situational exercises including tests, interviews, in-baskets, GDs and
It consists of methods for business games. The performance of participants is evaluated by a panel
evaluating employees of trained raters (Middle/Upper level managers) and they are given in-
potential for growth and depth development feedback on their strengths and weaknesses.
development in the
oragnisation. b. Psychological assessment: This method helps individuals determine
their vocational interest, personality types, work attitudes and other
personal characteristics that may reveal their career needs and
preferences.
 c. Promotability forecasts: It is used by organisations to make early
identifications of individuals with exceptionally high career potential.

d. Succession planning: Senior executives periodically review their top

executives and those in the next lower level to determine several backups
for each senior position.

e. Mentoring: It consists of establishing formal relationships between

junior and senior colleagues or peers.
5. Career programme for a. Fast-track employees: Organisations often identify stars or
special target groups individuals with high career potential and place them on a fast track for
upward moves in the company. They are given rapid and intensive
developmental opportunities in the company.

b. Outplacement programmes: It is for terminated employees in making

the transition to new employment and helping them find jobs faster than
they could on their own. It involves individual counseling session with
external or internal counselors where individuals are able to share their
feelings about being let go.

c. Programmes to entrenched employees: Some employees do not leave

the organisation though they are unfit. They stay in the job because of
their investments, psychological preservation and having no/few career
opportunities called entrenched employees.
6. Programmes for Women,
Minorities and Employees
with Disabilities.
7. Programmes for New a. Employee orientations programmes
employees (Early-career
issues) b. Anticipatory socialisation programmes
8. Programs for late career
and retirement
9. Programs to assist
employed spouses and
parents
 Mentoring or Coaching

Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or

more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person.

The person in receipt of mentorship may be referred to as a protg (male), a protge

(female), an apprentice or, in recent years, a mentee.

Mentoring/ Coaching:
A senior employee takes an active role in guiding another individual on career
opportunities.
Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the
psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional
development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a
sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge,
wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protg)".

Mentoring functions
1. Research the persons background
2. Make contact with the person: Both the mentor and protg should have a mutual friend
in order to liaison and bridge the gaps if necessary.
3. Request help as a particular matter: The protg should ask for help in a specific area
4. Consider what you can offer in exchange: Mentoring is a two way process. The protg
should also do some favour or benefit to the mentor
5. Arrange a meeting
6. Follow-up

Functions of successful mentoring

Efficient Mentors Efficient Protgs
Listen and understand Listen
Challenge and stimulate learning Act as advised
Coach Show commitment to learn
Build self-confidence Check ego at the door
Provide wise council Ask for feedback
Teach by example Are open minded
Act as role model Are willing to change
Share experiences Are proactive
Offer encouragement
 Mentoring techniques

The focus of mentoring is to develop the whole person and so the techniques are broad
and require wisdom in order to be used appropriately. There are five most commonly used
techniques among mentors were:

1. Accompanying: making a commitment in a caring way, which involves taking part in the
learning process side-by-side with the learner.
2. Sowing: mentors are often confronted with the difficulty of preparing the learner before
he or she is ready to change. Sowing is necessary when you know that what you say may
not be understood or even acceptable to learners at first but will make sense and have
value to the mentee when the situation requires it.
3. Catalyzing: when change reaches a critical level of pressure, learning can jump. Here the
mentor chooses to plunge (force) the learner right into change, provoking a different way
of thinking, a change in identity or a re-ordering of values.
4. Showing: this is making something understandable, or using your own example to
demonstrate a skill or activity. You show what you are talking about, you show by your
own behavior.
5. Harvesting: here the mentor focuses on "picking the ripe fruit": it is usually used to
create awareness of what was learned by experience and to draw conclusions. The key
questions here are: "What have you learned?", "How useful is it?".

Different Mentoring programs

a. New-hire mentorship

Newcomers to the organization (protgs) are paired with more experienced people
(mentors) in order to obtain information, good examples, and advice as they advance.

b. High-potential mentorship

In other cases, mentoring is used to groom up-and-coming employees deemed to have the
potential to move up into leadership roles. Here the employee (protg) is paired with a
senior level leader (or leaders) for a series of career-coaching interactions. A similar method
of high-potential mentoring is to place the employee in a series of jobs in disparate areas of
an organization, all for small periods of time, in anticipation of learning the organization's
structure, culture, and methods.

c. Mentorship in education

Mentorship programs are offered to support students in program completion, confidence

building and transitioning to further education or the workforce. There are also many peer
mentoring programs designed specifically to bring under-represented populations into
science and engineering.
 d. Blended mentoring

The blended mentoring is a mix of on-site and online events, projected to give to career
counseling and development services the opportunity to adopt mentoring in their ordinary
practice.

e. Reverse mentoring

In the reverse mentoring situation, the mentee has more overall experience (typically as a
result of age) than the mentor (who is typically younger), but the mentor has more knowledge
in a particular area, and as such, reverses the typical constellation. Examples are when young
internet or mobile savvy Millennial Generation teens train executives in using their high end
Smart Phones.

f. Business mentoring

The concept of mentoring has entered the business domain as well. This is different from
being an apprentice, a business mentor provides guidance to a business owner or an
entrepreneur on the entrepreneur's business. An apprentice learns a trade by working on the
job with the "employer".

# 8 tips for a successful mentor/protg relationship

1. Establish the nature of the relationship: Discuss whether you should make the
mentoring relationship official, so the mentor knows youll be looking to him or her for
guidance and the protg understands its appropriate to seek advice on a continued basis.
Understand this means there will be a link between the two people professionally, and be
sure both sides are on board.
2. Discuss what both sides need/want out of the relationship: Both people should have a
clear understanding of each persons expectations. That way, theyll able to honor the
arrangement. Be honest about how much time and energy each is ready to invest in the
relationship, and how each expects to learn from the other.

3. Create some kind of schedule: Decide how often it makes sense to meet or chat and the
type of time commitment. Agree on what type of communication makes the most sense
for your mentoring goals, and then stick to it.

4. Make it easy for your mentor to help you: Protgs should be prepared with a specific
request, topic of discussion, or question when seeking advice. Everyone is busy, so
focusing on a single purpose or outcome helps the mentor focus on giving the best
guidance possible with each interaction. Be prepared with background information, and
clearly explain what sort of help youre seeking.
5. Bring something to the table: Protgs probably get more value out of this type of
relationship, but something should be in it for the mentor, too. Associating with each
others personal or professional brands isnt something to take lightly. Be the kind of
young professional that experienced pros can be proud of, and show them youre ready to
grow and learn. People want to help people they think are going places.

6. Knowledge works both ways: A great mentor will help you see around corners. Theyll
draw from experience to help anticipate things the protg might not be aware of,
including harmful situations. Theyll warn a protg of issues in enough time to correct
behavior. But someone with less overall professional experience can be just as helpful.
Explaining or researching new technologies or offering a fresh perspective can be equally
valuable. Dont be afraid to engage in some reverse mentoring from time to time.

7. Adhere to the professional/friend dividing line: This is particularly important when

two people are professional colleagues, because sometimes the tendency to share work
frustrations could become a problem. As people get closer, theyll often become more
comfortable confiding in each other, so use good judgment to know what type of
discussion is appropriate. If a friendship develops, or has already developed, its OK as
long as both parties are comfortable with the situation. If the relationship becomes solely
a friendship, be willing to recognize the change and adjust accordingly. This doesnt
mean you cant go have a beer and talk to your mentor, but just be aware of how the
relationship may or may not be changing.

8. Be willing to recognize when youve grown apart: This is always a tough issue when
two people have a genuine interest in each others future. Realize, though, that the
relationship wont always be a good fit. You need to be comfortable with bringing up
those feelings and understand when both sides arent getting the same value. Change is
normal. If youre ready to leave the nest, be willing to say so.