Employee Development Programs :: Career Planning, Training and Development

Employee development programs are not a new idea in the United States. General Motors established one of the first corporate universities in 1927 with the General Motors Institute (Gerbman, 2000). The concept was slow to catch on, but in the 1950s a variety of organizations followed the same path. During the 1950s General Electric established Crotonville Management Development Institute and Walt Disney began Disney University (Gerbman, 2000). McDonald’s followed this trend with the establishment of Hamburger University to train its managers in the early 1960s (Garger, 1999). Despite these progressive organizations, employee development and career planning still experienced some growing pains. In the 1970s, career planning and development efforts were focused on young employees that seemed to have high potential. It was a way for companies to plan for the future and nurture young workers for senior management positions (Moses, 1999). This career path model fit well with the traditional commitment employees would offer to companies. Chris Argyris referred to this commitment as a â€Å"psychological contract† in which employers were almost guaranteed long term loyalty and commitment to the organization in return for giving employees job security, opportunities for promotion, and training (Feldman, 2000). The ability to get on this fast track to the top of a company diminished in the 1980s when companies were moving to a flattened hierarchy with less room for promotions. People quickly realized that they were reaching plateaus in their careers and the opportunities for advancement did not exist (Moses, 1999). The concept 5 of career planning became less realistic for both individuals and organizations because neither could count on long term commitment (Feldman, 2000). The stock market crash of 1987 was a major turning point in employee development. Daniel Feldman keenly states that, â€Å"where once large corporations were seen as bastions of job security, they are now seen as minefields of job insecurity† (2000). Not only were corporations flattening, they were also downsizing and restructuring to compensate for loss of revenue. These drastic changes in the job market also led to changes in employee development programs. Barbara Moses states that, â€Å"today, job security is dead and loyalty to the organization in the tradition sense has died along with it† (1999). Under this assumption, companies have to change the way they view employee development. Where once training and development were viewed as mechanisms for employees to move up the corporate ladder, promotion is no longer an incentive for employees because it is not a definite option.