Impact of Professional Development on Employee Performance

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background

 Employee performance is the expectations of tasks performed by an individual and the outcome of the task.  Have you ever worked for an organization and felt like you gave them your all but just wasn’t satisfied? Or you worked for someone but there wasn’t any motivation besides you needing the income to pay your bills. Both situations occur on a daily basis. Organizations hire based on an individual’s skill set, effort and nature of labor which is a mixture that represents job performance. The performance of an employee or an organization depends heavily on its strategic plan, policies and procedures of an organization. I’ve worked for an organization where the morale and the successes of the organization had fallen. The organization was less invested in its employees and the employees were less motivated to perform quality work. Managing employee performance is about aligning the organization’s strategic plan with the employees’ performance which can produce job satisfaction. Enhancing your employee’s skillset is a powerful tool for engaging employees and by linking their new skillsets to organizational objectives so that ultimately everyone is focused on the success of the business. Recognizing employee job performance through rewards can vary. An organization may provide to employee’s rewards either in a financial form like bonuses or a non-financial type like time off, acknowledgement for the achievement of an employee or other incentives within the organization making the employee’ experience a high job satisfaction and motivation to continue to achieve at a high job performance.

Problem Statement

The success of some organizations could be suffering due to the morale of the organization. Employees who are recognized/rewarded for their job performance tend to be happier in the workplace, whereas those who aren’t acknowledged lack motivation to perform at a high level which could lead to employment turnover. I think if employees are recognized or received professional development they would perform better in their roles. Globally there are rapid changes in this organizational era, especially with technology. Technological changes can have an effect on the demand of talented workers. Providing professional development can assist with improving job performances. Many employees cannot cope with the rapid technological changes and results in low job performance. Therefore, improvement and upgrading of employees’ job performance are very impartment and it could be a determination of organizational successfulness. They must become more marketable to face the challenges in the rapidly changing business environment. This also can help the organization to gain competitive advantage and thus able to compete with other competitors.

Purpose of the Study

 Employees that receive professional development, recognized and rewarded verses employees who aren’t motivated to perform. The directparticipation of staff to help an organization fulfill its mission and meet its objectives by applying their own ideas, expertise, and efforts towards solving problems and making decisions. Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs.

Study Hypothesis

 Employees who don’t receive professional development tend to perform below average in their job performance.

Chapter 2: Review of the Literature

What Motivates People?

People tend to perform well when encouraged or motivated to do a particular task. Starting in a new position you may feel excited or some anxiety to perform the job at hand. Receiving motivation or encouraging words may assist with your overall job performance. Going through everyday life we may experience they types of feelings. Abraham H. Maslow developed at theory of human motivation. People strive to satisfy these identified groups of needs; Physiological, Safety, Social, Esteem and Self-actualizing. The hierarchy of needs presents that most people think of finding a job as a way of obtaining the necessities in life.

Performance Standards

 Durbin (2005) states you have little chance of doing a good job and impressing your manager unless you know what you are trying to accomplish. Work goals and performance standards represent the most direct ways of learning your manager’s expectations. Performance standards is what constitutes acceptable performance.  It is believed not only have a good relationship with your manager but also a good work ethic. An employee a strong work ethic is described as a firm in the dignity and value of work (p.233).

Job Satisfaction

 Nelson & Quick (2017) Job satisfaction is pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences. Managers and employees believe that happy or satisfied employees are more productive at work. There is clearly a difference between job performance and satisfaction. Some employees have high performance on a job due to their work ethic but in may still be satisfied. There are many variables when considering job satisfaction.

References

DuBrin, Andrew J. (2005). Human Relations for Career and Personal Success; 7th ed.

Nelson, D. L., & Quick, J. C. (2017). ORGB 5: Organizational behavior. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Job Satisfaction, p56.