Towards a New Paradigm: Employee Development through OD

Abstract

Employee development is focused on training, education, coaching and on-the-job learning experiences for strengthening the competencies and improving the confidence of employees to deliver the needs of organisations. Organisation development (OD) is a planned process of organisation change based on the current situation and the desired future. Employee development has been significantly impacted by the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world created by the pandemic, remote working, and a significant reduction in training budgets. This is further amplified by the changing nature of employer–employee relationships. Hence, it is important to redefine the vision, strategy and approach to employee development and situate it in the reality of the current context. The author recommends that employee development should be seen through an OD perspective rather than as a standalone function. The focus should be on building a learning culture and envisioning employee development as a subset of the OD process.