Professional Development Program Proposal - Learn How to Propose a Professional Development Program

Introduction 

Current organizations need to maintain and build a competent workforce that is capable of meeting the demands of the increasingly changing demands of our time. To achieve this, organizations need to develop and implement continuous professional development programs for their employees. Organizations should always train their managers in how to effectively support people in accessing the available internal and external resources. The challenge for today’s manager relates to balancing the desires of the employees with their actual talents and the needs of the company. However, it is important to set modest expectations when initiating a professional development program. Professional development programs possess an element of motivation, particularly for employees. This is because continuous professional development is very appealing for employees who are currently looking to keep their skills relevant to a rapidly changing business world. 

Wells Fargo has a challenge with its employees who engage in fraud. Fraudulent deals among employees have adverse effects on the organization’s culture and public image. If a culture of fraud is entrenched in an organization, it will have far-reaching implications that may affect its long-term success. Therefore, the organization has a responsibility of ensuring that employees go through a well-structured professional development program. The professional development programs can help employee acquire favorable personality traits that will be beneficial to the organization. Emotional intelligence is one of the qualities that both managers and employees should possess in order to ensure to build effective teams in organizations. Emotional intelligence will enable managers to discern the needs of the employees in order to take the necessary steps to meet them, motivating the employees in the process. Appropriate motivational strategies promote positive behavior change in employees. Therefore, Wells Fargo should utilize the opportunities provided by motivational theories to effect change in the behaviors of employees. The expectancy theory can be used to motivate employees and inspire the required behavior, driven by integrity and compliance. 

EI and Motivation 

The role of managers as facilitators in organizations is very important. In order to effectively motivate employees, managers need to take into account feelings, relationships, and personalities of the respective employees. Therefore, managers should be emotionally intelligent enough to discern the needs of the employees and meet them. A good understanding of the employees is important in determining the most appropriate motivational strategies. Motivation is necessary for enhancing employee performance and job satisfaction. 

Five key elements to emotional intelligence can help managers influence the behaviors of employees. The various building blocks of emotional intelligence include self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. The more organizational leaders can effectively manage these areas, the higher their emotional intelligence. A higher emotional intelligence is necessary for managers to initiate and maintain the right behavior among employees. Self-awareness involves knowing how you feel, as well as how your emotions and actions can affect the people around you, particularly those you lead. This involves having a clear picture of one’s strengths and weaknesses. As such, managers need to always behave with humility. Self-regulation is another important element of emotional intelligence. Managers who effectively regulate themselves rarely make rushed or emotional decisions, attack other verbally, compromise their values, or stereotype others. Therefore, managers should have the ability to effectively regulate themselves to avoid dealing with employees inappropriately. Managers who are able to regulate themselves hold themselves accountable, practice being calm and know their values. 

Motivation is another element of emotional intelligence that managers should have. Organizational leaders who are self-motivated work consistently toward their goals (Njoroge, & Yazdanifard, 2014). As such, they have extremely high standards for the quality of their work. Self-motivation allows managers to direct employees appropriately with respect to the goals of the organization. Self-motivation ensures that managers re-examine why they are doing their job. Empathy is another important element of emotional intelligence. Having empathy is critical for organizational leaders to manage successful teams or organizations. Empathy ensures that managers are able to put themselves in the situations of others. Additionally, empathy helps managers to earn the respect and loyalty of the employees. 

Social skills are another important element relating to emotional intelligence among organizational leaders. It is important to realize that leaders who excel is social skills element of emotional intelligence make good communicators in organizations. Such leaders are open to hearing both bad news as good news. They are expert at getting their teams to support them and be excited about new missions and projects. Additionally, leaders with good social skills are very good at managing change and resolving conflicts. 

Leaders in organizations need to have a solid understanding of how their emotions and actions affect the people around them. As such, a competent leader should be able to relate and work with others in a manner that promotes success. Managers, therefore, need to take time to improve on the building blocks of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. 

Expectancy Theory 

Emotionally intelligent managers can effectively utilize the expectancy theory to enhance employee performance and job satisfaction. Being able to identify the needs of employees, as well as knowing the most appropriate strategies for meeting them requires a high level of emotional intelligence. 

The Expectancy Theory can be applied in linking the desired outcomes to key choices and behaviors made and exhibited by an organization’s employees. This theory embodies the core of motivational theory. The expectancy theory posits that there is an alignment between the choices an employee makes on a voluntary basis, as well as the perceived likelihood of a certain desirable outcome. It is important to realize that expectancy theory can actually be observed in virtually all aspects of the employment relationship. This is because employees in organizations have a tendency to perform their tasks at a level that is equal to the nature and type of response they expect from the employer. 

This theory can be applied by Wells Fargo to effect a behavior change among its employees who engage in fraudulent practices. The organization can reward the desired behavior and punish negative behaviors. Additionally, managers should strive to identify the various needs of employees and meet them appropriately. When employees know the various outcomes relating to a given level of work or output, they will act in a way that will enable them benefit from the employer. Generally, employees in organizations base their level of work, quality, or output in anticipation of a particular response from the employer or management. Therefore, rewarding positive behavior could be effective in encouraging employees to adopt desirable work behaviors. By reinforcing good work practices, Wells Fargo could discourage its employees from engaging in fraud. 

Emotional Intelligence and Social Skills and Decision Making 

Emotional intelligence helps to improve one’s social skills. Social skills refer to the skills needed to manage and influence other people’s emotions effectively. Social skills include persuasion and influencing skills, communication skills, conflict management skills, leadership skills, change management skills, and team-working skills. Persuasion refers to the art of successfully convincing others and winning them over to your proposed course of action. Emotionally intelligence managers can persuade their teams to adopt particular behaviors that will help in achieving organizational goals. Persuasive leaders are able to fine tune what they are communicating to appeal to the emotions of others. Communication skills are also vital to good emotional intelligence. Effective managers also have good leadership and conflict management skills. Therefore, social skills are important for managers to promote positive behaviors among employees. 

Emotional intelligence can also improve decision-making. Emotional intelligence could help managers make smarter decisions that are not swayed by their current emotions. As such, managers should be emotionally intelligent in order to make appropriate decisions regarding the appropriate strategies that can be used to eliminate fraudulent practices among the employees. Emotional intelligence also lies in the ability to realize that one’s emotions can influence unrelated decisions. 

Effective Teams 

For an organization to be successful in meeting its objectives, it should have effective teams at all levels. There are various characteristics of effective teams. They include unity of purpose, self-consciousness, clearly set and demanding performance goals, comfortable atmosphere, inclusivity, frequent criticism. Effective teams should have a unity of purpose; members should freely discuss the objectives until all of them commit to them. Self-consciousness among tem members is an important attribute of effective teams. The teams should have clear, explicit, and mutually agreed approaches to carrying out team operations. Additionally, the teams should have clearly set and demanding performance goals. The goals should be translated into well-defined concrete milestones. The atmosphere surrounding team discussions should be relaxed and comfortable. 

There are various strategies that can be used by managers for improving team dynamics. The strategies include knowing one’s team, tackling problems quickly, defining clear roles, and responsibilities, focusing on communication and breaking down barriers (Coetzee & Harry, 2014). Managers need to be emotionally intelligent enough to understand the personalities of the respective team members. The decision-making structures should be efficient to allow for faster decision-making. Managers should consider defining roles and responsibilities for each member to avoid conflicts. Finally, any barriers should be broken through team building activities, with focus on communication. 

Reward System 

Basically, a motivated workforce is an important factor in organizational success. When employees are motivated to perform exemplarily well, the whole organization can run efficiently and reach its goals. It is imperative that managers of Wells Fargo understand the power of reward system and how they can be effectively used to achieve positive outcomes for the organization. 

The organization can adopt a reward system that features intrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards provide employees with a sense of accomplishment. Intrinsic rewards include things such as professional growth, personal achievement, sense of pleasure and accomplishment. This can be achieved by allowing employees to make choices through a high-level autonomy. Additionally, the employees should be given a path to monitor and evaluate their progress with milestones along the way. 

Employees of Wells Fargo who will promote integrity and accountability in their jobs will be rewarded through job promotions, commendations and relevant trainings aimed at developing their careers. Additionally, the company should periodically recognized best performers. This will help to reinforce integrity and accountability in the organization. Therefore, employees will always have an opportunity to reward themselves by aligning their performance with the reward system. 

References 

Coetzee, M., & Harry, N. (2014). Emotional intelligence as a predictor of employees' career adaptability. Journal of Vocational Behavior , 84 (1), 90-97. 

Njoroge, C. N., & Yazdanifard, R. (2014). The impact of social and emotional intelligence on employee motivation in a multigenerational workplace. International Journal of Information, Business and Management , 6 (4), 163.