Group Organizational Career Development Audit EHRD 613- GROUP A. Sarah Cabungcal. Barbara Lee. Shirley Marin. Trupti Palkar.

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1 Running head: GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT Group Organizational Career Development Audit EHRD 613- GROUP A Sarah Cabungcal Barbara Lee Shirley Marin Trupti Palkar Christi Phillips Texas A&M University

2 GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT 2 Data Collection and Analysis Corporate Overview Baker Hughes Incorporated (BHI) creates value from oil and gas reservoirs with highperformance drilling, evaluation, completions and production technology and services, integrated operations and reservoir consulting. Their solutions are designed to lower costs, reduce risk or improve productivity for the global oil and gas industry. Baker Hughes was formed in 1987 with the merger of Baker International and Hughes Tool Company both founded over 100 years ago when R.C. Baker and Howard Hughes, Sr. conceived ground-breaking inventions that revolutionized the fledgling petroleum era (Baker Hughes, 2012). In addition, the company headquarters is based out of Houston, Texas. According to the Baker Hughes website, the company currently has a net worth of $1.8 billion and is the employer of more than 57,000 employees worldwide. Baker Hughes has expanded internationally into about 80 countries and is still growing! Their primary line of business includes products, services, and technologies in support of global oil and gas producers. BHI's Definition of Career Development Career Development at Baker Hughes is officially defined as a "learning path" that helps individuals to develop the necessary skills and competencies to advance quickly in the field of Engineering. The organization's leadership demonstrates a commitment to career development by establishing learning as one of their four core values and setting the expectations for employee development throughout each individual s career using a combination of individual and company commitment. Unofficially, however, employees within the organization have their own interpretations and perceptions about what career development at BHI means to them.

3 GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT 3 Corporate Training Director, Bernard Ravenelle defined career development within Baker Hughes as: A set of programs designed to promote and support the on-going development of employees. The programs create better opportunities for career advancement and longevity based on individual accomplishment, drive, determination, and contributions. The main goals of the programs are to motivate employees to perform at increasingly higher skill levels, promote effective practices across the various communities within the enterprise, increase business acumen and promote innovation, support higher levels of thinking and strategy in the business, and retain the best and brightest talent (personal communication, February 29, 2012). Baker Hughes Global Products and Services President, Art Soucy expressed that there is a direct correlation between talent development and revenue growth and added that developing talent is the key to delivery. The philosophy around career development at Baker Hughes is in order to attract and retain top talent, it is critical for the organization to have a well-defined and managed career plan for employees. Senior Management plays an extremely important role in supporting the career development for Field Engineers. An example of leadership s knowledge and support of the program begins with the CEO of Baker Hughes. Martin Craighead began his career in Arlington, Texas as a Field Engineer Trainee; from there he progressed through the organization into other avenues of the business. From what we have learned, the program for Field Engineers has changed significantly since then, but much of the course material taught today comes directly from legacy programs. Another example of leadership s knowledge and support of the program is the fact that during the Field Engineer orientation Product Line Presidents, Vice Presidents,

4 GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT 4 Directors, Senior Technical Managers and other BHI leaders take the time to address employees and encourage their participation in the program. Baker Hughes's leadership considers time spent away from the job for training purposes as an investment rather than a cost. In addition, they do not view workforce development as an Human Resources (HR) function, but do feel that HR is there to support operations and employees. Moreover, leadership at BHI expressed that management plays a significant role in the development of the employee. The CEO, Martin Craighead defined the expectations of line management to drive the programs and supporting employees 100 percent. Managers are expected to commit to the recruitment phase of a student through the student s completion of the program. They are required to provide the student the time, tools, and proper atmosphere to complete the requirements of the program. This relationship and accountability is viewed as 50/50 with managers providing feedback and support to employees along their journey. It was helpful to receive firsthand information and feedback from Field Engineers in regards to evidence, or lack thereof, of senior management's knowledge and support of career development for employees. One employee explained that upper level management does have the necessary knowledge based on their time spent in the field. The employee went on to explain the importance of having field experience in order to run a business and support the employees in the field. Another response that was received was from an employee that felt region management did not play a concrete role in supporting the career development program. In this employee s opinion, the biggest downfall for the program was that the recruitment process took place from one manager and the employee ended up working for another manager in another region. As a result, the employee did not have the same expectations that were initially set by

5 GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT 5 the hiring manager. The information gathered through these interviews is key information to consider when developing or restructuring career development programs. Benefits of the Program The Baker Hughes Learn Excel Achieve and Develop (LEAD) Program is full of benefits for employees seeking to progress in their career paths as Field Engineers. One of the greatest benefits of the LEAD program is that it seeks to develop employees quickly and effectively. Focus on quick advancement allows employees to make considerable progress in the field during the early stages of their career development. According to a brochure about the program, engineers are provided with the tools and guidance needed to progresses in their career faster and further (BHI, 2012) than they could have possibly imagined. In addition, the LEAD Program fosters valuable learning experiences for Field Engineers. The program is designed to help these employees acquire new skills, talents, and competencies needed to advance and eventually thrive in the oilfield industry. Furthermore, the Baker Hughes s Career Development Handbook for Field Engineers mentions that employees in the LEAD Program can benefit from on-the-job training and mentorship programs. Both of these programs allow the employee to work closely with experienced professionals and practice newly acquired skills under their guidance and supervision. On-the-job training and mentoring also encourages open communication between employees, promotes knowledge sharing, and aids in the professional development of the employee. Furthermore, employees in the LEAD program may benefit from valuable networking and increased problem solving skills. The LEAD Program also allows employees to discover new career opportunities within the oilfield industry. According to the Career Development Guide for Field Engineers, there are

6 GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT 6 thirteen different job positions covered in the LEAD Program (BHI, 2012). The career development program for Engineers provides detailed information about the developmental activities required to progress in each of these job positions. This opens a window of opportunity for employees that have developed an interest in other areas of the field. In addition, coverage of multiple engineering positions gives employees a broader understanding of the oil and gas industry. Lastly, like most all career development programs, the LEAD Program at Baker Hughes is designed to benefit employees in areas of promotion and salary increase. Baker Hughes Curriculum and Competency Manager, Bill Fiffick explained the multiple benefits and outcomes for different groups in the organization with regards to the program. He explained how Field Engineers directly benefit from the program by having the opportunity to increase their skills and knowledge. The organization benefits by having a pipeline of trained field engineers to provide technical services to customers; the longer term benefit is that the company is developing the skilled experienced staff they need to take on roles of greater responsibilities" (personal communication, March 2, 2012). Gaps in the Program After carefully evaluating the Baker Hughes LEAD Program and its Career Development Handbook for Field Engineers, some gaps within the program became evident. One of these gaps is the uncertainty about how mentors are assigned to new employees. While it is clear that the program values coaching techniques to help train their staff, it would be beneficial to know and understand the process that is used to assign these mentors. According to Anevski (2011), mentoring usually requires mutual consent between the mentor and the protégé. However, it is not specified in the CD handbook for Field Engineers if mutual consent is even solicited when establishing mentors to new employees.

7 GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT 7 Furthermore, the CD Handbook or Guide provided by Baker Hughes fails to adequately address what would happen if an employee's mentor had to be replaced due to extraneous circumstances. Circumstances such an employee transfer or promotion may require a termination of an existing mentor-mentee relationship. It would be beneficial for employees to have clarity on how a new mentor would be assigned and if it would be at all possible to remain with the same mentor despite their situation. This transition should be more clearly defined in the Baker Hughes Career Development Handbook for Field Engineers. Other potential gaps that have been identified are that the BHI Field Engineer program is global; however, their CD program is not. Furthermore, the career development program which is well defined for each level starts to become unclear after it reaches a certain level. Also the existing CD program does not adequately address the impact of outside training, certification or additional educational qualification that an employee receives or seeks to receive to propel his career progression. Some of the gaps that were identified by Curriculum and Competency Manager, Bill Fiffick were that larger numbers of students in one classroom have resulted in logistical issues. The larger class attendance creates a less than ideal student to instructor ratio which can make it challenging to conduct hands-on equipment classes. Bill mentioned that Baker Hughes has plans to address these gaps with additional staff and the expansion of training facilities (personal communication, March 2, 2012). Program Strengths Despite a few gaps, the LEAD Program at Baker Hughes is a well defined and structured program that possesses great strengths. In fact, one of its greatest strengths is that is it is so well defined and structured! Employees can certainly appreciate clarity when it comes to their career

8 GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT 8 progression and development, because it helps them have a concrete sense of direction in their career paths. Another one of the program's strengths is that it promotes quick advancement in the oil and gas industry. This is certainly motivating and appealing to employees, because quick advancement means a higher salary in a shorter time span! In addition, although employees are encouraged to be the drivers of their own development, Baker Hughes does not leave them to learn on their own and ensures it provides an ongoing and high quality skill advancement training to its employees. Not only is their training current and aligned to its organizational objective, but it is also a good mix of both- instructor led lead and self-aided training. Another key strength of this program is that it allows new employees to work closely with an experienced professional and receive guidance and training through the mentor assigned to them. Baker Hughes Curriculum and Competency Manager, Bill Fiffick described the strengths and unique features of the program as being very comprehensive and allowing delegates to gain exposure to advanced classroom training, job shadowing, and field operations as well as engineering experience (personal communication, March 2, 2012). He added that the program is designed to ensure competency is imparted and assessed at each level. The field engineer surveys helped us identify the program s strengths and unique features through the eyes of the student. Both students surveyed described the program as being extremely well designed and encompassing a broad range of necessary aspects of the business. Resources, Strategies, & System-Wide Initiatives The career development (CD) model employed by Baker Hughes for the Field Engineer position is one that closely follows the Partnership Model of career development (Knowdell, 1996). An illustration of such the model is a Venn diagram where the Employee, the

9 GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT 9 Organization, and the Manager all have valuable interactions and impact on one another. The origination of such CD programs started in the 1970s when practitioners began to realize that the supervisor, essential for employee development, had largely been left out of organizational and individual models of career development. Emloyee Manager Organization The Partnership Model of Career Development Knowdell (1996) suggests a fourth career development model that the Baker Hughes LEAD program is also demonstrating through its program design. The yet unnamed model is one where the manager functions as a coach, the employee drives their career development, and the organization serves as a support system. The Manager, as mentor, in the LEAD Program provides resources to the Employee such as information, guidance, and facilitation of employee development. The Employee participates in career development discussions with both the HR function of the Organization and their Manager to develop a career strategy plan. Those discussions might include focused topical questions about how goals are to be set and accomplished, when steps in progression and learning occur, and who else may need to be involved in that career development. Within the Partnership Model for career development, the Organization is a strong source of support and resources. For example, the Organization provides learning materials, training, and support. It also provides a formalized system-wide support for

10 GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT 10 CD. There are learning systems and an enterprise-wide Learning Management System (LMS) as well. There are also job postings, descriptions, and materials, such as the Career Development Guides available for employees to formulate a career development plan. Internal and External Portions of the Program The majority of the Baker Hughes Career Development Program has been developed by in-house subject matter experts and the learning content development staff. The program enables career progression through a series of competency-based development steps that involve both theoretical and hands-on learning. The technical training that is delivered is either instructor led, hands-on, or on-the job observations. Around percent of the learning is self-paced correspondence and e-learning which is purchased from various providers. Degree of Employee Ownership and Responsibility Baker Hughes places responsibility and accountability on the employee to get the job done and complete the training requirements of the program on time. They must be held accountable for their own development, knowing what is expected and meeting the requirements to progress through each stage of the program. It was interesting to compare the company s perception on how responsible the employee is for their own development against survey responses from actual field engineers that have gone through the program. The employees surveyed did in fact feel responsible for their own development, but both employees felt that it had little effect on their progression. The responses were similar in that both employees had taken responsibility for their own development and attended in-class and web-based training and participated in hands-on learning opportunities. The engineers felt as if the progression through the program was slowed down at the management level. One employee suggested that when

11 GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT 11 expectations of the employee are met, that upper level management and field career development management take the necessary steps to progress the employee quickly. Learning Insights Working on this assignment shed light on the fact that some organizations have well defined career development programs for only certain segments of the organization. It also allowed us to gain valuable insight into existing gaps within the Engineer Development Program (EDP) at Baker Hughes and allowed us to analyze and learn from those gaps to build a better program for the Human Resources Department. Another key learning concept that was taken away from this audit was the fact that building a career development program is investing in human capital; thus, organizations must analyze best practices used both internally and externally to gain or maintain a competitive advantage in the industry. According to the results of a 2010 Employee Engagement Survey conducted by Baker Hughes, there is a strong positive correlation between implementation of a career development program and employee engagement. Lastly, this audit gave our group significant insight into how much research, time, and effort are needed to build an effective career development program.

12 GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT AUDIT 12 References Anevski, R. (2011). Mentoring versus coaching. New Jersey CPA, (28), Retrieved from: -ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&an= &site=ehost-live Baker Hughes Incorporated, Field Development Guide. (2011). Field Engineer Pressure Pumping. Retrieved February 23, 2012 from Baker Hughes Company Records. Baker Hughes Incorporated, Career Development Handbook. (2012). Field Engineer. Retrieved February 23, 2012 from Baker Hughes Company Records. Baker Hughes Incorporated, LEAD Program. (2009). Career Development for Field Engineers and Specialist. Retrieved February 23, 2012 from Baker Hughes Company Records. Baker Hughes Incorporated, 2010 Employee Engagement Survey. (2011). Summary of Results. Retrieved February 23, 2012 from Baker Hughes Company Records Knowdell, R. (1996). Building a career development program. (pp. 1-8). Palo Alto: Davies- Black.