| Course | HRM 326 Employee Development (HRM/326) |
|---|---|
| Week | 1 |
| Paper type | Employee development strategy paper |
| Length | about 1,022 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | BS in Business |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HRM 326 Week 1
Promoting From the Warehouse Floor: Why a Logistics Company Losing Supervisors Treats Employee Development as Strategy Rather Than a Perk
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
HRM/326: Employee Development
Week 1 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Crossroads Fulfillment and all figures are composites written for a model paper; development concepts and research findings come from the sources listed and are stated generally.
Crossroads Fulfillment, a composite third-party logistics company in Indianapolis, stores and ships products for retailers and manufacturers from four warehouses employing about 1,200 people. It plans to open a fifth building next year and needs about 30 more front-line supervisors over two years. For the past three years it has hired most supervisors from outside, and about 45 percent of them left within a year, many saying they did not understand the operation or could not earn the respect of experienced workers. Meanwhile, the company has dozens of hourly leads who know the work but have never been trained to supervise. The company keeps buying talent it cannot keep while overlooking talent it already has, which is a development problem rather than a hiring one. This paper explains why development is a strategic issue for Crossroads.
Training and Development
Training improves employees' performance in their current jobs: how to operate a reach truck safely or use the warehouse management system. Development prepares employees for future roles, broadening skills and judgment over time. Noe (2020) describes four main forms of development: formal education, assessment that gives people feedback on their strengths and weaknesses, job experiences that stretch them and relationships such as mentoring and coaching. Crossroads trains well for current jobs but has almost no development.
The Strategic Problem in Numbers
Hiring an external supervisor costs about $9,000 in recruiting and onboarding, and when one leaves within a year the company loses that money plus disruption in the shift, overtime to cover the gap and errors that cost customers. Supervisor turnover of 45 percent among new hires costs roughly $250,000 a year across the current team. With 30 more supervisors needed, the cost of the current approach would grow.
Why Internal Candidates Make Sense
Internal leads know the warehouse processes, the customers' requirements and the people on the floor. They have already earned credibility. What they lack is supervisory skill: planning labor for a shift, giving feedback, handling attendance problems, documenting discipline fairly and reading the productivity reports. Those skills can be developed.
What Research Says About Effective Development
Salas et al. (2012) reviewed the science of training and development and concluded that effective programs begin with a needs analysis, use methods that let people practice skills and receive feedback, prepare learners and their managers beforehand and support the use of new skills afterward. Development that consists only of courses, without practice on the job and support from managers, rarely changes behavior.
Mapping the Supervisor Role
Interviews with the company's best supervisors produced a map of the role's key skills in four areas: operations, including labor planning and reading metrics; people, including coaching, feedback and resolving conflict; compliance, including safety rules and documenting attendance and discipline consistently; and communication, including daily huddles and handoffs between shifts.
Who Should Get Development
Development opportunities must be fair. If supervisors choose favorites for the program, employees will see it as unfair and some groups may be excluded. Crossroads will invite all hourly leads and senior associates with at least a year of tenure and acceptable performance to apply, using a structured assessment and a panel to select participants, and track the demographics of applicants and selections.
The Cost Comparison
A one-year development program for 16 participants, including classroom sessions, a supervisory rotation, mentoring and pay for time in training, costs about $6,500 per participant. If internal supervisors stay at rates closer to those of current internal promotions, about 80 percent after a year, the company saves the cost of repeated external hiring while building a pipeline.
Development and Retention
Opportunities to grow are one of the reasons employees cite for staying. Visible paths from hourly work to supervision give associates a reason to stay at Crossroads rather than move to a competitor across the street for a dollar more an hour.
Succession Planning
Development also protects the company's operations. If a supervisor quits suddenly, a trained lead who has completed the program can step in. Crossroads will maintain a list of ready-now and ready-in-a-year candidates for every supervisor position.
Using What Is Learned
A course that teaches supervisory skills will not change behavior if participants return to shifts where no one expects or supports those skills. Blume et al. (2010) found in a meta-analysis of training transfer that trainee characteristics, the work environment and especially support from supervisors and peers predicted whether skills learned in training were used on the job. Crossroads will pair each participant with a current supervisor who assigns them real responsibilities, such as running the shift huddle or planning labor for a section, and reviews how it went.
Risks of Developing People
One worry is that developed employees may leave for better jobs elsewhere. Some will, but research and practice suggest that employees who see a future inside a company are more likely to stay, and a company known for promoting from within attracts ambitious applicants. Crossroads will offer participants a promotion path with a clear timeline, reducing the incentive to leave once trained.
Roles in Development
Employees own their development by applying and doing the work. Managers support it by giving stretch assignments and feedback. HR designs the program, ensures fairness and measures results. Senior leaders sponsor it and make promotions from it.
The Program Ahead
The coming weeks will build the program: a needs assessment to confirm the skills gaps, design and delivery of the learning, attention to legal issues and motivation and a plan to evaluate results against the business problem.
Measures of Success
Crossroads will judge the program by the share of supervisor openings filled internally, one-year retention of new supervisors, productivity and safety on their shifts and participants' and teams' feedback.
Conclusion
Crossroads keeps hiring supervisors who leave while overlooking leads who know its work. Treating development as strategy, building supervisory skills in its own people through education, assessment, experience and mentoring, addresses the turnover that hurts its growth. The program that follows will be judged by how many supervisors it produces and how long they stay.
References
Blume, B. D., Ford, J. K., Baldwin, T. T., & Huang, J. L. (2010). Transfer of training: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Management, 36(4), 1065-1105. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309352880
Noe, R. A. (2020). Employee training and development (8th ed.). McGraw Hill Education.
Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S. I., Kraiger, K., & Smith-Jentsch, K. A. (2012). The science of training and development in organizations: What matters in practice. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13(2), 74-101. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612436661
What the HRM 326 Week 1 instructions ask
The first HRM 326 assignment typically asks students to explain employee development and its strategic importance to organizations. Common requirements include the difference between training and development, the forms development takes such as formal education, assessment, job experiences and mentoring, how development supports business strategy, succession planning, employees' and managers' roles and evidence on the outcomes of development. Many prompts ask students to examine an organization's needs and propose a development focus. Connect development to measurable business problems, explain who should receive it and why, and estimate what it costs compared with alternatives. Support claims with research on learning and development, and cite each source in APA style. A short outline of the program's components helps show how the strategy becomes action.
How this HRM 326 Week 1 example is built
A warehouse company that hires supervisors from outside and watches them quit has a development problem disguised as a hiring problem. The paper starts with the numbers: turnover, the cost of external hires and the pool of experienced hourly leads. It distinguishes training, which improves current performance, from development, which prepares people for future roles. Research on what makes training and development work sets standards for the program. A skills map for the supervisor role shows the gaps between strong hourly workers and effective supervisors. The paper weighs who should be selected and how the cost compares with external hiring, then outlines the program built over the following weeks.
HRM 326 Week 1 grading rubric: where the points go
Papers earn credit this week for clear definitions, a convincing link between development and the organization's strategy and use of evidence. Strong work distinguishes training from development, explains the main forms of development, ties the program to a business problem measured in dollars or rates and draws on research about effective learning. Considering fairness in who receives development, and comparing the program's cost with alternatives such as external hiring, shows managerial judgment. Previewing the program's components prepares the reader for later weeks. Organized sections and properly formatted references round out the work. A one-line definition of success, such as a target share of internal promotions, gives the paper a measurable anchor. Papers that admit the program's risks, such as participants leaving after development, show balanced judgment.
HRM 326 Week 1 help: mistakes to avoid
Weak HRM 326 Week 1 papers describe development as good for morale without connecting it to a business result. Tie the program to a specific problem with numbers. Another frequent gap is using training and development interchangeably; explain the difference. Students also propose programs without evidence that the methods work. Use research. Avoid offering development only to those already favored; consider access and fairness. Compare costs with alternatives. Map the specific skills the target role needs. Keep the preview of later weeks concrete. Finally, say how success will be measured and over what period. Name the person accountable for the program, since development efforts without an owner tend to fade after launch.
Related HRM 326 sample papers
Other HRM 326 week samples
- HRM 326 Week 2: Training Needs Assessment
- HRM 326 Week 3: Designing Development Programs
- HRM 326 Week 4: Legal Issues and Motivation
- HRM 326 Week 5: Evaluating Development Programs
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HRM 326 Week 1 questions, answered
What does HRM 326 Week 1 usually cover?
It usually covers what employee development is, how it differs from training, its forms such as education, assessment, job experiences and mentoring, and how it supports business strategy and succession.
Where can I find a free HRM 326 Week 1 sample paper?
A full paper on why an Indianapolis logistics company should develop supervisors from its own workforce, with research on development annotated, is available on this page. A free first draft can be requested.
What is the difference between training and development?
Training builds skills for an employee's current job and is usually short-term. Development prepares employees for future roles and responsibilities and is longer-term and broader.
Why do organizations promote from within?
Internal candidates already know the operation and culture, are often cheaper to bring into new roles than outside hires and see promotions as a reason to stay, which can reduce turnover.
What forms does employee development take?
Formal education and courses, assessment with feedback, challenging job assignments, rotations and mentoring or coaching relationships with experienced leaders.
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