Description

While extensive scholarly consideration has been given to “millennials” (those born between 1982 and 2000), little is known of this generation’s view related to their personal development from the context of millennial managers. Consequently, organisations must develop processes, tools and oversight to address the needs of the millennial managers. This research purports to provide insights to organisations to develop programmes or policies to retain their current and future cohort of millennial managers.
A phenomenological approach within a qualitative research design was employed to examine whether the Nestlé company’s personal development plan processes meet the development expectations of millennial managers. An inductive approach was adopted to document the lived experiences of the participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with research participants.
Companies, through their senior leadership, should ensure that appropriate environment and systems are established to enhance effective implementation of personal development plans for millennial managers. Future design of personal development plan systems, especially oversight processes, should be a priority for senior leadership. Oversight and monitoring systems must have the capacity to detect and identify gaps in the cycle of development of millennial managers to facilitate appropriate strategic support in a consistent manner.
The results reported that millennial managers focused their development on acquiring capabilities and skills. The results of the study confirm that millennial managers take personal responsibility and ownership for their development. Millennial managers’ intent to remain with the organisation is dependent on capabilities being acquired and therefor the study identifies effective oversight measures as a key component to improving the PDP system.