Health care and higher education: The time diary approach for management development

A project to determine employee development needs of Plymouth Polytechnic and Derriford Hospital NHS senior technicians revealed employer and employee variance in opinions over desired managerial competencies. Job analysis through the use of time diaries permitted construction of a detailed description of current job roles for both organizations. This information was then used to research the views of senior technicians on how their performance could be enhanced through provisions of an employee development program. The study validated the capability of the time diary technique to generate detailed, quantitative information on job role activities. Variance in training needs for the 2 organizations was identified.