Development is an important topic for employees looking to advance their careers. It can help them become leaders in their field, as well as encourage collaboration with others. For this reason, HR managers should encourage employee development in a creative and accessible way. Taking courses on subjects like data analysis, project management, or even foreign languages can bolster skills and flex new parts of the brain. Similarly, shadowing another department or department head can give employees the opportunity to learn more about what other roles do on their team.
Human development, also known as lifespan development, is the scientific study of changes and stability in people throughout their lives. The field encompasses physical and neurophysiological processes, cognitive and language functions, emotions, personality, morality, and social interactions. Lifespan researchers believe that people are influenced by the many contexts of their life, including social, cultural, and historical ones.
There are a variety of assumptions about development, such as whether it is determined by nature (genes, biology) or nurture (environment, learning). Other assumptions include the extent to which people choose and shape their own development, whether development is continuous or discontinuous, and universal versus context specific.
For example, the assumption that development is a continuous process is supported by the work of Vygotsky and information processing theorists. In contrast, those who support the stages of development based on the theories of Piaget and Erikson assume that development is discontinuous and occurs in distinct stages.