Introduction
Enhanced
capabilities, knowledge and skills of the talented work force is the major
trait of competitive advantage in global business (McKinsey, 2006). To improve
desired knowledge, capabilities and skills of the employees, to perform
excellent on their job, it requires provide effective training and development programs,
which also be benefitted to employee motivation and commitment (Meyer and
Smith, 2000). Most organizations survive with uncertain condition that they may
face in future by implementing long term plan and investment for development of
their employees new skills that vital for effective job performance (Amir and
Amen, 2013). Since rapid technological advancement taking place in global
market which requires new capabilities and competencies that requires to
perform particular tasks, all corporates require to conduct more improved and
effective trainings to cope with the challenge (Wei-Tai, 2006). Whether it uses
the terms “training,” “development,” or “education,” they all mean learning.
Therefore, Training, development and education can be grouped under an umbrella
term called learning which help individuals grow better skills to improve
effectiveness in business operations (Walters, 2013).
Learning and Development
At present
business practitioners being used ‘Learning and Development’ (L&D) by
replace legacy term of ‘Human Resource Development’ (HRD). Still the term human
resource development retains its popularity among academics, but not within
practitioners. They have a tendency to reject the term because its reference to
people as a ‘resource’ to be demeaning. Putting people on a par with money,
materials and equipment creates the impression of ‘development’ as a pitiless
(Harrison, 2009).
The term learning
and development is defined as the process of make sure the organization has the
knowledge, engaged and skilled employees it needs for effective and efficient
operation. This is being achieved through by gaining individuals and team’s
knowledge and skills over experience, learning sessions and activities provided
by the organization, guidance and mentoring provided by line managers and
self-directed learning activities engaged by individuals (Armstrong and Taylor,
2014).
As Harrison (2009)
definition of learning and development, fundamental purpose of learning and
development in an organization is to initiate a process to assist develop aggregative
process over the collaborative, expert and ethical stimulation and facilitation
of learning and knowledge that support achieve business goals, build individual
potential and diversity.
Further the
components available under Learning & Development is identified as
Learning, Development, Training and Education. Also they are elaborated as
follow (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014)
Learning
The process that a
person gains and develops knowledge, skills, capabilities, behaviors and
attitudes. It involves the reform of individual’s behavior over experience as
well. This is identified as formal way of supporting people to learn within or
outside the organization.
Development
The progression of
an individual’s ability and potential through establishment of learning and
educational experiences.
Training
The orderly
application of prescribed processes to inculcate knowledge and support
individual to gain the skills essential to perform their job successfully.
Education
The improvement
and gain of the knowledge, values and comprehension required in all sides of
life rather than the knowledge and skills belonging to specific areas of
action.
Both learning and
training of employees play a vital role in business development process. But,
as shown above these two are not same. Learning is the process which
individuals build their knowledge, skills and capabilities. Whereas training is
organizational initiatives and contributions to promote learning among
employees (Reynolds et al, 2002). So, learning is what individuals do and
training is what organizations do to individuals.
Overall purpose of
Learning & Development
In general the majority describe the purpose of
Learning and Development in an organization is to improve employee performance
and organizational performance over developing of individual’s capabilities.
Also it is important to continue the process as continual activity in
organizational routine process to provide knowledge, skills and behaviors
required for sustainability of organizational performance (Annual survey report,
2015). Also, the outcomes of wide range of Training and Development provide in
an organization would be translated into an organization resources as well (Armstrong,
2006). Trainings directed to improve skills required in perform current job
while development prepares employees for possible future requirement of
organization and industries. Hence, learning, training and development contribute improvement
and overall sustainability of organizational goals (Sims, 2002). Further
training and development would be a part of building organizational culture of
advancement of individuals and organization operations, hence learning and
development opportunities provided is a competitive advantage in business
process (Karia et.al, 2016).
Learning and Development Methods
A successful
training programme should focus on employee’s orientation, management skills,
and operational skills (Kleiman, 2000). In this manner. Key objective of
develop programmes are to convey the organizational mission and teach the
organizational culture to the employee (Gerbman, 2000). Therefore, these objectives
support to implement strategic business goals and learning opportunities to
develop organizational culture too (Kottke 1999). Apart from that, technical
training programmes for employees build job satisfaction and help employees to
understand the culture, which ultimately lead to the business success (Jehanzeb
and Bashir, 2013). Armstrong
and Taylor (2014) have been introduced following learning and development
process, which general to contemporary organization scenarios.
Figure 2 – Elements of Learning and
Development
Source: (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014) p. 319
Further, as Armstrong and Taylor (2014), to achieve above learning and
developments, there are several methods available. Its responsibility of the
organization to chooses right method with right people. Some methods and
activities are as follow. Informal learning,
Workplace learning, Formal learning, E-learning, Self-directed learning,
Personal development planning, Trainings, coaching and mentoring.
Learning
Organization
Learning organization is an organization that helps
the learning of its employee and regularly changes itself. These organizations
allows them to persist or succeed competitive advantages in the business
environment (Farrukh and Waheed, 2015). Learning organization is an outcome of
enabling holistic learning at all level of the organization, it’s impossible to
construct learning organization by providing employee trainings only. It is
something beyond the training of the individuals (Pedlar et al., 1991). Learning organizations itself have
collectivism and shared values of themselves (Watkins & Marsick, 1993). As
Bratianu (2015) the classic example for learning organization would be an orchestra
performing a symphony. No musician able to play the symphony by himself, each
member of the orchestra learns the individual part of the symphony. Then whole
orchestra can play by integrating each part of the individual. Such a way
organizations need individuals learn and integration of them for overall
success in business. Such organizations are identified as learning
organization.
Toyota Kata of
Organizational Learning
Toyota’s process of continuous improvement is a great
demonstration of organization learning. They introduced it as “Toyota Kata”
which means way of designing and implementing a successful management based on
the concept of continuous improvement (Bratianu, 2015). According to Rother
(2010), Toyota has exploration and experimentation operation process which can
be expressed by the well-known Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. The four stages
of this process are as follow:
- Plan. Define what you intend to do, based on the previous experience. Define your target condition and you’re working hypotheses.
- Do. Try to implement your plan and test your hypotheses.
- Check. Compare your outcome with the expected one.
- Act. Standardize and stabilize what works, or begin the PDCA cycle again.
Toyota added the words “Go and See” for above cycle,
since it is important to identify the actual condition at all stages of the
PDCA. If an error occur in the operations, Toyota’s culture isn’t penalizing
their employee. Instead it bocome as an essential point for organizational
learning and continuous improvement. Hence, employee always try to do their
best and when a problem generate they identify it as a failure of the systems
(Bratianu, 2015). Its shows that Toyota provisions the concept of continuous
improvement or evolutionary learning can be applied to any kind of problem. Therefore,
Toyota PDCA process prove that learning organization culture is be benefited
to business strategic achievements (Starbuck & Hedberg, 2003).
Effect of Learning and Development for Performance and
Productivity
Since rapid technological advancement in businesses
take place in worldwide, regular learning and development process of human
resources in an organization is vital and that would be the key factor in
organization success (Laing, 2009). Effective trainings lessened the gap
between achieved and desired performance of employees (Bossche, Segers and
Jansen, 2010). Further, employees who have learnt, skilled and self-directed
with enrich attitude are the key for organization’s performance (Hameed &
Waheed, 2011). As according to a study carried out by Younas, Farooq,
Khalil-Ur-Rehman and Zreen (2018) regarding identification of training,
development and employee performance, they have been concluded a decision that
training and development have positive impact on employee performance. As
according to their conclusion trainings have positive influence on better
employee performance in many aspects. Hence, organization investment on
training and development is provide acceptable employee output through
developed skills, knowledge and capabilities.
Onyango & Wanyoike (2014) expressed impacts of learning
and trainings for organizations as follow.
- Improves morale of employees – Training support employees to feel job security and satisfaction. Hence, employee absenteeism and turnover will be lesser and satisfied employee with greater morale will contribute in their maximum in organization success.
- Less supervision – Since employees are well trained, they are able to carry the job with less supervision. Also fewer accidents and errors are likely to occur.
- Chances of promotion – As employees are more proficient and acquire skills and efficiency during training's, they get high opportunity of getting promoted to next ranks within organization.
Further well trained and developed employees
demonstrate high performance in both quantity and quality in work. There is
less wastage in time, money and resources too. Therefore, it is important for
organization to have skilled and capable employee base. Also as human resources
is one of the major asset in an organization, if they are skilled and trained
would perform better than those who are unskilled and untrained. Therefore,
always learning and development contribute to improve both individuals and
organizational productivity and performance while supporting continuous
improvement of businesses process (Tahir et al, 2014).
Conclusion
It is an undoubtable fact that investment on learning,
training and development of employees in effective manner provide both
immediate and long range returns to organizations. However, invest on them is
not enough, organizations require to manage learning and development activities
more effectively, then organization can obtain optimum returns from the investment. As
ultimate objective of the investment is add value to human resources, it
requires to post evaluate training outcome and take action accordingly. Further,
any programme that would not provide value on people should be abandoned
(Obi-Anike and Ekwe, 2014). In contemporary businesses, learning and
development implemented in different varieties. It could be formal or informal
and computer, network or web based. Whatever the method use, once multiple
methods implemented, it increases effectiveness and encourage self-directed
learning (Armstrong
and Taylor, 2014). Further its organization manager’s
responsibility to identify learning style of their employees to provide them
suitable learning methods to improve skills, knowledge and capabilities of
individuals. Well organized and efficient development programmes help
organizations to retain most experience and valuable human resources with them.
If organizations are able to identify employees learning needs and support
them, both employees and organization will get the immediate and long term
benefits (Jehanzeb and Bashir, 2013). Also its important organizations to
sponsor learning and development activities as a continues process which always
be benefitted for continuous improvement and competitive advantage for both
human resources and organizations.
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According to the Learning and development methodologies and practices, as depicted in this part, mean to guarantee that individuals in the business obtain and build up the learning, aptitudes and skills they have to do their work viably and improve their professions to their own advantage and that of the association (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).
ReplyDeleteTraining and development is characterized as a procedure of deliberately creating business related information and skills in individuals to boost capabilities (Swanson & Holton, 2001). Training is the way toward giving workers particular aptitudes or helping them rectify weaknesses in their tasks capabilities and development is an attempt to furnish workers with the capacities the company will require in future (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2001)Training and development are arranged learning encounters that show employees how to achieve their present or prospective professions successfully (Kleiman, 2000).Therefore based on the above learning and development is vital in any organisation as basically what it provides is to enhance a workers knowledge, skills and attitudes that will pave way for them to succeed in the organisation at present as well as develop them in future jobs as well.
While agree with your contribution in the comment, I would like to elaborate way how the organization could use to assess productivity and effectiveness of training and development activities provide to employees.
DeleteSince skills gap looms the productivity and competitiveness both in organizational and operational levels, closing the skills gap is vitally important in continuously penetrate the market (Tahir et al, 2014). Therefore, Basic purpose of providing training and development is to support attainment of organizational goal. Apart from that, it provides prospect prepare employees for possible future jobs (Sims, 2002). However, without evaluate outcome of training and development, it is impossible to understand effectiveness of the programme to organizational development. Thus, evaluation of training and development is the most essential aspect of training programme. Hence, all decent training and development programmes start with identification of training and development needs and ends with evaluation (Gopal, 2009).
There are many different models are available to evaluate effectiveness of trainings and following methods are some of recommended methods to validate training and development (Iyer, 2009).
• Kirkpatrick Model
• CIPP Evaluation model
• CIRO approach
• Phillip’s Evaluation approach
Since, not all models are suitable with every training and development programme; organizations are responsible to choose the most appropriate one as per the nature of training activity and objective. Hence, that evaluation of training and development would be ensured the effectiveness of programme and their contribution to organizations (Topno, 2012).
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhile agree with your comment, I would like to contribute with your argument through following points.
DeleteFundamentally, training is more of a learning activity provided to obtain skills and knowledge to perform a task. Hence, idea of trainings is greatly improve productivity and safety in the operation while developing work efficiency and productivity (Cole, 2002). Since number of emerging technologies have redundant positions with the replacement human processes by machines, competency development becomes necessary for those in current positions and those wishing to be promoted in the future (Nunvi, 2006).
Once organizations set trainings as a standard that required in performance measurement, organization would be able to minimize jobs become redundant and avoid performance deficiencies (Dessler, 2015).
Investment in training can improve an organization financial standing. Poor performance usually results when employees don’t understand specifically what they’re purported to do, how to do their jobs or why they need to work a certain way. Training will facilitate solve these performance issues by explaining the main points of the work. This should scale back duplication of effort within the workplace, the time spent correcting mistakes and also the drawback determination necessary to correct unhealthy performances.
DeleteImproved performance from employee training will reduce employee’s turnover, lower maintenance costs by reducing equipment breakdowns and result in fewer customer complaints (Shaw J, 2019). Better performance from employees generally creates less need for supervision and brings increased employee output. Effective training will make employees are real asset to the organization.
With regard to what you have mentioned about Learning and Development methods what should be kept in mind is that these methods can ensure that people have the opportunity and are given the encouragement to learn and grow in their roles. This includes the use of policies that focus on role flexibility, i.e. giving people the chance to develop their roles by making better and extended use of their talents. It also means going beyond talent management for the favored few and developing abilities of the core people on whom the organization depends(Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).
ReplyDeleteWith regard to your comment, when further discuss about Talent Management that could focus on selection talents as below.
DeleteEvery individual has abilities, therefore organizations are required to ensure that the process of talent management not limited for a small group only. Actions should be focused on employees who hold rare skills and present an extensive potential to succeed (Armstrong, 2011). Further Juchnowicz (2007) emphasize, that any employee who have key and specialist competencies desired in a particular organisation, should be treated as talent. In addition, it is required to guarantee that identified potential or targeted skill and career development are essentials that relevant to the purposes and workforce of groups selected (Wendy, 2014).
At the moment all types of firms consider, organizational learning is important issue for their survival ( María , José and Juan,2012). The dominant idea of this is that organizations must adjust their capabilities like their resource and skills to face complex external Environment (Klaila, 2000)
ReplyDeleteWhen build learning organizational culture, it is important to concern about Support from top management, communication, creativity, culture and people, sharing knowledge, evaluation, time, and incentives (Maria, 2000).
As you mentioned learning and development are interlinked because it enables organizations to respond to changes and adapt to an increasingly competitive market. If development is done well, organizations can observe great returns in engagement, productivity, efficiency, agility and innovation.
Once discuss the impact of organizational learning on organizational performance, it provides ways to stock knowledge and use it to withstand itself during periods of high environmental turbulence and high staff turnover. Learning organizations have a feature to acquire, store, retrieve and manage information and distribute knowledge through the organization to ensure improved organizational performance in occasions such as new staff members’ recruitment. Further, it assists empowerment of people towards a collective vision (Mirsha, Ibua and Kingi, 2017). Various studies indicated that learning organization have strong relationship with organizational performance (Ho, 2011; Akhtar et al., 2012). As per Watkins and Marsick (1993) some of the activities reflecting learning organization practices are continuous learning, dialogue and inquiry, team learning, embedded system, system connections, empowerment and leadership.
DeleteAgile. Nimble. Resilient. If organizations want to keep up with an ever-evolving world of work, these are the types of people they need to hire, retain, and, most importantly, develop. For too long, employee development has been pushed to the backburner, despite research showing employees at all levels consider it to be an important job benefit. In fact, according to a Gallup report, 59% of Millennials say “opportunities to learn and grow” are extremely important to them in a job. And 44% of Gen Xers and 41% of Baby Boomers surveyed agree with them.
ReplyDeleteNow, as organizations grapple with a tight labor market and increasing competition for top talent, employee development finally is getting the attention it deserves. But how can organizations continue to support their employees’ growth and success in a rapidly changing workplace? The key is agile employee development(Hawley,2019)
As your argument is “How can organizations continue to support their employees’ growth and success in a rapidly changing workplace?”, it is possible to look into the problem in different approaches.
DeleteOne approach is at the recruitment organization could be considered on recruiting high-performance teams at the beginning and retaining their best talent while quickly helping low-performing members find other work opportunities. Since staff possess complementary skills such as technical, problem-solving, decision-making and interpersonal skills from the beginning, volume of learning and development required to provide by company are lower (Katzenbach and Smith, 2006).
Another approach is workplace learning. Indeed, the process engages individuals in training programmes, education and development courses as well as experiential learning for the purpose of acquiring and/or implementing competences necessary to meet organizational demands. This is normally happen within the organization and mostly during work hours. Hence, these activities are mainly implemented by changes happen in the environment with situational organizational change demands (Jacobs and Parks, 2009).
All organizations learn, whether they consciously choose to or not-it is a fundamental requirement for their sustained existence. Some firms deliberately advance organizational learning, developing capabilities that are consistent with their objectives; others make no focused effort and, therefore, acquire habits that are counterproductive. Nonetheless, all organizations learn. But what does it mean that an organization learns? We can think of organizational learning as a metaphor derived from our understanding of individual learning. In fact, organizations ultimately learn via their individual members. Hence, theories of individual learning are crucial for understanding organizational learning. Psychologists have studied individual learning for decades, but they are still far from fully understanding the workings of the human mind. Likewise, the theory of organizational learning is still in its embryonic stage. The purpose of this paper is to build a theory about the process through which individual learning advances organizational learning. To do this, we must address the role of individual learning and memory, differentiate between levels of learning, take into account different organizational types, and specify the transfer mechanism between individual and organizational learning. This transfer is at the heart of organizational learning: the process through which individual learning becomes embedded in an organization's memory and structure. Until now, it has received little attention and is not well understood, although a promising interaction between organization theory and psychology has begun. To contribute to our understanding of the nature of the learning organization, I present a framework that focuses on the crucial link between individual learning and organizational learning. Once we have a clear understanding of this transfer process, we can actively manage the learning process to make it consistent with an organization's goals, vision, and values
ReplyDeleteAs you stated I agree with that Individual learning is important part of organizational learning process. As Kim (1993) stated, Organizations learn through individuals who behave as agents in the process of knowledge creation. These agents would be a front line employee, a leader, a board member, a consultant or even a teacher who work within the organization (Fauske & Raybould, 2005). In order to create knowledge explicit, individuals have to work within groups so that they can share information (Friedman, 2001). Further, three possible pairs of learning relationships may build in organizations (Yang, et al., 2004).
Delete1. Individual learning and team learning
2. Individual learning and organizational learning
3. Team learning and organizational learning
In addition, Antonacopoulou (2006) study on bank managers in England found that individual learning is affected by three organizational practices:
1. Context of learning
2. Politics of learning at work
3. Institutional identity of learning
Mike Rother has done an admirable job in his Toyota Kata of defining a core process of coaching performance improvement at Toyota. It is a very direct and simple focus on “what’s the performance, what are you doing about it, and what are you learning.” Rather than deal with larger principles or complex organizational systems, it focuses on what you can control right now. You might compare it to “blocking and tackling” in football. A lot of competition is won by the consistent execution of fundamentals.
ReplyDeleteThe five questions of the Toyota Kata are the following:
What is the target condition?
What is the actual condition now?
What obstacles do you think are preventing you from reaching the target condition and which one are you addressing now?
What is your next step or experiment and what do you expect to happen?
How quickly can we find out what we have learned from taking that step?
(Miller, 2014).
When it comes to KATA learning, above five questions will elaborate PDCA Cycles.
When further discussing about Toyota Kata method, Basically Toyota Kata method of implementation system consist with four parts.
Delete1. Vision
2. Challenge
3. The Improvement Kata
4. The Coaching Kata
Out of above parts two of those parts are related to understanding the direction of improvement activities (vision and challenge) and two are behavioral routines (Kata’s) to improve and teach/coach/manage improvement. The vision sets and communicates the organizations long-term direction. The vision is “permanent” and often can be contradictory. Some of the Toyota visions are as follow (Toivonen, 2014).
• Zero defects, 100 % value adding steps
• Single piece flow
• 100 % security for employees and lifelong employment
• Contribute to society by improving transportation for the whole global population
The second important part of Toyota Kata is the Coaching Kata. The Coaching Kata is supporting the Improvement Kata by helping the learners to focus on learning, improving, and pointing in the right direction. The Coaching Kata itself is mainly supporting the fourth step of the perfection Kata, PDCA in the direction of the target Condition (Forss, 2008).
Hi Dharshana, your blog has covered almost all the relevant areas of Learning and Development. As you are aware contemporary organizations are facing an ongoing need for employee learning and development mainly due to the expansion of the global economy and the rapid evolution of technology and innovation. In the meantime, knowledge is increasingly becoming a key factor for the productivity of organizations (Swanson and Holton, 2001).Further, the organizations which have taken measures to adopt learning and development culture have experienced positive impacts on the employees’ job satisfaction, productivity and profitability of the organization (Watkins and Marsick,2003).
DeleteWhile agree with your comment, I would like to further support your idea with following statistics and scholars publication data.
DeleteIn contemporary businesses, building high performance organizations starts in ground level by developing employee performance by encouraging them to learn novel skills and assign on new tasks (Green, 2009). Many employees now have been recognized that learn new skills in fast-changing workplace is the key to individual success (Lui and Sethi, 2005). A 2016 Pew Research Center survey shows that 87 % of the working population knows that continuous training is important or essential for career success. Likewise, ADP Research Institute survey (2011) done on workers across the world found that 65 % of knowledge workers say they need to learn new skills as they constantly change roles. In the U.S., 85 % of workers say they are excited about “using technology to learn anything, anytime, anywhere” (Pathgather, 2017).
Dharshana, your article has ably covered most of the relevant areas of organizational learning and development. I would like to add here the importance of corporate training expenditure of an organization towards promoting the innovation by employees.
ReplyDeleteCorporate training expenditure is considered as an investment by any organization, which will ultimately yield skill building and performance gain of employees (López et al., 2006).
Corporate training can be designed and delivered to employees through various channels such as seminars, workshops, site visits, and also case studies. Moreover, personalized online training also can be considered as one of the effective training method (Noe et al., 2010). In addition to conveying new knowledge and information among employees, corporate training can effectively promote fast learning and adaptation to new tasks and situations, thus improving innovative ideas of emplyees and their ability to make constructive proposals for changes that may not be gained from their daily routine (Aragón‐Sánchez et al., 2003; Chen & Huang, 2009).
Intensive Corporate trainings are resource dependent and hence must be supported by appropriate investment allocations under the organizations budget. Such investment in training is vital in ensuring quality training for employees, which should enhance organizational innovation (Gómez et al., 2004).
Another way of investing the allocated corporate training expenditure is providing financial support for the education and professional development of employees (Benson, Finegold, & Mohrman, 2004). Unlike direct corporate training, which is designed to directly improve task skills and capabilities demanded by the role of the job, financial support for education is often directed toward the self-development efforts and self- identified goals to improve employee’s overall competence (Jacobs & Washington, 2003). By providing financial support to pursue external educational, organizations can benefit through enhanced intellectuality of employees that enables creativity and innovation (Bassett-Jones, 2005). When employees eligible for encouragement and financial support of the organization for their external education, they may be positively motivated to contribute toward organizational goals (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002).
Since you have discussed about importance of corporate learning as a part of organizational learning process and finance corporate learning, I thought to add a value on that by discussing one of the emerging corporate learning method of eLearning.
DeleteIn order to build collaborative learning environment, nowadays many corporations have adopted eLearning for employee training and learning activities (Ellis and Kuznia, 2014). eLearning is a system designed to provide learning solutions using technology. Which is combining technology with learning, delivered using telecommunication and information technologies, and a type of training delivered on computer based systems to achieve organizational goals by employee skills and competency development (Chen, 2008). Since corporations have adopted eLearning as a part of their business operations, this has become a central scholastic and teaching instrument in the current business environment (Dardar, Jusoh, and Rasli, 2011). As according to a study carried out by Kuznia, Kerno and Gilley (2010) in USA, by selecting 10 educational and 2 businesses results show not only there is tangible evidence that eLearning is an effective and viable method of information transference, but also found that it influences employee attitudes toward the corporation.
Training and Development basically deals with the acquisition of understanding, knowhow, techniques and practices. In fact, training and development is one of the imperatives of human resource management as it can improve performance at individual, collegial and organizational levels. As the process of ‘increasing one’s capacity to take action, organizations are now increasingly becoming particular with organizational learning and therefore collective development. Organizational learning, on the other hand, refers to the “efficient procedure to process, interpret and respond to both internal and external information of a predominantly explicit nature (Tahir et al., 2014). The emergence of the concept of organizational learning is central on the hitherto idea that prior advocacies of learning are tended to its commercial significance and are lacking of empirical information on learning processes (Easterby-Smith, 1999, cited in Tahir et al., 2014). Training focuses on present jobs while development prepares employees for possible future jobs. Basically, the objective of training and development is to contribute to the organization's overall goal (Sims, 2002, cited in Tahir et al., 2014).
ReplyDeleteSince you have emphasize the importance of organizational learning in contemporary business environment, it is important to understand real requirement of that. Organizational learning is more than just providing employees another learning activities; it is about the ability to bind and use the knowledge for competitive advantage of businesses. It is also about the ability of an organization to learn from itself, by mistakes, inefficiency and employees (Appelbaum and Gallaghe, 2000). According to Marquardt (2000), organizational learning would happen simultaneously in several modes such as individual, group and organizational. Further author has discusses it appear in different modes as follow.
Delete• Adaptive learning: it happens when a person, group or organization learn through experience and evaluation
• Forward-looking learning: it begins when an organization learns through prospective futures
• Practical learning: it consists of working on real issues, focusing on the obtained science and real performance of solutions
Today, experts of management and organization prescribe organizational learning as a medicine to all organizational problems. However, there are managers, who are unable to understand that organizational learning as a continuous process, which is vitally important in continuous improvement of all business aspects (Saadat, 2016).
Organizational learning is a long-term activity that will build competitive advantage over time and requires sustained management attention, commitment and effort. A list of companies frequently cited as learning organizations confirms this fact. These companies include Motorola, Wal-Mart, British Petroleum (BP), Xerox, Shell, Analog Devices, GE, 3M, Honda, Sony, Nortel, Harley-Davidson, Corning, Kodak and Chaparral Steel. Not only have these organizations maximized their competitive positions in good times, they have been carefully nurtured in turbulent times. As a result, these companes are envied by their competitors (de Geus, 1988; McGill, Slocum & Lei, 1993; Leonad-Barton, 1992).
ReplyDeleteStudies have shown that long-term investments in these companies would have given an investor spectacular returns. More to the point, these companies were built to last and have been managed effectively since their founding (Collins and Porras, 1994).
Learning organization learns through its members individually and collectively use that to gain competitive advantages by efficiently and effectively managing internal and external resources (Senge, 2004). Also, these organizations are highly dynamic and always in readiness to change (Sudhratna and Li, 2004). Further, Therin (2003) explored the influence of processes of learning in organization on innovation performance in contemporary businesses. As his exploration, it has revealed that learning organization orientation and learning organization processes is related to innovativeness. Most importantly, Learning organizations are skilled at five main activities: systematic problem solving, experimentation with new approaches, learning from their own experience and history, learning from the experiences and best practices of others, and transferring knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout the organization (Garvin, 2013).
Delete“Tell me and I’ll forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn” – Benjamin Franklin
ReplyDeleteThe above statement by one of the founding fathers of USA clearly indicates that engaging is a key factor for L & D. The popular formula'70:20:10 model' too shows that learners develop 10% of knowledge in a classroom setting, 20% through coaching and observation of others and a whopping 70% through experience.(Petrigliery, 2014 Nov, Harvard Business Review). Therefore, I agree with your argument that the expenses on L & D is an investment and it is a responsibility of the respective organization. Also, the learning took place at the work place is far more effective than outside learning,coaching or mentoring.
-Randitha
It is interesting to read your comment on organizational learning. Since you have emphasized work place learning, I thought it is important to discuss about that further.
DeleteEmployee who behave, as active learners are the effective work place learners. Self-initiated, self-directed behavior of learning is identified as active learning (Simmering, et al., 2003). Active learning has three characteristic components.
1. Active learning implies that employees are motivated to learn whereby they start learning activities themselves (Simmering, et al., 2003)
2. An active learning employee feels that he or she is in control over the learning process (Bell and Kozlowski, 2008)
3. The active learner experiences a feeling of mastery and self-efficacy (Taris, et al., 2003)
Further, Active learning is important in modern businesses to acquire require flexibility and adaptability of employees for rapidly changing work environment.
On top of your article I would like to add an Approach to Learning and Development. Informal learning is experiential learning. It takes place while people are learning on-the-job as they go along. Most learning does not take place in formal training programmes. Reynolds, J (2004) Helping People Learn, CIPD, London states "The simple act of observing more experienced colleagues can accelerate learning; conversing, swapping stories, cooperating on tasks and offering mutual support deepen and solidify the proces. This kind of learning – often very informal in nature – is thought to be vastly more effective in building proficiency than more formalized training methods". In another means it is cost effective as well.
ReplyDeleteNiroshan, it is interesting to see your initiation of discussion on modern learning method of informal learning. Since, current jobs in contemporary businesses are demanding frequent change response in technology and organizational innovation, keeping employees skills up to date by informal learning is important on them to sustain in employability (Park and Jacobs, 2011). Further, Informal learning is also positively related to the feedback employees receive at work from their co-workers and supervisors. Most of the time skills adapted through informal learning are highly important for organizational competitive advantage. However, economic literature on the causal effects of human resource management practices on informal learning is rare. This lack of knowledge may explain why most firms do not have adequate human resource management strategies to optimize informal learning in the workplace (De Grip, 2015). Anyhow, nowadays several countries have been taken initiatives to certify the skills people acquire through informal learning. (De Grip and Smits, 2012)
DeleteKearns (2004) introduced and “Organizational maturity scale” to discuss about the methods practiced by the firms from “strategic” to “reactive”. Reactive method is planning Learning & Development as something need to address problem as they arise and may be planned in an ad-hoc manner. Larger organizations practiced different methods based on their requirements (Sambrook, 2007). The extent to which the organizational setting is characterized by more strategic or more traditional attitudes to Learning and Development presents another dimension of context. More over Fey, et al., (2000) were pointed out that there is a strong effective relationship between employee Learning & Development and organization performance. This suggests that employee Learning & Development relate significantly to firm performance. Learning & Development not only develops employees but also help an organization to make best use of their humane resources in favor of gaining competitive advantage. Therefore, it seems mandatory by the firm to plan for such a Learning & Development for its employees to enhance their abilities and competencies that are needed at the workplace, (Jie and Roger, 2005).
ReplyDeleteSarvanakanth, Thank you very much for your contribution on elaborating importance of learning and development in gain competitive advantage. In the case of earning competitive advantage, organizational learning plays a vital role (Curado, 2006). This is stated as the ability to make sense of the environment, and develop new understandings that ultimately visible itself through internal and external organizational actions (Moore, 2007). In higher level of organizational learning, include challenging organizational vision, culture, mission, revaluation of current processes, products and systems (Wang and Ahmed, 2003). Hence, it is expected that an organization choose to adapt those belief and behaviors that offer the best competitive advantages through above type of organizational learning (Thomas and Allen, 2006). Further, Knowledge management and innovation are other major factors affecting to the competitive advantage. Therefore, organizations are required to ensure that learning and development activities are contribute to organizational innovation (Barney, 2007).
DeleteFurthermore, the shortage of commitment towards training is seen throughout organisations, from top management to shop-floor workers. the highest management and social control level workers are found to be uncooperative towards hour T&D, while lower level workers lack the commitment to participate in training and development activities. This suggests that workers could have embedded discouraged attitudes towards coaching and be essentially resistant to alter. Of course, the development of amendment is usually resisted, because it needs people to require aboard new learning and adopt new skills and competencies. In point of fact, employers and HRD practitioners in these producing companies are seen to be confronted with the individual employee-negotiated character of learning rather than the resources needed to support such learning. Indeed, these dimensions in learning are same to be a crucial adaptation with relevance fostering learning and development within the work (Guile & Young, 1999)
ReplyDeleteThank you Dinesh on prompting importance of encouraging social control level workers on training activities. Anyhow, another factor important to consider with the same is what halts small firms investing in their workforce. There are several reasons for the matter; mainly small firms are lack information on type of training important to their business effectiveness. Further, it is hard to release workers on training, as it is impact in losing working hours of firm’s most valuable scare resource of work force (Stone, 2010). In addition to that, small firms face problem in return on investment of training expenses. Since they deal with lower number of work groups, low volumes and lower profit margin, sometimes investment on training would not be provide sustainable competitive advantage on them (Ashton and Sung, 2002).
DeleteArmstrong and Tylor (2014) highlight the advantages and disadvantages of informal learning. In informal learning, learning efforts are relevant and focused on the immediate environment. Understanding happens gradually, over a period of time not at once. Learners define how they gain the knowledge they need and also, they have the opportunity to practice what they learn. As per the disadvantages, out of a population, some might learn and those who are not interested will not learn. Learning will be not systematically planned so they will not learn in an incremental sequence, whereas that leaning might not satisfy the needs of the individual and the organization.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with your expression. Since, current jobs in contemporary businesses are demanding frequent change response in technology and organizational innovation, keeping employees skills up to date by informal learning is important on them to sustain in employability (Park and Jacobs, 2011). Further, Informal learning is also positively related to the feedback employees receive at work from their co-workers and supervisors. Most of the time skills adapted through informal learning are highly important for organizational competitive advantage. This lack of experience in organizational informal learning explain why most firms do not have adequate human resource management strategies to optimize informal learning in the workplace (De Grip, 2015).
DeleteAccording to CIPD Annual Survey Report (2015), Learning and development is usually incorporated within the HR department – in over two fifths of organizations, L&D is a specialist function/role within the HR department and in one-fifth it is part of generalist HR activities. In just under two-fifths L&D activities are split between HR and another area of the business, or are completely separate from the HR function. Further to this, the Annual Survey Report claims "Business and commercial awareness and the ability to work collaboratively are key to success in L & D".
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