Learning and development can be defined as the process of empowering employees with skills that will empower them to drive better business performance. There is a good reason why big money is being spent on learning and development as “learning is your competitive advantage.” (Casteel, S., 2020).In 2018, organizations in the U.S spent 87.6 billion on training expenditures that year. Almost fifty percent (50%) of executives believe that the workforce isn’t receiving the necessary training for the business to succeed. (Casteel, S., 2020).
Due to several factors, the global workforce has
been evolving over the past decade. To keep their leadership skills continually
sharpened a good learning and development strategy needs to be set in place. In
an organization where a clear learning and development plan is in motion, the
senior employees are ensured that the existing talent is secure. (Casteel, S.,
2020).
The new market climate at work is increasingly
rising. Organizations need to provide an up to date business plan to compete
with other organizations. They recruit and engage the best candidates so that
they might be managed better when the right person is recruited for the right
job. To do this, a lot of money is invested in the concept of learning and
development. (ATD research 2018)
Learning and Development.
Learning and development is a process that helps
to gain and improve knowledge, skills, and attitudes through the experience of
learning. When the company needs its employees, this method would help to
create a productive and stronger work-force. (Honey, P, and Mumford, A 1996).
As explained by Honey and Mumford (1996)
“Learning can happen when people can demonstrate that they know something that
they did not know before (insights, realization as well as facts.) and when
they can do something that they could not do before. (Honey, P, and Mumford, A
1996).
Development
This can mainly be used to identify the correct
employee and develop their skills with the proper planning and learning
process. This will assist the association with changing the present status
of aptitude levels to a superior condition of expertise. (2018 State of the
Industry.).
Learning Styles.
Before all else, Honey and Alan Mumford (1986)
clarified a learning style that clarifies how individuals learn by and large.
Activists – these are people who
learn from their experience. They will try something at least once to see what
happens.
Reflectors – These are people who
consider all aspects before implementing their plans. They spend more time
planning than implementation.
Theorists – These people like to look
into the facts, models, and theory to learn the task. Only once they fully
understand the task will they proceed to implement it.
Pragmatists – This is a person who is
guided more by practical considerations than by ideals. They will
use other ways to move forward with new concepts.
The effects of training and development have a
domino effect; employee performance can be efficiently influenced as leaders
feel competent enough to do this; happy and skilled workers create job
satisfaction, commitment, and therefore retention. (GetSmarter Blog. 2019)
In an organization, there are people to whom we
can fit each learning category. It is a good practice if we can find out the
most suitable learning process for each organization. Once we identify the
correct people with each learning method, we should be able to develop them
through a planned process so that the employee and employer have a better
understanding of their goals, how they can motivate the existing staff, and
what rewards and benefits come after development. Learning and development
is a continuous process that organizations have to follow to generate a strong
workforce. (GetSmarter Blog. 2019).
References:
Casteel,
S., 2020. Learning &
Development: How To Do It Right (2020 Update). [online] Docebo.
Available at: <https://www.docebo.com/blog/learning-and-development/>
[Accessed 18 October 2020].
GetSmarter
Blog. 2019. Employee Training And
Development: The Benefits And Why It's Important. [online] Available at:
<https://www.getsmarter.com/blog/employee-development/employee-training-and-development-the-benefits-and-why-its-important/>
[Accessed 18 October 2020].
Honey,
P, and Mumford, A (1996) The Manual of Learning Styles, 3rd and, Honey
Publications, Maidenhead
Michel
Armstrong (2001), “A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice”, Kogan
Page, 8th Edition.
2018 State of the Industry. [online] Available at:
https://www.td.org/research-reports/2018-state-of-the-industry.
Hi Melissa, According to Damnjanovic (2016) Learning and development are defined as the process of ensuring that the team has the required skilled, specialized, and employed workforce.
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ReplyDeleteThe goal of learning and development is to develop or change the behavior of individuals or groups for the better, sharing knowledge and insights that enable them to do their work better, or cultivate attitudes that help them perform better (Lievens, 2011).
ReplyDeleteLearning and development policies and programs are key components of talent Management. They aim to ensure that people acquire and enhance the skills and competencies they need. Policies should be formulated by reference to ‘employee success profiles’ which are described in terms of competencies and define the qualities that need to be developed (Armstrong, 2014).
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa, According to Schuler, Jackson and Tarique there are a significant number of practices that organization can use in their initiatives concerning global talent management, they are location planning and relocation management, HR planning and forecasting, staffing, meaning attraction and selection, retention, reduction and removal, training and development, performance assessment, and compensation. However, “matching an accurate diagnosis of a firm’s strategy and talent management situation with possible HR policies and practices are a first step in gaining and sustaining a global competitive advantage that may result from the successful implementation of the appropriate HR policies and practices” (Schuler et al,2011,506).
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Mellissa Learning and development (L&D) is one of the core areas of Human Resource Management. The goal of learning and development is to develop or change the behavior of individuals or groups for the better, sharing knowledge and insights that enable them to do their work better, or cultivate attitudes that help them perform better (Lievens, 2011).
ReplyDeleteWhile we all agree that Learning and Development in an organization can be greatly advantageous there are two technology based training methods that can be considered. Computer Based Training and using Social Media as a training resource. These methods can be used to determine future training needs, reinforce and sustain learning, and coaching and mentoring. Some of the benefits are that the credibility of training presented by colleagues within the organization that opposed to an external training experts, training time can be kept short and can quickly meet the changing needs.(Braathe 2016)
ReplyDelete“learning is your competitive advantage” (Casteel and 2020). According to an e-learning article in 2020 and beyond, employee ability for the full spectrum of employees is becoming both a strategic imperative and a competitive advantage.
ReplyDeleteTo keep and develop quality knowledgeable employees is very important to the organizations. (Vnoučková, 2013) .The only thing that is important to raise the level of organization and the economy is human resources and management and development, Therefore organizations should focus on education and learning of each individual.(Vnoučková, 2013). Employee Learning provides them opportunity to learn their jobs and perform more competently (Maimuna and Dr.Rashad, 2013).
ReplyDeleteThe nature of technology development might also provide some pointers as to how learning at work should change. Learning needs to move from a standalone activity to one that incorporates learning on the job and integrates it into our workflow. This is likely to require decentralizing the structure of the organization, with smaller teams given greater autonomy to act, experiment and learn. The insights from these teams should then be allowed to flow up and around the organization to spread learning throughout. (Gaskell, A., 2019)
DeleteThe UK government is encouraging lifelong learning (DfEE, 1998), highlighting the changing nature of work, the need for re-skilling as traditional industries decline and new technologies emerge, and the need for everyone to engage in ongoing learning.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK, improving your skills is critical to increase prosperity, as well as delivering considerable benefits to society as a whole. With a changing job market developing our skills should not just be an aspiration. We should strive to get the right mix of abilities, technical knowledge demanded by the workplace and skills to use those abilities and knowledge. It is about changing attitudes to learning across our lifetime and realizing the positive benefits it brings. (Milton, A., 2019).
DeleteAlmost all organizations strive to achieve maximum productivity optimization to cope with current growing market needs. Employee performance plays a key role to acquire above goal. Therefore, challenges related to employee performance needs to be addressed by organizations with due respect. To solve performance challenges and increase organizational effectiveness as acknowledged by Noe (2005), many organizations have adopted performance-based Learning and Development systems in line to organizations’ strategic goals. Training nowadays is being evaluated on how training addresses business needs which is related to learning, behavior change and performance enhancement. In fact, training is becoming more performance-focused. That is training is being used to improve employee performance which will lead to improved business results; hence it is quite evident that how important training and development and applying it in line to organizational strategies ( Ternni, AS, Abdullai, IA & Mohammed, A 2014).
ReplyDeleteAs per Learning and Development Strategy, n.d. 2020, Learning and development strategy represents an approach an organization adopts to ensure that the activities related to learning and development support the achievement of goals and objectives. When the individuals will be able to augment their knowledge and skills, they will be able to make use of them in the achievement of desired goals and objectives. The strategic human resource development also involves introducing, eliminating, modifying, directing and guiding processes in such a manner that all individuals and groups are well-equipped with skills, knowledge and abilities.
ReplyDeleteAdding to your post that learning is a long term change in the knowledge possessed by an individual, their type and level of skill or their assumptions, attitudes or values, which may lead to them having increased potential to grow, development and preform in more satisfying's and effective ways ( Eugene sadlr- Smith). So once employee using of learnings it may support to development and achieve organizational objectives.
ReplyDeleteAdding more to your statement according to Armstrong (2006) Learning is a continuous process that not only enhances existing capabilities but also leads to the development of the skills, knowledge and attitudes that prepare people
ReplyDeletefor enlarged or higher-level responsibilities in the future.
Learning and development in the current scope of the job and in moving forward towards career development is very important since new jobs/promotions in the roles are still being created that require higher levels of technical competencies, therefore there is a growing need for employees who are willing to do the job under new and
ReplyDeletechanging conditions that require the development of additional competencies (Rich, 2010).
One of an Learning & Development executive’s primary tasks is to develop and shape a learning strategy based on the company’s business and talent strategies. The learning strategy seeks to support professional development and build capabilities across the company, on time, and in a cost-effective manner (Brassey, 2008).
ReplyDeleteTo increase productivity and performance of an organization, learning and development act as an invaluable aspect within the organization, which allows to uplift the standards of skills and abilities of existing and new staff (Nda and Fard 2013). The development of the employees will gain benefits for the organization in various aspects and it will help reduce employee turnover as well (Deckop et al. 2006). Also, it will help to sustain in an ever-changing market environment and will gain a competitive advantage among others.
ReplyDeleteIn most cases, the organizations encourage the development of L&D professionals. With the current focus on alignment with the business strategy, awareness in terms of organizational goals, market factors, external environmental conditions and proper awareness in terms of one’s job duties and responsibilities are regarded as important aspects in order to develop into HR professionals. In order to facilitate the development of L&D capabilities, there is a need to make provision of time and financial resources for training events, courses, conferences and seminars. In this manner, the individuals are provided with the opportunities to enrich their competencies and professionalism (Stuart, 2015).
ReplyDeleteHuman Resource development is a process, covering training of new employees, their adaptation, professional development, re-skilling, career development and reserve formation, in order to improve and develop personal and team work performance, having combined organizational and personal employees’ objectives and needs, and allowing employees continually develop, in this way achieving the best possible results of the organization (Kumpikaite, 2004).
ReplyDeleteA learning and development strategy should be business-led in the sense that it is designed to support the achievement of business goals by promoting human capital advantage. But it should also be people-led, which means taking into account the needs and aspiration of people to grow and develop (Armstrong, M 2017).
ReplyDeleteLearning and development can be simply defined as the process of acquiring skills, abilities to support collective development. This results in a change of habits and growth or recognition of people (Damnjanovic and Aleksandar, 2016)
ReplyDeleteAccording to Prashant Sachdeva, Business Analyst, IT & Research, Elixir Web Solutions, “With the face of business changing & knowledge worker increasing in almost all organizations, the factor that currently retain people are opportunities to learn and grow” (Hongal & Kinange, 2020).
ReplyDelete