Human Resource Development - Boeing Company - Assignment Example

Human Resource Development Name of Student: Name of Professor: Name of Course: Code of the Course: Date of Submission: Abstract This report seeks to explore action learning (AL) in context of human resource development. Action learning has been defined as part of human resource development that is aimed in developing teams and leaders and solving problem concurrently. The report has also taken a deep insight on how organizations such as Boeing Company have employed AL as a means of gain competitive advantage in the global market. The paper has gone further to discuss what are entailed in wicked problems and how AL can be utilized to solve them. Additionally, the report has illuminated on the differences that exist between critical and classical action learning. Lastly, the report has sought to know how AR can be employed in improving HRD strategies. Table of Contents Abstract 1 Table of Contents 2 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Organizations and action learning 4 2.1 How organizations are employing action learning 5 2.2 How Boeing has employed Action learning 5 3.0 Wicked Problems 6 3.1 What is Wicked Problems 6 3.2 Australian public service commission Faced by Wicked problems 7 3.3 How to solve wicked problems using action learning 7 4.0 Critical action learning and classical action learning 8 4.1 Critical action learning 9 4.2 Classical action learning 9 5.0 Action learning to HRD 10 5.1 Contribution of Action learning to HRD strategy 10 5.2 Daelim Industrial as an example of company that has used action learning to improve it HRD strategy 12 Conclusion 12 References 13 1.0 Introduction Reg Revans crosses minds of many when the term action learning is mentioned. There is no particular statement in either book or paper that has recorded Revans ideas in totality (Pedler, Burgoyne& Brook 2005, p. 58). However, scholars have endeavored to record some of his statements. The first statement about action learning states that the known ignorance and not programmed understanding is vital to action learning. The statement explains that men begin to learn from and with each other after they realize that no individual have the solution but all are obligated to discover it. Another statement indicates that finding of the understanding of the unseen is the duty of action learning. Additionally, it has been stated that action learning is a way of development, physical, emotional or intellectual, that demands its subject, via answerable participation in some real, stressful and complex difficulties, to attain targeted change that is enough to boast his noticeable behavior henceforth in the field of problem solving (Alan 1997, p. 4). Various organizations such as British Airways, the US Army, General motors, Arthur Andersen, Motorola, TRW, General Electric, and Exxon employ action learning to indentify strategic competitive advantage, develop their global managers, develop performance management mechanism, lowering costs of operations, and as a means of promoting learning within organization. This report will give a deep insight on action learning; how organizations are using it; how to solve wicked problems and how it contributes to HRD strategy. 2.0 Organizations and action learning Action learning programs are being employed by various organizations across the world to serve as tool in developing millions of new services and products, lowering delivery and production period, saving huge chunks of money, elevating service quality, expanding customer bases, and confidently changing cultures of organization. There was a recent study conducted by the ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) where it was revealed that two third of programs for executive leadership programs in the US employed action learning. 2.1 How organizations are employing action learning Action learning programs are being used by various organizations across the globe. The study that was carried out in 2009 by the Corporate Executive Board showed that 77% of learning executive pointed out action learning as the main vehicle of leadership bench strong point (Michael & Michael 2011, p. 2). Additionally, scholars have pointed out action plan as the newest and rapidly growing organizational instrument for development of leadership. The main strength that majority of organization tap in action learning is its unmatched ability to concurrently solve tough problems and develop organizations and individuals at reduced costs to the companies. In the current world where fast changing environment and unforeseen global problems are the order of the day, individuals and organization are required to both learn and act simultaneously. 2.2 How Boeing has employed Action learning Boeing is one of the major players in the industry across the world. It has also diverse portfolios such as lunch services, human space flight, and missile defense, with clients in over 145 nations across the globe, operating in 26 states and has employees in over 60 nations. This organization opted to enroll action learning program as the method for its program on Global Leadership. The main reason to choose this method is because action learning allows the organization to develop global competitiveness while working out its most pressing challenges. This program was considered as one of strategic investment by Boeing organization. The Boeing global leadership program commenced in the year 1999 as a major tool of improving ability of the company to thrive as an international organization. It was also aimed to grow its leadership capacities within the realms of executives (Michael, 2005, p. 9). The initial step was the Boeing leadership center to roll out a plan of identifying executive competences that were considered paramount for the accomplishment of global leaders. As a result, there was a regrouping of nineteen executives’ competencies into 3 groups of global competencies. Founded on prioritization of leadership competency, Boeing utilized action learning as the method because it meets the goal of improving the most important global competencies. Action learning has managed to accomplish the objective of developing a forum for executives on senior level to learn while at the same time being presented with actual issues of the organization associated with the global environment in which they were placed. 3.0 Wicked Problems Problems are seen to be wicked but not on the view point of being evil but in that they can be devious and result to unforeseen consequences for the individuals who attempt to act on them. Additionally, wicked problems are not real challenges in the sense of having highly stable and defined statements of the problem; they have not gone that far yet. Also, as an individual making decision, whichever decision one makes, a certain percentage of stakeholders engaged are going to desire your head on a block. 3.1 What is Wicked Problems Melvim Webber and Horst Rittel who were both planners of urban in the Berkley University in California in 1970s, published a piece of article on policy sciences that was titled ‘Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning’ (Tom 2013, p.1). In the article, the two scholars revealed that there existed an entire sphere of organization and social planning challenges that could not be correctly categorized with conventional linear, analytical methods. They indentified these as wicked problems. Looking at these terms, they don’t bear literal meaning of the actual words. Both terms problems and wicked require to be qualified. 3.2 Australian public service commission Faced by Wicked problems Australia is currently being faced by a climatic change as a wicked problem. This issue has various characteristics of wicked problems in perspective of ongoing discussion about the solutions and causes of climatic change. The discussion has been made simpler into three contending discussions that stress varying issues of climatic change. Every discussion seems to define itself in contradicting way to the other two guidelines discussion solutions. The first story is about profligacy which state that there is persistent problem in equality resulting to increased unsustainable paths of production and consumption. The obligation is on high level capitalist nations to take step. The second story is on lack of global planning that views the main problem being the lack of global planning and governance that would rule in world market and consider costs and prices factors into environment. The third story is about much ado about nothing that views the whole phenomenon as a pseudoscience that is aimed to make people believe in profligacy and lack of global planning story (Australian Government 2007, p.12). 3.3 How to solve wicked problems using action learning The scholar has proposed a model of leadership as a progressive approach from critical to tame to wicked problems that is marred by an elevation of both the need for collaboration and uncertainty about solutions. Problems that are considered critical fall in the realm of command; crisis scenarios like natural disasters, train crash or heart attacks require speedy action, allowing limited time for uncertainty or procedure. Problems that are consider as tame, although they can be multifaceted, for instance building new hospital, planning heart surgery or school timetabling, are open to balanced tools and comprise of the natural category of management. Wicked problems cannot be handled through rational scrutiny and are categorized under leadership (Mike 2011, p. 6). Problems that are wicked oriented are aggressive, circular and messy, where action mostly attracts disputes because of multifaceted intertwining on location. Getting rid of problems such as entrepreneurship development, motivating individuals, crime or homeliness within the vicinity or drug abuse menaces are all hard to handle. Action learning is the procedure that is tailored for the above mentioned challenges and problems. This approach calls for proceeding by queries, by not hurrying to answers, by gaining knowledge from initiating deliberated risks and deliberate experiments. 4.0 Critical action learning and classical action learning Critical action learning emphasizes the collective and individual emotional developments that are part of sets of action learning. Questioning insight of individuals is carried out in the perspective of collective dynamics, connected to complex inter-personal relations and unconscious processes. CAL needs set members and facilitators to be conscious of the relations of power they are developing, enacting and representing. In 1970s, Revans designed classical action learning that was mainly focused on basis on unfamiliar environment handling unfamiliar job. The classical action learning modules were targeting future general managers who required growing their strategy in managing skills. The program was designed in a manner that both the environment and problems that were to be worked out were unfamiliar to the members. The participants and the problems were then interchanged in a manner that gave every individual maximum development chance. For instance, Revans explains in his work ‘developing effective managers’ how bankers handled challenge in steel industries and how an oil sector CEO gave advice one of leading banks in Belgium. 4.1 Critical action learning CAL (critical action learning) aims to show that power relations are part of action learning. As a result, the critical action learning is not merely focused on empowering the actual learner but it is also focused on the means in which learning is prevented, supported and avoided within environments and in companies via relations of power. In the perception of phenomenon of action learning, power relations can be expressed by, for instance, risk-averse behavior of individuals in sets, collective denial and defensiveness; or set individuals’ unconscious conformity to particular expectations, norms and habits (Russ 2010, p.1). A postulation at the focal point of critical action learning is that relations of power are integral and an inevitable factor of action learning. Critical action learning interacts with continuing anxiety that exist between the political objective behind the utilization of action learning and the radical probability of action learning to cause change to occur within the organization. 4.2 Classical action learning Classical action learning sticks to specific main principles which have been stipulated from the Revans’ scholar work. The first principle is the need for action to be fundamental aspect for learning. Another one is achieving thoughtful individual development derived from reflection after action (Cheryl 2010, p. 4). There is also aspect of operating with problems (no right solutions) not riddles (vulnerable to knowledge of expert). Additionally, CAL principle is that challenges that are being sponsored are aimed for both personal and organizational growth. Learners of action work in groups of peers so as to challenge and support each other. The last principle of CAL is that the search for fresh questioning insight and questions takes dominance over access to knowledge of expert. 5.0 Action learning to HRD Human resource development strategy is seen as a wide and proactive intervention system that is connected with cultural change and strategic planning. This is different from conventional perspective of training and development that is viewed as more reactive, piecemeal approaches responding to particular challenges. Human resource development is only seen as strategic if it is included in the entire business strategy of an organization. This is the only way that the functions of human resource development acquires the class and it requires to endure and have a long term effect on the whole performance of business and respond to momentous technological and competitive pressures. Action learning is a part of any dynamic human resource development strategy. 5.1 Contribution of Action learning to HRD strategy In the current era, competitive advantage sources are rapidly defeated by competitors and, hence, the mere focus of competitive advantage is the capacity of a company to learn effective and more rapidly than their competitors (John 2005, p.11). The kind of learning should not happen in form of abstract within the company but in the minds of groups and individuals. Scholars have emphasized that organizational value is inside the brains of the staffs and very little within the organizational capital assets. As a result of this understanding, the HRD strategic perspective supports the increase in investment on human assets via development and training. This is where action learning gains importance in developing of strategies of human resource development. In the current world, coaching is quickly growing as a more preferred and adopted way of HRD (human resource development) in organization. Executive coaching is one of human resource development strategy that is being employed by various organizations across the world with an aim of gaining competitiveness. Both action learning and executive coaching are associated with change within dynamic and highly unpredictable business environments. The AL is a mechanism that allows organization to develop through management development. Researchers have continued to state that when action learning is turned into part of an organization itself, then the company acquires some aspects of a learning company. In turn, this allows the organization to come up with more holistic strategy on human resource development. Action learning has gained popularity as the new strategy for improving organization capacities. It is being viewed as the new sphere of organizational capacities for the successful building of the scale model of action learning standard, with the advancement of practices and theory importance. 5.2 Daelim Industrial as an example of company that has used action learning to improve it HRD strategy Daelim Industrial Company in its division of construction business hatched a strategy of improving its HRD by developing a construction knowledge management system in the year 2002 (Yonjoo & Hyeon-Cheol 2013, p. 54). It employed action learning as a means to implement the strategy within the organization. The organization increased knowledge in the company and it managed to deliver performance outcomes such as design and construction methods, new technologies and patents through the utilization of hundred learning teams per annum. As a result the organization has managed to improve its HRD strategy. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be seen that action learning is a human resource development means that concurrently develop teams and leaders and solve problem. Various organizations have employed action learning in their human resource development departments. One of such organizations is Boeing Company that commenced action learning program as the methodology for its program on Global Leadership. This program was aimed at improving the ability of the company to thrive as an international organization and to grow its leadership capacities within the realms of executives. Webber and Rittel defined wicked problems as a sphere of organization and social planning challenges that could not be correctly categorized with conventional linear, analytical methods. Additionally, the paper has explained how action learning can be used to solve wicked problems with the organization. The report has identified critical action learning emphasizes the collective and individual emotional developments that are part of sets of action learning. Additionally, the report has revealed that classical action learning sticks to specific main principles as it have been stipulated from the Revans’ scholar work. Action learning has been employed by various organizations to develop strategies on HRD. References Australian Government 2007, Tackling Wicked Problems: A Public Policy Perspective, pp. 1-47. Alan, M 1997, Action Learning at Work, Gower Publishing Ltd, Hampshire. Cheryl, B 2010, Critical Debates and Challenges in Action Learning: implications for academics and practitioners, University of Portsmouth, Portland Street. John, W 2005, Human Resource Development: Learning and Training for Individuals, Kogan Page Publishers, London. Michael, M 2005, Developing Global Leaders via Action: Learning Programs:A Case Study at Boeing. 1-25. Michael, M & Michael, M 2011, Optimizing the Power of Action Learning, Second Edition:Real-Time Strategies for Developing Leaders, Building Teams and Transforming Organizations. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, Boston. Mike, P 2011, Action Learning in Practice (Epub), Surrey, Gower Publishing Limited. Pedler, M., Burgoyne, J. & Brook, C. 2005, "What Has Action Learning Learned to Become?", Action Learning: Research and Practice, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 49-68. Russ, V 2010, 'Critical Action Learning', journal Management learning , vol. 1, no, 1, pp. 1-5. Tom, R 2013, 'Wicked Problems: Modelling Social Messes with Morphological Analysis', Swedish Morphological Society , vol. 2, vol. 1, pp. 1-8. Yonjoo, C & Hyeon-Cheol, B 2013, Trends and Issues in Action Learning Practice: Lessons from South Kore, Routledge.New York. Read More