Development Process Within the Workplace - Literature review Example

TOPIC: The importance of understanding the learning and development processes within the workplace from an organizational strategic perspective. (NAME) (COURSE NAME) (INSTITUTIONS NAME) 23rd APRIL 2009 Introduction The expansion of career development and training has resulted into a large literature base. The development and training of employees is said to be a shared responsibility between the employee and the employer. Training the employees in the workplace provides knowledge and skills that are important for better communication, good performance and in creating a teamwork environment. Therefore learning adds value to the employees, the organization and the best of all the general clients in any organization. On the other hand training and development allows the employees to get new skills and face the primary challenges of their roles with confidence. The training program is basically done through the human resource management department of the organization. Of interest in this paper is the importance of considering the learning and development processes in the workplace from an organizational strategic perspective. The objective of this paper is to deliver programs and services that provide measurable improvement in the health and well being of employees and in the productivity of the companies we serve (Camillo and Meth, 2004) Literature Review Importance of understanding the learning and development processes within the workplace Career growth is the outcome of actions on the plans of the career that is viewed from both an individual and the perspective of the organization. This outcome includes achieving the best match between the jobs and the people. The outcomes of individuals range from status to flexibility to monetary rewards depending upon the situation. There are various factors that influence the call for career development. This includes the call for identifying and forecasting personnel needs, changes in an organization, changes in social and demographic trends and technological and decreasing advancement opportunities in the organization. Most of the organizations are induced to formulate career development courses which have markedly been perceived as effective response to a number of employees’ problems. Many organizations prefer giving promotions to subsist employees because it avails good fit among the team members. This gives opportunities to existing personnel to apply for a promotion that helps in career development. Most organizations implement career development programs in response to practical human resource concerns and because they consider it they assist in ensuring a constant supply of competent and brilliant personnel. Advantage of development learning The advantages of development learning in an organization are found both to the employer and to the employees. To the employer there is improved efficiency, accurate but difficult-to-measure output, and a skilled workforce. To the employee there is job satisfaction, greater opportunity and also personal development, all of which result in an improved service to the public. Organizations should create training and development support programs that ensure that the training personnel train the staff adequately. The training programs should be made effective by the use of the following career development tactics. The organization should be thorough in making sure the needs in training and development are appropriate to the employees. If the employees are failing in some areas at the workplace they should be provided with the time and tools needed to perform the job. The organizations should always evaluate the competence of personnel in a given area at the workplace. Questions on whether the employee has the required skills, ability interest fit and the talent necessary for the current position must be adequately answered. Suggesting that training will always provide a solution but proper training carried out to integrate the staff and involve them in the work of the library, will in the long run help to alleviate these problems. Full house turnover in the work place cost organizations a lot of money in recruitment and interviewing period. This is a large investment in organizational terms and a good employer should not only aim to realize the full potential of his staff but should also aim at making this investment in staff a thriving project (Herrod, 2003) Learning and development in organizations is an essential thing for it ensures that the personnel are well trained to avail a more competent and a productive workforce. The training of the employees has a number of advantages to the organization. It provides job satisfaction, greater opportunity and also personnel development. This in a big way improves the service and production of the personnel towards the growth of the company. Well motivated and interested staffs are in most cases likely to become dissatisfied with their jobs. The staff become less dissatisfied if they feel part and parcel of the organization and the tendency towards absenteeism is reduced (Cerlin, 1977) Importance of worker training Many large companies train their workers so as to improve their job performance and as a result the end product of the company is effective. Therefore in the workplace, the training outcome varies considerably in the organization. The development of individuals in the workplace is seen as value-adding process. This means that the trainees enroll as raw materials and at the end they are produced as the finished products. Oftenly the training takes place in an artificial environment which means that the trainees acquire knowledge virtually without assistance in their application to the real world and work under operational conditions. Training and development is important for the employees in a workplace because the training program reflects on a quality management approach. This applies to quality assurance principles that are planned and systematic and necessary action which at the end guarantees the trainees performance with certain level of quality control and confidence. The training program focuses on the review of performance and improvement processes for the employees as well as a comprehensive evaluation strategy. The training programs are essential since the trainees are required to structure their enterprise and the development arrangements through the application of quality management principles. Training the employees in a workplace is crucial because the training is structured in elements that allow competence. These units include areas that require unit responsibility and competence responsibility units. The units are important since they allow transfer of credit which ensures that off-the-job learning is part of the work-based driven approach to the development of an employee and training development. These elements of training are also important since they contain performance standards and a criterion for assessment where the performance of trainees is valued and measured. They also undertake a workplace analysis since the training is employment-based (Camillo and Meth, 2004) The training of the employees in the workplace is important since innovation in most workplaces is more about a methodical improvement in performance. Skill development for the employees is aimed at enabling them to make improvements to the existing processes, services and eventually the products (www.forestworks.com). The training in the workplace is crucial in the development of the employees since it is required for the company to survive in an environment of increasing competition. On the other hand, skilling and up-skilling employees for sustainability of employment, the organization plays a vital role in facilitating lifelong learning process. Therefore it is important to facilitate a conducive working environment for learning in the workplace through training and development. It is well known that the workplace is a key site for the development of generic skills such as communication, problem solving, teamwork, customer service and information technology. The new skills are important in the workplace today especially those that facilitate employability. Therefore the culture of the organization has the mandate of helping the employees to develop and use skills. For example, Virgona et al explains that “To foster problem-solving skills, the organization must encourage workers to reflect on current practice within the organization, and to tolerate risks.” It is important to change some people’s thinking from seeing workplace learning as a cost and enable them to recognize that learning is an investment in the long-run. Organizations needs to train its employees to develop skills of communication, the ability to use information and math’s skills, make informed decisions that facilitate solving problems in the company and also be able to use information systems, tools and new technology. For example, from an economic perspective,, Workbase, New Zealand, 2007 quoted that "Workers in both skilled and less-skilled roles need higher levels of literacy. Technological change makes communication and information processing more sophisticated and immediate, with constant innovations in communication networks, online ordering and stock control management." Advantages of worker training Training the employees has several advantages with respect to productivity. Training gives the employees a better understanding of the entire business and how their individual actions affect the bottom line. The productivity of the organization is largely boosted if the employees are trained to reduce errors especially the numerical, reading comprehension and also reducing miscommunication. Literacy training helps decrease time to develop new skills and learn new skills processes and the system. Training helps increase conformity with the instructions and standard procedures. It also facilitates the workforce realization of the whole potential of the investment in the organization. Training the workforce helps in the reduction of the avoidable costs such as poor quality control, bad communication and the need for external enrollment when the existing skills of the workers limit internal promotions. Training enables the service provision to the customers, that is, the employees sustain the systematic changes of the organization. The training of the staff helps in forming the capacity of the collaborative system that develops a common understanding among employees with respect to the organizational goals and approach. (Herrod and Cheryl, 2003) Strategic training and development provides effective training programs geared towards job improvement of the employees. According to the research outcomes carried out in the field of training and development, results indicates that the educational and training programs adversely affects the service ability which in turn affects the standard of professionalism in the work place. Vocational organizations are vital to leadership development. This helps in developing of leadership, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills and self esteem. By defining a set of career fields which identifies the job for all employees, training provides a foundation for development of the employees’ competencies. The management gives guidelines for training and development for each career field (www.ojp.usdoj.gov). Enhanced training and development of employees lends a hand across all organizational levels in the development and service delivery of the full range of training courses. The training center makes use of existing and alternative delivery methods and techniques necessary to meet the educational and organizational goals for vigorous pursuit of the creation of new facilities. There is need to develop an effective training within the organization which in the end will be able to: Goals for worker training Address the need in periodically and methodically learning Build where possible the strength and prior development of the staff Avail a variety of strategies that facilitate the delivery of training Those that are able to identify sessions in a logical sequential order. The training plan should be linked to the organizations credit much as possible. In order to achieve the proper training in the organization, the following steps are recommended: Determine the needs of the program and organization. This can be done through reviewing the initial programs especially the mission objectives of the organization. It is important to focus on areas where training can increase the staff competence which will improve the administration of the organization. Describe the expected outcomes from the training and development program. This involves a simple description that will show how the training will help the employees in general in the organization. There is need to set the priorities of the training program. This entails a list of what the development of the staff should look like. Hence there is need to review and rank learning needs according to their importance bearing in mind the availability of resources and time. There is need to identify options, available resources and estimates of the costs involved. This entails the resources required to conduct the necessary training. Therefore there is need to identify various options and the available resources that will produce specific outcomes in learning including all the costs involved in the budget. Prepare the final training plan that will cover a span of three to five years. Implement the training plan Immediate evaluation of the staff development event in terms of planning, presentation and effectiveness after several months since the initiation of the training programmes. This helps in knowing whether the training programmes have accomplished the intended objectives. Follow-up if the employees require additional information for the development of their careers and the organization. Conclusion Training the employees in the workplace is crucial since it enhances the productivity of the organization, improves the individual as well as group performance of the employees, builds confidence in their work and also facilitates proper service delivery to the clients of the organization. Other advantages include improved efficiency, accurate but difficult-to-measure output, and a skilled workforce. Training and development allows the employees to acquire new skills and face the underlying challenges in their roles with confidence. The training program is basically done through the human resource management department in the organization. On the other hand it helps the employer in terms of job satisfaction, greater opportunity and also personal development, all of which result in an improved service to the public. Therefore the organizations should create training and development support programs that ensure that the training personnel train the staff adequately. The training should be made effective by the use of the following career development tactics. Address the need of learning periodically and methodically, build where possible the strength, prior development of the staff, avail the variety of strategies that will facilitate the delivery of training and also identify sessions in a logical sequential order. The following are some of the journals, textbooks and databases that I have used and which are useful in writing of the above research work. The first useful journal in this work is the Journal of Workplace Learning ISSN: 1366-5626 that can be accessed through the link below, http://info.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/journals.htm?PHPSESSID=jqfdda8qd5b5rfve8j174ju241&id=jwl .This journal is important because it offers insight into various forms of learning and development processes in the workplace. The second journal is entitled Competency Development in Knowledge Management and eLearning: Supporting Informal Workplace Learning by Ley T. et al. which can be accessed following the link below http://wundt.uni-graz.at/publicdocs/publications/Ley_Competency.pdf . The article is also crucial in this research because it gives insight into competency development in the workplace through learning and other professional developmental processes. Some of the textbooks that I have found useful in writing this research and which other students can use include, (Camillo, and Meth, 2004) “The return of the mentor” New York: Rutledge Publishers Herrod, C. (2003) “A National Assessment of Staff Development Needs Related to the Education of Students with Disabilities” New York: Sage Publishers. The two textbooks address the need to carry out learning and development in the workplace as a way of empowering the employees. Other important databases regarding this topic can be accessed following the links below, www.ojp.usdoj.gov and www.forestworks.com. Reference Camillo, B. and Meth, E. (2004) “The return of the mentor” New York: Rutledge Publishers Herrod, C. and Cheryl, H. (2003) “A National Assessment of Staff Development Needs Related to the Education of Students with Disabilities” New York: Sage Publishers Information on “The importance of training” available from www.ojp.usdoj.gov retrieved in 23rd April 2009 Cerlin, M, (1977) “Training and developing staff”, London: Library Association. Information on “The importance of work literacy” available from www.forestworks.com Retrieved on 23rd April 2009 Read More