L&D Strategy in Organisations - Essay Example

?Introduction Organisations for centuries have invested in employee learning and development initiatives. For a firm to prosper and record continuousgrowth its employees need to be well equipped with the relevant knowledge and skills coupled with motivation and encouragement. In doing this, individual employees tend to appreciate and perform their rightful roles in the workplace. Employee retention is a key function in human resource management which is only possible if employees are offered an environment which is conducive to work in. L&D of employees gives them the required motivation to continue working in the organisation. Therefore, it is important to note that employee L&D initiatives aim at capacity building which essentially translates to higher performance and increased efficiency. Organisations are required to meet set targets and remain focused on their vision and mission and a skilled and knowledgeable workforce bridges the gap between targets and achievements. This paper will look into L&D strategies in organisations, methods of L&D and leaning styles and models at work. L&D strategy in organisations L&D strategies are vastly used by managers to manage the different talents within an organisational setting while building a culture of development. In order to accomplish these successfully, determination of employees’ development needs is essential. A great deal of learning within an organisation occurs as employees interact with one another and the management needs to encourage this development. Peer coaching programs can be of assistance where skills are transferred from one employee to the other. Formal mentoring approaches can also be initiated so as to attain specific development objectives and they include needs assessment, program design and management, mentor and mentee and evaluation programs (Wilton 2010). Learning groups can also be used where peers come up with specific goals to achieve which are embedded in a practical structure. Leadership development skills can also be imparted through learning groups where a senior member of staff brings forth discussions on real scenarios in the workplace. These groups use case studies, presentations and problems solving discussions among others in order to enhance understanding of concepts. Tasks at the workplace can also serve to boost employee skills acting as on-the-job learning. A good L&D strategy needs to have certain elements one of them being a sound L&D philosophy which entails a clearly defined structure which L&D initiatives should follow. Secondly, aims of the L&D strategy should be well spelt out in order to facilitate direction of organisation’s energy and resources. Priorities for L&D also need to be put forth so as to give sequence of events (Mayo 2004). The strategy should also include transferring of responsibilities bestowed on senior management to lower ranking staff. It is important to note that learning is both formal and informal as briefly highlighted above. Informal learning is quite relevant to employee needs while formal one is relevant to needs of some people and not others. Informal learning involves taking care of individual needs while formal teaches the same things to all irrespective of unique needs. Informal learning is learner centred while the other is trainer centred (Clifford and Thorpe 2007). Informal learning is easily transferable while the formal one is at times hard to apply. Formal learning is predominantly in the work setting while formal one happens elsewhere. Organisational learning enhances good management skills thereby facilitating management development. Organisational learning interrelates with learning culture which ensures that all employees are continuously learning as they work. In order to develop a working culture an organisation should have a vision that is shared by all. It should endeavour to empower employees through policies, behaviour expectations and ceding as much responsibility as possible to facilitate growth in decision making skills (Clifford and Thorpe 2007). A learning environment should also be provided that is conducive and whose learning outcomes are practical. Employees should also be well guided as they perform their duties so as to sharpen their skills and knowledge which is crucial in overcoming challenges in the workplace. It is important for an organisation to perform leaning needs analysis regularly in order to indentify the changing organisational strategic needs, operational needs within individual departments and lastly, individual employee needs. The current business environment is experiencing many changes in respect to nature of jobs, technology, organisational structure requirements and macro environmental factors e.g. politics, economy, culture and legal landscape. With constant analysis of these and other related factors an organisation will ensure that its workers are constantly in line with the emerging trends. Activities and Methods of L&D Corporate university Businesses have increasingly appreciated the need to have an educated workforce to an extent that some have opened in-house education institutions. Billions of pounds are spent annually by organisations worldwide on employee education. In order for businesses to effectively compete in the global economic arena they need to be exceptional in their production or service delivery and this is attainable with a pool of highly qualified and talented employees. An example is McDonald’s that opened Hamburger University in 1961 in Elk Grove, Illinois (Allen 2002). The founder of this institution vested his interest in developing talents in the company’s staff by investing in training. Training in the institution is mainly on operations and leadership. The training mission is well hooked to that of the company which is to ensure individual employees are committed to quality, service, value, and cleanliness. Executive management coaching Organisations are run by few individuals who hold management positions. These people are entrusted with huge resources whose mismanagement can lead to imminent collapse of the organisation. It is therefore paramount for shareholders to ensure that those in the helms of leadership are properly trained and skilled to handle the task at hand. Coaching programs are either tailored to fit a certain client or are generalised depending on the provider and client needs. Specialised leadership programs are offered where leadership skills are imparted. The main goals of this coaching is to expand one’s strategic vision, build self esteem and improve on professional presence, improve on stress management skills, improve on responsiveness and flexibility and balancing work and personal life among others. Toyota is one such company that contracts coaches from all over the world mostly from Behavioural Couching Institute to offer their services (Stern 2009). These programs have helped in calming the minds of Toyota executives especially in the current troubled times of global economic crisis. Employee mentoring Mentoring is a form of offering guidance to someone based on one’s experiences. It is therefore connected to reality which the mentee needs to understand or appreciate. Organisations across the globe have used this tactic for decades to impart knowledge and skills to their workforce. It is a form of ensuring continuous L&D of employees by use of real organisational scenarios. Coca Cola has quite an elaborate mentoring system with group and one-on-one mentoring systems (Dessler and Phillips 2007). The main aim is to cultivate development of skills in employees’ professional lives. This program also enhances cohesiveness among employees and improves on networking skills. Learning styles models at work Kolb’s learning styles Divergers These are employees who create different meanings out of experiences as a result of deeper thinking. They are driven by their quest to know ‘why’ things are or can be in a certain manner and not in another. Their preference is concrete learning rather than abstract and they also prefer constructive feedback from colleagues leading them to being easily influenced (Kolb 1984). Their decisions are therefore concrete as they usually take time to think through issues. Convergers These are employees who work out their ideas in order to test their practicability. They are driven more by ‘how’ which makes them want to know how things work. They are careful implementers of plans and in case of faults they take time to correct them. They also prefer to work alone so that they have as much independence of thought as possible. Computer-based learning is the most suitable one for them. Accommodators They are more of doers than thinkers. They are driven more by ‘what if’ and ‘why not’ questions leading them to act first before they think critically. Consequently, they dislike routine and would go an extra mile to risk doing something different just to test the situation. They learn better on their own than with companions making them poor team players. They do not prefer lecture method of learning but rather prefer practical learning. Assimilators These are more of thinkers than actors therefore their cognitive aspect is well utilised. They are driven more by ‘what is there I can know’ type of questions and they plan their work quite well to ease understanding of complex situations (Kolb 1984). They are good for lectures and they have respect for experts. They appreciate logic and thoughtful approaches to conversations and this leads them to learn better from complex to simple details. They are also very serious in what they focus their attention to and are good academicians since they dedicate time to go through many reading materials. Kolb’s learning styles (Kolb 1984) Honey and Mumford learning styles Activists These are employees who plunge themselves into new experiences and enjoy each moment of it. They are rather open-minded and have profound enthusiasm towards situations. Consequently, they find themselves in problems after acting without much thought (Honey and Mumford 2000). They also enjoy working alone or drawing attention as the doers rather than spectators. Reflectors They are workers who stand back and observe as situations unfold within an organisation. They are therefore cautious in acting and are back benchers in decision making. They are also slow decision makers as they take a great deal of time analysing data without developing conclusions making them good investigators. They combine data and information from both the past and present to acquire knowledge of the bigger picture. Theorists These are quite objective and rational in arriving at decisions. They take facts cautiously and combine them to form coherent theories. Due to their strict rationality they uphold good morals and general discipline (Honey and Mumford 2000). They tend to consider assumptions quite carefully as well as theories before developing their conclusions. They are therefore good in handling crisis situations. Pragmatists These are quite practical as they like transforming ideas and theories into actions. They are therefore experimenters and they like searching for ideas. They are also straight to the point where necessary and are quick in acting. They are confident while making conclusions but impatient in waiting for others to discuss issues. They are good in handling emergencies within an organisation. Honey and Mumford’s learning styles (Honey and Mumford 2000) Conclusion L&D is a serious issue in which organisations should invest a great deal of resources. However, employees also have the responsibility of coming up with their needs and goals which L&D initiatives are meant to cater for. L&D strategies both formal and informal are being adopted in organisations to ensure that employees attain all the knowledge and skills they need in order perfect their roles while advancing their talents. This can be by use of corporate institutions of learning, executive management coaching and employee mentoring among others. Learning styles and models of work try to analyse the type of workers, how they handle situations, cooperate with others and their decision making tendencies. This analysis goes a long way in assisting HR managers to allocate responsibilities and offer the appropriate L&D strategies to group or individual employees. References Allen, M 2002, The corporate university handbook: designing, managing, and growing a successful program, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Clifford, J and Thorpe, S 2007, Workplace learning & development: Delivering competitive advantage for your organization, Kogan Page Publishers. Dessler, G and Phillips, J 2007, Managing now, Cengage Learning. Honey, P and Mumford, A 2000, The learning styles helper's guide, Peter Honey Learning. Kolb, DA 1984, Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development, Prentice-Hall. Mayo, A 2004, Creating a learning and development strategy: The HR business partner's guide to developing people, 2nd edn, CIPD Publishing. Stern, LR 2009, Executive coaching: Building and managing your professional practice, John Wiley and Sons. Wilton, N 2010, An introduction to human resource management, SAGE Publications Ltd. Read More