Why Work and Learning in Canada Must Account for Canadian Realities and Management Perspectives - Assignment Example

Human Resource Management: Work and Learning Why Work and Learning in Canada Must Account for Canadian Realities and Management Perspectives My speech today is about work and learning in Canada with special focus on why the two should account for Canadian realities and management perspectives. Ladies and gentlemen, the contemporary worlds constantly changes to accommodate new ideas that have over the years helped advance knowledge in various sectors from manufacturing to service industries. Available, statistics indicate workers from diverse backgrounds have a positive attitude towards learning to improve their skills and knowledge as seen from enrolment numbers of men, women and older employees (Peters, 2004). Therefore, work and learning has been drawn into the center of discourse about how the workforce can adopt these changes in order to respond and drive progressive knowledge already existing in particular industries. The importance of considering the Canadian realities and management perspectives is because learning occurs in the general context of the country’s social and economic development. While taking into consideration these factors, it is also important that we realize work and learning as an undertaking that involves collaboration between learning institutions, organizations and employees (Solomon, 2001). Workplace learning supplements the skills that workers accumulate from the formal educational system while also building on employee’s skills (Taylor & Watt-Malcolm, 2008). The implication of this is that managers will require highly competent employees who can guarantee achievement of organizational objectives within the predetermined period. Due to existing competition between organizations offering similar products or services, managers have to select workers who can adapt to the demands of the new knowledge-based economy. While managers assess their internal requirements for qualified employees, there is still need for investment in effective employee training and workplace learning to ensure faster absorption of ideas (Bratton et al., 2004; Mirchandani). It is also important to recognize the fact that decisions made by managers should not only be based on internal factors but also on externalities that might have implications on daily activities of employees. While past organizational output was facilitated by the hiring of artisans to complete various production related activities, it is now widely accepted that this form of human resource dos not result in efficiency and high quality output. Work and learning has been identified as an effective approach that will create a workplace environment with minimal employee-employer frictions, which threatens to derail production activities. Therefore, adopt organizational policies that reflect national realities and management perspective is important in alleviating conflicts between employers and employees (Fenwick, 2006). Even more significant in this discussion is the need for employers in the current global situation to establish close and positive relationship with employers. Such relationship would enable these parties recognize need to work within legal, economic, social and psychological requirements influencing organizational practices (Bratton et al., 2004). Work and learning practices that have been designed to reflect these areas will adequate reflect internal needs such as long-term and short-term financial and corporate strategies while also adapting to the external factors such as technological change influencing the operations of a business organization. This will also create a platform for established of an organization that is flexible to accommodate various changes affecting its operations from within, larger industry and the market as a whole. Another aspect of contemporary workplace environment that has significant impact in practice of work and learning is increased demand a flexible and diversified workplace arrangements. Apart from workplace diversity resulting from employees from various ethnic, religion and ages, the number of women in formal and informal employment sectors has also been on the rise (Probert, 1999). Both employees and employers have over time become aware of the need to include flexible arrangements in the hours worked by employees because of the new workplace demands such as part-time, temporary contracts and the introduction of distance working. Being aware of these trends has significant impact on employee professional development as it contributes to encouragement continued and adult learning. Employee personal and professional development has significant impact on the organizational output as the new knowledge that an employee gains from further training find application in their daily performance of various organizational responsibilities (Peters, 2004). However, while managers can take full advantage of this flexibility in workplace arrangements to allow employees progress with their personal and professional development and training, it is important to recognize its implication on employee demands for improved working conditions. Employees who have increased their knowledge through platforms such as increased academic or on-job training might demand increased level of responsibility or remuneration to reflect their new status. Therefore, organizational work and learning programs must be designed with full understanding of implication on employee demands for improved conditions in the workplace. Lastly, I would like to insist on the importance of recognizing the need for managers to maintain organizational culture for consistency in production or services provision when assessing the implication of work and learning (Mirchandani, 2008). In this case, work and learning has to reflect the kind of training required for employees to fit into specific cultures propagated by different organizations. Organizations that insist on workplace learning recognize that a consistent culture attracts and retains the best employees who want to be part of the stability. The results of attracting and retaining highly skilled employees are low organizational turnover as satisfied employees reduce incidences of resignations. To appreciate the importance of reduced turnover for an organization, it is important to recognize the substantial financial and human resources required to undertake employee recruitment and training and overall adaptation into organizational practices. This cost of hiring new employees is in addition to time wastage as the new employee is paid to learn while other employees are taken away from their daily organizational responsibilities for training the new member of staff. 2. Write a short essay of no less than 1000 and no more than 1500 words in answer to this question: How do management culture and styles affect learning at work? Management culture and style has significant implication on learning at work as it can motivate or hamper employee need to increase knowledge in given area. Managers who are actively involved in promoting learning at work increase the level of participation in such programs. However, dictatorial styles such as forcing certain learning program on employees might not translate in improved skills, as the employees will only enroll to attain certification without gaining the necessary skills (Bjerke, 2000). While it is important that employees undertake constant at work learning to increase their knowledge and skills in various areas of operations, persuasive and democratic leadership will lead to an understanding that not all employees will have similar perception of learning activities. Managers who have this understanding will support the decision to learn by employees while also exercising patience towards those who need more time to be motivated to enroll in such programs. Such management style will keep encouraging employees to join learning programs but exercise patience as they consistently try until the worker understands the need. Therefore, senior management plays an important role in learning at work, as employees perceive them as leaders or champions of learning and training. The role of management in promoting learning has been highlighted in the concept of learning organization (Bratton et al., 2004). The concept of learning organization is based on the argument that successful organizations are those that constantly adopt new knowledge in order to manage competition from other players in the industry or market (Mirchandani, 2008). The process of knowledge acquisition is mostly initiated by the leadership of different organizations as they have greater responsibly in determine the strategies adopted by an organization. The management is recognized as playing three essential role; designing, stewardship and teaching. In designing, the function of organizational leadership is to introduce mechanisms that will fit organizational structures to the initiated processes that enhance or hinder learning. The organizational leadership performs the stewardship rope role through creating a purpose based on the organizational vision and personal perceptions of how to steer the organization towards success. Teaching alludes to the role of organizational management as creator of opportunities for reflection about the organizational reality. Therefore, management culture and lifestyle affect perception towards these roles and how the organizational larders perceive the contribution of increased employee learning to the success of the organization (Bjerke, 2000). Organizational management influence employee attitude towards learning development as part of their role in establishing the general culture of an organization. When learning initiatives emanate from senior management, there is a cascade effect on rest of the team as they seek to emulate the leadership (Bjerke, 2000). Therefore, management culture and style affect employee readiness and willingness to embrace learning activities in the workplace. Employees can exhibit different attitudes ranging from enthusiasm to being cautious or utterly negative attitude towards learning at work programs. It is the responsibility of senior managers to ensure all employees support learning at work initiatives. However, there will not be any change in employee attitude when the management fails to appreciate various perspectives held by the employees (Wotherspoon, 2009). Employee learning at work is motivated by both professional and personal development needs. Management culture and style that recognizes this aspect of employee development will not restrict employee request to join learning institutions supporting adult learning that will enable them fulfill personal development goals (Fenwick, 2006). This is because organizations that encourage members to take advantage of such platforms will increase the level of employee dedication towards achievement of organizational goals and objectives. Management culture and style which encourages internal succession planning will also encourage at work learning as employees strategies to assume higher responsibilities in the organizational hierarchy. Organizations that seek future sustainability must adjust their employment and employee retention policies to be in line with such changes in the job market in order to attract and retain the best employees in the marker (Mirchandani, 2008). In this case, existing senior managers can actively identify employees with talents and skills that need refining for them to be ready for future roles in the organization. Conversely, senior managers who feel threatened by the prospect of employees increasing skills and knowledge in various areas of organizational functioning will discourage junior employees from enrolling in existing learning and training programs. Then management will seek to maintain employees at their current employment positions hoping to avoid competition for few senior positions. Additionally, managers might relate the need for increased learning to employee demand for increased salaries and other benefits. In a bid to cut costs of operations resulting from payment of salaries, the management may not encourage their employees to increase their knowledge and skills (Bjerke, 2000). Management influences goal setting and directions that the organization should take to achieve both short-term and long-term organizational objectives. The process of goal setting and formulation is usually full of contradictions and power struggles as various forces within the organization attempt to influence the direction taken for progress in operations (Bjerke, 2000). Resistance to change is a common aspect that managers have to deal with when introduce new aspects in how organization should be run. There are various ways of dealing with such resistance depending on management culture and style. Some managers might choose to drop employees who are not ready to adopt changes due to lack knowledge and skills to function in the new system. However, management understands the need for adaptive learning will introduce training program or refer employees to institutions that will equip them with the new knowledge and skills (Solomon, 2001). Persuasive and democratic leaders understand that learning is sometimes motivated by disruption or change of normal organizational operations. Learning is therefore influenced by uncertainties surrounding new approaches especially when there are unexpected outcomes within organizational setup. These unexpected outcomes are mostly experienced when the changes have been motivated by outside forces such as customer demands, rapid technological development and new production philosophies (Bjerke, 2000). Even without introducing elaborate measures to motivate learning, the senior managers influence employees’ decisions enroll in further learning and development by sending particular signals based on the management culture and style. Management culture that supports learning will lead to employees being encouraged through highlighting employees who have already enrolled in internal or external programs. When the management singles out these employees, they gain increased confidence and belief about their competence level. Additionally, this sends a positive signal that learning and development is encouraged, which influences the decision by other employees to enroll into such programs (Bjerke, 2000). From the foregoing, management culture and style influences the decision by employees to enroll programs existing within the organization or in personal development program. Learning programs based on forcing employees to enroll in learning programs might not result in increased output from employees. However, when employees are encouraged to learn or initiate learning activities by themselves, they readily adopt the acquired skills and knowledge in daily organizational responsibilities. Senior managers should therefore adopt a culture and style that encourage employees to enroll in learning activities while refraining from forcefully initiating such programs. References Bratton, J., Helms-Mills, J., Pyrch, T. & Sawchuk, P. (2004). Workplace learning: A critical introduction. Aurora, ON: Garamond. Bjerke, B. (2000). Business leadership and culture: National management styles in the global economy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishers. Fenwick, T. (2006). Control, contradiction and ambivalence: Skill initiatives in Canada. In L. English & J. Groen (Eds.). Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education (CASAE) 2006 National Conference On-Line Proceedings ( pp. 8590). Retrieved from: http://www.casaeaceea.ca/sites/casae/archives/cnf2006/2006onlineProceedings/CAS2006Tara%20Fenwick.pdf Mirchandani, K., Ng, R., Colomo-Moya, N., Maitra, S., Rawlings, T., Siddiqui, K., Shan, H. & Slade, B. (2008). The paradox of training and learning in a culture of contingency. In D. Livingstone, K. Mirchandani, & P. Sawchuk (Eds.), The future of lifelong learning and work: Critical perspectives (pp. 171-184). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Probert, B. (1999). Gendered workers and gendered work: Implications for womens learning. In D. Boud & J. Garrick, Understanding learning at work (pp. 98-116). London: Routledge. Solomon, N. (2001). Workplace learning as a cultural technology. In T. Fenwick, Sociocultural perspectives on learning through work (pp. 4151). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Taylor, A. & Watt-Malcolm, B. (2008). Building a future for high school students in trades. In D. Livingstone, K. Mirchandani, & P. Sawchuk (Eds.), The future of lifelong learning and work: Critical perspectives (pp. 217-232). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Peters, V. (2004). Working and training: First results of the 2003 Adult Education and Training Survey [Statistics Canada Research Paper]. Retrieved from: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-595-m/81-595-m2004015-eng.pdf Wotherspoon, T., (2009). Schooling and work. In The sociology of education in Canada: Critical perspectives (pp. 157-194). Toronto: Oxford University Press. Read More