Adult Learning in the HRD Practices - Literature review Example

STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Strategic Human Resource Development Executive Summary People are considered to be important for any business success and eventually for the country’s economic performance. Lately, there have been far-reaching and fundamental changes in the business world. The volatile, as well as competitive environment whereby scores of businesses are operating, has prompted the top management to focus more on the organisation’s human resources development. This interest has been triggered by a number of factors such as difficulties associated with recruiting skilled employees and the growing need development of more adaptable and flexible skill base. The human resource development (HRD is considered important in the modern-day business environment because it enables organisations to align the employees potential with the business objectives. For this reason, organisation managers have started relying on the HRD function to get solutions to various business-related problems. To become competitive in the global market, it has become imperative for employees to acquire skills and knowledge that would enable them to remain competitive. From this viewpoint, learning has turned out to be a more crucial part of the strategic planning and organisational structure. Adult learning theory has become an important tool when integrated into organisation’s programs such as training and development. Integrating adult learning theory successfully into organisations programs, the elements of motivation needs assessment, retention, and reinforcement has to be applied. The organisation must know which training programs are suitable for their employees. For learners to be trained effectively, suitable training techniques must be selected to fit the employees’ different learning styles. It has been observed that dynamic capabilities are organisational as well as strategic routines through which companies realise new resources configurations as markets evolve, collide, materialise, as well as decline. Introduction As a concept, HRD is both problematic and complex and could be analysed from different viewpoints, emphasising on its contested roots in psychology, organisational theory, and economics disciplines. Organisations that have HRD system which correctly integrates their HRD practices to develop and create HRD procedures, HRD policies as well as human capital with the view of adjusting them to organisational objectives and goals, normally gain additional value; hence, have HRD activities that are strategically-driven. The objective of this piece is fourfold: first part involves clarifying what is ‘strategic’ about HRD; second part is concerned with outlining the adult learning theories that are most relevant to the successful delivery of an organisation’s HRD program; third part involves explaining why HRD programs should take account of learning styles; and the last part explains the forms of HRD needs analysis that is likely to be more appropriate for an organisations that operate in dynamic environment. What Is ‘Strategic’ About Human Resource Development (HRD?) According to O'Donnell (2011), the starting point of human resource development strategy is an analysis of training needs, carried out to identify problems and examine performance. Basically, the training needs analysis is performed with the aim of identifying the employee and organisation’s needs. Therefore, when developing the HRD training programs, the programs have to be tailored to specifically target the individual learning considerations of employees (O'Donnell, 2011). As indicated by Šiugždinienė (2008, p.36), strategic HRD has turned out to be a crucial HRM component as a way of improving the performance of the organisation by establishing a strong HRD connections with organizational objectives and goal in addition to learning and development processes strategic leveraging to create and improve the organisation’s core competencies and suitable behaviours. Importantly, the strategic approach towards HRD involves some key perspectives; performance and learning and it points out that HRD interventions are important just to the level that they enable the organisation to realise its goals. For that reason, the HRD primary concern has to be establishing a strong connection with the organisation’s strategic goals as well as the work environment development that promotes learning. Mintzberg, as cited by Garavan et al. (1995), offered an insight of strategy formulation that can improve learning in the organisation if the top managers agree to it. Mintzberg argued that strategies could surface from the employees’ actions, but the process needs the emergent learning to be reconciled with purposeful control. The ‘Strategic’ facet in HRD could be perceived as a system-wide and proactive intervention associated with cultural change and strategic planning. Garavan et al. (1995) posit that HRD could only be strategic when integrated into the overall business strategy of the company. In so doing, the HRD function achieves the status it requires to survive and to impact the overall performance of the business as well as respond to various technological and competitive pressures. Shanahan et al. (2012) assert that strategic HRD is an HRD extension with different emphasis on the holistic learning orchestration in the organisations. Strategic HRD normally involves modifying, eliminating, introducing, guiding, and directing responsibilities as well as processes in a specific way that every team and individual are equipped with the competencies, knowledge and skills needed to perform organisation’ tasks at present and in the future. Firm-specific knowledge is aligned by strategic HRD with the organisation’s goals. This enables the organisation to merge various elements of knowledge, connect prior and new knowledge, and integrate external and internal knowledge with the aim of ensuring sustained competitive advantage. Therefore, strategic perspective connotes developing and executing HRD practices and policies to facilitate the organisation to achieve the set goals and objectives. Furthermore, the strategic perspective enables the organisation to establish the activities’ nature and purpose entering into the employees’ strategic development (Manole et al., 2011). As mentioned by Garavan (1991), the HRD functions that are strategically-oriented could contribute significantly to the organisation success. This would become evident in the ability of the organisation to innovate, the quality of its strategic decisions, individual and productivity as well as performance, and how the organisation skills are closely aligned with its strategic plans and mission. Adult Learning Theories That Lead to Successful Delivery of an Organisation’s HRD Program In the modern-day workplace, the organisations are facing numerous issues that influence the adult workers’ lives. For instance, coping with technology that is rapidly and drastically changing, adjusting or accepting a diversified work setting, globalisation is some of the major issues that adult workers are facing. Other issues such as realising workplace diversity, an ageing workforce, technological changes as well as the globalised business environment are all intertwined; therefore, they influence all facets of work, which includes employers and employees. For that reason, adult educators and HRD professionals have teamed up to help employees overcome such forces that have become prevalent in the modern-day workplace. As mentioned by Akdere and Conceição (2006) posit that investing in the human capital of adults by means of continuous education can lead to successful delivery of HRD in the organisation. The behaviourist perspective emphasises on creating a response and offering stimuli. According to this theory, instruction entails supporting what one could desire the student to perform over again and disregard what one could not desire the student to perform again. This learning type is evident in the skill training, workplace education, as well as HRD (Akdere & Conceição, 2006). Organisational learning programs are drawn towards improving productivity and job performance. As mentioned by AlYahya et al. (2013), employees should take part in the training programs in order to improve their job performance. The way adult employees learn is completely different to that of young employees (Day et al., 2012). Adults distinctly differ in terms of mental and physical abilities, interest, motivation, attitudes, values, as well as learning histories. Such distinctions have led to the espousal of adult learning theory which facilitates the training of adult professionals. Westover (2008) posits that HR training programs that have integrated adult learning theory normally focus on numerous factors such as motivation needs assessment, retention, reinforcement, and transference. According to Peterson and Cooper (1999), with the view to HRD and adult learning philosophies, a behaviourist perspective associates discernible behaviour to the workplace stimulus, whereby the main paradigm is reinforcement, to the extent that learning needs the behavioural elements’ sequential mastery. The behaviourist approach to learning is depicted in HRD environments when employees are rewarded for their actions in terms of performance and other measurable behaviours. In adult learning settings, cognitive growth is commonly utilised as a learning framework. The cognitive orientation emphasises on the learner's internal mental process that is improved when associated with already existing concepts in the cognitive structure of the individual. Humanist theories, as cited by Peterson and Cooper (1999), view learning from the possibility of the human to grow. Humanism indicates that while the perceptions of individual focus on experience, adult learners should have freedom to grow and develop. A critical pragmatism, according to Fenwick (2004), provides a flexible hunt for ‘beautiful consequences’ such as democratised production as well as a work setting reconfigured for human creativity and freedom. Whether HRD Programs Should Take Account of Learning Styles Without a doubt, the HRD programs should take account of learning styles considering that the modern-day workplace has become multigenerational. Whereas the younger generations were nurtured with technology, the adult employees lack similar knowledge and majority of them prefer traditional learning techniques (Gunn & Hammond, 2013). Given that workforce in the modern-day workplace is a mix of different generations; the need for considering learning styles arises since young employees often prefer virtual training while older ones prefer traditional classroom sessions. In addition, the majority of adults consider learning as a continuing process instead of merely a onetime training or class session. Kumpikaitė (2008) posits that the changing work environment has created the need for employees to embrace the learning philosophy. Learning enables the people in the organisation to master the behaviours, skills, and knowledge stressed in HRD programs and to utilise them in their everyday activities. For organisations to achieve competitive advantage, their training programs must take into consideration the various styles of learning rather than only the basic skill development. In so doing, the organisation would improve the employees’ capacity to adapt, learn, as well as embrace and change the lifelong learning culture; thus, being able to continually share and acquire knowledge (Gephart & Marsick, 1996). People are not the same; they are various in different aspects; therefore, their learning styles are definitely different. Knowles et al. (2014) describe learning styles as an intellectual capacity associated with absorbing, concentrating as well as remembering information. The learning styles and skills of every person are unique; therefore, learning styles are crucial for identification of how employees could absorb and also remember things. In addition, learning theories could be used to identify how employees learn through goals, environment and behaviour changes. These theories provide valuable propositions for designing effective HRD programs (Knowles et al., 2014). Learning style, according to Sadler-Smith (1996), is the process of acquiring skills, knowledge and attitudes habitually and distinctively through experience or study. Learning styles are commonly described using the learning process models, such as Kolb’s experiential learning model as well as learning cycle by Honey and Mumford (Dennison, 2009). Kolb, as well as Honey and Mumford, examined the learning styles of individuals through Learning Styles Inventory and Learning Styles Questionnaire, respectively with the aim of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of individuals in all stages of the cycle. These models led to four dimensions of learning styles: the first style is ‘Activists’, these are individuals engaging themselves in tackling problems and shifting tasks when the excitement starts fading away (Sadler-Smith, 1996). The second style is ‘Reflectors’, these are people that are thoughtful and cautious who prefer taking all possible angles into consideration before they make decisions. The actions of the reflectors are anchored in reflection as well as observation. The third style is theorists, individuals who include their observations into logical paradigms after objectivity and analysis. The last style is pragmatists, who are considered to be practical individuals who prefer applying new ideas without delay and are often impatient (Allinson & Hayes, 1988). Clearly, employees are different; therefore, HRD programs must take into account the different learning styles. Forms of HRD Needs Analysis That Are Likely To Be Most Appropriate For an Organisation Operating In A Dynamic Environment Dynamic capabilities, according to Shanahan et al. (2012), are the process that enables the organisation to release, reconfigure, integrate, and gain resources with the aim of meeting the demands of the markets or changing markets. Dynamic capabilities can be defined as organisational capabilities to realise new resource allocations set through external and internal integration, during market emergence, declines, conflicts, growth, and split. Wognum (2002) posits that strategic planning for HRD is appropriate for organisations operating in the dynamic environment since it is an interactive and dynamic process where suitable HRD objectives and goals are developed regarding company and employees development through targeted innovation and improvement learning processes. As mentioned by Wognum (2002), strategic HRD planning is an interactive as well as dynamic process; in this case, the word ‘strategic’ stresses the perspective of the company and links the connection between the organisational and HRD goals. As mentioned by Shanahan et al. (2012), creating a dynamic business view of an organisation improves the likelihood of developing an adequate descriptive theory of strategy which could help professionals to achieve long-run competitive flexibility and advantage. McGoldrick et al. (2001) assert that HRD perspectives are associated with organisational learning, psychological contracts and capabilities and the capabilities perspective is related primarily to the economics application in a firm’s resource-based view and human capital theory. The dynamic capabilities are considered organisation’s ability to realise and develop new competitive advantages, considering the unknown inter-reliant paths and market positioning. The firms’ unique dynamic capabilities, according to Teece et al. (1997), are sourced from path, position and process, and in the process the embedding of the capabilities takes place. Still, the opportunities, as well as connotation offered by process, are influenced considerably by the position the company holds and its evolution path. The organisational management process involves coordination, learning and reconfiguration, but the dynamic ability is attributed to the continual technology and market supervision and the readiness to espouse the best practice (Chiou, 2011). According to Zollo and Winter (2002), the policies formulated to improve the mechanisms of learning are crucial for dynamic capabilities formation. Peterson (2008) echoes this argument by arguing that the essence of organisational learning and learning culture is central to every strategic HRD models. Teece et al. (1997) emphasise that learning as a dynamic capability involves individual as well as organisational learning. Conclusion In conclusion, this piece has argued that adult learning is inextricably intertwined with the HRD practices and processes. To allow organisations become ‘learning organisation’ through employee productivity, organisational effectiveness, as well as economic growth, HRD programs must sufficiently address the continuous learning process which happens in the organisations. In addition, HRD programs must promote collaboration, whereby adult learning and HRD professionals can work together to help employees overcome challenges such as technological advancement. A company can become a successful learning organisation by focusing more on training and changing the HRM systems in order to support learning. As mentioned in the piece, dynamic capabilities can enable the organisations to develop new competitive advantages and also reconfigure, integrate, and gain resources. References Akdere, M. & Conceição, S., 2006. Integration of Human Resource Development and Adult Education Theories and Practices: Implications for Organizational Learning. 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