The Importance of Learning and Development Training Programs in Organizations - Research Paper Example

Discussion The findings of the survey, presented in the previous ‘Results’ section are significant. A discussion of the findings in relation to research questions to begin with, available theory and relevant literature review follows. Regarding the first hypothetical proposition of this study (See Research Questions), A hundred percent ‘yes’ response on the questions of: Whether or not learning and development program contributes to increased individual performance, Team performance and Organizational development has clearly revealed the perceptions of the respondents in this regard. This shows that the respondents are fully aware of and acknowledge the role of learning and development program in increased individual and collective performance. All the respondents who reported falling short of having the minimum knowledge and skills for their job also reported working on a development plan. The most essential component of a learning and development plan as per the respondents’ view are the skills and second most essential learning component required to enhance service delivery quality according to the respondents is that of knowledge. These findings are very positive and reflect a developmental, growth oriented attitude. Trained staff is more competent and can perform better than untrained staff (Garavan, 1997). To attain training there must be motivation among the members and they must be interested in learning and developing in order to benefit from the training programs offered to them. The research study has revealed that all the respondents realize the importance of learning and development training programs and are willing to learn and grow for the betterment of their selves and organization in turn. Garavan (1997) further suggested that a strategically integrated model of Human Resource Development would ensure that the concepts of training, development, education and learning and backed up and embedded in strategic plans, operational plans, policies and work practice. The findings reveal that the respondents are well informed about the importance of all these components of training and therefore it can be safely said that such a plan as suggested by Garavan (1997) can be very feasible for an organization like Loretto Care where chances of its acceptance at the managerial level appear to be quite high. The Scottish government also realizes the importance and need of learning and development based training. This is reflected in the vary requirements the government has set to be considered before admitting an individual to a degree course in social work. The social work training providers are required to make sure that all the students they induct are registered with SSSC within a month, have the basic language skills to benefit from the training they will be provided with and possess a willingness and potential to learn basic effective communication skills and information technology expertise that is required to work effectively and competently in any field of study in today’s world including social work (The Scottish Government, 2006). The second research question attempted to explore the impact of learning and development programs on individual and organizational performance. The responses of the managers have revealed that they believe there is a great impact of learning development programs on individual as well as organizational performance. To identify how exactly this impact is attained, the respondents were further asked to identify the factors that underlay the individual and organizational benefits achieved from learning and development. The highest scoring factors in this respect, based on the questionnaire results turned out to be: career development, motivation and sense of achievement and success. It means that majority of the respondents believe that learning and development programs lead to enhanced performance by increasing these three factors among the workers. This finding of the current study is in line with those of Hoque & Bacon (2008); Mathieson (2006) and Jones et al (2004). All these researchers suggest that learning and development leads to growth and enhanced performance at individual level which in turn contributes to organizational success. Loretto care does offer an annual learning and development program. As explained by (Birdi, Patterson and Wood 2007), such efforts are more common in non-profit organizations as compared to business organizations. However, the findings suggest that all the respondents are not satisfied with the strategy of this annual program. All of the respondents were aware of the organization’s annual learning and developmental program, however only 80% were familiar with the strategy of this program and an even few percentage, i.e. 35% believed that the learning and development strategy is fundamental to the success of the organization.This shows that the program offered at Loretto care annually needs some amendments and changes in its strategy to be helpful in performance growth. Cummings and Worley (1993) attributed such a phenomenon to a discrepancy among the organizational goals and the training plan. They suggested that sometimes, when the training and development program is not so well planned or chalked out, or is out of accordance with the organizational goals, it leads to a situation in which despite being provided with learning and development training programs, the members are unable to benefit from them in order to enhance the performance of the organization. It appears that same is the situation with Loretto care. Though more than 90% of the respondents report that they had been a part of the needs assessment plans, yet 35%managers believe that the strategy underlying the annual learning and development plan is not appropriate for organizational development. One solution to this could be registration and regulation of Loretto care with the SSSC. The third question of concern to this research was whether or not the SSSC registration and regulation contributes to enhanced performance in the fields of voluntary social care. In this respect, all the respondents were found to be in favor of the SSSC registration and regulation since they all believe that it contributes positively to the quality of service delivery. The findings have also revealed that workers without SSSC registration are weak in the area of legislation, analytical skills and evidence based practice. Majority of the respondents agreed that the regulation of social care work force will have a positive impact on the individuals and will increase their competence in the field. SSSC is responsible for registration and regulation of social work force all over Scotland. In this regard, the SSSC is working hard and has no doubt made a lot of progress. SSSC has provided a code of conduct to be followed by all social care workers who fall under SSSC. The Scottish Social Services Commission is also responsible for providing regular training to social care workers and to keep them up to date with skills that are needed to deal with the modern world challenges of social work. All social workers in the area have to undergo a specially designed training program by the SSSC before they are given any form of registration with the SSSC (Dominelli, 2009). The department of heath suggests many skills that must be imparted to social care workers. One of these is good and effective communication skills. Effective communication is of utmost importance in social care (Beattie, 2006). On analyzing the responses on the questions exploring the types of learning approach applicable in the case of voluntary sector, most popular and applied approaches were found to be: internal and external training courses and seminars. Most of the respondents reported supervising their teams in order to promote learning and development programs within the working team. Ideal learning approach varies with the type of field it is to be applied in. As per Bishop and colleagues (2006), continuous learning process in voluntary work is to a great deal dependent on the learning atmosphere and culture, developed by the line managers. At Loretto, the managing department especially the line managers are hard at work to create such atmosphere. This was revealed via the responses on the questionnaire in which more than half of the managers checked more than one way of assisting their teams in learning and development. These means of assistance include: Supervision, appraisal and performance review and team meetings. Team meetings are also a significant component of and a contributing factor in learning and development turning into organizational performance. According to Senge (1990) has stressed a lot upon the role of a team based shared vision in organizational performance or collective success. For this, he further points out, it is necessary to create a team spirit, a shared vision and an encouraging atmosphere. 90% managers in the current study reported conducting team meetings in regard of learning and development programs. In this regard, another concept, ‘mental model’ is also of importance and must be discussed here. Senge (1990) points out that mental model is very significant and must be used in organizational situations that involve risk of internal conflict. A social care service is one such department. The social care workers have to deal with the vulnerable members of society (Dominelli, 2009), and therefore social care organizations are at high risk of facing internal conflict. Two social care workers might not agree on how to deal with one issue for instance. For this, a standardized code of conduct and a collective vision of the organization and what it is about must be developed. The results of the current finding show that the respondents are aware of this risk and are striving to develop a team atmosphere and a collective vision on their respective team. For this purpose, they have reported conducting team meetings and group discussions to bring together the vies of all the workers and form one unified mental model of social care organization among all the workers in order to ensure harmony of work which eventually contributes to organizational performance and success. Addressing the final research issue, the respondents were also asked to identify the possible barriers or driving forces in the process of learning and development. Following barriers were identified during the course of this study: Operational work load, time pressures and budget constraints. The driving forces in work performance identified in the survey include: Appraisal and performance review. Motivation whether intrinsic or extrinsic is always a contributing factor in performance (Latt, 2008). Connor and Black () point out that in voluntary organizations, relatively less attention is paid towards enhancing the skills of the workers due to budget constraints. Same seems to be the case with Loretto care. Although there is an annual learning and development program in provided by the organization, yet some of the respondents think that the strategy underlying this program is insufficient for enhancing organizational performance. There is a need to revise this underlying strategy and to regulate the process possibly by registering with SSSC. Supervision and evaluation of the working environment by the managers is also important in developing motivation among the workers (Gilbreath and Montesino, 2006). The data collected in the interview phase of the current study revealed that many managers at Loretto care are in the habit of informally auditing the work environment time to time. The questionnaires also show that a majority of managers act as supervisors. This is a positive sign since many studies highlighted in the literature review section (Dearden, Reed and Van Reenen 2006; Gilbreath and Montesino, 2006) have also revealed the importance of monitoring and supervision in developing motivation to work effectively among the individuals. Connor and Black () suggest three considerations to be kept in mind while monitoring and reviewing the performance of a voluntary organization. These include: Information needed by the organization for its own management. Information needed by the funders and referrers of the organization. Information needed by the regulating authorities who serve as funders also. The results of this study reveal that monitoring at loretto care undertakes or at least attempts to undertake the first and the last of the above stated considerations. On the question ‘Did you contribute to the Training and Learning Needs Analysis for your team, which informed the learning and development program?’ a majority of 94% responded yes. This shows that the loretto care management is attempting to gather the information needed by them in order to enhance the effectiveness of the learning and development program offered to its members. Similarly, differential responses on the two questions regarding the comparison of SSSC registered and SSSC un registered workers on different skills also show that the management has an awareness of effectiveness of the regulating authority SSSC’s benefits and the managers have monitored and studied the differential expertise of SSSC registered and un registered members on various skills. It can be safely concluded that Loretto care management realizes the importance of driving forces in organizational performance and is on its way in trying to enhance the organizational performance via facilitation of these factors which serve as enhancers of collective growth of the organization. When asked to check the factors the respondents thought were hindering performance at Loretto Care, the factor least considered to be a hindrance was ‘lack of motivation’. This shows that there is plenty of motivation at Loretto care and the managers have successfully created a healthy, encouraging atmosphere and culture for motivated growth in learning and development for the team members they are responsible for. Now, turning towards the hindrances to performance growth, the respondents highlighted three of these: Operational work load, time pressures and budget constraints. These three barriers as identified by the respondents are discussed one by one below: The workload situation is a little better in Scotland as compared to Wales and England in that the Scottish system has not introduced separate complaining systems for adults and children and processing a complaint is relatively less confusing in Scotland social care sector (Connor & Black, ). Despite this fact, the respondents identified work load as a hindering factor in organizational performance. According to Connor and Black (), there have been recent legislative changes which stress on enhancing the quality of service delivery. These changes have led to an increase in the operational workload in the social care sector all over Scotland. Amendments in the Children Act, new grant based legislative requirements for processing the applications of elderly and Scotland specific contract and funding arrangements for offenders have placed an increased workload on the same existing social care work force who have not been compensated with additional members or additional training to prepare them handle this kind of operational workload. Workload being identified as a hindering factor in this study is not new for similar studies have identified this before specifically in the context of UK’s Social care services. One fact sheet released by the British association of Social Work (2010) says it all. Following is a summary of this fact sheet: Seven out of every ten workers reported failure to protect a minor due to excessive job constraints; Every sixth social care worker in the UK has about forty cases to deal with simultaneously; More that 80% social care workers report that work load and extra ordinary number of cases assigned hinder their ability to perform and there is almost a fifty percent shortage of permanent staff in the social care area. Time pressure is another hindering factor in Loretto care’s enhanced performance. Interview responses of the managers revealed that their team members are often faced with unreasonable time pressures due to work over load and staff shortage. Financial limitations yet add further to these hindrances. Since the administration of Scotland is receiving the allocated block grants coming from the Treasury of United Kingdom, the total population is considered a factor in computing the fund allocation (Heald and McLeod 2005; Bell and Christie 2001). This funding of social care services is government level who may in turn procure these from not for profit social care organisations. According to Connor and Black (), most voluntary social care organizations are over stretched in terms of their budget, therefore such organizations don’t focus enough on the training and development of involved personnel due to financial limitations. However, the findings of the current study are not in line with this idea. A very small minority of the respondents checked ‘unavailability of training’ as a hindering factor in performance enhancement of Loretto care at the collective level. Results obtained on the questions investigating the level and areas of qualification of the respondents were also quite interesting and pointed towards a lack of training in the field of health care. Among the respondents, 92% are SVQ 4 Management qualified and almost the same percentage is of teaching diploma/certificate/degree holders; but only 17.2% qualify in health and social care. Technically, as per SSSC (2009), the bare minimum qualification required in becoming a social worker is either a diploma or an honors degree/post graduate degree in social work. This clearly shows that the social workers by virtue of SSSC need not be qualified in health care. According to the British Association of Social work (2010), in Scotland, a social worker can specialize if interested in one of the following: Children and families Community care Criminal justice Mental health All four of these fields can be benefited if the social care worker has a health care knowhow or basic knowledge of health care and skills in delivering it. There is a strong need of training in the fields of social care and health care combined for the workers of such institutes. According to Pugh (2009), there has been an increasing trend among the SSSC to provide joint training programs to social care works in the field of health and social care. In this regard, a report was published by NHS (2009). This report was based on an initial feasibility study or a study of scope for a joint training program by NHS and SSSC so that adequate knowledge is imparted and required skills are developed among the workers with respect to both the fields namely health care and social care. The report gave a detailed brief on how this should be carried out. It states that working on the preset code of conduct and guiding principles by the SSSC, the NHS should work in collaboration with the SSSC and in combined meetings the course of training can be chalked out by experts from both departments. This seems to be a very positive solution to the problem of lack of health care skills and knowledge among the social care workers. One of the research questions aimed specifically at examining the range of learning approaches available and the way in which these are used within the voluntary sector social care environment. In regard to this question, the results of the current study show that the respondents believe that skills and competence are the most important aspects of learning and the learning approaches must aim at enhancing the skills of workers more than any other thing. As revealed during the literature review: Jarvis (1995) outlines that: The learning process must not be a single event. The process should be planned rather than haphazard. Learning has to involve understanding. The relevant finding of the current study is in line with what Jarvis suggested. People at loretto place skills (based on understanding) at number one priority. The respondents were asked to rank five components of learning and development namely: SSSC recognized qualification, CPD, Skills, Knowledge and practical experience in the order that was considered most beneficial to service delivery. The ranking priority list obtained from the responses of this question was in the following order: 1. Skills 2. Knowledge 3. Practical experience 4. SSSC recognized qualification 5. CPD This priority list reflects the perceptions of the respondents that skills, knowledge and practical experience are basic components of an effective, performance oriented leaning process. This perception corresponds to Jarvis’ idea of effective leadership process who lays stress on the role of understanding in the process of training in learning and development. The study has also revealed that learning and development training has a great positive impact on individual’s performance and success; moreover, the team at loretto care is aware of this fact. There is a positive attitude towards learning and development among the workers who believe their individual competence will increase due to such programs. In line with this, some research studies reviewed in the section of literature review revealed that provision of training programmes can increase the work satisfaction and work performance of each worker (Hoque and Bacon 2008; Mathieson 2006; Jones et al. 2004). Gupta (2002) suggested that because of greed and power hunger, politics within an organization can set boundaries to effective organizational learning as a way of preventing other workers from becoming more competitive than social care leaders, which in turn hinders the organizational performance. However, the findings of current study reveal that there is no such political atmosphere at the organization studied in this research, namely: Loretto Care. The respondents were asked whether or not they thought that learning and development training could enhance the performance of their team members and they were also asked to identify whether or not they believe that the same contributes to the organizational performance as a whole. The response rate on both the questions was 100% on yes. This shows that the there is no such gap at Loretto care and the responding managers are confident that whatever gain the members would have from the training programs focusing on learning and development, the same gain will be reflected in the performance enhancement of Loretto care as an organization. Furthermore, in the current study, not even a single respondent disagreed to the statement that Learning and Development activity within the organization has featured positively in the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (Care Commission) Inspection Reports for service(s), relating to Staffing and Management. This finding definitely leads to the conclusion that at Loretto Care, learning and development is not only considered positive for personal development but is also at work in improving the organization’s performance at a collective level. It appears that the organization is free from internal political hindrances to growth; however there is a need to align the needs of the organization and the strategy of the learning and development training program. The respondents have reported that a needs assessment for the organization was conducted to determine the strategy but some of them do not agree that the strategy is effective enough. This shows that either the assessment based needs identified by all the managers were not considered while devising this strategy or the managers don’t share a consensus on the needs. Obviously such needs can vary from team to team and each manager must have assessed his or her own team, but if so is the case then the strategy for learning and development training programs should also be different for each team so as to meet the training requirements of the specific team. Training provided during work is more effective than training provided out of the work settings since on the job training provides the personnel with opportunities to try out and experiment what they have learnt then and there. Almost 70% of the respondents reported using on the job training procedure to gain knowledge themselves and to train their respective teams. Such a mode of training has many organizational benefits and such learning being experience based is more effective than other modes of learning. In a non work environment, learning is non experiential and goes like this: A person faces the information of how to handle a certain situation, he faces the situation at some later point in life, he may or may not remember to react in the way he was taught to in the days he was undergoing training. Non experiential learning therefore leaves the person reinforced, but relatively unchanged practically. But, in case of experiential learning which occurs on the job, a person is faced with a situation and experiences it on basis of whatever information he has on how to handle it. He memorizes the situation. Next time, he experiments. He has the choice to try out different approaches in handling it. In the next step he evaluates the outcome and compares this outcome with the outcome of the last time he encountered the similar situation but responded differently. When reflecting on these differential outcomes, he will go through the reasoning phase. This event will leave him a changed person with better competency and capability of dealing with similar situations on the future. This implies that having knowledge of how a skill works and having the skill alone lead to different outcomes. Therefore, the training programs must be experiential so that the workers are also able to understand the skill rather than just applying it blindly. The human resource development model of learning and development is also an advocate of experiential learning but it also suggests a combination of experiential and non experiential learning. As per Gulille and Young (1998), highlighted in the literature review, learning occurs by the interaction and co-occurrence of three well established processes: Observation Assimilation Emulation For this, the learning has to be done in a work based environment where practical application is possible and senior and well trained staff may also be available for guidance. There is a need to popularize this kind of learning further in social care related organizations so that the already scanty resources are not wasted on training which is impractical. There is some evidence of double loop learning in the Loretto care based on the findings of this study, which is a positive sign because several studies revealed that the use of double-loop learning has a significant relevance in the context of training and development (Chowdhury 2006; Argylis 1976). Almost 35% of the respondents have questioned the strategy underlying the learning process which shows the prevalence of double loop learning in the organization. According to Argyris, single loop learning occurs when a person is faced with a situation and draws upon the given solutions to handle the situation. While double loop learning occurs when the person is faced with a situation, instead of using the normative solutions, he questions the existing ones, brings about possible changes for the better in them and then implements them. This kind of learning is progressive and it supports amendments and changes for the better. The results show that the managers at Loretto care are familiar with and are in the habit of double loop learning. This is evident from the fact that there is an annual needs assessment at the organization; 100% of the managers are a part of which. They are also free to question the strategy designed for the learning and development training program. 35% of the managers clearly stated that they do not think the strategy will ensure organizational performance and development, which shows that they have a critical insight and have the ability to scrutinize the available means before just blindly implementing them. Other than double loop learning, there are other components of effective learning and development which have been researched upon by many experts in the field. One such researcher in this area is Senge (1990). He has enumerated five disciplines that are considered to be important in establishing an effective learning organisation. These include: Systems thinking. Personal mastery. Mental models. Building shared vision. Team learning. Loretto care managers have demonstrated the use of at least four out of these above mentioned components during the course of this study. Team learning is valued by the managers since majority of them are in favor of team meetings and incorporation of ideas and the same is true for the component of shared vision. As far as personal mastery is concerned, the findings reveal that most managers believe that the personal mastery leads to organizational performance and that individual growth can cause organizational growth as a whole. Mental models are also important in the process which lies between learning and organizational performance. The semi structured interviews and the questionnaires reveal that the mangers think that building of the correct mental models in each individual worker’s mind is of utmost importance if the organization is to benefit from the learning and development training programs. The main points highlighted in the above discussion are as follows: Learning and development is an integral part of career growth and such training programs must be encouraged in all sectors, especially in the field of social work. On the job training is the best approach to induct these programs since it provides the workers to combine experience, knowledge, skills and experimentation. Such training programs in Scotland can be better conducted and can prove to be much more productive for the organization if registered with and regulated by the SSSC since it is a specialized institution and excels in providing such training. There is a need to incorporate some health care training in the learning and development programs because social care workers are often faced with situations where basic training in healthcare could be of help. On the whole, the Loretto care is a progressive organization, where the manager’s perceptions of learning and development are in line with the well researched and devised ideas of Senge (1990) and Argyris (1978). The respondents which were the managers at Loretto care are of the view that learning and development training programs lead to enhanced organizational performance via building shared visions, constant monitoring and evaluation of the learning and development training program, motivation for career development and well supervised team work. In light of the findings of this research and above discussion, following are some recommendations which if implemented can contribute to more effective learning and development training programs which will lead to career related skills’ development at individual level and will enhance performance at organizational level. Loretto Care’s annual learning and development program be affiliated with the SSSC. The strategy underlying the Loretto Care’s annual learning and development training program must be revised and amendments be made in it so as to better suit the goal of organizational performance. Operational work load must be reduced either by hiring more personnel, cutting down the number of cases allotted to one member at a time and by enhancing resources. The mechanism of monitoring must be strengthened so that the workers in need of training are identified timely and relevant training is provided to them. Detailed feedback must be taken by the workers about the shortcomings they find in the annual learning and development training program so that it can be amended accordingly. References BASW, 2010. Social work Bill. (April 2006). Available at: http://www.basw.co.uk/campaigns/social-work-bill/ Retrieved: Jan 11, 2011. BASW, 2010. Social work careers. (April, 2006). Available at: http://www.basw.co.uk/social-work-careers/ Retrieved: Jan 11, 2011. Connor, A & Black, S, 1994. Performance review and quality in social care. Wiltshire: Cornwell press. NHS. 2009. The scope for joint education and training for health and social care support workers in Scotland. Available at: http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/media/3903/nes_sspc_exec_summary_0309.pdf Retrieved: Jan 11, 2011. Scottish Social Services Council. 2010. Training as a social worker. Available at: http://www.sssc.uk.com/sssc/social-service-careers/training-as-a-social-worker.html Retrieved: Jan 11, 2011. The Scottish Government, 2006. The framework for social work education in Scotland. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/01/16202/17019 Retrieved: Jan 11, 2011. Read More