Chapter 27
Learning and Development at Work
Importance of Learning in the Workplace
Individuals learn from the work that they do. They learn from their own experience and also from other people. Sometimes, people can learn from experimentation – trying out something new.
There are benefits from training and development for both the employer and employee. An essential benefit for the employer is that training should help the organisation to create a more talented and skilled workforce.
Benefits of Learning at the Workplace
When an organisation’s employees learn how to do their work better, their efficiency improves. They can do their job more quickly.
Well-trained employees will often be able to do their work more quickly.
Learning also enables employees to do their work more effectively. They know better what is expected from their work and can do this with fewer mistakes.
Well-trained employees will often produce work of a higher quality. This can be especially important for some service organisations, where the quality of customer service can affect customer loyalty and sales revenue.
Learning reduces mistakes in work and speeds up the completion of tasks. This will therefore produce cost benefits to an organisation.
Well-trained employees may make fewer errors and create less waste – for example, by handling materials better or producing fewer rejects. Lower waste in materials reduces costs. (Fewer errors also result in higher labour productivity.)
Greater efficiency or productivity reduces operation costs– more work can be done in the available time, or fewer people will be needed for a fixed amount of work.
At an operational level, well-trained workers should be more competent and make fewer mistakes. As a result, there may be less need for supervision, so supervisors can handle a more significant number of operating staff, meaning fewer management costs.
When employees acquire new learning and skills, the organisation should be better equipped to develop and grow over time and to gain a sustainable competitive advantage over other organisations that are slower to learn.
Better quality of work, including better-quality customer service, can improve the organisation’s competitive position and sustain a competitive advantage.
Employees’ morale is likely higher if they are well-trained and confident about their work. Labour turnover rates may fall as a consequence. Individual managers’ development may help them see a future career with the organisation.
Employers offering high-quality employee training will likely find it easier to attract recruits. However, unless the recruits, when trained, are paid a fair wage or salary, they may move elsewhere to a job that pays better.
Learning is vital for work that relies on the skills and abilities of the individual worker.
It is less significant for highly automated work, where learning opportunities are restricted. Even so, organisations should invest in their employees’ training and development and help them learn.
Barriers to Learning
Employers need to address these barriers to learning:
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle
David Kolb developed a theory about learning by individuals.
He identified four different learning styles and suggested that each individual has a preference for one of these styles over the others.
One stage in the learning process is experiencing something first-hand. Through experience, individuals get to feel what something is like.
Through experiencing something, individuals can think and reflect on what they have learned from their experience.
Through thinking about experiences, individuals can develop concepts and ideas.
Particular experiences turn into more general ideas. They turn their ideas into practice and do what they think they have learned.
Doing something new creates new experiences, and the learning cycle continues.
Kolb argued that this learning process occurs in the workplace and is more effective than classroom learning in training courses.
To take an extreme example, think of a sailor shipwrecked and stranded on an uninhabited island.
Experiencing a lack of food, water, and shelter will give the individual something to think about. They can then think of ideas about getting water and food and building a shelter.
Then they can put the ideas into practice, such as trying to eat the fruit from trees or hunt for animals.
Practical experience will help the individual develop new and better ways of doing things.
The process is iterative – it repeats itself as often as required. So, at the end of the process, the cycle is repeated.
Kolb’s learning cycle can be summarised as follows:
Kolb’s Four Learning Styles
Kolb developed ideas about four different learning styles from his four-stage learning cycle. Individuals will prefer one of these learning styles above the other three.
Kolb argued that the preferred learning style for individuals is a combination of two stages in the learning cycle.
Kolb’s learning theory is called his experiential learning theory model. He argued that people learn experientially – from what they do and experience – although they learn best in different ways.
Learning style
Learning stage preference
Description
Accommodating
Feeling + Doing
The learner learns best through a combination of experiencing or feeling and doing.
The learner has a hands-on learning approach and relies on intuition and feelings rather than logic.
Diverging
Feeling + Watching
The learner prefers watching and observing to a hands-on approach.
The learner likes to look at things from different perspectives and is good at coming up with ideas.
Assimilating
Watching + Thinking
Learner prefers to learn by watching and thinking about what they have seen; they take a logical approach to problems and are more concerned with ideas than people.
The learner is more attracted to learning through abstract theory rather than practical experience and prefers formal study that gives them time to reflect and think.
Converging
Thinking + Doing
The learner uses theoretical learning and applies it to practical problems to see whether ideas work.
The learner prefers technical tasks over thinking about interpersonal issues at work and is a good problem solver.
The learning styles come from opposite ways of learning. Individuals prefer feeling or thinking, and they like watching or doing.
Kolb also argued that as individuals grow older and gain more learning experience, they become better at integrating several different learning methods.
Lifelong Learning
Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles
Honey and Mumford suggested that there are four different learning styles, and each individual has a ‘natural’ learning style. Individuals should therefore seek to learn in their preferred style; to be a good learner, they should also be able to learn in other styles.
Theorist
Individuals who learn with facts, concepts and models.
They like to understand the theory that underlies practice and prefer learning through structured training programmes.
Reflector
Individuals who learn by observing and reflecting.
They do not like to get involved in a task without first watching from the sidelines and thinking about what they have seen.
They are cautious, work at their own pace, and cannot learn quickly if put under pressure.
Activist
Individuals who learn by doing things and gaining hands-on experience.
They enjoy participation and are quickly bored by theory.
Pragmatist
Individuals who like to see theories and ideas put into practice.
They are interested in abstract concepts and ideas but consider them useless unless they can see how they apply in practice in the real world.
Pragmatists are good at finding solutions to problems because they can link ideas with practice.
Activity
Determine which learning style the characteristic fits most closely:
Characteristic
Learns best when they can look at the ideas involved in a problem
Likes working with others and being given problems to deal with
Likes to apply ideas in practice and get feedback on their performance
Learns best by watching others and having time to plan and think
Does not like to be under pressure to complete work tasks
Does not like learning theory without seeing how it applies in practice
Does not learn well by reading or by receiving precise instructions
Does not like unstructured problems where personal relationships or issues are involved
Education, Training, and Development
Individuals learn through education, training and development.
Definitions
Education – The process of learning knowledge and skills with universal application.
Training – The process of learning the knowledge and skills for a specific task.
Development – The process of improving an individual’s attitude, behaviour, and judgement, enhancing their potential and capability.
Individuals are educated in schools, colleges and universities.
For many jobs, individuals must be suitably educated in the basic skills of reading and arithmetic. Applicants for positions are often assessed partly on their education – which schools or universities they attended, what subjects they studied and what grades they obtained.
Individuals are taught how to be competent in particular tasks. Training is often technical or practical but may also relate to learning personal and interpersonal skills. Training may be provided through formal training programmes, courses, or ‘on the job’ in a practical working environment.
Development is the process of improving the potential or capability of an individual and preparing them for future roles in their career rather than teaching them technical skills. Personal development may include training, but it is broader in scope and includes gaining experience through working. Individual assessments and performance appraisals are also part of the development process
Activity 2
Determine if the activity is a component of education, training, or development.
Education, training, or development
End-of-year performance appraisal interviews
Attending secondary school
Programme for engineering apprentices at the local technical college
Online learning course for professional accountancy examinations
Putting an individual in charge of a group during the manager’s absence on holiday
Programme in patient care for nursing staff at a hospital
The Training Process
Training within a business organisation can be described as a process.
Stage
Identify training needs
An organisation should identify its training needs.
This involves forecasting the number of employees the organisation will need in the future and the skills and experience they should have.
This is then compared with the current skills and experience of the existing workforce.
The difference between the skills and experience an organisation needs and what it has is a ‘gap’ that needs to be filled by recruitment or training and development.
The gap to be filled by training is called the training gap, or training needs gap.
Set training objectives
Having identified the training gap of the organisation over the planning period, the next step is to prepare objectives for training.
For example, an objective may be that everyone in the accounts department should be capable of the use of spreadsheets or should train to be qualified accountants.
An objective for a bank may be that all employees are given training in anti-money laundering procedures.
The aim of setting objectives for training is to close the training needs gap.
Design training programme
The next stage is to design a training programme to enable the organisation to achieve its training objectives.
This involves deciding what training programmes should be made available to employees and how many employees should be expected to attend them.
Decisions have to be made too about whether each training programme should be compulsory for specific staff, or voluntary.
There should also be an annual expenditure budget for training.
Deliver the training
Having designed the training programme, the actual training is delivered.
Monitoring and evaluation
The results of the training should be monitored and evaluated.
Management needs to know whether the training has achieved its intended objectives and whether there has been value for money from the training.
If the training has not achieved its objectives, the scale of the problem can be assessed in the following training needs identification exercise.
The training process is repetitive and is typically part of the business organisation’s annual planning process.
Methods for Delivering Training
Individuals may attend training courses in-house by the organisation’s trainers or externally by a professional training organisation.
Courses may last from a few hours to months or even years.
Courses involve some testing; some may lead to formal examinations by an external examining body.
Training courses may include various activities, such as lectures, group discussions, films or videos, case studies, role-play exercises and business games.Lectures are practical for explaining facts and providing technical knowledge, such as knowledge of rules and procedures.Group discussions are effective for reflecting on ideas and sharing views.Role-play activities are often practical for teaching ‘soft skills’ – interpersonal skills.
Formal Training
Training type
Digital training packages
Training may be delivered digitally, usually online. With developments in digital technology, this type of training is becoming more common.
On-the-job training
There may be formal arrangements to train individuals in the work environment.
The individual may be required to follow an experienced employee and watch what they are doing (work shadowing), or they may be shown how to perform tasks by a supervisor or experienced work colleague.
Induction
Induction is a form of learning, usually delivered in-house (within the organisation).
Its purpose is to teach a newly-recruited individual about the organisation, what it does, its products or services, and how the individual’s job fits into the overall organisation structure.
The recruit will be introduced to people in the organisation and get to know what they do.
Evaluating Training Effectiveness
The Human Resources department should be responsible for monitoring and assessing the effectiveness and value of the training provided by the organisation.
The effectiveness and results of training should be evaluated in several ways and at different levels.
Evaluation method
Immediate feedback
Individuals who have attended a training course can be asked at the end of the period to give their reactions or opinions about the course as a whole, and different aspects of it, such as the course content, the quality of lectures and the quality of presentation materials and other course materials.
Individuals can give their reactions by answering a questionnaire.
Test results
For some courses, it is possible to measure what the individuals who attended the course have learned.
The trainees can be tested on what they have learned. The training provider may develop tests.
Alternatively, results can be measured by the number or proportion of trainees who subsequently pass a formal examination – such as a professional accountancy examination.
Behaviour
For some courses, it is possible to assess the effect of the training on the behaviour of the individuals when they return to work.
Performance appraisals may be used to evaluate whether there has been a noticeable improvement in employee behaviour.
Organisational performance: results and impact
Training programmes can be assessed according to whether the organisation or department has achieved planning targets, such as output, efficiency, productivity, or service quality.
Training can also be assessed whether the training needs gap has been closed successfully.
Value for money
This involves assessing whether the effect of training or different aspects of the training programme has produced benefits justified by the cost of providing the training. In other words, has the training delivered value for money, and has it been worthwhile?
The Development Process
There should be a development programme for individuals with career ambitions in management. Training provides some development, but the development process involves various measures or arrangements in the work environment.
The development process involves measures that help an individual improve their work by acquiring experience, judgement and understanding.
Aspects of Development
Aspect of development
Management development
It helps an individual to acquire management skills.
Management skills may be taught through a formal process such as a diploma programme.
A large part of management development involves giving individuals more responsibilities to become ready for promotion to a more senior management position.
Career development
The planning of a career path for an individual.
Individuals might have ideas about what their career development should be.
In addition, employers should plan the career development of talented managers – for example, by increasing their experience through secondments to other departments or to project teams.
Professional development
They are intended to ensure that professionally-qualified individuals, such as accountants, maintain their professional competence throughout their working career – for example, by learning about new development in financial reporting, taxation, relevant law and finance.
Professional bodies require qualified members to undertake Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
Personal development
The development of an individual into a ‘better human being’, with skills of judgement and a good understanding of other people and their concerns.
Personal development should happen over time as an individual gains experience and understanding.
Methods of Development
The development process is more commonly associated with the development of managers, but it can be applied to workers at an operational level in an organisation.
Job rotation means moving an individual from one job to another within the department or organisation, perhaps with several months in each position.
The individual gains experience and knowledge of a wide range of different activities, working with other people.
Individuals can be encouraged to develop by giving them a more rewarding set of tasks and responsibilities.
Herzberg believed that job enrichment helps to motivate individuals in their work. It can also help them to develop into better managers.
Secondment means sending an individual from their regular job to work in another role for a while.
The individual may be seconded to a different department to work there for a time, or to a project team, for the duration of a project. Secondments help individuals to broaden their experience, knowledge and understanding.
Individuals may be asked to deputise for their manager – take the place of their manager while they are away from work, for example, on holiday or due to illness.
The individual gains experience working at a more senior level and the responsibilities involved.
A manager may help with the development of subordinates by delegating tasks.
The subordinate gains experience with interesting or challenging tasks, and the boss can monitor how the individual performs the work. Delegating tasks is similar to job enrichment but on an occasional basis.
