Hence, organisations which identifies the importance of innovation and allocate sufficient time for learning, are flexible and ready for development. Where as organisations which do not identify that are mostly reluctant to change and do not comply with HRM principles (Chiva and Alegre,2005).
Duff (2004) explains that learning styles indicate how an individual reacts to the training in psychological aspects, as well as characteristic cognitive and how it affects him. Where as Bryans and Mavin (2003) describes learning style as a behavioral change which could be observed due to a process in an individual’s mind. Another definition for learning style is brought in as a way selected by an individual to filter a given set of information, absorb and process (Given,2002, in Zumitzavan,2010).
Honey and Mumford introduced a group of learning styles based on Kolb’s Learning Cycle Theory (Zumitzavan,2010). Honey and Mumford also emphasis the fact that different ways of learning styles can be used to help the individual to learn and absorb the best of his learning experience even if its a deliberate or instinctive effort (Honey and Mumford, 1982). The 4 styles discussed above are Activists, Reflectors, Theorists and Pragmatists.
Figure 1: Relationship between Kolb’s Learning Cycle and Honey & Mumford’s Learning styles
(Beever,2017)
• Activist – Desire to act than to listen
- Prefer to work as a group than have discussions
- Like challenges
- Outgoing, open
• Reflector – Desire to observe than guide
- Prefer to think cautiously and reflect on the information
- Gives a lot of attention to details
- Take time to absorb
• Theorist – Desire to logically think
- Prefer to analyse systems and theories
- Like to work alone
• Pragmatists -Desire to experiment and try out
- Acts fast and confidently
- Thinks practically when a problem given
Figure 2: Honey & Mumford learning styles
(Howes,2014)
• Activist – Aircraft Technicians
• Reflector – Technical Training Instructors
• Theorist – Engineering Quality Inspectors
• Pragmatist – Aircraft Engineers
The following video will give a further description relevant to Honey & Mumford’s learning styles. It also will educate the viewer with the strengths and weaknesses of each learning style which can be used by the organization to plan and prepare their learning programs to different groups of employees within the organization.
(Student Success Space,2017)
Beever, G. (2017) Peter Honey and Alan Mumford Learning Styles, extensionaus [Online]. Available at: https://extensionaus.com.au/extension-practice/peter-honey-and-alan-mumford-learning-styles/. [Accessed on 85 September 2019].
Bryans, P., Mavin, S. (2003) Women learning to become managers: Learning to fit in or to play a different game?. Management Learning, 34 (1), pp.111- 134
Brix, J., Lauridsen, K. (2012). Learning styles and organisational development in practice: an exploratory study of how learning styles and individual learning strategies can facilitate organisational development. International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 12(2), pp.181–196
Chiva, R., Alegre, J. (2005) Organisational learning styles and organisational values in the ceramic tile sector. International Journal of Learning and Change, 1(1), pp.96–109
Duff, A. (2004) Approaches to learning: The revised approaches to studying inventory. Active Learning in Higher Education, 5 (1), pp. 56-72
Gilaninia, S., Rankouh, M.A.A., Gildeh, M.A.P. (2013). Overview on the importance of organizational learning and learning organization. Journal of Research and Development, 1(2), pp. 44-49
Honey, P., Mumford, A. (1982) The Manual of Learning Styles, Maidenhead, Peter Honey Publications.
Howes, A. (2014) Honey and Mumford Learning Styles – A simple picture. DPG Community [Online]. Available at: https://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/honey-and-mumford-learning-styles-a-simple-picture. [Accessed on 21 September 2019].
Student Success Space (2017) Honey-Mumford Learning Style [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izMEy-UiRKM . [Accessed on 20 September 2019].
Zumitzavan, V. (2010) The impact of managers’ learning styles and leadership styles and the effectiveness of their organisations: a case study from small retail tyre companies in Thailand [Online]. Ph. D. Thesis, University of Birmingham. Available at: https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/1379/1/Zumitzavan10PhD.pdf. [Accessed on 20 September 2019].
To add an important aspect regarding Honey and Mumford learning styles, Armstrong (2009) argues that the 04 learning styles are not always exclusive. Meaning, an employee may have fall in to 02 or more of the categories. For an example, a person could be reflector when learning certain topics and a theorist in others.
ReplyDeleteAgree to your above article. Further, learning styles are not predetermined characteristics that will always be shown by an individual across different contexts, students are able to adopt different styles. One or two models are preferred over the others for most of us. Honey and Mumford (1986) suggested that in order to successfully complete any given learning task, we need to be able to adopt one of four different styles. An inability or reluctance to adopt any specific style may hinder our ability to learn effectively.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, for learning to be more successful in an organization it should have an interaction model hence, learning Is a social process in line with an individual characteristic and psychological sense (Kwakman, 1999; Wierstra, 2000; Wierstra & Beerends, 1996).
ReplyDeleteDear Nadeeranga, I thik it is just to say I totlly agree with your comment. Beever (2017) states that the 04 Learning styles will be practiced by an individual at different aspects in his life, however there will be one which he will be prominent and very much likely to practise at any given situation.
ReplyDeleteHi Anjula, I would like to add my view on your comment. James and Maher (2014) explains how an individual can be utilising different techniques to learn effectively. In addition to that, if it is attempted to change the style he adopted for a long period of time to do a particular job, it might cause him to be not successful as he was earlier.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point Mizni. Burgoyne and Mumford (2001) supports your point that training methods, such as Case Study can be am excellent opportunity for the learner to learn and the organisation to identify his characteristics since each individual will be handling the case differently and his psychological senses can be tested.
ReplyDeleteAdding on to your article. There are six learning skills and these are system thinking, mental
ReplyDeleteSituation, Personal vision, Team learning, Organization vison and Communication.Information technology is part of learning organization idea that, Can improve the ability of people to communicate with each other (Marquardt, 2011).
Although Honey and Mumford have classified learners into four major groups, many learners have the ability to switch from one style to another. This can be described as the ‘patchwork’ style (Harris & Bell, 1994). However, some people have a dominating style of learning while some may switch their style depending on the circumstance (Huang & Busby, 2007).
ReplyDeleteAdding on to your article, Buckley and (2009)explains another systematic Training cycle starting from Investigate Training needs, Design Training, Conduct Training & Assess effectiveness of training.However effectiveness of the training should be assessed and those findings integrated into overall evaluation and review process that will allow improvement in training to be made.
ReplyDeleteDear Sankalpa, thank you for your valuable insight. Snyder (2016) too express a similar vew and he further mentions that through these learning skills the organization will witness people will work towards making their dreams come true and open up their capacity for further development.
ReplyDeleteYes Namal, that's the wonder of human nature, isn't it? Even though each individual has a prominent learning style, they are able to switch from one style to another depending on the situation and resources (Rosewell, 2005). In this manner, he will be able to make the most of the learning program.
ReplyDeleteYes Anne, having an insight about what and how to train before the program starts is very crucial for a trainee and the trainer as well. As Rabindra, Pradhan and Pradhan (2011) explains, unless these 5 steps are not followed, the true motive of the training program will not be met and the resources spent towards it might be a waste.
ReplyDelete