Humans, as a creature, grow. From the time they conceive to the last breath of their lives, growth is one essential factor which happens in various magnitudes in their lives. Along with growth, there is one other factor which is bound together, that is learning (Taylor and Parsons, 2011). Both growth and learning are two axes in the curve of success. Similar to humans, organisations, which are created, maintained and cultivated by the said humans, are also a unit which grows. For the organization and it’s people to grow and succeed, learning is a key factor indeed. If any Organisation wants to be on top of their game, it is essential for it to equip with people who believe “continuous learning” is the ladder which takes them there (Alipour, Salehi and Shahnavaz, 2009).
Armstrong and Taylor (2014) discuss about 4 methods of how an organization can uplift the competency of employees. Learning, is a process which uses experience to modify and develop knowledge and skills, create the correct attitude towards achieving the common goal and have a behavioural development. Whereas development is making aware of the employee’s ability and competence through learning. Training is an essential part of an employee’s tenure since it enriches the required skills and knowledge to perform the assigned duty to the best productivity. Even though education is not necessarily be a part of the employee’s technical advancement, it will definitely give an advantage over various aspects of values and emotions which come across when performing duties.
Learning and Development drives the organisation ahead of it's rivals and competitors. Hence, in the contemporary business world, it is essential to have Learning and Development in every section of the organisation, to have a sustainable market coverage. Low staff turn over and reduction of wasted expenditure will too reflect the effect of learning and development. Importance of a learning Organisation will be discussed in the following posts.
Figure 1 : Difference between Learning, Training, Development & Education
(Wheeler, 2013)
References
Alipour, M., Salehi, M. and Shahnavaz, A. (2009). A Study of on the Job Training Effectiveness: Empirical Evidence of Iran. International Journal of Business and Management, 4(11), pp.63-68.
Amstrong, M. Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 13th ed. New Delhi, Kogan Page Limited
Taylor, L. & Parsons, J. (2011). Improving Student Engagement. Current Issues in Education, 14(1), pp 1-33[Online]. Available at: < http://cie.asu.edu>. [Accessed on 30 September 2019]
Wheeler, K.(2013). What’s the Difference between Training, Education, Development and learning[Online]. Availble at: < https://futureoftalent.org/whats-difference-training-education-development-learning>. [Accessed on 06 October 2019]
32 comments:
I agree with above comments. Employee performance depends on many factors like job satisfaction, knowledge and management but there is close relationship between training and performance (Chris, 2010). This shows that employee performance is important for the performance of the organization and the and the training & development is needed for the employee to improve its performance (Raja et al, 2011).
Training is a major opportunity to broaden the knowledge base of all employees, but many employers find development opportunities in the current environment to be costly. Employees attending training courses also miss work hours, which may delay the completion of the project. However, despite these potential deficiencies, training and development provide benefits to individuals and the entire organization, making cost and time a valuable investment. The return on investment from employee training and development is effortless(Graesser, 2017).
Well said Chandran. It is true that employee performance affects the organization's overall performance. On the other hand effective performance can depend on how good the employee adapt to various changes in the organization such as changes in technological aspects within the organization, change of employee's primary job role and so on (Pradhan and Jena,2017).
Dear Sahan, I would like to add something more to your comment. In order to analyse the true effect of Training and Development to an organization, it is not necessary to always have complex formulas to measure it financially. Subramanian, Sinha and Gupta (2012) further elaborates that the Return of Investment should be considered not only applying the hard data such as the monetary values but also the soft data which cannot be balanced in pounds and pennies.
Agreed, the survival and success of an organisation depends on each and every employees efforts and handwork (Drucker, 1994 & Barney, 1995). It is only through training and development those efforts could be utilised towards the right path. To retain in the competitive world, training and development plays a major role (Ngirwa, 2009).
Learning and development are very important to organization.it is outlined as the process of ensuring that the group has the proficient, expert and engaged workforce it wants. It includes facilitating the acquisition by way of contributors and teams of skills and abilities through expertise, finding out hobbies and programmes provided by means of the group, guidance, and coaching offered with the aid of line managers and others, and self-directed learning hobbies applied through members.
Importance of learning and development are Improved employee performance, Improved employee satisfaction, and morale Addressing weaknesses Consistency Increased productivity and adherence to quality standards Increased innovation in new strategies and products, Reduced employee turnover and Enhances company reputation and profile.
Shan, you have taken a better approach for your topic. Yes, of course. In every minute we learn something and until the death, there must something to learn. In order to develop our abilities, we need to learn. Along with growth, there is one factor to be considered and that is learning (Taylor and Parsons, 2011).
Hi Shan, a fascinating topic that you have chosen. I would like to suggest a few differences between training and development since those are both indispensable parts of HR management. As stated by Surbhi (2018) while training is short-term, focused on the present and job-oriented, in contrast, development is long-term, focused on the future and career-oriented. Moreover, development is concerned with the overall growth of the employee, whereas training focuses on the skills needed to get the job done (Surbhi, 2018).
Well written article while adding, Training is the development and delivery of information employees will use for their job. Development refers to learning interventions that make employees better. If an organization to survive in a modern market strong attention must be given to developing employees. Investing in employees development is a requirement to retain the employee while achieving organization success (Khawaja & Nadeem 2013).
Hi Shan, I do agree with you, In any company or organization that aims to advance. Education and career development are very important. That leads to proper decision-making, creative thinking and people leadership
(Vinesh,2014).
Yes, indeed Shakir, training and development is very important to an employee. I would also like to add the fact that training and development not only assist the employee to succeed in his work but also helps him shape his future career and the roles and responsibilities which comes along with it (Vinesh, 2014)
Dear Radchika, you have made a valid point, that training and development enhances the company reputation and profile. Singh and Jain (2017) describe how training has influenced increased employee performance together with high efficiency, which supports the organisation to be winners in competitive business climate. This, surely enhance the brand value of an organisation.
I cannot agree more with you Yohan. Learning is indeed a life long Journey. As Laal, Laal and Aliramaei (2013) states, the importance in everyday learning and shaping up yourself is essential in today’s society, since the society itself evolves each passing day. In addition, not having updated with the latest trends and adhering to traditional lifestyle might not help in the race of life
Yes Jehan, even though training and development seem to mean the same idea, it does have it’s own characteristics, similar to the ones you have mentioned. I would like to add an important factt Fitzgerald (1992) points out, that training more or less takes place inside a classroom but development is the value added to the employee post classroom session.
Dear Nayani, while agreeing with you on the fact that training and development of employees will support the organisation to have a low employee turnover, it is vital to have an effectively designed training sessions to make sure the employees actively engage and participate in them (Jehanzeb and Bashir, 2013). If not, the training will nkot yield the expected Return of Investment.
Hi Indika, I agree with you on your comment. Another important element which advances the organisation as per Garrow (2004) is, the psychological contract, which drives the employee to go the extra mile during executing their job roles. This effort is of utmost importance to the organisation since it will boot the productivity of the entire business model.
I do agree with you shan, but, Scarborough et al (1999) argue that ‘the dominant perspective "of the learning organization concept" is that of organization systems and design’. Little attention seems to be paid to what individuals want to learn or how they learn. The idea that individuals should be enabled to invest in their own development seems to have escaped learning organization theorists who are more inclined to focus on the imposition of learning by the organization, rather than creating a climate conducive to learning. This is a learning culture, a concept that has much more to offer than that of the learning organization.
Adding to this well-composed article on introduction to learning and development, Armstrong (2009) stated that an organization must create a culture of learning by it's leadership formulating strategies to direct the learning and development efforts towards both the organizational and it's people's (the employee's) goals and aspirations.
I agree with your comment and adding to it, Learning allows people to develop, strive to and understand higher-level needs; it individually and collectively increases human potential for workers, organizations, culture, and civilization (Holton, 2000).
Hi Shan, I would like to add something more about development to this well written article. Development is something that happens to somebody in most theories. For example, if one acquires language through a process of development, then one does not work actively to learn the language, it is, in a way, ' switched on ' at the appropriate stage in the sequence of development. We need, therefore to differentiate carefully between learning through development and learning at an appropriate developmental stage. In the latter case, the advent of a certain stage of development offers only the necessary conditions for learning, in the sense that the learner still has to actively engage with what needs to be learned to be successful (Winch, 1998).
It is an interesting argument you have produced Chamari. As per Reilly (1998) the main reason behind this is because organisations strictly focus only on the return on investment on organisation’s perspective. It is very unlikely that the individual’s concern regarding the content of the training is thought of.
Dear Nadeeranga, I agree with you totally. It is truly important for an organisation to formulate strategiesto direct learning and development towards organisational goals. As Kadiresan et al (2015) mentions, organisations now tend to include the assessment of training into the Performance Appraisals, in order to analyse how much the employee has aligned with the organisational goal and aspirations
I would like to add a point to your comment my friend Mizni. Gutterman (2017) explains that along with increasing potential, training will enhance the psychological contract of the individual with the organisation, which will drive him towards working more passionately.
It is an interesting point you have made Anjula. In supporting your argument, I’d like to add up what Bastable and Dart (2007) have stated that, learning and the related development needs to be at the relevant stage. They further elaborates that unless the cognitive development hasn’t taken place correctly, it will be hard for individuals to grasp the core matters of learning
In-fact, Paradise, (2007) in his report stated that U.S. organizations alone spend more than $126 billion annually on employee training and development. In an environment where there is high uncertainty tends to present organizations with high risk, the knowledge of business and market intelligence present organizations with a reliable competitive advantage over those that do not have such (Jelena, 2007).
The evolution of any kind of a business is depending on its ability change with the change. I do strongly agree with your post and its content. L & D was considered as a part of the induction or on the job training. But due to the globalisation and digitisation L & D now considers as the part of day to day work (Harrison, 2012). In order to maintain the competitive advantage both the organisation and the employee should learn new ways of doing business and to keep them selves updated with all the changes that are being happening.
Dear Anne, expenditure on training has indeed taken a big hike due to many reasons. Mikelson and Nightingale (2004) states that due to the technological advancements, the need for people with special technical skills have increased. Therefore training on these subjects, which are inherently expensive, have increased to cater the demand.
Dear Kalum, thank you for highlighting an important aspect of training. In addition to what you have mentioned, Jonsson and Myhrberg (2017) explains how internal training for the employees, on their product or service is of utmost importance since they will be marketing it to the customers daily and their effective performance will directly affect the organization's success.
Agreed, Learning and development, a subset of HR, aims to improve group and individual performance by increasing and honing skills and knowledge. Learning and development, often called training and development, forms part of an organisation’s talent management strategy and is designed to align group and individual goals and performance with the organisation’s overall vision and goals (Paul, 2014)
Hi Shan, thanks for giving attention to a very critical topic and agree with you.
Positively (as a humanistic endeavour): learning helps individuals to grow, aspire towards and realize higher-level needs; it enhances human potential individually and collectively for employees, organizations, society and humanity (Holton 2000).
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