Learning and Development Methods in an Organization

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An organization selects the best suited learning and development program taking into consideration its workforce, diversity, educational level of employee and a variety of other factors. Those employees whose career development is focused on by the employer are more committed and proactive in achieving the organizational goals (Stacho et al., 2019). Therefore, there are several types of learning and development programs available to use in organizations.

Some of the most popular ones are listed below, each method has its unique characteristics and based on the audience the quality and effectiveness of the learning experience can be determined.

·       Orientation and Onboarding

Orientation programs familiarize the employee with the expectations of the employer along with the values and culture of the organization. This is usually done when in the first week of employment by the HR department of the organization (Hendricks & Potgieter, 2012).

Onboarding is a larger L&D process that is included in the orientation program. This covers a learning of each department and the role in the organization. The onboarding session usually lasts over a longer period and includes a training of the product or service the organization offers.

·       Technical Skills Development

This type of learning method helps one develop the skills needed for the job role. This involves increasing the knowledge of employee in line with an individual’s personal performance as well as the organizational goals (Detsimas et al., 2016).

·       Soft Skills Development

Soft skills L&D programs focus on the aspects of behavior and personality. This is an important method of L&D as the organization strives to build a team of employees that behave ethically and professionally (Majid et al., 2012).

·       Quality Training

     This L&D method enables the employee to maintain a quality and standard for the product or service the organization has to offer. This program attests that an employee is skilled in areas of quality control process, identification of poor quality, and product observation techniques.

·       Safety Training

In daily work processes specially in manufacturing companies that work with machinery and chemicals injuries and accidents can happen. This method gives the employees the skills that will enable them to handle these injuries and accidents (Cronenwett et al., 2007). Some of these programs include fire drill training, hazardous chemical training, use of protective gear and first aid.

·       Team Training

Work processes in an organization are efficiently carried out when there is a team effort among the employees. This L&D program supports employees enhance their relationships with each other to improve their work consistency and interconnection within the organization. A great example of team work training are the teams in the formula 1 race who handle the pit stops. 

·       Coaching and Mentoring

The method is based on one-to-one discussions to boost an individual’s skills, knowledge and performance to help with the on-going job and also support any transitions the job may entail (Marcinkus Murphy, 2012).

Coaching helps the employee follow and learn through a driving force and involves a hand-on skill development. Mentoring on the other hand goes beyond skill development and is strategically driven by the employee being mentored.

·       Job Rotation & Job Shadowing

Job shadowing means working with another employee, to learn from their experience. Job rotation includes working different job roles in the same organization where he/she can be used if the need arises. This method allows the employee to cross utilize the experience and learnings from each role to incorporate and enhance the experience of the current job role.

·       On the Job Training

This means learning through observing or being supported by a coworker with more experience of performing a task. This learning is useful in certain situations relevant to basic job needs,

·       Courses and Classroom: Lectures and Seminars

This method is done in a formal setting where there is a specific time for learning. External programs allow employees from different organizations to interact with each other to share experiences and ideas in a risk-free setting. Internal programs give opportunity to focus on organization specific issues that may increase the learning experience.

·       Action Learning

This method involves employees of an organization meeting regularly to solve real problems internally.

·       E-Learning

This method uses modern electronic technology methods to deliver learning materials without any printed documents (Goyal, 2012). This allows for individuals to be consistent with the material, and gives access as well as flexibility for one to learn on their own time.

·       Blended Learning

This method combines formal classroom sessions with practical sessions or maybe even online sessions.

 

 

List of References

Cronenwett, L., Sherwood, G., Barnsteiner, J., Disch, J., Johnson, J., Mitchell, P., Sullivan, D.T.             & Warren, J. (2007). Quality and safety education for nurses. Nursing Outlook, 55(3), 122-               131. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2007.02.00

Detsimas, N. et al. (2016) “Workplace training and generic and technical skill development in the Australian Construction Industry,” Journal of Management Development, 35(4), pp. 486–504. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/jmd-05-2015-0073.

Goyal, S. (2012) E-Learning: Future of Education. Journal of Education and Learning 6(2),                              pp.239-242

Hendricks, K., & Louw Potgieter, J. (2012). A theory evaluation of an induction programme. SA Journal of Human Resource Management10(3), Art. #421, 9 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ sajhrm.v10i3.421

Majid, S. et al. (2012) “Importance of Soft Skills for education and career success,” International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education, 2(Special 2), pp. 1036–1042. Available at: https://doi.org/10.20533/ijcdse.2042.6364.2012.0147.

Marcinkus Murphy, W. (2012) “Reverse mentoring at work: Fostering cross-generational learning and developing millennial leaders,” Human Resource Management, 51(4), pp. 549–573. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21489.

Stacho, Z., Stachová, K. and Raišienė, A.G. (2019) “Change in approach to employee development in organizations on a regional scale,” Journal of International Studies, 12(2), pp. 299–308. Available at: https://doi.org/10.14254/2071-8330.2019/12-2/19.

 

Comments

  1. Manomi HettiarachchiDecember 6, 2022 at 9:26 PM

    Good post Dehara. Also According to Kirkpatrick’s [18,19] model, one of the most used evaluation frameworks, assessing the training process, implies four levels of the analysis. - reaction, learning, behavior, and results.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dehara de ZoysaDecember 10, 2022 at 12:54 PM

      Thank you Manomi, furthermore Training needs analysis, training delivery, training assessment, and training transfer are the four stages that make up an effective training process. This study is solely concerned with the training needs analysis, despite the fact that each training phase is determined to have an impact on the training's beneficial outcomes. according to (Nazli, Sipon, Radzi, 2014) In light of the mentioned, training can be seen as a strategy to increase staff productivity by methodically acquiring new knowledge and abilities while also enhancing also now knowledge.

      Delete
  2. Sanath JayathilakeDecember 8, 2022 at 3:38 AM

    Great article Dehara, I agreed the content and to add furthermore, Every morning-Training can also be used to further improvement of training. It is also called “quick training” or whatever you want. It should take only 5-10 minutes each morning before the work hours. Section managers, line managers, as well as middle-level managers, who are responsible for subordinates, can organize the quick-training. However, some people may argue that a 5-minute/10-minute training period is insufficient to learn something. Nevertheless, if we start it correctly and also continue correctly, it will improve the daily work. The transfer of knowledge- as it occurred in every morning training- gave way to facilitating processes of knowledge sharing and knowledge development. Furthermore, employees can learn more effectively through a process of questioning, reflection, and feedback from others that permits deeper understanding to emerge from these otherwise everyday activities (Watkins, 1993).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dehara de ZoysaDecember 10, 2022 at 1:02 PM

      Thank you Sanath for your valuable Idea. agreed with your point. furthermore, Employees are expected to take on greater responsibility for developing existing skills and learning new ones to fulfill employment demands, get ready for leadership chances, and maintain their employability so they may move and adapt between businesses as needed (Molloy & Noe, 2010).

      Delete
  3. shashika PriyanthaDecember 13, 2022 at 11:18 PM

    Agreed, the retention and further development of highly skilled or outstanding employees is often the key priority in terms of a company’s human resource management strategy (Dibble 1999).

    ReplyDelete

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