HRM for MBA Students
Lecture 5
Developing people
Learning outcomes
• Understanding the definitions of training and learning
• Knowing how to undertake a training needs analysis and
its purpose
• An appreciation of the necessity to identify learning
objectives
• Understanding the importance of learning theory and the
principles of learning
• An appreciation of the main learning and development
methods used in organisations
• Understanding the Kirkpatrick model of training
evaluation
• Understanding the concepts of single- and double-loop
learning
• Knowing what is meant by the term ‘learning
organisation’
Training
• is defined as:
– a set of planned activities on the part of an
organisation to increase job knowledge and
skills, or to modify attitudes and social
behaviour, to achieve specific ends which are
related to a particular job or role.
Learning
• is defined as:
– a relatively permanent change in knowledge,
skills, attitudes or behaviour that comes
through experience.
Learning happens inside the person
whereas training is something that is given
to a person: it is a planned experience that
is expected to lead to learning.
Learning interventions under
PM and HRM
People-management
paradigm
Class of employee
Nature of learning intervention/ activity
Formal, external
Non-managerial
employees
PM
HRM
Managers and other
professional
All (core)
employees
Formal in-house
Educational courses
Off-the-job
(usually vocational in training
nature)
Informal inhouse
On the job
training
Self development
[ignored]
[ignored ]
Development
Learning and Development
Learning interventions and
activities in HRM
Type
Nature
Formal
Informal
Externally provided accredited education, eg:
MBAs; NVQs; Professional qualifications
Voluntary accredited education
Externally provided training courses
Voluntary attended training course
Learning partnerships
Coaching
Mentoring
Peer relationships
Action learning
Self-development
Self-development groups
Learning logs
Off-the-job
On-the-job
Key learning principles
• The principle of ‘distributed practice’ – ie
breaking the learning experience up into
manageable chunks for the learner
• Reinforcing the learning by praising the learner
for correct responses
• Training individuals to perform entire task units
as a whole
• Giving results of the training performance to the
learners
• Providing opportunities for practising the skills
developed during training
Kolb’s learning cycle
1 Concrete experience
2 Observations and reflection
3 Formation of abstract concepts and
generalisations
4 Testing the implications of the concepts in
new situations
The learning experience runs in sequence
from 1 through to 4
Learning styles and the Kolb cycle
•
‘Activists’ tend to learn best from the
experience stage: they prefer to take action –
eg hands-on learning or role-playing
•
‘Reflectors’ tend to learn most from the second
stage – observation and reflection
•
For ‘Theorists’ learning is most effective at the
third, abstract conceptualisation stage
•
‘Pragmatists’ learn best from trying out the new
skill or knowledge in actual work situations, so
they benefit most from the fourth stage of the
Kolb cycle
Transfer of learning
To increase the probability of learning transfer:
• maximise the similarity between the learning situation
and the job situation
• provide as much experience as possible with the task
being taught
• provide for a variety of examples when teaching
concepts or skills
• label or identify important features of a task
• make sure the general principles are understood
• make sure that the learned behaviours and ideas are
rewarded in the job situation
• design the learning content so that the learners can see
its applicability
Some Common Learning and
Development Methods
• Action Learning:
– originally introduced for management development
but now widely used at all organisational levels.
– groups of people work together to find practical
solutions to real work problems.
– Instructors act as facilitators,
• Blended learning:
– a combination of multiple approaches to learning.
– typically a combination of technology-based materials
and face-to-face sessions
Some common learning and
development methods
• Case studies
– detailed examinations of real-life situations written up
and presented for educational purposes
– students typically work in groups to analyse each
case and answer set tasks
• Coaching
– a non-directive form of development, which focuses
on improving performance and developing individuals’
skills and giving feedback on a person’s performance
– should be delivered by trained personnel, who are
usually drawn from outside the organisation
Some common learning and
development methods (cont.)
• Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
– a continuous process of personal growth, to improve
the capability of people at work and realise their full
potential
– achieved by developing a range of knowledge, skills
and experience which go beyond initial training or
qualification, and which maintain and develop
professional competence
– many professional bodies such as the CIPD now
insist on CPD as a condition of continued
membership
Some common learning and
development methods (cont.)
• Corporate universities
– more than just in-company training departments, they
have been defined as:
[a] centralised strategic umbrella for the education
and development of employees ... [that] is the chief
vehicle for disseminating an organisation’s culture
and fostering the development of not only job skills
but also such core workplace skills as learning-tolearn, leadership, creative thinking and problemsolving.
Meister (1998)
Some common learning and
development methods (cont.)
• E-learning
– learning that is delivered, enabled or mediated using
electronic technology for the explicit purpose of
learning and development in organisations
• Instruction
– a highly structured teaching method used to teach
specific skills
– the format typically comprises a physical
demonstration followed by supervised practice of the
skills concerned
Some common learning and
development methods (cont.)
• Lecture
– a structured talk, longer and more formal than a
presentation, normally accompanied by visual aids
and handouts of key points
– may be combined with audience participation in
discussion, a question-and-answer session and/or
group exercises/activities
• Mentoring
– similar to coaching although the mentor is usually an
experienced senior member of staff, but not the
person’s line manager
– the emphasis in mentoring is less focused on the
person’s current job or role than in coaching, but more
on their future development and career within the
organisation
Some common learning and
development methods (cont.)
• Outdoor training
– team exercises involving physical and mental tasks in
challenging external environments
– very popular in corporate team-building
– believed by advocates to teach leadership and teamand self-development skills in addition to teamworking
• Role-playing
– the enactment of roles in a structured context
– very useful in practising inter-personal skills
Some common learning and
development methods (cont.)
• Self-development
– is concerned with helping people to understand their
own personal learning and development processes
and by doing so to assume greater control of, and
responsibility for, their own development
– an emphasis on longer-term development as distinct
from specific study or learning
– a stress on setting one’s own goals and methods for
achieving development
– this approach can be applied to groups where
participants are encouraged to support each other
– self-development is frequently, but not exclusively,
applied to managers and professionals
Some common learning and
development methods (cont.)
• Simulations/business games
– group exercises or case studies, usually
computerised, in which the students are asked to
make certain choices and then deal with
consequences of their decisions
– usually run in competitive syndicates of students
Formal learning interventions
•
A four-stage process:
1
2
3
4
•
Identifying the development need
Designing the development activity
Undertaking the development activity
Evaluating the development intervention
This process is sometimes called the
‘training cycle’
Needs analysis
• provides a set of learning objectives for the
development programme
– these objectives might include adding knowledge,
developing specific skills or helping to form specific
attitudes – eg towards customers or clients
The learning objectives
– guide us as to what learning principles and training
methods should be used.
– secondly, provide a means for assessing afterwards
whether the learning intervention has been successful
Evaluating a learning
intervention
• Kirkpatrick’s model: a four-stage process
–
–
–
–
Trainee reactions
Learning reactions
Learning behaviour/behavioural change
Results/performance
Informal learning
• The learning an individual acquires:
– from the experiences of doing the job
– from working in the organisation
– from thinking and reflecting on the work
• The US Bureau of Labor (1996) found that
people learned 70% of what they know
about their jobs informally through
processes that were not structured or
sponsored by their employing organisation
A learning organisation
An organisation which facilitates
the learning of all of its members and
[thereby] continuously transforms itself.
(Pedler, Boydell and Burgoyne)
Tacit and explicit knowledge
• Tacit knowledge:
– personal, context-specific, and therefore hard
to formalise and communicate
• Explicit knowledge:
– can be transmitted in formal, systematic
language (eg written down)
We can know more than we can tell
Polanyi (1966, p.4)
Management development
The entire structured process by which
managers learn and improve their skills for
their employing organisations.
CIPD Factsheet on Management Development (February, 2007)
Most common formal methods for
management development
• external courses
• seminars and conferences
• in-company training to develop individual
skills
• in-company training to develop
organisational skills
• pursuing external formal qualifications
(such as MBAs)
Most common informal methods for
management development
•
•
•
•
•
in-company job rotation
job observation
on-the-job training
mentoring
coaching
Conditions for successful
management development
• It is recognised by the organisation as a strategic
business activity
• Management development programmes recognise the
nature of managerial work
• Programmes are tailored to fit the needs of the individual
managers on them
• Education, training, selection, career planning, reward
systems and managerial evaluation are recognised as all
being part of a connected system
• Evaluation is itself a vital part of the system of
development