Learning and Development online support
Author’s acknowledgements
My grateful acknowledgements go to the following:
The CIPD’s Research Department for permission to reproduce Figures 4 and 5 (by
Linda Holbeche) in the PowerPoint slides for Chapter 3
The CIPD’s People Management journal and the authors concerned for permission to
summarise as the basis for various case examples in the Manual articles originally
written by in-house PM staff S. Crabb, J. Pickard, A. Scott, J. Simms, M. Sloman and
T. Smedley
Laura Chubb and People Management for permission to summarise in Chapter 9 her
case relating to the national Probation Service’s ‘Accelerate’ programme
Lynette Harris and People Management for permission to summarise in Chapter 11 her
case relating to ‘HR changes in local authorities’
Wendy Hirsch, Penny Tamkin and People Management for permission to reproduce in
Chapter 12 an extract from their People Management article, 8 December 2005 (p.33)
The National School of Government for permission to reproduce in Chapter 9 (Annex
1) its ‘Code of Ethics and Practice for Developers, Trainers and Training Managers’
Peter Richards, Executive Director, Groundwork, East Durham, for permission to
publish the Groundwork case study in Chapter 12
I also wish to record my thanks to Jennifer Cameron, HR and Special Projects Coordinator, Groundwork, East Durham, for supplying me with the information and the
strategy that feature in the Groundwork case study in Chapter 12, and to my CIPD
editor, Kirsty Smy, for her invaluable help and encouragement in producing this
Manual.
The CIPD has made every effort to trace and acknowledge copyright-holders. If
any source has been overlooked, CIPD Enterprises would be pleased to redress
this in future editions.
Learning and Development online support
Introduction to the manual
This Manual contains additional material related to the subject matter covered in
each chapter of the book. Some takes the form of an expanded commentary on
key issues raised in a chapter and some suggests group-based activities and class
discussions to develop students’ analytical skills and enhance their
understanding of those issues. I have covered Chapters 1 to 17 in the manual but
have not produced any notes on Chapter 18 since although it does contain some
fresh material, its discussion is for the most part a reflection on the entire book
to that point.
In the book, I have made clear the purpose of each chapter in its Introduction. I
have summarised that purpose at the start of each set of chapter notes in this
manual and on the related slides.
Each chapter of the book contains case examples. Many are self-explanatory
and need no further commentary in this manual. Where their matter is more
complex and some form of feedback for students would be helpful, I have
provided this in the manual. ‘Reflections’ also appear at key points in each
chapter. I used these rather than ‘activities’ or ‘exercises’ as a way of making
clear to readers that in all L&D work reflection – on experience, on evidence, on
theory, on context – should precede action. I designed them with the needs of
the individual reader in mind, and not all suit expansion into group work or
class discussion. Those that I have adapted for use in this manual are intended to
help tutors develop student ‘communities of practice’ (whether of a physical or
virtual type) operating in a supportive learning environment where views and
experiences can be safely shared and challenged.
Appendix 3 of the book provides review questions to accompany each chapter.
In the manual feedback on these can be found at the end of the notes on each
chapter. Although the questions are intended to take only about five or six
minutes to answer, many of the feedback comments are quite lengthy in order to
explain fully the issues that questions raise and a variety of ways in which some
could be tackled.
Finally, Table 1 below indicates to CIPD tutors the links between the book’s
content and the 10 performance indicators of the 1996 Learning and
Development Generalist Standard. The book itself, however, is intended for a
readership wider than CIPD students alone. Its content has been designed to
cover L&D as a field of organisational practice and of related scholarly
endeavour, not to fulfil the needs of any specific educational curriculum.
Table 1: CIPD 1996 Learning and Development Generalist Standard –
Performance Indicators and related chapters in the textbook
SUMMARY OF THE TEXTBOOK’S COVERAGE
Part 1: Understanding the field
Part 1 of the textbook contains three chapters that define and discuss learning
and development (L&D) as a set of organisational processes with the potential
to bring major benefits to businesses and to those who work in and for them,
locating the L&D field in its historical and current scholarly and practical
frameworks.
Chapter 1 Learning and development in organisations today introduces the
field, explores gateways into its territory, identifies key current issues and
suggests challenges they raise for the HR profession.
Chapter 2 National skills strategy and Chapter 3 Reforming vocational
education and training critically examine the UK national policy framework for
L&D, covering the Government’s workforce development strategy, vocational
education policy and access to lifelong learning opportunities from the late
twentieth century to the present day.
For postgraduate tutors and students and for L&D practitioners generally, Part 1
lays out the complex, demanding and dynamic territory of L&D at macro and
micro levels, primarily in a UK context but with references also to the global
context that has an increasing influence over national and organisational L&D
investment, policies and initiatives.
For CIPD tutors and students, Part 1 is relevant not only for those studying the
(1996) L&D Generalist Standard, but also for those wishing to specialise in any
of its four associated specialist standards – Managing the Training and
Development Function, Managing Organisational Learning and Knowledge,
Training Design and Delivery, and Management Development.
Part 2: Getting to grips with the practice
The five chapters in Part 2 of the book are concerned with the basics of L&D
practice and its theoretical grounding.
Chapter 4 Understanding learning and the learners introduces and explains the
differing philosophical and practical bases of positivist and constructivist
learning theories, and assesses evidence for the claimed shift from trainers to
learners as the prime movers in the learning and knowledge processes in
organisations.
Chapter 5 Promoting workplace learning and knowledge critically appraises
key elements of learning theories and practices introduced in Chapter 4 and
explores ways to build knowledge-productive learning cultures in the
workplace.
Chapter 6 Enhancing performance management raises concerns about the
soundness of the evidence base supporting claims for a ‘causal chain’ linking
HR practices to organisational performance, suggests exploratory research as
more likely to provide reliable guidance for practitioners, and identifies the role
of L&D activity in enhancing performance management in organisations.
Chapters 7 and 8 A six-stage training cycle for co-creating value and The sixstage cycle in action offer a revised version of my eight-stage training cycle and
demonstrate through the vehicle of a real-life case study how the cycle can
operate in practice.
Chapter 9 Achieving ethical practice has as its central concern the need for
organisations and the L&D profession to place ethical values and behaviour at
the heart of their activity without compromising the fundamental business
purpose that each organisation must fulfil in society.
For postgraduate tutors and students and for L&D practitioners generally, Part 2
provides a pathway through practice that lies at the heart of the L&D field. Its
content should encourage them to root all their activity in a deep business and
professional knowledge base and in sound ethical principles.
For CIPD tutors and students, Part 2 is relevant for those studying the (1996)
L&D Generalist Standard as well as for those studying Designing and
Delivering Training, Managing Organisational Learning and Knowledge, and
Managing the Training and Development Function.
Part 3: Making a business contribution
The five chapters in Part 3 cover the development of a structure and strategy for
the L&D function in an organisation, and its management, planning and
operation to provide added value in a variety of organisational settings.
Chapter 10 The L&D agenda in different sectoral settings explains and
explores how the agenda for L&D in an organisation varies according to
external context. Since private sector organisations feature heavily elsewhere in
the book, the focus here is on the small firm, public and voluntary sectors.
Chapter 11 Shaping and managing the L&D function concerns the implications
of new structural forms in organisations for L&D functions, and core principles
of organising, leading and managing those functions.
Chapter 12 Producing and implementing L&D strategy discusses L&D
strategising, planning and implementation, putting these processes in the wider
context of the organisation’s business and HR strategy processes. The chapter’s
subject matter is important for all who work in that field, since to have any
credibility and impact on the organisation even those without any direct
influence on formal strategy must ensure a strategic orientation for their activity.
Chapter 13 Developing L&D partnerships deals with another theme that is of
fundamental importance for every aspect of L&D work yet whose practical
meaning for the L&D profession is still quite poorly understood despite an everexpanding body of research findings from across the world.
Chapter 14 Adding value. The brevity of the chapter’s title belies the
complexity of the processes that ‘adding value’ involves, whether the value
sought is for the business (the focus of this chapter) or for individuals (who
must become actively committed to working for the goals of the business if
strategies to ‘add value’ are to have any hope of success).
For postgraduate tutors, students and L&D practitioners generally, the
importance of the five chapters in Part 3 is their focus on ‘the business’. If L&D
has no credibility as a contributor to the organisation’s business purpose –
whether that organisation is in the public, private or not-for-profit sector – it will
struggle in its attempts to add value to individuals also.
For CIPD tutors and students, this part of the book is relevant not only for those
studying the (1996) L&D Generalist Standard, but also for those studying
Managing the Training and Development Function and Designing and
Delivering Training.
Part 4: Building for the future
The four chapters in this final part of the book are all concerned with the role of
L&D in building organisational capability and capacity for the future.
Chapter 15 Tackling challenges of change is a new chapter, dealing with an
area that is so multi-faceted that in many educational programmes it constitutes
a specialist subject in its own right. Here, the aim is to explore theoretical
approaches to the management of organisational change and the practical
contribution that L&D activity can make both to stimulating and to managing
change at all organisational levels.
Chapter 16 Promoting talent and career development explains what is involved
in the organisational management and development of talents and careers, in
order to build organisational commitment and capacity for the future.
Chapter 17 Developing leaders and managers focuses on the overlap and the
distinction between the functions of leadership and management, and the
strategic importance of development strategies and activity that deal with each.
Chapter 18 Pulling the threads together: challenges for the profession. In this
chapter the purpose is to recall and reflect on some of the big issues raised in the
book and to explore challenges facing, and likely to face, L&D scholars and
practitioners. (As already explained, the Tutors’ online manual does not contain
notes on this chapter’s content.)
For postgraduate tutors, students and L&D practitioners generally the content of
this final part of the book is intended to encourage and stimulate them to look to
the future, critically considering what demands it is likely to make on the
organisations within or for which they work and identifying how they can help
those organisations and their own profession to prepare for both the foreseeable
and the unknowable.
For CIPD tutors and students, Part 4 is relevant both for those studying the L&D
Generalist Standard, the other four specialist L&D Standards and the Standard
for Career Development.