Organizational learning and training

4. Organizational learning and training

Organizational learning has been defined as a process of ‘coordinated systems change, with mechanisms built-in for individuals and groups to access, build and use organizational memory, structure and culture to develop long term organizational capacity’ (Marsick,1994)

Furthermore, Reynolds (2004) has described a learning culture as a ‘growth medium’ which will ‘encourage employees to commit to a range of positive discretionary behaviors, including learning’, and which has the following characteristics: empowerment, not supervision, self-managed learning not instruction, long-term capacity building, not short-term fixes. As  Reynolds (2004) suggested that to create a learning culture it is necessary to develop organizational practices that raise commitment amongst employees and ‘give employees a sense of purpose in the workplace, grant employees opportunities to act upon their commitment, and offer practical support to learning’. The idea of a learning culture is associated with that of the learning organization (Reynolds, 2004).

  

5. Conclusion and recommendation

·         Employee training is one of the suitable methods to improve and manage employee skills according to the organization’s objectives and to improve the overall organizations’ performance.

·         Organizations’ performance always depends upon the performance of their employees, so effective training also plays an important role in increasing employees’ job motivation, satisfaction, and commitment.

·         Training is a kind of investment that needs more time, effort and money but this investment gives long term benefits to both organizations and employees.

·         The effectiveness of training totally depends upon the effectiveness and correct implementation of its model.

·         Training programs save time and effort and set a direction to follow for conducting training.

·         The training process can only be successful when participants are motivated to learn and excel in their knowledge, skills, and abilities.

6. Recommendation

·         Training programs should be planned carefully by aligning the objectives of training with organizational objectives.

·         The training program must be developed to fulfill specific needs.

·         The model should be developed by the involvement of a group of expert persons, HR professionals, specific department heads that need training, trainers (if they hire earlier or select from within the organization) and trainees also to avoid any future conflict.

·         A supportive environment should be built within the organization so that employees can freely communicate with their managers about their needs towards training.

·         To avoid any problem in implementation and evaluation stages, it is necessary to design and develop all training activities, materials and methods timely and accurately.  

·         The disciplined environment must be given for the implementation of training.

·         Evaluation of training should be conducted at the spot right after closing the training program by taking feedback from both trainers and trainees along with the evaluation conducted at workplaces.

·         Our proposed conceptual model is practical in usage because it facilitates the process of learning by making the content easy to understand, which provides the participants more alternatives to enhance their skills for the betterment of their careers.

Reference

Marsick, V J (1994) Trends in managerial invention: creating a learning map, Management Learning, 21(1), pp 11–33 .

Reynolds, J (2004) Helping People Learn, CIPD, London