Learning and developments strategy

INTRODUCTION: LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY IN MODERN BUSINESS ORGANIZATION

Learning and development strategy will be designed by HRD of every organization. This strategy explains that the approach taken by all the businesses to create a learning culture always help the business directly in better achieving their goals and indirectly helps the employees in developing their personal skills. It boosts up the capabilities of the team. It ensures the business that its workforce is knowledgeable and well skilled that helps in improving productivity.

The business will get success in market depending upon this strategy. Therefore HRD concentrates more on recruiting the employees. The employees must have qualities like adapting any kind of environment and must have potentiality to upgrade his knowledge, self confidence and self motivation. He wants to know where his skills can be applicable to complete the task. Along with that the proper guidance and specialized training provided by L & D adds more stars to the employee’s performance.

In HRD the managers should be well experienced to execute development strategy. The goals and objectives of organization must be cleared and well defined for both employees and managers. Development strategy is a long term planning. According to the merits and demerits of the previous strategy, feedback, market environment as well its market position, strategy must be planned.

LEARNING:

It is a tool and an ongoing process with the help of which a person gains knowledge. Learning enhances his potential and upgrades his behavior. It shapes up the hidden skills of the individual that can be useful in achieving the task at work. Learning can never be waste. It always adds some extra perks to an individual’s personality.

DEVELOPMENT:

Development is a process which boosts up the person’s capabilities that it already owes. It can be achieved through various kinds of learning programs as well as real time experiences. It grows an individual’s personal skills and ensures that it shifts from the present stage to some higher degree of knowledge.

ELEMENTS OF L & D STRATEGY:

Every business organization has its own philosophy. This strategy reveals the basic L & D beliefs of the particular business. It describes the target to be achieved as well as the priorities of L & D strategy. Objectives of the task must be in detailed description which helps employee to understand the concept and execute the efficient task.

By creating the learning environment and with the help of different learning tools like lectures, training, self direction, various learning programs, etc, it outlines the proportion of success of the targeted aims of L & D. Learning concept must be relevant and totally based on market environment. Understanding the concept and applying in apt situation will show potentiality of the person. Learners must know how to define the concepts and implement in the project. Learners must possess the skills to put their learning knowledge into practice.

Also it reflects the duties and responsibilities of L & D. Management must recruit well experienced person who is successful in previous business tasks. The management must involve with the employees which shows his behavioral approach, because cognitive and behavioral approach is very important in L & D strategy. Manager must have proper communication between lower level and higher level management. Authorize the employees to deliver his innovations. If the plan suits the organizational goals, mgt must allow the manager to access some of administrative functions.

The elements of L & D also mentions about the various sources required to accomplish the task like financial data, coaching programs, etc. Finally it forecast the rate of L & D effectiveness in a business organization.

FEATURES OF L & D:

This strategy must be business oriented which means that the strategy should be such that it helps in achieving the goals and target of the organization and leads the business to success by successfully utilizing the workforce.

The L & D strategy should also be people oriented which means that it helps the people in developing their own skills and satisfy the requirements to flourish their developments.

Basically this strategy develops a learning environment that motivates learning and provides the platform to implement that knowledge to accomplish the task.

L & D department is the heart of every organization that sustains the power of employment of service that provides best output in service sector. In HRM, L & D adopts both existing and new activities to initiate new creations and tremendous development in order to favor corporate plans.

Various new cultures have been initiated in L & D. There is no barrier for learning and experience. The management is responsible for the standard output accountability and perfection. They evaluate their employee’s skills by giving new challenges and accordingly rate their performance strictly.

The mgt doesn’t believe in classroom training. It allows their employees to know what they learned related to their job along with certain principles. Hence L & D shapes up the entire capabilities of an employee.

The L & D specialists have a very important role to play in this strategy. They have to identify the requirements of the organization. According to that they have to guide their team in order to meet those requirements. He has to provide guidance as well as motivation to their managers to develop their performance and enhance self direction. He has to behave like a trainer for the team. The specialist has to favor the importance of development strategies which benefits the business. Also he has to organize various programs for learning and development.

QUESTION B:

MODERN APPRENTICESHIP:

This activity was originated by the government which was later adopted by every organization. It develops the capabilities of an individual. In this criteria age limit is very important. Organizations have lots of choices to recruit skilled workers because every trainee delivers their best part to get place in the organization.

Even though the framework and norms of modern apprenticeship can be customized by the organization but it must be based on government interventions. It is beneficial for the employee as it provides both on the job as well as off the job work experience and training. It helps in acquiring higher education in future.

For example: Aviation (EPIC flight academy-USA)

Every CPL candidate must have experience to access Boeing and air bus, so the only option for the pilot students is to join the apprenticeship program which is very popular in Brazil and Canada. It helps them to learn the cockpit technology, accessing auto pilot system and controlling flight during adverse weather and many other latest flight technologies. This experience is estimated by number of hours he flied in the year. Hence this program is the base platform for every pilot learner. It helps to learn new skills and teach them to cope up with latest technologies in order to practice professionally.

However, modern apprenticeship has some drawbacks. Quality of training is not good because the organization doesn’t depend on this program. Mainly it won’t make any profits to the business sector. Age limitation is the main drawback because most of people are fresher and unskilled. If the trainer is not skilled enough and not well experienced then it leads to failure as he won’t be able to teach any innovative skills to their learners.

EMPLOYEE MENTORING:

The specialized and authorized person in the department has the ability to provide good creations. It is the process which involves specialized skilled persons who provide training to their allocated employees that enhance their capabilities and help to upgrade their career. It provides accurate guidance and support to gain success in their future career.

Mentoring is a process of L & D and it is quite different from the process of coaching as mentoring provides on the job training. This helps the employees in acquiring actual knowledge and develops their skills. Mentoring also includes special advice and guidance that are experts and well experienced in their specific fields.

Features of mentoring:

It organizes various learning programs. It provides guidance and advice to the employees in administrative or technical fields. This especially helps the fresher in starting period of the career.

It provides parental approach where the employees can share their opinions and doubts and in return it guides with proper direction and also leads sympathetic approach when required. It’s always concerned about their people.

The mentor doesn’t have to complete the task but he directs the employee in a proper direction to execute the task using their own knowledge. Mentoring makes the employee to upgrade his knowledge that is applicable in their profession. It helps them to do a new job with flawless reports. It shapes the employee skills.

However there are no special tactics of mentoring but the mentors must be well experienced and knowledgeable. They must be very supportive and optimistic. Before handing over their task they must be well informed and trained about their job.

Example: Manchester united club:

A coach must give special training to all players for making them to shine in their field. Sir Alex Ferguson trained Wayne Rooney in special manner to enhance his football tactics which increases the possession of the team and helps to score more goals. Mentoring is the main process which shapes the cultural values of a particular industry.

The main setback of mentoring is that special training is not possible in every organization. Mentoring results bases on both trainer and trainee’s performance. If they don’t have co operation or tendency to cope up with training then there is lack in the output.

INSTRUCTION LECTURES:

A lecture is a method of transferring detailed description of the contents to the audience. It is a process of delivering the information and finally having query session to clarify their doubts. It involves a bit or not at all participation of the audience if the class strength is very big. The substance and the time duration are limited in a lecture so it must be well planned so that the audience doesn’t lose their interest.

The success of the lecture session depends on the capability of the lecturer to deliver the information with his smartness. During the lecture session if the audience can’t understand the topic then it leads to failure. But even though the lecturer is smart enough, there is some limitation for the listeners to grab in their mind in the single day of lecture. Only few percent of the instructions can be stored in their mind and it stays there only if they revise it. Over load of information at a time can lead to the failure. Lectures involve various modes of learning like visual aids, pictures, diagrams, charts, etc to provide better information in order to understand easily.

Example: In Imperial college of London the lecture sessions are very interactive because their staffs are very intelligent and enthusiastic. Staffs make the students to access various journals to get the clear view about the subject. They make use of various modern equipments that helps in better visualizing the concepts. They provide live demos of the activity. Another important part is group discussion which gives equal chance to everyone to share their knowledge and ideas.

However excess information will divert the concentration and involvement among the sessions. If there is lack of proper referencing, it will affect the student’s performance. Also unskilled and inexperienced lecturer can make the lecture ineffective. The lectures must also undergo performance development training at regular intervals of time. This helps them in upgrading their knowledge and boost up their confidence level. They must also undergo psychiatrist lessons to better understand the behavior of their audience and can entertain them accordingly.

GROUP EXERCISES:

It is a process of teamwork in which they are involved in a same task or project and have same goal to achieve. Here they have to face the problem and find the solution to that problem as a team work. The issue can be in the form of achieving any kind of day to day activity task.

Group exercise helps to lead innovation by considering the ideas of various group members. The trainer identifies the issues if any and solves it as a group. Group exercise generates the quality of teamwork, mutual understanding and co operation among the group. The basic concept after this activity is to learn the behavior of working in a group and try to understand what others think and jointly resolve the problem to accomplish the mission.

Group exercises also helps people to develop various other self learning and self directing skills. It helps in developing the ability to take better decisions and various other tactics that can support them in computing their task much better.

Example: Tata consultancy services (TCS):

TCS is having lots of processes which can be executed effectively by splitting the modules according to the employee’s area of interest. Then they group the members having similar interests and assign the task. This method makes the employee to upgrade their knowledge by learning new subjects and simultaneously it makes them skillful persons.

But the demerit of this method is that the initiation can be the issue. If the person didn’t get proper opportunity to apply his views, he will be idle. It loses the team strength. Favoring the suggestion of single group member sometimes creates dissatisfaction and disputes among the group. Sometimes disagreement on certain decision can be the issue in a group.

TRAINING BY ROLE PLAYING:

Role playing is designed to practice for those people who have to face the people directly during their on job practice. It is the method of involving actual situations like attending the interviews and meetings, presentations, stall marketing and implement training. Role playing means involving yourself in the particular character. It develops the skill to understand the behavior of the people you are actually dealing with.

Role playing is a process in which two or more people act a particular situation by playing the role of its characters. The situation can be an actual case study where the trainees have to play the role of the situation and examine the solution for that case. It helps to develop self confidence, interactive skills as well as better relationship with the customers.

Role reversal is a technique in which two persons perform their role and then interchange their role and repeats the whole situation. Hence it plays a vital role in understanding the responsibilities of each other. The role playing must be incorporated with short written description about the situation and the role of its participants.

Example: Film industry

By casting stars in the role of legendary characters we can actually feel them and the director can easily convey the message effectively to make the audience sensible. It reaches to everyone efficiently by perfect visuals, casting star and screenplay.

But sometimes if the person is not able to play the role appropriately and overplay their roles then it puts them in an embarrassing situation. Also, negative characters can pose negative image among the audience.

SECTION 2:

KOLB LEARNING STYLE MODEL AT WORK:

He describes four different levels which the employees can apply according to the business environment.

Concrete experience: The people have different views and have the imagination power to handle the situation. They are willing to gather information by their real time experiences. Whatever they learned they change their principles according to the situation to tackle problems.

Reflective observation: This method helps employee to produce efficient output because it reflects their experience. These people give more importance to theories and concepts rather than people.

Abstract conceptualization: The learning styles of these people are based on technical tasks. They give more preference to find solutions for the practical issues by their learning skills rather than real time situation or people.

Active experimentation: These kind of people concentrate on other people’s views and concepts to solve their problems. Their nature is totally based on experiences, other’s references and practical implementation instead of considering theories.

Brief description of Kolb learning styles:

Diverging: These people are broad minded and like group work. They accept other’s feedback and like to gather more information.

Assimilating: The people of this type strictly follow formal learning like lectures, textbooks, research works, theories and magazine reports. They are less concerned about real facts and people.

Converging: These people like new challenges to gain the experience. Their works is based on practical implementations and always try new innovative ideas.

Accommodating: They set the target to complete the work by utilizing other people ideas for their own logical analysis. Here role playing is important.

HONEY AND MUMFORD LEARNING STYLE MODEL AT WORK:

This method divides the group and makes the people to work according to their need and style. It is a balanced process.

Activists: These kind of people are broad minded and enthusiastic. They enjoy in having different experiences and don’t think about the result. They create an enjoyable surrounding.

Reflectors: On the contrary reflectors rely on long term observations before taking decision. They adopt wait and watch approach in order to take time in reaching a decision.

Theorists: They proceed in sequential order according to substance like feedback, models, research works, lectures, etc. They try to be perfectionists.

Pragmatists: Seeking for new ideas and experiences convert their experiences into practice confidently. They keep on discussing unless their ignorance is satisfied.

KOLB V/S HONEY & MUMFORD MODEL:

KOLB MODEL

HONEY &MUMFORD MODEL

This kind of people relies on abstracts and experiments. They catch the basic concept from their experiments and apply it in computing their task. They are more capable in tackling the issues which they apply practically in handling their task.

The activists like to go for various experiences through which they learn different tactics in solving the problems during their task.

These people are experts in analyzing the task. They have lots of strong work experiences in their past which helps in performing the task more efficiently. They are very broad minded and can think of various alternative solutions.

The reflectors spend more time in designing the task as well as in giving the feedback. They consume more time before undertaking the final action.

This type of people also relies on abstracts but with the inclusion of logical experiments. They ignore personal feelings and stick on logical concepts. They have better management skills. However they lack in practical implementation.

Theorists entirely ignore practical experiences and follow the logical ideas. They enjoy their way of work. They stick to their typical way of performance and are distinct.

They take participation in various experiences and get totally dedicated to their work. They are very flexible and adaptive to any kind of environment.

The pragmatists are highly innovative and always willing to face new challenges without any hesitation in order to check whether that idea performs well or not.

CONCLUSION:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4423250_define-strategy-development.html

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/10/29131424/4