Learning and Development


Learning is concerned as a process carried out throughout an individuals’ life. Individuals need to learn and argument their knowledge in various aspects. This way they can lead to development (Kapur, 2020).To add further to this, Coleman (2017) explains that lifelong learning is not only vital economically but also socially, emotionally and physically.

Learning and development is a process of ensuring that an organization acquires the knowledgeable, skilled and engaged workforce it requires to carry out their work effectively as well as advance their carrier to benefit them and the organotin (Damnjanovic, 2016)

As explained by Armstrong and Taylor (2014) there are four main components of learning and development.

Learning is a process of which a person gains and develops knowledge, skills, attitudes or behavior through experience to achieve a common goal.

Development refers to the continuous improvement or the competence of an employee through learning.

Training is a set of planned formal procedure to impart knowledge and skills on people, to perform their jobs.

Education is a process of personnel growth, which could enhance the performance of the individual in various aspects.

 

Objectives and Aims of Strategic Learning and Development

The main intension of introducing Strategic Learning and Development to an organization is to provide the employees an environment of which they are encouraged to learn and develop. Further, Strategic Learning and Development aims at creating a consistent and complete framework to develop people through forming a learning culture and putting together organizational and individual learning strategies (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). As discussed by Nda and Fard (2013) learning and development is an essential element in the competitive market for the survival of an organization. In addition, organizations investing in effective training and development programs for their employees tend to achieve both short and long-term benefits (Aragon and Valle, 2013). Improve individual team and corporate performance, being able to attract high quality employees, commitment of employees by encouraging them to identify the mission and the objectives of the organization are some of the benefits of strategic learning and development to name a few. Thus, the primary purpose of learning and development should support business goals as well as manage development of its people(Rodriguez and Walters, 2017).

As discussed by Armstrong and Taylor (2014) Organizational learning is how learning takes place in the organization and takes into account the methods adopted by the organization to encourage learning and development. This is simply not all the activities of Learning and Development executed by the organization. Learning, development activities of an organization should be based on learning theories, and the process involved (which will be elaborated in the posts to come). L & D theory has a direct impact on learning and development in an organization (Damnjanovic, 2016). As shown clearly in fig (1), experiential learning and self-directed learning are the ways, which takes place in the workplace. These learning methods can be increased by coaching, mentoring, E learning and planned development. Formal training can further boost the said methods. However, effectiveness of learning is by joining up the different methods that are available and can be identified as blended learning.

                                        Figure 1: Components of Learning and Development.

Source: (Damnjanovic, 2016)

Learning, Development, and The Aviation Industry

Aviation field gives learning and development a vital importance. Properly trained worker guaranties safety of operation. Therefore, each worker before it starts functioning at the workplace must attend the proper trainings to obtain proper license and certificates. The employer is responsible for ensuring an adequate level of learning.   

As stated by Beena and Kumar (2019) the importance of training and development of the employees support the business to increase the quality of service and productivity. In the airlines sector, the training to employees helps to deliver quality service.

I work as a Licensed Aircraft Engineer in the Aircraft Maintenance Department for a leading Airline. The airline is a EASA Part 145 and CAASL IS 145 approved organization and is one similar example for providing comprehensive training to its employees at all levels. In order to maintain continuing airworthiness of the aircrafts, the airline as an operator need to maintain regulation requirements. To achieve this and to deliver quality service the maintenance department of the company conducts various training programs to uplift knowledge, skills and productivity of the employee.

The process of learning and development, and the way in which it is practiced in the organization will be discussed in the following posts.

List of References

Aragon, I. B. and Valle, R. S. (2013) Does training managers pay off? International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(8), pp. 1671–1684. doi: 10.1080/09585192.2012.725064

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S. (2014) Armstrong Handbook of Human Resource Practice. 13th ed. New Delhi, Kongan Page Limited.

Beena, A. A. K. (2019) Why training and development is more important in airline industry? a case of indigo airline.Dublin Business School [Online]. Available at<https://esource.dbs.ie/handle/10788/3899.>. [Accessed on 28th July 2021].

Coleman, J (2017) Lifelong learning is good for your health, your wallet, and your social life’, Harvard Business Review [Online]. Available at <https://hbr.org/2017/02/lifelong-learning-is-good-for-your-health-your-wallet-and-your-social-life.>. [Accessed on 29thJuly 2021].

Damnjanovic, A. (2016) Learning and development in modern organizations. In: Zoran Jovanovic and Valdimir Dimitrijevic (eds.) 6th International Conference Economics and Management-Based on New Technologies, Vrnjacak Banja, Serbia. 16-19 June, Belgrade, Serbia: High School of Academic studies, Jp Posta Srbije, 236-242.

Kapur, R. (2020) The practice of learning and development in organizations. Available at< https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339200211_The_Practice_of_Learning_and_Development_in_Organizations,>. [Accessed on 29thJuly 2021]. 

Nda, M. M. and Fard, R. Y. (2013) The impact of employee training and development on employee productivity. Global Institute for Research & Education, 2(6), pp. 91–93 [Online].Available at <http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dr_Rashad_Yazdanifard/publication/260219097_THE_IMPACT_OF_EMPLOYEE_TRAINING_AND_DEVELOPMENT_ON_EMPLOYEE_PRODUCTIVITY/links/00b4953030e52c7e4a000000.pdf.>. [Accessed on 29th July 2021]. 

Rodriguez, J. and Walters, K. (2017) The importance of training and development in employee performance and evaluation. International Journal Peer Reviewed Journal Refereed Journal Indexed Journal UGC Approved Journal Impact Factor, 3(10), pp. 206–212.

  

40 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Agreed. Learning is the process of a character building a new potential, knowledge and capabilities while Training is one of several responses an group can undertake to advertise studying (Reynolds, Caley and Mason, 2002)

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    1. Agreed with you Jayashi. According to Armstrong and Taylor (2014) A person gains and develops knowledge, skills, capabilities, behaviours and attitudes by the Learning process while training is systematically exercising the formal processes to convey knowledge and help people to acquire the skills necessary for them to perform their jobs satisfactorily.

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  3. Agreed with the arguments. Many employees now have been recognized that learn new skills in fast-changing workplace is the key to individual success (Lui and Sethi, 2005). According to the survey outcome of Pew Research centre in 2016, 87 percent of the working population knows that continuous training is important or essential for career success. While considering aviation industry, the rapid change of technology can be sensed and the requirement of new capabilities and competencies to the employees to perform well to the market and effective trainings can be fulfilled this to the organization (Tai, 2006).

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    1. Hi Thushari. Highly engaged individuals are more likely to be inspired by new chances at work and content with their present company when they are challenged and given the skills to grow and develop within their chosen career path (Brassey,Christensen and Dam 2019). When it comes to Aviation industry, the emergence of Generation Y has coincided with technological advances in the aviation industry. Newcomers to the industry are less interested in traditional classroom training and are more suited to competency and scenario-based training methods (ICAO Training Report Number 2 2014)

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  4. I agree with you Shanil. Learning and Development drives the organisation ahead of it's rivals and competitors and in the business world, it is essential to have Learning and Development in every section of the organisation, to have a sustainable market coverage (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

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    1. As stated by Kapur (2020), plans and programs for learning and development needs to be integrated with and support organizational and human resource initiatives.

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  5. I agreed with the argument. Always learning and development influence employee satisfaction and skills. Enthusiastic employees are in the organizations that drive the organizations more successful (Hameed, Abdul, 2011).

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    1. To further elaborate on the point you have brought up on L&Ds influence on employee satisfaction, Jaiswal and Chandra (2014) in their study reveals that, organization to survive in this competitive world its employees need to be competent as well as the organizations need to retain them with the organization. To achieve these, organizations need to look into two factors. They are, employee development and employee satisfaction. Organizations are required to identify the variables of training and development practices and how the impact on the training influences the employee satisfaction. Their findings shows that, training and development has a positive impact on employee satisfaction and that by promoting training and development activities within the organization employee satisfaction can be increased in the organization.

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  6. As you have correctly mentioned, learning & development should support the business goals.
    Further to above, individuals having the skill and knowledg will make the organizational mission a reality while creating a learing culture fulfilling strategic goals. (Rodrigues and Walters, 2017)

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    1. Furthermore, learning and development as an organizational method has the primary purpose of assisting collective development through collaborative, expert, and moral stimulation and facilitation of learning and knowledge that promote trade goals (Damnjanovac 2016)

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  7. Very well explained. I would like to bring some useful findings from Braseey et al. (2019) in regards to
    the ACADEMIES framework developed by McKinsey in regards to a successful learning and development
    strategy. According to ACADEMIES framework, there are nine components to learning and development
    such as alignment with business strategy, co-ownership between business units and HR, assessment of
    capability gaps and estimated value, design of learning journeys, execution and scale-up, measurement
    of impact on business performance, integration of L&D interventions, enabling 70:20:10 learning
    framework and systems and learning technology applications.

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    1. Agreed with you Sumeera. McKinsey & Company had identified and field-tested nine dimensions that contribute to a strong L&D function. They included these dimensions to create the ACADEMIES framework, which covers all aspects of L&D functions. They further say that, L&Ds primary objective is to manage and develop people. However, their recent research found that though many companies regularly execute on several dimensions of this framework, only a few companies are fully developed in all dimensions (Brassey,Christensen and Dam 2019).

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  8. Agreed Shanil, Employees’ effectiveness at learning new skills and knowledge is connected with the kind of learning technique the organization adopts. Theories of learning and human resource development are useful in piloting the workers in developing their careers. Organizations can improve their employees by giving them the access to a broad spectrum of courses, workshops and self-paced alternatives. These will enhance their development and at the same time enhance organizational productivity. (Duggan and Media, 2013)

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    1. Agreed. Organizational performance is significantly influenced by training and development, on-the-job training, training design, and delivery style, all of which have a beneficial impact (Khan,Khan and Khan 2011)

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  9. yes. At individual level, various programmers paid attention to professional development of individuals through formal and informal learning on the job to keep employees committed to the programmer and to ensure that they possessed the knowledge necessary to fulfil their tasks.

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    1. According to Martin, Kolomitro and Lam, (2013) individuals and businesses must continue to learn in order to stay competitive. Trainers are still looking for the best way to offer focused information to trainees because there is no single approach for delivering training. With our time's ever-changing technology advancements and the ongoing development of learning theories, we now have more options than ever before in terms of how we train individuals.

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  10. Agreed with you.Armstrong and Taylor (2014) discuss about 4 methods of how an organization can uplift the competency of employees. Learning, is a process which uses experience to modify and develop knowledge and skills, create the correct attitude towards achieving the common goal and have a behavioural development. Whereas development is making aware of the employee’s ability and competence through learning. Training is an essential part of an employee’s tenure since it enriches the required skills and knowledge to perform the assigned duty to the best productivity.

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    1. As you have mentioned Armstrong and Taylor (2014) explains very well the main components of Learning and Development.These components contribute to Strategic L&D. Strategic L&D assists people in learning and development that focuses on how the organization's goals will be met through its human resources through integrated L&D strategies, policies, and practices.

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  11. Totally agree with you Shanil, The primary motive of learning and development as an organisational approach is to aid collective development through the collaborative, expert and moral stimulation and facilitation of finding out and knowledge that support trade goals, improve person knowledge, and recognise and construct on diversity (Aleksandar, D. 2016).

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    1. Learning and development refers to the primary goal of learning and development as an organizational process is to aid collective progress by enhancing and facilitating learning and knowledge that supports business goals, develops individual potential, and respects and builds on diversity in a collaborative, expert, and ethical manner (Armstrong and Taylor 2014)

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  12. Agreed with your arguments. L & D has become a very crucial in aviation industry as it highly concern on the safety matters, comfort of passengers and executed effectively, thus helps to increase the quality of the service and productivity (Beena & Kumar, 2019).

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    1. Many organizations in the aviation training business are attempting to quickly adjust to the problems of meeting the growing demand for new entrants into commercial aviation. (ICAO Training Report Number 2 2014)

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  13. Agreed with your points. Any business, in fact, should place a greater emphasis on training and development. The phrases "training" and "development" are synonymous. It can be identified from the others, though. Training is for specific employment requirements, but development encompasses much more. More than only acts that improve job performance are included in development (Nda, M.M. and Fard, R.Y., 2013).

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    1. Training is referred to as ‘a learning activity which is designed for immediate impact, for the job or role that one is involved at present.’ Development, on the other hand, is ‘a learning activity that is designed for future impact, for a role or job one will perform in the future’( Masadeh, 2012).

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  14. Agreed. Training can be defined as the acquisition of knowledge and competencies as a result of learning that relates to specific useful competencies. It has specific goals of improving one’s capacity, capability, productivity and performance. Training is also needed to maintain, upgrade and update skills throughout the working life.

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    1. Training referrers to the acquisition of knowledge, sharpening of skills, concepts, rules, or changing of attitudes and behaviors to improve the performance of employees(Muthuraman, 2017).However,the way business and industry leaders approach training has changed drastically in recent years. Training is today acknowledged as not only a key contributor to a company's productivity and profitability, but also as essential to an organization's survival in the global marketplace.

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  15. Totally agreed with you. Aviation industry is the air transport industry, including airlines and its supply chain, are estimated to support US $446 million of GDP in Sri Lanka. Hence, learning and development is essential. Training and development is indispensable strategic tool for enhancing employee performance and organizations keep increasing training budget on yearly basis with believe that it will earn them competitive edge (HO Falola, AO Osibanjo).

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Although employee training and development could be a challenging task for many leaders, most organizations are investing on training and development having faith that it will positively impact organizational outcomes. As stated by Rodriguez and Walters (2017) the direct expenditure per employee on training and development has increased in the past years.

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  16. While agreeing with the argument. Key insights from the science of learning and development are that the brain and the development of intelligences and capacities are malleable, and the “development of the brain is an experience-dependent process” , which activates neural pathways that permit new kinds of thinking and performance (Cantor et al., 2018).

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    1. According to Kolb and Kolb (2005) they explain that there is a link between Experimental Learning Theory and neuroscience research. They further elaborate that this process of experiential learning is connected to the process of brain functioning.

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  17. Agreed, According to (Tahir, Jhan & Israr, 2014), training and Development fundamentally handles with the acquisition of understanding, know-how, techniques and practices. In fact, training and improvement is one of the essential aspect of human resource management as it can develop the individual’s performance in order to develop organization’s performance

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    1. Organizational growth is aided by training and development. Training and development improve not just the employees' skills and abilities, but also the organization's efficiency and the relationship between the employees and the organization (Majeed and SidraShakeel, 2017)

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  18. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  19. Agreed. As stated by Tseng and Lin (2011) organizations must be extremely agile in the current global context, and through strategic learning, organizations can build the capacity to prepare proactively towards any future uncertainties, adapt and survive (De Geus, 1988).

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    1. As discussed by Nda and Fard (2013) learning and development is an essential element in the competitive market for the survival of an organization.

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  20. Rohan & Madhumita (2012)explained that investing in training employees on decision making, teamwork, problem-solving and interpersonal relations has beneficial impact on the organizations’ level of growth, as well as impacting on employees’ performance.

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  21. In order to remain competitive and successful, most businesses are spending a significant amount of money on staff training and development. Employee training is becoming increasingly important, and businesses are adopting learning and development as a strategy to succeed in the market. Employees are also interested in the underlying benefits of their jobs, not only the money rewards (Jehanzeb & Bashir 2013).

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  22. As per Marie (2011) Learning and development is outlined ‭ ‬as the process of ensuring‭ that the group ‭ ‬has the ‭ ‬proficient, ‬expert and engaged workforce it want sand It includes facilitating‭ the acquisition by way of contributors ‬and teams of skills and abilities through expertise, finding ou‭t hobbies and programmes provided by ‬means of the group, guidance and coaching offered with the aid ‭of line managers and others.‬

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