Human Resource Development and Workplace Learning

Organisational learning is concerned with how learning takes place in organisations. It focuses on collective learning but takes into account the proposition made by Argyris (1992) that organisations do not perform the actions that produce the learning; it is individual members of the organisation who behave in ways that lead to it, although organisations can create conditions that facilitate such learning. Organisational learning is concerned with the development of new knowledge or insights that have the potential to influence behaviour. It has been defined by Marsick (1994) as a process of: ‘Coordinated systems change, with mechanisms built in for individuals and groups to access, build and use organisational memory, structure and culture to develop long-term organisational capacity.’ Organisational learning takes place within the wide institutional context of inter-organisational relationships and ‘refers broadly to an organisation’s acquisition of understanding, know-how, techniqu...

The learning organisation is seen as a strategy for performance improvement and competitive advantage (Weldy, 2009). In the UK, the idea was first developed by Pedler et al.’s (1988) learning company project report, which provided the following definition: an organisation that facilitates the learning of all its members and continuously transforms itself. Pedler et al. (1991) went on to provide a list of dimensions of a learning company that could be used to differentiate it from a non-learning company. Among these were a learning approach to strategy, participative policy-making, ‘informating’ (the use of information technology to inform and empower people), reward flexibility and self-development opportunities for all (Bratton and Gold, 2012). According to Peter Senge (1990) learning organisations are:  'Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective ...

Learning in the workplace is seen as the crucial contributor to dealing with change, coping with uncertainty and complexity in the environment, and creating opportunities for sustainable competitive advantage (Antonacopoulou et al., 2005; Bratton et al., 2004). As argued by Billett (2006), the workplace provides the space for learning where most people gain skills and knowledge every day of their working lives. Workplace learning has therefore become a key idea in recent years. First, it casts a whole organisation as a unit of learning, allowing managers to take a strategic view and others to think in terms of how their learning impacts on the wider context. Second, it is an idea that unifies an increasingly diverse set of influences and disciplines within HRD (McCormack, 2000), such as training and organisational development, knowledge and information systems. Some writers have extended the influences still further. Swanson (2001), for example, talks about HRD as an octopus that draws...

Coaching has become a significant HRD activity, with recent CIPD survey indicating its use in 82 percent of organisations, where it is seen as a way of motivating and development talented staff (CIPD, 2010), although only 36 per cent have a system to evaluate it. In addition, the responses of staff to being coached can vary since it is a practice linked to counselling and therapy and the provision of ‘remedial’ work for people who need ‘fixing’ (Western, 2008, p. 99). Originally a development within the sporting field aimed at improving performance (Evered and Selman, 1989), coaching was adapted during the 1970s and 80s as a management activity to enhance employees’ development, with particular emphasis on the transfer of learning from formal training courses into workplace activity. Coaching is mainly concerned with current performance and development issues, based on a relationship between a line manager and an employee, and structured around specific issues and goals (Gray, D.E., 20...

There are many recommendations to adopt a more strategic approach to HRD and make it more business-driven, there remains the crucial factor of how HRD is implemented. A number of uncertainties and tensions arise here. 'Who, for example, should take responsibility for HRD? Should it be HRD specialists, with their sophisticated repertoire of interventions and techniques? Or should it be line managers, who are close to work performance and are able to influence the way in which people learn and develop, and the environment in which this occurs? How should needs be identified, and whose interests should they serve: those of employees seeking opportunity and reward for the sacrifice of their effort, or those of the organisation in the pursuit of goals and targets? What activities should be used, and do the activities add value? How does HRD relate to business goals? A crucial feature of HRD, given the claims made for its connection with high-performance working and knowledge creation, i...

The issue of diversity is prompting many organisations to find a training response, and it is one which needs to be considered strategically (Home Office, 2003). In addition, in the UK, especially in the public sector, there has been a growing awareness of the embedded nature of discrimination following the publication of the report of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry (Macpherson, 1999). A number of changes in the legal context are widening the coverage of anti-discrimination legislation, and this is coinciding with a broadening of philosophies that seek equal opportunities at work towards diversity, often emphasising business benefits (Bratton and Gold, 2012, p.287). However, a CIPD (2007) (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) survey in the UK found a significant disconnection between policies for diversity and the reality, and little evidence that diversity was considered to be a ‘mainstream business issue’ (p. 3). Diversity is usually considered as conforming with the law a...