Relevance of Workplace Learning to Employees - Coursework Example

WORK PLACE LEARNING Name Course Introduction Workplace learning is defined as the process of acquiring knowledge and skills by employees of an organization, which are applied on the duties, skills, attitudes, values, work, and actions in what they are involved in. Learning begins with acquisition of basic elements and skills to learning how to apply complex programs like practices in management and use of technological systems, thus improving employee value professionally, socially and personally (Evans, et al. 2008:5). Workplace learning or on-job training is fundamental in acquiring personal goals, implementation of work strategies, achieving firm’s objectives, which give a firm a competitive edge and advantage. Learning can be done formally, incidentally, non-formally experientially or self-directed. In the modern world, workplace learning has been necessitated by political, environmental, legal, social, religious, economical and technological changes, in the new world order. In this study, the report shall evaluate the importance of workplace learning, challenges of workplace learning, implications of workplace learning in organizations and bridging the gap between workplace learning in theory and practice. Relevance of workplace learning to employees Workplace learning is relevant and crucial to modern day employees. Factors that influence employees to undertake workplace learning is the increased capacity of information gathering and storage, rapid development of technology in information and communication frameworks, ease in global information and communication access, increased need for innovations of products and services, new developments in educational technology that was not there before, evolving learning environments and integration of technology in almost all operations of an organization from auditing, reporting, filing, meetings, production, service and product delivery, advertising, marketing among others (Aston & Sung, 2002:33). Through workplace learning, employees are able to earn a living thus cater for their personal needs and at the same time improve on the knowledge they already have. Employees who initially had reached lower academic levels, through workplace training are able to grow and match their colleagues who had attained higher academic levels if not more (Sawchuk, et al. 2006:137). Moreover, workplace training is beneficial for employees because it offers opportunity to grow professionally since they have an equal chance for promotion, being delegated harder and challenging tasks and equal access to rewards do to improved quality of work. Workplace learning can be a source of motivation to employees since it helps them cater for their basic needs better, improve their self-esteem for those who had low skills, offer them a social status and are able to exploit their skills to the fullest potential (Piskurich, et al 1998:61). Workplace learning helps employees have more bargaining power when discussing remunerations and present them as likely candidates suitable for recruitment by high performing firms. Work place learning is only possible if employees understand the value of it and translate the relevance of workplace learning to improving their personal and professional lives. An employee who has undergone workplace learning is more productive, creative, and knowledgeable and adds value to the organization (Malloch, 2010: 215). Moreover, organization that encourages the practice, have very low employee turnover than firms that do not. Relevance of the practice to its application on work is important. Employees will be more willing to participate if it improves their effectiveness and increase their knowledge and skills professionally. The need for workplace learning in today’s organization Every organization in this new world order needs workplace learning. An organization that has adapted and implemented workplace learning is reaping good results. This is because it has capable employees with high skills in production and service delivery. Employees are taught to be self-sufficient and therefore can work with minimal supervision (Piskurich, et al 1998:20). Organizations that are practicing it, are recording increased profits through incorporation of technology that increases the capacity of production and the work done is quality, and improved quality of production due to increased skills knowledge by employees. Furthermore, employees who have undergone through the learning are more inventive, enterprising and innovative, which gives a firm a competitive advantage against its competitors and builds its brand name and brand image. Workplace learning works hand in hand with the culture of the organization. Employees are likely to actively participate in learning if the culture of the organization they work for is collaborative, uphold the sense of belonging encourages sharing, is communal, empowering and reflect on prior experiences critically (Malloch, 2010:325). More and more operations in organizations requires technology, therefore, organizations need to train its employees in order to equip them with the rising challenges, ease duties, and improve their production capacities. Not only do organizations encourage learning, but encourage workers to apply what they have learnt. Through workplace learning, organizations are able to motivate their employees, allow employees, and the organization itself respond to changes in economic activities and improve productivity of employees and efficiency of the organization (Sawchuk, et al. 2006:7). The market value of workplace learning More and more people understand the advantages associated with workplace learning, changing their attitudes from perceiving it as a cost but an investment and a tool that will improve their effectiveness, place them in more marketable positions and offer them chances to advance personally and professionally (Gray, et al. 2004:472). Increased demand for workplace learning has influenced the way job seekers are applying for jobs. Companies that encourage the practice are having a choice of recruiting the best in the field, and are using it to motivate, retain employees thus reducing the turnovers and brain drain by their competitors. The rapid interest in workplace knowledge and skills is as a result of increased demand for quality products and services to satisfy the needs of the markets. As organizations are experiencing brain drain of professionals especially in developing countries, they are relying heavily on workplace training both in small and large-scale corporations (Aston & Sung, 2002: 24). The increasing market value of the practice has been attributed to health and safety concern, organizations taking social responsibility, technological changes, increased business competitiveness and the educational curriculum is not doing enough to equip students before they enter the job market. Moreover, there are mismatched sets of skills in various fragments and structures in organizations, associating workplace training to having a competitive advantage and to fill gaps of needs caused by globalization. Changes in skills and specialization trends To improve productivity and strengthen the firm against competition, specialization trends and skills have changed. Employers are encouraging its employees to learn a diverse ally of skills in order to fill in gaps arising from developing economic activities. Specialization is being sidelined, and employees are undertaking more than one area of expertise (Gray, et al. 2004:382). A specialized accountant for example, is required to learn IT skills necessary in auditing and bookkeeping. Therefore, organizations are preferring to use self-directing learning systems because they reduce costs, because their on job events and experiences forms the learning process, are effective since employees learns using preferred learning style, and learning what they really need, and apply the learnt knowledge and skills in the organization as workers. Among skills learnt from workplace learning by employees are that they become good listeners, are able to comprehend and use technical and managerial information, are better team players, they become more trainable, are receptive of change, have increased skills in computer usage and increased awareness of cultures in other organizations, thus being able to identify the best culture to work in (Rainbird, et al. 2004: 18). Other changes in skills occur in the increased interest to learn not necessarily to gain monetary value, but wholesome value, being able to analyse and evaluate issues critically and improved ability to use prose. In instances where specialization has been encouraged, there are improved outcomes in training done on job-specific programs and reduction of wastes in production. Be it as it may, organizations has equipped its employees in diverse knowledge thus eased transfer and relocation of employees from one department to the other in case of absenteeism by a worker, vacant positions or the employee is on sick leave or on off duty (Aston & Sung, 2002: 256). Employees when they are able to cohesively do any duty accorded to them or have knowledge and skills of other duties and jobs apart from what they are assigned for, they can easily detect problems when they occur in other lines of production without necessarily needing a personnel from the line, hence increased efficiency of production and eliminating incidences of breakdown of production and communication (Evans, 2006:84). Among skills that are targeted when implementing work place training is the ability to solve problems, have grate communication skills, have skills in information technology, being a team player and being flexible enough to adapt to change. Emergence of new job categories in the service sector Among career or job opportunities that have risen out of workplace learning is workplace learning coaches, teachers and mentors. They have the responsibility of ensuring that the employee/ learner achieve the best and are able to apply the knowledge practically in a working environment (Piskurich, et al 1998:174). They can do this by teaching them skills on decision making, self- evaluate the work they have done, personal development, critical thinking, giving them a chance for application of learnt skills, offer staff training, integrate what the leaner wants in the learning programs and encourage optimism of independence in regards to learning. Among other duties of coaches are implementing learning programs and learning exchanges among learners and provide a start up point on the best learning projects to undertake. Other job categories in organization are positions of web designers, computer technicians and IT programmers who ensure the organization is updated in terms of technology. Moreover, customer care service jobs have been developed due to ease in information and communication infrastructures and institutions that offer credited learning credentials have emerged that offer evening, weekend and holiday classes for the working population (Clifford &Thorpe, 2007: 320). Organizational restructuring through workplace learning Easy and effective working place learning is dependent on the learning culture of the organization. Learning in an organization can be easy, possible, difficult or even impossible depending on what the learning culture is (Rainbird, et al. 2004:87). Therefore, improved learning culture translates to improved working place learning thus necessitating organizations to restructure its learning culture, practices and working conditions. This is because, among elements that influence work place learning are the attitudes of employee and employers and other stakeholders to work place learning, systems of learning, working conditions and the expectations of assigned work. Learning comprises of the organization itself, management personnel, employees, formal trainers, community and the state, thereby forming a network. This network is essential in effective learning process (Piskurich, et al 1998: 213). During the restructuring, an organization needs to evaluate the learning projects that will add the most value and set aside resources to fund the learning programs. Learning cultures should change the attitudes of managers that workplace learning is not a cost but an investment that will improve quality of performance of employees, which will improve the quality of production, which will in turn increase profitability. Furthermore, the practice gives a firm the competitive edge. Organizational restructuring through workplace learning is done through open communication which helps employees share with others what they have learnt, ease networking, contribute to making important decisions (Rainbird, et al. 2004: 100). Change of learning cultures can be done through opening up internal and external lines of communication, implementing structures of innovation, setting up systems for learning assessments, developing systems of performance review, implementation of learning programs supported by documentation and information and restructuring organizations. Learning cultures are among key issues why an organization may restructure or consider it; this is because learning culture just as any other organizational culture is contextual. Organizational restructuring is inevitable if the firm wants to satisfy the needs of its market, being stable against financial and economic crises, and being able to fend off stiff competition (Clifford &Thorpe, 2007: 50). This is done by incorporation of innovations in design, production, distribution, packaging, advertising, and marketing. Among other restructurings caused by workplace learning are workplace changes on structures of tasks, organizational structures, occupational structures that depict the number of professionals among employees and workforce structures that entails the working terms, which is the number of employees on casual, permanent or on part-time contract (Malloch, 2010: 173). By understanding all these structures, the organization is able to identify which needs workplace learning more than the other does and brings more profitability and value to the firm. Bridging the gap between theory and practice The major reason for the increased demand for work place learning ha been due to educational curriculums being unable sufficiently to equip the student population with skills and knowledge they can apply in the working environment, and when they do, they are unable efficiently to teach them how to apply the acquired knowledge and skills practically (Evans, 2006: 106). Workplace mentors and tutors need to direct learners on the start up points and which learning programs are most beneficial, they are supposed to be facilitators of the learning process rather than managers through the process and encourage learners to develop skills on decision making, self- evaluate the work they have done, personal development, critical thinking, giving them a chance for application of learnt skills, offer staff training, integrate what the leaner wants in the learning programs and encourage optimism of independence in regards to learning and implementing learning programs and learning exchanges among learners (Evans, et al, 2008:333) . Therefore, tutors and the organization have an important role to play in application of workplace learning as a theory to practical application (Clifford &Thorpe, 2007: 194). They also can do this by allowing learners learn through self-directing learning programs, and allowing the leaner to experiment and apply the knowledge acquired during working sessions. Although they are bound to make mistakes, this is beneficial since they will learn even more from making mistakes. Through learning programs such as problem based learning, helps by giving definition to the learning scope and directs the learning dynamics for the purpose that is beneficial to the leaner and the context of the work, and is power-structured focus between stakeholders. The processing of learning in these learning programs do not end once they are applied from theories, but its main aim is to utilize the practical and help learning employees to understand the theory taught (Garrick, 2002: 78). Consequently, while bridging the gap between theory and practice, learning programs like problem based learning develops learning for particular results, which more often than not is influenced by work context. Moreover, bridging of the gap between practice and theory can be done through the elements of innovations, by learners creating new forms, designs, methods of production, marketing, problem solving, decision making, processing and delivery of service and products. Furthermore, successful translation of workplace learning theory into practice is possible among other things on elements of time, the role of management to be facilitators, readiness and willingness of the employee to undertake learning, the benefits accrued by employees if they indulge in workplace learning like awards, salary increment and promotion, and support of processes, strategic structures and systems of the organization, to the learning network’s complexities (Gray, et al. 2004:49). Meeting the challenges of workplace learning Effective work place learning faces many challenges. The major reason is the attitude of the networks, which is the organization, individuals, community, government, learning providers and management, towards implementation of work place learning (Gray, et al. 2004: 145). For the longest time, the practice has been perceived as a cost rather than an investment. However, individuals and organizations are learning that work place learning adds value to an employee, empowers them to make important decisions, allows them to think critically and offer them a platform to negotiate for better wages and benefits. Moreover, allow organizations to competitively increase its market share, improve quality of production and improve the knowledge and skills of her employees thus encouraging innovations. Due to increased demand, some learning providers have supplied low quality learning. The question of low quality learning is more so when an organization undertake self-directing learning and other informal learning styles, which more often than not are not credited. To counter this problem, the organization, government, and learning providers are mobilized to recognize these informal learning methods (Evans, 2006:24). Other problems facing work place learning is the slow absorption of knowledge as people age since its mostly for adult working people, shortage of skills on which training should be embarked on, lack of enough resources by organization to put their employees in training, implementing the practice solely to increase business rather than improve the whole aspects of an employee, the capacity for the practice is limited, management having low priorities on training when compared to priorities on profits and increased turnover of labour since skilled workers are more in demand in high performing firms. In this regard, firms have tried to develop all aspects of the learner rather than just to increase business during learning, soliciting for funds to allocate to workplace learning, changing stakeholder’s attitude to the practice and prioritizing the training more than in profits (Garrick, 2002: 135). Conclusion Workplace learning is defined as the process of acquiring knowledge and skills by employees of an organization, which are applied on the duties, skills, attitudes, values, work, and actions in what they are involved in. Learning begins with acquisition of basic elements and skills to learning how to apply complex programs like practices in management and use of technological systems, thus improving the value of the employee professionally, socially and personally. In my own assessment in the modern world, workplace learning has been necessitated by political, environmental, legal, social, religious, economical and technological changes, in the new world order and is done formally, incidentally, non-formally experientially or self directed. In my opinion, workplace learning is beneficial to the organization by improving the morale of workers, the capacity to problem-solve, aloe workers adapt to change, improve quality of production, allow usage of new technology hence increased quality work, increase the success rates of employees being promoted, develop relations between labour and management, ease relocation of employees from one sector to another and boosts profits. I have learnt that work place learning reduce time per task, decrease waste during production, help organizations retain their workers and increased efficiency of an organization. Its beneficial to employees since they acquire new or more skills to what they had before, are able solve problems efficiently, are able to competitively fill in promotions, are able to think critically, they are more motivated, and add value to their professional and personal lives. The gap between theory and practice of workplace learning can be bridged by learner applying what they have learnt in their work. References Aston, D.N. & Sung, J. 2002. Supporting workplace learning for high performance working. Geneva: International Labour Organization. Brock, D. 2002. Restructuring the Professional Organization: Accounting, Health Care and Law. New York: Routledge. Clifford, J. & Thorpe. S. 2007. Workplace learning & development: delivering competitive advantage for your organization. Berlin: Kogan Page Publishers. Evans, K. 2006. Improving workplace learning; Improving learning TLRP. London: Taylor & Francis. Evans, T. et al. 2008. International Handbook of Distance Education. Los Angeles: Emerald Group Publishing. Garrick, J. 2002. Understanding Learning at Work. Sidney: Routledge. Graves, L. 1994. Learner managed learning: theory practice & policy. London: Routledge. Gray, D. et al. 2004. Learning through the workplace: a guide to work-based learning. Stamford: Nelson Thornes. Malloch, M. 2010. The SAGE Handbook of Workplace Learning. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Piskurich, G.M. et al. 1998. ASTD models for learning technologies: roles, competencies, and outputs. Montreal: American Society for Training and Development. Rainbird, H. et al. 2004. Workplace learning in context. London: Routledge. Sawchuk, P.H. et al. 2006. Critical perspectives on activity: explorations across education, work, and everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More