How the Concept of Workplace Learning Can Help Improve the Organisation's Performance - Essay Example

How the Concept of Workplace Learning can help improve my Organisation's Performance Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Introduction In the present day, innovations and constant improvement play a major role in the success organisations. This means that organisations have to continually improve their processes, management, and so forth by promoting learning in the workplace. This means that organisations need to not only develop a culture that encourages the entire workforce to be innovative and contribute ideas, but also develop effective processes for assessing all suggestions and working on them appropriately (Matthews 1999, p.3). In deed, learning in the workplace should be one of the essential elements within organisations as it is the biggest incentive to facilitating change within them. Along this line, Rainbird, Fuller and Munro (2004, p. 1) note that policy-makers involved in finding ways of strengthening the connection between the economy and education systems are increasingly focusing on workplace learning as a means of improving organisational performance. However, in the research on how one learns in the workplace is not complete without attention to the metacognitive functions of routines. Metacognition implies both the knowledge about cognition (knowing) and to how an individual applies that knowledge to regulate cognition (Munby et al 2003, p. 94). In this essay, I discuss how promoting workplace learning can help my organisation improve its performance. I will use the human capital theory and other theories to illustrate that workplace learning can be used to effectively increase the level of performance. I will also discuss how my organisation can maximize the perceived benefits of workplace learning having considered the relationship between workplace learning and human capital theory. Concept of workplace learning Matthews (1999, p.3) defines workplace learning as the processes and outcomes of learning that individual employees or groups of employees engage in within any given work place. This involves gaining knowledge and responding to change. It is imperative to embrace workplace learning as it is one of the factors that guarantee organisational change and development. Typically, employees have a number of questions as they report to their places of work daily. But five questions are practically important for their own development as well as the welfare of their organisations as noted by Clifford and Thorpe (2007, p. 5): (1) What are the employees required to do? (2) How are they supposed to carry out their duties? (3) How is their organisation going to measure their success and performance? (4) How are the employees faring? (5) Where can the employees go from where they are? Clifford and Thorpe note further that the process of learning and development within the organisation helps to map the five questions onto people management processes in general. As such, workplace learning and development are integral components of various aspects of organisations such as business improvement, performance management and individual wellbeing. Nevertheless, the nature of business today means that organisations essentially have more development requirements and needs (Clifford & Thorpe 2007, p. 5). Thus, it is evident that despite the scarcity of resources, organisations have to invest in the learning process to maintain or improve their positions in the market. My organisation, like all other organisations around the world, needs to have people who can perform effectively in their job. This is increasingly imperative as the pace of change becomes more rapid. But even as the need for learning and change increases, there is a conflict as budgets are becoming tighter, yet the organisation is relatively small, meaning that there is less money to spend on training and development. Quoting the Conference Board of Canada, Munby et al (2003, p. 96) note that there are three major categories of the skills needed in the workplace: fundamental, personal management and teamwork skills. It is important to note that compiling the lists of necessary skills is one thing and conducting the research to determine if the skills are the actual competencies required by the organisation is another. In a research about workplace skills carried out in four Los Angeles firms, it was found that while employers could accurately describe the skills required by employees for success in the workplace, the nature of skills needed was highly context-depended (Munby et al 2003, p. 96). This means that for an organisation to be successful, learning has to be a continuous process because various types of tasks that emerge require different types of skills - which can only be gained through learning in the workplace. The significance of workplace learning in my organisation is emphasised by the fact that employees are required to adapt and respond to the changes that are arising quickly and without loss of productivity. This means that employees regularly have to take on new work, adapt to new processes, be subjected to additional responsibilities, familiarise with new technologies, and conform to new legal requirements such as data protection and health and safety rules (Clifford & Thorpe 2007, p. 7). Learning should therefore be a continuous process because of the pace of change in an organisation. This means that it is no longer the sole responsibility of the human resource department or training department; each employee, including line managers must be involved and be responsible for identifying the nature of learning needs and ensuring that everyone is appropriately developed to meet the organisation’s goals and objectives (Clifford & Thorpe 2007, p. 7). Going by this, it means that my organisation’s training courses, which were traditionally perceived as a way of educating or teaching within the workplace, are no longer appropriate or sufficient for delivering continuous learning and development. Importantly, the learning process has go hand-in-hand with the current needs of the organisation. This is because it is how well the organisation addresses its current needs that it can overcome competition from rivals in the market. To facilitate this, it has to invest in all its departments to ensure that employees conform to the required the changes. As noted by Bratton, Mills and Pyrch (2003, p. 26) more of improved performance undoubtedly comes from individuals working smarter. This can be achieved in part by ensuring that employees can actually implement their knowledge and wisdom in the actual work process, and in part facilitating job rotation and training practices that augment the opportunity to learn. Further, by encouraging workplace learning the organisation gets an early start in accumulating knowledge, and then advances faster than its rivals to build an almost insurmountable lead (Bratton, Mills & Pyrch 2003, p.26). This is in line with the dictum that one source of competitive advantage can be the ability and rate at which an organisation can learn and react more rapidly than its competitors (Stewart 2001, p. 141). The discussion above shows that learning is part of a management strategy to attain a sustainable competitive advantage. Traditional management wisdom dictates that market imperatives require organisations to change their control systems and the way paid work is carried out in order to develop a culture that promotes innovation and efficiencies through reflexive learning. The connotation that competitive advantage can be attained when managers use employees’ skills and tacit knowledge is not new. This fact can be reflected in the applications of the human capital theory and in the resource-based view of the firm. What seems to be new therefore is the link between learning and the competitiveness of the firm. I will first look at how workplace learning relates to the human capital theory and the perspective of an organisation in terms of its resources. Workplace learning and the human capital theory The human capital theory highlights how learning boosts the efficiency and output of workers by increasing the magnitude of cognitive stock of economically prolific human capital which is a creation of intrinsic abilities and investment in employees (Olaniyan & Okemakinde 2008, p. 158). The enhancement of learning opportunities is seen as an industrious venture in human capital, which the people who support the theory have regarded as equivalently or even more valuable than that of physical investment. The rationale behind investment in human capital is based on three arguments. First is that the new generation (workforce) must be given the same level of knowledge as that which has already been acquired by previous generations. Second is that the new generation should learn how existing knowledge should be used to create new products, to come up with new processes and production methods as well as social services. The third point is that people must be encouraged to develop totally new ideas, methods and processes through creative approaches (Olaniyan & Okemakinde 2008, p. 158). From these points, it is evident that the human capital theory emphasise the importance of workplace learning as a way of encouraging innovation and increasing an organisation’s productivity. It is obvious that if my organisation invests in opportunities for its employees to learn, it will create a space for employees to come up with innovative ideas regarding products or services, hence giving it a better competitive advantage. The learning process will also mean that the organisation will be able to understand the new challenges arising in the market and how to go about them in a timely manner. Encouraging employees to learn and develop new ideas through approaches such as job enrichment, job enlargement and job rotation will not only ensure that employees deliver their best at work but are also satisfied with their challenging work environment. According to Baron and Armstrong (2007, p. 10), human capital theory pays attention to practical issues that pertain to employee resourcing, reward and development, assessing the value of people, evaluating human resource practices, knowledge management and organisational learning. It recognises that through learning, employees can invest in their own future and choose where and how to make that investment. From this perspective, the organisation can ask itself a number of questions which when answered can assure it of improved performance. The first question is connected to the nature of skills the organisation has at present. These skills are the ones that determine the direction the organisation can take as the next step. It is a matter of understanding what is available in the present time and building on it to gain a competitive advantage in the next step. The second question is about the type of skills required by the organisation now and in the in future. It is only by understanding what is required that the organisation can formulate strategies to facilitate more training and development or learning to achieve the set goals and objectives. This leads the third question, which is how the organisation can attract, develop and retain the required skills. Worth noting is that training and development alone will not guarantee that the employees will be wiling to stay with the organisation. Here, the organisation has to answer one of the questions that were posed earlier in this paper regarding where the employees can go from where they are. This means that the organisation should offer incentives that promote employees’ growth commensurate with the learning process. To retain the skills, the organisation must provide schemes such as promotions that will see employees use their newly-acquired skills at a higher level within the same organisation. The fourth question elicited by human capital theory relates to how the organisation can develop a culture and environment in which individual and organisational learning takes place, which meets both the needs of the organisation and its employees. Along this line, Rainbird, Fuller and Munro (2004, p. 132) suggest that there two broad categories of expansive and restrictive features of learning environments: those that arise from understandings about the organisational context and culture (such as job design, work organisation, distribution and control of knowledge and skills); and those relating to understandings of how employees learn (such as through engaging in various forms of participation). Rainbird, Fuller and Munro (2004, p. 132) further note that such personal knowledge is accumulated not only through the use of public knowledge but is also developed from personal experience and reflection. While analyzing the creation of learning environments, it is worthwhile to elucidate the relationship between individuals and the opportunities as well as barriers to learning that the individual may encounter at work. The reasons why employees engage and respond differently to the same workplace learning conditions include individual biographies of the people and their dispositions for learning. Further, there is a pragmatic focus on knowledge use. Here, knowledge or personal knowledge is described as “what people bring to practical situations that enables them to think and perform” (Rainbird, Fuller & Munro 2004, p. 132). Therefore, in order for my organisation to promote workplace learning and benefit from it, it has to create an environment that encourages employees to bring new ideas to the organisation based on their formal training and also develop their own ideas while on the job as per the challenging nature of the task they are assigned. This takes us back to the aspects of job design such as job rotation and job enrichment that will present different challenging environments depending on the nature of each job at a particular time. The fifth question brought about by the human capital theory is about how the organisation can provide for both the tacit and explicit knowledge created within it to be captured, recorded and used effectively. For workplace learning to attain its stated objectives, a number of learning opportunities and conditions must be evident. Learning opportunities are affected by the characteristics of the workplace. Thus, any attempts to improve the organisation’s productivity, efficiency, profit, or quality must be closely examined. To support and benefit from workplace learning, the organisation must appreciate the five conditions identified by Holliday (1994, p. 2-13) [as quoted by Matthews, 1999, p.20] as being the ones that affect the relationships between individuals in the workplace. These include (1) how individuals perceive themselves and what is positive about them (self); (2) various individuals’ ability to reach an understanding in the process of learning (personal meaning); (3) the ability of individuals to develop, apply and assess the use of their own, as well as other people’s ideas in the workplace; (4) the ability of individuals to learn with and from colleagues both directly and indirectly (collegiality); and (5) the ability of the employees to feel empowered about the changes taking place within the organisation. How my organisation can maximise the benefits of workplace learning The organisation should recognise the fact that learning and development within organisations cannot be delivered unless there is a need for development (Clifford & Thorpe 2007, p.11). Although this may seem as stating the obvious, there are several occasions where development activities are arranged or requested but there is a need to due to a disciplinary issue (such as a person not being capable or unwilling to do a job), a process issue (where a particular process needs to be changed), or an equipment issue (where a particular device is obsolete or not fit for the current purpose). A development need is a situation in which a person will be able to perform the task required to the standard provided they are allowed appropriate time and resources – they have the capacity to do but lack the required skills and knowledge or behavioural techniques to be able to accomplish it to the required standard in the present time. This inability to perform particular tasks is what spurs workplace learning – such that those in the know can enlighten their colleagues about the same task. There are a number of points to consider about workplace learning which make the process enjoyable and thus more rewarding - in return making them perform to the maximum of their ability and thus improving organisational performance. If keenly followed, these points, as suggested by Matthews (1999, p. 20) could greatly help improve performance in my organisation. First is that the learning workplace should be task-focused. This will ensure that employees are working towards particular set objectives, which saves time as only the right approaches to solving the defined problems are followed. Secondly, the process occurs in a social context characterised by position differences and a number of risks. Finally, workplace learning is a collaborative process and often grows out of a problem or an experience for which there is no knowledge base (Matthews 1999, p. 20). From the viewpoint of individuals, workplace learning and the human capital theory go hand-in-hand as the theory emphasises that through learning, employees have the right to expect first that they will obtain a significant return for the investment of their time and efforts in the organisation in terms of learning and developing new skills. Notably also, employees are more likely to participate in workplace learning for the benefit of the organisation if they are sure that they will be given opportunities to increase their employability, both inside and outside the organisation. Conclusion As it has been discussed, workplace learning is a core activity of organisations with respect to development and increasing their competitiveness. It is vital for the process of change and this is what my organisation needs. It has been discussed that workplace learning and the current needs of organisations are inseparable because continuous learning determines how the organisation can position itself to overcome competition from rivals by relying on the latest ideas that are learned. Through workplace learning, the organisation is able to accumulate a wealth of knowledge, which gives it a head start to rapid advancement. There is a close link between workplace learning and the economic theory of human capital. The human capital theory focuses on how learning increases the productivity of an organisation through individual employees by raising their level of cognitive stock, which is a product of instinctive abilities and investment in employees. From this argument, it has been noted that if an organisation invests in creating an enabling environment for workplace learning, it will create opportunities for employees to come up with innovative ideas that are valuable for the organisation’s performance. Hence, the organisation must appreciate its investment in allowing the employees the learning opportunity but also reward them to ensure that the skills gathered in the learning process are used for the betterment of the organisation. References Baron, A. & Armstrong, M. 2007, Human Capital Management: Achieving Added Value through People, Kogan Page Publishers, London. Bratton, J., Mills, J.C. H. & Pyrch, T. 2003, Workplace Learning: A Critical Introduction, University of Toronto Press, Toronto. Clifford, J. & Thorpe, S. 2007, Workplace Learning & Development: Delivering Competitive Advantage for your Organization, Kogan Page Publishers, London. Matthews, P. 1999, ‘Workplace learning: Developing a holistic model,’ The Learning Organisation, Vol. 6. No. 1, pp. 18-29. Munby, H., Vernsel, J., Hutchinson, N.L., Chin, P. & Berg, D.H. 2003, ‘Workplace learning and the metacognitive functions of routines,’ Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 94-104. Olaniyan, D.A & Okemakinde, T. 2008, ‘Human capital theory: implications for educational development,’ European Journal of Scientific Research, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 157-162. Rainbird, H., Fuller, A. & Munro, A. 2004, Workplace Learning in Context, Routledge, New York. Stewart, D. 2001, ‘Reinterpreting the learning organisation,’ The Learning Organization, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 141-152. Read More