Employee Learning and Development in Organizations Introduction Before going to discuss the way to make employee learning and development program competitive, let us get a better understanding of what employee training, employee learning, and employee development actually are. Employee training is one of the core responsibilities of the human resource department of a company. When a company hires an employee, it needs to provide him/her with some training in order to make him/her learn the required job skills. Employee training is a key towards employees’ professional success. “Employee training generally refers to programs that provide workers with information, new skills, or professional development opportunities” (Testa, n.d. ).
If we talk about employee learning, we can say that learning is a process, which brings permanent changes in employee capabilities related to learning outcomes. Employee development is another key activity of the human resource department. “The purpose of employee development is for workers at a company to learn skills that they can use within the workplace” (Wiesen, 2011). Employee development is a future oriented process, which results in improving quality of the employees, retaining key employees, incorporating technological advances, and making the company meet global competition challenges. Planning Influence on Employee Training, Learning, and Development Human resource planning plays a key role in making employee training, learning, and development programs effective and result-oriented.
HR planning makes a company anticipate the movement of human resources in the company. HR planning also helps a company identify those areas where the company needs to train the employees. “Employee training is essential for companies who wish to compete in a fast-changing business world” (Jones, 2010). Employee training serves many purposes, such as, preparing employees for taking increased responsibilities, planning for promotions and transfers, and identifying downward job opportunities.
Companies use different types of models to organize employee training, which include faculty model, customer model, matrix model, corporate university model, and virtual model. Along with selecting the most proper model for employee training, the HR department of a company gives extreme attention towards many other factors, such as, globalization, implementation of new technology, changing demographics, and workforce diversity. HR planning also influences employee learning and development processes. HR planners look for those areas in which employees need to excel in order to perform their job responsibilities properly.
For example, they look for those employees who do not have good verbal communication skills, intellectual skills, motor skills, and required attitudes and behaviors and take appropriate steps for the improvement of these skills. Some of the most effective learning theories that HR planners use to improve employee learning include reinforcement theory, social learning theory, and goal theory. In employee development process, HR planners help employees identify their needs and development goals in order to make them initiate the development process.
Gordon (2006) states, “Employee development programs are essential to improve morale as well as to motivate the employees to perform well”. Employees start employee development process and employers help them assess their achievements. “Structured development plans encourage greater understanding of the job role which encourages examination of the role to ensure maximum efficiency” (Nathoo, 2011). Conclusion Summing it up, employee training, learning, and development are some of the core responsibilities of the human resource department of a company. HR planners need to give extreme attention towards development of such training and development program, which should be able to make employees skilled, competitive, and productive for the company. References Gordon, A.
(2006). Importance Of Employee Development. Retrieved from http: //ezinearticles. com/? Importance-Of-Employee-Development&id=395203 Jones, P. (2010). In House Employee Training Programs. Retrieved from http: //www. articlesbase. com/human-resources-articles/in-house-employee-training-programs-2868796.html Nathoo, D. (2011). Do Your Employees Need Learning and Development? . Retrieved from http: //ezinearticles. com/? Do-Your-Employees-Need-Learning-and-Development? &id=6613231 Testa, K. (n. d.). What Is Employee Training? . Retrieved from http: //www. wisegeek. com/what-is-employee-training. htm Wiesen, G. (2011). What Is Employee Development? . Retrieved from http: //www. wisegeek. com/what-is-employee-development. htm