LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY IN ORGANIZATIONS

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Human Resource Management departments focus to create a knowledgeable, skilled, engaged and committed workforce in order to achieve the organizational goals. This is done by the process of acquiring and developing knowledge, skills, capabilities, behaviours, and attitudes through learning or developmental experiences.

Learning 

As explained by Honey and Mumford (1996), learning has happened  when people can   reveal that they know a new thing which they didn’t know earlier,  and when they are able to perform a new task that they could not do before.   

Development 

Development is concerned by ensuring the growth of a person’s ability and potential through learning experiences or through self motivated learning.(Armstrong, 2009)..

Harrison (2009) defined learning and development more broadly as "The primary purpose of learning and development as an organizational process is to aid collective progress through the collaborative, expert and ethical stimulation and facilitation of learning and knowledge that support business goals, develop individual potential, and respect and build on diversity."

Strategic Human Resource Development (SHRD)

Learning and development strategy is the approach an organization adopts, focusing the achievement of its present and future goals by developing the skills and capacities of individuals and teams (Armstrong, 2009). 

It can be described similarly as strategic human resource development, defined as follows.

SHRD prepares individuals and teams with required skills, knowledge and competency to perform present and future tasks of the organization, by introducing, eliminating, modifying, directing and guiding processes. 

Strategic Learning and Development Cultures in Global organizations

General Electric (GE) has placed strong emphasis on SHRD to build a strong culture of learning and innovation. The learning culture within GE is founded on the Work-Out Philosophy. This philosophy is based on gendering self-confidence, encouraging challenge and simplicity to systems, and utilizing working practices that result in speed of responsiveness. SHRD plays a major role in driving and sustaining the culture of GE. 

Procter & Gamble (P&G) is the world’s largest consumer-product company.  Consistent with a ‘promote from within’ policy

and the belief that P&G’s human resources are a major source of competitive advantage that are hard to replicate, the development of employees is all pervasive and is central to the organizational culture. Employees receive multi-source reviews starting within a year after they join the company, and can take advantage of numerous development programmes over their career.

Conclusion
Organizations have recognized that people are an important source of sustained competitive advantage. Skills and competencies enable an organization to be more flexible and to reconfigure to meet strategic challenges. Organizations should implement best-practice SHRD strategies to maximize business performance.

References

Armstrong, M., 2009. Armstrong's Hand of Human Resource Management Practice. Philadelphia: Kogan Page.

Garavan, T. N. & Carbery, R., 2012. Strategic Human Resource Development. Research Gate, Issue July, pp. 33, 35 and 41.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242390323 

accessed on 15th May 2018 at 8.10pm

Honey, P. & Mumford, A., 1996. The Manual of Learning Styles. 3rd ed. Maidenhead: Honey Publications.

Walton, J., 1999. Strategic Human Resource Development. Harlow: Financial Times / Prentice Hall.