Relationship between Organizational Learning and Training and Development

Relationship between Organizational Learning and Training and Development

Organizational learning is an intricate, three-factor process consisting of the acquisition, dissemination and shared implementation of knowledge.

 

What is organizational Learning?

 

According to the Michael Armstrong (2022) “Training is the formal and systematic modification of behavior through learning which occurs as a result of education, instruction, development and planned experience. Development is improving individual performance in their present Roles and preparing them for greater responsibilities in the future”.

According to the Argyris, C. (1993), Organizational learning is the process of transferring knowledge within an organization. Through organizational learning, employees can develop new skills. Successful training courses give employees the tools and knowledge to support a company's business objectives. Depending on the need, the skills transferred may be technical, organizational, or contextual. Management takes the initiative to choose right training methods to fill up the skill gap in the organization.

Why is organizational learning critical for the business?

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the global economy into great uncertainty. Coupled with constantly evolving technology and increasingly demanding customer needs, businesses today are facing unprecedented challenges. An organization’s ability to learn quickly and adapt readily to such volatile market conditions can be a significant competitive advantage. As a result, organizational learning has gained prominence in recent times. To fully reap the benefits of organizational learning, organizations should continually adapt their behavior to reflect the new knowledge gained from this process. Instead of simply doing things “the way we have always done it”, organizations can gain knowledge and improve over time by learning from its experiences. There is a positive impacts of organizational learning such as creating knowledge, increasing capacity, improving performance, developing talent and providing competitive advantage. It also benefits customer satisfaction and even the revenue and profits generated by a company.

(a        (a)    Adapt to change/ Increased Agility

         With the business environment changing rapidly, there are no choice but to walk fast and keep              pace with others. By continually learning and sharing knowledge within the company, it                          becomes easier to adapt to customer demand, market conditions, and unforeseen external factors.   

(         (b)    Improve productivity

Lack of skill development and in-depth knowledge about subjects lead to increased shoulder taps, documentation chaos, and lost time. All of this contributes to productivity loss. Organizational learning creates a work culture where employees can enhance their knowledge, learn new skills and stay at par with the industry trends. This allows them to be their productive best at work and contribute towards organizations business goals.

        (c)   Increase profitability

With the employees becoming more knowledgeable, skilled, and updated, every team is bound to perform remarkably well. That means every department, be it sales, customer support, technical, product, or marketing, will generate never-before-seen improvements, leading to overall business success. The better products and services are, the more satisfied customers are, the higher profits organization will clock in the long term.

(d)   Reduce turnover and increase job satisfaction

Organizational learning builds an environment of knowledge sharing and retention. They are adept with the work processes, market trends, industry news, and most importantly, the skills required to excel in their departments. Imagine if every employee possesses this knowledge, it will make your workplace so much knowledge-driven and growth-focused. Besides, organizational learning also strengthens the competitive edge, improves employee retention, and takes the business growth to the next level. 

Learning practices

 

Figure 1-Organizational learning process (Author developed)

 

According to the Crossan, M., Lane, H. & White, R. (1999), Organizational learning is a multi-level process: individual, group and organization. These three levels are linked by four social and psychological processes (the 4Is) which are defined in the 4I theory of Crossan (1999).

THE 4I THEORY: CROSSAN ET AL (1999)

                    

                  

Figure 2: (Crossan, Lane and White,1999)

 

Intuiting is the recognition of the pattern and/or possibilities inherent in a personal stream of experience. This process can affect the actions of individuals and of others when they interact with the individual. Individuals can be given the chance to gather and analyze field information, form new ideas concerning the business environment. For an example individuals should be able to discern patterns in evolving consumer tastes by listening to customer comments.

 

Interpreting is the explanation, through words and/or actions, of an insight or idea to one’s self and to others. Individuals can be given the chance to share what they have learned about changes in customer requirements and competitors’ actions, refine ideas about market trends. For an example if one design engineer share their details with other design engineers or with the company’s project progress reports, they can validate or modify what they had learned from the customers.

Integrating is the process of developing shared understanding among individuals and of taking coordinated action through mutual adjustment. This process will initially be informal, but if the coordinated action taking is recurring and significant, it will be institutionalized. Individuals can be given the chance to communicate what has been learned with other functional areas of the company. If the design engineers’ ideas are brought forward in a forum – such as a progress meeting – where they can be evaluated by people from other areas of the company, the participants can discuss and act upon their assessment of the changes in consumer tastes.

 

Institutionalizing is the process of ensuring that routinized actions occur. Tasks are defined, actions specified and organizational mechanisms are put in place. Institutionalizing sets organizational learning apart from individual or ad hoc group learning. Individuals can be given the chance to incorporate new knowledge into the strategies and plans of the organization. A company could set up a formal process as part of the progress reports and progress meetings; this would enable individuals to bring forward new ideas where they will be refined, disseminated, and acted upon.

 

 

Processing Learning process

 

Knowledge originating with individual employees is disseminated throughout the organization. Each phase of the 4Is cycle affords an opportunity for critical refinement of the ideas, suspicions, or simply gut-feelings generated by individuals close to customers and consumers. Hence framework for companies to institutionalize organizational knowledge. Companies implement learning process to align operations with short and long-range goals and to strike a balance between supply and demand. We have presented a new reason for utilizing a learning process: to facilitate knowledge creation, dissemination, and institutionalization. While the goals of learning process are reason enough for its implementation, the added benefits from knowledge creation should serve as an incentive to firms still without a learning process to consider putting one in place and for companies where the process is already in place to utilize it to further organizational learning.

 

References

Armstrong,M. (2022), Armstrong’s Handbook of Learning and Development. Great Britain and the United States: Kogan page Limited.

 

Buckley,M. Caple,J. The theory and practice of training. (2009). 6^th Edn. India : Replika Press Pvt Ltd.

 

Argyris, C. (1993). Knowledge for Action: A Guides to Overcoming Barriers to Organizational Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

 

Klatt, D. (1999). The Ultimate Training Workshop Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill.

 

Crossan, M., Lane, H. & White, R. (1999). An organizational learning framework: From intuition to institution, Academy of Management Review, 24, 3, 522-537.

 

Nonaka, I. (1991). The knowledge-creating company, Harvard Business Review, November-December, 96-104.