LO1: Understand learning theories and learning styles
Task 1
Comparison of different learning styles
The phenomenon or the notion of “learning”, in a generalised framework, can be considered to be the act of knowledge acquiring for the improvement of the skills as well as for mental development of an individual. Learning can be considered as a continuous measurable parameter for identification of the capability of an individual to absorb different knowledge related to any subject, experience or occurrence, which in turn helps in bringing in changes in the individual’s performance and in developing the potential of the individual (Schmeck2013). An individual, in general changes his or her behaviour, actions and attitudes according to his or her learnings.
The learning styles of the employees vary considerably, according to their individual traits, natures and capacities and there exist different theoretical and conceptual frameworks which studies about the different learning styles which are usually found among the employees of different organizations. These frameworks are discussed as follows:
Kolb’s Theory
One of the most eminent and widely used theories in the aspects of differentiations of different learning styles among the human resources in the global organizations is the theory proposed by David Kolb, according to whose assertions, an individual try to learn from their experiences, which they tend to gain from any kind of situation faced by them. According to the Kolb’s Theory, there are four broad learning styles which are as follows:
Figure 1: Types of learning in Kolb’s Model based on four kinds of knowledge
(Source: McLeod 2018)
As per the above figure, the four types of learning styles are as follows:
Diverging- This learning style is primarily based on feeling and watching (that is, on concrete experiences as well as on reflective observations) and the people adopting this learning style are imaginative and try to generate idea for resolving problems.
LO4: Understand government-led skills development initiatives
Accommodating- This learning type is based on doing and feeling (active experimentation and concrete experiences) and the employees taking this approach believe in intuitions (Kolband Kolb2012).
Converging- This type of learning involves thinking and doing (abstract conceptualisation and active participation) and the people adopting this learning style, think logically and solve issues practically by implementing their learning experiences.
Assimilating- The people adopting this learning style learn by thinking and watching (abstract conceptualisation and reflective observation) and they solve problems by watching the scenario and thinking logically in their learning process.
Honey and Mumford Theory
Another conceptual framework of different learning styles can be seen to be suggested by Honey and Mumford, which is a modification of the theory of Kolb. Their assertions about the different learning styles can be diagrammatically seen as follows:
Figure 2: Different types of learning by Honey and Mumford Model
(Source: Open.edu 2018)
The different types of learners and learning styles according to this model are as follows:
Activists- This refers to people who learn by doing.
Theorists- This refers to the people whose learning style includes that of understanding the theories which exist behind different situations and topics.
Pragmatists- This include those people who are practical in nature and tries to learn by implementing practices (Willingham, Hughesand Dobolyi2015).
Reflectors- These people learn by observing the different situations and thinking about the same.
From the above discussion, it can be asserted that the model of Honey and Mumford is highly similar to that of Kolb as the former is derived from the latter. However, while Kolb describes different stages of learnings and form the learning styles on the basis of cumulation of such stages, Honey and Mumford form separate learning types and give the different types of learner different names according to their attributes.
LO2: Be able to plan and design training and development
Role of Learning Curve and significance of transferring learning to workplace
Learning Curve- The concept of learning curve was elaborated by Hermann Ebbinghaus. The concept of learning curve shows the performance of an individual learner with the help of a graphical representation. This tool of learning curve, in the workplaces, can be used to assess the level of learning of different employees and can also be used for reviewing the changes in the productivity of an employee who goes on repeatedly performing same type of tasks. The Learning Curve can be shown, with all its stages as follows:
Figure 3: Learning Curve of Employees
(Source: Sloanreview.mit.edu 2018)
The basic notion behind this concept is that initially the time required to produce output remains high as employees take time to learn their tasks. However, with time and with repeatedly performing same tasks the time required to produce the same output decreases. Thus, the learning curve, which is measured by taking time in X axis and productivity or output in Y axis, acquires the shape shown in the above figure (Jaber2016). The slope of the learning curve shows the rate of translation of learning of employees into cost saving for the company. Thus, a steeper slope of the curve depicts higher cost savings for the concerned company.
Importance of knowledge transfer in a company
The knowledge transfer to the employees in a company help them in acquiring a better understanding about their company and their requirements, which in turn help them in developing their skills in the course of their employment. For transferring knowledge, thus, the organizations need systematic knowledge transfer system from the provider to the employees, for which the most commonly used method is that of training of the employees.
LO3: Be able to evaluate a training event
Role of learning curve
The learning curve acts as a useful tool in the companies for the evaluation of the performance of its individual employees, thereby assessing the level of learning of each of their employees. Thus, although transfer of knowledge in a company is a necessary activity for the enhancement of the knowledge of the employees it does not however sufficiently imply that all the employees effectively acquire the knowledge transferred by the company (Head2012). For this, regular and systematic monitoring and evaluation of the knowledge and skills acquired by the employees and their learning performance is required, which is helped by assessing the Learning Curve for the employee of an organization.
Contribution of learning styles and theories for planning and designing learning event
As can be seen to be discussed above, for any organization, especially for the commercial organizations to prosper, it is of utmost importance to have productive, able and trained workers, suitable for the needs of the different companies. The workers however, do not enter into the organizations with all the desired skills and knowledge. These knowledges are imparted or transferred to the workers by the companies.
Thus, for efficient and productive transfer of knowledge different methods are required by various organizations which are provided by the different learning styles and theories present in the global scenario. Different companies have different needs and types of knowledge as well as different types of employees which in turn, makes it extremely crucial for the companies to choose the appropriate and relevant learning style for passing on the knowledge to the employees. Often it is not enough for a company to choose only one learning style, due to the presence of varied workforce within the organization, which in turn induces the company to choose an appropriate combination of different learning styles.
For designing and implementing a learning event, the company needs to choose one or a combination of more than one learning styles, whose choice depends on the nature of the learning event. The different learning theories present in this context, helps in highlighting the nature and working of different learning styles, thereby helping the companies to choose the same as per the purpose and the nature of the individual employees (Rohrerand Pashler2012). The trainers in the companies first observe the capability and styles of learning of the employees of the company and then develop learning events based on the same.
Kolb’s Theory
The different learning theories highlight different forms of learning styles, their nature and implications, which in turn can be linked with the real-life behaviour of the employees of a company, which in turn helps the trainers to assess which learning style will be fit for which employee, thereby designing the training or learning event according to that. These factors, thus, indicate towards the importance of different learning theories and styles for the purpose of designing and implementing training and learning events in all kinds of organizations in the global scenario.
Understanding the skill development initiatives led by the government
The government of the different countries also play crucial roles in the aspect of training and development of the population in the country, engaged in different working domains, which are discussed as follows:
Role of government in training and development as well as lifelong learning
Like any other country, the government of United Kingdom also plays crucial roles in the aspects of facilitation of different training and development programs of the workers in the organizations operating in the country, which not only include the public-sector companies but also the private sector institutions. The primary role played by the government in this case, is that of arranging and implementing various training and skill development programs for the worker in general and also of that of provision of expert trainers to the different companies in order to impart proper knowledge to their workers. The government also plays crucial role in financially supporting such trainings in different public as well as private organizations in the country.
In this context, the notion of “lifelong learning” refers to the provision of training and knowledge to the employees by a company throughout their entire employment span for the purpose of constantly developing their skills and productivity. UK, in this context, used to have an independent Sector Skills Councils, known as the Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK), which ceased to exist in 2011 (Reeceand Walker2016). This was responsible for professional development of the workers in terms of community learning and development as well as higher education. The goals of LLUK, which tallies with the general concept of lifelong learning are as follows:
- Increase in the demand as well as investment in skill development
- Take forward the strategic ambitions of each of the companies
- Provision of credible and respected labour market in the economy
- Development and implementation of fir-for-purpose trainings and skill developments for meeting the needs of lifelong learning workers
- Enhance the learning programs’ quality
In case of UK, although LLUK has ceased to exist, much of their responsibilities and their vision of building a lifelong learning and highly productive workforce for the development of a highly productivity, prosperous and inclusive society, has been transferred to the contemporary Learning and Skills Improvement Service in the country (Reeceand Walker2016).
Honey and Mumford Theory
Impact of competency movement on public sector and private sector
The competency movement, in its general sense, refers to the activities performed by different organizations in order to gain competitive advantage and edge over their competitors. This movement has developed significantly, in the contemporary global business environment and has affected the commercial domains of many countries including that of the United Kingdom. In this movement, the different companies are encouraged to implement training and development schemes for their employees in order to gain a competitive edge over their rivals, thereby increasing their prosperity and long-term sustainability.
For making the employees in an organization more competent, several steps need to be taken, which are as follows:
- Providing proper job description given by the companies to the employees help them to understand their responsibilities in the concerned companies
- Conducting training need analysis before planning and implementing training programmes according to the need for the same in the organizations
- Recruiting of the employees with professional skills in accordance to the requirement of the companies
All these are significant components of competency movement in which the organizations participate in the contemporary scenario.
Although the competency movement has significant implications on the overall organizational structures of the economies as a whole, including both public as well as private sector companies, however, the private sector companies seem to be more affected by the same than that of the public-sector organizations. This is because of the fact that while the public-sector enterprises enjoy government protection to a considerable extent and mostly operate in equity perspectives than in efficiency objectives, the private sector firms mostly work with the objective of profit maximization and the level of competition among them is much higher than that of the public-sector companies. Thus, the private organizations often resort to training and development programmes for their human resources in order to enhance their quality and productivity, which in turn helps them in gaining competitive edge over their rivals (Reeves2012).
This in turn motivates the public-sector firms, especially in the contemporary period, to implement these practices to enhance their productive and cost efficiencies in the global framework. The higher success rates of the never-ending learning process and lifelong learning notions induces both private and public-sector companies to implement training and development facilities in their operational frameworks.
Training initiatives of government of UK: HR development in Sun Court Limited
The government of UK has implemented various training initiatives for supporting different businesses, especially the small and medium business in the aspects of improving their performances of the employees, which mainly include programmes like those of apprenticeships, National Vocational Qualifications as well as National Training Awards as well as train to gain initiatives. Sun Court Residential Limited falling into such a company in the commercial framework are expected to be benefited from these initiatives which are as follows:
- Investors in people- This is one of the standard of people management in the organizations, present in the domain of the government of UK, which offer accreditations to those enterprises which maintain the standard of skill development and training of the employees.
- Apprenticeships- This includes the different training programmes conducted by organizations and supported by the government for the freshers.
- National Vocational Qualifications- This award is provided to the organizations by the government of UK, which work as per the quality standards of the employees set by the government of the country.
- Train to Gain- This is one of the most lucrative incentives given by the government to the UK based organizations for the purpose of training their employees.
Role of Learning Curve and significance of transferring learning to workplace
All these initiatives, on part of the government of the UK, can be useful for the concerned company for implementing training and development of their employees such that their skills are developed in accordance to the needs of the companies in the long term.
Task 2
Designing training and development for Sun Court Limited
Given the above discussion, proper training and development framework is required for Sub Court in order to enhance their human resource efficiencies and productivity.
Comparison of training needs of different level employees
The requirement and type of training and skill development process vary across the different levels of the concerned organizations in order to bridge the gap existing between the skills present and skills required. Keeping this into consideration, for the concerned company, the different types of training requirement as per the employee levels are discussed as follows:
Operations Level
Senior Management- As the concerned company aims to re-train all the employees for changing from general to special care homes provider, training should be given to the managers such that they can make the employees familiar with the changed mission of the company and can also design operational framework according to the same.
Employees- Technical as well as conceptual trainings should be provided to the employees such that their skills come in accordance to the new needs of the company and such that the employees enhance their traditional general skills to those which are required to provide specialised care homes by the company (especially dementia related knowledge and handling population with the problem effectively).
Management Level
Senior Management- High level of strategic changes are required by the concerned company in these changes, for which the senior management should be trained to bring in these strategic changes effectively.
Employees- The employees need to be trained to develop their skills as well as commitments to take the company from a general provider to a specialised provider of old-age care homes.
Advantages and Disadvantages of different training methods
Different methods of training can be implemented by the concerned company, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, which can be seen as follows:
|
Training Method |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
|
Coaching |
Being a one-on-one method can help in emphasizing on individual employees and their skill improvement |
Can lead to personal bias on part of the trainer, thereby benefiting different employees differently |
|
Simulation, Role Play |
The employees get a hint of the real situation they need to handle, thereby learning by practical situation handling |
Highly expensive and time taking |
|
Mentoring |
One-on-one process which can help the employees to develop their vision, commitments and attitudes |
There remains the risk of biasness in this method also and the employees may or may not pay heed to the instructions |
|
Job Instructions |
This involve step-by-step trainings to all the employees, thereby helping the employees to gain an in-depth knowledge about their roles |
Technical faults and missing out of steps can lead to immense negative repercussions |
Systemic Approach for planning training and development for training event
For systemic planning for training event the following approach of the training design cycle which can be seen as follows:
Figure 4: Training Design Cycle
(Source: Morrison 2018)
Needs Analysis- In this stage, the needs are analysed regarding the arenas and aspects in which trainings are required to be provided and the employees who needs trainings.
Design- Depending upon the needs of the organization and employees, action plan is developed regarding the nature, type and extent of training event to be implemented.
Development- The practical initiation of the training process is started according to the action plan developed for the concerned company
Delivery- This stepfocusses on by Sun Court Limited as it involves the actual training development to its employees which include both on-job as well as off-job trainings to the employees (Bratton and Gold 2017)
Evaluation- The company evaluates the effectiveness of the training provided to the employees and this can be done by assessing the performance of the employees
Evaluation of the training event
For the concerned company it is of huge importance to evaluate the results of the training event for its employees, which can be done through various techniques. The best approach for Sun Court, can be a five-tiered one, consisting of the following evaluating components:
Need Assessment- To observed whether the concerned training event was required or not
Monitoring- To observe and deal with the participants of the concerned training
Program Clarification- Assessing the improvements that the program can bring
Progress- To observe the actual progress of the programme by evaluating the progress of the employees’ learning
Impact- Evaluation of the long-term impacts of the event on the productivity of Sun Court Limited.
Evaluation Methods
Observation- The performance of the employees is observed pre and post training
Feedback- The feedbacks of the employees as well as trainers are collected which may help in determining whether the training has positive or negative implications
Comparison- The performances of the same employee, pre and post training arecompared in order to assess and evaluate the impact of the training event.
Carrying out the evaluation
A four-level evaluation of the concerned training programme is implemented which include the following:
Reactions- The reaction of the employees are studied, which in case of the concerned company is found to be positive and encouraging.
Learning- In this case, the learning of the employees, as per the learning curve are found to be progressive with time.
Behaviour- The employees can be seen to have a change in their behaviour and attitudes regarding their commitment to the work and their knowledge regarding specialised care can also be seen to be improving.
Results- In spite of the presence of a little confusion among the low level, most of the employees in the managerial level were found to understand their roles well and could also be seen to be working effectively towards the new goal of the company.
Success of the evaluation method
In the concerned case, the five-tier evaluation approach has been taken, which considerably efficiently observes the different aspects of the training programmes and the progress of the same in each stage with the help of observations, feedback and comparison. The evaluation process shows a more or less positive implication of the training event on the employees of Sun Court Limited. Feedbacks taken from the employees as well as trainers help in evaluating the training event and its progress from both the perspectives. Although the duration of the training was found to be long, the analysis of the results shows a higher than average level of satisfaction from the training event, which is efficiently incorporated by the evaluation process, which in turn implies that the evaluation process has been more or less robust for the training event of the concerned company, Sun Court Limited.
Introduction
The number of supply side players, in the global business scenario, has increased in each of the different types of industries, for which the level of competition among the businesses has increased significantly, which in turn indicates towards the needs for each of the organizations to increase their cost and productive efficiency as well as quality of services or commodities provided to the customers, in order to stay ahead of their competitors and gain prosperity, profitability and long-term sustainability (Hendry2012). For this it is of utmost importance for any company to maintain, efficiently utilise, manage and develop the productive resources present with them, which primarily include the human resources of the concerned organizations. The efficient management and development of human resources help in increasing the productivity and also in enhancing the service quality of the concerned organization.
Keeping this into consideration, the concerned report tries to discuss about the need and significance of human resource development and training and the effectiveness, considering the scenario of the company named Sun Court Residential Homes Limited, which ventures in the UK market for up-market old age care homes. The report focusses on the different learning theories and styles in this aspect, thereby discussing the aspects of learning curves and the importance of the same (Cascio2018). The report also tries to discuss the training methods for the concerned organization and their evaluation, thereby also focussing on the different approaches taken by the government in this aspect, which can be seen to be supporting human resource training and development in the concerned organization.
References:
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
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Hendry, C., 2012. Human resource management. Routledge.
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Kolb, A.Y. and Kolb, D.A., 2012. Experiential learning theory. In Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning (pp. 1215-1219). Springer US.
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Morrison, M. (2018). Training Cycle – RapidBI. [online] RapidBI. Available at: https://rapidbi.com/the-new-training-learning-and-development-manager-on-the-block/training-cycle/ [Accessed 28 May 2018].
Open.edu (2018). Developing your skills as an HR professional: View as single page. [online] Open.edu. Available at: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=20471&printable=1 [Accessed 28 May 2018].
Reece, I. and Walker, S., 2016. Teaching, training and learning: A practical guide. Business Education Publishers Ltd.
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Rohrer, D. and Pashler, H., 2012. Learning Styles: Where’s the Evidence?. Online Submission, 46(7), pp.634-635.
Schmeck, R.R. ed., 2013. Learning strategies and learning styles. Springer Science & Business Media.
Sloanreview.mit.edu (2018). Proven Practices for Effectively Offshoring IT Work. [online] MIT Sloan Management Review. Available at: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/proven-practices-for-effectively-offshoring-it-work/ [Accessed 28 May 2018].
Willingham, D.T., Hughes, E.M. and Dobolyi, D.G., 2015. The scientific status of learning styles theories. Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), pp.266-271.
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