Staff DevelopmentApproaches, Skills and Issues
Training, Education and Development
Training Skills, knowledge, the "affective" – attitudes, values and beliefs.
Education Institutional process includes qualifications up to & incl. degrees. Major contributor to personal development. Direct & indirect enhancement of knowledge, ability, character, culture, aspiration & achievement.
DevelopmentPrimary process - positive or negative. Individual (& organisation?) adaptation to achieve potential. Become more complex, elaborate, settled, aware, differentiated & autonomous
What training?
Operational competence aggregate of knowledge, understanding, skill & personal orientation in a situation at a standard or level of performance.
Product, service, procedural and system know-how
Task and situation specific Reduced, double-sided and stapled photocopying Return of goods procedure Advanced Powerpoint Skills Recruitment interviewing Gall-stone removal Desert survival Aircraft emergency landing New policy on patient care
Open and closed competencies + pre- and co-requisites
Open and closed competencies + pre- and co-requisites
Education?
Open capacities – may include task specific?
knowledge, wisdom, skill (physical, conceptual, procedural, social) & personal orientation
analysis + problem solving bridging concept and practice
standards/level of performance?
levels of product, service, procedural and system know-how?
Scientific/philosophical rigourCritical evaluationComplex synthesis
Analytical explanationTechnical application
Contextual understandingDescriptive knowledge
and categorisation
3Rs and access to learning
3Rs and access to learning
What education - 2
National curriculum and school/university quality
Education for citizenship
occupational success
personal development and life
School, college, university, community/adult
Life long learning
Public attitudes about the value of education
Government, employer and individual responsibility for education
Training policy & programmes
recruitment,
redundancies
redeployment
Mission
Staffing plan
Skills audit
Performance review
Development action
Demand for skills
Data for audit
Data to integrate individual & organisational needs
Know-how for competitive advantage & performance
Skill gaps
Developmentneeds
Current performance
Improved capability, competence + motivation
Training, seminars, delegation, coaching, private study, day release, learning company, IIP
Business Strategy & Training
Business Training development
Programme and task focused learning
Developmental needs of employees (group + individual)
Technical and management development
Self-managed learning & career management
Learning organisations/knowledge management
Culture and its role in organisations – HRM levers for change, in particular, shifts in attitudes and beliefs (as well as behaviour)
Programmes & Interventions
New recruits induction to firm & job, familiarisation comprehensive job training
Develop & up-date know-how for “live” situations. Technical: product, procedure & specialism training
Social skills e.g. handling demanding situations
Corporate training for all e.g. for ISO9000 or new policy
Supervisory & management training from leadership to corporate analysis, change & Action learning
Sales training
Customer, dealer & supplier training
Face-to-face vs. package training - from manuals to CBL
Corporate education e.g. to counter institutional racism?
Company University - Ford, McDonalds, LotusU?
Organisational Expectations
FE & HE preparation to enable new technology & empower
adapt & learn new skills, continuous occupational development
Learning for CQI, flexibility, multi-skilling & shifts in management style
Empowerment Flatter project/team structures.
less supervision, set own objectives, self monitoring and corrective action
Manage interfaces & delight customers - external & internal
Disappointment with “Training Services and Schemes”
Much talk, expenditure & effort in training
Many initiatives and events
Evidence of outcomes and value for money: from training events, coaching, secondments, learning from experience (success & failure) & role models.
Yet, T&D strategies often disappoint. Why?
What determines & influences training effectiveness?
How do training needs become apparent?
What factors hinder/help investment in T&D?
Training as a strategic issue?
Whose is served?
The individual
Well placed (job demands + aspirations) to evaluate development needs (SWOT)? But is time & effort invested? Perception of“market” gaps, demands, relevance, support & learning opportunities?
Training Sponsors
Top managers (“lack of know-how is jeopardising performance”)? Line Managers? HRD specialists who speak for T&D activity? Employer attitudes to training. Voluntarism.
Institutional and Market factors? Civic, intellectual & cultural factors. Workforce competencies &
international comparisons. Industrial re-structuring.
Staff Development Strategies
• Laissez-faire - little or no training, buy-in.
• Training for workforce maintenance: induction, product,
policy/procedure
• Off-the-job training vs. on-the-job
• Staff appraisal, coaching & mentoring
• Central training vs. devolved
• Recognising, valuing & accrediting “competencies” (NVQs)
• Learning Company model. Investors in People
• Supported self-organised learning, Life-Long Learning & CPD
Apply Legge‘s critical analysis framework to HRD.
Karen Legge: HRM Rhetorics & Realities 1995
Forecast, plan, organise, direct & control.
Strategic analysis, choice and implementation of programmes
Maintainer-Instructor
Reactive + provider of T&D within existing brief, structure & culture
Change Agent (Facilitator)
Proactive + consultancy. Define problems.
Facilitate organisational & individual learning, innovation & cultural change.
Role in transition?
from provider to change agent
in-house or outsourced
Training Manager - Service provider or change agent?
Analysing training needs?
Blanket/Comprehensive or Selective Who does it?
Define needs, objectives, frequency, difficulty, performance standards & measurements
Brief/train all according to level.
Job curriculums - ALL or SOME job facets: skills, knowledge & attitudes for tasks/situations
New legislation, strategy/policy drive.
Identify key tasks and problems/difficulties competencies to handle it. learner involvement + individual & group needs best learning approach, training media & methods
Is a training solution vital for performance?
Self-organised learning: opportunity or cop-out?
Competence, Experience & the Job
a composite of knowledge & behaviour/skill comprising ability to do something to a defined level in a performance situation
Existing staff may be competent or less than competent.
Perceived gaps in mastery of performance.
The organisation may urge enhanced competence.
Can the organisation reward enhanced competence?
Pre-requisite (Foundation) competencies
For
A trainee airline cabin crew member?
midwife?
bought ledger clerk?
marketing assistant manning a stand at the Ideal Homes Exhibition?
new CEO for Rail-Track?
General Model for Training Interventions
Learningneeds &
outcomes- individual
& group
TrainingContent
Methods of delivery,
learning opps & materials
Programmeand
implementation
Learnerson
completion
Assessment & test criteria - validity, reliability & utility
Organisational & trainee feedback
Environment of changeLearning for knowledge, competence & creativity
•Return to job•Transfer of learning to performance•Has training solved the problem?
SymptomsLearning Contract
How do we measure learning - degree of behaviour change?
Compare - performance & progress between individuals
Against established norms or standard levels of performance/progress for specific applications
Assess/test- individual progress & performance
Generic, Core/Key Skills (Open capacities )
transferable across jobs/or tasks awareness, investigation, observation/reflection, analysis & learning
decision-making/problem-solving, creativity & evaluation
communication & social skills, interacting/working with others, influencing
numerical & information oriented skills plus IT abilities
Critical success factor competences
Occupational competencies (NVQ)
Boyatzis : threshold competencies & clusters for management
Kolb : learning to learn and the experiential learning cycle
Boyatsis - Seven Threshold Competencies
Use of unilateral power - forms of influence to gain compliance
Accurate self-assessment - realistic/grounded view of self, strengths & weaknesses/limitations
Positive regard - basic belief/optimistic in others
Spontaneity - free/easy self-expression.
Logical thought - orderly, sequential, systematic
Specialised knowledge - usable facts, frameworks, models
Developing others - helping, coach, feedback skills, facilitating, supporting
(1982, The Competent Manager, Wiley)(1982, The Competent Manager, Wiley)
Boyatzis - Clusters of Mgt Competence
Goal & action management cluster concern with impact, diagnostic use of concepts, efficiency orientation, proactivity
Leadership conceptualisation, self-confidence, oral presentation
HRM use of socialised power, managing group processes
Focus on other clusters perceptual objectivity, self control, stamina & adaptability
Directing subordinates Threshold competencies - developing others, spontaneity, use of
unilateral power
Kolb Experiential Learning Cycle
ConcreteExperience(Activist)
ReflectiveObservation(Reflector)
AbstractConceptualisation
(Theorist)
Active Experimentation
(Pragmatist)
LEARNINGCYCLE
D Kolb, Rubin & McIntyreOrganisational Psychology, Addison Wesley
A useful model forpersonal awareness and development
A useful model forpersonal awareness and development
Successes/Failures of Training & Educational Interventions
Pre 1964. Collapse of apprenticeships
1964 Industrial Training Act and ITBs
CATs and Polytechnics
BTEC and City and Guilds
From 1972 onwards – the marginalisation of ITBs. Abolished 1982
Manpower Services Commission. YOPs and TOPs
Training Services Agency
National Curriculum
Local management of schools
Expansion of university education – from Polys to Universities
National Vocational Qualifications
Investors in People
Fees for Higher Education, education loans and training credits
Investors in People: National voluntarism
top level, commitment to develop all employees to achieve business objectives
regular review of T&D needs of all staff
action to train & develop individuals on recruitment + throughout employment
evaluate T&D to assess achievement & improve future effectiveness
•written plan: business goals/targets, how employees will contribute, assess needs etc. Identify T&D resources
• agree T&D needs with each employee. Link to NVQ if poss. Action: train new recruits & improve skills of existing staff
•Review investment, competence & commitment of employees & skills learnt against business plan + at all levels
•T&D effectiveness reviewed by top level renewed commitment & targets
accreditation to promote Er-led, quality, effective staff developmentaccreditation to promote Er-led, quality, effective staff development
National Vocational Qualifications
1986: desire for a skilled, flexible workforce ›› ›› NCVQ + NVQs based on
National Occupational Standards = performance standards developed by employer-led NTOs
what competent people in the occupation are expected to be able to do
main aspects of an occupation
best practice & ability to adapt
knowledge-base underpinning competent performance.
GNVQs in schools (but A Level "gold standard")
1997 NCVQ merged with the School Curriculum & Assessment Authority (SCAA) ›› ›› Qualifications & Curriculum Authority (QCA).
Remit: pre-school learning, national curriculum and tests, GCSEs, A-levels, GNVQs, NVQs, higher level vocational qualifications.
Underpinning principles - NVQ Approach
Open access. No artificial barriers to training
Focus on what people CAN DO > learning for qualifications (process & time) + APL
uniform standards (devised by industry lead bodies) - no rival qualifications.
flexibility & modularisation + a learning contract
assessment principles - portfolio & work-based (demos at work or simulations).
Time to complete. Criteria = “currency”.
assessment by qualified (NVQ’d) assessor
Differing Views on NVQs
“Enormous potential for the health of the nation & the creation of a learning society”.
Sue Slipman, a lead body representative, 1995
“A disaster of epic proportion”Prof. Ian Smithers, Brunel University,
Channel 4 documentary, 1993
Tesco Implementation of NVQs
flatter, lean, flexible organisation
line managers as assessors. Store managers internal verifiers
every line manager is responsible for structured training & assessment + involved with NVQs
improved performance through pay links
integration of needs of individual with needs of organisation
staff development through accreditation of higher competence
Tesco NVQ Policy - Perceived Benefits
ideal training for a retail organisation?
training assessed internally by line managers & at store level
high performances from staff?
less absenteeism, increased motivation & improved general staff moral
reduced labour turnover
career progression for staff - helps with selection of core staff
customers benefit from improved quality standards & services
IIP kite mark
Criticisms of National NVQ Strategy
Not market-led - under-represented in mgt, professions, financial, technical & international
Shift from “learning” to assessment (laborious process)
Bureaucracy, evidence portfolio, charting, assessment of each unit/element
Employers want local tailored NVQs ---> challenges validity of “national model” & generality of standards
Assessment standard depends on assessor supply/quality. Institutional HE antipathy to “training agenda”“technically equipped but intellectually incapable (underpinning ideas)”
Low take-up. Growth at Levels 1/2, none at Level 3, fall at Levels 4/5. Traditional vocational awards outstrip NVQs by wide margin esp. at higher levels.
TEC funding linked to NVQ take-up. TECs disappear.
HRM and ingredients of a “Learning Organisation”
• Adopt a Learning Approach to Strategy
• Participative Policy Making
• Informating (Information Systems)
• Formative accounting
• Internal Exchange (Client-Server relationships)
• Reward Flexibility
• Roles and flexible, matrix structures
• Boundary workers as intelligence agents
• Company-to-company learning
• Learning climate
• Self-development opportunities for all
Pedler et alThe Learning Company
SengeThe Fifth Discipline
Pedler et alThe Learning Company
SengeThe Fifth Discipline
Training & Rewards - Issues
Best practice in a learning organisation
Integration with “appraisal and rewards strategy”.
Locals + cosmopolitans (Gouldner) & market mobility
Investors in People Good training …more pay, less pay? Increments for qualifications?
Certification as a job requirement.
Selling job competence. Strong CV. Career progression, job change, employee independence & life long learning
Who pays? Should the leaver reimburse the employer who has just paid £2500 for their training?
CPD stress - compulsory, evidence-based continuous “professional” up-dating
Reading
Buchanan and Huczynski - Chapters 5: Learning 17: Organisational Development
Mabey and Salaman Chapters 10: Learning Organisations 11: Promoting Learning in Organisations 12: Managing the Process of Training and Development
BOLA:
http://sol.brunel.ac.uk/bola/training/