IOP (5-10)

• Talent Management


  The process of ensuring that the organization has the talented people it needs to attain its business goals. It involves the strategic management of the flow of talent through an organization by creating and maintaining a talent pipeline.

  
• Talent


  The sum of a person's abilities... their intrinsic gifts, skills, knowledge, experience, intelligence, judgement, attitude, character and drive. It also includes their ability to learn and grow. It is what people must have in order to perform well in their roles.
• Career Management


  Providing the organization with the flow of talent it needs. But it is also concerned with the provision of opportunities for people to develop their abilities and their careers in order to satisfy their own aspirations. It integrates the needs of the organization with the needs of the individual.

  
• Career Planning


  Shapes the progression of individuals within an organization in accordance with assessments of organizational needs, defined employee success profiles and the performance, potential and preferences of individual members of the enterprise.
• Career Counselling


  Helps people develop their careers to their advantage as well as that of the organization.
• Learning & Development


  The process of ensuring that the organization has the knowledgeable, skilled and engaged workforce it needs.
• Components of Learning & Development


  • Learning - the process by which a person acquires and develops knowledge, skills, capabilities, behaviors and attitudes
  • Development - the growth or realization of a person's ability and potential through the provision of learning and educational experiences
  • Training - the systematic application of formal processes to impart knowledge and help people to acquire the skills necessary for them to perform their jobs satisfactorily
  • Education - the development of the knowledge, values and understanding required in all aspects of life rather than the knowledge and skills relating to particular areas of activity

  
• Benefits of Learning & Development


  • Improve individual, team and corporate performance
  • Attract high-quality employees by offering them learning and development opportunities, increasing their levels of competency and enhancing their skills, thus enabling them to obtain more job satisfaction, to gain higher rewards and to progress within the organization
  • Improve operational flexibility by extending the range of skills possessed by employees (multiskilling)
  • Increase the commitment of employees by encouraging them to identify with the mission and objectives of the organization
  • Help to manage change by increasing understanding of the reasons for it and providing people with the knowledge and skills they need to adjust to new situations
  • Provide line managers with the skills required to lead, manage and develop their people
  • Help to develop a positive culture in the organization, for example, one that is oriented towards performance improvement
  • Provide higher levels of service to customers
  • Minimize learning costs (reduce the length of learning curves)
• 70/20/10 model for learning and development

  Based on research, it explains that people's development will be about 70 percent from work experience, about 20 percent from social learning (through managers by example and feedback and by fellow workers) and 10 percent from courses and reading. In other words, by far the majority of learning takes place in the workplace.

  
• Reinforcement Theory


  Based on the work of Skinner (1974), this expresses the belief that changes in behavior take place as a result of an individual's response to events or stimuli and the ensuing consequences (rewards or punishments). Individuals can be 'conditioned' to repeat the behavior by positive reinforcement in the form of feedback and knowledge of results (operant conditioning).
• Cognitive Learning Theory


  Learning involves gaining knowledge and understanding by absorbing information in the form of principles, concepts and facts and then internalizing it. Learners can be regarded as powerful information-processing machines.
• Experiential Learning Theory


  Experiential learning takes place when people learn from their experience by absorbing and reflecting on it so that it can be understood and applied. Thus people become active agents of their own learning.
• Social Learning Theory


  This states that effective learning requires social interaction. Wenger (1998) suggested that we all participate in 'communities of practice' (groups of people with shared expertise who work together) and that these are our primary sources of learning. Bandura (1977) viewed learning as a series of information-processing steps set in train by social interactions.

  
• Kolb et al's Learning Cycle

  1. Concrete Experience - this can be planned or accidental

  2. Reflective Observation - this involves actively thinking about the experience and its significance

  3. Abstract Conceptualization (theorizing) - generalizing from experience to develop various concepts and ideas that can be applied when similar situations are encountered

  4. Active Experimentation - testing the concepts or ideas in new situations. This gives rise to a new concrete experience and the cycle begins again.

  
• Honey and Mumford Learning Styles

  • Activists - who involve themselves fully without bias in new experiences and revel in new challenges
  • Reflectors - who stand back and observe new experiences from different angles. They collect data, reflect on it and then come to a conclusion
  • Theorists - who adapt and apply their observations in the form of logical theories. They tend to be perfectionists
  • Pragmatists - who are keen to try out new ideas, approaches and concepts to see if they work
• Learning Needs Analysis


  The process of identifying the learning gap - the gap between what is and what should be.

  
• Gap Analysis


  Involves identifying the gap between what people know and can do and what they should know and be able to do, so that the learning needed to fill the gap can be specified.

  
• Learning Needs Analysis - Areas and Methods


  • Analysis of Business and Workforce Plans - to identify the types of skills and competencies that may be required in the future
  • Surveys - to obtain the views of managers and other employees on what they need to learn
  • Performance and Development Reviews - to analyse role requirements in terms of knowledge, skills, abilities and behavioral competencies
  • Role Analysis - to prepare role profiles that provide a framework for analyzing and identifying learning needs
  • Skills Analysis - to determine the skills required to achieve an acceptable standard of performance

  
• Workplace Learning


  Experiential learning. It is learning by doing and by reflecting on experience so that it can be understood and applied. It is largely an informal process, although line managers have an important part to play in facilitating it. It involves self-directed learning and is enhanced by coaching, mentoring, e-learning and more.
• Characteristics of Workplace Learning

  • The workplace as a site for learning - learning and working are spatially separated with some form of structured learning activity occurring off or near the job
  • The workplace as a learning environment - the workplace itself becomes an environment for learning, with various on-the-job activities structured to support, structure and monitor the learning of employees
  • Learning and working are inextricably mixed - learning is informal and becomes an everyday part of the job, built into routine tasks
• Self-directed Learning


  Based on a process of recording achievement and action planning, where individuals review what they have learnt, what they have achieved, what their goals are, how they are going to achieve those goals and what new learning they need to acquire. Learners can decide for themselves, up to a point, the rate at which they learn, and are encouraged to measure their own progress and adjust the program accordingly.

  
• 1. learning


  Involves the use of computer, networked and web-based technology to provide learning material and guidance to individual employees. It enhances learning by extending and supplementing face-to-face learning rather than replacing it. It enables learning to take place when it is most needed (just-in-time) and when it is most convenient. Learning can be provided in short segments or bites that focus on specific learning objectives. It is 'learner-centric' in that it can be customized to suit an individual's learning needs.

  
• Training


  The use of systematic and planned instruction activities to promote learning. It is one of several responses an organization can undertake to promote learning, and can be justified when the knowledge or skills cannot be acquired satisfactorily in the workplace or by self-directed learning, when different skills are required by a number of people that have to be developed quickly, when the tasks to be carried out are so specialized or complex that people are unlikely to master them on their own, or when a learning need common to a number of people has to be met.

  
• Systematic Training


  1. Identify training needs

  2. Decide what sort of training is required to satisfy these needs

  3. Use experienced and trained trainers to implement training

  4. Follow up and evaluate training to ensure that it is effective

  
• Just-In-Time Training


  Training that is closely linked to the pressing and relevant needs of people by its association with immediate or imminent work activities. It is delivered as close as possible to the time when the activity is taking place.

  
• Bite-Sized Training


  The provision of opportunities to acquire a specific skill or a particular piece of knowledge in a short training session focused on one activity, such as using a particular piece of software, giving feedback, or handling an enquiry about a product or service of the company. It is often carried out through e-learning.
• Just-In-Time Training


  Training that is closely linked to the pressing and relevant needs of people by its association with immediate or imminent work activities. It is delivered as close as possible to the time when the activity is taking place. The training will be based on an identification of the latest requirements, priorities and plans of the participants, who will be briefed on the live situations in which their learning has to be applied.

  
• Bite-Sized Training


  Provision of opportunities to acquire a specific skill or a particular piece of knowledge in a short training session focused on one activity, such as using a particular piece of software, giving feedback, or handling an enquiry about a product or service of the company. It is often carried out through e-learning. It can be a useful means of developing a skill or understanding through a concentrated session or learning activity without diversions, which is readily put to use in the workplace.
• Types of Training


  • Manual skills, including apprenticeships
  • IT skills
  • Team leader or supervisory training
  • Management training
  • Interpersonal skills, (eg leadership, team building, group dynamics, neurolinguistic programming)
  • Personal skills, (eg assertiveness, coaching, communicating, time management)
  • Training in organizational procedures or practices, (eg induction, health and safety, performance management, equal opportunity or managing diversity policy and practice)

  
• Planning and Delivering Learning Events

  1. Analysis

  2. Design

  3. Development

  4. Implementation

  5. Evaluation

  
• Blended Learning


  The use of a combination of learning methods to increase the overall effectiveness of the learning process by providing for different parts of the learning mix to complement and support one another.
• Blended learning program might be planned for an individual using a mix of planned experience, self-directed learning activities defined in a personal development plan, e-learning facilities, group action learning activities, coaching or mentoring, and instruction provided in an in-company or external course.
• Evaluation of Learning


  The comparison of objectives with outcomes to assess the effectiveness of learning activities in producing the intended outcomes and indicate where improvements or changes are required to make the training even more effective.

  
• Areas that need to be evaluated

  • Planning – the extent to which needs were properly evaluated and objectives set
  • Conduct – how well the program or event was organized and managed, the degree to which the inputs and methods were appropriate and effective, and its cost compared with the budget
  • Reactions – what participants felt about the event
  • Outcomes – the impact the event made on individual, departmental and organizational performance

  
• Levels of Evaluation - Kirkpatrick

  • Level 1: Reaction - Measures how those who participated in the training have reacted to it
  • Level 2: Evaluate Learning - Obtains information on the extent to which learning objectives have been attained
  • Level 3: Evaluate Behavior - Evaluates the extent to which behavior has changed as required when people attending the program have returned to their jobs
  • Level 4: Evaluate Results - Determines the added value of learning and development programs and how they contribute to raising organizational performance

  
• Organizational Behavior


  The study of the structure, functioning, and performance of organizations and the behavior of groups and individuals within them

  
• Characteristics of Organizational Behavior

  • It is a way of thinking – about individuals, groups and organizations
  • It is multidisciplinary – it uses principles, models, theories and methods from other disciplines
  • There is a distinctly humanistic orientation – people and their attitudes, perceptions, learning capacities, feelings and goals are of major importance
  • It is performance-oriented – it deals with the factors affecting performance and how it can be improved
  • The use of scientific method is important in studying variables and relationships
  • It is applications-oriented in the sense of being concerned with providing useful answers to questions that arise when managing organizations

  
• Organization


  An entity that exists to achieve a purpose through the collective efforts of the people who work in or for it. Organizing is the process of making arrangements in the form of defined or understood responsibilities and relationships to enable those people to work cooperatively together.
• Organization structures can evolve almost spontaneously as circumstances change and new activities have to be carried out.
• The way in which an organization functions will be largely contingent on its purpose, technology, methods of working and external environment.