Learning and Development

Learning and Development

Introduction

Since the introduction of globalization, every organization has been aiming to compete with the global economy based on their skills, level of motivation of the workforce and knowledge. Training is referred to as a systematic take on learning and development to enhance the performance of an individual, the team or the organization on the whole. On the other hand, development is referred to the activities that lead to the attainment of new information or skills for the reason of personal and professional growth. It is often hard to establish whether a particular research is for training, for development or for both. Both when utilized in the work place produce obvious benefits for individuals, teams and the businesses as well as the community on the whole. Training and development is an area of psychological research that is specifically suited for contribution to the enhancing of well being of humans and an individual's performance in the organization, work settings and society.

Training for Learning and Development

Training at its basic level is the process of improving the skills, abilities and knowledge of employees. This can be for either a particular task or for overall improvement that would assist in the individuals personal growth, motivating and making them much more skillful, and professional growth benefitting the organization by better and much more enhanced outcomes (Arthur, Bennett, Edens & Bell, 2003, P.p 234-45).

This is a continuous process. Training programs generally include cognitive and training for interpersonal skills, psychomotor skills or tasks and learning about new technologies and innovations to remain up to date with the changing market demands and global trends.

Recent Progress in Training and Development

In today's face paced environment with change and progression taking place every second, those organizations who are not keeping up are starting to fall behind and fail. Ensuring the employees are brushing up their skills and knowledge assists in personal and professional growth that eventually benefits the organization. Many organizations have recently adopted a strategic and integrated approach towards training and development, which is future, oriented to build the employees capability within the business. A recent study in the Australian Journal of Career Development (AJCD) has shown that those firms who had invested in training had a stockholder return of 86% compared to those organizations who had spent least in training, making their score 46% higher than the average market score (Dr Peter McIlveen, 2011).

Training and development has many forms but if strategically aligned with the plan of a business it can have a very strong effect on the productivity levels of an organization and the performance as well as commitment levels of the work force. Majority would agree that money spent on training and development is wise investment as not just individuals and organizations but the government has also identified that this form of skills development and learning would be a key factor for the Australian market to deal with the challenges of the local and international ...