The importance of learning and development to an organization

It is time to investigate how important it is for an organization to implement a learning culture that will help in the learning and development of the organization. To that end let’s take a look at the effect learning and development has brought to the employees of the organization and how these improvements have affected the overall performance of the organization. Garvin et al (1993) elegantly states exactly how important learning and development is as follows. ‘How, after all, can an organization improve without first learning something new? Solving a problem, introducing a product, and re engineering a process all require seeing the world in a new light and acting accordingly. In the absence of learning, companies—and individuals—simply repeat old practices. Change remains cosmetic, and improvements are either fortuitous or short-lived’. This shows  that unless proper learning and development improvement as an organization is not a possibility and that any change attempted will be short lived. Sanders And Schveninger (2020) in their article to the Harvard Business Review refers to a Business Insider Article (2017) that is an interview of Mr. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO and says ‘The world’s leading CEOs are publicly asserting the importance of learning and skills in a constantly evolving global economy. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, said: “We want to be not a ‘know-it-all’ but a ‘learn-it-all’ organization.’ The very fact that the CEO of Microsoft recognizes the importance of learning and development should emphasize how important it is.

Being at the top of its game and staying profitable are the key driving forces of an organization. For learning and development to be important it must affect the success and profitability of the organization. Beer, Finnstrom and Schrader (2016) in their work talk about a good example of where the above fact can bee seen. ‘Cardo, a Swedish industrial conglomerate, provides a powerful example of why a unit-by-unit change strategy is important and how “learning by doing” is effective.  To support the corporate transformation, Cardo’s CEO and HR VP commissioned an education program to teach key managers in two of the company’s businesses how to lead change. The program featured four modules of education. Each manager in the program was charged with implementing organization change and improving performance in his or her sub-unit, following the sequence of steps outlined above. Managers were supported with consultation and coaching from program faculty and peers, and given the opportunity to speak to the CEO during each module about organizational barriers to effectiveness and performance.  Evaluation of the program revealed significant changes in organization behavior and performance. The CEO calculated that improvements in performance delivered a 10x return on the cost of the program.’

Beer, Finnstrom and Schrader (2016. P. 7) in the same study of Cardo also shows how 2 different business units were affected differently by the same training. While one unit showed very positive results the other did not show any significant improvement as expected by the organization. ‘

One of the important reasons that make learning and development important is that it affects the image that the employees have of the organization. An IBM (2014) report shows us in a IBM (2013) Smarter Workforce study the results of training in different organizations. 

This should show that learning and development is a key factor for an organizations success.

Now that the reader is able to grasp that learning and development is of great importance to an organization it is prudent to see how an organization can incorporate learning and development into it’s culture. This will be discussed further in the next post.

 

References

 

David A. Garvin (1993) Building a Learning Organization [Online] <https://hbr.org/1993/07/building-a-learning-organization > [1 April 2020]

 

Marc Zao-Sanders and Catalina Schveninger (2020) The Simple Joy of Learning on the Job. Harvard Business Review [Online] < https://hbr.org/2020/03/the-simple-joy-of-learning-on-the-job > [1 April 2020]

 

Krzysztof Majdan and Michał Wasowski (2017) We sat down with Microsoft's CEO to discuss the past, present and future of the company. Business Insider Polska. [Online] < https://www.businessinsider.com/satya-nadella-microsoft-ceo-qa-2017-4?r=UK > [1 April 2020]

 

Michael Beer, Magnus Finnstrom and Derek Schrader (2016. P. 7) The Great Training Robbery. [Online] < https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/16-121_bc0f03ce-27de-4479-a90e-9d78b8da7b67.pdf > [1 April 2020]

 

IBM (2014. p. 6) The Value of Training [Online] <https://www.ibm.com/services/learning/pdfs/IBMTraining-TheValueofTraining.pdf >[1 April 2020]