Learning Systems

1. Learning Systems Dr. Steve Training & Development INP6325

2. Learning Organizations Importance of learning to success of organizations • Kapp (1999): the only sustainable advantage an organization will have in the future is its ability to learn faster than its competitors • Rousseau (1997): To survive and thrive firms will need to learn at an increasingly rapid rate

3. Learning Environment Survey (Tannenbaum, 1997) Is your organization a learning organization? • My organization typically: • Provides people with opportunities to learn new things • Assigns people to positions to stretch them • Tolerates mistakes when someone is first learning a new task or skill • Views new problems and work challenges as opportunities to develop people’s skills • Monitors to see that people continue to develop and learn throughout their career • Expects everyone, not just mgt, to solve problems and offer solutions • Provides paid release time for employee development purposes • Rewards employees for using what they have learned in training on their job

4. Learning Environment Survey (Tannenbaum, 1997) What is the organizational climate conducive for training • In my organization: • Supervisors and co-workers help reschedule work so that employees can attend training • Supervisors provide constructive feedback when someone tries something new on the job • Supervisors offer people opportunities to use new skills they learned in training • Training is considered an important part of career development • The successful people go to training • It is acceptable to question others about why things are done a certain way

5. Learning Organizations • Models for becoming a learning organization • Building internal capability • Training the trainer • Pay for knowledge work system • Focus on total quality • Providing a vision • Decentralized decision making • Continuous improvement • Corporate universities • Train employees consistent with organizational values • Train technical and interpersonal skills

6. Corporate Universities • Corporate Universities – promote continuous learning in an organization by: • Building competency-based training curriculum • Providing employees with shared vision and values of company • Extending training to customers and suppliers • Serving as a learning laboratory for experimenting with new approaches • McDonald’s Hamburger University • Oak Brook, Illinois • Founded in 1961 • Avg class of 200 • 65,000 mgrs graduated • 30 professors

7. Training and Societal Concerns How training impacts societal problems • Increase readiness of individuals entering workforce • Ex: training at-risk youth, literacy programs, WAGES • Enhance fair employment practices once individuals enter the workforce • Ex: training to comply with ADA, provide minority opportunities for advancement • Retrain individuals to maintain current employment or prepare them for other jobs • Ex: re-train displace factory workers, train computer skills

8. Workforce Readiness • Problem • 27 million functionally illiterate Americans • 21% of adult population has only rudimentary reading/writing skills • Disproportionately large number of minorities are illiterate • H.S. dropouts 28% unemployment rate, diploma still not enough • Training solutions • Programs aimed at developing not only technical job-specific skills, but also basic work skills (e.g., interpersonal skills, reliability, punctuality) • Ex: Worker Training and Assistance Program (WTAP): • Orientation • Workplace skills • Transition skills • Managerial skills

9. School-to-Work Transition Secretary’s (of Labor) Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) identified 5 sets of competencies necessary to keep and hold a job • Resources: Identifies, organizes, plans, and allocates resources • Interpersonal: Works with others • Information: Acquires and uses information • Systems: Understands complex interrelationships • Technology: Works with a variety of technologies

10. Training and Equal Opportunity Relevant Laws • Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII – It is illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national original. • Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 – It is illegal to discriminate in employment against a qualified individual with a disability. Those with a disability must be provided a reasonable accommodation. • Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) – Protects workers age 40 and over from discrimination in employment.

11. Training and Equal Opportunity • Equal Opportunity Legal Issues for Training • Training as a job prerequisite • Training performance as criterion for another job • Receipt of training as basis for advancement or raise

12. Training and Equal Opportunity • Glass ceiling – invisible barrier preventing women and minorities from ascending to top managerial positions • Training must be equally available to women and minorities so that they may succeed and advance

13. Training and Equal Opportunity • Disabled Workers – disabled workers must receive reasonable accommodations, which may include additional training • may need to provide training to those who work with the disabled

14. Training and Equal Opportunity • Retraining Older Workers – Older workers may become unemployed due obsolescence of job skills or layoffs. • May need additional training to compete with younger individuals who received recently updated training • Orgs may provide outplacement services including training, counseling, and other services to aid job search.

15. Other Societal Issues and Training Terrorism • How will training be used to fight terrorism? • Different type of military training • Training civilians how to recognize warning signs • Training for airline industry (e.g., baggage inspectors to be more vigilant, flight attendants in self-defense) • Training cultural diversity and tolerance to prevent backlash of bigotry, harassment, and discrimination • Training medical health specialists to identify symptoms related to chemical/biological attacks • Emergency crowd egress training