Introduction:Human resourcemanagement is one of the most important departments in any of the organisation.There are various elements of human resource department such as recruitment,rewards and recognition, payroll, training and development etc (Joo & Park,2010). Training and development is observed to be the element that is directlylinked with the performance of the employees.
Employees are considered as themost crucial resource of the organisations and for making them performeffectively, it is required to sustain them and develop them as well. It hasbeen analysed that training plays an important and central role in developingorganisational performance (Fuller & Unwin, 2011). The organisationalenvironment is moving towards decentralisation and most of the powers are givento the employees leads to increase emphasis on coaching and support to those employees.
Training is considered as thenecessary platform to provide an efficient and effective supply of thetechnically and socially sound workforce and staff to the company. Training anddevelopment is the part of HRM that is required to make the employees learn todevelop them individually as well as professional for the sake of effective organisational performance. This requires understanding the importance of employee learning on the performance of theorganisation. Employee learning:Employee learning is the term that is alsoused interchangeably with employee training. This is because employee learnsonly when they receive the appropriate training. Employee learning can betechnical as well as social.
Both the types of learning make the employee efficientin performing the tasks at the organisations and thus the overall performanceof the organisation can be made efficient (Ye, Marinova & Singh, 2012). It hasbeen analysed that the environment of the business these days is very dynamicand thus the companies have to make changes and modifications in theirprocesses in order to be competitive in the market. Thus, the companies alsoneed the staff that is well versed with the technical and social skillsrelevant to the new processes in the company (Hameed & Waheed, 2011). Thismade the company to either hire the employees with such skills or make thealready existing staff to learn the new skills. Both the techniques are used bythe companies but hiring is very expensive and the company also needs to investin training their employees so that they can also learn about the new skillsthat are in demand in the market (Obisi, 2011). Employee learning is theprocess cannot end because the technology keeps on changing and thus theemployees of organisations have to keep their learning process in continuationto develop them individually in order to perform as per the expectation of thecompany. Now days, the companies not only pay for the experience of theemployee but the nature of skills also makes a big difference. Employee learning and development: Reasons There are various reasons why the employeesneed to learn new things.
Some of them are discussed below:Change implementation: when any of theorganisations undergoes any change, it is required by the employees of theorganisation to accept such changes first then only those changes can beeffectively implemented. Employees play a central role in organisationalperformance because they are one who is responsible for conducting and performingthe tasks as per the organisational objectives (Van Vianen, Dalhoeven & DePater, 2011). If the change that has been implemented for the organisationalbenefit cannot be accepted by the employees then it will not result in the wayit is expected to be. At this time, training of the employees and motivatingthem to learn new skills and techniques is very much required (McKenzie &Woodruff, 2013). This suggests that the learning of the employees is directlylinked to the performance of the organisation as a whole. For making the new members familiar withthe environment: When the new employees enter the company, it is required tomake them comfortable and familiar with the environment of the company thusinduction training needs to be given to them (Jehanzeb & Bashir, 2013). Thistraining is required so that the new employees can get the information abouttheir role in the company and how they have to perform their tasks.
This canenhance their learning process in near future in the company and also motivatesthe employee to perform. To retain the employees: it has beenanalysed that employees try to be associated with the firms which are employeeoriented rather than task oriented (Hameed & Waheed, 2011). This is becausethe employees of the companies have to develop individually and not only fromthe perspectives of the organisation.
Individual growth of the employees isalso very much important for their personal career development. It has been analysedthat retaining the employees in the organisation can only be possible if theemployees feel motivated and can able to balance their professional andpersonal life while working in thecompany. Maximization of employee learning and performance:Employee learning and performance is veryimportant aspect of the organisation. It is required for the organisations tomotivate the employees towards learning process that are available in thecompany so that they can learn and brush up their skills to perform effectivelyat the workplace. Training is considered as the most effective way of maximizingemployee learning. Most of the studies suggest that training at the workplaceis one of those HRM practices that have positively relationship with the organisationalas well as employee performance (Walumbwa, Mayer, Wang, Wang, Workman &Christensen, 2011). Training is one of the ways to identify the needs of the employeesso that the competencies can be building up in them as per their needs and requirementsin order to have the organisational objectives.
When any of the employees failsto meet the target, this means that there is some performance gap which needsto be analysed so that the relevant training can be given. Bridging theperformance gap means providing the appropriate training to the employees asper the skill requirements. The competencies of the employees can be mouldedper change by providing them training.
This not only results improvement in theperformance of the employees but also enhance the knowledge and skills of theemployees that can pay them in future (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). Throughtraining, the employees get those skills and techniques that can be implementedby them to perform effectively, achieve the organisational goals and personalgaols in a competitive manner. There is also positive relationship between theeffectiveness of the training program and the performance of the employees.Other than lack of skills and training, there are many other reasons that affectthe performance of the employees and their learning at the workplace. Theorganisations have to make efforts in motivating the employees towards theirlearning and this can only be done if the employees feel that they are beingbenefitted by that learning. Coaching and support is one of the ways tomaximize the learning environment at the workplace. This is because if theemployees are not coached properly then they will not be able to realise theirweakness and needs of learning at the workplace (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014).When the employees work in the company, they must be guided and lead by some ofthe leaders and those leaders help them to identify their weakness thatrestricts their performance at the workplace.
In recent days, most of theorganisations prefer to work in teams and this is the approach that allows theemployees of the organisations to come together and play their roles in a teamto perform the task with collective nature (Boxall & Purcell, 2011). Thisalso helps the management of the company to create the learning environmentbecause the team members share their knowledge and skills with each other whichdevelops the skill of all the team members. Trust is the basis of team work.When the team members trust each other then only they can learn from each otherand respect each other’s feelings. The organisations are required to developthat trust amongst the employees so that they feel motivated towards thelearning experiences that they may have at the time of working in teams. Advancement in technology is supportingmany changes in the organisation and the need of skills amongst the employeesby the organisations. This need motivates the employees to learn about newtechnologies (Beier & Kanfer, 2010).
Not only are the skills changing butthe methods of providing learning are also changing. This is because the shelflife of learning is decreasing day by day. This results in requirement of theemployees to learn frequently and rapidly about the new skills andtechnologies. the organisation also need to play their role in this bydeveloping and creating the employee learning programs once in a while that helpsto facilitate the employees with learning experiences (Bratton & Gold,2012). For improving the employee learning at the workplace, it is required to analysethe needs of learning of the employees time to time so that the appropriate learningprograms can be developed. Performance appraisal and evaluation is the activityto be practiced. Flexibility is another important factor that affects theemployee learning environment at the organisations (Saks & Haccoun, 2010). Ifthe environment is flexible then the employees feel free to share theirlearning needs with the management and also try to work as per their creativitywhich help in making others also learn about the new skills.
Thus, flexibilityat the workplace is very important to make the employees feel motivated.Showing the career path to the employees and develop them individually willforce them to take the training session that the company organise for them. Thisis because the employee wants to growth professionally as well as individually.They want to have growth is their career and look for new opportunities toexplore in order to grow (Costen & Salazar, 2011).
The organisation thatforces on employee learning enjoy many benefits such as improved organisationalperformance, skilled labour and less turnover. This is because most of the employeesprefers to enter the companies and stay with them if their have theirindividual as well as carer growth in the same organisation. Conclusion:This discussion concludesthat employee learning is the very important aspect of human resourcemanagement in the organization. Employees areconsidered as the most crucial resource of the organizations and for makingthem perform effectively, it is required to sustain them and develop them aswell. It has been analyzed that training plays an important and central role indeveloping organizational performance. Thevalue of training comes when improvement is achieved, and employers, employeesand course designers should all gear the process towards an expectation ofimprovement.
There are various reasons why the employees need to do continuouslearning in the organization. Some of the reasons are change in theorganizational process, requirements of new skills and technologies, inductionlearning and training for the new employees etc. training and learning isconsidered as the most important part of the organizational function thatdirectly affect the performance of the overall organization. This is becauseemployees are the resource who conducts all the functions in the company and ifthey are not versed with the new and updated technology and skills then theorganization cannot be able to compete with the market competencies andsituations that are dynamic in nature.
