Learning and Talent Development Assignment (Term Paper Sample)

LEARNING AND TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Student Name:
Code + Course Name
Professor’s Name
University Name
City, State
Date
Learning and Talent Development
Organizations and industries have a duty and responsibility to build talent of their human resource to maximize productivity and ensure efficiency. The success of any company is determined by its employees and the support offered to them by the top management. Learning and development are one of the long-term investments towards building a resilient workforce (Mankin, 2009). It helps organizations maintain internal capabilities so that they can fully execute their strategies. Large organizations with diverse workforce all over the world face challenges tracking the learning and development (l&d) schedule of their employees. WBA Plc faces the same challenges with its workforce of over 100,000 employees; they can barely track the l&d process of their workers. The organization has put effort on developing a learning and development strategy initializing with the online knowledge portals, induction of new employees continuous workshop training for its permanent staff.
Context of Learning & Talent Development
Companies are different in their size, geographical scope, sector and structure. It is essential for the learning and talent development in a company to assess and be fully aware of these factors which will create various challenges as well as opportunities so that learning and talent development align its efforts to effectively contribute to the company’s success. WBA plc is unique in its size, geographical scope, sector and structure, and what works in other organizations does not necessary work for WBA plc.
These factors can be summarized in the below spider chart:








Besides the above mentioned information of the organization, WBA plc assesses the impact of internal and external factors for building a comprehensive understanding of the company, and consequently developing the right Learning and Talent Development policy.
Learning
Learning within WBA Plc can be seen in terms of insights, knowledge, and skills. With the high competition and the challenges, it faces the company should not only identify the best talent but also ensure that the employees get the learning content they need at the right time. To remain competitive the company need not play down the diverse talent of the employees within the organization (Barnes et.al 2010 p.45). The organization cannot just adopt one learning program for different talents. The organization's direction and strategic objectives help in the development a cost effective L & TD strategy. There are three issues related to learning; aligning learning and development with the organization's strategic objectives, diversification of learning options and interdependence of learning and work. The three issues help in getting a holistic view of the L & TD that aligns organizational goals to individual achievements.
WBA Plc needs to consider three key components of a successful learning and talent development strategy. These components are;
Development planning
Succession planning
Skill development
Career planning
Key components of L & TD

(Kozlowski, 2009 p.34)
L & TD Interventions
Training
WBA Plc should invest in training courses because they are cost effective and can be easily planned in the week’s schedule. The staff are comfortable with such training programs are familiar to them and attending them is easy. Managers also love training because it enables them to build teams with less effort. It also gives them an opportunity to choose the kind of training that perfectly fit the needs of the organization.
Training strategic options
The first strategic choice that the company needs to consider is the in-house skill training. This is a tool to increase individual as well as the organizational performance by improving productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. Training and development tool is an investment focusing on the future objectives of the organization because it enhances skills and abilities enabling individuals to move along within the organization and pursue career aspiration depending on the arising organizational needs (Lussier, 2013). It will give the company a competitive advantage because it builds a pool of highly skilled flexible workforce that eventually improves productivity and overall performance.
Highly skilled employee increases productivity by giving an output of higher value. Motivated well-trained workers, on the other hand, cuts on supervision cost because they have skills that enable them avoid mistakes. They minimize machinery downtime because they easily recognize faults in machinery and repair them in time. Skilled workers also improve the organization’s flexibility because of their multi-skills and broad knowledge base. Technically competent employees give management confidence in utilizing the new technology (Rigg and Richards, 2006 p. 84). Today with highly competitive business environment efficient production is only achieved through highly advanced machinery that are operated by employees with high level of skills. Moreover, a well-trained employee improves efficiency by establishing a good relationship with suppliers and customers keeping updated records that ensure that products are always delivered in time. When the management express commitment to training and development it gives employees confidence that they are being valued by the organization. Thus, it builds workers morale and encourages to become better (Lussier, 2013). Apart from training and customer service engagement is also an important factor. WBA Pc will need to engage its employees through wide consultation with them on a number of issues. The organization need not to make any major decision without the input of the employees.
Effectiveness of training programs
Training programs are usually effective when they are used to:
Train many people
Give factual information, develop knowledge and skills based on learning
Update on the new procedures, policies, and systems
Deliver knowledge and skills over a short time
Develop skills such as negotiation, assertiveness and interviewing skills (Mankin, 2009, p.23)
On the job learning
WBA can adopt various categories of learning within the work environment. They include; delegation, temporary promotion, shadowing, projects job rotation and apprenticeship. Because such kind of learning is carried out in the workplace environment it makes it relevant to both individuals and the organization. It is cost effective and can take place whenever there is need. Through this, the young graduates who have been hired to the company can have the opportunity to learn from the experienced staff.
E-Learning
Being a technology company it means that majority of the staff working for WBA have access to computers and internet connectivity. Through e-learning, the staff can acquire knowledge for accreditation, career development, personal and workplace development (Stewart and Rigg, 2012 p. 67). The staff can focus on the specific skills that are needed to better execute their duties and offer the best services to the customers.
Mentoring
This refers to relationships that exist between the experienced and the newly employed staff. Through mentorship, the more experienced staff effectively pass knowledge and skills to the newly employed staff. WBA can use managers, supervisors or the co-workers to mentor the young graduates who were recently employed so that even after the old staff have retired the same knowledge and skills can be retained within the organization. Apart from increasing efficiency and productivity mentorship also ensure talent pipeline. However, for mentorship to be successful there are certain characteristics such as desire and willingness of the mentor to help through sharing of experiences. There is also need for time, learning commitment and energy. The staff being mentored must also be proactive, committed and open to learning (Stewart and Rigg, 2012 p. 102). They must be ready to request for any assistance and put into practice what they have learned.
Coaching
Coaching is another important aspect of learning and talent development where one is equipped with the necessary skills to become more effective. WBA can use this strategy to improve task performance of its employees and move their performance from excellent to peak. The company can employ this in the middle and top management level to help its staff cope with change.
Age
Age plays a significant in learning and talent development in the company. Various researchers have concluded over time that the outcome of learning and training is clearly related to age. The more advanced the age the slower the information processing power. The correlation is significant in intense job environment where it requires maximum brain involvement and concentration (Warner and Business Expert Press, 2010 p. 19). WBA plc company having more of its workforce over 50 years is a disadvantage to the learning and talent development strategy. Age is also negatively related to the motivational variables, there is a study that negatively relates age with computer efficacy which is a blow to the company being a world class leader in the business software selling space. Gist (1988) examined the influence of training design and age on computer software skills; older training trainees exhibited significantly lower performance than did young trainees in both modeling and tutorial training sessions. WBA plc Company should work on downsizing the number of employees with advanced age. It can be done by:
Offering incentives such as promotions on condition that they seek early retirement...