Review of Organizational Learning and Development

The provided assignment requires a comprehensive review of organizational learning and development, incorporating studies from 2014 to 2022. The document must cover various aspects, including experiential learning, informal and incidental learning in the workplace, knowledge sharing behaviors, high-performance HR practices, and the effect on employee engagement. It also includes research findings on virtual teams, the relationship between conscientiousness and knowledge sharing behavior, and the impact of training and development investments on learning and innovation in organizations.

Developing
Individuals, Teams
and Organisations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
SECTION 1.....................................................................................................................................1
a) Appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSB) required by the HR professionals
across the department (P1)...........................................................................................................1
b) Completed personal skills audit for an employee: Jane Cambridge to identify training and
development needs (P2)...............................................................................................................2
c) Professional development plan (PDP) for Jane Cambridge in her HR Officer role (P2)........3
d) Analysing differences between organisational and individual learning; training and
development (P3).........................................................................................................................5
e) Analysing the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive
sustainable business performance (P4)........................................................................................8
SECTION 2.....................................................................................................................................9
i) Demonstrating the understanding of HPW’s contribution towards employee engagement and
competitive advantage within Ritz Carlton (P5).........................................................................9
ii) Evaluating different approaches to performance management with specific examples of
their support to high performance culture and commitment (P6)..............................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
A rising competition in today’s business environment is continually urging the organisations
to strategically manage their employees. It is with a special consideration of those who are
operating at a global level and thereby has a specific role of Human Resource (HR) personnel’s
in it. They are significant to the enterprise in countless areas that ranges from strategic planning
of resources to maintain a positive image of the company (Argyris, 2017). The areas that are
precisely maintained and controlled by the HR’s are proven to improve employee’s experience
during their overall work tenure by together reinforcing the undertaken business operations.
They are largely responsible to develop the team as well as its individuals to entirely develop the
establishment. The current report is also based upon the strategies undertaken by a chosen
organisation Ritz Carlton and its HR to continually develop their workers to work in accordance
to the fluctuating demands of their marketplace.
SECTION 1
a) Appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSB) required by the HR professionals across
the department (P1)
This is to discourse upon the parameters of KSB in the HR professionals of Ritz Carlton to
suitably operate in their respective departments. Considering this, they are responsible for
distinct set of operations and necessitates the HR’s of the cited enterprise to possess a relevant
set of knowledge towards it (Burke and Noumair, 2015). Below are the areas of knowledge for
an HR professional in Ritz Carlton- Employee relations- This specifies a vital knowledge of HR’s to maintain a secured
employee- employer relationship at the workplace. For this, they must be able to make a
timely identification of their employee’s concerns and resolve the same with best possible
strategies. Onboarding- This is basically in context to strong skills of onboarding procedure for
reducing the rate of employee turnover (Dixon, 2017). It is basically a procedure in which
the new joiners are allowed to adjust quickly in the new job for a smooth flow of their
work. Human Resources Information Software (HRIS)- This is mainly in regard to the payroll
system of HR’s having specialised tools to be used by the professionals, necessitating the
HR personnel of Ritz Carlton to possess the skills for their timely usage at work.
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 Performance Management- This further necessitates the HR professionals of the quoted
enterprise to have effective skills of managing the performances of their workers in terms
of handling their compensations, etc., (Hao, Yang and Shi, 2019). It in turn requires the
HR’s to have some great skills of emotional intelligence and empathy, etc.
The above specified skills further require the HR professionals in the quoted establishment to
possess certain specific skills that helps them to fulfil the business needs. This includes- Strong communication- This is referred to be a vital skill required to be possessed by an
HR in terms of communicating well with others. A strong command over both written
and oral interaction is of utmost importance for the HR’s to clearly disseminate the
information to others. It is also in terms of having effective interpersonal skills to interact
easily with the appointed workers at Ritz Carlton. Perfect analytical skills- This is in context to the skills of critical thinking in HR’s who
are frequently required to balance complex situations and strategically promote a positive
environment at the workplace for improving the overall performance of the business
(Katzenbach and Smith, 2015).
Lastly, both aforesaid skills and knowledge depicts an effective behaviour that an HR needs
to possess in Ritz Carlton and are as stated below- Purpose oriented- This depicts the attitude of carrying a purpose in both words as well as
actions of an HR professional that together aligns with their set business goals and its
timely attainment. Trustworthy- This being another vital trait defines the attitude of transparency that is
required to be maintained by an HR to behave impartially (Manuti and et. Al., 2015). Versatile and adaptable nature- Change being a vital part of the organisation equally
necessitate the HR’s to be adaptable towards it and carry out a versatile attitude towards
fulfilling the fluctuating needs of the market. Solution oriented- An HR should be enough proficient in managing issues and thereby
possess a certain level of originality (Reynolds, 2017).
b) Completed personal skills audit for an employee: Jane Cambridge to identify training and
development needs (P2)
This is to carry out a personal skills audit of an employee named Jane Cambridge to further
identify the needs for training and development. It will be done by analysing the carried personal
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skills audit in 3 distinct stages. The first stage will determine the skills that are required to exist
in Jane as an HR officer. This include skills of information technology, communication and
problem solving. Another stage is to determine the skills that are already being achieved by Jane
where on considering the foremost skills of information technology, Janes has been found to be
very good at using internet and e-main, with good abilities of using Microsoft office word as
well as power point. However, she is having adequate skills of using excel spreadsheet with no
experience of using databases and specialist HR software.
Likewise, on referring to her communication skills, it has been found that Jane is good at
writing reports and producing materials to support presentations. Although, she is having
satisfactory knowledge of taking notes of disciplinary hearings and interviewing. Also, there
exists an acceptable knowledge of resolving any conflicts at the workplace with a similar state of
acceptance in advising on HR related issues. Lastly, a very little experience of drafting
employment related contracts has been found in Jane with a similar ability of delivering training
sessions. Next is to assess Jane’s problem- solving skills in which, she can adequately make a
good usage of verbal reasoning abilities with suitable management of complex information and a
selective use of data. However, she is good at exploring more than one single solution to resolve
an issue and can considerably refer to other’s ideas to assist solving problems. In addition to this,
her supervisory management skills also depict a very less experience of
c) Professional development plan (PDP) for Jane Cambridge in her HR Officer role (P2)
This is on the basis of above conducted evaluation of Jane’s personal skills audit which has
led to a PDP to get better training and development in the future to become an efficient HR
professional with much effective capabilities. Below is the PDP designed on referring to the
developmental needs of Jane-
Developmental Objectives Acquisition of new skills Standardised measures to
assess the achievement
Information technology
skills
 Herein, Jane is
required to improve
upon the skills of using
databases and
specialist HR software.
 This can be done
within a specific time
period of 1.5 months.
 Also, its assessment
can be done using
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 For which, she can
consider attending
training sessions in
which, her skills of
using specialised HR
applications can be
refined.
supervisor’s feedback
at the workplace.
Communication skills  Considering this, Jane
is found to have a very
petite knowledge of
drafting employment
contracts with a similar
experience of
delivering training
sessions.
 Therefore, for
increasing these skills,
she can hereby take
part in the official
seminars and
conferences to get to
know a procedural way
of providing training.
 Beside this, drafting of
employment contracts
can be leaned by doing
it practically.
 For this, Jane can refer
improving her writing
skills and thus join the
online tutorials
 This will need a time
frame of at-least 6- 7
weeks, within which,
Jane can herself
cultivate both the skills
of drafting
employment letters and
delivering effective
training sessions.
 It can further get
assessed with
assistance of peer to
peer review and in
which, the co- workers
of Jane can tell us
whether she is doing it
right or needs more
improvement.
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available on internet.
d) Analysing differences between organisational and individual learning; training and
development (P3)
Bases of comparison Organisational learning
training and development
Individual learning training
and development
Meaning This type of learning is
generally undertaken by the
organisations to assist the
individuals enhance their
existent skill set (Singh, 2018).
Self-improvement being a
main agenda of this type of
learning helps in building the
personal skills of an
individual.
Time It usually exists for a short
time period.
It depicts a long-term
procedure that depicts a vital
sense of lifelong learning in
individuals.
Focus It is mainly focussed on the
agenda of developing
individuals for the
achievement of organisational
goals.
Herein, the individuals are
themselves willing to enhance
their skills and knowledge
with a main focus on
improving their career path
(Yilmaz, 2016).
Aim A vital aim of this is to attain
specialised job skills and learn
the ways in which an
occupational responsibility is
required to be fulfilled.
Its main aim is to accomplish
the personal agendas in terms
of grooming one own- self by
acquiring competent skills and
knowledge.
Based on It is entirely job oriented. It is completely a career-
oriented concept.
Objectives Its major objective is to In this, the main objective of
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improve the overall
performance of employees to
further assist them in timely
attainment of set
organisational goals (Burke
and Noumair, 2015).
individuals is to prepare
themselves facing new
challenges that they might face
in the future.
Impact This type of training is
apparent to create a positive
impact on both the employees
as well as management of Ritz
Carlton.
It is basically on considering
the fact where this type of
learning, training and
development is apparent to
develop the employees at both
personal and professional
level.
This in turn is apparent to
improve both productivity and
profitability of the firm from
highly motivated workers.
This assist the individuals in
learning things that in turn
prepare them to face future
challenges and by which, they
can easily grab several
numbers of opportunities that
help them reach to greater
heights of success (Singh,
2018).
Level of critical thinking This involves a high level of
critical thinking that relatively
help the workers to carry out
the undertaken organisational
activities in an appropriate
manner, leading to timely
accomplishment of their goals.
This in comparison to the
learning at organisational level
includes a moderate or
sometimes even low level of
critical thinking where the
individuals are free to
undertake the methods as per
their own ease and comfort
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level (Katzenbach and Smith,
2015).
Making several mistakes does
not deteriorate their learning
scale and in turn gives them a
confidence towards this self-
learning approach.
Training This is to state the resources
used to train and develop the
individual at an organisational
level to further enhance their
skills.
In Ritz Carlton, a major
responsibility of provisioning
effective training sessions is of
their HR professionals who
themselves design the areas
and ways to deliver the
sessions in the most desirable
manner (Afsar and Badir,
2015).
Resources that are generally
being used over here
comprises presentations,
activity guides and industry
specific materials, etc.
This generally involves
voluntary training measures
with similar set of resources
that are useful in gaining
knowledge via internet,
classes, seminars and
conferences, etc.
The resources used over here
is usually dependent on the
individual’s choice and their
interest towards a specific area
of learning.
Affects The effect of this learning,
training and development is
positive in terms of enhancing
both personal and professional
This together has a positive
affect on the individuals where
they themselves attempts to
learn from a wide range of
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skill set of employees in Ritz
Carlton which in turn
generates a greater sense of
motivation in them by together
improving the retention rate of
workers.
resources that further builds
their confidence level and help
them combat any difficulty
that may arise in the future ().
e) Analysing the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable
business performance (P4)
Learning being an important part of everyone’s life plays a vital role in driving sustainable
business performances by developing the individuals at both personal and professional level.
This together enlightens some crucial benefits in terms of encouraging the below distinguished
factors-
 Continual learning- This is basically to meet out today’s rapidly evolving world that
further comprises of best as well as prompt technical and other related advancements.
This in turn has necessitated the individuals to undertake pertinent approaches to
constantly update their skills to perform well in their respective workplaces (Baldwin,
2016). Although, continuous learning is supposed to be engaging and satisfying at both
personal as well as professional levels. There exist total 3 distinct stages of continual
learning to be undertaken at individual, team and organisational levels. On adoption of
such effective measures of continual learning, Ritz Carlton can also create a sense of
authority and empowerment in the workers by together making the training pleasurable
and engaging. Improvement in performance- This is also in context to an improved business
performance in Ritz Carlton due to an enhanced performance by their individual workers.
This is on considering a well-known fact where any required changes at the workplace is
initially evident to experience a huge form of resistant from the employees (Cunningham,
2017). However, an adopted approach of continual learning hereby assists the
organisations in managing such resistant outlook in employees and rather implement the
change successfully. It is because continual learning being a core constituent of Ritz
Carlton’s culture will eventually drop down the state of resistance in workers and
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inversely help the employees in making a willing participation in the conducted training
programs. Also, they will take it as an integral part of the business by understanding its
importance. It will then assist the company to successfully undertake such requisite
changes at the workplace, as and when required. Personal growth- This is yet another beneficial aspect of continual learning that also
leads to enhance the opportunities of personal growth for the individuals. It is mainly on
referring to the fact of acquiring changed behaviour with new skills and knowledge at the
workplace from ongoing training sessions. This in turn assists the individuals in handling
specific circumstances to gain competency in several other areas. Such type of training
needs plentiful time as well as efforts to be placed by both the individuals and the quoted
entity (Ergün and Avcı, 2018). Also, the individuals must be willing and positively
inclined towards learning.
All these aforementioned benefits are apparent to lead into sustainable business performance
from improved and sustained performance of individuals who are operating for the attainment of
business goals. Also, the notion of continuous learning is proven to prepare the workers for
advancement and enriches their work experiences to a great extent. This in turn builds the morale
of employees and help them thriving towards a timely accomplishment of the set organisational
goals.
SECTION 2
i) Demonstrating the understanding of HPW’s contribution towards employee engagement and
competitive advantage within Ritz Carlton (P5)
High performance work systems (HPWS) is referred to be a group of distinctly
interconnected HR practices namely selection, compensation, training and performance
appraisals, etc. These are designed to improve the efficiency of employees to perform in a well
competent manner. It basically depicts a systematic approach of designing an organisation’s
structure with such effective systems and procedures that lead to attain operational efficacy, high
quality outcomes and innovation for the consumers of Ritz Carlton (Kolb, 2014). Additionally,
there exists some vital components of an HPWS which includes, employee’s capability to
contribute in the process of decision making. Another is training that is meant to provide
necessary skills to the workers to effectively perform their jobs with a greater set of
responsibility.
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This together involves the consideration of cross training to develop a sense of
competency. Thirdly, incentives also play a significant role in the development of an HPWS
where without such motivation, it is unlikely for the employees to take part in an effective
development of such system. As a result, to which, Ritz Carlton should hereby refer linking
certain parameters of employee performance with that to incentives to retrieve beneficial
outcomes at the end (Karim and Majid, 2017). Lastly, there together exists a fourth component o
technology that does not required to possess solutions with chief edged technology. Instead, it is
needed to provision right set of resources for the employees to get successful by together
facilitating communication and sharing of data within the establishment.
Next is to demonstrate the conditions that leads to the formation of HPWS to further
contribute towards engaging employees and generate contending benefits at the workplace.
However, both these aspects of engaging employees and acquiring competitive advantages are
interlinked in a certain way. This is mainly on referring to the fact related to employee
engagement which states it to be a critically significant factor to attain competitiveness in today’s
modern business environment (Marsick and Watkins, 2015). Also, it is positively related to
varied areas of performances namely an increased consumer satisfaction, improved profitability
as well as productivity of organisations like Ritz Carlton along with a reduced level of employee
turnover. Although, it involves several managerial practices to generate high involvement of
employees to further attain a high-level performance from them.
This includes right selection of candidates with commitment of training and developing
them at regular interval of time. Also, incentive-based pay, a secured job and running team-
based work are a part of HPWS. This is for instance on referring to the benefits of incentive-
based pay that is proven to result into performance- based pay to the workers (Sessa and London,
2015). Also, employee ownership, team- based pay and gain sharing programs at the workplace
will enhance the sense of motivation in employees to a great extent. Such effective HPWS is
then expected to enhance the overall performance of the employees and create sustainable
business performance with a prime assistance to Ritz Carlton in gaining contending benefits.
ii) Evaluating different approaches to performance management with specific examples of their
support to high performance culture and commitment (P6)
Performance management cannot be overlooked in today’s contemporary world of business
and thus includes such activities that assures a consistent fulfilment of organisational goals in an
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efficient manner. It is focussed on wide-ranging areas that involve performance of the entities
like Ritz Carlton, its employees and department, their undertaken procedures to create the
products and services, etc. Presently, the system of performance management in the cited
company is in order to serve a 2 folded purpose of improving the presentation of employees at
work (Dey and Giri, 2017). This can be done by assisting them to understand and use their own
potential in conducting activities that are beneficial in serving to the firm’s missions and vision.
Another purpose is in relation to disseminate the data to both the employees as well as employers
to be used for making decisions related to work. It thereby assists in the mechanism of feedback
at the workplace, diagnose problems related to the cited entity and resolves concerns related to
documentation and development, etc.
Lastly, on discoursing upon the approaches of performance management, it has been found
that comparative and behavioural measures are the most common one. A comparative approach
involves ranking the workers on the basis of certain parameters and in this, the employees are
rated from highest to lowest basis (Sung and Choi, 2014). This includes some well-known
techniques namely graphic rating scale, forced distribution and paired comparison, etc. On
comparing this with yet another popular approach called behavioural, it has been found to be the
oldest technique that is done using behaviourally anchored rating scale or BARS, comprising 10-
5 vertical scales. In accordance to the performance carried out by the workers, they are being
rated on this anchored scale.
CONCLUSION
The above report has summarised the key aspects of developing an individual to further
develop the team and the entire organisation, with a significant role of HR’s in it. It has been
carried out in 2 vital parts stating the KSB parameters of HR professionals in the cited firm.
After which, the factors that are important to drive a sustainable business performance have been
assessed to suitably apply them for creating an inclusive environment of learning and
development at the workplace. Another section has initiated with the discussion of HPW system
and its effectiveness to support a high-performance culture in the quoted entity, supported by
several theoretical concepts and models.
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REFERENCES
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Cunningham, I., 2017. The wisdom of strategic learning: The self-managed learning solution.
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Dixon, N.M., 2017. The organizational learning cycle: How we can learn collectively.
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Hao, Q., Yang, W. and Shi, Y., 2019. Characterizing the relationship between conscientiousness
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Marsick, V. and Watkins, K., 2015. Informal and Incidental Learning in the Workplace
(Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
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Reynolds, M., 2017. Organizing reflection. Routledge.
Sessa, V.I. and London, M., 2015. Continuous learning in organizations: Individual, group, and
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Dey, A. and Giri, I., 2017. Approaches for measuring performance of employees. [Online]
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performance-employees/>
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