HRD Opportunities and Informal Learning at RMS - Roads and Maritime Services

This paper discusses the HRD opportunities provided by RMS - Roads and Maritime Services, including nurturing leaders, performance planning, and networking. It also assesses the extent to which knowledge about informal learning has influenced the organization's HRD practices, including the adoption of action-learning practices and the use of informal learning assets beyond classroom programs.

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Human Resource Development
A case of RMS – Roads and Maritime Services
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Introduction
This paper focuses on a case of RMS – Roads and Maritime Services to outline
opportunities that HRD provide to current and future employees. The second section conducts an
assessment to the extent to which knowledge about informal learning has succeeded in
influencing RMS HRD practices.
HRD opportunities provided by RMS
RMS offers opportunities that make employees take their career to new heights.
Management creates generous working conditions where everyone can become a forward-
thinking person (RMS, 2018). Such projects make employees learn best ways of contributing
towards their communities.
Nurturing leaders – the company provides an environment for newly recruited
employees to nurture their talents of becoming future leaders. It offers on job training,
supervision, and assigning roles such as team leadership.
Performance planning – RMS offers an environment for employees to go through the
formal process of discussion, identification, and planning of personal goals. Employees identify
their personal goals that require their capability to achieve as well as develop skills for decision-
making.
Networking – RMS organize teamwork where members get to network and know one
another. Currently, RMS offers an opportunity where employees work as teams as well as
assigning supervisors to every team. Such an environment allows diversified groups of
employees from different cultural background to interact with one another. Consequently, it
strengthens the spirit of creating links such as employee-to-employee, or employee-to-employer.

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The extent to which knowledge about informal learning has influenced the organization's
HRD practices
Knowledge about informal learning at the workplace brings about numerous complexities
how managers develop employees. Garrick (2001) outlines that definitional complexities relating
to informal learning involve learning from experience, learning from context, strengthening
informal and incidental learning, reflecting, and tacit dimensions of knowledge. Such definitions
show that employees could go through non-intentional learning practices to acquire knowledge.
Stewart, McGoldrick, and Watson (2001) link the knowledge about informal learning to
autonomous, self-directed, and independency that occurs without participating in externally
instructional programs.
The knowledge about informal learning has influenced the organization's HRD practices
of RMS managers in terms of how they define, design, and execute comprehensive learning
strategies among employees. Managers now form different teams, assist them in planning and
establishing. They are now able to maintain communities of practice (CoP) (Bowness and Gram,
2010). RMS finds CoP as the best way of assisting team members share common individual
goals. Consequently, members are able to create and share knowledge for personal development.
Personnel at the company focus on individual achievements as we as teams.
RMS adopts action-learning practices to achieve informal learning for personal
development. Bowness and Gram (2010) argue that human resource personnel can implement
HRD practices by organizing small teams to work together to solve real workplace tasks and
problems. Management supports natural learning processes. The process makes employees to
learn themselves by doing and reflecting about their and results from their actions. Consequently,

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employees are able to make their own needed adjustments at a personal level without following
planned programs. Yanchar and Hawkley (2015) explain that informal learning has influenced
how managers develop learning action plans. Managers integrate action plans of learning and
working by scheduling time for all programmed learning activities to occur simultaneously with
other regular job responsivities. Managers at RMS now associate learning activities with
timeframes and objectives. Even though HRD practices involve instances of planning and
instructional programs, such programs allow employees to reflect about their own outcomes after
going through a learning process. Self-evaluation makes them come up with own adjustment
process on how to improve their own performance in future (Grieves, 2003).
RMS now adopts a number of informal learning assets beyond classroom programs.
Management use organization knowledge to develop digital as well as paper-based tools.
Management now relies on formal programs to create templates and small content them feed
them to the company website as articles. Employees can now rely on such resources as their
assets for informal learning. Their availability on demand depends on how employees go through
them as refresher jobs to assist those returning on their jobs. Such materials also assist employees
that missed to attend some formal events. Garrick (2001) theorizes the best way that managers
could make informal learning become effective in an environment where every human resource
personnel prefers planned programs as their instructional manuals. Garrick Suggests that
managers can now adopt processes of receiving feedback, encouraging the formation of
teamwork for individual learning, creating and posting contents on company websites,
networking, and mentoring through team leaders.
Conclusion

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RMS design different HRD programs to restructure and downsize employees to work in
teams. Consequently, they design programs that allow employees to gain new skills to solve
problems and make decisions. Additionally, employees develop their personal skills for
leadership, negotiation, resolution conflict, and listening. However, knowledge about informal
learning has influenced HRD practices.

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References
Garrick, J 2001. Informal learning in the workplace: Unmasking human resource development.
Taylor and Francis
Grieves, J 2003. Strategic human resource development. SAGE
RMS – Roads and Maritime Services, 2018. Working with us.
http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/about/careers/working-with-us/index.html. Accessed on
April 10, 2018
Stewart, J, McGoldrick, J, & Watson, S 2001. Understanding human resource development: A
research-based approach. Psychology Press
Yanchar, SC, & Hawkley, MN 2015, 'Instructional Design and Professional Informal Learning:
Practices, Tensions, and Ironies', Journal of Educational Technology & Society, vol. 18,
no. 4, pp. 424-434.