Employee Development and Training Practices

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
0 | P a g e
Human Resource
Development in
Action

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
1.0 Task......................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Comparison of Different Learning Styles........................................................................3
1.2 Understanding Learning Curve and Significance of Learning Transfer in ALDI...........4
1.3 Importance of Learning Theories and Styles Regarding Development of Learning
Event......................................................................................................................................5
2.0 Task......................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Analysing Staff’s Learning Requirements at Different Levels........................................6
2.2 Merits and Drawbacks of Different Learning Styles.......................................................6
2.3 Using Systematic Approach for Planning a Training Event for ALDI............................7
3.0 Task......................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Preparing Evaluation Form for Analysing Employees’ Learning Outcome....................9
3.2 Examination of the Response from Evaluation Form....................................................11
3.3 Reviewing the Effectiveness of Training Program and Evaluation Form.....................12
4.0 Task....................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................18
References................................................................................................................................19
List of Figures
Figure 1: Learning Curve...........................................................................................................5
Figure 2: Five-tier Approach....................................................................................................10
1 | P a g e

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
Human resource management (HRM) is defined as a business function that focuses on
managing and supervising the human capital in an organisation. The human resource
department of an enterprise is responsible for managing the requirement of human capital in
an organisation by performing various activities such as recruitment, selection, training,
compensation, job designing, the setting of goals, motivating and many others. Human
resource development has defined the framework established by a corporation which helps
employees in developing their skills, knowledge, and ability that result in increasing their
productive performance. The human resource department fills the gap between employees
skills and job requirement by providing them appropriate training which assists in the
achievement of corporation’s objectives. This report will plan a training and development
workshop for “ALDI” which assist them in providing appropriate training to their employees.
ALDI was founded in 1946 after the takeover of Essen by Karl and Theo Albrecht. The firm
operates in more than 18 countries and provides its services through more than ten thousand
stores. The ALDI group is divided into two separate businesses which include ALDI Sud and
ALDI Nord. The company is known for offering low prices products throughout its chain
which attracts more than 760,000 customers each year. The corporation generated revenue of
£7.705 billion in 2015 financial year, and it reported a growth of 12 percent in sales
(Atherton, 2016). The enterprise has more than 160,000 employees working across its stores
worldwide. The corporation is continuously growing which require them to improve the
productivity of their employees. This report will focus on designing a training and
development model for ALDI in order to increase the performance of its employees. Further,
the report will analyse the failure or success of the training event.
2 | P a g e

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Part 1
1.0 Task
1.1 Comparison of Different Learning Styles
ALDI is required to adopt a learning style based on their employees’ skills requirements. The
company should analyse the requirement of its employees before implementing a suitable
learning style model. Following are different learning styles which are provided by Honey &
Mumford that can be adopted by ALDI.
Learning Styles Concept
Activists This style focuses on involving employees in
new experiences by continuously changing
activities. The employees are move from one
experience to another within a short period. In
rapidly changing situations, employees face
new challenges and responsibilities each time
which makes them competent for adverse
market situations (Scott, 2010).
Pragmatists These employees are practical in nature, and
they focus on capturing new opportunities.
They prefer challenging situations and make
decisions based on their confidence and
experiences. The employees are easily
adopted as per changing market situations,
challenging environments, and tasks
(Wilkinson, Boohan, and Stevenson, 2014).
Theorists The theorist employees follow a specific
learning style by prioritising tasks and
theories before making any decisions. These
employees are strictly rational and analytical
while performing any business tasks. Their
decisions are based on rational findings rather
than personal experiences (Wichadee, 2011).
Reflectors These employees did not take actions or
search for new opportunities, instead, they sit
back and analyse the situation by collecting
the data. Their employees did not engage in
conversations rather they listen and evaluate
the data and findings. There are effective
decision makers, but they lack the ability of
efficiency which increases the time taken for
decisions (Hamade and Artail, 2010).
3 | P a g e

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
ALDI can adopt these learning styles to provide appropriate training to their employees based
on their characteristics which assist in increasing their productive performance. Along with
individual learning styles, the corporation should also implement policies for organisational
learning style which support and enhance employees’ performance.
1.2 Understanding Learning Curve and Significance of
Learning Transfer in ALDI
Learning curve provides information about a person’s rate of growth while attaining new
knowledge or skill. The graph shows continuous improvement of employees that is acquired
based on new experiences (Anzanello and Fogliatto, 2011). Employees learning new skill or
task by experiences and learning curve assist them in increasing the focus on the specific task
that increases the effectiveness of the training and improves employees’ productivity.
Employees’ learning curve is affected by the speed of their learning ability and the
experience that they collect from the process. The companies can use learning curve to
achieve their organisational goals. The information collected by the corporation from the
employees’ learning curve can be utilising in developing a learning program which focuses
on fulfilling the employees’ skills requirements. In case of ALDI, there are various issues that
are necessary to be addressed by the employees that are caused due to rapidly changing
market conditions and business trends.
There are various factors which influences an employee’s learning curve such skills required
to perform a job, qualification, changing marketing requirements, experience, technology and
many others. These factors negatively affect the learning curve of an employee, and they also
negatively affect managerial, technical and business skills of a corporation (Plaza,
Ngwenyama, and Rohlf, 2010). ALDI can provide continues assessment to address these
issues and enhance their employees’ productivity. The knowledge provided to the employees
is crucial in a business setting. In order to positively influencing the learning curve, sharing
of required knowledge, skills and tactics are necessary. Learning transfer is a key part which
assist employees in learning new skills and knowledge that has a positive impact on
employees’ learning curve. Learning transfer assists employees in gaining the skills from
trainers or other employees that assist them in improving their own performance. Effective
learning transfer skills enable employees to learn in one context and implement such learning
in another situation which improves their leadership skills. Therefore, ALDI should focus on
4 | P a g e

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
sharing the necessary knowledge and skills rather than transferring them through
communication channels.
Figure 1: Learning Curve
(Source: Handy Millennial, 2017)
1.3 Importance of Learning Theories and Styles Regarding
Development of Learning Event
Learning about rapidly changing marketing trends can assist ALDI in changing it strategies
efficiently. The corporation can implement various learning theories that can assist in
improving employees’ performance such as Honey & Mumford, Myer Briggs and Kolb’s
theory (Gold et al., 2013). It is the responsibility of human resource department to decide
which theory they will apply in the corporations, and they made this decision based on the
fact that how quickly they want to upgrade employees’ skills based on changing market
trends. Therefore, ALDI’s HR department should analyse the capabilities and expectations of
their employees in order to decide which learning theory they want to adopt in the
organisation. Before implementing a learning theory, the HR executives of ALDI should
analyse and examine different theories. Effective learning event has a substantial impact on
the achievement of organisational goals by improving the productive performance of
employees (Akella, 2010). Therefore, HR department should clearly analyse the capability
requirements before implementing an effective learning theory.
5 | P a g e