Learning and Development Strategy Analysis for WBA Plc Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of WBA Plc's learning and development strategy, addressing the challenges and opportunities within the IT software industry. It begins with an introduction highlighting the importance of effective IT planning and the need for organizations to adapt to a changing business environment. The report then analyzes WBA Plc's internal environment using a SWOT analysis, identifying strengths such as its international presence and experienced workforce, alongside weaknesses like the lack of formal succession plans and a reliance on online learning modules. Opportunities include skill development initiatives and anticipated demand for new software, while threats encompass increasing competition and potential data security risks. The external environment is examined through a PESTLE analysis, evaluating the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors impacting the company. The report further evaluates a range of strategic options, emphasizing the need for succession planning, continuous training, innovation in technology, and enhanced human resource management. Recommendations include the implementation of employee engagement strategies, knowledge management initiatives, and workforce development programs to improve WBA Plc's overall learning and development effectiveness.

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGY

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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Environment faced by the organisation......................................................................................2
SWOT analysis.......................................................................................................................2
PESTLE analysis....................................................................................................................3
Evaluation of range of strategic options.....................................................................................5
Recommendation........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
In today’s time it is critical for the organisations to deal with the challenges that are
confronting the business. In this the role of Information and technology become very critical.
Since today’s decision making is highly dependent on the knowledge they have. Due to this,
it is critical that there is use of affective IT planning. WBA Plc is an IT software company
that deals in international and multinational services that ranges from different sectors
including media, communications and retailing. It is one of the highest profitable
organizations in this growing market. This company provides IT services to the companies in
all the industries. It is critical that in the changing business environment company needs to
improve the ways in which they are dealing with the challenges that is faced by the
organisations (Gambardella and McGahan, 2010). It is critical in today’s time that there is
understanding of the external business environment along with the strengths and weaknesses
of firms. This will allow the firm to improve the working and providing assistance to the
other companies in their IT operations. This report analyses environment as well as strengths
and weaknesses of the issues in the Learning & Development. It also illustrate the range of
strategic options that WBA plc could use in order to have better results. In the last,
recommendations about the strategies should be implemented as a priority.
Environment faced by the organisation
Organisations face different kinds of environmental challenges both internal and external. It
is essential that firm uses specific tools to analyse the internal and external environment.
SWOT analysis
In order to analyse the internal environment, it is critical that firm use SWOT tools. This is
essential for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the issues that arise in the
learning and developments. It works best with diversifying groups and feels to provide
realistic data rather than a prescribed message (Westbrook & Hill, 2019). With the utilisation
of SWOT analysis, a company will be able to look at the factors that act as a pillar for the
success as well as the factors that can bring weaknesses in their operations. SWOT analysis
will also enable the company to understand the opportunities in the future that is available
with them and the way in which they can improve their business along with the threats that
might hamper their growth.

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Strength
 WBA Plc. is an international firm and has numerous units in different parts of the
world. This gives them strengths to improve their knowledge at the global levels. This
facilitates their learning and development.
 They have an experience of working with all the types of companies which enhances
their overall knowledge of the company.
 They have done acquisitions which have added to their resources which improve their
position in the international market and given them to improve customer productivity.
 The company is recognized as one of best company as it focuses on clients, to find
solutions and meet their requirements ( M. Helms & Nixon, 2010).
 Employee turnover has been on the lower side this suggests that company can develop
long term learning and development program and their investment on the employees
also pay off.
 They also have a huge employee pool of human resource which gives them boost to
their overall developmental initiatives especially improves their learning and
development initiatives.
Weakness
 The company lack behind with no formal succession plans in place which is lack
partly in fast nature of the business. This is creating issues in the future learning and
development.
 There is lack of learning and development strategy among all the employees in the
organizations (DaleStoel & Muhanna, 2019). This is not allowing the company to
have learning and development at the pace at which it is required. Existing L&D
strategy is dependent on the online portfolio of knowledge-based module.
 They are struggling to recruit staff with desired business acumen to sell into the areas
like Supply chain and manufacturing.
Opportunities
 They have opportunities in the skill development initiatives where they will learn how
organisations grow at the international levels.

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 This company has anticipated enhancement in the demands from their latest software
developments.
 They have opportunities in developing new software and hence providing knowledge
and keeping informed about it to their employees is very much critical for the
management (Liao, Chang and Wu, 2010).
Threat
 There is constant increase in the value of competitors as they are also developing their
IT products according to it only. This enhancement in the customers value acts as a
threat for them.
 While broadening its customers, there can be the biggest threat that customers can
leak their personal information with other clients (Noe, et al. 2017).
 There is huge investment required by the companies in the areas like innovation in
which this firm, in the time of economic recession this can be one of the biggest
challenges that WBA Plc can face.
PESTLE analysis
In order to understand the external environment, it is essential to use PESTLE analysis.
PESTEL is a useful tool that allows the organisation to understand the external factors that
actually has impact on the decision making and operations of the company. PESTLE analysis
also helps in finding the pressures that is making the changes and hence companies are able
to make better decisions. Changes in tax regulations, new laws, demographic changes,
changes in government regulations and trade barriers are all examples of change in the
macro-environment of IT software company (Doulgeroglou, 2016). Some of the learning and
development issues address the concern which is to be noticed.
Political: Governments all across the world are helping countries in their learning and
development strategies. Training centres by government is also developing new IT
professionals hence playing a critical role in the learning and development of the IT firms.
Governments are trying to develop policies that can help them in improving their learning
and development strategies. Government is providing platforms to the business units so that
they can develop their infrastructure and hence they can add to the knowledge of the firm.
With increasing collaboration between different governments in different parts of the world
has given the opportunities to the IT companies to make international plans and hence

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development of learning and development initiatives might not be a problem for the company
(Liao, Chang and Wu, 2010).
Economic: WBA Company has to suffer from economic changes as higher interest rates may
be added to the investments made by the company because there is a need for more costs to
borrow. The fluctuations in the currency of different countries may make exporting difficult
as this may raise the price in terms of foreign currency (Harrison, 2011). Inflation may
always provoke in higher wage demands from the employees and hence raise costs in IT
Software Company.
Social: The social environment is changing especially in terms of use of technologies. This is
the major reason why companies in today’s time are opting for the IT solutions for their
various works. People are attracted towards innovations. This is creating new IT talents but at
the same time there is shortage of people that are actually specialised and skilled hence WBA
will have to invest in the recruitment program and the training that can actually make them
according to the requirements in the industry (Siren, Kohtamäki and Kuckertz, 2012).
Technology: Technological factors may also vary with the updated technology used in IT
Software Companies. The lack of technological strategies is also present in the company for
the long time. The most important issue which is faced by company is to keep the staff
informed of execution of new software development and enhancements. The innovation in
the industry is so fast that there is requirement to improve the technologies with which they
are working with (Hung, et al. 2011). Information governance and information management
has become a major and critical challenge for the WBA.
Legal: The Company is directly affected from discrimination legislation, increase in
minimum wages and recently recent laws that affect organization actions. The laws related to
the information system ethics have become very strict. Companies and governments have
become very strict over the policies that are made by the firms in the direction like data
security and privacy. This organisation also needs to redesign their technology infrastructure
to improve the privacy concerns and in this regards support of their employees is necessary
(Kolb, 2014).
Environment: Since silicon waste is increasing at much faster rate hence it has become
critical for the management to ensure that they have a plan to manage this issue at the

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priority. Recycling and reusing can be the two methods that can give this company a chance
to sustain in the global business environment. Since the rules and regulations made by the
government have become strict over environmental concerns hence this company will also
have to invest in new technologies so as to improve their performance (Harrison, 2011).
Evaluation of range of strategic options
There are several strategic options available with the firms. It is critical in the time when the
strategic affairs of the company have become very much complex. IT software company need
to evaluate range of strategic options that WBA Plc. should consider in implementing various
techniques to resolve such options.
WBC Company should also emphasize on making succession plan where they need have a
stock of talent that can give them competitive advantage over the rivals. In the time when
there is shortage of the skilled labourers in the market, it is critical that firms manage the way
in which they are dealing with the human resource management. There must be development
of strategies related to training where the continuous training module must be provided and
companies should train their employees in such a manner that they remain updated. Johnson,
et al. (2011) believes that Learning and development strategies have to be placed in the core
of the organisation. This can be done with the help of external courses. This must be done
with the help of flexible strategies in their learning programs. For instance there must be use
of team strategies where they must look for sharing the knowledge they have with each other.
Since this company has employees from different parts of the world hence there must be use
of online tools such as app-based technologies so as to train their employees according to the
demands that companies have in the market. For instance in WBC use of learning strategies
such as employee engagement can play a bigger role. In this the use of reflective practices
can be helpful. Basic leadership and improvement in the specific technologies can give boost
to the performance of the individuals (Johnson, et al. 2011).
In order to remove the challenges they are facing, it is critical that this company adopts the
strategy of innovation where they must continuously change the technology they are using.
WBA can make advancements in the software they are making for them and their clients. In
this the technique such as international assignments can be helpful. The utilisation of
innovation strategies must be based on the knowledge they have gained over the years.
Knowledge management initiatives can play a very critical role in it. With the help of the

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skills that an organisation has they can also boost their research initiatives where both the
challenges faced by the company and their clients can be solved (Garrick, 2012). This can be
easily done by this firm with the help of strategic partners or educational partnerships.
The strategy related to the human resource management should also be boosted. Since this
company does not have a skilled labour force in their pipeline hence they will need workforce
development program along with the leadership development program is carried out. This
also includes restructuring of the organisation where the important people will be posted at
the top of the organisational level. At the same time there will be improvement in the way
tasks are carried out by the organisation. If these people have constructive associations with
their administrators then organisational development can be easier (Goulding and Rahimian,
2012). But this can be possible only when WBA changes their organisational structure and
remove high level of bureaucracy. Mentoring or buddying is the best possible strategy for this
case.
The use of effective strategies like on the job learning, self-managed learning’s, deployment,
group learning’s and different development programs should be evaluated for the continuous
improvements ( Esfahani & Elkhodary, 2019). There must be clear learning and development
program where not only self-service approach to learning is promoted but company should
give training. The formal designed approaches help in training, micro learning, performance
support and increase in knowledge management that serves to be better in communities of
practices. The use of techniques such as training by experts or action learning can be effective
for WBA and in this regards the support of management also becomes critical which is not so
much in today’s time. The use of multifaceted focus strategies also helps in blended
learning’s as this grows in a variety of techniques to develop skills in supporting learning
needs in the organizations. Apart from the knowledge-based modules, there must be detailed
explanation of the different packages being offered by the companies. Product knowledge
should be given regularly so as to ensure that employees remain updated. In addition to the
new starters receive a four-day induction that emphasises on the orientation of the firm, high
level introduction to the software they are targeted to sell. There are also a number of skill
development workshops available covering subjects such as presentation techniques and
objection handling (Argote and Miron-Spektor, 2011). WBA can do this by transferring this
job to the companies that are capable of doing this. The strategy of improving the projects
can also be effective in dealing with the issues that is utilised by the firms. WBA must

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emphasize on the research initiatives where organisation must enable itself to be ready for the
future (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2012).
It is critical that firm builds a new conceptualisation strategy where there must be focus on
details rather than just adopting the processes and procedures which have not been followed
in the past. Learning system must be developed in such a manner that there must be
utilisation of the skills that are from different parts of the world. Since in IT industry, every
details matter a lot hence it is WBA should also adopt a culture employees are focused
towards details. This will automatically improve the learning capacity of the individual. In
this regards the use of technique such as performance appraisal can be helpful as the person
who will have more knowledge and they perform better must be placed higher in the
organisation. In this role of cross cultural development initiatives it is very much critical.
Strategy such as new procedure developments must be implemented so that there must be full
utilisation of the resources of the firms (Dodgson, 2018). Strategy such as outsourcing can
also be an effective in the time when the company is facing challenges related to the skilled
human resource management. In the countries like India where there are large numbers
workers of this firm are working and hence they can easily implement the strategy of the
outsourcing.
Recommendation
Major recommendation starts with analysing the whole organization and how top-level
hierarchy makes strategies to reframe the structural framework. The company needs to adopt
a learning and development strategy such as mentoring or coaching that helps people within
the organization to build more confidence and smooth running or operations. Coaching is
used as a major learning strategy as by following this strategy an organisation will be able to
provide continuous support to the employees. Under the guidance of coach an employee is
able to overcome all the challenges that might be faced by the employees in its learning
process. There is an authority that takes the responsibility of the development and training of
the employee or employees hence accountability of their progress is ensured. Coaching by
experienced personalities will improve the overall standards of the employees working
methodology.
While following the action learning technique WBA Company should make proper planning
for the step by step framework in making and improving investment in IT service and

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products. The company needs to develop the skills requirements for senior management as
they are the one who make policies and regulations and works out for its implementation
(Concept of Corporate Strategy, 2019).
While following the buddying strategy, company should develop more interactions between
all its employees as they will produce more brilliant ideas to change implementation and
renovations. As mentioned, there is less interaction and the company is using a hierarchical
management structure with its strong bureaucratic culture. In today period the numbers of
employees who will sustain till the retirement are fifty hence company needs to work on
retirement plans so that retirement age can be increased. Spending plans and asset arranging
are unmistakably basic to the successful execution of learning methodology. Making the
participatory culture as the base of the organisational decision making, it is critical that firm
involves as much stakeholders as possible (Argote and Miron-Spektor, 2011). This must also
be followed in the strategic development process as well. The company needs to make
performance management system and appraise the ideas of their employees. Singular
improvement needs might be incorporated into examination or advancement surveys
dependent on the definition of learning objectives and self-awareness plans (Schallock, et al.
2018) Performance appraisal plans can be highly effective techniques in this regards.
Among all these strategies the first priority must be given to the innovation where new
technologies need to be incorporated within the organisation and at the same time new plans
needs to be made for improving the way in which organisations are dealing with technology
knowledge. Second priority needs to be given to the change in the organisational structure
where more people should be involved in the decision making process so that people at the
lower levels of the organisational structure can have their say in the organisational
proceedings. Third priority must be given to setting goals and setting deadlines along with
making benchmarks for the business where more emphasis must be given to the knowledge
based practices so that L&D can be improved within the organisation (Riding and Rayner,
2013). Fourth priority should be given to the development of learning strategies at the time of
the acquisitions and mergers. WBA Plc. should also improve the ways in which they are
dealing with their skill development initiatives and hence can outsource some of the services
so that they can concentrate on the core business functions. Company should also improve
the mechanism for the data storage, distribution and evaluation. In this also the role of the
team work is very much critical. There should be an implementation of the continuous

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improvement approach by accessing the competition and best practices to develop
productivity in all its on-going activities (Smith, Meijer and Kielly-Coleman, 2010).
Conclusion
From the above based report, it can be concluded that WBA Plc. in spite of their management
of IT technologies has been showing poor growth in the industry. The complexities have
changed and hence learning and development strategies must be designed according to the
requirements of the people. The strength of the company is their skilled employee force but at
the same time its weakness lies in the fact that they have poor succession plan. They have
opportunities in incorporating new technologies and providing training to their staffs while
threats lies in the fact that there is shortage of workforce that is having the knowledge
required by the company. Its external environment is flexible hence company also need to
implement strategies that are flexible. Strategy such as innovation and restructuring of
organisation can be effective.

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