Clyde's Corner

Clyde Lindley

Quotable Quotes

"In this age the man who dares to think for himself and to act independently does a service to his race."
-- John Stuart Mill

"As between mileage and experience, choose experience."
-- Clifton Fadiman

"Remember that a kick in the ass is a step forward."
-- Anonymous

"What ever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."
-- Goethe

"A smile isn't any good unless you AIM it at someone."
-- Dennis the Menace, Hank Ketchum

"The direction in which education starts a man, will determine his future life."
-- Plato

Training, Education & Learning in the Workplace

This article deals with Training, Education and Learning, TEL, in the workplace. It considers the basic question of how we learn. How do we define these three parts:

Training: both formal and informal instruction in learning skills, acquiring knowledge and increasing performance and proficiency.

Education: change produce in a person by learning; the process of acquiring knowledge through self-education, formal instruction (schooling), training, or practice and integrating this to self-development and growth of the person.

Learning the process of experience new knowledge or understanding through observation, self-learning, study, training, instruction education, or discovery. Learning which involves curiosity and questioning leads to thinking and reasoning and creativity.

It is obvious that training, education and learning are all interrelated.

The Impact of Change on Training

Monumental changes have occurred in the workplace, society, family life, the environment and the culture of our population. ^1/2/3/4 Restructuring, downsizing, new technologies, the Internet and world-wide web, the increasing diversity of the workplace, etc. have affected most of us personally.. Paul Thayer (1997), in his chapter, "A rapidly changing world: Some implications for training systems in the year 2001 and beyond," emphasizes another aspect of change, ". . . A shift in the employee - employer relationship, an increase in the number of high-tech jobs, a shift to a service economy, the development of a knowledge society in which the worker owns the tools for production, a change in the political climate, and a shift in who trains and who is responsible for training . . . . . If employees will be increasingly responsible for their own development, employees who are trainers and training researchers must keep up to date on these and other developments. It will be increasingly easy to become out of date." ⁵ Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich has stated many times that workers must become computer literate and keep their skills sharp through continuing education. Craiger (1997), in discussing how technologies have forever changed the structure and functioning of organizations, and therefore the fundamental nature of work, also concludes that workers will have to upgrade their skills and embrace learning as a continuous, life-long goal. ⁶

Focusing on TEL

We are still struggling with knowing the best ways to conduct training. We still don't know enough about how we learn. Quinones & Dutta (Eds.) 1997, book, Training For 21^st Century Technology: Applications of Psychological Research, ⁷ is a must read. Druckman & Bjork (Eds.), 1994, in their outstanding book, Learning, Remembering, Believing: Enhancing Human Performance, (a study conducted by the National Research Council), emphasize fundamental processes in learning, describe the latest scientific evidence on issues of performance, and focus on neglected areas such as emotional, cognitive, motor, and social skills, and illusions of comprehension. They examine transfer of skills from training to work settings, cooperative learning and team building, the relation between self-confidence and motivation to learn, hypnosis and restricted environmental stimulation, meditation, thought suppression, and sleep learning. They tell us that the many quick fixes for training problems offered by some organizations haven't utilized basic research findings and do little to advance learning. ⁸ Learning, Remembering, & Believing alter many of our current beliefs about the mind and how we learn. Teaching, training, and learning become better understood as very complex areas that need considerable more thought before training programs are undertaken. My earlier review of this book concludes,

"As evidenced by the extensive bibliography (pp 307-376), the Committee evaluated the tremendous volume of scientific research over the past decade in a valiant effort to determine what it all means and how it could best be applies. The conclusions are not simple. The reader will discover that learning and remembering are complex activities which require not only an understanding of how people learn but also how emotional, social, psychological, and physical and motor factors affect performance." ⁹

Impediments to TEL

Although top management generally rates training high, they do not usually fund commensurate with their value ratings. Druckman and Bjork, in an epilogue chapter, "Institutional Impediments to Effective Training," conclude that many impediments are commonplace in the real world. ⁸ Some of the barriers mentioned are:

Training and retraining programs do not have high priority.
Costs are immediate and benefits are long term.
If training is not valued highly it will not be very valuable.
Administrative decisions about training are often based upon regulations and fear of lawsuits.
Training programs are poorly designed (optimize performance during training).
Measures of effectiveness of training is a difficult area.
Teaching is an exceedingly complex skill.
Their is a common misunderstanding of the characteristics and potentials of humans as learners.

In addition, all of us have our own ideas of how we learn. These personal beliefs about our own skill in learning have some justification, but research indicates that our perceptions are often inaccurate. Also, there are great individual differences in the ability to learn. Other factors such as habitual behaviors, self-confidence, social and emotional reactions, physical fitness, health, etc. affect learning.

For older workers the concern is the issue of age related changes in learning ability. There is no question that older persons can learn. However, much research shows the speed of processing information is much slower for older persons. For some this slowing may start as early as age 50 and become worse with increasing age. ¹⁰ It is important to remember that older persons are not all alike, that their outstanding characteristics is their heterogenety, so this generalization wouldn't apply to all older persons. Also, much of the research was conducted in the laboratory and not in real life situations. The Commonwealth Fund has demonstrated that older workers can compete very successfully in learning and performing complex tasks in the workplace. ¹¹

Implementing TEL

It will not be easy to implement programs of TEL. We can take the advice of Druckman and Bjork about where to begin. In their last chapter they state, "Yet, after almost a decade of work on issues of performance (training), we are struck by the key role of organizational context in which learning takes place." ⁸ This means the focus of TEL should be on the total organization -- the organization's culture/climate. The first step is to determine the organization's commitment to TEL. Is TEL supported as basic policy in achieving the organization's purposes? Have key managers been provided the opportunity to read the recent book by Aubrey & Cohen 1995, Working Wisdom: Timeless Skills and Vanguard Strategies for Learning Organizations? This book outlines strategies for learning organizations: ". . . Wisdom is not passed from an authoritarian teacher to a supplicant student, but is discovered in a learning relationship in which both gain a greater understanding of the workplace and the word." ¹² Has the word "Human" become a vital and meaningful part of Human Resource Management? Has the organizational climate changed so that employees believe their input and advice on policies and procedures is not only wanted but needed? Are employees empowered to make more decisions for themselves? To really support TEL requires real effort to make people come first in the organization. The attainment of this human people oriented and modified participatory management TEL approach "requires reorientation o management at all levels, not just personnelists convinced of the soundness of the philosophy; not just on the part of first-line supervisors; not just on the part of the middle managers; not just on the part of top management. Bringing all in a cooperative way under the same umbrella of thinking requires a leadership not readily available in most organizations." ¹³

Initially it is of upmost importance to involve employees in the development of training plans, to challenge them for ideas, and to incorporate as many suggestions as possible, thus giving them ownership in the process. This is based on Carl Roger's philosophy that each person has the inner resources to grow into a better functioning person. ¹⁴ This should also help motivate employees and make training/learning a meaningful experience for the employee and the organization.

Someone may suggest a needs assessment survey. ¹⁵ Since training assumes such importance it is recommended that a survey be developed and implemented. Because of the special knowledge and skills required in their development, and its critical importance in evaluating where the organization is and what is needed, your organization may need outside help. But you can specify that some of your key employees would assist/be trained in its development. Through focus discussion groups you may be able to identify others who have talents not previously known and provide them this special career development.

Conclusion

Training, Education, and Learning (TEL), will determine whether organizations will meet the challenges of the 21^st Century. The most significant aspect of becoming a learning organization is its culture/climate. Employees at all levels should be involved in making the organization committed to TEL, determining the needs for training, and whenever possible, in the implementation of training programs. Implementation should be based upon:

A philosophy that regard TEL as a continuous activity throughout the organization's existence.
A leadership that encourages employees to grow and develop untapped resources.
Involvement and empowerment of employees.
Carefully developed plans, both short and long term.
Readjustment of plans every year or as needed.
Recognition of the complexity or teaching and training.

References

¹ Lindley, C.J. (1996). Clyde's Corner. "Stress in the workplace." Assessment Council News, April 1996.

² Lindley, C.J. (1996). Clyde's Corner. "The challenge for baby boomers (and the rest of us)," Assessment Council News, June 1996.

³ Lindley, C.J. (1996). Clyde's Corner. "The aging of Americans," Assessment Council News, October 1996.

⁴ Lindley, C.J. (1996). Clyde's Corner. "Coping with change," Assessment Council News, December 1996.

⁵ Thayer, P.T. (1997). A rapidly changing world: Some implications for training systems in the year 2001 and beyond. In Quinones, M. A. & Dutta, A. (Eds.) Training for 21^st Century Technology: Applications of Psychological Research. Washington, DC: APA Press.

⁶ Craiger, J.P. (1997). Technology, organizations, and work in the 20^th century. The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, (34/3), 89-96. Tampa: Psycho Dept, University of South Florida.

⁷ Quinones, M. & Dutta A. (Eds.) (1997) Training for 21^st Century Technology: Applications of Psychological Research. Washington, D.C.: APA Press.

⁸ Druckman, D> & Bjork, R>A> (Eds.) (1994). Learning, Rembering, Belieiving: Enhancing Human Performance. (Study conducted by the National Research Council). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

⁹ Lindley, C.J. (1995). Review of book: Learning, Remembering, Believing. Public Personnel Management (24/2) 193-195. Alexandria, VA: IPMA.

¹⁰ Kirasio, K.C. et al (1996). Aging, cognitive resources, and declarative learning. Psychology and Aging (11/4) 658-670.

¹¹ The Untapped Resource: The Final Report of the Americans Over 55 at Work Programs (1993). The Commonwealth Fund, One East 75^th Street, New York, NY 10021.

¹² Aubrey, R. & Choen, P.M. (1995). Working Wisdom, Timeless Skills and Vanguard Strategies for Learning Organizations. San Francisco: Josey-Bass. p192.

¹³ Lindley, C.J. (1984). Putting "human" into human resource management. Public Personnel Management (13/4) 501-510.

¹⁴ Rogers, C.R. (1980). A Way of Being. Boston: Houghton-Milfin.

¹⁵ Goldstein, T.L. (1993). Training in Organizations: Needs Assessment Development and Evaluation. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks-Cole.

Clyde is the Director of the Center for Psychological Services, 1608 Sanford Road, Silver Spring, MD 20902. Phone: (301) 754-1070.