Following to the part 3. There are many kinds of approaches in the learning and development activity. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is one of them and about learning and development that enhances the participant’s effectiveness in their professional role.
As organizations shift the responsibility for personal learning development back to the individual, the ability and insight to manage employee’s professional growth is seen as a key strength.
CPD can help to maximise staff potential by linking learning to actions and theory to practice and also help HR professionals to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) objectives, for training activity to be more closely linked to business needs.
Staff development would be promoted through CPD and give a positive image to organizations by their better staff morale and the motivated workforce. It also will make employees to consciously apply learning to their role and the organization’s development.
The evaluation of the HRD is being offered by Kirkpatrick’s four levels model which has been described as the mostly commonly used to evaluate training. The four levels are reaction, learning, behaviour and results. In this report the evaluation of HRD would focus on the results level.
Level One Reaction
CIPD reports that around 47% respondents say they have already considered using the Train to Gain service, a government funded initiative to deliver vocational training to employed individuals in UK.
Interpersonal (79%) and communication skills (74%) are seen as most important when recruiting new employees. The development of management and leadership skills (81%) is viewed as most important in meeting business objectives in the coming years. 67% respondents also feel they are necessary to improve the commercial awareness and business acumen.
These suggest that the adequate knowledge and skill are significant for working in an organization, and it has obtained more and more employees’ awareness.
Level Two Learning
About 65% participants realize that learning and development activity is becoming more closely integrated with business strategy. Most employees think about their knowledge after trainings would be much more available to the actual works.
In addition, the vast majority of participants from public sector think that e-learning is important and more useful to them. There is some indication that e-learning is increasingly used as a popular train tool. Almost all feel that e-learning is more effective when combined with other forms of learning.
The training tool are evolving and having a great development with the growing demand of learning and development in organizations. It also strengthens the training effect for employees.
Level Three Behaviour
This is a measure of the extent to which participants change their on-the-job behaviour because of training. The improvement of skill, competence and tacit knowledge would push employees’ behaviour progress in organizations.
The competence is an underlying characteristic of a person which results in effective performance and in a job. Underlying successful performance in many real-world tasks is tacit knowledge of a kind that is never explicitly taught and in many instances never even verbalized.
Level Four Results
Learning and development activity has an important part to play in raising the skills and commitment levels needed by high-performing organizations, but that this activity needs to be supported by wider HR practices and to link positively with organizational goals.
That is to say learning and development as part of family of HR process that, if they are make a positive impact on organizational performance, need to be integrated and to support organizational goals.