NATURE AND SCOPE OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT LEARNING AND HRD

Ronald Reagan T. Alonzo Bulacan State University Graduate School December 7, 2013

OBJECTIVES
This study will examine the nature and scope of HRD theory and practice. It will critically explore the changing contribution that training and development can make towards achieving organizational strategy, the changing roles of HRD practitioners, and approaches and perspectives on the strategic management of HRD. Likewise, concepts of learning will be introduce as part of the techniques in improving HRD.

WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

The field of HRD or Human Resource Development encompasses several aspects of enabling and empowering human resources in organization. The field of HRD spans several functions across the organization starting with employee recruitment and training, appraisals and payroll and extending to the recreational and motivational aspects of employee development. the field of HRD now has taken on a role that goes beyond employee satisfaction and instead, the focus now is on ensuring that employees are delighted with the working conditions and perform their jobs according to their latent potential which is brought to the fore

NATURE OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

HRD is a continuous process

HRD concerned with behavioural knowledge

HRD is a well integrated system

NATURE OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

HRD provides better quality of life

HRD focuses on all round development of human resources

Key Element for solving problems

SCOPE OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

HRD

is broader than human resource management; it consists of several sub-systems such as training and development, employee appraisal, counselling, rewards and welfare, quality of work life, etc. these are the areas within its scope. The following topics are included within the scope of HRD.

SCOPE OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

1.

2.

3.

Training: - Training is an essential element of HRD. This develops skills and capacity to work at higher levels and positions. Performance appraisal: - The purpose of performance appraisal is to study critically the performance of an employee and to guide him to improve his performance. Employee appraisal: - It relates to the study of capabilities of employees.

SCOPE OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (CONT)

4.

5. 6.

Career planning and development: - Under HRD employees should be given guidance for their selfdevelopment and career development. Employees welfare: - Welfare facilities are useful for creating efficient and satisfied labour force. Rewards and incentives: - HRD includes provision of rewards and incentives to employees to encourage them to learn, to grow and to develop new qualities, skills and experiences which will be useful in the near future.

SCOPE OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (CONT)

7.

8.

9.

Organizational development: - HRD aims at providing conflict-free operations throughout the organization. Quality of work life: - Quality of work life depends on sound relations between employer (owner) and employees. Human resource information system: - Such system acts as information bank and facilitates human resource planning and development in a proper manner.

LEARNING
Learning is a powerful incentive for many employees to stick to certain organizations. Learning has a significant impact on individual behavior as it influences abilities, role perceptions and motivation. Along with its role in individual behavior, learning is essential for knowledge management. Learning is defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of prior experience.

COMPONENTS OF LEARNING
1. 2.

3.

Learning involves change: a change may be for good or bad. Not all changes reflect learning: to constitute learning, change should be relatively permanent. Learning is reflected in behavior: a change in an individuals thought process or attitude, not accompanied by behavior, is no learning.

COMPONENTS OF LEARNING (CONT)

4.

5.

6.

The change in behavior should occur as a result of experience, practice or training: this implies that behavior caused from maturity, disease, or physical damages does not constitute learning. The practice or experience must be reinforced in order for learning to occur: if reinforcement does not accompany the practice or experience, the behavior will eventually disappear. Learning is not confined to ones schooling. Learning occurs throughout ones life.

THEORIES OF LEARNING

There are four theories which explain how learning occurs. They are Classical conditioning Operant conditioning Cognitive theory Social learning theory
Classical Conditioning

1. 2. 3. 4.

Social Learning

Learning

Operant Condtioning

Cognitive Learning

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

is based on the premise that a physical event termed a stimulus that initially does not elicit a particular response gradually acquires the capacity to elicit that response as a result of repeated pairing with a stimulus that elicits a reaction. Learning of this type is quite common and seems to play an important role in such reactions as strong fears, taste aversions, some aspects of sexual behavior and even racial or ethnic prejudice.

OPERANT CONDITIONING

also called instrumental conditioning refers to the process that our behavior produces certain consequences If our actions have pleasant effects, then we will be more likely to repeat them in the future. If, however, our actions have unpleasant effects, we are less likely to repeat them in the future. Thus, according to this theory, behavior is the function of its consequences.

COGNITIVE THEORY OF LEARNING

Cognitive

process assumes that people are conscious, active participants in how they learn. Cognitive theory of learning assumes that the organism learns the meaning of various objects and event and learned responses depending on the meaning assigned to stimuli. Edward Tolman (1930) found that unrewarded rats learned the layout of a maze, yet this was not apparent until they were later rewarded with food. (latent learning)

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY (VICARIOUS LEARNING)

called

observational learning, social learning theory, emphasizes the ability of an individual to learn by observing others. The important models may include parents, teachers, peers, motion pictures, TV artists, bosses and others. Social learning increases self-efficiency because people gain greater self-confidence after observing someone else do it than if they are simply told what to do.

PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING

1. 2. 3.

4.
5. 6.

Principles of learning are highly useful for trainer in order to impart maximum knowledge and skills to the trainees. However, blind adherence to these principles can cause more harm than good. Each principle should, therefore, be interpreted and applied carefully in full consideration of the particular task being learned and the most important of them are: Motivation Reinforcement Whole versus part learning Learning curves Meaningfulness of material Learning styles

MOTIVATION

The concept of motivation is basic because, without motivation learning does not take place or, at least, is not discernible. Motivation may be seen at different levels of complexity of a situation. A thirsty rat will learn the path through a maze to a dish of water; it is not likely to do so well, or even more purposefully at all, if it is satiated.

REINFORCEMENT, PUNISHMENT AND EXTINCTION

Reinforcement, punishment and extinction play a key role in learning process. Reinforcement is used to enhance desirable behavior; punishment and extinction are employed to minimize undesirable behavior. Reinforcement is the attempt to develop or strengthen desirable behavior. There are two types of reinforcement: positive and negative.

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

Positive reinforcement strengthens and enhances behavior by the presentation of positive reinforcers. Positive reinforcement strengthens and increase behavior by the presentation of desirable consequences. There are primary reinforcers and secondary reinforcers. Primary reinforcers satisfy basic biological needs and include food and water. Most behaviors in organizations are influenced by secondary reinforcers. These include such benefits as money, status, grades, trophies and praise from others. These include such benefits as money, status, grades, trophies and praise from others. These become positive reinforcers because of their associations with the primary reinforcers and hence are often called conditioned reinforcers.

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT HAS SEVERAL PRINCIPLES

The reinforcer must be administered only if the desired behavior has occurred. 2. The reinforcer will be most effective if administered immediately after the desired behavior has occurred. 3. The larger the amount of reinforcement delivered after the desired behavior, the more effect the reinforcer will have on the frequency of the desired behavior. 4. The greater effect it will have on the future occurrence of the desired behavior. However, if an individual recently has had enough of a reinforcer and is satisfied the reinforcer will have less effect.
1.

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
In negative reinforcement, an unpleasant event that precedes a behavior is removed when the desired behavior occurs. This procedure increases the likelihood that the desired behavior will occur. Some negative reinforcers such as intense heat, extreme cold, or electric shock, exert their effects the first time they are encountered, whereas others acquire their impact through repeated association.

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
Negative reinforcement strengthens and increases behavior by the threat of and the use of an undesirable consequence or the termination or withdrawal of an undesirable consequence. Negative reinforcement is sometimes confused with punishment, because both use unpleasant stimuli to influence behavior. However, negative reinforcement is used to increase the frequency of a desired behavior, where as punishment is used to decrease the frequency of an undesired behavior.

SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT

Reinforcement, positive or negative, needs to be properly scheduled. Schedules of reinforcement determine when reinforcers are applied.

Fixed Interval Schedule

Variable Interval Schedule

Fixed Ratio Schedule

Variable Ratio Schedule

PUNISHMENT

Punishment is the attempt to eliminate or weaken undesirable behavior. It is used in two ways. One way to punish a person is to apply a negative consequence called punishers following an undesirable behavior. The other way to punish a person is to withhold a positive consequence following an undesirable behavior. Even though punishment may stop an undesirable behavior of an employee, the potential negative outcomes may be greater than the cost of undesirable behavior. Punishment tends to minimize undesirable behavior. But if repeated, punishment may result in undesirable emotions, hostility towards boss, low performance and even high turnover and absenteeism.

EXTINCTION

Extinction is the weakening of a behavior by ignoring it or making sure it is not reinforced. The rationale for using extinction is that a behavior not followed by any reinforcer is weakened. In other words, if rewards are withdrawn for behavior that was previously reinforced, the behaviors probably will become less frequent and die out. But extinction needs time and patience to be effective.

WHOLE VERSUS PART LEARNING

A great deal of work has been done in psychology of learning to decide whether learning a whole job is superior to breaking the job into parts and learning the parts. In parts learning, the individual is not only required to learn each individual part but must be able to combine the separate parts so that the whole performance can be accomplished. No overall conclusion, however, has been reached in this field.

LEARNING CURVES

A highly useful learning concept which is valid for a wide range of situation is the learning curve, a diagrammatic presentation of the amount learned in relation to time. A typical learning curve will show on the Y-axis the amount learnt and the Xaxis the passage of time.

LEARNING CURVES (CONT)

LEARNING CURVE FEATURES

One such feature is the initial spurt. At the beginning, it is natural that the rate of learning exhibits spurt. Usually, the graph levels off at some stage, indicating that maximum performance has been achieved. Learning plateau. flattening off in terms of the improvement. Frequently, the process of learning is marked by discontinuities and involves escalating from one plateau to another. Most learners are only too aware of the experience of finding themselves on a plateau, which manifests itself in the feeling that they are never going to get anywhere. Organization of learning. Organization of learning is achieved when the learner discovers a new and more effective method of performing particular tasks. For example, when he learns to apply calculus to solve problems of business. Disorganization of learning is an actual fall off in performance. This arises when the subject has to choose between alternative methods of tackling a task. End spurt. The end spurt is preceded by fatigue which is likely to set in with the passage of time. When the training season draws nearer to an end and the subject realizes this, there occurs resurgence of interest and effort to learn more. This revival is called the end spurt.

MEANINGFULNESS OF MATERIAL

A definite relationship has been established between learning and meaningfulness of the subject learnt. The more meaningful the materials, the better does learning proceed. Learning of nonsense syllables proceeds more slowly than that of prose or poetry. On a broader scale, a programme of learning, where, each task makes for meaningfulness, trainers do have certain techniques that increase meaning for the trainees. Organizing meaningfulness units, creating association with already familiar terms, and providing a conceptual basis of logical reason for the material are some of the practical possibilities.

LEARNING STYLES

The final principle of learning is the learning styles. Learning style refers to the ability of an individual to learn. A managers long-term success depends more on the ability to learn than on the mastery of the specific skills or technical knowledge.

LEARNING STYLES (CONT)

There are four styles people use when learning: accommodation, divergence, assimilation and convergence. The four styles are based on dimensions: feeling versus thinking and doing versus observing.

LEARNING STYLES (CONT)

Accommodator:

He tends to learn primarily from hands-on experience. He tends to act on gut feeling rather than on logical analysis. An accommodator tends to rely more heavily on people for information while making decisions. He seeks action-oriented careers such as marketing, politics, public relations and management.

LEARNING STYLES (CONT)

Diverger: A diverger learns by observing and feeling. The diverger has the ability to view concrete situations from different angles. When solving problems, diverger enjoys brainstorming. He takes time and analyses many alternatives. Diverger is imaginative and sensitive to the needs of the other people. He seeks careers in entertainment, arts and services sector.

LEARNING STYLES (CONT)

Converger:

A converger learns by doing and thinking. The converger seeks practical use for information. When presented with problems and making decisions, the converger tends to focus on solutions. Converger tends to prefer dealing with technical tasks and problems rather than social and interpersonal issues. Converger seeks technical careers in various scientific fields and work at engineering, production supervision, IT and managerial jobs.

LEARNING STYLES (CONT)

Assimilator:

an assimilator learns by observing and thinking. The assimilator is effective at understanding a wide range of information and putting in to concise and logical form. It is more important for the assimilator that an idea or theory is logical than practical. Assimilator tends to be more concerned with abstract idea and concept than with people. He tends to seek careers in education, information and science

CONCLUSION

The human factor is an integral part of the corporate plan and the managements should develop and properly utilize the human resource talents in the best possible manner. The failure to do so would certainly cause a great concern to the organizations and to the nation. Over the years, it has been found that money is not the only factor in getting the best out of the workers in terms of their talents. Gradually, the monetary incentives get replaced by safety, selfesteem and self actualization needs. In the light of present day changes taking place in the business world the organizations and the government should initiate steps to accelerate the pace of H.R.D. Steps should be taken to create training, work culture and learning culture among the employees for making the H.R.D. concept more effective and ultimately enable the employees and the organization to achieve its mission and goals.

BEST PRACTICES: THE TOYOTA WAY

BEST PRACTICES: THE TOYOTA WAY

Development of Human Resources with Strong Language Abilities and a Local View and Local Sense of Regions around the World (is a system for sending young employees to overseas sites as trainees in order to develop human resources. ) ICT Program for Self-reliance of Affiliates and Contribution to Local Communities (ICT (Intra Company Transferee) program temporarily transfers employees of overseas affiliates to TMC for human resource development through on-the-job training. Transferees learn skills and know-how throughout their training periods which range from six months to three years.)

GPC Promotes a Uniform Approach Towards Developing Employees Who can Meet Rigorous Global Standards (The GPC has developed and provided a range of training equipment as well as training manuals complete with animations and videos that are designed to promote faster and more efficient skills acquisition.) Promoting Various Measures to Create a Workplace Full of Vigor and Enthusiasm (Toyota is currently working to establish various programs to help female workers balance work with childcare and to educate employees on effectively utilizing the programs while refining communication tools for these activities.)

BEST PRACTICES: THE TOYOTA WAY

Promotion of Localization of Management at Overseas Affiliates (Toyota has been promoting the localization of management at overseas affiliates from a medium- to long-term perspective.)

BEST PRACTICES: THE TOYOTA WAY

Job Placement Program for Over-sixties (Following the 1991 introduction of the Internal Reemployment Program for Retired Professionals, an Optional Re-employment Application System was launched in 2001 to outplace applicants to external affiliates and other sites, providing a framework for helping over-sixties to continue working at either external or internal workplaces.)

REFERENCES
Hino, Satoshi (2005). Inside the Mind of Toyota: Management Principles for Enduring Growth. Productivity Press. Liker, Jeffrey K.; Meier, David (2005). The Toyota Way Fieldbook: A Practical Guide for Implementing Toyota's 4Ps. McGraw-Hill. http://www.mimts.org/login/upload/faculty_notes/_Dec052 012133812HRM%20%20Meaning,%20Nature,%20Scope%20and%20Signific ance.pdf http://www.scribd.com/doc/100177718/13376295Learning-Definition-Theories-Principles

Thank you for listening!!!