HRD and Learning Organisations in Europe

Hilde ter Horst, Martin Mulder, Sally Sambrook, Jaap Scheerens, Jim Stewart, Saskia Tjepkema, Hilde ter Horst, Martin Mulder, Sally Sambrook, Jaap Scheerens, Jim Stewart, Saskia Tjepkema

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2002
• eBook ISBN: 9781134471553
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

'Lifelong learning' is moving from buzzword to reality for ever latger numbers of workers. Firms increasingly need their workers to be active, self-directed learners who contribute to innovations and improvements of processes, products and services. Companies that explicitly encourage and support worker learning, from a strategic perspective, are c

1 Introduction

This book presents the results of a European study into the changing role of HRD, as the concept of the learning organisation becomes relevant for a growing number of firms. The background, objectives, research questions and the underlying research project are described in this chapter. An overview of the structure of the book is also provided, to help guide readers through the chapters.

New challenges for HRD

As innovation and flexibility in meeting customer’s needs are now among the core challenges for many firms, ‘learning’ is becoming more of a strategic organisational challenge. This new significance of learning for the business is highlighted in concepts such as the learning organisation and knowledge management.

Also, with the decline of lifetime employment and the rapid speed of change, it is necessary for individual workers to learn continuously throughout their working lives in order to keep up with changes and to remain attractive for employers. So, lifelong learning has become a challenge at the individual level too.

Lifelong learning has become, and will remain, an important topic for Europe, as the continent develops into a ‘learning society’ (Gass, 1996; Brandsma, 1997). Work organisations are becoming important partners in this learning society, as they provide ever more opportunities for continuous learning for their employees, with the objective of optimising organisational learning.

This new emphasis on ‘learning’ poses challenges for human resource development (HRD): how can this particular activity support the development of companies towards learning organisations, and – in doing so – create opportunities for lifelong learning for employees?

Some of the main challenges facing HRD are:

• Establishing firm linkages between strategic goals at the company level, and HRD policy, thus making sure that HRD efforts support the achievement of business objectives.
• Finding new ways to support those individual and collective learning processes that take place during work, or are closely linked to work, on a just-in-time basis. Instead of focusing primarily on providing training programmes to work on specific, clearly identified skill gaps, HRD departments have to pay more and more attention to other types of learning interventions, such as creating a learning climate in the workplace.
• Creating learning partnerships, in which HRD professionals, line managers and employees all fulfil an active role in setting learning objectives, creating learning opportunities and supporting learning processes as an on-going and integrated part of daily organisational life.

With a growing number of publications on HRD’s role in organisational learning by fostering the learning of employees, the changing nature of HRD is gradually becoming more clear. However, many uncertainties remain for HRD professionals, especially in terms of how to enact their new roles. There is little practical literature, and very few instruments to help HRD practitioners in this regard. Meanwhile, many interesting initiatives are being undertaken by HRD practitioners throughout Europe in facilitating employee learning on a continuous basis, on- and off-the-job, and thus support the strategic learning processes of the organisation as a whole.

Background and objectives of the study

The study on which this book is based was conducted during 1998 and 1999. The main aim was to investigate HRD’s changing role, focusing on the challenges faced by HRD departments in so-called ‘learning-oriented organisations’. Learning-oriented organisations are defined as companies that strive to enhance opportunities for employee learning with the aim of evolving towards a ‘learning organisation’.

The first objective was to look more closely at the ways in which the new role of HRD in fostering employee learning was interpreted in European organisations. Though several influential publications with a European origin have appeared in this field, literature on concepts such as the learning organisation and fostering workplace learning has traditionally been dominated by American and, to a lesser degree, Japanese perspectives and practices. Because the situation in Europe differs from that in those countries, it is useful to gain more insight into the European perspective. This was achieved by focusing fieldwork on several European countries, to gain an insight to the ‘European dimension’. In this way the results offer a contribution to a European model for lifelong learning, which is becoming increasingly important as Europe develops into a learning society. This model will eventually address the role of individuals, governments, systems for primary education, vocational education and adult education as well as the role of work organisations in creating opportunities for lifelong learning. The results of this study will hopefully feed the discussion on the contribution that one of these parties – namely work organisations – can make to the emerging European infrastructure for lifelong learning.

The second objective, as important as the first, was to contribute to the further professional development of HRD in Europe. HRD currently faces many questions and challenges as a result of the organisational need for continuous learning and change. It is important that HRD meets these challenges. Competent and pro-active HRD professionals, who are able to assist organisations in the realisation of meaningful, strategic learning processes of employees, will help these organisations in securing their competitiveness. To further the professionalisation of the HRD field, both concepts and practices of HRD departments were considered in this study. The term concept refers to the ways in which HRD departments view their own role in creating opportunities for employee learning. Practices are the way in which HRD professionals try to bring their ideas into being, including the problems they face and the ways in which they solve them. By deliberately taking into account the practical considerations, the results of the study are twofold: an expanded knowledge base, and an extended range of useful working strategies and instruments. Thus, the results can serve both as:

• practical guidelines for HRD practitioners throughout Europe on how to facilitate employee learning and thus assist their organisations in securing their competitiveness in a continuously changing environment;
• a venture point for further research on the changing role of HRD in work organisations.

Thus, this book is aimed at both practitioners and academics (researchers, students, teachers) in the field of HRD.

Research questions and design of the study

The two key objectives were translated into the following research questions:

1. How do HRD departments in learning oriented organisations throughout Europe envision their own role in stimulating and supporting employees to learn continuously, as a part of everyday work (with the intention of contributing to organisational learning, and thus enhancing organisational competitiveness)?
2. What strategies do European HRD departments adopt to realise their envisioned role?
3. What factors inhibit the realisation of this new role? How do HRD practitioners cope with these factors?
4. What factors facilitate the realisation of HRD’s new role?

To study these questions, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods was used. During the first phase of the project, conducted in 1998, data were collected by means of case study research. Four organisations were selected in each of the seven countries involved, resulting in twenty-eight case studies. The aim was to gain an in-depth understanding of the visions of HRD departments in these organisations, the strategies they adopted to bring these visions into practice, and the facilitative factors as well as the difficulties they encountered during this implementation process.

By definition, case study results are hard to generalise. In order to test out whether the case study findings were valid for a larger group of learning-oriented organisations throughout Europe, a small-scale survey was conducted across 160 companies throughout the seven countries in 1999. This constituted the second phase of the project.

The partnership

The study was funded by the European Commission, and carried out by an international group of researchers. The research project team consisted of partners from seven European countries – Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom – plus a member of the European Consortium for the Learning Organisation. The project management team consisted of researchers from the University of Twente, The Netherlands. Table 1.1 provides an overview of the partnership.

Each partner organisation managed data collection in its own country (the two Italian partners shared that responsibility for Italy). The project management team prepared drafts of all relevant documents, such as the data collection plan, data collection instruments, theoretical framework and the final report. The partners commented on those drafts, and their input was used to finalise documents. The partners met for two partner meetings, and otherwise communicated frequently through e-mail, telephone and letters. The role of ECLO in the partnership was mainly to help find suitable cases and to facilitate the dissemination of findings.

How to read this book

The book begins with a discussion of the conceptual framework underlying the study (Chapter two). This framework summarises important insights on HRD’s role in learning organisations, based on literature and research. Then, a more detailed explanation of the research design is provided (Chapter three).

Central to this book are the case study reports from each of the participating countries (Chapters four to ten). These include cases from both the service and manufacturing sectors, with a rich diversity of types of organisation. The case studies are organised by country, so it is possible to read results for one country only. Each case study includes a brief description of the type of case organisation, so, it is also possible to read only those case studies from a particular sector, such as IT or manufacturing. Especially noteworthy HRD practices are highlighted throughout the case study chapters in separate text boxes.

The results from both the case study research and the survey are then summarised (Chapter eleven). Conclusions are drawn with regard to each of the research questions. A reflection on and discussion of the findings concludes the book (Chapter twelve).

Table 1.1 The partnership

2 Learning organisations and HRD

Saskia Tjepkema, Hilde ter Horst and Martin Mulder

This chapter outlines the main theoretical concepts underlying this study. The chapter starts with a reflection on the need for organisational learning and an exploration of the concepts of the learning organisation and the learning-oriented organisation (‘Lifelong learning, organisational learning and learning-oriented organisations’). Then there is a discussion of the theoretical basis on the changing role of the Human Resource Development function as a consequence of the concept of the learning organisation (‘Human resource development in learning-oriented organisations’). As this book has a specific European outlook, the question is also posed as to whether the approach to HRD within Europe differs from that in the US and Japan (A European outlook on HRD? Comparison with US and Japan’).

Lifelong learning, organisational learning and learning-oriented organisations

Currently, lifelong learning is an important topic on the European agenda. The idea of learning throughout the whole lifespan is not new. The notion has already been in the spotlights during the 1970s, when concepts such as ‘lifelong learning’, ‘recurrent education’ and ‘education permanente ’, were coined. During the 1980s, the discussion was continued on a smaller scale. Recently, the theme of lifelong learning has gained renewed attention (Brandsma, 1997). The most visible manifestation of this attention is the fact that the year 1996 was proclaimed as the official European Year of Lifelong Learning. This has rekindled previous discussions and instigated a new flood of publications, conferences and public debates.

Lifelong learning and the development of a learning society

Lifelong learning is defined by Brandsma (1997: 10) as:

• a process of personal development from employed and unemployed people that takes place continuously;
• a process that can contain both informal and formal activities;
• a process that makes demands upon structures in which lifelong learning takes place/can take place in creating the conditions that facilitate learning and learning to learn.

Lifelong learning is a process with many objectives, which the OECD describes as follows:

It is geared to serve several objectives: to foster personal development, including the use of time outside work (including in retirement); to strengthen democratic values; to cultivate community life; to maintain social cohesion; and to promote innovation, productivity and economic growth.

(OECD, 1996: 15)

The significance of lifelong learning gives rise to the need to develop a so-called learning society, which provides an infrastructure that supports learning throughout the whole lifespan. A learning society refers to mobilisation of not only the public education and training systems, but of all sectors in society, such as public authorities and individuals in creating opportunities for learning (Gass, 1996). Companies also play an important role in creating a learning society, as work grows to become an important source of learning (Pawlowsky and Bäumer, 1996). To an increasing degree, organisations deliberately set out to create learning opportunities for employees, believing that they need ‘learning individuals’ in order to realise ‘organisational learning’.

Organisational learning

Current business realities of many European organisations place ever more demands on their ability to respond quickly and adequately to changes in their environments, by improving existing products and services or by innovation (Carnevale, 1992; Nonaka, 1991). As a result of the ever-increasing rate of (technological) change – induced by developments such as globalisation and the current ‘explosion of knowledge’ – organisational capacity for learning was pinpointed as the key ability for organisations in the 1990s, and beyond. New managerial concepts such as the learning organisation (Senge, 1990), the intelligent organisation (Pinchot and Pinchot, 1994; Quinn, 1994), the knowledge-creating company (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995) and knowledge management (Drucker, 1995; Leonard-Barton, 1995; Pawlowsky and Bäumer, 1996) reflect the search for ways to improve organisational capacity for learning.

There are several classifications of organisational learning processes (e.g. Fiol and Lyles, 1985; Bomers, 1990; Pascale, 1990; Swieringa and Wierdsma, 1992), practically all of which are based on the typology of Argyris and Schön (1978). This typology distinguishes between two types of learning: single loop and double loop learning. Figure 2.1 (Argyris, 1992) depicts both processes.

An organisation’s governing variables are, for example, its mission statement, and its (tacitly held) assumptions on the best way in which to achieve the organisational goals. Organisations undertake actions based on these governing variables. These actions have certain consequences. Here, Figure 2.1 distinguishes between two possibilities. On the one hand, the results can be as expected, in which case there is a match between the intended outcome and the actual outcome. On the other hand, it is possible that the results of an action are not what the organisation had expected, in which case there is a mismatch between expectations and outcome.

Single loop, double loop and deutero-learning

In the theory of Argyris and Schön (1978) such a mismatch is the starting point for an organisational learning process. The organisation has to find out how to change its actions in order to achieve the intended outcome. This learning process can occur at two levels. First the level of single loop learning: this means the organisation makes small adjustments in its actions, but doesn’t radically change them. To take a simplified example: imagine a chef who discovers hotel guests find the cake he just baked is too sweet. The next time the chef bakes a cake, he adds a little less sugar to the mixture than in the original recipe. In an organisational context a renewed version of a known product is a good example of an outcome of a single loop learning process.

However, making small adjustments at the action level is not always enough to solve the problem. Sometimes the reason for the mismatch is located at a deeper level: the organisation’s governing variables. Then a double loop learning process is required in order to reach the intended outcome. To return to the example of the hotel chef: suppose he finds out the guests don’t like sweet cake at all, but would prefer some savoury dish instead. In this case he discovers that one of his basic assumptions – that guests like sweet cake – is not accurate and nee...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• List of illustrations
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Learning organisations and HRD
• 3 Methodology
• 4 Cases from Belgium
• 5 Cases from Finland
• 6 Cases from France
• 7 Cases from Germany
• 8 Cases from Italy
• 9 Cases from The Netherlands
• 10 Cases from the United Kingdom
• 11 Conclusions from case studies and survey
• 12 Reflections and discussion
• Bibliography