Transcending Learning and Development Activities: a Critical Perspective

In a competitive and changing environment where the main objective of organisations is to obtain best results, the provision of skills and knowledge to their employees is essential. At the same time, the knowledge and understanding of the adult learning process has increased over the years. This is being reflected in the change from traditional methods of training. Today the emphasis is moving from teaching to learning and from tutor to learner, while the emphasis on training methods adopted and the responsibility for learning rest firmly with the learner. It is against this background of changing attitudes, knowledge and methods that this research was carried out to collect and analyse empirical information in a case study using questionnaires and interviews. This was then gauged against best practice in learning and development. The study found that while appropriate practices were in place in the case study organisation, implementation and stakeholder commitment needed to be reinforced. In addition, assigning high priority to learners owning the learning process could yield the desired level of knowledge transfer to the workplace to optimise performance at all levels