L&D professionals in organisations: much ambition, unfilled promise

This monograph reports a study investigating the roles of learning and development (L&D) professionals in Irish, UK European and US organisations. The study investigates the contextual factors influencing L&D roles in organisations, the strategic and operational roles that L&D professionals play in organisations, the competencies and career trajectories of L&D professionals, the perceptions of multiple internal stakeholders of the effectiveness of L&D and the relationships between context, L&D roles, competencies/expertise, and perceived effectiveness. We gathered data using multiple methods: survey (n=440), Delphi study (n=125) and semi-structured interviews (n=30). The analysis revealed that L&D professionals increasingly respond to a multiplicity of external and internal contextual influences and internal stakeholders perceived the effectiveness of L&D professionals differently with significant gaps in perceptions of what L&D contributes to organisational effectiveness. L&D professionals perform both strategic and operational roles in organisations and they progress through four career levels. Each L&D role and career level requires a distinct and unique set of foundational competencies and L&D expertise. Finally, we found that different contextual predictors were important in explaining the perceived effectiveness of L&D roles and the importance attached to different foundational competencies and areas of L&D expertise. We discuss the implications for theory, research and practice

Learning and development effectiveness in organisations: An integrated systems-informed model of effectiveness

This book offers an integrated and contextualised framework for learning and development (L&D) effectiveness that addresses both the nature of L&D and its antecedents and outcomes in organisations. Scholars and practitioners alike have recognised the important role that L&D plays in organisations, where the development of human capital is an essential component of individual employability, career advancement, organisational performance, and competitive advantage.The development of employees’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes constitutes one of the most important HR challenges that organisations face. The evidence indicates that organisations continue to invest in L&D programmes as part of their HR strategy. In addition, there has been an enormous growth in research on L&D in organisations; however, there is some ambiguity concerning the effectiveness of these activities and it largely remains unclear how they can be best implemented. This book seeks to address this gap in the literature. The authors propose a framework for L&D effectiveness based on key findings from reviews, empirical research, and meta-analyses, as well as previously established theoretical frameworks within the field. Combining theory and practice, the new framework this book offers provides key guidance for L&D practitioners and researches interested in the area