Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Explaining Learning Theory to Clients

There are different theories to use when it comes to learning, one of the most influential theories is most common used in companies and in their organizations is psychological learning theory, also known as organizational learning theory. Organizational learning theory has traces of other learning theories that works with the idea that not all learning is has to have reinforcement as a motivation for learning. This learning theory takes into account a social element which debates that individuals learn new things through social interactions by watching people and modeling in order to learn about new behaviors and information. Because the outcome of the combination of social elements this theory of learning has extended the understanding of how learning in individuals works and has become an influential tool for psychologists to use in different fields such as in government or corporations.  During this presentation will cover the social learning theory as it applies to the Industrial organizational field of psychology covering how the basic tenants of the theory reinforce the study of learning.  Will also speak about how the theory can be applied to the Industrial Organizational psychology field and provide examples of how research methods care used to study learning processes.  Finally, will cover the APA ethical guidelines which would be relevant to the presentation being given.

When looking into a learning theory, one expect that the theory will provide context for studying, understanding and interpreting how an employee will process relates to learning. The organizational learning theory according to Schunk (2012), learning occurs when an organization utilizes new information in such a way that it results in observable changes to both individuals that make up the organization and the organization itself. 
Learning in an employee does not always produce a change in behavior but the goal of learning in an organization is to make an impact and possibly alter the way things work.  According to Schunk (2012), organizational learning studies theories and models about the way a company learns as well as adapts. .    Organizations are social by nature requiring interaction on some level in order for the organization to grow and be successful, which requires an understanding on how the company as well as the employee work there learn.  Organizational learning allows a company to learn through context and history how to improve services and training not only with the current employees working there but with future employees. Through using organizational learning theory, a company can break down different aspects of learning such as observation, experience, reflection and transference in order to find out how the company and individual members learns and apply the information to programs which assist in learning new information. 
            
In organizational development a company is able to expect changes or see that things are moving in a certain direction and the organization adapts to the changes in order to persist.  In organizational learning theory influences the study of learning by providing a new aspect to how employees learn.  In an organization learning is done in order to change behaviors to better a company and the services that the company may provide. Learning theories seek to understand and interpret how individuals learn. In organizational learning it is the same with the exception that the organization itself is also learning. In organizational learning theory it describes the processed an organization and its members go through to acquire new information, process it, and utilize it. The implications of this can be seen in the way individuals learn and pass new information on, from trainer to trainee.  According to Schnunk (2012), a transfer of knowledge or skills like this in which a person applies to new content or in new ways and situations benefits the organization in allowing it to adapt.  The new skills or abilities translates to new information or practices in the organization which results in observable changes in both organization and members.

            Organizational learning theory provides a means for studying the effectiveness of learning in the organization as well as providing different ways in order to increase effective learning and performance.  If the company is looking to integrate a new computer system which is completely different from the pen and paper method that they are used to using then there are going to be factors that need to be looked at. An organization is going to want to effectively train individuals on how to use the new system and provide trainers who are proficient with the new system. Organizational learning theory allows the company to look at aspects like providing information on how the change is contributing to the larger good of everyone making the jobs easier so that individuals are more invested and motivated to learn the information.  Additionally, through use of the organizational method researchers can find out information about how timeframes may make learning new information and implementing it hard for the company.  If a company needs to have everyone trained on the new computer system within a week because it is being implemented the following week then the company needs to know how the short timeframe is going to impact the employees and learning the new information.

            As researchers learn information like this they can devise a way to test theories though projects such as how followers may be influenced by strong leader or how individuals retain new information and learn to do new jobs effectively.  The more the researchers are able to observe and experiment the more information they are able to receive about how individuals learn and work in organizations. Argote (1999), states that factors such as learning how groups influence organizational learning provide insight to how a group breaks down work on a project.  Through observing the project researchers are able to study how individuals interact and communicate in the group, they can see strategies, leaders and followers, brainstorming, and motivation as the group works to complete the project.  After completion researchers can evaluate how effective the group was, the group’s performance, the outcome, and the productivity (Argote, 1999).  This allows researchers in organizational psychology to study how the individuals work together and learn from one another, motivating each other, and communicating in order to complete tasks.  In one study done by Bontis, Crossan, and Hulland (2002), the researchers wanted to test empirically the stocks and flows of organizational learning through knowledge being given across an individual, a team, and the organization.  Through this study the researchers were able to show a negative relationship between organizational performance and a misalignment of stocks and flows. 

            In the APA ethical guidelines for the industrial organizational psychology field there are 10 areas of standard conduct (Knapp, 2003).  The areas are generally the same for most fields of psychology dealing with individuals in the nature of learning, helping, or observing.  The first few areas include resolving ethical issues, competence, and human relations which should be some of the fields making concerns because the ease of violation in these areas is of concern for individuals that may not be familiar with the code itself (Knapp, 2003).  In industrial organizational psychology, it is important to maintain confidentiality with employees, especially when presenting ideas to management of a company about how to better train employees, motivate them, or go about adjusting behavioral issues. Additionally, when psychologists are educating others or researching information confidentiality should be kept which makes it so that one company is not given up in research without its permission.  Ethically if a psychologist wants to publish results of research, the company should approve to allow its name to be published, or the psychologist should only refer to the company in an anonymous. There are a few reasons a company may not want to be listed such as propriety information. A researcher has to make sure to maintain confidentiality for both organizations and employees involved.



      Argote, L. (1999). Organizational learning: Creating, retaining and transferring knowledge. Norwell, MA, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

      Bontis, N., Crossan, M., Hulland, J. (2002). Managing an organizational learning system by aligning stocks and flows. Journal of Management Studies 39(4). 437-469.
      Knapp, D., (2003). The ethical practice of I-O psychology. The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist. 40(4). 164-165.

      Schunk, D. H. (2012). Learning theories: An educational perspective (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. 

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