Project 1

You are the manager of an organisation that sells and delivers IT training. You predominantly offer courses in the Maxihard Office suite and you know that Maxihard are bringing out a new version called Ultimo in six months. Ultimo is being hailed as the new revolution in IT and there is a lot of interest in it from the general public. You have been sent a trial copy of Ultimo by Maxihard but there are no training materials available yet.

Your team comprises:

- three staff trainers (one full-time and two part-time)

- three client relationship managers

- one sales administration trainee

- one receptionist

Your challenge is to get your team ready to launch your training courses in Ultimo in six months. In order to do this you need to prepare a learning and development strategy that includes all of the following aspects. (1,000–2,000 words)

1. Identify the learning needs of:

(a) The organisation.

(b) The team as a whole.

(c) Each of the individuals who will be involved.

2. Explain how you will encourage team members to assess their own competencies and identify their own learning and development needs. How will this be documented?

3. Provide a description of the activities you will utilise/ organise in order to achieve the learning needs.

4. Give an example of how you will document this learning in:

(a) Team performance plans.

(b) Individual performance plans.

5. Describe how you will accommodate the diversity of needs of participants and maximise participation in the learning opportunities you propose.

6. Which experts within your organisation, and external to your organisation, can you ask to help you? What will you ask for assistance with?

7. What changes to organisational procedures need to be made as a result of the learning that is being planned?

8. How will you monitor the learning activities whilst they are in progress?

9. What will you do to encourage team members to share their skills and knowledge:

(a) During the six months lead up time?

(b) Once Ultimo has been launched?

10. How will you recognise achievements of your team?

11. As you undertake the learning in order to prepare to sell and deliver Ultimo courses, how will you:

(a) Monitor each individual in your team and how well they are prepared?

(b) Monitor the overall team performance?

(c) Determine if additional work-based support is required?

12. Choose a specific learning activity to focus on and describe how you will gather feedback on the training activity from:

(a) The individuals involved.

(b) The team as a whole.

13. How will you use this information to make improvements in future learning arrangements?

14. What records of this learning and development need to be kept?

Project 2

Write a 1,000 word essay on learning organisations. Explain what a learning culture entails, what a learning organisation is, how learning organisations are created, developed and maintained and why continuous learning is essential to organisational success in today’s commercial world.

Research at least one organisation that purports to be a learning organisation and provide details of what they do, how they do it and what they had to do in order to create their learning culture. If possible, describe the tangible benefits that they have received as a result.