Introduction
Learning and development, or L&D, refers to a specific function in an organization that is mainly responsible for empowering the growth or development of employees so that their knowledge, capabilities, and skills are developed (Xie et al., 2019). It is necessary for better employee engagement and retention. Moreover, the organizational management can ensure that the morale of every employee is enhanced to enhance their productivity. The appropriate culture and environment would be created for all organizations and individuals to learn and grow. As a result, team functionality is enhanced, and a major consistency is identified in the process. It refers to the current and future capability requirements of the organization and even the process of creating a learning culture for driving engagement in ongoing professional development (Smith and Hill, 2019). This report provides a brief discussion of the learning and development of the organization of Apple UK with relevant descriptions.
2. Discussion
2.1 Brief Discussion of the Organization
Apple Inc. is one of the leading and most successful multinational corporations and technology companies in the global sector (Apple.com. 2024). The main reason why the organization has gained success in the existing market is that they have been using updated strategies and approaches for learning and development to ensure that employee engagement and retention are prioritized (Apple.com. 2024).
Figure 1: Apple’s Revenue Forecast
(Source: Apple’s Company Analysis. 2023)
The inclusion of learning and development has ensured that Apple UK is successful in focusing on overall procedural improvement. L&D functions are also responsible for encouraging continuous improvement and increased consistency. Client satisfaction is also enhanced, and the organization’s workplace relationships are built successfully (Xie et al., 2019). Furthermore, these employees get an opportunity to reskill and upskill without any complexities.
2.2 Apple’s Learning and Development Strategy and Objectives
Apple UK’s organizational management has ensured that they are implementing updated strategies and plans to improve learning and development and gain maximum effectiveness under every circumstance. The organizational L&D programs have been encouraging different employees to self-learn, which occurs within the organization for an entire year. This particular brand has been leveraging full-time academic employees to design and teach various types of courses (L&D strategy of Apple. 2024). All staff can eventually sign up for customized courses based on their job roles and backgrounds on the exclusive internal website so that maximum efficiency is gained. Apple’s lead-to-success program is referred to as the most vital and significant example of learning and development that the business processes and operations have implemented.
Figure 2: L&D Strategy Stakeholders
(Source: L&D Strategy Stakeholders. 2023)
The main objective of Apple UK’s L&D strategy is to help its employees or staff understand the main business values and gauge the process of aligning these values with the business strategies and aspects (L&D strategy of Apple. 2024). The L&D program even aims to successfully develop new skills, which can provide support to future business growth or development. It is also identified that the organizational management has ensured that every manager of Apple UK has been considering these strategies and approaches to deal with the changes and aspects without any complexities and issues. L&D strategy has the objective of motivating every existing and new employee to surround themselves with the best aspects, such as high-quality materials and talented peers (Berg, Paige and Lou, 2023). As a result, they have been successful in ensuring that the employee development process is prioritized and the issue of employee turnover is eradicated successfully.
Figure 3: L&D plans for 2022
(Source: State of L&D. 2022)
The management of Apple has even ensured that they are providing appropriate training and development programs for the employees so that there would be several short-term and long-term benefits accordingly (Berg, Paige and Lou, 2023). The L&D program in the organization is responsible for providing three distinctive options to the organizational staff, and these include improving the overall performance, voluntarily leaving Apple with severance, and finally appealing to the management’s decisions to place them in the top priority section (Mahon and Lehman, 2022). It refers to the aspect that every negative aspect and impact is eradicated, and various changes are enforced accordingly. Better work performance is identified in the process, and the L&D program has been leveraging project-based learning to ensure that employees successfully understand the process of applying every major skill in practice without any issues.
As a result, the objective of Apple’s L&D strategy is to ensure that management and employees are aware of every employee’s skill and knowledge. This is being done by leading various training programs so that employers are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of every employee onboard (Cantor et al., 2021). The overall employee development aspect and workplace training specification are enhanced to improve employee well-being and engagement so that the top talent is attracted. Customer satisfaction aspects are also improved to ensure that the employees are able to provide services and products to their customers accordingly and maximum competitive benefits are gained.
Apple UK has also ensured that new talent is attracted to this specific program so that better results are gained. Employee engagement and support are also identified as part of the learning and development strategy in organizational management (Darling-Hammond et al., 2020). It also refers to the aspect of the employees reaching their full potential and accomplishing the highest level of competency. Apple UK has been providing accessible on-demand training to its employees to help them pursue their career goals, lean into their respective interests, and take their future into these aspects. As a result, the strategy and objective of L&D in Apple UK have been extremely distinctive. The management has implemented new approaches to deal with the changing attributes and procedures accordingly.
2.3 Critical Appraisal of Two Learning and Development Theories or Models and their Effectiveness to Improve Employee Wellbeing
A few learning and development theories and models could be implemented in Apple UK to ensure that better efficiency and results are identified and gained without any complexities and issues (Burkov, 2019). This specific team of L&D has been designing effective training programs so that learning is driven and mental involvement is modelled for every existing employee in the organization. Apple, being a part of the multinational sector, has ensured that it treats its employees as its greatest assets. The inclusion of the L&D approach has been vital for Apple in creating a proper organizational culture that appreciates the overall professional growth of every employee.
According to a recent survey, almost 93% of employees are more interested in remaining retained with an organization that is willing to invest in their respective career development. Apple has identified that L&D has been responsible for attracting and retaining top talent in the business, and a development strategy has been successfully implemented. Moreover, employee motivation is also enhanced, and feelings of dissatisfaction are reduced. Another objective of including the L&D strategy in Apple is that it is responsible for developing and nurturing future leaders so that organizational growth and evolution can be identified accordingly. Proper training should be provided to these employees with the skills that are required to become potential future leaders. Two such learning and development theories for Apple UK are provided below:
i) The first L&D theory is the constructivist learning theory. According to this specific theory, learners can construct knowledge and not only focus on the required information. Since various individuals have been experiencing the global sector, they have been successful in reflecting on the major experiences without any complexities (Pennington et al., 2019). These individuals are also responsible for building their representation as well as incorporating new information into every pre-existing knowledge or schema. It also refers to the aspect that learning is an active procedure and a social activity that can reduce the existing issues and complexities without any complexities and issues (Osher et al., 2021).
Figure 4: Constructivism L&D Theory
(Source: Constructivism L&D Theory. 2023)
Apple UK can ensure that they are successfully applying constructivist learning theory in their business procedures and operations so that every employee successfully reflects on their skills and knowledge to enhance the learning procedure accordingly. Question and answer programs can be involved in the process so that the employees can focus on the changes and attributes without any complexities (Chanana and Sangeeta, 2021). Existing experiences and knowledge factors are required for every constructivist. Prior knowledge is required to be assessed with various questionnaires to check whether the learners are successful in the program or not. It refers to the fact that the management has been encouraging employees to ask and answer every major question through proper group and research discussions in the organization (Darling-Hammond et al., 2020).
Organizational management must explore different media so that the organization can successfully understand the learning process of every employee in the business (Carrillo and Flores, 2020). Apple UK should ensure that it does not rely on a lecture-style training program. On the contrary, it should identify various methods to build maximum employee interactivity into different courses. This specific aspect would be required for employee development and well-being practices. It can be done either through the medium or the method of learners interacting with different materials. It has also been identified that peer learning and dialogue management are focused on the instructor as the facilitator (Mukhalalati and Taylor, 2019).
Another application of the constructivist learning theory in Apple UK to improve employee well-being is by including appropriate and relevant context. It is identified that learning is personal, and the employees should be capable of reflecting on their work practices and operations from every major experience. Furthermore, ground learning in the organization would be considered responsible for the major relevancy of the staff. Hence, the notion of the learner would be an active driver of learning, which could be termed fundamental to the learning and development process (Tomlinson, 2023). The employee well-being process would be improved, and maximum efficiency and effectiveness would be gained from the organizational procedures and operations.
ii) Another appropriate L&D theory that can be applied in Apple UK to improve employee well-being is adult learning theory or andragogy. Six major assumptions are required to be considered for this specific theory, and these include the fact that adults should know about the procedures and operations successfully. Moreover, the self-concept of the learner would be required to be considered (Bodrova and Leong, 2024). The next assumption is that the role of the learner’s experiences would be checked and managed so that every employee can participate actively in the learning procedure. It is also required to ensure that every employee is ready to learn new aspects and requirements in the business procedures so that the learning journey is improved. For employees, orientation to learning courses is required to be focused on the sake of learning (Mukhalalati and Taylor, 2019). The final assumption of this particular L&D theory is that it provides motivation to employees, and this could be driven by major internal factors that drive a desire for higher self-esteem.
(Source: Importance of the L&D Program. 2024)
It refers to the aspect that the employees of Apple UK would be required to understand the reason for learning new aspects and attributes. In a learning situation, employees are required to be treated as adults with previously existing points of view, experiences and knowledge or skills. It is also identified that the varied experiences of the employees would be responsible for actively participating in the learning procedure so that the new employees are also able to follow the processes (Michaelsen et al., 2023). Training and development programs are required to be considered to ensure that the readiness to learn or develop would be analyzed and focused.
Employees should enter learning situations when it could be making proper sense in their developing careers, professional goals and different circumstances. For the employees, learning courses should be grounded in a real-world context, and the sake of learning should be considered. It also can be termed responsible for ensuring that the employees of Apple UK are successfully driven by all internal factors so that they are motivated and are able to execute the business procedures and operations without any complexities (Mukhalalati and Taylor, 2019). Learning and development teams would respect the major principles of every adult learning theory within the training procedure.
The successful application of the adult learning theory in Apple UK’s organization would involve a bottom-up approach to training needs analysis and letting employees share their experiences. Proper expertise needs to be considered in different areas that they know about and even engage in the peer learning procedure (Mahon and Lehman, 2022). It is also required to opt for self-directed learning methodology in business procedures and operations. Independent study, research, and lesson planning would be responsible for the learning and development teams acting as facilitators for every knowing instructor within the set-up. As a result, there would be a chance for a shifting application as well as orientation in the business operations so that every negative impact would be reduced (Malik and Garg, 2020).
Figure 6: Pie Chart showing the HR L&D Program
(Source: HR L&D Program. 2024)
Employee well-being aspects are improved in Apple UK with these two L&D theories, which could be an excellent method to acquire new skills and understand every major topic or aspect without any complexities (Mukhalalati and Taylor, 2019). Social events would be regular, and exercise would be encouraged so that every employee would be successful in identifying the major areas of concern and aspects. Successful improvement of employee well-being would be responsible for enhancing staff health and teamwork. Moreover, mental well-being would be enhanced, which would be responsible for planning for further improvements and increasing productivity as well as employee morale. New skills or experiences would be enhanced in the process, and valued employees are termed engaged employees. Employers in Apple UK have been facing issues related to employee engagement (Osher et al., 2021). However, with the involvement of learning and development theories and models, these issues and challenges would be eradicated.
Every employee’s different goals and aspirations would be enhanced, and they would perform well in the business so that maximum efficiency and effectiveness are identified (Antunes and Pinheiro, 2020). Furthermore, Apple UK can implement new ideas and strategies to ensure that employees feel valued and motivated. It could create value in employees, and they would be successful in contributing positively to the business’s growth or development (Smith and Hill, 2019). L&D theories would also be responsible for improving the existing business procedures so that the teamwork strategies and operations are effective. Additional investment in the learning and development procedures would be required for the business so that every major change is identified and the workplace operations are improved. As a result, employee well-being would improve, and better results would be gained at Apple UK (Mahon and Lehman, 2022).
3. Conclusion
Hence, it could be concluded that Apple has considered updated strategies for learning and development aspects in the business procedures and operations so that maximum efficiency is gained under every circumstance. Employee well-being can be improved with the appropriate involvement of learning and development theories and models. It would also ensure that the organizational management is successful in reducing the negative impacts and issues accordingly. The most distinctive benefits of L&D in Apple UK include employee engagement, employee retention, the attraction of new talent and the enhancement of productivity under every circumstance. It also ensures that the morale of every employee would be enhanced and continuous improvement would be encouraged successfully. This report has provided a detailed discussion of the organizational approach to learning and development at Apple, using two L&D theories, as well as their effectiveness in improving employee well-being.
References
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