TY - JOUR
T1 - L&D professionals in organisations
T2 - much ambition, unfilled promise
AU - Garavan, Thomas N.
AU - Heneghan, Sinead
AU - O’Brien, Fergal
AU - Gubbins, Claire
AU - Lai, Yanqing
AU - Carbery, Ronan
AU - Duggan, James
AU - Lannon, Ronnie
AU - Sheehan, Maura
AU - Grant, Kirsteen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2020/2/5
Y1 - 2020/2/5
N2 - Purpose: This monograph reports on the strategic and operational roles of learning and development (L&D) professionals in Irish, UK European and US organisations including multinational corporations, small to medium enterprises, the public sector and not for profit organisations. This paper aims to investigate 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 roles and the relationships between context, L&D roles, competencies/expertise and perceived organisational effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach: The study findings are based on the use of multiple methods. The authors gathered data from executives, senior managers, line managers, employee and L&D professionals using multiple methods: a survey (n = 440), Delphi study (n = 125) and semi-structured interviews (n = 30). Findings: 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. The authors 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. Originality/value: This is one of the few studies to have investigated the L&D professional role in organisations from the perspective of multiple stakeholders using multiple research methods.
AB - Purpose: This monograph reports on the strategic and operational roles of learning and development (L&D) professionals in Irish, UK European and US organisations including multinational corporations, small to medium enterprises, the public sector and not for profit organisations. This paper aims to investigate 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 roles and the relationships between context, L&D roles, competencies/expertise and perceived organisational effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach: The study findings are based on the use of multiple methods. The authors gathered data from executives, senior managers, line managers, employee and L&D professionals using multiple methods: a survey (n = 440), Delphi study (n = 125) and semi-structured interviews (n = 30). Findings: 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. The authors 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. Originality/value: This is one of the few studies to have investigated the L&D professional role in organisations from the perspective of multiple stakeholders using multiple research methods.
KW - Careers
KW - Competencies
KW - Context
KW - Learning and development professionals
KW - Perceived effectiveness
KW - Roles
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075927927&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/EJTD-09-2019-0166
DO - 10.1108/EJTD-09-2019-0166
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85075927927
SN - 2046-9012
VL - 44
SP - 1
EP - 86
JO - European Journal of Training and Development
JF - European Journal of Training and Development
IS - 1
ER -