Learning at work: practical steps to maximize the individual and organizational benefits

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore how organizations can use workplace learning to cope with and respond to change, create and sustain an active learning culture and monitor and evaluate their investment in organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a series of questions and summaries from selected articles to review workplace learning and its role in developing professionalism, skills and competency and the main implications for training. Findings – The paper concludes that a carefully crafted strategy for workplace learning will yield significant individual and organizational benefits. Practical implications – The paper draws on a decade of experience in designing and implementing workplace learning initiatives used by large organizations in hospitality, tourism and other service industries. Originality/value – The paper provides a checklist that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of organizational learning.