Organisational Politics and Stakeholders in Learning and Talent Development Report

Introduction

One of the most effective ways to achieve better performance of an organisation is to make sure that its employees are creative, motivated, productive, experienced and have all necessary skills. This may be accomplished through the implementation of learning and talent development programmes. Finding skilful and gifted workers and then developing their talents is a significant and beneficial investment that will provide great profit for the company. Moreover, since learning and development have an extended number of stakeholders with different responsibilities, expectations, and roles, many people are interested in implementing such programmes. Nevertheless, this process is typically complicated, and numerous issues and obstacles may appear during its realisation. Therefore, an appropriate and efficient strategy that would make the implementation organised and successful is required. The purpose of this business report is to discuss the role of organisational politics in learning and talent development and explore collaborative and ethical communication with the main stakeholders, as well as their expectations from learning and development.

Role of Organisational Politics in Learning and Talent Development

There are numerous processes and concepts that play an essential role and may have a severe effect on learning and talent development. One such process is organisational politics, which is typically considered adverse but can also have some positive influences. Overall, corporate politics is aimed at maintaining collaborative working relationships while also achieving the company’s objectives. According to the University of Minnesota (2017), since firms need to allocate their limited resources, it is typical for teams or individual employees to disagree about the ways they need to be distributed. Therefore, “they may naturally seek to gain those resources for themselves or for their interest groups, which gives rise to organizational politics” (University of Minnesota, 2017, para. 3). Resolving conflicting interests, building alliances, negotiating and bargaining are behaviours general for this process.

Consequently, organisational politics is more likely to have a negative impact on learning and talent development as it usually brings behaviours mentioned above into employee education. Nevertheless, considering the fact that there is no vast amount of literature available on this topic, it is possible to say that “there is very little knowledge concerning the effect of micro-politics on workplace learning” (Cacciattolo, 2013, p. 198). Though additional research is needed, a study conducted by Cacciattolo (2013) provides essential information. It appears that there is an intense effect that interpersonal, political behaviour can have on workers’ learning and development, but these impacts and connections cannot be predicted in advance. The researcher notices that “the effects can be inhibitive and distressing for some, and supportive and profitable for others, which effects were completely unknown before this research took place” (Cacciattolo, 2013, p. 198). Furthermore, the author also states that “some respondents consciously chose to distance and isolate themselves from such behaviours” and were not affected by organisational politics (Cacciattolo, 2013, p. 198). Consequently, the appearance of either positive or adverse influence sometimes depends on employees themselves.

What is more, it is believed that organisational politics prevents companies’ leadership and management from recognising gifted and high-potential workers. According to Chamorro-Premuzic and Bhaduri (2017), employees facing the aftermath and additional factors of organisational politics may get frustrated, demotivated, inactive and unproductive. If this happens, they get distracted from their work and learning and development, which reduces their results and makes them look less significant and talented in the eyes of management (Chamorro-Premuzic and Bhaduri, 2017). Additionally, it may also happen that the leadership is occupied with solving organisational politics issues, eliminating conflicts and restoring communication that it does not have an opportunity to pay attention to employees’ talent and developed skills.

Overcoming the Effects of Organisational Politics

With bureaucratic processes considered to be a major part of organisational politics and a hazard to employee education and training, it is vital to discuss ways of eliminating obstacles. First of all, employees need to have strong and sincere communication that would save them from gossips, guesses and unfounded grievances, which can be time-consuming and shift the focus away from learning and development (Cacciattolo, 2013). Second, there should be appropriate and quick decision-making and conflict resolving processes (Cacciattolo, 2013). They will allow employees to maintain or restore trust and sincere communication.

Third, coaching and mentoring skills are found to be helpful in enhancing both effective workplace relationships and learning and development. Finally, it is essential for the leaders to control the appearance of workplace jealousy, which is common when employees have different wages and rewards (Cacciattolo, 2013). Since jealousy may provoke reduced activity, involvement, productivity and motivation, leaders are recommended to inform their workers that those who receive increased rewards are either more talented or more hardworking. This is a way to stimulate others to become more interested in their responsibilities (Cacciattolo, 2013). In other words, creating healthy competition may be beneficial when fighting the effects of organisational politics.

Learning and Talent Development Stakeholders

A vast number of people are interested in implementing learning and talent development programmes and getting benefits from them. For example, the learners (employees), their managers and financial managers, directors, executives, shareholders, trainers and training vendors are learning and development stakeholders. They all have unique responsibilities and interests, which makes them strive for the successful conduct and completion of learning.

Stakeholders’ Responsibilities and Interests

To begin with, employees are expected to focus on studying, be involved in the process, demonstrate great results during the learning, and apply new knowledge after completing it. Learners are interested in learning and talent development as this is likely to provide them with a possibility of being noticed by leadership, getting a higher salary, obtaining necessary and practical skills and being involved in something new and exciting. Most employees are always grateful for being sent to learning as it is a great opportunity for them to show themselves and their talents.

Second, the worker’s manager is also interested in and responsible for providing their subordinate with quality and effective learning and talent development. They are expected to give the employee support and help, as well as receive substantial feedback from the learner and their trainer. In case the employee is successful with the programme, and the training adds value to their role in the company, the manager also receives benefits and credit for supporting their subordinate. As for financial managers, they are required to present a return on learning and development investment. If they are successful at anticipating potential budget overruns and fulfilling their other duties, they also receive a reward as the company’s production is increased by the employees who begin to effectively apply their new knowledge and skills.

Directors and executives should be committed to the effective and quality development of their staff at the deepest level. They are expected to provide increased flexibility in development policies and corporate learning and address the needs of learners. Their interest is in investing in the company’s future by recognising the talents among their workers and making them more skilful, productive, committed to their firm, professional and loyal. Moreover, it is always better for executives to have low employee turnover and prioritise promotions from within. As for the company’s shareholders, they want the learning and talent development results to reduce costs and increase short- and long-term profits.

Further, trainers and training vendors have to make sure that the learners’ skills and knowledge are developed successfully and their potential is reached. As a result, they make it easier for organisations to retain and attract good employees, which in turn leads to building client satisfaction. Training vendors also should ensure the quality and effectiveness of their services by providing efficient facilitators. Overall, trainers’ and vendors’ interests are in strengthening their authority and credibility and becoming more demanded in the market.

Ethical and Effective Collaboration with Stakeholders

Considering the importance of all stakeholders, it is crucial to make sure that they all work collaboratively and know the necessity of learning and talent development. According to Andersin (2019), “a robust learning and development programme is a cornerstone of every successful organisation, especially in the current unpredictable business environment” (para. 1). That is why maintaining ethical yet practical relationships is vital. To begin with, it is recommended to explain the influence of learning and talent development on the company’s short- and long-term goals and convince the stakeholders that it will be easier to achieve them if the skills of employees are improved (Andersin, 2019). Then, stakeholders should become aware that there is a risk that the training will be too expensive and will not pay off, but this risk is small and insignificant (Gadd, 2019). On the contrary, it is more likely that talent development will bring tremendous benefits to each stakeholder and the organisation as a whole. All of these factors should be communicated ethically and softly, but the seriousness of the issue should also be conveyed.

Overcoming Possible Obstacles

There are some potential difficulties that may occur with any stakeholder and will require attention. For example, training vendors may appear to provide ineffective services; financial managers can make mistakes when calculating the budget for the learning programme; or employees may refuse to take part in talent development (Andersin, 2019). All these obstacles should be overcome together since only collaboration can lead to significant success.

Implementing Learning and Development: The Higher-Level Strategic Issues

Finally, since learning and talent development programmes require severe preparation and strategy, it is likely that higher-level strategic issues arise. They may include limitation of resources (for instance, the company lacks money for implementing employee education), no alignment (stakeholders do not find it necessary to organise learning), inability to track and evaluate progress (no feedback from employees, managers or trainers) (Gadd, 2019). Overall, these problems may be addressed, but they will require additional time and effort, which can eliminate all progress and reduce the company’s productivity.

Conclusion

To draw a conclusion, one may say that learning and talent development is an extremely significant process that involves a vast number of stakeholders and can be beneficial both for them and the company as a whole. Despite the possibility of various severe obstacles and issues appearing in organisations, it is required that stakeholders work ethically and collaboratively to achieve the common objective. If some of them do not agree with their mission or do not admit the necessity of learning and talent development programmes, collaboration is still needed. Otherwise, the company’s performance and productivity will likely be reduced.

Reference List

Andersin, L. (2019) Learning at work: how to persuade stakeholders and employees of the importance of continuous learning. Web.

Cacciattolo, K. (2013) ‘Organisational politics and their effect on workplace learning’, European Scientific Journal, 4, pp. 198-211.

Chamorro-Premuzic, T. and Bhaduri, A. (2017) ‘How office politics corrupt the search for high-potential employees’, Harvard Business Review, Web.

Gadd, K. (2019) How to succeed in L&D: managing stakeholders. Web.

University of Minnesota. (2017). ‘Organizational politics’, in Organizational Behavior. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing.