Garavan, Thomas N. and Heneghan, Sinead and O’Brien, Fergal and Gubbins, Claire and Lai, Yanqing and Carbery, Ronan and Duggan, James and Lannon, Ronnie and Sheehan, Maura and Grant, Kirsteen
(2019)
L&D professionals in organisations: much ambition, unfilled promise.
European Journal of Training and Development, 44 (1).
pp. 1-86.
ISSN 2046-9012
Abstract
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.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Careers, Roles; Competencies; Context; Learning and development professionals;
Perceived effectiveness; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Business |
| Item ID: |
15938 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-09-2019-0166 |
| Depositing User: |
James Duggan
|
| Date Deposited: |
11 May 2022 09:45 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
European Journal of Training and Development |
| Publisher: |
Emerald |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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