Importance Of Informal Learning In Organizational Growth

Formal vs Informal Learning

Learning is a very important perspective for the growth of every organization. The targets can be achieved only with the help of new learnings that can make the process smoother. Every organization has some training and development plans for their employees for the enhancement of skills and knowledge. These employees can learn a lot with these sessions and activities. There should be active participation of the employees in such kind of activities as only in such cases it can become successful. Some organizations conduct formal training and development sessions and calls external specialized trainers for the growth of the employees and some organization adopts informal training structure. Basically both the methods are efficient but it involves some other factors too that are not convenient for every organization like budget constraint. Informal training consists of self-development trainings, learning from experience and learning from observing. This way of learning has been considered as the most effective way because it creates a very high impact on the learner. They can never forget the learnings gained from informal learning although spoon-feeding or normal sessions are not that much effective. There is some technical training also that conduct in organizations which provides assistance to employees in handling day to day tasks in an effective way.

In Informal learning is a very simple and feasible way of providing training. It does not involve cost as well as time. There are different ways of informal learning that help employees in building up their knowledge and experience. Informal training is very different from formal trainings as there is no trainer, no time schedule and no syllabus. When we talk about training then only one thing comes into the mind i.e. formal training sessions like classroom trainings. But these training are not effective all the time for each kind of employees. Sometimes employees do not have much time to attend such trainings so they prefer informal learning methods. Formal trainings are also consist a boredom factor because some employees do not like theoretical knowledge rather than they want to learn the same in a practical manner. Organizations are adopting the methods of informal training as it is a more convenient way. They are even trying to promote it in an effective manner. Informal training is never organizes as it is not pre planned and there is no set of guidelines. Employees who are willing to take informal training are highly motivated, eager and more attentive. They have that motivation to learn things by own. Employees need not to fix a schedule or time for informal training as it is very spontaneous. There is no specific teacher in case of informal training because there can be more than one trainer. Some people think that training can be happen in classrooms with a pre-defined curriculum but informal training does not need any classroom (Czerkawski, 2016).

There are different forms of learning and informal learning is one of them.  This method is so spontaneous and has no methodology. There are some important elements of informal learning. There is no training syllabus as it is related to observing and self- learning (Forsyth, 2008). There is no specific trainer that involved in providing trainings. It happens within a particular plan, schedule and date. Generally each and every test has certain test, exams or quizzes but informal training is only meant for self-development and there is no examination of knowledge is there. Informal training is very important at workplace because it helps in the encouragement of employees in developing the mindset to build skills and qualities outside of training areas. There are some organizations where no formal training session happen, in such organization employees learn on their own by trying new things and get the queries resolved timely. There are some ways by which employees can gain informal trainings in the organization (Rutherford, 2017).

1. Asking questions- Asking questions is a very important criterion of getting things learned.  Informal training includes asking of questions in case of any confusion. If any employee starts asking question at different stages then he can get better knowledge about the confusions. It can also make him remember the concept from a long time. Some people hesitate to ask question, if they get stuck at any point so it is very necessary to motivate employees to ask questions to making everything clear. This is the best way of learning things (Berkley, 2009).
2. Observation- In some organizations , there are no formal training sessions foe new joiners as they promote informal learning., In such cases, work has been allotted to the people on the very first day of the job and they learn while working or by observing other people working. Observation is the simplest method of informal learning as it does not even disturb or distract other people. Some people learn so fatly by observing (Lawrie, 2004). It helps in reducing the training and development cost of the organization as formal training involves a high cost of setup as well as trainer’s cost.
3. Taking action- Taking action refers to the mental problem solving, responding to difficult situations. It automatically provides a learning experience to the employees. In some organizations, brainstorming is the only way to resolve queries. It makes people learn and discover new things that can help them in day to day activities. In interviews also, some people ask to do situational analysis to the interviewee so that he can judge him on his promptness. There are some instant situations that create confusion about reacting in a proper way and this is how a person learns by giving an instant reaction and afterwards analyzes the same.

Elements of Informal Learning

There are some factors that actually help in enabling informal learning in an organization.

1. Focused Learning- The major advantage of informal learning is that it offers the sense that is able to control everything. (Sharma, 2009)
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3. High Relevance- Informal training provides a higher satisfaction and a better learning experience as there is no pressure to complete it in a preplanned timeframe. There is no test in this training so employees can easily get the same with peace of mind.
4. Flexible learning experience- Informal training gives a flexible learning experience as learner has that freedom to choose the way of learning according to him. The training method that matches learning styles of learner creates a high impact.
5. Continuous learning- Informal training is a never ending method of learning and help in learning different things. Learners can continuously learn to enhance their skills and improve the basic knowledge at required levels (Armson & Whiteley, 2010).

There is a high impact of individual’s characteristics in informal workplace learning. There are different types of individual in every organization and they possess different characteristics. People like ideas and approaches according to their choice, personality and characteristics. T is so important to apply proper methods of training to the employees. Suitability of training is important because employee will not understand the purpose and knowledge of training. Informal training is meant for employees who are keen to learn and understand different new things. Employees has to take initiatives to get informal training done like they have to start observing people if they want to learn something from them. Formal training sessions are very basic ones because everything has been set on place like there is a proper schedule, proper syllabus and fixed time frame of training. Formal training sessions involves cost factor and sometimes it is mandatory for employees to join. In such cases, they do not concentrate such on training and start feeling bored (“Special issue of Management Accounting Research: Risk management, corporate governance and management accounting”, 2006). To overcome this boredom, informal training is a very good option as employees can learn according to their convenience. There are some people who are lazy and they never put efforts to learn something or get knowledge on their own. Motivating informal training at workplace is important because some employees’ finds ease in getting trained on their own and as per their convenience.

There are various benefits of informal training that can help people to motivate them for putting efforts on their own in order to gain a better learning experience.

1. It applies to all levels of skill- It is always appreciable if someone asks questions in case of any confusions whether they are on any level in the organization. They have full authority of making observations and apply new learning theories in workplace. There is no experience needed in informal learning so any employee can start it any time with the similar learning objective and can acquire skills and knowledge at their own convenience (Campling, 2008).
2. Triggers a motivation to learn- Human beings always think according to the way they are and they always want to act in an independent manner. For each and every activity, they need a motivating factor that can motivate them to start something new. Where learning is not compulsory, then it becomes more personal for a learner that whether he wants to learn on its own or not. It totally depends upon the interest of an individual. Some people are so lazy that they only want formal training sessions in their lives so in such cases informal training is not a feasible option (Cho & Kim, 2016).
3. Can be done in any setting- Informal training can be done independently in any setup whether it is a virtual training or non-virtual training and provide the same results. Surroundings and physical location of an individual do not impact the training as they can develop new ideas and valuable skills anywhere (Bhurtel, 2015).
4. Improves retention of knowledge- When a similar thing repeats many times in front of an individual then he became proficient in the same. Similarly, when a concept learned over time through repetition then it creates a high positive impact (Gkorezis & Kastritsi, 2017).Formal training sessions are for a limited time period and retain in the memory of employees for a shorter time in comparison to informal training. Formal training sessions gives training about so many things in a short time that create a hindrance in knowledge retention (Rapid Training Development, 2010). Informal training provides a personal experience and self-learning helps in retention of knowledge for a long time period.
5. Continuous exploration- Sometimes employees attend trainings because they are forced to do the same. Such training sessions cannot be beneficial for the employees. It is necessary for employees to get excited about learning new things and enhance their skill development. So, it is better to make them free in case of choosing any training or method of getting trained. This will increase the enthusiasm of the employees and they will adopt informal techniques of training (Coghlan, 2012).

In the below given image, it is clearly highlighted that the knowledge gained from informal learning methods retains for a long time period, if we compare it with the other techniques of learning. An employee can get higher amount of learning through informal learning as it is more suitable for them.

There are some ways to motivate informal training at workplace. With the help of these methods, any organization can motivate their employees to adopt informal learning techniques (Madura, 2018).  These methods are cost effective as well as less time consuming-

1. Make it Acceptable- There are some scenarios in which the employees are fully occupied with work and they are spending 100% of their capacity and sometimes they have no work to do and it is considered as downtime (Lee & Lee, 2018).In such situations, organization can create some policies that can encourage employees to get some sort of knowledge or training on their own. There can be no other better way for the utilization of downtime of employees (Travers, 2012).
2. Give it time- It is important to give some time to the employees for developing informal learning practices in their downtime. They should know the importance of informal learning at workplace. There are some organizations that has fixed some particular hours in a week for the side projects or some learning for the employees. In this way, organizations can invest in the growth of the employees and their talent in an effective manner. This can be a better way to encourage informal learning practices in organizations (Gherardi, 2009).
3. Blog about it- There are some organization that change or modify the policies of the organizations on the basis of blogs. It is good to write blog about the positive impact of informal training on the employees belong to the organization. There are some organizations that possess their own blog that is visible to people belong to the organization only. This helps in motivating them for informal learnings. They can also create a marketing strategy for their blog for internal publication. Organizations can also encourage employees to write more on their personal blogs to encourage workforce
4. Present It- It depends on employees, how they consider the blog as some people can enjoy the blog or some people prefers presentations. Both are the effective ways to promote informal learning and sharing knowledge in the office. There are companies in which they conduct weekly or daily team meetings, in such meetings they can present something for five or ten minutes that can increase the knowledge of the employees. There are conferences and webinars also in which there are presentations on such topics.
5. Share it- It refers to the sharing of information in offices. There are internal forum, in which Employees can start a discussion board for interesting articles. When coworker shares ideas with each other then it creates motivation for other employees and they feel like working together to achieve something extraordinary (Armson & Whiteley, 2010).
6. Democratize it- It has been known that the best way to learn things is to teach it. Teaching makes a person perfect in a particular matter. If a person completes a particular task in time duration then if he shows this to someone then he can understand the feeling of that completion of task. Workplaces that motivate employees to start knowledge sharing see better results after employee training. It also helps in boosting the confidence to get more informal learning experience. There is no ups and downs in training (David & David, 2016).New hires gained a lot of latest knowledge and they can bring new ideas and experiences that can help an organization to fulfill the goals and objectives. While the new people have to learn a lot as they are new to the organization and they have to speed up in the ne organization’s environment. It is worth listening to the, and gained the knowledge and experience they possess as it helps in both way learning process (Performance Management, 2011).

Conclusion

It is proved with the realistic examples as well as experiences from different organizations, training plays a very important role in the achievement of goals and objectives of the organization. As per the passage of time, so many new techniques and methodologies come in existence. It is mandatory to adopt those practices to become more efficient. There are different types of trainings and basically it is important to find out the suitable training method as every organization is different from each other. Informal training method is a good way of learning things but is has a very narrow scope. There are a few people in the organization who actually want to learn something in a serious way. In formal training session, it is necessary to listen to the trainer and be concentrated. So, a person cannot avoid it easily. Training helps an employee to remove confusions and getting clarity regarding the work process. It also enhances the basic knowledge and skills of the employees that help them in future aspects or future career growth.

Factors Enabling Informal Learning

After the whole research and analysis, it has been concluded that informal training methods are one of the most effective training practices. It creates a high impact on an individual and provides a better learning experience. Organizations are working to promote informal training methods as it is a cost effective method without any exam and timeliness. It also provides a high level of convenience to the employees as they are free to select the method and time of learning according to their availability. Informal learning method provides a live learning experience instead of theoretical knowledge so that an employee can instantly apply the same in real life. Employees never forget the knowledge gained by own experience or trough self- learning. There is a limitation of this method of learning as it depends on the learner that whether he seriously wants to learn something or not because it includes an individual’s effort only. Formal training sessions are specially relates to binding the employees to sit in a training session for a particular time period and to gain knowledge about a particular topic or pre-defined syllabus. It does not have the freedom to choose the time and syllabus of the training. This is the major reason of promoting informal learning at workplace instead of formal training sessions.

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