CorpU Weekly Digest: Learning Excellence (2012-Apr-16)

Topics: Learning Excellence

Here are this past week's headlines in learning excellence: 

• (1) Building differentiators that are difficult for competition to imitate gives firms a strong competitive advantage. In an increasingly globalized world, one of the key differentiators for firms will be their "people" practices ;  
• (2) According to research from IESE, personal sustainability management can change work cultures ; 
• (3) The hidden cost to collaboration is ignoring outside input, according to a recent study ; 
• (4) Is it time to renegotiate with your vendors? Here are some new pricing models to consider ; 
• Books: Work and Quality of Life: Ethical Practices in Organizations and The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education ; 
• Webinars ; and
• Conferences

 Building differentiators that are difficult for competition to imitate gives firms a strong competitive advantage. In an increasingly globalized world, one of the key differentiators for firms will be their "people" practices
At a recent conference in Bangalore organized by the All India Management Association in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers, industry heads and human resources leaders debated on how companies can best manage HR in a globalized economy. In his keynote address, Ravi Venkatesan, director at Infosys and former chairman of Microsoft India, pointed out that as companies expand their footprints across the globe, three factors play a critical role in their success: the commitment of the global CEO, the capabilities of the local CEO and talent management. Another key takeaway was that the responsibility for an individual’s career growth must be shared between the individual and the organization. Speakers pointed out that if this process is left only to the individual, it can result in encouraging coteries, unhealthy internal competition and unplanned expectations. Investment in learning and skill development was reiterated as a main area that needs continuous focus. While India's business community's spending on learning and development at around 3% of payroll costs is in line with that of American companies, it is way behind what the country needs. Read the Knowledge @ Wharton article "Developing Human Resources for a Globalized Economy"

 According to research from IESE, personal sustainability management can change work cultures 
In today's world of 24/7 connectivity, dedicated managers and employees on all rungs of the corporate ladder may easily empathize. Putting in hours of desk time and smartphone time means that many employees rarely get to disconnect from their work properly. Despite the apparent convenience of round-the-clock connectivity, workplace stress often increases, the quality of work suffers, and innovation and creativity are stifled. In their paper, "Towards Whole Person Learning Through Sustainable Executive Performance," IESE's Steven P. MacGregor and Katherine Semler, program director at Telefonica Universitas, explore how personal sustainability management could change work cultures. A corporate culture that treats its employees more like people instead of machines can help to boost a firm's level of innovation and sustainable competitiveness, the authors claim. Management education and training can play an important role in nurturing leaders who follow this line of thinking, through the inclusion of sustainable executive performance (SEP). Read the IESE article "Achieving Sustainable Performance in the Workplace"

 The hidden cost to collaboration is ignoring outside input, according to a recent study
The corporate formula for innovation often focuses on creating a team of experts to cook up the next big thing. Groups of managers — typically composed of individuals from a variety of fields, including engineering, marketing and operations — band together to develop new products or services that can create top-line growth. In a recent paper, Wharton management professor Jennifer Mueller and Wharton lecturer Julia Minson looked at the dark side of teamwork — the tendency of those groups to become insular and less efficient as they grow in complexity. In "The Cost of Collaboration: Why Joint Decision-making Exacerbates Rejection of Outside Information," Minson and Mueller find that people working in pairs are more likely to dismiss outside input than individuals working alone. Mueller says this reluctance to incorporate information from outside the team can be a major problem. Read the HR Online article "The Dark Side of Teamwork"

 Is it time to renegotiate with your vendors? Here are some new pricing models to consider
With the blossoming of spring in the Northern hemisphere, people often take time to review on current outsourcing arrangements to see whether the price paid meets the value delivered. If you're in this boat, you may want to take a look at how pricing models are changing in the IT outsourcing world, because these may be appropriate to discuss with your partners and service providers in the learning and development space. The following four models help enterprises get better value and place clear suggestions to vendors on how to secure higher margin work, a win-win negotiating approach. 

1. Gain-sharing pricing model: Pricing based on the value delivered by the vendor beyond its typical responsibilities but deriving from its expertise and contribution. For example, an automobile manufacturer may pay a service provider based on the number of cars it produces.
2. Incentive-based pricing model: Bonus payments are made to the vendor for achieving specific performance levels above the contract's service level agreements. Often used in conjunction with a traditional pricing method, such as time-and-materials or fixed price.
3. Consumption-based pricing model: Costs are allocated based on actual usage (e.g., gigabytes of disk space used or help desk calls answered)
4. Shared risk-reward pricing model: Provider and customer jointly fund the development of new products, solutions, and services with the provider sharing in rewards for a defined period of time.

The rest of the article offers some pros and cons, and things to watch out for, and is based on information from the outsourcing practice of law firm K&L Gates. Read the article "4 New IT Outsourcing Pricing Models Gain Popularity"

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 The Business of Learning: New Major Products, Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships

No major news in mergers, acquisitions, or product releases.

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 Books To Read

Employees have personal responsibilities as well as responsibilities to their employers. They also have rights. In order to maintain their well-being, employees need opportunities to resolve conflicting obligations. Employees are often torn between the ethical obligations to fulfill both their work and non-work roles, to respect and be respected by their employers and coworkers, to be responsible to the organization while the organization is reciprocally responsible to them, to be afforded some degree of autonomy at work while attending to collaborative goals, to work within a climate of mutual employee-management trust, and to voice opinions about work policies, processes and conditions without fear of retribution. Humanistic organizations can recognize conflicts created by the work environment and provide opportunities to resolve or minimize them. The topic is covered through a series of essays from well known writers and professors to be released on May 31, 2012, called Work and Quality of Life. This collection documents the dilemmas that result from responsibility-based conflicts, including essays by Prof Carolyn Ball , Prof Joseph Sirgy, Prof Cath Sullivan, and Prof Stacey Kessler among others. The book is organized by sources of dilemmas that fall into three major categories: individual, organizational (internal policies and procedures), and cultural (social forces external to the organization), including an introduction and a final integration of the many ways in which organizations can contribute to positive employee health and well-being. This book is aimed at both academicians and practitioners who are interested in how interventions that stem from industrial and organizational psychology may address ethical dilemmas commonly faced by employees. Buy Now

In the book The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education, Prof Karl Kapp, known for his blog Kapp's notes as well as his instructional technology classes at Bloomsburg U, argues convincingly that gamification is not just about adding points, levels and badges to an eLearning program, but about fundamentally rethinking learning design. He has put together a brilliant primer for learning professionals on how to gamify learning, packed with useful advice and examples. Buy Now

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 Webinars 

The Human Capital Financial Statements Webcast Series
Date: N/A
Presenter: Jeff Higgins Register now

Social Learning Tips & Trends Webinar
Date: Thursday, April 19, 2012, 2:00 PM ET
Presenter: Sharlyn Lauby, SPHR, CPLP, President of ITM Group Register now

Mobile End User Experience
Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2012, 11:00 AM ET
Presenter: Aternity Register now

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 Conferences

Emotions and Education: Affect, Anxiety and Achievement
Date: April 19, 2012
Location: New York City, NY, USA Register now

2012 Sloan-C Blended Learning Conference and Workshop: Perfecting the Blend
Date: April 23-24, 2012
Location: Milwaukee, WI, USA Register now

Learning TECH 2012
Date: April 23 - 25, 2012
Location: Chicago, IL, USA Register now 

Delivering the Strategic Role of HR
Date: May 2, 2012 
Location: New Zealand Register now

Global Management Conference: Fourth Annual Conference on Globalization, Sustainability and Development, 2012
Date: May 2-5, 2012
Location: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Register now

1st Annual People Effectiveness @ Work Conference
Date: May 8, 2012
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Register now

HR Summit 2012
Date: May 9-12, 2012 
Location: Singapore Register now

The Mining and Resources Accelerated Learning and Workforce Development Conference 2012
Date: May 15, 2012
Location: Australia Register now

Corporate University Xchange's Global Leadership Congress
Date:  May 15-17, 2012
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA Register now 

Social Recruiting Strategies Conference
Date: May 22-25, 2012
Location: Chicago, IL, United States Register now

National Institute on the Assessment of Adult Learning
Date: June 6-8, 2012
Location: Atlantic City, NJ, USA Register now

Leading Across Generations: Workforce Challenges and Opportunities
Date: June 13-15, 2012
Location: Berlin, Germany Register now

Gamification Summit
Date: June 19-21, 2012
Location: San Francisco, CA, United States Register now

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