Development Cooperation Handbook/Learning and Knowledge Management/Training and Knowledge Management

KM: Going Beyond Training and Development Knowledge Management goes beyond training and development because we recognize that neither training nor development is enough and each has its limitations. Whereas development is based more on the desires of the individual having higher priority than the needs of the organization, training is based more on the needs of the organization, the desires of the individual having lower priority.

Training is often less effective in a world of uncertainty, where technology and competition make the environment more turbulent and the need for knowledge acquisition imperative. Employee development, on the other hand, may help individuals accept the uncertainty but be less able to guide them to the types of knowledge that will be important in the future functioning of the organization. This can lead to frustration and disappointment by the employees who are sent off on courses but are not allowed to implement or practice what they have learned when they return to their organizations. The result will be a large and pointless waste of time and resources for the organization.

To go beyond training and development is to see the human resources function as more responsive to the conditions of the coming (and some believe it’s already here) knowledge economy. That moves management thinking to a new way of thinking about organizations and what information is valuable. Organizations, which take knowledge management seriously, will share many of the characteristics of the "learning organization" (Sense, 1990). It emphasizes openness (knowledge needs to be seen as available to and emanating from all employees), the development of new knowledge and new kinds of knowledge, and the importance of being aware of knowledge as a product and process.

Organization development
Organization development is the process through which an organization develops the internal capacity to be the most effective it can be in its mission work and to sustain itself over the long term. This definition highlights the explicit connection between building a strong and healthy organizational culture and the achievement of organizational mission.

Organization development is a planned effort, organization-wide, managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health, through planned interventions in the organization's processes.

An organization develops when is aware of the results obtained through its activities and learn form them. An organization learns and develops itself when it:
 * articulates its mission through well planned programmes,
 * is aware of the results it obtains though a constant activity of monitoring and evaluation,
 * collects, organize and shares within the organization the knowledge produced by M&E activities for:
 * improving programme management
 * empower the human resources.