LEARNING ORGANIZATION PRACTICES AS HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE AT UTeM

Abstract

Effective management of human resource development in an organizationcan facilitate the achievement of its goals. In response to the challenges and expectations of the 21st century, institutions of higher education (IHEs) particularly, need to embrace transformational change in order to survive and maintain its excellence. This paper reports part of a research project that explored the perceived common practices of learning organization practices (LOPs) that have driven transformational change in a particular IHE, namely the University Technical Malaysia Melaka (UTeM). A survey questionnaire adapted from Learning Organisation Practices Profile (O’Brien, 1994), consisting of twelve LOPs was utilized to explore how far the LOPs have become common practices at the university. A probability stratified sampling was adopted and guided by Krejcie and Morgan’s sample size estimation, a total of 306 samples comprising of executives, management staff, academics and support staff have been collected from a population of 1521. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 17 for Windows was used to analyze the samples. Based on the analysis of the mean scores of the twelve LOPs, it was found that the LOPs practices were beginning to become common practices at UTeM, although they have yet to be institutionalized. The common LOPs were the flow of information, collaborative and cooperative work environment and individual and team development through work experience. However, staff development particularly the rewards and recognition was perceived as the least common practice. These findings highlighted the significance of developing human resource by cultivating the culture of learning organization.

Keywords: human resource development, learning organization practices, transformational change, institutions of higher education