The Hindu Business Line : Learning vs training

Learning is almost the opposite of training, say Harvey Robbins and Michael Finley in The Accidental Leader (www.wileyindia.com). Learning is not a `business,' yet it is everyone's business, right from the CEO. Learning allows people in an organisation to draw nearer to objectives, explain the authors. "It happens entirely in the learner's head, and requires no technology whatsoever. It is by its very nature unmeasurable and undefinable. Learning is an end in itself, not a means to an end."

In contrast, training tries to cover the greatest amount of ground in the shortest time, with the fewest interruptions and the highest degree of learner homogeneity. "It wants above all to be finished and get paid. Learning, by contrast, knows no clock, respects no formal structure, and occurs in as many ways and at as many places as there are learners."

Training can be successful if it focuses not so much on pouring information in people's ears, but on engaging "the learner's imagination, triggering a positive change in behaviour that pulls toward greater organisational success. When training does this it crosses the boundary to learning." Great read.

Cricket vs hockey

If a batsman scores a 100 and the team loses, the batsman still is the star, but not so in hockey; you might end up scoring three goals in a match but if your team loses, no one remembers you.

That is one of the laments of Dhan you'd read in Forgive Me Amma: The Life and Times of Dhanraj Pillay by Sundeep Misra (www.wisdomtreeindia.com). "One doesn't know if he is the greatest Indian hockey player," writes Misra in conclusion. "One thing is for sure — he is a legend."

For the sports lovers.

Inequities towards the mentally impaired

All modern societies have seen gross inequities in their treatment of children with unusual mental impairments, laments Martha C. Nussbaum in Frontiers of Justice (www.oup.com). Sadly, children with mental impairments have been more shunned and stigmatised than people with many physical impairments. "Many of them have been relegated to institutions that make no effort to develop their potential. And they are persistently treated as if they have no right to occupy public space. In the congressional hearings prior to the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), many examples of this shunning were cited... ."

Cruelty that has no place in a civilised world.

Tailpiece

"He lacks in email culture."

"Doesn't respond to your mails?"

"No, he promptly takes a printout of my mail and brings it along to reply in person!

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

D. Murali