Read Matthew 13:1-9. How does this passage address environmental factors and res
ID: 396031 • Letter: R
Question
Read Matthew 13:1-9. How does this passage address environmental factors and resistance to learning? Specifically, link the four different types of ground (hard ground or “by the way side”, stony ground, thorny ground, and good ground) to individual and organizational-context factors. Additionally, examine how viewing learning as a performance outcome is the first step to understanding resistance to learning. What types of organizational –context factors have a positive impact on how employees enter training? What types have a negative impact? Provide support for your response.
Explanation / Answer
In the sowers parable mentions four different types of ground. Hard/rocky ground, stony ground, thorny ground and good ground are those four. We can draw this analogy to a mind of a learner and the seeds as the knowledge or training that is imparted upon them.
Hard ground: In the parable, this ground is by the road side. The seeds fall on it and the birds come and eat them up. They never get a chance to grow. This is similar to situations where the learning opportunities are not provided or the people are not interested in learning. In terms of resistance, this could external or internal. External resistance such as poor approach to learning and internal resistance such as lack of interest contribute to such incidents.
Stony ground: This ground had some soil, but their depth was low. As a result, the seed that fell here grew but could not grow completely as the roots could not go deeper. In the field of learning this can be seen as people and environment that seem to be accommodating learning but the interest is not there from deep within. The resistance here is due to lack of genuine interest. Incidents such as school/college dropouts are examples of this situation. In organization context this refers to projects and trainings that are not completed.
Thorny ground: This ground is soft and accommodating. However the plants that grew on this ground was choked by the thorny plants around it. This resistance to learning is purely external. When somebody has genuine interest in learning but due to external factors (social, cultural, economic, political) he/she cannot proceed with the learning it exemplifies the thorny ground. Here, there are no internal resistance but only environmental factors that cause the learning to suffer.
Good ground: This was the fertile soil in the parable. In real life this can be seen as the optimum condition where external factors accommodate learning and the internal factors adorns the new knowledge. When the people and the system around helps others to learn and encourages their progress that provides an extremely healthy external environment. The soil and the ground represents a curious and interested mind who wants to learn and gain more knowledge.
From the parable one thing is clear that, if there is no deep rooted interest in learning, the training programs in an organization is unlikely to provide a good result. Viewing performance outcome as the outcome of learning is key to a healthy learning system. This performance outcome should be viewed not only by the trainee but the entire organization. In the parable, this is the good ground. The reporting managers should consider their employees’ training to be a positive step towards better performance for their team and organization. The employees must view training and learning as a way to a better performance and career. Without these links and deep interest, it is unlikely that training and learning will provide substantial growth for individuals or the organization.
There are various factors whose presence, lack hereof, or style impact how employees in an organization are trained and eventually how effective they are. Cole (2004) lists degree of change in external environment, degree of change in internal environment, the availability of skills and the management’s view of training as a motivator as the key factors (Becker 2004) for successful training programs.
If the changes in the environment (external and internal) are low then it forms a negative factor. This is due to the fact that the organization and the individual may not find learning as a competitive tool. The availability of skill influences the training programs as a positive and the lack of it may contribute to a negative impact. Similarly if the management views training as a motivator, then the senior managers support their employees for development and this helps the overall organization.
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