Human resource development of non-commissioned officers in the army; a cognitive style perspective?

Abstract

This article considers the assessed performances of non-commissioned officers in a programme perceived as an important career enhancing activity for British military personnel. We introduce the idea of cognitive style as an important individual difference affecting performance on programmes of training and development and the implications for career progression. The research methodology adopted involved mixed methods as an alternative way of 'seeing', 'researching' and 'theorising' human resources development in this context. The research drew upon a mix of data from course participants and organizers, and it comprised cognitive style testing, within course assessment data and notes recorded during field observation. The results revealed relationships between the factors associated with 'styles', 'assessed learning performance' and 'course experience'. Key perspectives on the experiences of training in terms of success and strategic direction were also identified. The study provides a deeper understanding of career-development processes in the military organization, considers the implications in which knowledge of an individual's style may have for the individual and course organizers and imports new theoretical frameworks into the study of human resource development. IntroductionThe purpose of this article is to report on research related to the training and development of non-commissioned officers (NCOs) in the British Infantry. The intention of this article is to apply 'cognitive style' to the study of Human resource development (HRD) following requests from a number of authors (e.g. Sambrook 2004; Woodall 2006) to bring a new theory to the field. The implications of cognitive style for training in this research stem from the recognition of its impact on a range of individual approaches to learning and development and, by extension, to individuals' career-oriented behaviour (Struefert and Nogami 1989). sense of information, thereby affecting successful task execution. It is also arguably a factor to consider in the design and management of systems, which subsequently operate in groups or team activity and which, in itself, is closely associated with military service.Utilizing cognitive style as an individual difference variable has been suggested as an important consideration for HRD managers and for personnel within an organization (Sadler-Smith 1998). Style is identified as a focal point in extending understanding of how thinking around decision-making, learning and personal performance, the knowledge of which may enhance the investment made in training and development by individuals and their employing organization. The issue of person-environment fit is also considered in respect to how style might help further enhance personal performance in the workplace setting (Armstrong and Cools 2009; Cools, Armstrong and Sadler-Smith 2010). The potential for the 'style' construct in an HRD context therefore arises from recognition that individual differences in cognition may have considerable impact on the motivatio...