Ph.D. Research Proposal The thesis is focused on researching and constructing an internationally-relevant Learning and Development (L&D) scorecard and conceptual framework, which will enable the transformation of L&D practices into a strategic business partner.

1. TRANSFORMING LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES
INTO A STRATEGIC, VALUE-ADDING BUSINESS SOLUTION: A
CONCEPTUAL AND BUSINESS-MINDED FRAMEWORK
PH.D RESEARCH PROPOSAL
COLLOQUIUM
13 MAY 2015
CHARLES COTTER
STUDENT NUMBER: 21512884

2. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
• Phillips (2005) and Greer (2001), cite the critics of the HRM function who
demanded more measurement, accountability and demonstrable
strategic value
• KPMG (2015), HR leaders are facing a crisis of credibility among their
senior peers
• CIPD confirmed that the most common change is for Learning and
Development (L&D) professionals to become more business-focused
• PWC Global survey (2012), the reality of business today dictates that
organisations will have to grow the talent that they need organically when
finding it is constrained
• The “war for talent” is shifting – and is becoming the “war to develop
talent” (Deloitte, 2013).

3. NEED FOR THE RESEARCH STUDY
• McKinsey global survey (2014), 50% of the respondents indicated that
they see organisational capability building as one of their top strategic
priorities, but many stated that their companies could improve
substantially
• It has become a strategic imperative for L&D professionals to show the
training Return-on-Investment (ROI)
• The traditional approaches to learning evaluation of Kirkpatrick (1998);
Phillips et. al. (2007) and Brinkerhoff (2006) have been superseded by a
more modern business imperative comprised of six levels
• It is apparent that there is a need to transform the current L& D practices
to be more metric and measurement-oriented, as a credible means of
demonstrating the strategic business value of these L&D interventions.

4. LEARNING EVALUATION

5. PURPOSE AND AIMS OF THE
RESEARCH STUDY
• Research problem statement:
 “Learning and Development practices exhibit the inability to actively contribute
to business performance at a strategic level”
• Research objectives:
 To determine the current strategic levels of L& D impact
 To construct an internationally-relevant and multi-disciplinary applicable,
Strategic Business Management-aligned, Learning and Development
measurement tool (scorecard)
 To develop business-valued processes to transform and re-position the L& D
function to become a strategic business partner

6. ABBREVIATED LITERATURE REVIEW
• Learning and Development (L&D) context and environment
• L&D challenges
• Status Quo of L&D
• Identified trends in L&D
• Assessing the impact of L&D activity
• Benefits of optimizing L&D practices
• Recommended, future-focused strategic imperatives of L&D

7. SOURCES OF LITERATURE REVIEW
• L&D Professional Associations:
 Association for Talent Development (ATD) – USA-based
 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) – UK-based
• Researchers:
 Bersin by Deloitte and O’Leonard
• Global Management Consultancies:
 Deloitte
 KPMG
 McKinsey
 PWC

8. IDENTIFIED TRENDS IN L&D
• #1: Change to a strategic mind-set and alignment
with business goals
• #2: Change to evidence-based, business metrics and
predictive analytics
• #3: Change in learning architecture and design
• #4: Changed learning structures and roles
• #5: Enhanced skills set of L&D professionals

9. IDENTIFIED TRENDS IN L&D
• #6: Extended learning and knowledge management
• #7: Change to social and e-learning (70-20-10 model)
• #8: Change to learning organization culture
• #9: Changed process from (functional) ADDIE model
to strategic, learning solutions business model
• #10: Change from a “skills buying” to a “skills
building” HRM approach

10. RESEARCH APPROACH
• Exploratory: These trends will have to be
interrogated in-depth, further and the
resultant research outcome will be:
A measurement scorecard
The development of a conceptual, business-
focused model to improve the business impact of
L&D interventions

11. RESEARCH DESIGN, PROCESS AND
METHODOLOGY
• Chapter Three (3) overview
• Research process
• Data collection
• Research sample
• Research instrument: Questionnaire
• Statistical method and process
• Reliability and Validity

12. DATA COLLECTION
• This research project predominantly will use a
quantitative (positivistic) approach.
• Surveys will provide the PH.D researcher a picture
of what many people think or report doing (the
sample group), this picture is then generalised to
the larger population.
• The primary research method that will be used is
a structured questionnaire comprised of a
significant number of closed-ended questions.

13. RESEARCH SAMPLE
• Type: a convenience sample group, of approximately 3 000
Business and L&D Managers and Professionals/practitioners
• Access: These will be sourced from various business contacts,
databases, networks and social media platforms e.g. LinkedIn and
business references from multiple industries, both locally and
internationally.
• Location: The majority of these respondents will be based in South
Africa, but will also represent North American, Australian and
European continents.
• Representativity and generalization: The PH.D researcher is of firm
belief that this sample will be representative of a cross-section of
respondents.

14. RESPONDENTS
• Positions: Respondent industries will be representative of both the public and private sectors
 L&D and training managers;
 Training administrators and skills development facilitators;
 Line/business managers; and
 Academics/subject matter experts
• Form of communication: These respondents will be contacted directly by means of electronic mail
through the completion of a self-administered questionnaire.
• Reach: The total reach of this research project will be in excess of 3 000 contacts.
• Response rate: The anticipated response rate is 10% and, consequently, a total sample group of 300
respondents are expected to participate in the PH.D research survey.
• Independent research variable: The current L&D practices
• Dependent variable: The resultant strategic, business impact and value on the achievement of
business results

15. THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENT:
QUESTIONNAIRE
• Subject to a comprehensive literature study, the 10 foremost characteristics of
Strategic L&D will be identified.
• From these characteristics, respective sub-factors were identified. These sub-
factors will serve as the basis of the construction of an itemized questionnaire.
• A four point Likert-type scale will be utilised, ranging from a descriptor of 1 =
strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree.
• The researcher will use the theoretical guidelines of Babbie (2005) as a checklist to
ensure the proper and correct formulation of research questions/items.
• Questionnaire construction guidelines will also be consulted as well as the benefits
of the questionnaire instrument.
• The questionnaire will also be tested with a pilot group before distribution to the
larger research population.

16. THE STATISTICAL METHOD AND
PROCESS
• Quantitative methods
• The statistical procedures that will be performed in the proposed research study can be regarded as
descriptive and inferential statistics.
• The different descriptive statistics used in the proposed, PH.D study include:
 Means;
 Standard deviations;
 Factor analysis and
 Frequency distributions/percentages
• The inferential statistics used in the proposed PH.D research study include analysis of variance
(ANOVA).
• In general, the purpose of ANOVA is to test for significant differences between means. ANOVA is
similar to the t-test, but this is used when there are more than two groups to compare.
• ANOVA testing will be utilised to draw inferences regarding the sub-group comparisons of the
research sample.

17. RESEARCH TIMETABLE/PLAN
Research task/function Responsibility Duration Expected completion date
#1: Completion and submission of research proposal Researcher (Charles Cotter) 2 weeks 4 May 2015
#2: Review and approval Research Supervisor (Prof. P.D Gerber) 2 days 6 May 2015
#3: Submission to NWU Researcher (Charles Cotter) 1 day 6 May 2015
#4: Presentation of colloquium Researcher (Charles Cotter)
Researcher (Charles Cotter)
1 day 13 May 2015
#5: Approval of research proposal NWU 2 months July 2015
#6: Commencement of research and completion of Chapter 1 Researcher (Charles Cotter) 1 month August 2015
#7: Review of Chapter 1 Research Supervisor (Prof. P.D Gerber) 1 week August 2015
#8: Completion of research (Chapter 2) Researcher (Charles Cotter) 4 months November 2015
#9: Review of Chapter 2 Research Supervisor (Prof. P.D Gerber) 1 week November 2015
#10: Completion of research (Chapter 3) Researcher (Charles Cotter) 2 months January 2016
#11: Review of Chapter 3 Research Supervisor (Prof. P.D Gerber) 1 week January 2016
#12: Completion of data collection and analysis and writing of
research (Chapter 4)
Researcher (Charles Cotter) 5 months June 2016
#13: Statistical analysis Professional service: Statistician 1 month June 2016
#14: Review of Chapter 4 Research Supervisor (Prof. P.D Gerber) 2 weeks June 2016

18. RESEARCH TIMETABLE/PLAN
#15: Completion of data interpretation
and writing of research (Chapter 5)
Researcher (Charles Cotter) 3 months September 2016
#16: Review of Chapter 5 (part 1) Research Supervisor (Prof. P.D
Gerber)
2 weeks September 2016
#17: Completion of recommendations
and writing of research (Chapter 5)
Researcher (Charles Cotter) 2 months November 2016
#18: Review of Chapter 5 (part 2) Research Supervisor (Prof. P.D
Gerber)
2 weeks November 2016
#19: Consolidation of PH.D research
report
Researcher (Charles Cotter) 1 month December 2016
#20: Language Editing Professional service: Language
Editor
1 month January 2017
#21: Writing of article for publication
in academic journal
Researcher (Charles Cotter) 1 month February 2017
#22: Submission of final Thesis Researcher (Charles Cotter) 1 month March 2017
#23: Assessment of Thesis NWU appointed external
assessor/markers
2 months May 2017

19. RESEARCH BUDGET
Research Cost Item Budgeted amount
Research-related data and telecommunication costs R3 500
Transport costs (to NWU campus) R1 500
Professional Service: Statistician R10 000
Professional Service: Language Editor R3 500
Printing and binding of Thesis R3 500
TOTAL R22 000

20. PROPOSED THESIS STRUCTURE
• Conceptual overview and focus:
Overview of current L&D processes and practices
Determining the characteristics of strategic L&D
Business management requirements of L&D
Measuring the current strategic business impact of L&D
Identifying the strategic gaps of current L&D
Constructing a conceptual model for a L&D Scorecard
Recommendations of how to re-position the L&D function to
become a strategic business partner and solutions-provider
• Chapter Layout

21. SIGNIFICANCE/EXPECTED OUTCOMES
OF THE RESEARCH STUDY
• In the best interests of L&D managers to build a business case to justify their right
to existence and secondly to pull the plug on ineffective L&D interventions and
practices.
• From the perspective of business managers, funds allocated to training can be
better utilized, if they can envisage a quantifiable return on investment and can
better harness L&D as a strategic lever of gaining a competitive advantage.
• The benefits of L&D serve as the backdrop to this PH.D research study, because
they shed light on current levels of business performance, they guide and inform
decision-making to improve the status quo and also help to make
recommendations that can enhance the effect of L&D interventions and practices.
• The research anticipates finding low levels of strategic impact of L&D programs.
• Furthermore, the researcher will construct a strategically-relevant, L&D scorecard
and develop business intelligence and recommendations on how to transform and
re-position the L& D function to become a strategic business partner.

22. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
• Summary of key points
• Conclusion
• Questions
• The way forward