Exploring experiential learning in the context of organisational competitiveness

Abstract

Organisational competitiveness is a challenge to achieve and sustain in a complex business environment that is changing rapidly, constantly and unpredictably. The best leaders are agile enough to anticipate and respond to change, and are able to actively create competitive advantage which changes the business environment. Human capital development has been identified as one of the least replicable and most sustainable competitive advantages at the disposal of firms. This aim of this research was to seek insights into experiential learning and the potential implications that investment into experiential learning could have on organisational competitiveness. Purposive and snowball sampling methodology was used in this study. Seven semi-structured interviews were held with participants from the field of learning and development, and data gathered was analysed using thematic analysis. The research found that (i) a robust process of developing learning frameworks is required for deliberate human capital development (ii) outputs from learning interventions can be maximized through customisation, and finally (iii) experiential learning is required to generate competitive advantage because it transforms information into the critical thinking skills required for problem solving rather than knowledge transfer. A combination of these findings would empower management to actively shape organisational competitiveness.