7.1 Foundations of Training and Leaming 269 training programs that present distributed as opposed to massed material (Donovan Radosevich.1999). College students preparing for a test often wonder whether weeks of inattention to a course can be remedied by pulling an all-nighter,which involves cramming information into their memory just before an exam (Landy,1987).Cramming is the equivalent of massed practice and,in general,is an ineffective learning strategy.Although cramming may improve performance marginally if the exam comes within hours of the massed practice, the material will not be retained as part of the body of knowledge students accumulate in school.The research described above suggests that students can benefit from studying that is distributed over time,which will lead to better exam performance and higher retention of the material.This research also suggests that although foreign-language immersion classes are a popular way to learn a new language,their lack of rest periods and breaks is likely to produce high levels of initial learning but not long-term retention (Rohrer Pashler,2007).Even students who have taken semester-long foreign-language classes are often disappointed at how few foreign words they can remember a few months later unless they continue using the language regularly.This is even more likely to be the case if the student crammed for the language exams. Learning Organizations Peter Senge's(1990)book The Fifth Discipline:The Art and Practice of Learning Organizations popularized the concept of the learning organization,which is a useful extension of the principles oflearning described above.Learning organizations are companies that empha- Leaming organization size continuous learning.knowledge sharing,and personal mastery (Jeppensen,2002). Company that emphasizes Several additional features include the following: leaming owedge sharing.and penonal mastery. 1. Emphasizing problem solving and innovation Developing systems that enhance knowledge generation and sharing 3. Encouraging flexibility and experimentation 4 Valuing the well-being and development of all employees Encouraging employees to find or make opportunities to learn from whatever situa- tion is presented (Confessore Kops,1998;London Mone,1999) Organizations with such features are more likely to have the knowledge and skills essential for innovation and new product development(Kim Wilemon,2007).Successful organi- zations encourage learning at the individual,team,and organizational levels by emphasiz- ing and rewarding knowledge sharing in their training and performance management systems (Noe,2012). Executives and managers interested in fostering a learning organization have increas. ingly developed corporate universities,which promote learning throughout the organiza- tion.Corporate universities provide relevant learning opportunities for different job families in the organization for new hires as well as for the development of workers throughout their careers (Morrison Meister,2000). Well-known corporate universities include Motorola University,General Motors University.Xerox's Document University,Caterpillar University,Capital One University. Apple University,Pixar University,and McDonald's Hamburger University,which has granted more than 65,000"bachelors ofhamburgerology"degrees since the program began in 1961 in the basement of a McDonald's restaurant.At Hamburger University,McDonald's managers learn about supervisory skills,employee motivation,and company values such as quality,service,cleanliness,and pride(Wexley&Latham.2002).Training and learning are Scanned by CamScannerScanned by CamScanner