Catalyzing Employee Change With Transformative Learning

Businesses, organizations, and government agencies have invested heavily in employee training. The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) reports these costs as 2.15% of payroll (ASTD, 2008). A large amount of this investment is directed at improving employee knowledge and skills. Although most organizations are good at this, often a need exists to develop a deeper level of behavior change in employees. This type of change can be difficult to accomplish and sustain over time. Adult education theory, in particular transformative education theory, has enhanced the ability of organizations to bring about deeper change in employees through training and development. Therefore, human resource development (HRD) professionals need to become familiar with this theory and its implications for employee training and development.