Colloquia

Summary

This research presents a holistic approach to configuring corporate education to bridge the gap between operational execution and strategic objectives through constructive and resilient alignment. The study addresses the challenges of digital transformation, specifically in the operations workforce of ING, a financial institution facing increasing digital innovations, data proliferation, and evolving customer needs. These challenges offer opportunities to streamline processes through automation but also necessitate rapid acquisition of new capabilities by the workforce to remain competitive and adapt to shifting job roles.

The central research question investigates how the implementation of an effective corporate education framework can be achieved by thoroughly understanding the corporate environment, its challenges, needs, and strategic goals. A root cause analysis revealed a misalignment between collective and operational levels, leading to inefficiencies in educational approaches, unclear roles, limited awareness of learning initiatives, and an overload of information.

To address these issues, a 3-tier configurable education framework was developed, designed to intrinsically align corporate objectives with operational needs. This framework incorporates variables such as bottom-up verification, pull mechanisms for identifying and addressing learning needs, pattern-driven and regulatory push mechanisms, antifragility measures, adapted learning factory morphologies, and a focus on strategic digital transformation capabilities alongside informal and self-directed learning methods. These elements collectively enhance the decision-making processes of Learning and Development (L&D) stakeholders by providing a more contextualized approach to learning.

The framework was verified through an operational case study that highlighted its capacity to support learner autonomy, encourage reflection, and foster complex problem-based learning scenarios. This case study demonstrated the practical value of the framework in enhancing learner engagement and ownership of learning outcomes.

In conclusion, this thesis contributes to corporate education research by integrating multiple theoretical perspectives and contextual corporate and industry-specific variables into a flexible conceptual framework. This framework offers potential scalability and adaptability to various corporate settings, providing a robust foundation for addressing the learning and development challenges of the digital age.