| Course | HRM 552 Organizational Training and Development (HRM/552) |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Learning and OD theory application |
| Length | about 1,178 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HRM 552 Week 2
How Adjusters Learn a New Claims Platform and How a Division Learns to Change: Learning and OD Theory Applied at Bayou Coastal Insurance
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
HRM/552: Organizational Training and Development
Week 2 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Bayou Coastal Insurance and all details are composites written for a model paper.
Bayou Coastal Insurance, the composite Baton Rouge insurer from Week 1, found that its claim cycle time rose from 14 to 23 days after a new claims platform launched. The performance analysis traced the gap to approval queues, caseloads, incentives and some real skill gaps. Platform training had been a single day of lectures and demonstrations, delivered two weeks before launch to groups of 40. Adjusters then learned the system from one another, and many settled on slow workarounds. Supervisors reported that adjusters seldom raised problems in team meetings. Theories of learning and change are useful only if they explain what actually happened, and the claims division's experience is a case study in what those theories predict. This paper applies them.
Adult Learning Principles
Knowles et al. (2015) say grown-up learners want the reason for a lesson before it begins, lean on what they have already lived through, prefer problem-centered learning and are motivated by immediate relevance to their work. The platform training began with menus and screens rather than with the claims adjusters handle every day. Experienced adjusters, many with 15 years in the field, found it disconnected from their work and remembered little of it.
Experiential Learning
Experiential learning theory holds that people learn through a cycle of concrete experience, reflection, forming concepts and trying them out. The training offered demonstration but no practice on realistic claims, and no time to reflect on what worked. When adjusters met the platform on live claims, they skipped straight to trial and error under pressure, the least efficient form of the cycle.
Social Learning
Social learning explains much of what happened next. People learn by observing others and copying behavior that seems to work. Adjusters watched coworkers who had found workarounds, such as making manual calls instead of using automated document requests, and copied them. The workarounds spread because they were visible and seemed to work, even though they were slower.
Behavioral Perspectives
Behavioral theory explains why skills trained once fade: behaviors that are not reinforced weaken. The incentive system rewarded closing claims, not using platform features, and supervisors gave no feedback on how adjusters used the system. Correct behaviors received no reinforcement, while workarounds were reinforced by short-term speed on easy claims.
Error Management
Keith and Frese (2008) found in a meta-analysis that error management training, which encourages learners to make mistakes and learn from them during practice, produced better transfer than error-avoidant training, especially for new tasks unlike those practiced. The platform training showed only correct procedures. Adjusters who made errors on live claims felt embarrassed rather than prepared, and some avoided features that had failed them once.
Spacing and Timing
Timing also mattered. The training came two weeks before launch, so adjusters had forgotten much of it by the time they used the platform, and nothing reinforced it afterward. Learning research consistently shows that practice spread over time produces better retention than a single concentrated session. Short practice sessions in the first weeks of use, when adjusters were meeting real problems, would have matched the moment of need and allowed questions to be answered as they arose.
Comparing the Learning Theories
The theories are complementary. Adult learning principles explain motivation and relevance. Experiential learning explains the need for practice and reflection. Social learning explains the spread of workarounds. Behavioral theory explains why the right behaviors faded. Error management explains why practice must include mistakes. Together they predict the training's failure and suggest a redesign.
From Individuals to the Organization
Learning theories concern individuals, but the division's problems are also collective: teams, processes and norms. Organizational development theory addresses change at those levels. Cummings and Worley (2019) define OD as a planned, system-wide process of applying behavioral science to improve an organization's effectiveness and capacity to change.
Action Research
Lewin (1947) described change as a cycle of planning, action and fact-finding about the results of action, the basis of action research. Applied to the claims division, action research means collecting data, sharing it with adjusters and managers, planning changes together, acting and measuring results, then repeating. The Week 1 performance analysis was the first diagnostic step.
Lewin on Group Change
Lewin (1947) also argued that group behavior rests in a kind of balance between forces for and against change, and that lasting change requires shifting that balance, often by changing group standards rather than individual minds. In the claims division, workarounds are now a group norm. Changing them requires teams to agree on new standards, not just retraining individuals.
Unfreezing in Practice
Unfreezing the division's habits means showing adjusters evidence that current practice is costly to them and to policyholders. Sharing data showing that automated document requests close claims three days faster, from adjusters' own peers, is more persuasive than lectures. Moving to the new standard and then reinforcing it through incentives and supervision completes the change.
Systems Thinking
A systems view sees the division as interdependent parts: platform, workflow, incentives, staffing, skills and culture. Changing one part, the platform, without adjusting others produced the gap. OD interventions must address several parts at once, which is why the Week 1 recommendations span authority, staffing, incentives and training.
Psychological Safety
Edmondson (1999) examined work teams at an office furniture maker and showed that where members trusted that a question or an admitted error would not cost them standing, they asked for help, sought feedback and talked through mistakes more often, and those habits were linked to better team results. Adjusters who did not raise platform problems in meetings were showing low psychological safety, so problems that could have been fixed in weeks lasted months.
Building Psychological Safety
Supervisors can build safety by asking for problems openly, responding without blame, admitting their own difficulties with the platform and acting on what they hear. A weekly 15-minute "what's slowing you down" huddle in each claims team would turn hidden problems into shared data for the action research cycle.
Design Principles From the Theories
The theories yield principles for later weeks. Start training with real claims and explain why each feature matters. Provide hands-on practice with realistic errors. Use respected peers as models and coaches. Reinforce correct use with feedback and incentives. Change team norms through shared data and agreement. Address the whole system. Build psychological safety so problems surface quickly.
Limits of the Theories
Theories simplify. Adult learning principles are guidance rather than tested laws, and Lewin's stages can be misread as a one-time sequence when change is ongoing. The principles should be tested in the action research cycle and adjusted based on results.
Conclusion
The claims division's experience matches what learning and OD theories predict. One day of lectures ignored adult learning, experiential learning and error management; social learning spread workarounds; and missing reinforcement and low psychological safety kept problems hidden. Action research and Lewin's insight about group standards point to a collective change process. The design principles will guide the interventions designed in Week 3.
References
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2019). Organization development and change (11th ed.). Cengage.
Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999
Keith, N., & Frese, M. (2008). Effectiveness of error management training: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(1), 59-69. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.59
Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., III, & Swanson, R. A. (2015). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (8th ed.). Routledge.
Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in group dynamics: Concept, method and reality in social science; social equilibria and social change. Human Relations, 1(1), 5-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872674700100103
What the HRM 552 Week 2 instructions ask
Week 2 in HRM 552 often requires students to explain learning theories and organizational development theories and apply them to an organization. Common elements include adult learning principles, experiential and social learning, behavioral and cognitive approaches, the action research model, Lewin's change model, systems thinking and theories of team learning and psychological safety. Prompts usually ask how the theories explain the organization's situation and what they imply for interventions. Explain each theory accurately in your own words, apply it to specific facts rather than describing it in the abstract, compare theories where they differ and support the discussion with sources in APA format.
How this HRM 552 Week 2 example is built
An insurer that trained adjusters on a new platform in one day of lectures, before they had used it on real claims, ignored most of what learning theory predicts, and the paper explains why. Adult learning principles call for relevance and self-direction. Experiential learning calls for practice and reflection. Social learning explains why adjusters copied workarounds from peers. Error management research shows that practicing with mistakes improves transfer. On the organizational side, action research offers a cycle of diagnosis, action and evaluation. Lewin's work explains why change requires unfreezing old habits. Psychological safety explains why adjusters hid problems. The paper ends with design principles from each theory, notes the limits of those theories and explains how the action research cycle will test the principles once the redesigned training and team changes begin.
HRM 552 Week 2 grading rubric: where the points go
High-scoring theory papers explain each theory accurately and briefly, then use it to interpret specific facts in the organization. Faculty credit clear distinctions among learning theories, correct accounts of action research and Lewin's model, and use of research such as studies of error management training and psychological safety. The strongest papers show how theories complement one another, with learning theory guiding individual training and OD theory guiding change at the group and system level. Design principles that follow from the analysis prepare for later weeks. Evidence and APA citations support the discussion throughout. Faculty also value honesty about the limits of theories, such as noting that adult learning principles are guidance rather than tested laws, and a short explanation of how the organization will test the principles in practice through the action research cycle.
HRM 552 Week 2 help: mistakes to avoid
Students often summarize theories one after another and never return to the case. Tie every theory to a specific event in the organization. Another gap is confusing learning theory, which concerns individuals, with OD theory, which concerns groups and organizations. Keep them distinct but connected. Students also cite Lewin's three stages as a simple recipe; explain what unfreezing actually requires. Avoid treating adult learning principles as proven rules; present them as guidance. Use research where it exists, such as error management. Finally, end with principles that later interventions can follow, so the theory has a purpose. A short table matching each theory to the problem it explains and the principle it suggests makes the argument easy to follow and gives the Week 3 design a ready checklist.
Related HRM 552 sample papers
Other HRM 552 week samples
- HRM 552 Week 1: Performance Analysis
- HRM 552 Week 3: Designing Training Interventions
- HRM 552 Week 4: Planning for Change and Resistance
- HRM 552 Week 5: Employee Relations
- HRM 552 Week 6: Evaluating Organizational Development
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HRM 552 Week 2 questions, answered
What does HRM 552 Week 2 usually cover?
It usually covers learning theories, such as adult, experiential and social learning, and organizational development theories, such as action research, Lewin's change model, systems thinking and psychological safety, applied to an organization.
Where can I find a free HRM 552 Week 2 sample paper?
Above is a complete application of learning and OD theory to an insurer's claims division, with a note on each theory. A free first draft of your theory paper can be prepared from your prompt.
What is action research in organizational development?
A cycle in which consultants and members diagnose a problem with data, plan and take action, evaluate results and repeat, treating change as a series of learning steps rather than a single event.
What is error management training?
Training that encourages learners to make errors during practice and learn from them, which research shows improves transfer to new tasks compared with training designed to avoid errors.
What is psychological safety?
The sense among teammates that speaking up will not be punished or ridiculed, such as admitting mistakes or asking questions, which supports learning behavior and team performance.
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