👉 Linking Theory with Real Practice

This section evaluates how established HRM and organisational behaviour theories align with the real organisational issues observed at Prime Land Pvt Ltd, specifically related to onboarding, training, and employee development. The analysis highlights clear gaps between theory and practice, demonstrating why inconsistent employee performance and early-stage stress continue to occur in the company.

 


6.1 Social learning theory and shadowing system of Prime land.

According to the Social Learning Theory by Bandura (1977), people acquire behaviours by watching humans and imitating their behaviour. Prime Land has strongly depended on a shadowing-based technique in the onboarding processes whereby the recruits accompany senior sales executives to understand how to handle customers, prepare documents and how to negotiate. The learning is however inconsistent because Prime Land does not have formal guidelines. Elderly or erroneous behaviours as exhibited by seniors are usually emulated by the employees and this accounts to the alert made by Bandura that unguided observational learning may be used to pass the wrong behaviours. This leads to different sales procedures, gaps in communication and documentation mistakes.

6.2 Human Capital Theory and Training: an Investment.

The Human capital Theory (Becker, 1993) suggests that an investment in the knowledge and skills of the employees leads to direct improvement of productivity and performance of the organisation. The sales personnel employed in the real estate industry are trained to participate in the satisfaction of customers and conversion of sales.

 

At Prime Land:

·       Very little investment is done in systematic development.

·       Training is regarded as an expense and not a strategy.

·       Employees are not confident to deal with complicated customer inquiries and legal demands.

Other competitors like the Blue mountain properties and the Capitol developers invest in constant competence acquisition and have better conversion rates. This helps Becker prove that training is more than an investment that can be measured and it is paramount in keeping up with competition.


6.3 Competitive Advantage and Resource-Based View (RBV).

According to the Resource-Based View (Barney, 1991), the valuable, rare and inimitable resources constitute the source of sustainable competitive advantage. This definition includes a professionally trained knowledgeable sales force.

 

 

At Prime Land:

·       The expertise of different branches differs.

·       Knowledge is not standardised or written.

·       When the older employees retire, the knowledge goes with them.

This means that there is a low internal capability base. On the other hand, companies like JKH Properties have institutional training models which generate long term and unrivalled labour force wealth. RBV justifies the need to institutionalise training as a strategic resource in Prime Land.



6.4 Gaps to Onboarding Best Practice Theory and Gaps at Prime Land.

According to Bauer (2010), there are four key components of a successful onboarding compliance, clarification, culture, and connection.

At Prime Land:

·       Compliance: Policies are not effectively documented and are communicated orally.

·       Explanation: The expectations of the roles also vary across branches, and this makes it confusing.

·       Culture: New employees are not introduced and are not taught any organisational values or behaviour expectations.

·       Connection: New employees are reliant on the goodwill and accessibility of older generations to advise them.

These loopholes are the reasons why there is stress, performance differences and prolonged learning curves in the new employees.

6.5 Continuous Development Theory and Requirement in the Real Estate Sector.

According to Noe (2020), the development of employees is to be ongoing, and a constant level of coaching, refresher courses, and skill testing are to be performed. The jobs in the area of real estate sales demand a modern understanding of the rules, the methods of negotiations, the tools of selling, and the ethical sales approaches.

Prime Land, however:

·       Does not offer any refresher training.

·       Lacks no formal coaching program.

·       Discontinues employee development once they are on board.

This causes performance of employees to stabilise with time and the organisation finds it difficult to sustain service levels between branches.


References

Bandura, A. (1977) Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Barney, J. (1991) ‘Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage’, Journal of Management, 17(1), pp. 99–120.

Bauer, T. (2010) ‘Onboarding new employees: Maximizing success’, SHRM Foundation’s Effective Practice Guidelines Series, pp. 1–44.

Becker, G.S. (1993) Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. 3rd edn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Noe, R.A. (2020) Employee Training and Development. 8th edn. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Comments

  1. Vidura AmarasingheDecember 4, 2025 at 12:25 AM

    Hi thanks for this comprehensive analysis. I wonder if you might consider including Job Characteristic Theory in your framework. Given how much the performance and motivation of employees rely on their work conditions especially in dynamic fields like real-estate sales or service sectors designing jobs so they offer variety, clear responsibility, autonomy, significance and regular feedback could strengthen both employee satisfaction and output quality. It might also help reduce mistakes, boost engagement, and make ongoing training and development more effective.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. K. G. Muditha ManoriDecember 4, 2025 at 1:29 AM

      This is an excellent and insightful suggestion that adds meaningful depth to the discussion. Integrating Job Characteristics Theory would indeed strengthen the overall framework by highlighting how core job dimensions—such as skill variety, autonomy, task significance, and feedback—directly influence employee motivation, satisfaction, and performance. In dynamic environments like real estate sales or service sectors, these elements can significantly enhance role clarity, reduce errors, and boost engagement, ultimately complementing and amplifying the impact of training and development initiatives. Your point effectively broadens the focus from skill enhancement alone to the structural design of work itself, offering a more holistic and strategically aligned perspective on improving organizational outcomes.

      Delete
  2. vimukthi wewelwalaDecember 4, 2025 at 5:00 AM

    Your description makes it very evident how Prime Land uses the Social Learning Theory. Employees learn by watching others, according to Bandura (1977), and you accurately note that while shadowing, new hires mimic the actions of senior staff members. But in the absence of clear standards, they could also pick up poor habits that result in uneven sales techniques and mistakes (Bandura, 1977). The true danger of depending solely on informal learning is brought to light by your analysis. In order to guarantee that proper behaviors are acquired and performance stays constant throughout the company, systematic training should be implemented.

    ReplyDelete

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