Viewpoint
Reducing employee learning and
development costs: the use of massive open
online courses (MOOC)
David Ong and Manimekalai Jambulingam
David Ong is a Lecturer
and Manimekalai
Jambulingam is a Senior
Lecturer, both at Taylor’s
Business School, Taylor’s
University, Subang Jaya,
Malaysia.
PAGE 18 DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS
orporate training is part and parcel of talent development in organizations.
C However, the escalating cost of doing business and economic uncertainties
surrounding global markets are forcing some companies to reduce costs to
maintain their bottom line. As expenses relating to employee training and development rarely
have an immediate impact on business operations, executive management often see such
expense as one that can be reduced substantially if the need arises. From the employees’
perspective, a reduction in training budget is seen as a blow to staff benefits. It can also be
taken as a signal of deteriorating business conditions and can reduce employee morale.
Longenecker and Fink (2014) pointed out that talented managers are more likely to leave an
organization if training and development opportunities for growth are lacking.
One way that organizations can offer a greater level of development opportunities at lower
cost is through the use of online learning platforms. There is increasing interest in the use
of massive open online courses (MOOCs), which are, in general, web-based courses that
can be targeted to an unlimited number of participants. These courses can be designed by
anyone and made available to the public or designated audiences on dedicated MOOC
providers’ websites.
Research shows that there is an increase in corporate awareness of MOOCs. A 2014 study
by consulting firm, Deloitte, found that two-third of companies in its global survey agree that
the MOOC trend is becoming more important and relevant (Deloitte University Press, 2014).
However, there is still a lack of research on the practices of MOOCs (Liyanagunawardena
et al., 2013), which could be the reason why some firms are still not convinced about
MOOC adoption. This article briefly summarizes how MOOCs are being used by some
organizations, sets out the advantages and disadvantages of their use and, for
organizations planning to implement MOOCs, flags some key issues worthy of paying
attention to.
Organizations currently using MOOCs
In one particular study carried out in 2013 with 195 corporate learning and HR practitioners,
70 per cent of respondents saw opportunities to integrate MOOCs into their existing training
programs (Meister, 2013). Examples of large corporations who are already using MOOCs
for employee training are:
 SAP in Germany uses MOOCs to teach mobile and data technologies (Deloitte
University Press, 2014).
 A Canada-based communications company, TELUS, has been using MOOCs for its
40,000 employees to train in leadership, collaboration and customer service
(Deloitte University Press, 2014).
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Studies in the USA have shown that organizations that adopt
e-learning experience cost savings of more than 21 per cent in
their training budget.

 Antivirus giant, McAfee Corporation, used MOOCs to reinvent their corporate sales
training modules, which resulted in increased sales for their associates (Schroeder
et al., 2015).
 Adidas Group, with a global workforce of around 51,000, uses a digital learning
platform that is similar to the MOOC model to provide behavioral and job related
training (Meister, 2014).
 Cosmetic company, L’Oréal, uses MOOCs for aspects of employee training, e.g.
public speaking skills (Badia, 2015).

What are the potential benefits for organizations?

 Cost reduction: Cost to hire expensive trainers can be significantly reduced and the
hassle for training arrangements can also be eliminated. Switching cost from traditional
classroom training to MOOCs results in savings, as the subsequent maintenance costs
are relatively low. Studies in the USA have shown that organizations that adopt
e-learning experience cost savings of more than 21 per cent in their training budget
(Little, 2014).
 Audience capacity: MOOCs allow the participation of an unlimited number of
employees. Unlike traditional classroom training, capacity is not an issue. Material for
target groups of participants can also be customized. For instance, a course can be
made available to employees of certain departments, subsidiaries or geographic
locations only.
 Global reach: Companies with a worldwide presence can offer courses for employees
across various countries. The costs of bringing learners together from different
continents is prohibitively expensive for traditional classroom training, whereas many
MOOCs offer interactive modes for online discussion among course participants, no
matter where they are located. Deutsche Telekom (2016) successfully gathered 3,600
employees from 27 countries in 2014 through a MOOC to complete modules on
transformation, leadership and simplicity.
 Convenient: Employees can log into online training at times that are convenient to them,
either while at work or outside their normal working day. This gives greater flexibility to
each learner and can minimize interruptions to employee work schedules. Staff can
also meet any annual training hour requirements in a more bite-size and timely fashion
with less need for days of “training leave”. For instance, McAfee compressed its
80-hour-long new hire orientation program into a MOOC model, resulting in significant
time saving for employees (Deloitte University Press, 2014).
 Variety: By building up the number and variety of courses available over a period of
time, there is the opportunity to offer personalized learning to fit the appetite and
requirements of each individual employee.
 Complimentary: MOOC courses can be used as a knowledge reinforcement tool as a
follow-up to traditional classroom training sessions.

VOL. 30 NO. 5 2016 DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS PAGE 19

 What are the potential downsides of MOOCs?
 Downtime: Any service problems or technical errors on a MOOC website may affect the
training process. A contingency plan should be negotiated with the MOOC provider.
 Isolation: The lack of face-to-face human interaction among employees can be an
issue. One of the key features of MOOCs is flexibility, where employees sign into the
courses at their preferred time and pace, but this also means that people can be
working largely alone. Traditional classroom training can be more social and interactive
compared to MOOCs.
 Delayed feedback: Most MOOCs operate asynchronously and the absence of
immediate feedback from a course instructor can have an impact on the speed and
quality of learning.
 “Tech savvy”: Employees who lack digital literacy may struggle with MOOCs.
Companies may need to provide additional support for this group of employees.

Implementation issues to consider

Before committing too many resources to MOOCs, it is worth running trial sessions and
collecting feedback from employees to determine the feasibility of implementing the MOOC
agenda in the organization.
Most MOOC portals have made it relatively straightforward for anyone to create courses on
their website. Hence, organizations can encourage employees to create learning content. This
might be restricted to managerial levels for their staff or might be open to anyone in the
organization who has expertise to share. In this way, people who have the industry and
company-specific knowledge are able to create courses which are more relevant to the needs
of the staff.
Alternatively, external agents can be hired to act as the content designers, designing the
course according to the requirements of the company. Adidas and L’Oréal, for instance,
have used external parties to create course content for their MOOCs. A third option is some
form of partnership approach. For example, Deutsche Telekom uses MOOCs that have
been jointly created by their top managers and university experts. However the content is
created, it should be formally vetted before being made available to employees.
To counteract the lack of face to face interaction, course content must be of a high quality,
creative and engaging to keep staff motivated. Courses must also be reviewed periodically
for organizational or industry updates. If the content is outdated, relevance will be lost and
employees will quickly switch off.
As with any developmental provision, people need to be encouraged to use it. The MOOC
must be seen by employees as having equivalent value to traditional development
opportunities in terms of how it is recognized by top management. The human resource
department is also in a key position to act as a change agent to inculcate awareness of
MOOCs among employees.
Keywords: Overall, MOOCs offer significant opportunities for cost saving in regards to employee
Training, training alongside other valuable benefits. However, companies must realize that MOOCs
Learning, may not be suitable for all types of training content. The courses must be carefully designed
Development, so that the intended learning outcomes are met meaningfully. Going forward, more
Organizational learning, research could be carried out to identify the types of training topics that can be best
MOOC delivered through MOOCs.

References
Badia, X.O. (2015), “Upcoming learning trend: MOOCs for employee training”, available at: http://
elearningindustry.com/moocs-for-employees-training-upcoming-elearning-trend (accessed 12 December
2015).

PAGE 20 DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS VOL. 30 NO. 5 2016

Deloitte University Press (2014), “Corporate learning redefined: prepare for a revolution”, available at:
http://dupress.com/articles/hc-trends-2014-corporate-learning-redefined/ (accessed 20 March 2016).

Deutsche Telekom (2016), “About magenta MOOC”, available at: www.telekom.com/company/human-

resources/magenta-mooc/242422 (accessed 15 December 2015).

Little, B. (2014), “Best practices to ensure the maximum ROI in learning and development”, Industrial
and Commercial Training, Vol. 46 No. 7, pp. 400-405.

Liyanagunawardena, T.R., Adams, A.A. and Williams, S.A. (2013), “MOOCs: a systematic study of the
published literature 2008-2012”, available at: www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1455/2531
(accessed 20 March 2016).

Longenecker, C. and Fink, L.S. (2014), “The top ten reasons that key managers leave: and how to
prevent it from happening”, Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 22 No. 2,
pp. 36-38.

Meister, J. (2013), “How MOOCs will revolutionize corporate learning and development”, available at:
www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2013/08/13/how-moocs-will-revolutionize-corporate-learning-
development/ (accessed 27 July 2015).
Meister, J. (2014), “A new way of working and learning: the Adidas style”, available at: www.forbes.
com/sites/jeannemeister/2014/07/21/a-new-way-of-working-and-learning-adidas-style/ (accessed 15
December 2015).

Schroeder, R., Cook, V.S., Levin, C. and Gribbins, M. (2015), Alternative Models of MOOCs: MOOCs
and Open Education Around the World, Routledge, New York, NY.

About the authors

David Ong, a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), UK,
is Accountant by training.

Manimekalai Jambulingam is Senior Lecturer at Taylor’s University of Malaysia.

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