Abstract
The 21 st-century 4IR workplace is riddled with rampant transformational processes that create multiple opportunities and challenges. Globally connected economies demand that learning and development (L&D) specialists transform workforce intelligence and business dynamic capabilities. Although the literature is limited on the evolving role of L&D specialists; however, a baseline study was required to gain a theoretical understanding of what transformation was essential to the L&D evolution. Findings indicate that the L&D specialist job must evolve to include these five roles: co-creators of learning portfolio and strategic knowledge; facilitators of change and innovation culture; builders of relationships and collaboration partnerships; managers of employee networks and communities; and researchers and social scientists. The paper highlights the benefits of the evolved L&D specialist to workforces, businesses, and societies. Conceptually, the paper's contribution is the Transformational Model for L&D Specialists for 21 st Century 4IR Workplaces, clearly indicating how the five roles can be adopted in five steps, with skills and competencies. This paper contributes to theory by adding to the L&D body of knowledge and practically offers stakeholders a model to empower L&D specialists operating in the 4IR workplace. Businesses, employees, and societies can benefit from the theoretical and practical implications offered in this paper.