learning workplace master

8/19/2019 Learning Workplace Master

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Workplace Learning : Theory and Practice

Supaluk Payungwong1

Overview

Since the emergence of human capital theory, the idea of

investing in human beings as a form of capital has fuelled growing

interest in workplace learning theory and practice (Boud & Garrick

1!"#he burgeoning literature on workplace learning (e"g",Billett

$%%!, organi'ational learning (e"g", asterby)Smith 1*! and the

learning organi'ation (e"g", Senge 1%! is evidence of this growing

interest in making workplaces into e+ective learning environments"

#here are numerous descriptive accounts of organi'ations striving to

become learning oriented (ar-uardt 1.,/iBella & 0evis 1,

arsick & 2atkins 1!"2hy has learning at and through work

become so important 3 any commentators argue that learning has

become increasingly important to the survival of organi'ations

(Senge 1%, 4rgyris 15, Schein 15, 0evis, /iBella & Gould

16, Pedler, Burgoyne & Boydell 1*, #annenbaum 1*, arsick

& 2atkins 1, Poell, 7hivers, 8an der 9rogt & 2ildemeersch

$%%%!" #hey (and others! argue that the importance of learning is

primarily because of the need for organi'ations to respond to rapid

and continuous change in the organi'ation:s e;ternal environment

(Pedler, et al" 1*, Gardiner,


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=mplementation of change initiatives in organi'ations, such as the

introduction of new technology, products or processes, usually

re-uires the ac-uisition of new knowledge and skills" Somecommentators believe that organi'ations that learn faster will be

able to adapt -uicker and thus avoid the economic evolutionary

>weeding out? process (Schein 15!" 4ccording to /e Geus (1!,

learning is important, not only for organi'ational survival, but also

because the ability to learn faster than competitors may be the only

sustainable competitive advantage"#here is also wide agreement that

having entered the knowledge based era, there is increasing

emphasis on human capital, rather than @nancial and physical

assets (/i;on 1%, Alrich 1!" or e;ample, 0onaka (11!

contends that, in an economy where the only certainty is

uncertainty, the one sure source of lasting competitive advantage is

knowledge" 9nowledge is thus, regarded as a key asset of

employees, and their ability to ac-uire and use it is considered a

source of competitive advantage (4rgyris 11, /rucker 1$!"


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determinants of their employability elsewhere (Ghosal, Barlett &

oran 1!" #hus, employability is the >new security?" oreover, it

is argued that, as part of the >new deal? in employment, goodemployers will ensure that their employees remain employable by

keeping them up to date through learning and development

(Swanson & Dolton $%%1!"

4rguments for the importance of learning and development in

the workplace setting are not limited to economic considerations"

4nother line of reasoning emphasi'es learning at work as part of

general education for citi'enship and fuller participation in society as

a whole" mployees develop skills of e;pression and communication

that spill over into their personal lives" #hey learn new ways of

collaborating and planning that they apply in the families and

community organi'ations to which they belong" #hey not only

become more e+ective in their present responsibilities, but help

transform the nature of work in which they are engaged creating

new work practices and forms of production (Boud & Garrick 1,

p"1!"#hese arguments for the importance of learning suggest that

learning in organi'ational settings should be continuous, if both the

economic and social goals of enhanced participation in learning are

to be reali'ed"

The Growing Importance of Workplace Learning

4shton, /" and Sung, F" ($%%$ *)$%! emphasi'ed that

workplace learning has become increasingly important during the

last decade" ven there are a number of di+erent types of


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workplace learning but they are especially interested in that which

takes place in high performance work organi'ations (DP2Es!"

#hese organi'ations are relatively new phenomena, which havearisen in a large part as a conse-uence of the process of

globali'ation"#hey focused on how to understand the reasons

behind their growth and the bene@ts they o+er for both employers

and employees" 4lthough they are still somewhat unusual, they do

provide a range of bene@ts for both groups, ranging from higher

levels of pro@tability and productivity for employers to higher earning

and more challenging work for employees" 2hich could be reviews

their concepts that this phenomena not Hust the result of another

management fad, but rather represent a maHor change in the way

in which we organi'e the production of both goods and services"

Types of workplace learning

Ever recent years, the use of the workplace as a learning

e;perience has been transformed" #here are three main reasons for

this" #he @rst relates to the growth of the knowledge economy" #he

second refers to the impact of the Inew economyI and information

and communications technology (=7#! in improving productivity" #he

third and related reason is the growing use of high performance

working practices (DP2Ps! that are transforming the ways in which

work is organi'ed" #his is being facilitated by developments in =7#"

4 great deal of space has been devoted to the growth of the

so)called knowledge economy in recent years" 9eep, " ($%%%!"

argues that there are at least two de@nitions present in the


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literature and public discussion, the @rst of which is based on the

high)tech industrial clusters in the Anited States along the lines of

those which developed in 7alifornia" #his provides knowledge)based Hobs for the labor force, but these Hobs only represent a minority of

the total 7alifornian and AS labor force" #he second is a broader

de@nition which is more inclusive, suggesting a realm of economic

activity characteri'ed by a foundation of mutually reinforcing factors

which together form the core of a high value)added economy where

knowledge is a key to economic success and where skills and

learning are valued and productively employed" #hese factors

include,among others,a general demand for sophisticated products,

high levels of research and development especially in new

technology, a high value on learning throughout life and an eJcient

and open educational system and labor market" 7entral to this

de@nition is a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce"

#he growth of the Inew economyI is also seen as a reason

for the e;pansion of knowledge)based Hobs" #he idea of a Inew

economyI focuses attention on the role of =7# and its impact on

technological progress" Dere we are talking about technology)driven

change leading to the knowledge)based economy or, as a minimum,

providing support for more rapid knowledge creation and di+usion"

Dowever, the E7/ report on the Inew economyI points out that

our knowledge of the impact of =7# is still largely con@ned to its

impact on the AS economy" 2hile it does not identify any maHor

impact of the Inew economyI on employment, it does point to the

http://www.ilo.org/pubcgi/links_ext.pl?http://www.oecd.orghttp://www.ilo.org/pubcgi/links_ext.pl?http://www.oecd.org


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importance of the accumulation of knowledge and human capital

and the importance of government action in e;panding the

knowledge base re-uired for the Inew economyI" #his serves as anote of caution, for while the new high)tech economy is growing it

still forms only a small proportion of total employment" 4s such, it

is not as yet a maHor cause of the growth of knowledge)based Hobs"

#he third, and most important, source of the growing

importance of workplace learning is the spread of high performance

work organi'ations (DP2Es!" #he spread of high performance work

places (DP2Ps! which characteri'e these organi'ations has created

the opportunity for all employees within them to develop their skills,

not Hust those in professional, managerial or craft occupations" #he

growth of these organi'ations has been facilitated by both the

spread of the knowledge economy and the use of =7# associated

with the Inew economyK" Dowever, the dissemination of these

DP2Es cannot be e;plained away Hust by reference to these

factors" 4s we shall see later, they are linked to e-ually profound

changes in the nature of competition in world markets"

#he conse-uence of all three factors has been the growth in

the proportion of the working population who utili'e the application

and manipulation of knowledge in their everyday work tasks" Dere

we are referring primarily to the professionals, scientists and

managers" 2hile we encounter diJculties in identifying precisely

who are these Iknowledge workersI, we do know that as a group

professional, scienti@c and managerial workers are increasing as a

.


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proportion of the total labor force" #his shift in the direction of more

highly skilled white)collar workers is of course part of the more

general shift in the occupational structures of the advancedeconomies from manufacturing to the service sector" #he =


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e;tending the opportunity to e;perience continuous workplace

learning to a new group of employees, namely the Hunior white)

collar and manual workers, a much larger proportion of the totallabor force" or the @rst time, we have the radical prospect of the

maHority of the labor force being presented with the opportunity to

e;perience work as a source of lifelong learning" or the traditional

knowledge workers in professional, technical and managerial

occupations, workplace learning has tended to be associated with

formal courses" #hese are the most highly educated workers who

also have the greatest chances of further education and training

once they enter work" =t is therefore not surprising that they are

pioneering continuous professional development, encouraged by the

activities of professional associations" Dowever, while formal training

courses are an important component of continuous professional

development, they may represent only the tip of the iceberg when it

comes to lifelong learning and development" Lecent research by

raut et al" (1!" has shown that for technicians and professionals

most learning is informal, taking place through everyday interaction

in the workplace" #hus, recent research is revealing that for this

group the workplace may well be the most important source of

learning"

4part from professionals, the other groups who have

traditionally e;perienced the workplace as a source of learning are

the craft workers" =n the past, craft workers in their initial years at

work combined both o+)the)Hob theoretical learning with on)the)Hob


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practical e;perience" =ndeed, for many years the German dual

system, which was the most highly developed form of

apprenticeship system, was seen as the model to which all formsof training should aspire" Dowever, with the increased speed of

technological and economic change, especially the impact of =7#

together with the introduction of new working practices, the

apprenticeship system is now being subHect to modi@cations" #here

is a growing body of opinion that it is no longer possible to provide

all the necessary knowledge and skills on a one)o+ basis at the

start of a person:s career" #he speed of technological change and

the application of =7# to the workplace mean that this type of

Ifront)loadedI learning e;perience is no longer suJcient on its own,

even for this group" Given the speed of change, it is now seen as

increasingly important that employees should continue to learn

throughout their working life" 4s we shall see that the governments

throughout the world are now introducing reforms to support the

use of the workplace as a source of lifelong learning"

or those employees in semi)skilled and unskilled work in the

manufacturing and service sectors, the situation has been very

di+erent" #hey have never e;perienced much in the way of either

initial training or of formal work)based learning" #his is not to say

that they did not learn at work" =ndeed, the te;tbooks are full of

e;amples of workers who have learned to impose their own

controls on the workplace, in spite of attempts by employers to

control their behavior" Studies dating back to the Dawthorne


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e;periments have shown how workers developed their own norms

of behavior, either increasing or restricting output and controlling

their working environment, sometimes at the e;pense of theeconomic eJciency of their organi'ation" 4part from this informal

activity, these Hobs have short learning times and are characteri'ed

by few other opportunities for the ac-uisition of skills or personal

development"

#he introduction of DP2Es is now transforming these

occupations" #he use of =7# has provided the basis for more

e+ective ways of sharing information and introducing devolved

management" =n addition, practices such as multi)skilling and use of

self)managed work groups, all characteristics of DP2Es, have

meant that in these organi'ations the workplace has become a

source of continuous learning for all employees" =n addition to any

technical skills they ac-uire, workers have to use their intellectual

faculties to tackle une;pected problems for which there is no

immediate recourse to technical specialists" #hey have to resolve

day)to)day production problems, they have to communicate solutions

to colleagues and clients and they have to learn how to work

e+ectively in teams" Anlike employees in more traditional

organi'ations who can legitimately claim that any problem which

a+ects their Hob and is outside the operation of their narrowly

de@ned tasks is not their responsibility, this new breed of high

performance worker has to take these and other problems and

issues on board" =t is the use of these practices which are making

1%


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the workplace a crucial source of learning for all employees in

modern organi'ations"

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