What Is Being Learned Informally in the Workplaces - Literature review Example

Name: ID: Lecturer: Date: Journal article analysis: Michael Eraut (2004): Informal learning in the work place, studies in Continuing Education, 26:2, 247-273- published 13 Oct 2010 The aim of this paper is to construct a theoretical framework that will help understand and investigate informal learning in the work place. According to the author, informal learning provides a simple contrast to formal learning that suggests greater flexibility or freedom for the learners. It takes place in a much wider variety of settings than the formal education. It is a form of learning that recognizes the social significance of learning from others but implies greater scope for individual agency than socialization. This type of learning can be considered as a complementary partner to learning from experience. The author is guided by three main questions that are the basis of his research work: to understand what is being learned; how it is being learned; and what factors affect the level and directions of learning effort. Key themes in the article Nature of informal learning Informal learning according to the author is a form of learning that can be well defined by the characteristics of the informal end of the continuum of formality which include implicit, unintended, opportunistic and unstructured learning and the absence of a teacher. Implicit learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge independently of conscious attempts to learn. According to the author, most learning experiences include some form of implicit aspects and it should not be held that awareness of explicit learning means that explicit learning is not taking place. explicit learning can therefore be likened to deliberative learning where there is a definite learning goal, time set out for acquiring knowledge and also for engagement in deliberative activities such as planning and problem solving. There is a clear work-based goal with learning being the pre-defined by-product. Implicit learning an on the other hand be similar to reactive learning because although it is intentional, it occurs in the middle of an action when there is little time to think and therefore is not pre-defined in any substantial way (Hunter, Vickery and Smyth, 2010). Deconstructing learning from experience According to the author, most of the education literature focuses on the process of reflection on experience with scant attention to the nature of experience itself. When we refer to an experience we are probably thinking about a single episode or incident but when we talk about what we have learned fro experience, we are refereeing to accumulated learning from a series of episodes. It is a fact that all of us through out our lives go through a continuous flow of experiences that will otherwise be lived through if not accorded due attention. Experiences only become meaningful when they are accorded attention and reflected upon. The act of attention brings experiences to the area of conscious thought where treatment may vary from actual comprehending culminating into learning to merely noting or hardly noticing value in the experience. Considering the fact that most of the episodes in ones life and in the workplace occur within social contexts, it becomes clear to us that other social actors may be participating in the same episodes and contributing through their actions and discourse both during and after episodes. These actors may influence what is noticed and what is recalled in future for the purposes of learning. It is therefore right to hold the view that episodic memories of individuals are influenced by both semi-conscious socialization process through which societal norms, values, and perspectives are shaped by the workplace culture and by conscious learning from others and with others as they engage in cooperative work and tackle challenges (Coetzer and Vasanthi, 2011). Factors affecting mode of cognition in the workplace According to the author, the relationship between cognition and time in the workplace is interactive. Shortage of time forces people to adopt a more intuitive approach. An intuitive routine always enables workers adopt a way of doing things more quickly. As more time becomes available, the role of meta-processes becomes more complex expanding self awareness of the workers. Even when there is no emergency, there is a tendency for experienced people to typically do things quickly for as long as they have mastered the art and are confident in their own proficiency. If higher speed is demanded for the sake of higher productivity, even the experienced workers will compromise on quality of what is produced, Job satisfaction falls below the expected. What is being learned informally in the workplaces? Eraut (2004) argues that cultural knowledge plays a major role in most work-based practices and activities. Much non-codified cultural knowledge is acquired informally the author notes. This is through participation in social activities which are not taken to have any fundamental impact on behavior. The author believes that these social activities have a profound impact on the behavior of workers in the work place. The problem is that nobody tackles them with the seriousness they deserve as people are unaware of the impact they have on organizational behavior and also individual behavior. The article also defines personal knowledge as what an individual brings into a situation that enables him/her to think, interact and perform. It can be codified or non-codified. A holistic approach to knowledge should be adopted in the quest to understand knowledge because unless one stops to deliberate, the knowledge one uses is already available in an integrated form of cultural knowledge and a form of personal knowledge, according to the focus of attention (Vijande, Sanchez and Mieres, 2012). One major role of managers is to ensure that their workers are not assigned tasks that are beyond their competencies. However, even for the experienced workers competence changes over time as practices change and the speed and quality of work improves. Competence can thus be regarded as a moving target. According to the author, competence is a more complicated phenomenon to define. In some places like North America it has an individual-centered definition that refers to a personal attribute or quality, this definition is also held by management. Elsewhere it has a social-centered definition and refers to meeting social expectations. How learning is achieved informally in the workplace So much learning goes on informally without being noticed. This maybe due to the misconception that is as a result of the understanding that learning a substantially be achieved only through formal learning. There are several activities in the work place that give rise to learning. They are: Participation in group activities When people in an organization come together to work for a common outcome individuals learn from each other. It is common in organizations for groups to be set up special purposes such as audit or responding to external changes. According to Selvarajah,Chelliah, Meyer and pio (2010) pairing people into working groups helps them achieve better goals as individual ambitions are done away with to adopt a common organizational goal that is not easily compromised. Working alongside others This allows people to observe and listen to others during normal work routine. As a result people learn new practices and perspectives to become aware of different knowledge and expertise by gaining some sense of other peoples tacit knowledge. Tackling challenging tasks-This requires n the job training. If well supported, it can lead to motivation and confidence. Working with client-this enables the worker to learn about the client and new ideas that arose from their joint consultation. According to the author, these four activities accounted for much of the formal learning that takes place in the work place. The success of theses four is also very dependent on the quality of relationships in the company. Factors affecting learning in work place In the course of their going about daily activities, workers are faced by a variety of challenges. Successfully meeting the challenges boosts confidence in an individual (Low and Bordia, 2011). The confidence is dependent on the extent to which learners felt supported by the management or colleagues that work with them in the endeavor. There is therefore an interrelationship that exists between challenge, support and confidence. If there is no existence of a challenge then there is no support to face the challenge, consequently the level of confidence declines and with it the motivation to learn. It can therefore be rightly concluded that support is essential in the process of learning in any organization since people can only be able to learn by successfully overcoming challenges by being supported in advance to have confidence in themselves to tackle the challenges (Yuile, Chang,and Sawang, 2012). Allocation and structuring of work also had a significant impact on the process of learning in organizations. It affects both the difficulty or challenge of the work and the extent to which it was and individual or collaborative and the opportunities for meeting, observing and working alongside people who had more or different expertise, and for forming relationships that might provide feedback , support and advice. For new workers it can be so difficult to accomplish a task that is complex in nature. It will have a toll into their confidence. The workload should also be relatively light to enable them respond to the new challenges effectively. Managers therefore have a task of balancing between allocating challenges and the competence of workers bearing in mind they also have to fulfill corporate goals (Smallman, Mcdonald and Mueller, 2010). Article analysis This article has articulated the ideas very comprehensively for the final consumers of the knowledge to have an easy time understanding the content. The author approaches the challenge of understanding informal learning in the work place in three simple ways. First to understand what is being learned, how it is being learned and what are the challenges to the learning process. The main themes in the article are well covered although he has placed much emphasis on the methodology used to get the results as opposed to shedding more light into the results of the study. Needless to say, the author has relied so much on theoretical work done by other researchers before him and it is simply a continuation of where other scholars left it. it is however notable that the author brings a new dimension into understanding informal learning in the work place as opposed to the formal explicit approach that has been in use for along time. He identifies some of the learning opportunities in the organizations that have profound impact into the behavior of members of the organization long after the activities have been done with. He has adequately relied on relevant literature material that has further supported his work in terms of providing the much needed convergence of ideas between scholars who hold similar views. The author relies on interviewing as a method of gathering data from his respondents. It is the be method best suited for this kind of research considering that informal learning research is mainly plagued by the problems associated with; Informal learning being largely invisible because it is taken for granted or it is not recognized at all. The resultant knowledge being regarded as part of a person’s general capability rather than something valuable that has been learned It is worthy noting also that previous research in this particular task has also been carried out through the use of interviews. With this approach, the author of this article was able to formulate three research questions that guided the design of his questionnaires and interview process. This article is very important in the furtherance of understanding organizational learning through informal means. It is not a consideration in many business schools that integration of informal learning procedures can go a long way in improving the quality of output and relations in any work place. The author has therefore done an exemplary work that can be used as reference by scholars and institutions of management training to help candidates and trainees to appreciate the positive impact of informal learning to effective management of people and organizational effectiveness. This research work is also very important to managers as they can be able to understand how to introduce and promote informal learning in their organizations and also the challenges they should expect. Successful management of people leads to organizations being able to reach their goals and achieve objectives since human resource is a fundamental part of any organization. References Coetzer.A., Vasanthi.P., (2011) Employee learning processes in New Zealand small manufacturing firms: journal of management and organization, 17 , 764-781 Eraut.M., (2004) Transfer of Knowledge between education and workplace settings. Studies in Continuing Education, 26,2 Hunter.J., Vickery.J., Smyth.R., (2010) Enhancing learning outcomes through group work in an international undergraduate business education context; journal of management and organization, 16, 700-714 Low.C., Bordia.P.,(2011) A career stage perspective on employees’ preferred psychological contract contributions and inducements: journal of management and organization, 17, 729-746 Selvarajah.C., Chelliah.J., Meyer.d., Pio.E., (2010) The impact of social motivation and cooperative learning and assessment preferences, journal of management and organization, 16: 113-126 Smallman.C., McDonald.G., Mueller.J., (2010) Governing the corporation; structure process and behavior, journal of management and organization, 16: 194-198 Vijande.M., Sanchez.J., Mieres.G., (2012) Organizational learning, innovation and performance in KIBS: jounal of management and organaisation,18, 6, 870-904 Yuile.c., Chang.A., Sawang.s., (2012) The role of life friendly policies on employees’ work-life balance: journal of management and organization, 18, 1, 53-63 Read More