Contextual factors influencing informal learning in a workplace setting: The case of “reinventing itself company”

Abstract

Interest in workplace learning has intensified in recent years (Billett, 2002;Boud and Garrick, 1999;Collin, 2002;Ellstrom, 2001;Illeris, 2003;Stern and Sommerlad, 1999 Note: Funding for this study was provided by The Kellogg Foundation through the Cyril O. Houle Scholars in Adult and Continuing Education Fellowship Program administered by the University of Georgia Department of Adult Education. The author is grateful to have participated in the Houle Scholars Program and thankful for the expertise and support provided by staff members and other Houle scholars throughout this project. Sincere thanks are also extended to the president of the local chamber of commerce for providing referral to "Reinventing Itself Company"; to the senior executives at the company for approving the research project; to the nominator and participants in the company who shared critical informal learning incidents and supported this project; to the director and staff members of the Center for Business and Economic Research for providing office space and administrative support throughout this fellowship; and to Robert P. Bostrom, Bradley C. Courtenay, Alexander E. Ellinger, Daniele D. Flannery, and Karen E. Watkins for helpful guidance on various aspects of the project. The author also thanks the editors and four anonymous reviewers for their insightful and helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.

Work, learn & communicate : what, when and why

“…Eraut (2004) found three contextual factors that influence learning during work: allocation and structuring of work, encounters and relationships with people at work and expectations of each person's role, performance and progress. Besides these contextual factors that stimulate informal learning during work, Ellinger (2005) also found several contextual factors that inhibit and suppress informal learning. These were leadership and management not committed to learning, not accepting an internal culture of entitlement that is slowly shifting towards a culture of continuous learning, work tools and resources (for example, when they become a distraction), people who disrupt webs of relationships for learning, structural inhibitors, lack of time because of job pressures and responsibilities, too much change happening too fast and not learning from learning (Ellinger, 2005).…”

“…Besides these contextual factors that stimulate informal learning during work, Ellinger (2005) also found several contextual factors that inhibit and suppress informal learning. These were leadership and management not committed to learning, not accepting an internal culture of entitlement that is slowly shifting towards a culture of continuous learning, work tools and resources (for example, when they become a distraction), people who disrupt webs of relationships for learning, structural inhibitors, lack of time because of job pressures and responsibilities, too much change happening too fast and not learning from learning (Ellinger, 2005). Lohman (2000) studied environmental inhibitors to informal learning at the workplace for school teachers and found four inhibitors: lack of time for learning, lack of proximity to learning resources, lack of meaningful rewards for learning, and limited decision-making power in school management.…”

“…Learning in schools, colleges, universities and training centres constitutes only a minute fraction of all the learning that occurs throughout a lifetime (Candy, 2004). Accordingly, Ellinger (2005) states that the need to integrate working and learning has become more manifest. It is estimated that in a workplace setting 70 percent of new knowledge is acquired through informal learning in the workplace (Livingstone, 2001).…”

“…Ellinger (2005) investigated contextual factors that influence informal learning during work. The results of this study show that learning-committed leadership and management has a very positive influence on the informal learning process.…”

The role of VET Colleges in stimulating teachers’ engagement in team learning

“…This is because these learning activities are contextually embedded in and influenced by the context in which they occur (Decuyper, Dochy, & Van den Bossche, 2010;Ellinger, 2005;Fuller & Unwin, 2011;Tynjälä, 2013). Despite this acknowledgement, team learning research both within and outside the educational context tends to focus primarily on the influence of team-level antecedents, such as psychological safety, group potency (or group efficacy) and group development, and not on organisation-level antecedents (e.g.…”