Workplace Learning and Development

Citation

Clifford, J. and Thorpe, S. (2007), "Workplace Learning and Development", Education + Training, Vol. 49 No. 4, pp. 335-336. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2007.49.4.335.1

Having recently struggled to write a suitable workbook on workplace learning for a group of postgraduate HRM students, this new title from Kogan Page was greeted with enthusiasm. Ultimately, though, it is somewhat disappointing. It is questionable whether it offers the reader much beyond an introduction to the systematic approach to training but applied to a wider range of “methods” than might usually be seen in texts with a similar purpose.

It begins well enough seeking to locate the text in a shift of emphasis from “training” to “learning”. But, subsequently, the distinctiveness of the title – the notion of workplace learning – is never really given the attention it needs. There is no discussion of the confusion often evident between workplace learning, work based learning and work related learning. We get a page or so on experiential learning, adult learning and organisation learning but all three themes appear somewhat in isolation from the key contextual underpinning of workplace learning.

Roughly half the book deals with a wide range of “learning and development methods”. A total of 27 methods are discussed from action learning and apprenticeship through distance learning, drama based learning, outdoor education to temporary promotion and trade exhibitions. Each follows a consistent format which incorporates a brief description followed by short notes on each of: “use it because … ”, “making it work”; and “it is useful for … .”. Although we only get a glimpse of each method this format does serve a useful purpose in emphasising a contingency approach – no one method, per se, is any better than any other. But the essential link with workplace learning is more often implied than made evident. This is particularly the case with number of the methods which patently would seem not to be workplace learning. Also, reflective practice appears as one of the twenty seven methods rather than as a process which might considered as a critical component of any workplace learning activity.

All this said a strength of the book is Chapter 6, “Development plans: theory into practice”. The focus of this chapter is workplace learning in practice. It features a number of case studies, at least three of which provide very interesting illustrations of how different types of organisation appear to be maximising the potential of a workplace learning strategy. These include, for example, a call centre and a small printing business. Thrrough the case notes the authors begin to touch on some of the very real questions which any workplace learning strategy is likely to have to address; most notably perhaps the increased responsibility placed upon the line manager and the concomitant level of capability.

Overall, as noted above, the book does not really deliver in terms of workplace learning. Workplace learning needs “problematising”. It needs a clear conceptual underpinning if it is to take its place as the critical process within, or as part of, knowledge management and organisational learning. The authors and publisher may argue that the book is written for “busy” managers and employees. But this seems a poor reason to sidestep the challenge that workplace learning presents to both academics and practitioners and thus an opportunity missed to provide an accessible introduction to this critically important dimension of learning.