Editorial

Citation

Kekale, T. and Cervai, S. (2010), "Editorial", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 22 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/jwl.2010.08622caa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Workplace Learning, Volume 22, Issue 3

At the darkest time of the year in the Northern hemisphere, in one of the darkest years in a long time (the world economy is about as bad as in the 1930s of the USA, while it is also the coldest winter in Finland in about a decade), it seems it would be quite easy to fall into despair. At least in our latitudes, the news in TV, radio and in newspapers seems to contain an amount of factory closures, layoffs and diminishing funds for public spending in research and education that we have not been used to in recent years.

Many industries that have been building their activities and organisations on tried-and-tested business models and processes seem to have to understand that their trajectory was not forever continuous but, ultimately, discrete. The problem with such critical times as summer 2009 is that one needs to sense, appreciate, and de-learn, while continuous growth typically also allows continuous learning curves. If there is really a paradigm change going on, as many observers suggest, this would eventually open opportunities, especially for agile smaller actors, to step forward and take the place of some of the century-old giants. At Journal of Workplace Learning we still have not noticed diminished interest in learning at the workplace and in organisational change. The bad times are also interesting times; our own experiences during the previous recession about ten years ago would suggest that the time of slow demand would be an excellent opportunity to breathe and to look back, to learn about past experiences and projects, and to invest in change in order to be ready for the sunshine that eventually comes after the rain.

For this issue we have selected three articles especially with small businesses in mind. Firstly, we have an article titled “Emotional intelligence and learning in teams” by Nicholas Clarke. Next, we discuss the learning characteristics of small business managers and their implications for managerial training through an article by Lynn Jeffrey, Sophie Hide, and Stephen Legg. The third double blind reviewed article in this issue is also quite in line with the trying times: “Can an opportunity to learn at work reduce stress? A revisitation of the job demand-control model”. This article is authored by Chiara Panari, Dina Guglielmi, Silvia Simbula and Marco Depolo.

For some inspiration in the darkness, we have a chosen to publish Maggie Johnson and Max Senges on “Learning to be a programmer in a complex organization: a case study on practice-based learning during the onboarding process at Google”. Google is an organisation that has often been used to describe a mindset that encourages the workers to have fun, to try out new things and ideas, and to take on a new challenge every day (while at the same time not being harmful). Johnson and Senges describe learning during the “onboarding” process at Google. Finally, there’s another book review in this issue. We appreciate the books sent to us for review; keep the new learning-related books coming, and be patient, because there is so much to do and it takes some time to read them!

Tauno Kekäle, Sara CervaiEditors