Abstract

The paper deals with the conditions of learning in the workplace as employees perceive them. It makes part of the author´s doctoral thesis and presents basic outcomes.

Workplace learning and in-company training present important elements of further education and lifelong learning. It is a topic often discussed in recent decades. Although learning and competence development in the workplace including its conditions are often explored abroad, there are almost no resources and information about learning in companies in the Czech Republic. Our research has been inspired by several researches of learning environment (e.g. Ellström in Antonacopoulou, 2006, Evans et al., 2006, Rainbird et al., 2004, etc.) and we concentrate on deep and detailed analysis of environment (psycho-social, material) in a large-sized enterprise in relation with workplace learning.

The main research question is: What conditions and in what way do they influence learning in, for and through the workplace?

The objective of the research is to outline 1) what conditions influence workplace learning, 2) how do these conditions (in a positive or negative way) influence workplace learning, and 3) what are the specific features of the Czech environment in comparison with findings from abroad. This research is conducted in a large-sized company and interviews are done with employees on different positions because our aim is also to uncover different points of view as well as different learning opportunities of employees at different levels in hierarchy.

The main concepts used in the research are workplace learning (learning in, for and through the workplace), informal (during work, unsystematical, often unaware) and nonformal learning (courses organized by the company), organizational culture as an important set of factors influencing learning (especially informal learning) and training system of the company playing an important role in the nonformal learning.

There are four main domains (according to the literature) of conditions which play role in the approach to learning of employees - personality, circumstances, organizational culture and climate, and in-company training system. Personality (e. g. education, age, motivation, etc.) and circumstances (e. g. financial situation, family, health, etc.) are on the employee's side and should not be omitted when speaking about learning and training in companies. But the company cannot change them. On the other hand, there is organizational culture and climate, which is very important not only for learning and training in companies, but also for work. The last domain - in-company training system and its form - shows the importance that management attaches to training. We pay attention to the conditions on the company´s side because these conditions can be improved through measures taken by the management.

Methods

We have chosen qualitative methodology based on interviews with chosen employees on different positions of a large-sized company settled in a city in the Czech Republic. As the research is a work of one researcher - author of the doctoral thesis - there are about 25 interviewees. All interviews are recorded and analyzed using categorization from a grounded theory. Additional information about the company, its employees and training system come from documentary analysis and observation during my visits in the company.

Results

There are different conditions influencing informal and nonformal learning respectively, as well as different conditions perceived by employees at different levels. As all interviews have not been analyzed yet, we can only say that we expect to find sets of conditions influencing informal and nonformal learning respectively, as well as different sets of conditions perceived by employees at different positions.

Bibliography

• Antonacopoulou, E., Jarvis, P., Andersen, V., Elkjær, B., Høyrup, S. (eds.) (2006) Learning, Working and Living: mapping the terrain of working life learning. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
• Evans, k., Hodkinson, P., Rainbird, H., Unwin, L. (2006) Improving Workplace Learning. London, Routledge.
• Rainbird, H., Fuller, A., Munro, A. (2004) Workplace Learning in Context. London: Routledge.
• Simberova, Z. (2007) Factors of organizational climate influencing learning in companies. [online] Education-line. Leeds: University of Leeds. [Cit. 31. 10. 2007] Available at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/166479.doc
• Simberova, Z. (2007) Organiza ní klima a organiza ní kultura jako slo ka u ebního prost edí podniku. Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty brn nské univerzity. Brno, Masaryk University.