Edmund Waite

Stimulating the innovation potential of ‘routine’ workers through workplace learning

Governments worldwide seek to upgrade the ‘basic skills’ of employees deemed to have low literacy and numeracy, in order to enable their greater productivity and participation in workplace practices. A longitudinal investigation of such interventions in the United Kingdom has examined the effects on employees and on organizations of engaging in basic skills programmes offered in and through the workplace. ‘Tracking’ of employees in selected organizational contexts has highlighted ways in which interplay between formal and informal workplace learning can help to create the environments for employees in lower grade jobs to use and expand their skills. This workplace learning is a precondition, a stimulus and an essential ingredient for participation in employee-driven innovation, as workers engage with others to vary, and eventually to change, work practices. Les gouvernements de par le monde tentent de redévelopper les compétences de base des travailleurs dont les capacités de lecture, d’écriture et de calcul sont limitées et ce dans le but de leur permettre d’être plus productifs et de mieux participer aux pratiques spécifiques de leur lieu de travail. Une étude longitudinale de suivi de ces efforts au Royaume-Uni a examiné les effets, sur les travailleurs et les entreprises, de leur engagement dans des programmes comprenant des compétences de base proposés via et sur le lieu de travail. Suivre le parcours des travailleurs dans certains contextes organisationnels a permis de mettre en lumière la façon dont l’interaction entre l’apprentissage formel et informel en milieu professionnel peut contribuer à créer un environnement favorable pour les travailleurs occupant des emplois de catégorie inférieure afin d’utiliser et développer leurs compétences. Cet apprentissage sur le lieu de travail est une condition préalable, un stimulant et un ingrédient essentiel à l’implication des travailleurs à l’innovation participative, dans la mesure où les travailleurs s’engagent avec d’autres collègues à faire évoluer, voire à modifier, les pratiques de travail. Weltweit sind Regierungen bestrebt, die ‘‘Grundkompetenzen’’ von Arbeitnehmern mit schwachen Lese-, Schreib- und Rechenfähigkeiten zu verbessern, um ihre Produktivität und ihre Teilnahme am betrieblichen Geschehen zu erhöhen. In Großbritannien wurde zur Untersuchung von Maßnahmen in diesem Bereich eine Längsschnittstudie durchgeführt, die sich mit den Auswirkungen der Teilnahme an betrieblichen Programmen zum Erwerb von Grundkompetenzen auf Mitarbeiter und Organisationen befasste. Durch Nachfragen bei Beschäftigten in ausgewählten Organisationskontexten konnte herausgestellt werden, wie das Zusammenwirken von formalem und informellem Lernen am Arbeitsplatz ein Umfeld schaffen kann, das Beschäftigten in geringer qualifizierten Tätigkeiten ermöglicht, ihre Kompetenzen zu verbessern. Dieser Lernprozess am Arbeitsplatz ist eine Bedingung, ein Anreiz und ein wichtiger Bestandteil für die Teilnahme an mitarbeitergestützter Innovation, da Arbeitnehmer mit anderen kooperieren, um Arbeitspraktiken zu variieren und letztendlich zu verändern.

The impact of the state on Islam amongst the Uyghurs: religious knowledge and authority in the Kashgar Oasis

The broadening of access to religious knowledge beyond elites who base their cultural capital on years of study in religious colleges is a key social development affecting contemporary Muslim societies on a global scale. Traditionally, the primary avenue for gaining religious knowledge, and thereby religious authority, was through such institutions as the maktab (religious school) and madrasa (religious college) where education was based on ‘mnemonic possession’ (i.e. the memorisation of key texts). Printed and electronic media and modern education systems lay the potential for more diverse, direct and egalitarian access to knowledge. In the words of Dale Eickelman, ‘Those who can interpret what Islam “really” is can now be of more variable social status than was the case when mnemosyne was an essential feature of the legitimacy of knowledge’. It is noticeable that the growth of reformist ideologies in Muslim societies from the late nineteenth century onwards coincided with, and depended heavily on, the availability of new printing technology which facilitated the dissemination of these new ideologies and provided more egalitarian means of accessing religious knowledge. The growth of the Jadid (reformist) movement in Central Asia was no exception in this respect. Printing technology challenged the ascendancy of religious transmission through ritualised, face-to-face interaction and allowed reformers to redefine the nature of cultural production in their society. In the words of the historian Adeeb Khalid, ‘Jadidism would have been inconceivable without print’. The expansion of modern education systems has not only allowed for more direct access to the printed word but also facilitated the dissemination of a range of Muslim ideologies that seek to challenge existing patterns of religious knowledge and authority. Equally, increasing trans-national linkages through travel and trade as well as faster and more global flows of information in the contemporary era facilitate the transmission of Muslim ideologies that subject local patterns of religious belief and conduct to critical scrutiny. Central Asian Survey (September 2006) 25(3), 251–265

The challenge of establishing sustainable workplace ?Skills for Life? provision in the UK: : organisational ?strategies? and individual ?tactics?

Drawing on longitudinal data from the ESRC-funded ‘Adult Basic Skills and Workplace learning’ project (2003–2008), together with recent findings from research undertaken under the auspices of the LLAKES research centre (Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies), this paper seeks to explore the key factors that facilitate and inhibit sustainable ‘Skills for Life’ (literacy, numeracy and English for speakers of other languages) workplace provision in the UK. We draw on the metaphor of a social ecology of learning to explore the inter-relationships between individuals and groups at policy and organisational level and combine this with Michael de Certeau’s theoretical work on quotidian social practices in order to cast light on the diverse ways in which ‘Skills for Life’ provision has been put to use by learners. The paper argues that the ‘Skills for Life’ national strategy has generated a complex ‘ecology of learning’ at policy level, whereby a byzantine and shifting funding landscape, with its concomitant bureaucracy and strong emphasis on target-bearing qualifications has militated against long-term sustainable provision. Those organisations that have managed to sustain provision have generally succeeded in integrating ‘Skills for Life’ courses within a broader ‘ecology of learning’ whereby there is both support and formal recognition for such provision within the organisation as a whole.

Employee-Driven Innovation Amongst ‘Routine’ Employees in the UK: The Role of Organizational ‘Strategies’ and Individual ‘Tactics’

Governments worldwide seek to upgrade the ‘basic skills’ of employees deemed to have low literacy and numeracy, in order to enable their greater productivity and participation in workplace practices. A longitudinal investigation of such interventions in the United Kingdom has examined the effects on employees and on organizations of engaging in basic skills programmes offered in and through the workplace. Through the ‘tracking’ of employees in selected organizational contexts, Evans and Waite (2010) have highlighted ways in which the interplay between formal and informal workplace learning can help to create the environments for employees in lower-grade jobs to use and expand their skills. This workplace learning is a precondition, a stimulus and an essential ingredient for participation in employee-driven innovation, as workers engage with others to vary, and eventually to change, work practices.