Henrik Kock

Competence Development in the Workplace: Concepts, Strategies and Effects.

In spite of the expectations that exist regarding efforts to develop competence and in spite of the large amounts of resources devoted to it, there is a marked lack of empirically-based research on competence development in companies and other organizations. The purpose of this article is to present a review of research on strategies for competence development in organizations, their prerequisites and effects. More specifically, the following three questions will be addressed: (i) Why do organizations invest in competence development? (ii) What effects can realistically be achieved through competence development? (iii) What characterizes successful strategies for competence development in organizations? Before these questions are dealt with, different views of the meaning of the concepts of competence and competence development are presented and discussed.

Formal and integrated strategies for competence development in SMEs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the relationships among the workplace as a learning environment, strategies for competence development used by SMEs and learning outcomes. Specifically, there is a focus on a distinction between formal and integrated strategies for competence development, the conditions under which these strategies are likely to be used, and their effects in terms of individual learning outcomes.Design/methodology/approach – The study was based mainly on questionnaire data collected through a survey of 14 SMEs that had received support from the European Social Funds Objective 3 programme. In addition, data collected through interviews and analyses of documents were used.Findings – The results indicate interactions between the strategy of competence development used by the firms (formal vs integrated) and the type of learning environment in the workplace (constraining vs enabling). The use of an integrated strategy in an enabling learning environment was the most successful combination in terms of learning outcomes, while the use of an integrated strategy in a constraining learning environment was the least successful combination.Research limitations/implications – There is a need to elaborate the theoretical and empirical basis of the distinction between formal and integrated strategies for competence development, and to study the effects of the two types of strategy, not only for individual learning outcomes, but also for effects at an organisational level.Practical implications – HRD practitioners need to question a traditional reliance on formal training, as the presented results indicate the importance of using competence development strategies that are based on an integration of formal and informal learning.Originality/value – The study indicates that the effects of competence development efforts are likely to be a function not only, nor primarily, of the training methods and strategies that are used, but also of the characteristics of the learning environment of the workplace.

Why do Small Enterprises Participate in a Programme for Competence Development

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to increase our understanding of why firms, specifically small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), participate in a programme for competence development and why firms use different strategies for competence development. Design/methodology/approach - A study of 17 SMEs that all received support from the European Social Fund, Objective 3 programme. The collection of data is based on semi-structured interviews with management/owners, internal project leaders, employees and union representatives, feedback seminars with representatives from the studied enterprises, and on analysis of documents. Findings - The findings demonstrate that all SMEs reported driving forces for competence development relating to both external organizational conditions and internal organizational conditions, to at least a certain degree. Furthermore, there appears to be a strong relationship between observed patterns of driving forces and the strategy for competence development used by the firm. Practical implications - The SMEs that experience a relatively stronger driving force for competence development initiate problem-solving efforts to design and implement more elaborated strategies for competence development. The SMEs that experience a lesser degree of driving force for competence development implement less elaborated strategies for competence development. Originality/value - The paper finds that both external and internal organizational conditions are important in understanding why SMEs undergo competence development programme. Furthermore, the importance of external and internal organizational conditions is not only limited to why the companies participate in a programme for competence development, but also for how they participate, i.e. the strategies used for competence development.

The team as a learning strategy: Three cases of team-based production in the Swedish manufacturing industry

Purpose: To increase our understanding of how the introduction of a team-based work organization can affect the opportunities to learn at work two research questions are addressed: (a) what conditi ...

Leadership as a balancing act between performance- and development-orientation : a study of managers’ and co-workers’ understanding of leadership in an industrial organisation

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to revisit data from a previous study of leadership in an industrial company that was in the process of implementing a process-oriented, team-based form of ...

Setting the stage for innovation: towards a conceptual model of the HR-innovation link

The article shows that human resource management (HRM) and human resource development (HRD) activities play a potentially important role in facilitating innovation in organisations. Based on previous research, a conceptual model is presented that displays how an organisations human resource (HR) function can facilitate innovation by securing and developing the HR supply chain to ensure the healthy and continuous flow of personnel and competence into, within, and out of the organisation (i.e., by securing the appropriate competences for the job and the organisation, by developing and retaining existing competences, and by transferring competences from employees who are leaving to those who remain in the organisation). This article argues that HR practitioners can set the stage for innovations by actively and strategically implementing HR activities that support the creation of an expansive learning environment in which both adaptive and developmental learning can occur.

Accelerating and Braking in Times of Economic Crisis: Organisational Learning in a Top Management Team.

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to present the results of a study of an industrial companys top management team (TMT) that fought to survive an economic crisis. Specifically, the article seeks to focus on describing the TMTs composition, group processes, and work during a period of high external pressure; analysing the TMTs work in terms of an organisational learning process; and discussing factors that may have enabled the TMT to make appropriate strategic decisions during the crisis.Design/methodology/approach – The empirical foundation of this article is a longitudinal case study of a Swedish industrial company during the economic recession of the late 2000s. Data were collected through observations of meetings involving the TMT from 2009 to 2011 and through semi‐structured interviews with TMT managers.Findings – Two empirical themes – “accelerating” and “braking” – illustrate actions taken by the TMT during the crisis. Accelerating involves activities aimed at accelerating the company out ...

HR outsourcing in small and medium-sized enterprises: Exploring the role of human resource intermediaries

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly outsourcing human resource (HR) activities to outside labour market intermediaries. In this paper, the focus is on a specific type of labour market intermediary, the HR intermediary (HRI). The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss SME outsourcing of HR services to membership-based HRIs, and potential problems and benefits that may arise in this process.,The empirical foundation comprises case studies of three Swedish HRIs and 12 of their SME clients. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and a document study.,The findings show that social aspects such as trust, shared values, communication and commitment are crucial characteristics of the cooperation between HRIs and SMEs. These social aspects are a result of the owner/membership structure, and a distinguishing feature of the studied HRIs in comparison to other types of labour market intermediaries.,The results of the study underline the need for increased research related to the intermediary concept and its meanings in different contexts. There is also a need for more empirical research on HRIs, e.g. comparisons between different types of HRIs, and studies of the emergence of virtual intermediaries. Future studies should focus on the role of LMIs and HRIs in regional development processes.,Companies that interact with HRIs should reflect on the different pros and cons that this cooperation may result in, both in the short term and in the longer term.,The study provides an enhanced understanding regarding the relations between SMEs and HRIs, based on the two broad types of SMEs (with low/high internal HR skills) and two types of HRIs (with short/long-term orientation).

Distinctive Characteristics of Small Businesses as Sites for Informal Learning

Few studies have examined workplace factors that influence informal learning in small businesses and in general the studies are not framed by the characteristics of small businesses. To address this weakness in existing literature, we conducted a review of literatures which examine (a) workplace factors that influence informal learning, (b) small-business characteristics, and (c) factors influencing informal learning in small businesses. The several workplace factors that influence learning were categorized as job and relational and organizational characteristics. Each category was examined in relation to characteristics of small businesses. We outline what is known about each category and what we need to learn about them as they relate to informal learning in small businesses. For each category, propositions are generated that should be examined in future research. We also produce a heuristic conceptual framework that can be used to focus and bound future research that tests a different set of propositions.