Isabel Raemdonck

Understanding work-related learning: The case of ICT workers

Purpose: A central issue in the field of workplace learning is how work-related learning can be stimulated so that a powerful learning work environment is created. This paper seeks to further enlarge understanding on this issue. Based on the demand-control-support the aim is to investigate the influence of job-characteristics on the work-related learning behaviour of the worker such as job demands, job control, social support at work on the one hand and self-directed learning orientation on the other. Design/methodology/approach: The study took place in the ICT-department of a large company in Flanders. By means of an online questionnaire, all employees of the ICT-department were asked to complete this questionnaire, which, apart from general information on the participants (age, gender, prior education, etc.), consisted of statements on five scales (job demands, job control, social support, self-directed learning orientation, and work-related learning behaviour) adapted from validated instruments. There was a total of 73 participants (response rate of 52 per cent, 73 per cent men, 27 per cent women, age varying from 20-51 years old). In addition, all scales had Cronbachs alpha values above 0.79. Relations between the variables under study were tested using the Pearson correlation. The predictive value of the variables for the variance in work-related learning was tested using the enter method of a multiple regression analysis. Findings: The regression analyses show that job demands and job control were moderately positive and significantly linked with work-related learning behaviour. Social support did not show a significant positive correlation with work-related learning at all. Self-directed learning orientation on the contrary had a strong and positive relation with work-related learning. The results of the linear regression analyses indicated that only the self-directed learning orientation scale significantly predicted the work-related learning behaviour. Originality/value: The study is one of the few investigations that takes into account both the role of personal and workplace-related variables in order to better understand work-related learning. The results stress that personal related variables such as self-regulated learning orientation need to be taken into account in further research and in the daily practice of human resources development.

The influence of job characteristics and self-directed learning orientation on workplace learning

Given the increasing importance of learning at work, we set out to examine the factors which influence workplace learning behaviour. The study investigated the influence of the job characteristics from Karaseks Job Demand Control Support model and the personal characteristic self-directed learning orientation on workplace learning. A total of 837 workers, aged between 18 and 65, from different sectors and with different educational levels completed a paper questionnaire. Analysis revealed that job demands and self-directed learning orientation constitute significant and positive predictors of workplace learning behaviour. The study can help organizations to create job structures that promote workplace learning.

Predictors of self‐directed learning for low‐qualified employees: a multi‐level analysis

Purpose – This study aims to examine which variables at the level of the individual employee and at the company level are predictors of self-directed learning in low-qualified employees. Methodology – Results were obtained from a sample of 408 low-qualified employees from 35 different companies. The companies were selected from the energy sector, the chemical industry and the food industry. Multilevel analysis was applied to examine which variables are significant predictors of perceived self-directed learning. Findings – At the company level, the economic sector in which the employee is employed in particular played a striking role in the prediction of self-directedness, as did presence of a participatory staff policy. At the level of the individual employee, a proactive personality (a disposition to take personal initiative in a broad range of activities and situations), striving for knowledge work, past learning initiative, task variety and the growth potential of the job were significant predictors of self-directed learning. Originality/value – Research on the predictors of self-directed learning has primarily focused on correlational studies examining the relation between individual variables and level of self-directedness. There is little research available that systematically traces the extent to which individual as well as company factors play a role in level of self-directed learning. Nor is it clear which category of variables should be considered as the most critical. In addition, earlier research on this subject has mainly focused on a higher-qualified group of workers (employees with at least a diploma of secondary education). Factors that are predictors of self-directed learning and their relative weight might differ for certain groups of employees. This issue has hardly been addressed up to now.

Feedback perceptions and attribution by secretarial employees: Effects of feedback-content and sender characteristics

Purpose – Theoretical explanations for the diverse reactive feedback from secretarial employees in different career phases are relatively unexplored. However, research examining age differences in the impact of feedback suggests that the effects of performance feedback may differ for employees in the early career phase and employees in the late career phase. This paper aims to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach – This contribution reports an experimental study on feedback perceptions and attribution by 173 secretarial employees of 12 Dutch organizations. Each participant responded to one of eight scenarios, which varied in terms of feedback content, sender status, and sender performance appraisal. Feedback perceptions were measured in terms of perceived fairness, acceptance, usefulness, willingness to improve and affect. An additional scale measured attribution. Findings – The results reveal that elaborated specific feedback is perceived as more adequate, irrespective of feedback sender status and appraisal. Complex three-way interaction effects were found for educational level on affect and attribution, and for career phase on willingness to improve and affect. Low-educated employees reacted more strongly to supervisor feedback. Employees in the late career phase were more oriented towards the content of the feedback than feedback sender status, whereas the latter was of more concern for employees in the early and middle career phase. Practical implications – In order for feedback to be considered as adequate, it is necessary to formulate the feedback as specific and as elaborated as possible. Employees in their late career phase especially react differently in comparison to employees in early and middle career phases. They are more inclined “to opt for quality” and appreciate elaborated feedback from a high experienced sender. Human resource managers should be aware of this in their policy towards employees in their late career phase Originality/value – The present study shows that feedback content and sender characteristics (status and performance appraisal) differentially affect feedback perceptions and attribution. In addition, the study reveals that perceptions and attributions of performance feedback might be mediated by educational level and career phase.

Aging Workers' Learning and Employability

In today’s time of demographic change and rapid innovation, age and employability as well as the role of learning and development are high on the agenda of policy makers and human resource managers. Empirical studies, however, do not provide consistent evidence for the relation between age and employability and between age and work-related formal and informal learning. While many studies find negative relationships, some other studies present positive or insignificant effects. The inconsistent results may hint at conceptual weaknesses of chronological age as a measure, which are often ignored. One such weakness is the difficulty to disentangle age effects from cohort and period effects. Moreover, since people become more heterogeneous the older they get, the less suitable age is as predictor. Therefore, we state that chronological age in itself may not be the most important factor in predicting work-related learning and employability. Alternative significant predictors might be work centrality, learning self-efficacy and future time perspective. In addition, we identify age-related individual and organizational obstacles for work-related learning and employability. Two of the most prominent individual obstacles are a decline in motivation to learn and less capability to learn. Organizational barriers are due to negative stereotypes about aging workers and a lack of supportive learning climate for older workers. Therefore, research on other individual and organizational factors might provide more satisfying answers and contribute to new insights for the management of an increasingly older workforce.

Self-Directedness in Work-Related Learning Processes. Theoretical Perspectives and Development of a Measurement Instrument

This book chapter investigates the concept of self-directedness in work-related learning processes and its relationship to other related constructs such as self-regulated learning, personal agency, proactive personality and personal initiative. It also describes the development of an instrument to measure self-directedness in work-related learning processes (SDL scale) for use with employees having different qualification levels. The SDL instrument is a 14-item scale which measures an individual’s characteristic adaption to steer and take responsibility in diagnosing learning needs and setting goals, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies and evaluating and adjusting the learning process. An exploratory study involving 940 low-qualified and high-qualified employees revealed a unidimensional structure. A second and third study was conducted in a sample of 408 low-qualified employees and in a sample of 787 low-qualified adult learners joining courses in adult education institutions and confirmed the one-factor structure. Discriminant, convergent and cross-cultural validity was also examined. In a fourth study, model fit was compared of the low-qualified and higher-qualified group separately and was found invariant across both samples. In each of the samples, both scales showed satisfactory internal consistency.

What Keeps Low- and High-Qualified Workers Competitive: Exploring the Influence of Job Characteristics and Self-Directed Learning Orientation on Work-Related Learning

Based on the Demand-Control-Support model (American Journal of Public Health 78(10):1336–1342, 1988; Administrative Science Quarterly 24:285–308, 1979; Healthy work, stress, productivity and the reconstruction of working life, 1990) and the research by Raemdonck (A study in lower-qualified employees in Flanders, 2006), the present chapter aims to investigate the influence of job characteristics such as job demands, job control, social support at work on the one hand and self-directed learning orientation on the other hand on the work-related learning behaviour of the worker. The chapter presents results from two studies conducted among students in centres for part-time vocational education and among employees working in the ICT-department of a large company, both located in Flanders. A questionnaire using scales adapted from validated instruments was used. It was assumed that high scores for self-directed learning orientation and high scores for job demands, job control and social support would be associated with more work-related learning behaviour. The results indicated that only a self-directed learning orientation predicted the work-related learning behaviour to a significant extent.

Personal development plans supporting employee learning and perceived performance: the moderating role of self-directedness

Due to developments in the current dynamic business environment which is more global and competitive than ever, employees’ lifelong learning and the way organizations support their continuous development are pivotal. Many organizations introduce personal development plans (PDPs) to support employees’ learning, however, not always taking into account their personal characteristics. This study had a twofold purpose as it was designed to explore on the one hand the relationship between PDPs in the workplace with employee’s undertaking of learning activities and perceived performance, and on the other hand the possible moderating role of employee self-directedness on this relationship. For this study, data collected by means of a questionnaire at two different organizations were used, one organization foregoing profit and one non-profit activity. The results indicated significant positive relations between the individual supporting factor ‘employee learning and reflection’ and the undertaking of learning activities and perceived performance and between employee self-directedness and the undertaking of learning activities and perceived performance. The same accounted for the moderating effect of employee self-directedness on the interaction between learning and reflection and perceived performance. Some findings were surprising, nevertheless resulted in valuable insights and implications for practice.

Überprüfung motivationaler Konstrukte für Lernen und Trainingstransfer

Dieser Artikel hat den Zweck, eine Interpretation der in der Literatur beobachteten unterschiedlichen Wirkungsgrosen und Widerspruche in Bezug auf die Transfermotivation zu ermoglichen. Zur Uberwindung solcher Widerspruche befurwortet dieser Artikel eine Definition und Operationalisierung des weitlaufigen Begriffes der Transfermotivation unter Berucksichtigung spezifischer Motivationskonstrukte, um Trainingstransfer und Lernen als wechselseitige Prozesse zu begreifen, die durch individuelle und kontextuelle Variablen beeinfiusst sind, die eine Wirkung auf motivationale Uberzeugungen und das Engagement beim Lernen oder bei Transferaufgaben haben. Zur Behandlung dieser Fragestellungen werden Ergebnisse aus der Bildungsliteratur im schulischen Umfeld und in der Arbeitsumgebung untersucht. Die Autoren schliesen mit einer Erorterung der moglichen Auswirkungen auf die zukunftige Forschung.

Coaching and Mentoring: A Critical Text

This book is written for coaches, HR practitioners, trainers, management educators, students and academics participating in coaching and management development programmes. Through a critical lens, the author wants to offer a broader scope on the field of coaching and mentoring and question some of the normative assumptions of coaching in the existing literature. The author begins with an introduction in which the core aims of the book are described and the coaching phenomenon is presented. Coaching is positioned between the “wounded self” and the “celebrated self”. In coaching sessions, a bridge is made between these two selves by focusing on positive change, transformation, self‐discovery, improved performance while at the same time working on the hidden parts that appear of the wounded self. Similarities and differences between coaching and mentoring are discussed and the diversity in the typology of coaching and mentoring landscape is described. In order to better understand the micro‐practices of coaching, the macro‐social influences should be examined first, according to the author, to gain a clearer picture. Therefore, this book on coaching and mentoring contains an in‐depth analysis of the historical, social and cultural background of coaching. The reader is taken through three historical periods: pre‐modernity, modernity and post‐modernity. Each historical period is analysed from three perspectives: friendship, the soul healer and the work realm. The way coaching has emerged as a distinct, new and hybrid practice is elaborated. Thus, the authors retrospective examination helps to shed new light on contemporary practice. The book reveals four dominant discourses within coaching: the soul guide discourse (describes how coaching works as a “mirror to the soul”, the coach focuses on human experience), the psy expert discourse (reveals how coaches work as “technicians of the psyche”, the coach focuses on personal performance), the managerial discourse (describes how coaches work in the discourse of managerialism, where the coach focuses on productivity) and the network coach discourse (which situates the individual in the network of work and society to realise interdependencies, where the coach focuses on connectivity). Coaching and mentoring will depend on which discourses dominate in each coaching context. The author discusses each of these discourses in terms of strengths and challenges and how they influence and shape the coaching practice. Finally, the author sets out a theoretical outlook for future coaching practice. In so doing, the author develops a meta‐theory of coaching which includes a micro and macro perspective and describes a pedagogy aligned to the four discourses. A coaching process and pedagogical guidelines are set out for future coaching and mentoring.