Per-Erik Ellström

The many meanings of occupational competence and qualification

The last decade has witnessed an increasing focus, both in research and in the policy debate on human resource development (HRD) and work‐based education and training, as instruments for enhancing productivity, competitiveness, and economic growth. Unfortunately, the increasing interest in these issues has only, to a limited extent, been followed by more profound changes in existing practices concerning HRD, training and other forms of competence development in firms and agencies. Outlines a conceptual framework that might be used as a point of departure for theoretical and empirical analyses of the concepts of occupational competence and qualification, and of the role of HRD and vocational education and training (VET) in the formation of competences and in the promotion of social innovation.

Integrating Formal and Informal Learning at Work.

A model for workplace learning is presented, which intends to integrate formal and informal learning with the use of e‐learning. An important underlying assumption is that the integration of formal and informal learning is necessary in order to create desirable competencies, from both an individual and an organisational perspective. Two case studies are presented in which the model was tested. One of the studies was carried out in an industrial setting, the other in a hospital context. The results are promising in terms of flexibility and accessibility, but some problems remain to be solved. These problems have to do with the integration of individual and organisational learning, but also with the lack of time for reflection and learning during conditions of down‐sizing and rationalisation.

Practice‐based innovation: a learning perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the idea of practice-based innovation and to propose a framework that can be used to conceptualize and analyze practice-based innovation processes in organizations.Design/methodology/approach – The argument is driven by conceptual analysis and theoretical synthesis based on theory and research on innovation, organizational change, individual and organizational learning.Findings – The proposed framework portrays practice-based innovation as a cyclical process of adaptive and developmental learning driven by contradictions and tensions between explicit and implicit dimensions of work processes.Originality/value – The paper adds to previous research through its focus on practice-based innovation and the conceptualization of this notion in terms of learning in and through everyday work. It thus creates connections between innovation research and research on workplace learning.

Two Types of Learning Environment: Enabling and Constraining a Study of Care Work.

Purpose: First, to elaborate on the notion of a learning environment based on an empirical study of care work. Second, to explore how aspects of a learning environment may differ between and within ...

Creatures of habit: accounting for the role of habit in implementation research on clinical behaviour change

BackgroundSocial cognitive theories on behaviour change are increasingly being used to understand and predict healthcare professionals’ intentions and clinical behaviours. Although these theories offer important insights into how new behaviours are initiated, they provide an incomplete account of how changes in clinical practice occur by failing to consider the role of cue-contingent habits. This article contributes to better understanding of the role of habits in clinical practice and how improved effectiveness of behavioural strategies in implementation research might be achieved.DiscussionHabit is behaviour that has been repeated until it has become more or less automatic, enacted without purposeful thinking, largely without any sense of awareness. The process of forming habits occurs through a gradual shift in cognitive control from intentional to automatic processes. As behaviour is repeated in the same context, the control of behaviour gradually shifts from being internally guided (e.g., beliefs, attitudes, and intention) to being triggered by situational or contextual cues. Much clinical practice occurs in stable healthcare contexts and can be assumed to be habitual. Empirical findings in various fields suggest that behaviours that are repeated in constant contexts are difficult to change. Hence, interventions that focus on changing the context that maintains those habits have a greater probability of success. Some sort of contextual disturbance provides a window of opportunity in which a behaviour is more likely to be deliberately considered. Forming desired habits requires behaviour to be carried out repeatedly in the presence of the same contextual cues.SummarySocial cognitive theories provide insight into how humans analytically process information and carefully plan actions, but their utility is more limited when it comes to explaining repeated behaviours that do not require such an ongoing contemplative decisional process. However, despite a growing interest in applying behavioural theory in interventions to change clinical practice, the potential importance of habit has not been explored in implementation research.

Two Logics of Learning

A recurrent theme in critical studies of adult education, lifelong learning, and, in particular, work-based learning is their alleged instrumental character. A common point of departure for a lot of this criticism is the principle of performativity (Lyotard, 1984), that is, the idea that education is subjugated to a managerialist discourse of efficiency and instrumental means-end calculation. The principle of performativity is argued to have a predominant influence on the educational system at large, and, thereby, also on systems for promoting lifelong learning (Halliday, 2003) and learning at work (Garrick & Clegg, 2001). As argued by the latter authors, in ‘performative times’ being a good learner is equal to being a good performer.

Employability and talent management: challenges for HRD practices

Purpose – The purpose of this conceptual paper is to illuminate the problems that are associated with defining and identifying talent and to discuss the development of talent as a contributor to employability.Design/methodology/approach – The world of work is characterised by new and rapidly changing demands. Talent management has recently been the target of increasing interest and is considered to be a method by which organisations can meet the demands that are associated with increased complexity. Previous studies have often focused on the management of talent, but the issue of what exactly should be managed has generally been neglected. In this paper, the authors focus on discussing the substance of talent and the problems associated with identifying talent by using the following closely related concepts: employability, knowledge, and competence.Findings – Employability is central to employee performance and organisational success. Individual employability includes general meta‐competence and context‐b...

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.

Four faces of educational organizations

This article attempts to explore the presumed distinctive character of educational organizations. This is done by explicating and proposing an integration of four organizational models. The models are called: the rational-, the political-, the social system-, and the anarchistic model, respectively. A basic assumption is that the models represent four complementary dimensions of organizations, rather than four mutually exclusive alternatives. A typology is outlined, indicating a set of conditions under which the four dimensions are assumed to be differently salient. In conclusion, it is argued that educational organizations may be conceived of as involving an interplay of four dimensions characterized by the keywords: truth (the rational dimension), trust (the social dimension), power (the political dimension), and foolishness (the anarchistic dimension).