Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka möjligheterna till kompetensutveckling på två olika verksamhetsområden inom Landstinget Halland. Vi vill få en förståelse för vilka förutsättningar som krävs för lärande och kompetensutveckling inom organisationen. Avsikten med undersökningen  är att få svar på forskningsfrågorna: (1) Hur upplever medarbetaren sina möjligheter till kompetensutveckling inom Landstinget Halland? (2) Hur ser vårdenheternas arbetsplatslärande ut? (3) Vilka förutsättningar finns för arbetsplatslärande inom vårdenheterna? (4) Vilka faktorer bidrar till att medarbetarna inom Landstinget Halland vill stanna och utvecklas? För att få svar på dessa frågor har vi gjort nio stycken individuella intervjuer med respondenter som innehar olika yrkesgrupper inom Landstinget Halland. Resultatet vi fick var att respondenternas upplevelse av sina möjligheter att kompetensutvecklas inom Landstinget Halland var och goda och att det finns ett gott lärklimat och en infrastruktur för hur ett lärande ska ske. Det upplevs att Landstinget Halland är generösa vad gäller utbildningsutbud. Det finns även en upplevelse att de själva kan påverka vilka utbildningar de vill gå. Det tre största svagheterna som hindrar kompetensutveckling är tid, brist på resurser, och kraven uppifrån organisationen. Detta tror vi påverkar möjligheten till kompetensutveckling på grund av att tidsbrist hindrar respondenterna från att vara kreativa och reflektera under sitt arbetsplatslärande. När det sparas pengar dras det in på bemanning och detta hämmar lärandet då färre medarbetare ska göra samma arbete på mindre tid och slutligen kraven uppifrån minskar medarbetarnas handlingsutrymme, vilket påverkar dess personliga utveckling och arbetstillfredsställelse. Respondenterna upplever att de har en stor frihet under ansvar då de kan påverka och vara delaktiga i beslut som rör deras vårdenhet. De upplever även att Landstinget Halland är en trygg och stabil organisation, vilket bidrar till högre arbetstillfredsställelse och att medarbetarna vill stanna och utvecklas. / The purpose of this essay is to examine the possibilities to competence development within two different departments at the country council of Halland. This is done to obtain an understanding of the existing preconditions for learning and competence development within the above mentioned organization. The purpose of the study is to get an answer to the following questions: (1) How does the employees of the country council of Halland view their abilities to develop new competence themselves? (2) How are the healthcare units learning within the workplace structured? (3) What are the precondition for learning within the workplace? (4) How are the co-workers within the country council of Halland attracted to staying and at the same time given the opportunity to develop themselves? To get an answer to these questions we have conducted nine individual interviews with respondents in different professions within the country council of Halland. The outcome of these interviews shows that the respondents view their possibility to develop competence as good and that there is a good climate for learning. They also show that there is an adequate infrastructure that enables learning whithin the country council of Halland. It was also found that there is a wide selection of different educations made available to the employees. The employees also find that there is a great deal of freedom when it comes to individual choices and preferences among these educations. The three main weaknesses to be able to develop competence were found to be lack of time and resources for participating in various courses and educations along with the demands from the management. We believe that the lack of time hinders tha respondents being creative and reflective during their workplace learning. When cutbacks are done within the organization they are not seldom done in the number of staff which hampers the learning due to the fact that fewer employees are to conduct the same tasks within a smaller timeframe. At the same time the respondents feel that they have a lot of freedom to act and that they also have the possibility to influence and be a part of the decisions taken that effect their own workunit. In conclusion, tha employees of the country council of Halland view their own organization as stabile and reliant which contributes to a high level of satisfaction and that the employees are willing to stay and develop themseves within the organization.

Föreliggande studie har haft till syfte att utifrån ett deltagarperspektiv få en förståelse för den studerade organisationens introduktionsaktiviteters möjligheter och begränsningar för lärande och inbäddning av de nyanställda. Introduktionsaktiviteterna innefattar en arbetsplatsintroduktion samt ett formellt introduktionsprogram. De frågeställningar som behandlas är, vad som karaktäriserar de nuvarande introduktionsaktiviteterna och vad de nyanställda beskriver att de lärt sig genom att delta i aktiviteterna. Vidare behandlas, på vilket sätt introduktionsaktiviteterna har varit ett stöd för de nyanställdas inbäddning på arbetsplatsen samt vilka omständigheter som förefaller vara viktiga för att aktiviteterna ska kunna bidra till en positiv inbäddning för den nyanställde. Ansatsen har varit inspirerad av ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv i strävan efter en förståelse för deltagarnas föreställningar om introduktionsaktiviteterna. Förståelsen har skapats  genom en pendling mellan del och helhet i en hermeneutisk cirkel. En metodtriangulering har tillämpats för att besvara studiens syfte och frågeställningar. Designen har inneburit fyra delar, där dagbokstudier och intervjuer med nyanställda har varit den huvudsakliga insamlingsmetoden för empirin. Resultaten har diskuterats med stöd av tidigare forskning om introduktion av nyanställda samt genom att applicera kognitiva och kontextuella lärandeteorier. Studiens resultat har utmynnat i en modell som visar vilka omständigheter  i de formella och informella introduktionsaktiviteterna som möjliggör och begränsar ett lärande och inbäddning av de nyanställda. Möjligheter till lärande och inbäddning gynnas av trygghet, aktivt deltagande, legitimitet och utveckling. Begränsningar till lärande och inbäddning utgörs av osäkerhet, passivt deltagande, utanförskap och stagnering. Dessa möjligheter och begränsningar för lärande och inbäddning förhåller sig till varandra i en cirkulär process, där kontexten inverkar.

Workplace learning and training is often explicitly or implicitly planned to serve the economic interests of the organization. Furthermore, training planning and processes are generally determined by managers, instead of those who will be engaging in the learning. What happens to learning in the workplace when workers themselves determine its content and methods? As seen in the Community Training Plan (CTP), implemented at the Toronto Community Housing Corporation in 2003, control over workplace training by frontline staff has resulted in profound changes in many facets of working and community life. Using testimonials from a recent participatory evaluation of the CTP as well as a series of promotional videos, all of which were created by participants in the CTP, I demonstrate that the CTP has created new forms of engagement and participation; new learning foci; new spaces in the workplace; and finally a sense of staff ownership over learning.

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The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute to the knowledge on how formal education gives cognitive support to informal learning at work. The ambition is to combine different theoretical perspectives on learning. Formal learning, mostly within institutions for education, is usually seen from a cognitive or constructivist perspective, and informal learning from situational or socio-cultural perspectives. Combining these perspectives, this thesis is based on a case study of how a formal training program for Swedish military personnel, going on a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, gives cognitive support to their informal, experiential learning during the mission. The case study has an ethnographic research design where 17 military leaders at different levels are interviewed, observed and “shadowed” during three field periods during training in Sweden and during work in Kosovo. The empirical material and the different theoretical perspectives on learning are used to construct a perspective-integrating conceptual model of how the formal training, through different learning resources, helps the leaders to develop a subjective understanding of their coming work. This understanding is then used by the leaders to mentally frame the specific experiences and actions they encounter at work. This mental framing is also prevalent in their reflections in and on their work, and their informal learning at work can be shown to be heavily influenced by the understanding the leaders developed during formal training. However, most of this understanding cannot be related to formal learning resources, but to learning resources the military leaders themselves bring to the training in the way of their earlier experiences, their military professional orientation, and their internal discussions in free time. The main conclusions are that 1) contrary to prevailing dogma, different perspectives on learning can be brought together, and 2) if formal education is going to give cognitive support to learning at work, it needs to address the question of how the conceptual structure of the training content can be integrated with the often private concepts the workers themselves have of their work.

Workplace learning and training is often explicitly or implicitly planned to serve the economic interests of the organization. Furthermore, training planning and processes are generally determined by managers, instead of those who will be engaging in the learning. What happens to learning in the workplace when workers themselves determine its content and methods? As seen in the Community Training Plan (CTP), implemented at the Toronto Community Housing Corporation in 2003, control over workplace training by frontline staff has resulted in profound changes in many facets of working and community life. Using testimonials from a recent participatory evaluation of the CTP as well as a series of promotional videos, all of which were created by participants in the CTP, I demonstrate that the CTP has created new forms of engagement and participation; new learning foci; new spaces in the workplace; and finally a sense of staff ownership over learning.

The purpose of this study was to identify perceptions of environmental changes that promote self-directed learning in the workplace by Human Resources Development (HRD) practitioners and to investigate possible differences of the dependent LPA score variables to independent variables of highest level of education achieved, race/ethnicity, age, gender, position title, industry, size of the organization, and years of HRD experience. The research used a mixed method design. Qualitative data were recorded through four focus groups until a saturation of comments was reached. Quantitative Pearson product moment correlation and ANOVA statistics were used to show the possible differences of LPA scores with each demographic variable. Tukey post-hoc tests were used to compare significant differences in mean scores of associated variables. Focus groups were conducted with 14 Human Resources Development (HRD) practitioners to collect the top five environmental preferences that promote self-directed learning in the workplace. The environmental preferences, the Learning Preference Assessment (LPA), and the demographic form made up the survey to measure participant self-directed learning readiness across independent variables. A total of 163 participants completed the survey. Results showed the consensus mean scores for importance of implementing environmental preferences that promote SDL in the workplace was 3.39 for other written categories and 3.31 for organization culture encourages employees to learn on their own. The consensus mean scores for ease of implementing environmental preferences that promote SDL in the workplace was 2.53 for flexibility to work virtually with mobile access to learning and 2.16 for managers guide employees/match content to role. Pearson product moment correlations showed no significant evidence of relationship between the continuous LPA mean scores and age variables. Group mean scores were compared for the remaining independent variables. The results were significant for the level of education and the size of the organization. Tukey post-hoc multiple comparisons tests were conducted for the differences of LPA scores and the demographic variables of highest level of education achieved and the size of organization. Only the level of education categories of high school diploma or equivalent and master’s degree were found to be significant.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka mellanchefers upplevelse av en utbildningsinsats, inom ramen för e-learning. Denna kvalitativa studie genomfördes med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer av åtta respondenter i en offentlig verksamhet. Den fenomenologiska metoden fungerade som inspiration till dataanalysen där Giorgis´ analysmetod användes i syfte att skapa struktur. Datainsamlingsmaterialet resulterade i två gemensamma nämnare, dialog och tid och tematiseringen som låg till grund för intervjufrågorna var relation, behov, stöd och hinder. Studien visade att mellancheferna överlag upplevde utbildningsinsatsen med e-learning, som hjälp i lärandeprocessen. Men kombinationen med dialog lyftes som betydelsefull och tidsfaktorn som viktig i sammanhanget. Olikheterna i deras upplevelse förklarades med utgångspunkt i individuella skillnader, som ligger till grund för deras skilda behov av stöd och upplevelse av hinder. Sammanfattningsvis konstaterades att blandande läroformer, där e-learning utgjorde en av utbildningsdelarna, upplevdes av mellancheferna som positivt för lärandeprocessen. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the middle management’s perception of an implementation of a training actions, within the framework of E-Learning. This qualitative study was conducted in a public-sector organization with semi-structured interviews of eight respondents. The phenomenological method served as an inspiration to the data analysis, using Giorgi's analysis method for the purpose of creating structure. The data collection material resulted in two common denominators, dialogue and time, and the themes that formed the basis for the interview questions were relation, needs, support and obstacles. The study showed that the most of middle managers perception of E-Learning was that the education initiative helped them in their work. But some also highlighted the combination of dialogue as important to the learning process, and some emphasized the time factor as important in the context. The differences in their perceptions were explained on the basis of individual differences, which underlie their different needs for support and experience of obstacles. In summary, it was found that varied learning forms, where E-Learning constituted one of the parts, executives as positive for the learning process.

Despite extensive team studies research over the past 40 years, team learning remains an emerging field of study where there is significant conceptual discord. Three conceptualizations have dominated the literature where team learning is represented as: acquisition; participative activity, or an open system. Team learning models have also emerged integrating these three conceptualizations and included elements such as feedback, mediational factors and emergent states, though they have generally maintained the linearity of traditional input – process – output models. Teams have also recently been conceptualized as complex learning systems, yet there is a paucity of research at the team level of analysis particularly within dynamic work teams. In conjunction, exploration into a complementary area, collective transformative learning within authentic work teams, is also limited. Through an instrumental case study, the researcher investigated in what ways is collective informal learning is enacted within this authentic work team. Additionally, the potential for unfacilitated collective transformative learning was also studied. Using a social constructivist lens, this case study leveraged multiple methods including document analysis, observation, focus groups and interviews to capture a rich picture of team informal learning at the collective level of analysis. The study found that team informal learning was embedded in work activities and enacted in various ways through team interactions and activities. Moreover, the findings supported that the team had experienced collective transformative learning. The study concluded that conceptualizing teams as complex learning systems supports team informal learning and emergence as well as the potential for collective transformative outcomes in and through work. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of collective informal learning in authentic work teams and collective transformative learning.

In this thesis I discuss workplace learning during international assignments in a variety of work sectors. In addition to normal adjustments to a new workplace, foreign language acquisition and cultural adaptation are necessary. By collecting and analyzing narratives of a group of Swedish professionals with international work assignments, I have found some regularities and variations of workplace learning as well as some significant effects that these assignments had on their identity. Recommendations are given to providers of preparatory courses for international work assignments as well as sending organizations and employers. The main finding is that workplace learning for international workers follows a trajectory starting already long before departure and continues throughout different phases of the assignment. It also has effects on work life after the return to one’s home culture. The learning resulting from the work assignment affected all areas of life (not only work life) and contributed towards an intercultural identity. This kind of assignment often included networking with several organizations and groups of people of varying nationalities. Instead of working towards becoming full members of one work community, the participants in this study often found themselves in the peripheries of multiple ones. This peripheral albeit influential situation provided many opportunities for learning, both for the individual and the groups they work with. In this way, these international workers have the potential to be agents of change and development in all work communities they relate to.