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Informal workplace learning from a problem-solving perspective

 A taxonomy of informal workplace learning processes

Ιnformal workplace learning is understood as an umbrella term to include a range of learning processes from unconscious everyday adaptation processes to self-regulated learning activities in the workplace. Informal workplace learning activities are often classified by intentionality, that is by the degree to which learning “… occurs purely by accident (unintentionally or incidentally) or through conscious deliberation (intentionally).” This distinction builds on Watkins and Marsick's  definition of incidental learning as the unintentional and unconscious by-product of some other activity. In the workplace, this other activity is usually a work activity that is, of course, also intentional, however, the intention refers to the completion of work tasks, not to learning while completing it. Marsick and Watkins (1990) used the term informal learning as the intentional and conscious counterpart to incidental learning. However, this definition of informal learning conflicts with the mainstream literature, because learning processes that are unintended and unrecognized by the learner are usually core characteristics of the definition of informal learning. In line with a systematic overview provided by Wolfson et al. (2018), informal learning comprises both, incidental and intentional learning. It also includes self-regulated learning which can take place in both, formal as well as informal settings. In his seminal publications on informal learning in the workplace, Eraut (2004, 2011) distinguished between implicit, reactive, and deliberative learning, which he understands as being located on a continuum.

Implicit learning refers to routine activities in which learning goals, learning processes, and learning outcomes are secondary and where the actor is unconscious of learning. It includes all the small-scale, day-to-day adjustments in an individual's knowledge, skills, attitudes, or other characteristics based on subtle feedback from the task environment. These processes are usually not perceived as learning by employees and workers. Referring to a “non-educational perspective,” considered implicit learning to be “… part of belonging to and participating in a real-life context.” These everyday adaptation processes that happen in the background result in broad socialization outcomes (e.g., the gradual adoption of corporate culture; also promoted by “vicarious learning” and long-term personality developments (e.g., developing confidence in client interactions or greater conscientiousness in bookkeeping). Implicit learning also enables ongoing routinization of already well-known work procedures (e.g., efficiency gains in wall leveling or greater spontaneity in customer discussions). As (Hatano and Inagaki 1984, p. 31), put it, sometimes, “people merely learn to perform a skill faster and more accurately, without constructing/enriching their conceptual knowledge.” In many domains, these individual routines mirror organizational routines. Organizational routines are day-to-day, repetitive patterns of interdependent organizational actions based on a shared understanding of how tasks are to be completed. Organizational core routines “… are specific to the firm, most vital to value creation, and represent the key components of the business model.” Therefore, individual routine skills that improve actions within these organizational routines are an essential element of one's professional competence. These skills are also referred to as “routine expertise”. Routine expertise results from proceduralization, and expertise, in general, is characterized, among other things, by having “available lots of routines and automatised procedures.”. Furthermore, routine expertise can also be developed through closely monitored practice, as opposed to “mindless, routine performance” but this planned learning and rehearsing refers to deliberative learning.

Alvaro Naranjo – “Ayudo”