Editorial

Citation

Cervai, S. and Kekale, T. (2010), "Editorial", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 22 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/jwl.2010.08622daa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Workplace Learning, Volume 22, Issue 4

Dear readers

There is still a nice influx of research articles in workplace learning. Recently we rejected one philosophical piece on workplace learning concepts, but there was an interesting insight in that paper. There are actually three words in work-place-learning, and the “place” of learning receives surprisingly little attention in research. Being that one of the co-editors is currently spending a sabbatical period in another country, and seeing different viewpoints and approaches in other locations and cultures, the point made by this author on the importance of “place” for learning immediately caught us.

The traditional “management” approach of this editor has been to study learning in product development teams, how engineers learn from mistakes they make in projects, and from their more experienced peers. Theoretically speaking, the research agenda in the location of the previously mentioned sabbatical period, Pablo de Olavide University in Spain, is the same: “product development” or, with another words, “innovation”. But the research conducted here, led by colleagues Sonia San Martin Gutierrez and Blanca Lopez Catalan, concerns how users and customers learn to accept new technologies that developers develop, and to use them for their own benefit. The approach is 180 degrees opposite, and the new insights in the form of new theory base, new recent findings and new types of people to talk to are very refreshing and inspiring. These also have implications to the management of engineering. All this confirms that the “place” can be a very important ingredient in learning, and should receive more attention in the future. Likewise, even a small shift of environment and point-of-view is strongly recommended to everyone.

This issue of Journal of Workplace Learning has a loose sub-theme of “group socialization”. The first piece, by a frequent contributor to JWL, Robert F. Reardon, studies technology acceptance issues among workers, a similar research strand to the one mentioned above, and the effects of workplace culture on them. The next article is by Alison Fox, Rosemary Deaney and Elaine Wilson, discussing the support in their work beginning teachers get at their workplace. We continue with team learning, related to the other theme mentioned in the first paragraph of this Editorial, and how leadership styles might affect it. This article is written by the team of Tania Bucic, Linda Robinson and Prem Ramburuth. Finally, we offer you an article by Mohan Pokharel and Karen M. Hult investigating the variety of ways learning takes in public organizations. We hope this compilation of research inspires you to go out to new workplaces, and find that there are still lots of issues we do not understand. And then report the findings at Journal of Workplace Learning.

Sara Cervai, Tauno KekaleCo-Editors