Promoting Individual Informal Workplace Learning †Free Samples

Question: Discuss About The Promoting Individual Informal Workplace? Answer: Introduction Informal learning is one of the most well-known and recognized aspect in the business organisations in the present scenario as it offers a significant number of advantages to the organisations. Informal learning is a training that offers increased level of freedom and flexibility to the employees in learning new processes and approaches. It identifies the social implication of learning from other individuals but has a wider scope for the individual aspect instead of socialization. It focuses upon the learning which occurs in the surrounding environment and the activities but with a more of formal objective and it occurs in an extended variety in comparison with the formal training or learning (Le Clus, 2011). It is also called as learning from the experiences as there is discussion and learning gained from the experiences of others and oneself. In present time, the organisations are forming a workplace culture where there is more of informal learning so that it can result in increase d employee engagement, socialization, effective working environment and development of innovative ideas and approaches (Cross, 2011). The key purpose behind developing this paper is to promote the individual informal workplace learning so that the quality and the quantity of the individual learning could be enhanced by the means of work. The report will throw lights upon aspects such as factors that constrain or enable workplace learning, personal characteristics and its influence on learning, potential advantages of learning and recommendations for increasing the level of informal learning at the workplaces. Findings The way in which individuals learn in the workplace In the present scenario, there exist high persformance organisations; there is an extensive need that the employees must be prepared for the continuous changes, developments and growth. There are some important and innovate ways to learn at work in terms of consultation and experience. There are several other ways of informal learning which can be used in the organisations that comprises of critical reflection i.e. when one learns from oneself, learning by the interpersonal sources and learning from others (Ellstrm, 2011). The most significant way for developing informal learning at the workplace without any expenses is through the employee collaboration. As per this approach, all ten organisational employees collaborate and work as team. There are team formations which help sharing of feedbacks, knowledge and experience among the team members so that more innovative ideas can be generated and faster accomplishment could take place (Ley, et al., 2013). This way of informal learning i s also known as cooperative learning where there takes place group learning by having passive and strong discussions in groups to pass information with each other and have more appropriate ways of performing tasks. Such way of informal learning helps in enhancement of both the quantity as well as the quality of the individual learning. Learning via experience, feedbacks and reflection are another ways in which individuals can learn in the workplace in the most effective and efficient manner (Choi and Jacobs, 2011). These ways of informal learning can also be explained through a dynamic model of learning. When the individuals receive feedbacks from other individuals or the higher authorities then it is a key source of attaining informal learning. The feedbacks are both formal and informal but when given in a way which can help the individuals to learn, understand as well as have further discussions on the same develops it is an informal way of giving feedbacks which improves the learners ability to understand with a positive approach. To enhance the quality and quantity of individual learning, the best way is reflection as self-reflection is when one learns from oneself (Webb, 2006). Reflections helps in analysing ones own performance with critical lenses which help the individuals in analysing what has learned with the task, what are the limitations and what all can be improved (Hager, 2011). With such an informal learning, the individuals trend to understand their weaker segments of performance by themselves that both enhances their motivation as well as learning power. The next mos t significant and vital informal learning way are experiences i.e. learning from others work or experience as in at the workplace there are several other senior employees or peers who have experience a similar situation in the past working experience and they can help the new learners or other individuals by sharing their experiences with them. This results in effective flow of communication among the employees and achieving more improved informal learning (Eraut, 2004). Factors enabling or constraining informal workplace learning There are several factors at the workplaces that enable or constrain the informal workplace learning. These factors can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. The learning and the context factors that influences the informal workplace learning can be broadly categorized in three segments i.e. the organisational factors, relational factor and job related factors. All these factors affect the effectiveness of the informal learning (Tynjl, 2008). Factors enabling informal workplace learning The organisational factors that support the informal workplace learning include the feedbacks offered by the organisational managers and the feedback orientation. As positive feedbacks offers a boost to the learners to develop the informal learning by having continuous discussions and interchange of ideas. The other organisational factors comprise of the challenges and the value associated with the work. When the informal learning offers value to the employees also at their individuals level then it enables the workplace learning (Griffiths and Garca-Pealvo, 2016). The job related factors comprises of the allocation and structuring of work as when the work is structured in an appropriate manner then it results in effective association with the people at work and enhances the informal workplace learning among the individuals. The relational factor that enables learning includes the motivation level of the individuals and their will to participate in the learning processes. The other e nabling factors are increased level of confidence and commitment towards an organisations which helps the individuals to engage in the informal workplace learning practices (Berg and Chyung, 2008). Factors constraining informal workplace learning There are also some of the factors that constrain the informal workplace learning such as the negative organisational climate, insufficient timed to engage in such activities, less encouragement ands support from the organisational key persons, decreased level of involvement and motivation of the employees, decreased self-awareness regarding the important e of informal workplace learning and fear of receiving a negative feedback which can deteriorate the public image and self-esteem of the individuals (Noe, Tews and Marand, 2013). Influence of individual characteristics on the effectiveness of informal workplace learning There is a strong influence of the personal characteristics of the individuals on the effectiveness of informal workplace learning in the form of making decisions, communicating with others and behaving in the organisations. The personal characteristics if the individuals comprises of educational background, age, experience, motivational level, etc. All these factors influence the degree of engagement of the individuals in the informal workplace learning (Le Clus, 2011). The influence of age of the individuals can be analysed as it is identified that the younger ones in the organisations are more likely to have their engagement in the formal learning rather than in the informal learning because of the aspects such as they are new as well as want to gain more knowledge through the formal trainings and coaching offered to them as the organisational practices. On the other hand it is seen that, the older ones are more focused to have informal learning in the organisations because of the reason that they have gained much experience from the past working experiences and they want to share it with others as an informal learning. Thus, from individual perspectives these factors affect the informal workplace learning (Tannenbaum, et al., 2010). The other individual characteristics are gender, culture and educational background. the individuals with enhanced level of qualification and high educational profile are much likely to have an informal learning as a fact that they try to have discussions on several topics and concerned areas of tasks but kin the other hand individuals with less knowledge proficiency try to escape such discussion because of less involvement and they prefer the formal trainings more in comparison with the informal workplace learning (Mezirow and Taylor, 2011). The diversity in the culture also restrict individuals to have their participation in the informal learning as when the individuals are of diverse culture then they have a sense of shyness or feel uncomfortable to involve in informal discussions at the workplaces and the reasons can be the language related issue, etc. At few organisations, the one of the individual characteristic could also be gender related factor as male employees also restrict them to have an informal learning or discussions with female employees and vice versa. And thus, it results in barricades to the effective informal workplace learning (Manuti, et al., 2015). Potential benefits for individuals and the organisation of increased informal workplace learning The scope and significance of informal learning is widening day by day and specially in the organisational workplaces. There are several potential benefits of informal workplace learning which help the organisations to attain various competitive benefits. The first benefit of informal learning is that it is less threatening and more relaxing for many of the individuals to learn informally as they do not possess a threat of negative feedbacks or other unconstructive comments of the performance evaluation (Noe, Clarke and Klein, 2014). In an informal workplace learning, there is enhanced level of information sharing as people or the experts share their knowledge and experience with the individuals which resolves the queries and issues of the individuals which is not possible in the formal learning without having formal meetings or learning sessions for the same. The most significant aspect of informal learning for all types of organisations whether small, medium or large scale is that there are no cost and time related barriers which restricts the learning practices to execute at the workplaces. Because of the involvement and participation of the organisational employees only, there is no need of outside trainings and thus the organisations do not have to invest capital on such trainings which saves their lot of cost. Thus, even the small scale enterprises can also achieve competitive benefits and effective learning by the means of informal workplace learning. Another benefit of informal workplace learning is that it is faster and just-in-time. The informal learning can take placed whenever required by the organisation or the individuals and have an immediate use (Marsick and Watkins, 2015). Witching minutes the information is passed on and the work can be continuing and this result in faster flow of information and accomplishment of the tasks. Other potential benefits are that the informal workplace learning is customized as well as flexible in nature as it is a self-directed aspect. For meeting the specific needs of the individuals informal workplace learning is highly effective. It is customized as there are different requirement and need of different individuals and the informal learning try to meet all those needs through tailored learning. Thus, all such benefits of informal workplace learning help both the employees as well as the organisations to have more improved quantity and quality of learning through work (De Grip, 2015). Conclusion Informal workplace learning is acknowledged and recognized as a more significant approach to enhance the workplace learning from past few years. From the in-depth analysis and effective evaluation of the practice of informal workplace learning, it can be concluded that it is one of the best practices which can be implemented by the small scale organisations who cannot afford much expensive formal trainings to be offered to the employees. The report has stated numerous positive and potential advantages of informal workplace learning and also number of ways which can be used by the individuals to learn at the workplace. All these factors are required to have a positive approach to help the individuals to have their increased engagement in the informal workplace learning. From the report, it has also concluded that there are factor that enables as well as constrain the informal workplace learning and the organisations are required to have focus on the implementation of the enabling fact or and elimination of the constraining factor so that more enhanced level of informal workplace learning could take place. It has also been analysed and concluded that there is also a significant role of the personal characteristics in having engagement in the learning practices and activities and thus it is essential that such factors must also be considered accordingly while executive such informal workplace learning in the organisations. Recommendations Based upon the analysis of the literature, there are few recommendations for enhancing informal learning within the organisation: Firstly it is recommended that the informal workplace learning must be aligned with culture of the workplace. In the processes and the goals of workplace learning, the challenges, opportunities, nature and the strategic direction of the businesses must be reflected. It is also essential that the informal workplace learning must be resourced in an adequate manner with right tools and right people so that it can execute in an effective manner. The second recommendation is that the informal workplace learning must be tailored and customized. This is recommended because of the reason that the formal trainings are single approached which has a common direction that is required to be followed by all the employees. But in an organisation, there are diverse need and requirements and thus for managing those specific learning requirements, it is essential that the informal learning, must be customised and training must be offered as per the needs of the individuals so that they can have faster learning and development (Vaughan, 2008). The informal workplace learning must be based upon the idea of lifelong learning so that whenever there is a need or requirement for any such learning, it can immediately take place and having informal learning only for a period is not supportive s with more experienced and time, there is essential need of the informal workplace learning to develop a collaborative working environment where the peers or the experienced individuals can share their experiences with the new joiners and make tem comfortable with the new practices and organisational work. Thus, it is recommended that informal workplace learning must be a continuous practice at the workplaces (Le Clus, 2011). It is recommended that there must be taken use of adequate and right pedagogical approaches while having informal workplace learning as well as there must be individual support offered to the employees by the means of positive and enriched feedbacks and open ended discussion where the individuals can also give their opinions and participate effectively in the discussions. It is also essential that there must be an integration of the formal and the informal learning as both the learning are equally important for the organisations and thus, it is essential that the goals and objectives of informal and formal must be same (Milligan, Littlejohn and Margaryan, 2014). References Berg, S. A., Chyung, S. Y. (2008). Factors that influence informal learning in the workplace.Journal of workplace learning,20(4), 229-244. Choi, W., Jacobs, R. L. (2011). 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