Purpose: This paper aims to introduce, explain and illustrate the concept of "sites of emergent learning" (SEL), which pinpoints particular instances of learning in everyday practice. This concept is located within contemporary practice-oriented and sociomaterial approaches to understanding workplace learning.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate workplace learning in the context of the rail industry, specifically for the type of learning required to become a train driver. It examines the impact of changes to the traditional learning model, and explores the potential of mentoring in the learning/training model.…

Purpose: Mentoring as a tool for the support and development of novices in many organisations has been considered a putative success. Nevertheless, the literature reveals a paucity of reporting of the mentoring strategies used within the policing profession within Australia. This paper aims to focus on what mentoring is and how it is deployed from…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the supervisor behaviours that employees found to be helpful and unhelpful in facilitating training transfer. The study aims to provide rich qualitative data from the employee's perspective. Design/methodology/approach: This study utilises a cross-sectional design. A case study and a qualitative…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of "learning" through what we have termed "integrated development practices". These are common organisational practices that both enhance organisational effectiveness and contribute to organisational and employee learning. Design/methodology/approach: The paper analyses…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate ways in which university students are introduced to disciplines and thence to the professions based on those disciplines. Design/methodology/approach: E-mail interviews with a broad sample of university teachers in a variety of professional disciplines formed the basis of a grounded theory…

Purpose: The use of e-portfolios in recognition of prior learning (RPL) processes in workplace and professional practice contexts has attracted little attention in the literature due to its emergent nature. This study seeks to explore the growing incidence of e-portfolio-based RPL (e-RPL) and professional recognition (e-PR) processes in Australia…

Purpose: The overall aim of this research is to investigate how aspects of organizational culture enable or constrain the facilitation of learning in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative design was used involving 100 semi-structured interviews conducted with air traffic controllers operating in three centers in Australia. The…

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the nature of learning discovered by recent graduates participating in a symphony orchestra-initiated development program that is designed to nurture them through the transition to becoming professional orchestral musicians. Design/methodology/approach: Using a qualitative case study approach, the authors…

Features of a web-based learning environment for physicians included the following: balance between content richness and bandwidth; shared knowledge and interaction using actual cases; constructivist approach to develop basic cases into advanced cases for reflection and interaction. Evaluation of the program showed comparable participation rates…

Purpose: The paper seeks to show the relationship between organisational structure and flexibility of training has not been well researched. Focusing on the role of recognition of current competencies, this study provides evidence of the effects of the former on the latter. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper evidence was obtained by…

Purpose: The paper seeks to show the contextualisation of call centres as a work-specific ethnographically and culturally based community, which, in turn, influences pedagogical practices through the encoding and decoding of cultural texts in relation to two logics: cost-efficiency and customer-orientation. Design/methodology/approach: The paper…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a "soft methodology" model in knowledge management that addresses the problem of accessing and managing one particular type of knowledge: personal (implicit/tacit) knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: The model is based on the theories and methodologies of grounded theory, adult…