Purpose: This paper aims to explore the phenomenon of workplace bullying in response to recent calls for the development of different approaches and provide an exploration of artful approaches to intervention. Design/methodology/approach: The paper offers a unique conceptualisation of workplace bullying and applies a phenomenological lens to the…

Purpose: Much research to date on professional transitions has focused on predicting them and then preparing individual practitioners to navigate transitions as sites of struggle. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine, within the context of professional practice and learning, diverse theoretical approaches that are currently prominent…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore in detail how teachers' perceptions of workplace conditions for learning are related to their informal workplace learning activities and learning outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: From a sample of 32 teachers, a purposeful sampling technique of maximal variation was used to select two cases…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse employees' perception of a change at their workplaces and the requirements for learning, and factors supporting or inhibiting learning in the context of this change. Design/methodology/approach: Data collection included personal face-to-face semi-structured interviews with ten client advisors in the…

Purpose: This study aims to examine the factors of growth-oriented atmosphere in a Finnish polytechnic institution of higher education with categorical exploratory factor analysis, multidimensional scaling and Bayesian unsupervised model-based visualization. Design/methodology/approach: This study was designed to examine employee perceptions of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse and describe the learning that takes place in the interaction between academics from different disciplines and perspectives in collaboration with practitioners. Design/methodology/approach: The research draws on theories of learning that view it in relation to context, where the most significant…

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…

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 describe how Engestrom's "third generation" activity theory, with its emphasis on developing conceptual tools to understand dialogues, multiple perspectives and networks of interacting activity systems, has informed research into professional learning in multiagency service settings in England.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the benefits and challenges of using a virtual learning community (VLC) as a vehicle for workforce development. This paper argues that VLCs provide a flexible vehicle for workforce development. However, workplace realities may lead to unexpected challenges for participants wanting exploit the…