While theories of adult learning and motivation are often framed as being either biological, psychological, or sociocultural, they represent a more complex, integral process. To gain a more holistic perspective of this process, a study was designed to concurrently investigate relationships between a biological factor (age), psychological factors…

Although organizations invest billions of dollars in training every year, many trained competencies reportedly fail to transfer to the workplace. Researchers have long examined the "transfer problem", uncovering a wealth of information regarding the transfer of training. Inconsistencies remain, however, and organizations may find it difficult to…

Purpose: The paper aims to argue that new tools are needed for operating, developing and learning in work-life networks where academic and practice knowledge are intertwined in multiple levels of and in boundary-crossing across activities. At best, tools for learning are designed in a process of co-configuration, as the analysis of one tool,…

Discusses findings of an investigation of a model of guided workplace learning in a large processing plant. The model is composed of three interdependent planes: (1) everyday participation at work; (2) guided learning for work; and (3) guided learning for transfer. (Contains 18 references.) (JOW)

It makes no sense to identify essential leadership capabilities unless one knows the business context in which these leaders will be expected to excel. A model for designing the competencies includes summarizing business objectives, identifying anticipated challenges, specifying assumptions, determining implications, and troubleshooting the…

Diversity implies differences in people based on their identifications with various groups and is also a process of acknowledging differences through action. Those organizations that have welcomed diversity are more productive and have a competitive advantage. Diversity training can be awareness based (cognitive) or skill based (behavioral). (JOW)

A 10-step model of techniques for developing effective teams encompasses credibility, ventilation of issues, orientation, group process, group goals, facilitation, intragroup procedures, intergroup processes, different roles for trainers, and setting groups free to function on their own. (JOW)

The U.S. workplace will look very different in the next century and the education system will have to improve to meet the needs of that workplace. The National Association of Manufacturers offers companies models from others who have found good training programs. (JOW)

The author discusses alternative models of work organization that may result from the introduction of technology into the workplace. Skills and training needs are emphasized. (CH)

Enumerates the benefits to industry of web-based training and provides a framework to clarify the goals, methods, interaction modes, and roles of four models. Includes examples of accessible Internet sites. (JOW)

The Piagetian perspective of adult cognitive development and adult education could have implications for how work and formal reasoning can be related to adult education programs and policy. During adolescence and adulthood, many individuals enter the cognitive period of formal operations (the last of three stages in Piaget's conceptual framework…

This document consists of three papers presented at a symposium on transfer of training moderated by Gene Roth at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD). "Validation of a Transfer Climate Instrument" (Reid A. Bates et al.) reports a study that attempted to validate Rouiller and Goldstein's (1993) eight-factor…

Evidence from academic research and management experts in the United Kingdom and elsewhere confirms that the recent focus in work organizations on cost reductions through downsizing has changed the roles and structures of many human resources (HR) units. HR units have had to prove their contribution to the organization's bottom line, raise their…

Technical and professional persons are especially threatened by the potentiality of becoming outdated in their skills and their knowledge. It is not enough for workers in these fields to maintain the competence acquired in the years of formal education. Their information bank is anything but static; the norm is perpetual change. Psychologists,…

Use of ethnographic methods to assess learning and staff development needs for workplace adult education programs is discussed, focusing on the teacher's role as ethnographic researcher. Four stages of ethnographic research are identified: (1) open-ended, inductive study; (2) structured observation; (3) analysis; and (4) speculation and sharing of…