The owner-manager’s role as a facilitator of informal learning in small businesses

Few studies have examined the owner-manager as a facilitator of learning in small businesses. Furthermore, these studies are typically not framed by distinctive characteristics of small businesses. These limitations of the literature stimulated us to ask: How do the situational opportunities and constraints that emanate from the distinctive characteristics of small businesses affect the small business owner-manager’s role as a facilitator of learning? To address this question, we first conducted a narrative review of existing research on the owner-manager as facilitator of learning in small businesses (10–49 employees). Four themes emerged from our analysis of research findings, including a theme that owner-managers are seldom directly involved in facilitating employees’ learning. Next, we conducted an integrative review of literatures that discuss (a) indirect approaches managers can adopt to facilitate learning; and (b) small business characteristics. We focussed on four high-impact indirect approaches owner-managers can use and examined how employment of each approach might be enabled or constrained by distinctive characteristics of small businesses. The integrative review generated ten research propositions. We also synthesized a conceptual framework that illustrates the main variables to be studied and presumed relationships among them. Based on our analysis of literature, implications for policy and practice are proposed

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Abstract: The article shows that human resource management (HRM) and human resource development (HRD) activities play a potentially important role in facilitating innovation in organisations. Based on previous research, a conceptual model is presented that displays how an organisation's human resource (HR) function can facilitate innovation by securing and developing the HR supply chain to ensure the healthy and continuous flow of personnel and competence into, within, and out of the organisation (i.e., by securing the appropriate competences for the job and the organisation, by developing and retaining existing competences, and by transferring competences from employees who are leaving to those who remain in the organisation). This article argues that HR practitioners can set the stage for innovations by actively and strategically implementing HR activities that support the creation of an expansive learning environment in which both adaptive and developmental learning can occur

Understanding factors that enable and inhibit assessment of outcomes of competence development

© The Author(s) 2020. Employee participation in formal and informal learning is essential for the economic viability and competitive advantage of organizations. Therefore, assessing outcomes of competence development activities is important. However, this domain of human resources (HR) practice is often neglected because of factors that are not well understood. Accordingly, this article addresses the question: What factors enable and inhibit HR professionals in assessing outcomes of competence development activities and initiatives? To answer this question, we conducted a review of articles that examine assessment of outcomes of competence development activities. The primary purpose of the review was to identify and categorize enabling and inhibiting factors so that the factors can be better understood by researchers and HR professionals. We also call upon voices from the field, using quotations from HR professionals to illustrate enabling and inhibiting factors. Analysis and synthesis of the literature informed the development of propositions to guide future research

Towards a quality management competence framework: exploring needed competencies in quality management

Few empirical studies have focused on what quality management practitioners actually do, with even fewer studies focusing on what it actually takes to do quality management work, i.e. the competencies of quality management. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a competence-based terminology for describing general competencies of quality management work in organisations and to create a competence framework in order to understand what is needed to be a quality management practitioner. This paper is based on an embedded, qualitative multiple-case study design incorporating four Swedish large size organisations where designated quality management practitioners (n = 33) were selected and interviewed. A quality management competence framework incorporating four main quality management competence dimensions is presented: the human, the methods & process, the conceptual and the contextual competence dimensions. Four generic quality management role responsibilities are also posited: centralised & strategic, centralised & operational, local & strategic and local & operational role responsibilities. The competencies and role responsibilities are discussed in relation to the notion of emergent quality management and the emerging need of more integrative and business excellence-oriented quality management

The household effect on electoral participation:A contextual analysis of voter signatures from a French polling station (1982-2007)

We use electoral participation data coded from signature lists to show that patterns of voter turnout, be they related to average participation, versatility or precise moments of voting, are strongly related to what we call “electorate households”, i.e. groups of voters registered in the same polling station and living together. Each household tends to be homogeneous, at levels much higher than chance would explain, so that modelling individual participation without taking this household effect into account ignores much of what actually happens. The status in the household also plays an important role among individual factors of voter participation. Not only do people who live together often participate together, but the precise shape of their relationships influences their behaviour

Player Discipline in Professional Sports: The Antitrust Issues

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to revisit data from a previous study of leadership in an industrial company that was in the process of implementing a process-oriented, team-based form of organisation. Based on these data, it aims to explore the assumption that process-orientation implies “new” leadership behaviours and relationships with co-workers. More specifically, it aims to focus on analysing how the managers and co-workers understood and practised the ideas about leadership for learning and development that were introduced in connection with the new production organisation. The purpose is also to determine what factors constrained and facilitated these leadership practises. Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted with a large industrial company using case study methodology. The empirical material consists of 35 qualitative interviews with production managers (n=4), first-line managers (n=14), and operators (n=17). Findings – The results indicate that performance-oriented leadership with a focus on facilitating adaptive learning is emphasised more than development-oriented leadership, which facilitates critical reflection and innovative learning. Furthermore, the study suggests that the administrative workload greatly limits the potential for development-oriented leadership. Overall, first-line managers appear to have more in common with system administrators than leaders. Practical implications – This study highlights the need to find a balance between performance and development in organisations. Specifically, there is a need for leaders to create opportunities and support for increased developmental learning at work. It is also necessary to emphasise critical reflection both in connection with daily operations and in the formal education of co-workers and leaders. Originality/value – This study demonstrates the gap between the rhetoric of new leadership and the organisational realities that leaders experience in their daily work. At the same time, the study points to the dual nature of leadership for learning and the constraints on its realisations in practise

The Leader as a Facilitator of Learning at Work : A study of learning-oriented leadership in two industrial firms

This thesis concerns the leader as a facilitator of learning at work. More specifically, the aim of the study is to increase knowledge about leadership in relation to co-workers’ learning and development at the workplace. The focus is on the leaders’ notions of learning-oriented leadership, their actions in daily work and on the factors that may enable and constrain learning-oriented leadership. The theoretical framework is structured around a review and analysis of three leadership research traditions: studies of effective leadership, studies of managerial work, and critical studies of leadership. The research reported in the thesis is based on an interactive research approach comprising case studies of two industrial firms. The main empirical data have been collected in interviews with leaders. In addition, the empirical material includes observations of leaders and studies of documents. The results indicate that the leaders view learning and the development of their co-workers as important issues and that they use a number of different activities to facilitate learning. Based on the degree of formalization these activities can be characterized as planned, partially planned and spontaneous. When working with the co-workers’ learning the leaders alternate between acting as supporters, educators and confronters. Furthermore, learning-oriented leadership is influenced by factors such as the co-workers’ attitudes and motivation, the leaders’ views of learning and development, the presence of learning issues on the organizational agenda and the design of the organizations’ production systems. To conclude, the leaders in both companies can be seen as facilitators of learning. However, their leadership is mainly performance-oriented and focused on adaptive learning. There are traces of development-oriented leadership as well, but these patterns are not as apparent. For instance, the facilitation of critical reflection associated with developmental learning is not very common for the leaders in either of the cases.Denna avhandling handlar om hur ledare främjar lärande i dagligt arbete. Mer specifikt är syftet med studien att bidra med ökade kunskaper om ledarskap i relation till medarbetares lärande och utveckling på arbetsplatsen. I avhandlingen studeras vad som karaktäriserar ledarnas arbete och deras syn på sitt ledarskap, vad ledarna gör för att främja medarbetarnas lärande, samt vilka faktorer som hindrar och möjliggör ett ledarskap för lärande. Den teoretiska referensramen är baserad på tidigare forskning om ledarskap och lärande. Mer specifikt granskas och analyseras tre forskningstraditioner: studier av effektivt ledarskap, studier av ledares arbete och kritiska ledarskapsstudier. Studien utgår från en interaktiv forskningsansats och det empiriska materialet består av fallstudier av två svenska industriföretag. Data har huvudsakligen insamlats genom intervjuer med ledare. Därtill omfattar det empiriska underlaget även observationer av ledare och studier av dokument. Resultaten visar att ledarna uppfattar det som mycket viktigt att främja sina medarbetares lärande och utveckling. När de arbetar med dessa frågor använder de sig av en rad olika aktiviteter, vilka skiljer sig åt med avseende på grad av formalisering. Aktiviteterna kan kategoriseras som planerade, delvis planerade och spontana. Vidare visar resultaten att ledarna i interaktionen med medarbetarna agerar stödjande, utbildande och konfronterande. I studien framkommer även faktorer som hindrar och möjliggör ett ledarskap för lärande. Dessa omfattar exempelvis medarbetarnas inställning till lärande, ledarnas syn på lärande, ekonomiska resurser för lärande, samt arbetsorganisationens och produktionssystemets utformning. Avslutningsvis pekar denna studie på att ledarna i företagen uppvisar ett ledarskap för lärande, men att detta i huvudsak orienteras mot lärande för daglig drift och anpassning, snarare än mot lärande för utveckling. Det finns också spår av ett mer utvecklingsstödjande ledarskap, men dessa är inte tydligt framträdande i resultaten. Exempelvis arbetar ledarna i begränsad utsträckning med att främja kritisk reflektion, vilket kan ses som en förutsättning för ett utvecklingsinriktat lärande