Purpose--What is required of job design and production planning, if they are to result in a work group taking a self-starting approach and going beyond what is formally required of it? This paper aims to contribute to group research by testing a theoretical model of relations between job design on the one hand (captured as completeness, demand on…

Describes team self-assessment, a task force approach involving frontline workers/supervisors in solving problems or improving performance. Provides examples and discusses its theoretical bases: control self-assessment, Belbin's team roles research, and the team climate inventory. (Contains 23 references.) (SK)

Supervisors who are effective facilitators use their own learning and interpersonal skills to encourage informal learning in work teams. Use of facilitation skills can be inhibited by lack of organizational support and reluctance to change power relationships. (Contains 66 references.) (SK)

A case study of a work team in a company using quality management strategies found that training to improve customer service actually served to shape workers' attitudes and control their behavior. The focus of this organizational learning was instrumental and served the interests of the organization, not the workers. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)

A participant-observation study in a South African mining company that used self directed work team training identified organizational constraints that hindered training effectiveness: lack of materials, machinery breakdown, decentralized budget, and imposed standards. Miners more often used improvisation and initiative to solve daily problems,…

Work in progress is reported for a research project aiming to improve multiprofessional teamworking in operating theatres through iterative educational intervention. Experimental design is combined with collaborative inquiry. The hypothesis is: will planned, complex educational intervention focused upon improving communication in teamwork lead to…

This paper explores the results of applying a diagnostic questionnaire for measuring the dimensions of a learning organization in a resource squeezed service organization. The questionnaire was conducted as the first stage of an ethnographic study of workplace learning in an aged care organization. It was distributed to the 600 employees in nine…

Purpose: This paper seeks to provide an empirical insight into the facilitation dilemmas for conversational learning in a project team environment. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is an outcome of a participative action research process into the dynamics of situated learning activity in a case study project team. As part of their…

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…

Purpose: This paper reports on the development of a workplace-based e-learning programme for small and medium enterprise (SME) managers in five European countries. The course is designed to address the specific needs of SME managers who, it has been noted, represent a significant proportion of the EU workforce but often experience difficulty in…

Purpose: To illustrate how the interdependence among four championing factors, five antecedents, and four moderators affect companies' efforts in valuing the adult learner in e-learning. Design/methodology/approach: A literature review was conducted to identify the championing factors, antecedents, and moderators that can assist teams in designing…