ERIC Number: ED656806
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 152
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 979-8-3828-8784-5
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Organizational Learning Support Preferences of Millennials: An Interpretive Study
Kevin S. Thompson
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Connecticut
Given that more than $170 Billion is invested annually on employee learning and development in the U.S (American Society for Training and Development, 2011) it is important that training leads to improved job performance. In any organization, workers require new knowledge and skills to become productive and maintain performance over time. Millennials, who comprise the latest employee generation, are age 18-34 (Tyler, 2007) and share the same performance requirements and expectations of the generations that precede them in the workforce. Adult education and human resources development literature indicates that millennials prefer classroom, online, and blended learning experiences (Sandeen, 2008), and respond well to feedback (Gigante, Dell, & Sharkey, 2011) and learning technologies (Gavota, Cattaneo, Arn, Boldrini, Motta, Schneider, & Betrancourt, 2010) when used to support learning. In addition, there are many theoretical articles that propose what organizations should do to support learning for the millennial generation (Kirkland and Sheehan, 2010).The organizational learning supports to help millennials improve their learning in the workplace remain largely undefined. For the purposes of this research effort, organizational learning supports are the tools and resources provided by an organization to promote knowledge transfer. To efficiently and effectively meet the learning goals set forth for millennials in workplace settings, scholars must research, and learning practitioners must consider the organizational learning supports that millennials prefer for learning. To address this challenge, I explored the organizational learning support preferences of millennials in the workforce in a for-profit, high-technology corporation. High-technology role complexity requires significant learning for employees which created a fertile research environment. To establish a viable foundation for my research in a corporate environment, I identified a conceptual framework that incorporates the learner, learning experiences, and environmental (organizational) factors. One research question guided this study: What are millennials organizational learning support preferences? The study utilized an interpretative qualitative design (Merriam, 2002), that uncovered the experiences millennials had with organizational learning supports to understand which supports they prefer. The sample of ten millennial participants was purposeful and generated from a list of 100 employees participating in a corporation's leadership development program. Data was collected via two semi-structured interviews with eight participants and one semi-structured interview with two participants. Data was analyzed inductively using a constant-comparative method and yielded three themes: (a) millennials appreciate big-picture understanding, new information, and rapid application to help them learn and perform on the job, (b) millennials prefer having the option to learn independently or in small groups to deepen their understanding of new knowledge, and (c) millennials want resources that provide answers to questions that fill knowledge gaps. By gathering participant data regarding millennials' organizational learning support preferences, the body of adult education and human resources development literature can expand and learning practitioners in organizations can propose and offer learning supports that align with millennials preferences to improve learning for this latest generation of workplace employees. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Age Groups, Preferences, Organizational Learning, Labor Force, Corporations, Leadership Training, Technology, Employee Attitudes
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A