GEOLOGÍA ESTRUCTURAL

designed and developed to guide employees with the different skills they need for existing or future promotions. Employees need to acquire skills and knowledge to be competent in a position. It is the responsibility of an employee and not the manager to acquire the skills. It is in this regard, that an Individual Development Plan (IDP) is compiled.

Fuller and Unwin (2004), however, cited in Wallis et al., (2007) cautioned against leaning more towards informal learning. Learning at the workplace must be holistic and therefore there must be a slight balance. Adults learn differently, hence there are likely to be different learning styles. A formal learning approach is required with employees who are in more senior and specialist roles and their positions require an extensive amount of theoretical, structured knowledge in a classroom setting.

In this study, formal learning and informal learning are not being compared to assess if the one is better than the other. They each have their merits of increasing performance. It is the learning outcomes that are the most important factor. The value of informal learning tends to be promoted more by its benefits.

2.8 Affordances and Constraints of the sociocultural setting on Informal learning

According to Billet (2001), employees are not always treated fairly and given equal opportunities to develop their capabilities. The affordances and constraints are influenced by the perception of the individual’s competence, the employee’s race and gender, employee’s scope of work and employee’s level of engagement. Furthermore, the norms and values of the work setting and interrelationships of the team with each other, with the managers and workplace also have a significant impact on informal learning.

Affiliations and acknowledgements of employee’s efforts in the workplace play a critical role in determining participation in the workplace. The degree of networking and interaction between staff and acquiring information for both familiar and new skills especially from the more experienced co- workers shapes the quality of the learning outcomes. Given that knowledge and acquiring new skills can be socially based by observations, demonstrations

45 | P a g e and interactions with co-workers, understanding these participatory factors are central in understanding how opportunities can be created to learn. To a large extent these social factors depend largely on employee engagement and guidance given to each other. Learning and acquiring new knowledge about policies and procedures of the workplace and adopting norms and values can be a challenge. Individuals are active agents in these challenges and they can determine how and what they wish to learn from these social encounters (Billet, 2001).

Billet (2001) reported on the findings of an investigation study conducted at three organisations illustrating the co participation at work and how it affects informal learning. In the one organisation, employees were familiar and understood the work –based learning programs and interventions. It clearly defined workforce responsibilities and set hierarchical structures, there were minimum challenges in the way of conventional internal training. It was established that where there is more support for learning, the quality of learning and the outcomes associated with informal learning were higher than where the support was not available.

At the second organisation, the environment was highly conducive for learning and accepted and appreciated by managers. Mentorship programmes were in place and an effective level of guided learning was promoted, despite the merits of this workplace environment, it was rejected by the co workers and there were a reluctance to participate in informal learning. Based on this report, it is evident, as indicated in this situation that a workplace alone cannot guarantee and ensure quality learning outcomes when there is no buy in and value gained from the individuals. They decide not to engage in the process of learning as it is regarded only as in the best interest of the employer. In the third organisation, however, despite the limited support, low degree of readiness of employee’s for guided learning and low levels of reported quality learning and outcomes, one mentor worked against these challenges and shifted norms and culture of the practice by providing and initiating high levels of support. Cultivating the culture of learning by opening up possibilities for employees could lead to a change in adopting a new approach to learning (Billet, 2001).

These reported findings illustrate the potential of an individual to act as a central agent in shaping what constitutes an invitation to participate. In addition, the degree of workplace readiness influences how activities and support are afforded as part of daily work activities.

46 | P a g e Understanding participation between workers and the readiness of the workplace environment is of utmost importance for the success of learning. The findings of the three organisations illustrate three key aspects: firstly, the diversity of relationships between co workers and sociocultural practices that contour the individual’s participation and interaction with learning. Secondly, the findings highlight the individual’s participation and their active role in influencing informal learning. The “what’s in it for me” and finding meaning and significance in what they are doing determines the level of engagement in informal learning.

Thirdly, it is important that workplaces are collaborative and highly approachable in sharing new ideas and being innovative. The findings report that where support of the workplace is available, workplaces can facilitate the learning required for acquiring the knowledge and skill. It seems that for informal learning to proceed and function effectively, the manner in which workers are afforded opportunities to participate and supported in this venture will shape the prospect of a quality learning outcomes and set the scene for the way forward (Billet, 2001).