Learning in knowledge‐intensive organisations – moving from training to learning

The impact of multiple project team membership on individual and team learning: A micro-meso multi-level empirical study

Cooperative group optimization with ants (CGO-AS): Leverage optimization with mixed individual and social learning

The purpose of this paper is to address the basic question why does high absorptive training programmes are not always beneficial for individual level learning? Thus, we seek to understand when and how cognitive absorption is beneficial for individual learning. The proposed model was tested using data obtained in a field study (N = 371) and in an experiment (N = 119). For field study, data was obtained at two points in time from three data sources (co-workers, subordinates, supervisors) working at a private commercial bank operating in Pakistan. For laboratory experiment, data was collected from the business students of a private sector university in Pakistan. The obtained data for both studies were analysed for random coefficient models with Mplus. Based on the motivation-ability-opportunity theory of behaviour, we proposed a model. It was found that cognitive absorption and highest individual learning was contingent upon the individual level knowledge absorption capacity. It was further found that training programmes with high cognitive absorption are likely to produce high levels of individual learning when the participants also have both high level of knowledge absorption capacity and technological opportunity. With this research, we inform practitioners that in these learner-focused trainings, personal characteristics of the participants and technology play vital role in determining effectiveness for high level of individual learning. The research findings will help practitioners understand what they need to add in training programmes for high level individual learning experience. Doing so will bring best value in form of higher learning to the cost of trainings.

Motor-linked implicit learning is the learning of a sequence of movements without conscious awareness. Although motor symptoms are frequently reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), recent behavioral studies have suggested that motor-linked implicit learning may be intact in ASD. The serial reaction time (SRT) task is one of the most common measures of motor-linked implicit learning. The present study used a 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner to examine the behavioral and neural correlates of real-time motor sequence learning in adolescents and adults with ASD (n = 15) compared with age- and intelligence quotient-matched individuals with typical development (n = 15) during an SRT task. Behavioral results suggested less robust motor sequence learning in individuals with ASD. Group differences in brain activation suggested that individuals with ASD, relative to individuals with typical development, showed decreased activation in the right superior parietal lobule (SPL) and right precuneus (Brodmann areas 5 and 7, and extending into the intraparietal sulcus) during learning. Activation in these areas (and in areas such as the right putamen and right supramarginal gyrus) was found to be significantly related to behavioral learning in this task. Additionally, individuals with ASD who had more severe repetitive behavior/restricted interest symptoms demonstrated greater decreased activation in these regions during motor learning. In conjunction, these results suggest that the SPL may play an important role in motor learning and repetitive behavior in individuals with ASD.

The pragmatic literature review explores the significance of individual and intra-organizational learning for organization’s performance. Literature review depicts topic actuality, conceptual contribution, research methods and scientific discussions. The relativity of learning for individuals and organization have been evaluated on behalf of selected scientific papers. The articles reviewed for developing literature review have shown similarities of subject knowledge. The comparative analysis of conceptual framework is based on examination of experiments and modelling documented in previous research. Learning is considered as a process of transferring skills and knowledge from recognized intellectual source. The perspective of individual learning is more concentrated towards self-development and efficacy. Organizational learning is complimented by individual learning. The concentration is on empowering employees and departments for cumulative growth. Continuous Individual and organizational learning and transforming contribute to sustainable long-term organization’s performance.KeywordsLearningIndividual learningIntra-organization learningOrganization’s learningOrganization’s performance

This article recognises that individual learning plays a key role in organisational learning. It identifies that there has been little empirical research to date exploring the interaction between individual and organisational learning. New research is presented from a company engaged in organisational learning, by a case study investigation utilising qualitative and quantitative research methods. The article explores key issues in training and development related to the interaction of individual and organisational learning, and concludes that individual learning is related to organisational learning through a range of factors including positive learning climate, active informal learning by individuals, and effective communication of skills and knowledge.

This paper presents novel experimental production data to establish generalisations about the accent patterns produced by individual English learners of Japanese. 21 British English learners read aloud tokens varying in word type (two- and three-mora nouns and verbs) and speech environment (in isolation and preceding a function word) and native speakers identified the accent types produced. The results show both considerable between-learner variability and within-learner systematicity. The accent types produced are seen to vary with word type and speech environment, but both how they vary and which accent types are produced are shown to be individual to the learner. It is suggested that this combination of between-learner variability and within-learner systematicity may be the result of a difficulty in phonologically encoding Japanese lexical accent.

This article presents results from a multidisciplinary research project on the integration and transfer of language knowledge into robots as an empirical paradigm for the study of language development in both humans and humanoid robots. Within the framework of human linguistic and cognitive development, we focus on how three central types of learning interact and co-develop: individual learning about one's own embodiment and the environment, social learning (learning from others), and learning of linguistic capability. Our primary concern is how these capabilities can scaffold each other's development in a continuous feedback cycle as their interactions yield increasingly sophisticated competencies in the agent's capacity to interact with others and manipulate its world. Experimental results are summarized in relation to milestones in human linguistic and cognitive development and show that the mutual scaffolding of social learning, individual learning, and linguistic capabilities creates the context, conditions, and requisites for learning in each domain. Challenges and insights identified as a result of this research program are discussed with regard to possible and actual contributions to cognitive science and language ontogeny. In conclusion, directions for future work are suggested that continue to develop this approach toward an integrated framework for understanding these mutually scaffolding processes as a basis for language development in humans and robots.

Evidence-based guidelines are seen as an important instrument to transfer scientifically generated knowledge into daily clinical practice and to ensure high standards of clinical care. Despite wide promulgation, clinical guidelines so far have a limited impact on individual professional learning and on changing daily medical practice. Our aims were (i) to study a potential knowledge increase among German GPs after implementation of web- and evidence-based guidelines and (ii) to identify and analyse potential barriers to individual professional learning with computerized guidelines. A prospective, randomized controlled trial was conducted including 72 GPs (21% female, 79% male). The intervention group (n = 38) had access to clinical guidelines via the Internet or CD-ROM, the control group had not (n = 34). Both groups received a standardized two-part questionnaire. An increase of knowledge was measured with 25 multiple choice questions related to four different medical topics. In addition, reasons for using or not using computerized guidelines were analysed after access to guidelines was open to all participating physicians. There was no significant knowledge increase in the intervention group (P = 0.69). Twenty-two (58%) GPs of the intervention group had used the guidelines. Unspecified curiosity (76%) and a specific medical question (38%) were predominant motives for usage among physicians who had used the guidelines. Among 'non-users', 78% stated 'lack of time' as the main reason for not using guidelines. An efficient knowledge transfer through computerized guidelines was not achieved. Usage, individual learning and potential implementation depend on adequate incentives and pragmatic aspects of clinical practice: easy and quick access.

Visual and verbal learning in a genetic metabolic disorder

ABSTRACTBackground: Implicit learning is a process of learning that occurs outside of conscious awareness and may be involved in implicit, exposure-based language training. However, research shows that implicit learning abilities are variable among individuals with aphasia, and it remains unknown whether individuals who show basic implicit learning abilities also benefit from implicit language training.Aims: The aims of this series of experiments were to test implicit learning in individuals with agrammatic aphasia, examine the effects of a novel implicit language treatment, and investigate whether individuals with aphasia who show implicit learning ability also benefit from implicit treatment focused on passive sentence comprehension.Methods & Procedures: Nine participants with chronic agrammatic aphasia and 21 neurologically intact participants completed a visuomotor serial reaction time test of implicit learning (Experiment 1). The participants with aphasia also completed a short-term novel implicit sentence comprehension treatment (Experiment 2) that consisted of five sessions of repeated exposure to grammatically correct passive sentences and matching photographs. Sentence comprehension was tested in multiple baseline sessions and on each day of training using a sentence–picture matching task. The relation between participants’ learning patterns across experiments was also examined.Outcomes & Results: Individuals with agrammatic aphasia as well as neurologically intact adults demonstrated significant implicit sequence learning in the serial reaction time task. However, the participants with aphasia did not show concomitant improvement in sentence comprehension as a result of the implicit treatment protocol.Conclusions: This study suggests that individuals with agrammatic aphasia demonstrate implicit learning ability; however, this ability does not necessarily promote successful outcomes in treatment that is based solely on implicit training methods.

Three levels or processes of learning are identified in project teams: individual learning, team learning and organizational learning. This article aims to explore the existing learning processes of construction project teams and identify factors that link these processes. This was approached through case studies of two construction project teams in Sri Lanka, operating under the traditional procurement method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five distinct participants from each case. Data were analysed using coding and cognitive mapping techniques. The research findings highlight the centrality of individual level among the three learning processes in a construction project team setting, in contrast to the centrality of team level that is established in general project-based organizations. The article further reveals key factors that effectively link the three learning processes. It is hoped that these findings will be useful to general construction teams that mainly operate under separated contract arrangements in many countries.

There has been much theoretical work aimed at understanding the evolution of social learning; and in most of it, individual and social learning are treated as distinct processes. A number of authors have argued that this approach is faulty because the same psychological mechanisms underpin social and individual learning. In previous work, we analyzed a simple model in which both individual and social learning are the result of a single learning process. Here, we extend this approach by showing how payoff and content biases evolve. We show that payoff bias leads to higher average fitness when environments are noisy and change rapidly. Content bias always evolves when the expected fitness benefits of alternative traits differ.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the link between individual learning and organizational learning and offer guidelines to harness the individual capability of learning for organizational objectives.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper using arguments from the theory of meaning structures.FindingsThe author shows that, learning, whether organizational or individual, is about the construction and accessibility of meaning, and that such processes thrive in a culture which fosters collaborative team work.Research limitations/implicationsThe theory presents a perspective of how organizational knowledge exists in a triad – private, accessible and collective – and the interrelationships to create organizational learning. These constructs can form the building blocks for future research.Practical implicationsThe theory brings organizations closer to prioritizing and evaluating learning processes to ensure that they facilitate the accessibility of knowledge.Social implicationsThe theory can enable organizations to identify processes which inhibit the accessibility of knowledge and create the environment to promote such.Originality/valueThe theory opens a new insight into viewing organizational learning from the perspective of constructing and sharing meaning structures.

This paper analyses the dynamics of return to knowledge where knowledge is acquired through the combination of interactive and individual learning. We suggest that in light of this new definition of knowledge, choosing the optimal level of education is no longer an individual exercise of present and future utility maximization as suggested by formal human capital theory. We find that other external (environmental) variables might affect the individual decision of investment. We calculate the effect of individual and interactive learning on determining the wage of Chilean male workers resident in urban areas and aged between 14 and 65. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.