Editorial

Citation

Cervai, S. (2009), "Editorial", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 21 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/jwl.2009.08621baa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Workplace Learning, Volume 21, Issue 2

Dear Readers,

A good, bright new year will already be well underway when you read Issue 2 Volume 21, which you have in your hands – while the darkest months of good old 2008 are with us when we write this column. There is a lot going on in the world, and we are personally mostly busy with many of the European countries attempting some kind of higher education renewal. At least in Italy this seems to have backfired in a big way; the teachers and researchers fear that there will not be career possibilities for researchers if the programme will be implemented as it is written. There are big demonstrations, strikes, and the other day a cartoon minister even took over the Ministry of Education web site. Some of these renewal programs will have moved on when the issue goes to print; some others will be redirected, renegotiated (or negotiated for the first time) and some will be forgotten. Science is important for development and life – but not only engineering and natural sciences. It is also important to be able to study issues such as learning and human development – if not for other things, then at least to diminish the risk for misuse of the inventions in natural sciences.

We have also just stepped into what seems to be the beginning of a global recession. This new situation brings lots of new and maybe not so pleasant experiences to many. Annika Lantz’ and Kin Andersson’s article in this issue discusses the importance of personal initiative, both while one still has a job and when one is facing unemployment. Seldom have we published a more timely paper than this; the article concludes:

Much can be done to design jobs that enhance productivity, long-term learning, initiative taking and vocational mobility. This mobility, under certain conditions, is likely to have a positive impact on individual learning and development and on innovation at the organizational level.

Downturn times are especially the right times to redesign and to invest – when customer demand is down, there is time to improve and to change.

We have also travelled widely to conferences this year. From one conference, Knowledge Management in Organizations (KMO 2008) we have selected our own favourite, the article of Remy Magnier-Watanabe and Dai Senoo, for this issue. The article promotes through its findings a very situational approach: knowledge management activities should be tailored to fit the beliefs and cultures of each group of workers. Another article, that by Chen Wai Ling, Manjit Sandhu, and Kamal Kishore Jain, studies the knowledge sharing in Malaysia and, as Watanabe and Senoo, finds that most – but not all – find knowledge sharing to be beneficial for the competitiveness. It is in our editorial line to agree with these two articles’ findings, unless scientific study starts to prove the opposite.

The next paper is a corporate university-related article by Sarojni Choy. Here the author studies staff sponsored by organisations to undertake academic studies. In line with the already mentioned higher-education renewal plans, Choy suggests that there should be some transition from university-centred to organisation-centred curriculum in place, that would employ work integrated learning to meet the needs of the workplace and the learners. The retention of academic freedom should not make higher education irrelevant for work life – there is a very fine balance here.

The professional practice section in this issue includes two articles. In the first of them, Richard Dealtry discusses the range of design elements that are related to a learning process design brief through a conceptual array model. In the second article by June Xuejun Qiao, the author connects the two main threads of this issue – higher education and knowledge management – in a longer-term view for higher education as key knowledge management (or, better, knowledge creation) players in the system of the world. As for corporate universities, also for the traditional higher education – and most corporate change initiatives too – sustained top management commitment is the most important issue. Universities must especially invest in their software side, curriculum development and research; as Robert Pirsig states in his monologue of the “two universities”, the real university is reasoning – and the walls of the campus do not do this.

We wish you an inspiring reading experience.

Sara Cervai, Tauno Kekäle