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The paper aims to describe the innovative learning culture, practices and processes at ThoughtWorks India (TWI), a software application development company in India. These practices support continual learning and development at the level of employees, project teams and the entire organization.

The paper draws upon the unique case of TWI. It describes the need for continual learning at TWI. It then describes how the organization has promoted a culture of continual learning on an individual, team and organizational level. It explains how the learning practices and processes aligns to the project level and organizational goals.

Because of the complex and difficult nature of software development projects that TWI takes up regularly, it needs its employees to be at the cutting edge of technological skills and know-how. If this was to be attempted through formal training programs, it would turn out to be extremely expensive and inefficient way of learning for TWI. Instead, TWI relies on on-the-job-learning. It does so through a variety of innovative work practices that are described in the paper. It also achieves its learning goals through a culture that supports continual learning and development of employees.

The learning related practices, processes and mechanisms used at TWI can be emulated by companies in the software development industry. This will ensure that employees learn and develop their skill-sets all the time and remain at the cutting edge of technological developments. This will help organizations pitch for and successfully deliver difficult and complex software development projects that add very high value to their clients.

The social implications of the approach followed by TWI are positive. Employees are motivated to improve themselves every day. They understand the need for doing so. Also, they appreciate the fact that TWI supports continual learning and development. Knowledge sharing among employees is encouraged through the practices followed almost daily in projects.

The paper considers a unique set of learning and development practices, processes and mechanisms in TWI, a software development company in India.

The manufacturing industry is a well-known source of interventions adapted to solve problems in the construction industry. The use of Training-Within-Industry (TWI) is one such intervention adopted in the construction industry to solve the construction problem relating to occupational health and safety (OHS). The objectives of TWI are to help the industry to transfer knowledge and skills from management to the employees. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to investigate whether TWI can reduce OHS problems by promoting “learning by doing” on construction sites.

A case-based-research method was used to investigate the reported OHS problems in the construction industry in South Africa. The data were quantitative and qualitative in nature; the questionnaire survey, semi-structured interview and focus group interview techniques were used to collect data in the study.

The findings provide a better understanding of the human contributions influencing the behaviour of people causing accidents on construction sites. The data show that construction project leaders struggle to promote “learning by doing” because of inappropriate behaviour, lack of communication and inadequate training provided to new workers on construction sites. Also, there is significant scope for TWI deployment in construction because of the inability of supervisors or management to promote “learning by doing” on construction sites.

Based on the research findings, it is discovered that OHS is a serious concern in the construction industry. Therefore, the adoption of learning by doing on a construction site would help to improve OHS outcome.

The study highlights the need to introduce TWI on construction sites to reduce human failure causing accidents. TWI could lead to improving the knowledge- and skills-transfer programmes for construction workers in favour of better safety performance.

TWI was established in 1946 as the BWRA, later The Welding Institute, and from its very outset was focused on the study of joining technology and its impact on the performance and structural integrity of components. With a staff of some 450, TWI represents a unique multidisciplinary resource, which provides expertise to over 3,000 companies worldwide. Welding can influence various factors in the performance of plant and equipment; naturally, therefore, corrosion behaviour has been a major technology for both research and consultancy at TWI for more than five decades. This article reviews some of the issues and areas of current research at TWI appropriate to pipelines.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a psychosocial treatment program for prisoners incarcerated because of methamphetamine use. It compared the outcomes of prisoners who received the program while incarcerated, those who were released and received the treatment as part of community-based drug recovery program and a waitlist-control group (WC) with no treatment.

A quasi-experimental design was use with pre- and post-test surveys administered to three groups: a WC group, a pre-release treatment-while-incarcerated (TWI) group, and a post-release outpatient treatment group (OP). Surveys measured recovery skills, life skills and substance use disorder (SUD) symptoms were administered before and after the intervention.

Results revealed that at baseline OP and TWI had significant higher recovery skills compared to WC group. However, in terms of life skills, there was no significant difference observed among the WC, OP and TWI group at baseline. TWI had a significantly lower number of SUD symptoms compared to the WC group at baseline. As hypothesized, findings revealed significant changes in recovery and life skills among the OP and TWI group compared to the WC group. No significant change in SUD scores were observed for all groups.

A major limitation of the study was the use of a quasi-experimental design because legal issues did not allow a randomized control trial. Future research using randomized controlled trial designs would provide more robust conclusions on the impact of the intervention. The study design was also limited to pre- and post-evaluation. Further studies are encouraged to look at longitudinal outcomes of appears on SUD symptoms and possibility of relapse.

Given that there were no significant differences in outcomes between OP and TWI groups, results suggest that the program may serve either as a pre- or post-release program for incarcerated drug users. However, results also suggest that completion is higher when the program is used as a pre-release program. Delivering the program prior to release also reduces challenges related to attrition including conflict in schedules and the lack of resources for transportation.

The study suggests the value of psychosocial treatment as opposed to punitive approaches in dealing with drug use. In particular, delivering interventions prior to release can prepare participants for problems they may encounter during reintegration and prevent recidivism. In a country where drug-related killings are on the rise, the study presents an alternate and restorative justice approach.

The study addresses a dearth in the literature on psychosocial intervention for methamphetamine users. It also fills a vacuum in studies from developing countries such as the Philippines.

The purpose of this paper is to support total productive maintenance implementers by providing a roadmap for autonomous maintenance (AM) preparation phase.

The authors use the axiomatic design (AD) methodology with lean philosophy as a paradigm.

This is an exploratory research to find the most important factors in AM preparation phase. A decoupled AD design ensures an effective usage of training within industry (TWI) and the introduction of standardized work (SW). TWI provides value in importance it assigns to leaders, with its “train the trainers” approach and in preparing a training program. Besides being an effective training method, TWI job instruction (TWI JI) provides needed information infrastructure to front load operators SW and equipment trainings.

Although AD, TWI and lean artifacts are generally field proven, the research is limited due to the lack of an industrial application.

In many real-life projects, companies do not know where to start and how to proceed, which leads to costly iterations. The proposed roadmap minimizes iterations and increases the chance of project success.

The authors apply AD for the first time to AM preparation phase despite it is used in the analysis of lean manufacturing. AD permits to structure holistically the most relevant lean manufacturing solutions to obtain a risk free roadmap. TWI has emerged as a training infrastructure; TWI JI-based operator SW training and the adaptation of JI structure to equipment training are original additions.

This paper aims to describe an innovative recruitment process at ThoughtWorks, a software-application development company in India.

It details the skills and qualities that ThoughtWorks looks for in its software developers and how recruitment is aligned to project and organizational goals.

It reveals that despite high growth pressures, ThoughtWorks recruits very selectively to ensure that the quality of its programmers and the culture of the organization are maintained.

It shows that the recruitment practices of ThoughtWorks can be emulated by other companies in the software-development industry. This will ensure that new recruits are compatible with the organization’s culture and suitable for the chosen project-delivery approach.

It concedes that the high rejection rates because of the difficult recruitment process put a strain on the recruitment team as well as on project managers and others involved in the interviewing process.

It considers an unusual recruitment process in a software-development company in India that follows agile project practices.

This multilevel study investigates the effect of employees' perception of nepotism on tolerance to workplace incivility through the mediating role of psychological contract violation and the moderating role of authentic leadership in organizations.

Using time-lagged data from 547 frontline employees working in four- and five-star hotels, this study's hypotheses were analyzed by conducting hierarchical regression analysis and hierarchical linear modelling.

The findings indicate that non-family members' perception of nepotism triggered perceived tolerance to the uncivil behavior of family members by the management and that this relationship between nepotism perception and tolerance to workplace incivility was mediated by psychological contract violation. In line with expectations, authentic leadership moderated the effect of nepotism perception on tolerance to workplace incivility.

This study is among the first to examine the effects of nepotism perception on tolerance to workplace incivility by focusing on the mediator role of psychological contract violation at the individual level and the moderator role of authentic leadership at the group level.

As the demographic landscape in the USA becomes more culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), schools must build educators’ professional knowledge and skills to better serve students whose mother tongues are not English. The purpose of this paper is to report on the formation of a network of schools collaboratively transforming their approaches to teaching and learning in order to meet the educational needs of this changing student population.

To determine how relational networks in this network affect the learning of educators to implement the bilingual education model, the authors drew from three data sources: a social network survey, semi-structured interviews and archival documents.

The schools in this study are engaged in a dramatic restructuring, moving from monolingual English schools to a network of two-way immersion bilingual schools. The evidence from this study revealed different information sharing structures within the relational networks. The authors found organizational structures of interactive spaces and teams supporting the relational networks that created communities of practice, and these communities of practice fostering all three aspects of profession capital (human, social and decisional).

The analysis points toward the complicated nature of organizational learning within networks of schools. While some relational networks were strong, the authors also note gaps and disconnections in the network interactions, despite the structures promoting connectivity. Hence, this study sheds light on both the power and the limitation of networked learning within and across school striving to improve the teaching and learning for CLD students.

This original analysis lays the foundation for future investigations of networked learning.

Using firm‐specific SEC currency risk disclosures, this paper aims to provide insight into the puzzling absence of significant returns‐based foreign exchange exposure (FXE). Such a hand gathered disclosure data identify the bilateral exchange rate to which the firm is most vulnerable (BRV) and the firm's FX hedge techniques.

The BRV‐based estimates of FXE are compared to the FXE estimates using the broad trade‐weighted index (TWI) data that are prevalent in prior research. Multivariate regression and sample partitioning by level of value and size premiums are used to analyze these alternative FXE estimates.

The univariate results reveal a higher percentage of firms with significant BRV‐estimated FXE compared to TWI‐estimated FXE. Multivariate tests indicate a negative relation between firm‐specific financial hedging and BRV‐estimated FXE (but not TWI‐estimated FXE), controlling for firm‐specific non‐financial/operational hedging, size and industry effects. Moreover, firms in the first and fifth quintiles for measures of value/growth and size have higher levels of FXE.

Using SEC currency risk disclosures improves the analysis of firm‐specific FXE, allowing investors to better estimate risk and cost of capital.

The paper helps resolve the FX exposure puzzle using a unique dataset of firm‐specific currency risk disclosures. The improved estimates of FXE provide a more detailed risk profile of multinational firms.

TWI, as The Welding Institute prefers to be called these days, is one of the success stories of the late 1980s. At a time when many research associations were suffering decline TWI has expanded both technically and commercially. At its open days last June it presented an air of quiet confidence to its many visistors.