On-the-Job Lessons

This summary is based on interviews, my own experiences as a temp worker at Texas Instruments, and my reading. Follow the links, as indicated, for more extensive information about the particular topic.

Workplaces Want Good Learners
Whether you are in a business, on a production line, or working for a county office of whatever, your employer wants you to be a good learner. The more you know how to do, and the better you are at problem-solving, the better the company or organization is at accomplishing its major objectives. While this has long been an implicit assumption in business operations, it is now an explicit objective. Emphasizing the self-directed learning approach, many companies rely on employees to work with their managers to assess training needs (training needs are often discussed in the annual evaluation process, and quarterly goals set up for the coming year). Some companies expect the employee to self-assess and ask for training. Many companies have training programs available via the Web -- employees have free access and get certificates, and rewards, upon completion. "Uses continuous improvement tools and systems" (or some similar phrase) is likely a criterion on which employees are formally evaluated...and the organization means it.

Knowledge Assets
What workers know, and are able to do, are knowledge assets. If you accept that knowledge is what comes from the ability to turn information and data into effective action, then you can see why people say we are in the age of the Knowledge Worker. If you add up the value of the company's physical plant, real estate holdings, and inventory, you do not get the company's total valuation until you factor in the cumulative ability of its employees to produce goods and services and achieve initiatives and improvements. Pay-for-knowledge systems are compensation practices that tie base wages and salaries to knowledge and skills, rather than to position or the job actually performed. More and more, companies are basing pay on the skills employees have learned, and the knowledge levels they have attained.

It's Assumed that Workers Know their Way around Electronically
The electronic environment permeates the workplace, and the assumption is that the employee will be able to get around electronically (or, at the very least, adapt quickly once trained). Even at the pre-employment stage, prospective workers need to be aware that the Information Age has hit company' recruitment practices. (See Lessons for Applicants and Prospective Workers; Basic Workplace Literacy). Workers applying for jobs need to know that job applications are frequently made available online. It is very helpful to know that in this Information Age, resumes and applications are likely to get put into centralized databases (e.g., Resumix). These software programs automatically extract information about skills, work experience, and education, and that information is then distributed to managers, who pull names of likely candidates. (The lesson here is that your resume, and the way you fill out your application, had better consider those next electronic steps!) Company intranets are pervasive. On the job, workers use various ESS (Employee Self-Service) systems to check compensation and other information kept online by their HR (or Personnel) departments. When a new shift begins, line workers may check specs on the company's intranet, and thus familiarity with a browser and files, etc., is assumed. Knowing how to use email is expected, and more and more, companies require their employees to keep schedulers and calendars on the company's intranet up to date.

Electronic Organization: Intranets
Of course, a very large (and growing) number of businesses have a presence on the Web. Very commonly, now, businesses will also have a Web-based intranet -- a network that is on the Web, but available only to individuals within the company. As entrance points to their intranets, companies are designing BEPs (Business Enterprise Portals) where information access is organized and updated for intra-company use. More and more, these BEPs are providing access that is structured with people and their information needs foremost in mind-- rather than, say, by departments, or alphabetically. Companies are recognizing that there is value in how information is delivered and used within the company. The trend also reflects recognition that company employees are knowledge workers, and that facilitating access to information is a major part of the company's primary objectives. (By contrast, educational institutions and governmental units of all kinds have not picked up on this trend towards specially designed intranets, though they may soon. Educational and government Web sites are, for the most part, still organized to provide general access for what one pictures as "the general public," which employees use as well; internal intranets are not common, except within specialized departments.)

Problem-Solving is Critical
The criterion on the employee's evaluation form may say "participates in structured problem solving activities," but when managers write out your evaluation, they say things like "Melinda saw that we were having a problem with X, so she partnered with Bruce, and they looked for information about alternative solutions, ultimately suggesting that...." At one company, the head of Human Resources told me: "For job advancement, we look for abilities in problem-solving. And that presumes the ability to find information that will solve those problems!"

Knowledge Management
Intertwined with the notion of the Information Age and the recognition that employees are knowledge workers is an emphasis in many companies on what is called knowledge management (KM). Amongst employees, for example, much knowledge is implicit (so-and-so knows just how such-and-such processes can be optimally tweaked). Thus, databases of expertise are one very common KM tool these days. Very large companies (and even the U.S. General Services Administration) now have a CKO (Chief Knowledge Officer). And CLOs (Chief Learning Officers) are an even newer trend, reflecting the view that businesses are learning environments.

Collaboration
Given the the information- and technology-rich age in which we live, collaboration is more and more seen as a critical work mode. Specially engineered, company-specific intranets have built-in collaboration tools. These tend to be replacing such commercial tools as Lotus Notes for many companies. Groupware and company intranets facilitate the sharing of ideas. Communities of Practice (CoPs) is a term now used to describe small, often spontaneous groups that form around projects. CoPs are informal, and disband when the project is complete; companies don't budget them (they are, after all, spontaneous), but management can nurture them.

Workload
The pace of information creation and exchange has increased noticeably, especially in the last 5 to 7 years. We use technologically advanced systems and processes that increase efficiency in many ways. The flip side of that coin is that the new technologies also raise expectations about work output, and the perception/reality of the situation is that workload on the individual employee is increased. This is a difficult transition phase, as Information Age tools get integrated into, and adjust to, workflows. The worker in today's Information Age needs to be a good learner in relation to new tech tools, and needs to bring flexibility and humor to the work environment.

Investigating Information Age Realities in the World of Work

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