Developing Expertise at Workplace - Literature review Example

Running Header: Developing expertise at workplace Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Name & Code: Date of Submission: Developing expertise at workplace Introduction The concept of learning is a formal process occurring in educational settings such as schools. This study shows how a workplace can be a learning environment that moulds expertise. It also focuses on interaction between the affordances and the social settings. The chosen workplace is a high school in the United Arab Emirates and the main purpose of this work is to teach geography. There number of staff members in the school is 45 and in the department of geography there are 4 teachers. The school requires expertise in teaching geography and they should have Bachelor’s degree in geography and general information as well as sufficient knowledge about the subject. These teachers should also possess skills in computers and modern technologies. Expertise is the skill or knowledge needed in performing a particular task. An expert is said to be someone who is widely recognised as a reliable due to possession of knowledge or skills about how to go about an activity. Anders and Towne (2010) shows an expert therefore has extensive knowledge on research, experience or occupation on a particular field of study for example in geography. An expert may have virtue of credentials, profession, publication or experience. The above study shows the knowledge required to being an effective expert in the performance of a given task in the workplace. It also shows that context and cultural practices of the workplace that may affect development and performance. According to Anders and Towne (2010) in the school environment, there are several aspects that are considered as expertise for example as a teacher one has to have an experience of around five years and should have attained a particular level of formal knowledge about the subject. Workplaces tend to impose various kinds of expectation and norms so as to maintain their culture and for the continuity and survival. Teachers and learners also choose their own preference and goals which they become. Bierema (2001) describes that workplace is therefore referred to a learning environment where for example in a school the teachers gain experience and develop their skills while the students acquire various knowledge and are able to carry out many activities. Institutions have some element of off-shore ownership that reflects the growing involvement by large multinational companies. As the school administration confronts the increasing compliance issues and becomes more technical, there is also an increasing pressure on the performance in terms of maintaining survival. More inclination is in the large departments and the need to formalise staff development processes and ways of seeking credentialised staff. In the learning institution, there are several skills needed such as practical skills and the general theory of the subjects under study (Burger et al., 2010). Two ways are given while analysing the development of expertise in the workplace. These involve considering that a worker progresses steadily from novice to expert for example through experience and training. Danford (1998) puts it that the other way is by regarding expertise as individual characteristic which brings about superior abilities, cognitive mechanism and psychological adaptation. In workplace learning there are affective responses that tend to hinder learning. One of these responses includes individual perspective. The other factors that influence workplace learning include type of industry and occupation. The capacity and willingness to be an expert, experience and motivation are the other factors that facilitate learning. According to Burger et al. (2010) many companies and institutions underperform due to failure of linking the right strategies to operations. It is therefore important for learning institutions to have a developed mission statement which is translated to enable the institution achieve its objectives and goals. A vision statement is also important and the values present should be maintained. To develop the right expertise, the school should aim at operating as a community and members have to enjoy caring for each other. The school has to employs professional staff members who conduct their programs in a professional way. The school administration should also set objectives which include ensuring that every child acquires necessary knowledge, skills and good values. The acquired values should enable the students become creative in problem solving situations so that in future they can some up with proper decisions for their lives (Bierema, 2001). The institution has to aim at achieving the above objectives by ensuring that a positive learning environment is provided as well as ensuring that core values are maintained. The teachers employed should also have necessary skills that match with the kind of subject they teach. The institution will achieve expertise development by eliminating some vices which include indiscipline, bullying and others that discriminate other students. The school curriculum should also be in a way that all the activities are covered as this will be necessary in developing expertise. It should include the environmental education, aboriginal education, and technology and sustainability studies. Other subjects that should be included in the school curriculum include strategies that promote students talents and their leadership skills. The school educates students on how to be innovative in future (Glassman, 2001). This can be achieved through the introduction of goal setting strategies where students take control of themselves. Attention has been created focusing on the benefit of an individual student. The learning system should also open many opportunities for the students since they are able to focus on the subject that they know best. Some of the subjects that students should be encouraged to take include creative arts and sports. Developing expertise in a school environment enables the staff to be proud for nurturing proud citizens, intelligent and those who possess quality education. It also exerts control over its operations by providing professional staff members who are able to understand every student’s ability to enable them become useful members to the community (Bloomer and Hodkinson, 2000). Understanding workplace learning In understanding learning at work, one has to consider the context in which a given workplace exists. The main function of any workplace is not learning but the production of goods and services for example in a school set up it is the provision of teaching services. It is therefore important for organisations to function within the boundaries of a broader political economy. These are some of the factors that influence organizations to formulate more approaches of workplace development for example by introducing long term programmes such as apprenticeships. Anderson (1992) shows research about learning at work has been increased momentum and the study shows that work place development also involves work psychology, labour economics, organisational studies and others involving education and sociology. The growing attention of this research is based on three reasons which include the introduction of new forms of work organisation which have been said to be the catalysts for workplace learning. The second reason is that workplace is recognised as a learning institution and third is that there is governmental concern of increasing workforce skills and capacity for innovation which is necessary for competing in the global marketplace. There are many factors that shape workplace learning and these include underpinning the political and economic context. It also includes sectoral characteristics and institutional arrangements which include features such as size of business, ownership, history and culture. Developing workplace learning also entails creating a virtuous circle which is generated through forms of production and work organisation. It is then facilitated by having high skilled workforce. Childs and Greenfield (1990) explains that basing on the organisational level, workplace learning involves the relationship between management decisions and staffs’ demand for skills. This means that management of every institution should ensure that they involve their staffs in decision making process. This is by distinguishing between first order management decision that involves competitive strategy of the business and business position in the market. According to Glassman (2001) the second order management decisions on the other hand involve work organisation and job design. It is important to understand work place using this concept and should be communicated to all staff members. This is because the level and pattern of employers’ demand for skills influences on the nature and the culture used in the organisation. In a school setup, it is important to identify the service market strategy as it draws attention to the decision making process which involves all members. Workplace development can also be facilitated by carrying out a performance appraisal process which offers both the supervisor and the employee an opportunity to identify and come at an agreement regarding personal training and development needs. During performance appraisal meetings, employees are cautioned on the need for training and the supervisors enable them to understand it in order to develop their career aspirations. Training needs can be provided by appraisals once an audit is carried out for the organisation. Performance appraisals are effective and can show whether some processes were of help to the organisation such as recruitment process. Managers can monitor the success of employees who for example were hired a year ago and this enables to determine the change they have brought to the business. Appraisal data can also be used by managers in monitoring the various changes occurring or that should be implemented in order to achieve successful employees. By analysing the annual appraisal report, managers can determine whether the quality of workforce is improving, reducing or is stable and therefore strategies for improving or maintain the position are able to be determined (Childs and Greenfield, 1990). The administrative role is well served through facilitation of forming an orderly manner of determining employees salaries or when rewarding them according to their performance. It is also applicable while delegating responsibilities or in choosing leaders. The informative role is applied where the appraisal system supplies information about employees’ strengths and weaknesses. The third function which is the motivational function is applied where the organisation creates a working environment where staffs can be motivated to develop skills that improve their performance. Glassman (2001) describes that both the managers and the employees benefit from the appraisal systems. Managers are able to identify and analyse the trends in which their employees are following and whether there is any improvement. Managers can also compare subordinates performance by the help of reports which enables then understand employees’ needs and expectations and how it will be possible to make them become expertise. This information from the assessment assists managers in formulating long-term and short-term goals as well as setting objectives for the entire organisation. Once the above goals are well focused, then developing expertise will become an easy process. Effective management include assessing the current situation of a team member, setting effective goals and working together to ensure that member achieves those goals. The first step in managing people is to have a clear vision. Billett (2001) describes that the managers should be able to be precise on the expected performance by analysing the role of every team member. These expectations should then be communicated to the team members informing them to be accountable of their activities. To have a list of the desired qualities of a team member, the manager should include knowledge, skills and attitudes possessed by a member. The second step of effective people management is to make the expectations clear to the team members. The objectives should be discussed in a positive way to the members and the manager should communicate the ongoing basis for the team member to know exactly what they have achieved and what is remaining to attain their target. According to Billett (2001) the third step involves letting the team members be aware that their work is of value to the entire organisation. This involves a short brief to everyone reminding them of the purpose of the organisation, the purpose of the team and the benefits to other departments. Managers should make sure that the team members are aware that they play a major part in achieving the entire output of the organisation. This should be a continuous assessment that the supervisor has to show to their members. This makes the employees feel valued therefore making them motivated to performing better. The forth step involves getting to know each team member basing on their abilities, skills and personal behaviour. This will make you understand them well and it also improved mutual respect. Managers should therefore find extra time of bonding and the time should be equally spent because spending more time on someone makes the rest feel undervalued. The fifth step is to set achievable goals for the team and for every member in the team. The long term goals of the organisation should be well known to the employees. Supervisors should also be able to share their thoughts about the next step of development to prepare the members and improve their critical thinking. The strategic direction should be clear in a way that team members are aware of where they are from and where they are heading. Setting time checks is also necessary and having detailed goals in that once one goal is achieved it can be ticked out as more concentration is put in achieving the remaining. The other step involves having a frequent performance involving one to one meeting for effective management. The importance of the discussion is to show team members that their work is important and this stimulates growth. The meetings involve reviewing the past performances, the achievements and the employee contribution to improving output of the firm. Learning points are identified as the goals for the next level are formulated. Managers should also be capable of noticing excellent work and have a positive attitude towards each team member (Evans and Kersh, 2004). These learning perspectives initiate changes in understanding and also improved capabilities. Some of the cognitive theorists’ associate learning with novel problems but this approach fails to show the nature of the dependent person. Basing on the ideas of knowledge construction, learning and participation in work activities go hand in hand. This is because one has to be involved in every task in order to learn and gain experience. Though most of the knowledge learnt is not all new, it is important to get involved in vocational practice and work activities for examples those that involve historical, cultural and situational origins. Some of the practices offered in educational institutions have evolved over time making them meet the requirements for a certain cultural needs. This shows that engaging in workplace activities link individuals’ capacity to perform and to learn. Work environment also provides space for interactions with colleagues and other non human artifacts that develop individual capacity to perform and to learn new things. The co-construction of knowledge involves individuals’ construction through relational interaction with a social source. The concept of work co-participation is used to account for various processes of learning that are shaped by local negotiations. In this view, workplace affordances are therefore shaped by orderings and negotiations (Bloomer and Hodkinson, 2000). Expansive learning environment has been identified with certain features such as employee participation in multiple social activities. The other feature involve sharing a tradition of development within the community of practice develop workers’ ability to improve their skills and thus become expertise. Darrah (1996) shows it is also important to encourage diverse learning in terms of tasks, knowledge and the location of experience. This improves the level of experience therefore increasing the ability of being an expertise. It is also necessary for managers to support employee effort to acquire formal qualifications as this motivates them more. Workplace learning also entails emphasising on the gradual transition by employees to be fully competent in their activities and participation. Establishment of a concrete workplace curriculum is also easily accessible through workplace learning. According to Evans and Kersh (2004) workplace learning also values technical skills and innovation. In contrast to the features expected, workplace learning environment however involves limited participation of multiple communities and there is also no presence of tradition of development. The learning opportunities are also limited and there is little support of employee effort of gaining formal qualification. Most of the learning is on the job and there are few chances for reflection. There are also few opportunities for boundary crossing and no workplace curriculum. With this, workplaces are seen as learning environments with differing invitational qualities that show diverse activities, opportunities and support for learning. These qualities include workplace affordances that cause an impact on the quality of learning experiences, outcome and workplace performance. Conclusion While there is a considerable agreement that workplace is an important learning environment, some people believe that more weight has been place in the direction of the privileging informal learning. It is however shown that there is no type of learning that is better than the other. The preoccupation with workplace learning is seen as a tacit, informal and social process. Structural conditions have been seen to limit on the job learning. Expertise is said to involve off the job knowledge based courses and formal qualifications and there seem to be a growing demand of these courses by employees. The major determinants in the ability to provide positive leaning experiences include access and opportunity. These factors bring benefits to the entire organisation and highlights structural inequalities in the provision of education, training. References Anders, K. & Towne, J. (2010). Expertise: Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. 404-416. Burger, J. Parker, K. Cason, L., Hauck, S. Kaetzel, D. O’Nan, C. & White, A. (2010). Responses to work complexity: The novice to expert effect. Western Journal of Nursing Research. 32(4), 497-510. Evans, K. & Kersh, N. (2004). Recognition of tacit skills and knowledge: Sustaining learning outcomes in workplace environments, Journal of Workplace Learning, 16(2), 63-74. Study Guide Griffith University. Anderson, J. (1992). Acquisition of cognitive skill, Psychological Review, 89(4), 369-406. Bierema, L. (2001). Women, work, and learning, Socio-cultural Perspectives on Learning through Work, San Francisco: Jossey Bass/Wiley. Billett, S. (2001). 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