Figure 2.1 Overall theoretical framework
2.4.3 Job content
According to many researchers the job content and the social environment are suggested as two main situational or contextual factors that explain informal learning (see Hall &
Fukami, 1979; Marsick & Watkins, 1990; Noe & Ford, 1992; Purser & Pasmore, 1992;
Tesluk &Jacobs, 1998). Therefore, these two concepts will be reviewed and defined.
The design of jobs is a central concern of management consultants and researchers, and a significant number of studies have been conducted. More specifically, there has been developed a variety of different measurement scales such as the IDI (Hackman and Oldham, 1975), JeI (Sims, Szilagyi, & Keller, 1976), MSQ (Weiss et al., 1967) or OAl (Van de Ven and Ferry, 1980)(see Ironson et al., 1989 for a review).
All these scales suggest that central characteristics of the job itself are primary dimensions in order to understand the motivation, satisfaction, and behavior of employees. In contrast, the amount of empirical research investigating the relationship between informal learning and job content is more limited (Te sluk & Jacobs, 1998). Hence, there is a need to do more empirical research in order to understand the relationship between job content and learning.
JOB CHALLENGE
Researchers in the field of experimental learning and action science, have been aware of the fact that when people learn in the workplace, they are highly influenced by the learning context. Both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the job have been investigated (Tesluk & Jacobs, 1998). In this subsection the main focus is on the qualitative aspects.
According to Argyris and Schon (1974), learning takes place under conditions of surprise, the non-routine circumstances that require heightened attention, experimentation, and determination of the nature of a problem. We can label such jobs as challenging that implies that individuals conduct tasks they are unfamiliar with. This is consistent with Kaufman (1975) that defines a challenging job as a job that demand "stretching" of existing
knowledge and skill bases. He found that employees with a challenging job are more likely to engage in updating behavior. To illustrate, Kozlowski and FaIT (1988) found some support for this effect in their study. Engineers in jobs high on core tasks characteristics, such as autonomy and task identity, were rated higher by their supervisors on technical performance and administrative skills. Moreover, the amount of variety and degree of uncertainty presented in the job was positively related to the supervisor's ratings.
Also in the field of management studies empirical research has been conducted on the effects of qualitative
facets
of job experience. One example is a study of McCauley et al.(1994) who investigated the effects of challenges provided in different work situations on learning. This research on managers identified how challenging work experiences motivated development and promoted learning development.
All these studies indicate that challenge is an important trait of the job if individuals are to learn from their job experience. Consistent with this research, job challenge is proposed to be a main qualitative aspect of the job. Moreover, based on Argyris and Schon (1974) and Kaufman's (1975) description of job challenge, it is defined as the degree the job includes tasks the individual is unfamiliar with.
TASK INTERDEPENDENCE
Task interdependence is another well-established job dimension in the study of job designs.
Ina review of the main characteristic of tasks in a job, task interdependence was identified as a core trait of a job (purser & Pasmore, 1992). It is closely related concepts are social interaction (MJDQ), and dealing with others (IDI). Task interdependence can be defined as the degree to which the job requires interaction to perform tasks among coworkers (based on Purser & Pasmore, 1992). It is obvious that task interdependence is important when we want to study generation of interpersonal skills. It implies interactions among individuals and a potential for learning from others (learning by modeling) as well as learning through information exchange.
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MANAGERIAL RESPONSmll..ITY
Whether the job implies managerial responsibility or not, is another job dimension that is interesting related to learning in the workplace. Ma.t;lagement or leadership is defined in a variety of different ways in terms of individual traits, behavior, influence over other people, and role relationship. A common working definition of leadership is the process whereby an individual influences the group toward the attainment of desired group or organizational goals (cf Hollander, 1985). Then managerial responsibility can be defined as whether the individual has the responsibility for a group ojpeople to attain organizational goals. A group is defined as a social unit with two or more members who perform one or more tasks together in an organizational context (Goodman, 1986; Hackman, 1989).
It is assumed that managerial responsibility implies interaction with other people in the organization. For example, managers need to solve problems that co-workers have, like answering questions and handling complains. Moreover, managers need to contact other people in the organization to be able to solve the problems in the organizational unit for which they have the responsibility. They may also have to participate in management teams, and to take care of external stakeholders like customers, owners, and public government. In other words, jobs with managerial responsibility are assumed to imply interaction with a variety of different people, and consequently represent a potential for informalleaming of interpersonal skills.
To summarize the discussion above, it is argued that job challenge, task interdependence, and managerial responsibility are three main dimensions of job content that are relevant in our study.