Työssä oppiminen yksilön lähtökohtien ja oppimisympäristöjen välisenä vuorovaikutuksena

Abstract

Väitöskirjatutkimuksen aiheena on työpaikalla ja työn yhteydessä tapahtuva työssä oppiminen. Vielä jonkin aikaa sitten työ ja oppiminen käsitettiin erilliseksi. Työllä tarkoitettiin toimintaa elannon hankkimiseksi, kun taas oppiminen kuului koulutusinstituutioihin. Tällöin oppiminen tapahtui yleensä ajallisesti ennen työhön siirtymistä. Opiskelu oli tarpeen työn alkuvaiheessa, mutta sen jälkeen tarpeellinen oppi saatiin työtovereilta. Tästä tilanteesta maailma on muuttunut dramaattisesti. Työn ja muun elämän erotteleminen on tullut vaikeammaksi, samoin oppimisen ja tuotannon. Nykyisin työn rajat, tavoitteet ja arvot ovat muuttuneet, mikä on vaikuttanut työntekijöihin kohdistuviin fyysisiin, emotionaalisiin ja kognitiivisiin vaatimuksiin.

Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan työpaikalla ja työssä oppimista eri näkökulmista: miten työntekijät itse kokevat oppimisen, millaiset ovat yksilön lähtökohdat työssä oppimiselle sekä millaisia ovat teknis-organisatoriset ja sosio-kulttuuriset oppimisympäristöt. Tutkimus koostuu tapaustutkimuksista ja kohteina olivat metalliverstas, tavaratalo, uusmediayritys, saattohoitola ja teatteri. Tutkimusaineistot on kerätty pääasiassa havainnoimalla ja haastattelemalla. Teatterissa toteutettiin etnografinen tutkimus, jossa tutkimusaineistoina ovat vapaamuotoiset haastattelut, yksilöhaastattelut, ryhmäkeskustelu, työprosessin seuraaminen ja havainnointi ja työpäiväkirjat.

Tutkimuksessa päädytään näkemykseen työssä oppimisen tilasta, jossa erilaiset yksilöön liittyvät kysymykset motivaatiosta ja identiteetin kehittymisestä sekä erilaiset ympäristöt (työpaikka fyysisenä ympäristönä, työn luonne sekä yhteisön sosiaalinen toiminta) kohtaavat. Parhaimmillaan sekä yksilön että organisaation toimintaa edistävä oppiminen mahdollistuu. Aina näin ei kuitenkaan käy. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat kuinka työn luonne ja sen organisointi vaikuttavat merkittävästi työpaikalla oppimisen mahdollisuuksiin. Tapaustutkimusten työpaikat poikkesivat toisistaan työn luonteen ja työn organisointitavan suhteen. Myös tavat oppia erosivat niissä merkittävästi. Lähtökohtana oppimiselle on useimmiten kokemus, mutta joillakin työpaikoilla oppiminen perustui yritykseen ja erehdykseen, joillakin itsenäiseen tiedonhankintaan, teorian ja kokemuksen yhdistämiseen sekä yhdessä ongelmien ratkomiseen. Yksilön lähtökohtien tarkastelussa tuli esiin sukupuolen ja iän merkitys työn tekemisessä ja suuntautumisessa uuden oppimiseen. Työntekijät kokivat, että heidän asemansa työpaikalla oli jatkuvassa muutoksessa.

Teatteriryhmän tarkastelu antoi mahdollisuuden nähdä, mitkä ovat luovan työryhmän työskentelyn edellytykset ja toisaalta mitä esteitä projektiluontoisessa ryhmätyössä esiintyy. Teatterityön kautta nousi erityisesti esiin fyysisen tilan merkitys oppimiseen ja uuden luomiseen. Työryhmään luotiin tietoisesti oppimista ja uuden luomista tukeva ilmapiiri. Oppimisen kuvauksissa nousivat keskeisinä esiin tunteet. Teatterityössä tunteet ovat osa työtä ja ne tiedostetaan ja niiden kanssa toimitaan tietoisesti. Ryhmän toiminnassa tunteiden merkitys on tärkeä työskentelyilmapiirin ylläpitämisessä. Ristiriitojen käsittely rakentavasti oli yksi keskeinen osa tunteiden käsittelyä ryhmässä. Luottamus ryhmän jäseniin, heidän kunnioituksensa ammattilaisina ja taiteilijoina olivat oleellisia tekijöitä työskentelyilmapiirin rakentamisessa. Tutkimuksen kautta ryhmän toiminnassa tuli kuitenkin esiin kysymyksiä, joiden ratkaiseminen työelämässä on tulevaisuudessa suuri haaste, mikäli projektinomaista yhteisöön perustuvaa työskentelytapaa sovelletaan laajemmin. Keskeisenä haasteena olivat mm. projektinomaisen työn aiheuttamat taloudelliset paineet.

Learning at work as an interplay between individual's point of departure and learning environments

The object of this research is learning at work occurring at the workplace and in connection with work. The point of departure was to examine learning at work from various perspectives: how the workers themselves feel about learning, what the individual s points of departure are for learning at work and what the learning environment is like with regard to the technical-organisational and socio-cultural learning environment. The research began in the form of case studies in a metal company, a department store, a new media enterprise, a hospice and progressed to the theatre. The research makes use of learning theories and especially of views of the relationship between the individual and the environment. The individual is contemplated from the perspective of motivation and identity through four workers (a metalworker, a salesperson, a copywriter and a nurse), the technical-organisational learning environment is contemplated through an examination of the nature of the work, lik! ewise in four workplaces (in the metal company, the department store, the new media enterprise and the hospice) and the socio-cultural learning environment is contemplated from the perspective of social theory of learning and creation of knowledge in theatre work. The research problems are: How do people feel about learning in the various workplaces, in work environments which are organised in different ways? What kind of learning environment is the workplace? How does learning at work appear as a part of the wider sphere of the individual s life? What is the nature of the views people hold of their workplaces and developing there? What are the workers points of departure with regard to learning? How does learning occur in group work, and of what kind? What kind of a learning environment is a project group engaged on creative work?

The research was accomplished using qualitative research methods in the case research in the first stage data were gathered mostly by interviewing and observing workers. Workers background information was elicited by questionnaire and background information on the workplaces was gathered from documents pertaining to them. In the second stage the research on the work of the theatre workgroup was accomplished ethnographically, the research data being unstructured interviews, individual interviews, group discussion, monitoring the work process, observation and work diaries.

The research findings reveal how workers from different points of departure accomplish their work and learn at work. The nature of the work and the way in which it is organised have a significant effect on the opportunities arising for learning at work. The Tayloristic way of organising work continues to dominate many workplaces; this was seen in the metal company and the department store. The metal company was low in stimuli as a learning environment, likewise to some extent the department store. However, the employer did endeavour, among other things through varying tasks, to expand the scope for learning and the preconditions for feeling good at work. In the department store the workers did not themselves perceive opportunities for learning, although there would indeed appear to be some. The new media enterprise on the other hand represents a work organisation with a flat hierarchy based on project work and responsibility for the individual. There were ample opportunities for learning. Regarding this workplace the essential question, however, concerns the nature of learning. In the hectic pace of work there were no opportunities for gaining a command of the entity. In the hospice the work appeared to be compelling in its pace and relatively simple basic nursing. However, such work demands a profound understanding of the care of the patient. Each of the workplaces differed from the others with regard to the nature of the work and the way in which it was organised. The ways of learning also differed significantly. For learning the point of departure is generally experience, but in some workplaces learning was based on trial and error, in others on independent information acquisition, combining theory and experience and solving problems together.

Examination of the points of departure of individuals revealed the significance of age and gender in accomplishing work and orientating to learning new things. The metal worker was interested in broadening his job description and in learning new things. A female metalworker wished to achieve an autonomous position as a worker in a male-dominated field in which women do simple repetitive tasks. In the female-dominated retail organisation, as career prospects diminished with increasing age, interest in lifelong learning likewise diminished. Life was felt to be somewhere outside of work. The new media worker perceived her career path to be horizontal. What mattered was to take constant care of one s own professional skill and development. The great desire of the nurse to learn emerged from coping with heavy work and the need to pull through. Through continuous study and learning the nurse can take distance from her work and take on board new conceptual tools to mange her work better than before. All four workers felt that their positions in their respective jobs were in a constant state of change. Motivation to accomplish the work ranged from earning money and making a living to the fulfilment of values important to the individual concerned. Commitment to the work varied in relation to this.

The activities of the theatre group provided an opportunity to see what the prerequisites for creative group work are, and on the other hand what barriers occur in project-type group work. What emerged especially through the theatre work was the significance of physical space and the possibilities as a means of promoting learning and the creation of something new. Work in the theatre requires continuous learning and creating something new, which occurs through various experiments and cooperation in the group. With regard to the requirements of the social theory of learning and the creation of something new the theatre group was virtually exemplary . An atmosphere was deliberately engendered that was conducive to learning and the creation of something new. Through ethnographic research, however, questions emerged in the activity of the group the solution of which in working life will be a great future challenge of the mode of working based on a project-type organisation is applied more widely. Such challenges are pressures on activities of an economic nature and also pertaining to the rest of the members lives. The very prominent role played by emotions in the theatre workers descriptions of work was significant. Emotions are part and parcel of theatrical work; the people concerned are very aware of them and operate with them consciously. In the activities of the group the significance of emotions is important in maintaining the working at-mosphere. Constructive resolution of conflicts was one major part of processing emotions in the group. Another main theme was sustaining a positive atmosphere in the group. Confidence in the members, respect for them as professionals and artists were essential components in the creation of the working atmosphere.

The research started out from learning environment thinking pertaining to theories of learning. In the course of the work this changed to become a view of the condition of learning with various questions pertaining to the individual on motivation and the creation of identity; the workplace as a physical environment, the encounter of the nature of work and the social activity of the organisation. In the best case learning promoting the actions of both the individual and the organisation becomes possible. But this is not always the case. The research shows the importance of different perspectives in the conception of the opportunities for learning.