Transforming learning and knowledge creation on the shop floor

Current methods of grassroots level organisational learning relate learning to the incremental, linear development of expertise and mastery of production processes. In the conditions of rapid technological and market development, however, the challenges of learning that workers encounter change qualitatively as a new business develops. Different forms of learning are needed in different phases of the cycle of transformation. We argue that learning by incremental process enhancement is a specific form of learning that corresponds to the specific learning challenges of one of the phases of the cycle of transformation of a business concept. We also maintain that a new meta-level method is needed for identifying the change of phase of the cycle of transformation and for mastering the needed changes of the method of collective learning at the grassroots level. In this paper, we introduce such a new intervention method, the competence Laboratory. We will discuss the difference between learning and development in the continuous improvement of processes and the kind of qualitative transformation of the work concept which the Competence Laboratory is designed for. We will explain the Developmental Work Research methodology for researching and developing work practices the Competence Laboratory is based on, as well as the method itself. Using data gathered in the Competence-Laboratory process in a telecommunications company, we will show how the challenges of learning of a team of technicians changed as the business activity developed and how the team transformed its way of learning. We will also discuss the role of Competence Laboratory in this transformation.