| Summary |
The purpose of this thesis was to explore the efficacy of workplace book groups (WPBG) as a learning method in a manufacturing facility to answer two research questions: What is the relationship between WPBGs and self-directed learning? And in what ways do WPBGs influence organizational ways of knowing? By answering these questions, more may be understood about the efficacy of WPBGs as a low-cost, simple, interactive Human Resource learning initiative in the highly unpredictable workplace of the 21st century. Qualitative methodology was used in this research because this produces descriptive data from the participants' frames of reference allowing the researcher to analyze and describe the phenomenon being researched. Emerging grounded theory bounded within a case study was the specific qualitative research strategy used. This research found the participants in the WPBG applied certain concepts from the book to their lives using self-directed techniques such as: preparing suitable learning strategies, deciding the ways they were going to take the book from a simple reading strategy to comprehension, and finding answers to questions they had on their own. This research also found that through interaction with the concepts of the book and one another, the book group members influenced organizational ways of knowing. The book group created a place around which participants could gather, develop more significant relationships in an informal learning experience, and truly learn how linked they were in their workplace. This research produced a new model, the Knowledge Creation Model, depicting the learning that happens in a WPBG. In addition, the methodology for conducting future studies into WPBG is also documented in this study. Workplace learning has changed. In order to meet organizational knowledge utilization requirements and employee learning needs, businesses need to look for innovative, cost-saving learning methods, which create new knowledge networks. This research explains how, for the price of a book and minimal Human Resource interventions, WPBGs can meet learning needs in the new knowledge economy. |
