BU130_1

Working and learning: developing effective performance at work

About this free course

This free course provides a sample of Level 1 study in Business and Management http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/find/business-and-management.

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Contents

- Introduction

- Learning outcomes

- 1 What is working life?

- 2 The transformation model

- 3 Where is the learning?

- 4 Experience, practice and reflection

- 5 Finding a mentor

- Conclusion

- References

- Acknowledgements

- Solutions

Introduction

In this course, you will be asked to identify areas in which you would like to improve your performance at work and to think about how you might carry out projects in the workplace to learn how to achieve this improvement. If you choose to go on to study this module you will spend the first eleven weeks planning these projects (which we call work-based learning inquiries) and the rest of the module carrying them out. Throughout the module you will be directed to resources to help you to develop your study skills and also academic resources (Topic Guides) to help you to learn about the subjects of your work-based learning inquiries.

This OpenLearn course provides a sample of Level 1 study in Business and Management.

Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

- improve performance at work

- enhance chances of promotion

- change jobs

- return to paid employment after a period outside it

- develop self-employment opportunities.

1 What is working life?

As you saw from the introduction above, your work is central to the learning you will gain from studying this course. In our view though, ‘work’ does not mean the same as ‘paid employment in an organisation’. The idea that these two things are the same is an assumption that is made in many areas of life, such as management courses, careers advice and newspaper reports.

It is certainly true that very many of us earn our living through paid employment, but modern working life can vary considerably, and it is increasingly difficult to generalise about patterns of work. We would like to challenge the assumption that ‘work’ is always paid. Volunteer work is probably the most obvious example of work that is not paid, but actually there is a more interesting point hidden here. The study of work by academics in the social sciences – subjects like sociology and economics – often reinforces the idea that there is a significant difference between work and ‘non-work’.

Tony Watson, an eminent professor of management, explored this distinction in his book Sociology, Work and Industry (Watson, 1995). He recognised that, traditionally, studies tend to draw distinctions that classify areas of our experience – like family, home, leisure and unemployment – as ‘non-work’. In other words, they assume that there is no work involved in caring for a family, making and maintaining a home, leisure pursuits or seeking and gaining paid employment opportunities, to say nothing of unpaid volunteering.

Of course, those of us who experience these things will recognise that this isn’t the case. Our view is that all of these aspects of life involve work just as much as a paid job or self-employment, and that the learning we gain from work in these contexts is just as valid as that from experience of paid employment.

Left image: ©iStockphoto.com/Pali Rao. Right image: ©iStockphoto.com/Catherine Yeulet

Figure 1

Activity 1 Your ‘work’ experiences

Allow about 35 minutes

Take a moment to think about your current work experiences. Using a broader understanding of work, jot down the work that you do during a typical day. Then read the feedback below.

Provide your answer...

View discussion - Activity 1 Your ‘work’ experiences

2 The transformation model

Work is a productive human activity, and so whatever we call work will have some identifiable outcomes, at least some of which we will see as beneficial to ourselves and/or to others. A model that can be useful to developing our understanding of this view of work is the transformation model (sometimes called the input/output diagram). The basic transformation model is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 The basic transformation model

View description - Figure 2 The basic transformation model

Any job or work task can be seen as a transformation process requiring certain resources that must be input and producing certain outputs. Let us use the simple example, seen in Figure 3, of preparing a sandwich.

You can see clearly the main inputs (food ingredients), equipment (a knife) and human effort and expertise. These all feed into the work (transformation process) of making the sandwich, which produces the desired output of… a cheese salad sandwich on brown bread.

Figure 3 An example transformation model

View description - Figure 3 An example transformation model

There are three things to note here that relate to this course's idea of work.

- The seemingly simple job of making a sandwich involves a range of other small tasks: spreading of butter, slicing or grating of the cheese, preparing the salad, assembling the sandwich, and slicing and presenting the sandwich to the eater. Each of these tasks involves a range of simple skills which, at some time or other, need to be learned.

- These skills must also be carefully coordinated by the sandwich maker in order that the final output becomes what was intended at the beginning rather than a mess of ingredients. In order to do this, the maker must at some stage learn what a sandwich is.

- As the job of making a sandwich is practised more often, the maker inevitably learns both how to do the job more quickly and efficiently, and how to improve the sandwich for the eater – improving the flavour, for example, by using different or additional ingredients. The most important thing about work then is that, no matter how simple the job, it is packed with learning. Figure 3 shows us how learning of one form or another can be an input, part of the work itself and an output.

Activity 2 Seeing work as a transformation model

Allow about 40 minutes

Think of a simple job you do routinely, either at work or at home. Choose one that is not too complicated. Draw a transformation model diagram, like the one in Figure 3, to analyse the task.

Label clearly (a) the inputs, (b) the tasks and skills involved in transformation, and (c) the outputs. Write a few sentences to describe the drawing you have made.

Provide your answer...

View discussion - Activity 2 Seeing work as a transformation model

3 Where is the learning?

What we call ‘learning’ has three very important characteristics. These are:

- learning is an ongoing process

- learning is linked to experience

- learning is the development of skills and new approaches to what we do.

Learning as a process

Learning is an ongoing process and not simply a one-off experience. In this way, learning may be seen as a journey from one particular point in our lives to another. Perhaps it would be a good idea to see these journeys as connecting into a much longer process of lifelong learning.

Of course whatwe learn changes with the different phases of our physical and mental development as well as events that affect our lives. So, for example, as a baby we may learn to walk and talk as our physical development allows it. At particular stages in our childhood we learn to read, write and manipulate numbers and, as these skills develop, we learn about the things we are interested in from physics to pop music.

As we enter work we tend to learn things that will help us keep our jobs, perform them more effectively and hopefully gain us additional benefits like praise, promotion or (if we are self-employed) profits. The point is that learning of one form or another is part of all these phases and events.

Learning as experience

Learning is also closely connected with our everyday experience and in particular with our own decisions and actions – what we call practice. We learn things more readily because we can and because we either need to or want to, not because someone tells us we have to.

Most of what we learn isn’t formally taught or studied in school, college or university but is drawn from our experience of life and our attempts to control or direct aspects of it. In our adult lives, work is the context of quite a significant amount of our experiences and practice, which is why we think it is the best starting point for the more formal learning undertaken through university study.

As we grow older and gain more life experience, we become more aware of and seek new ideas to compare and test against our own experiences and practices. These may change the way we view our experiences or the way we do things.

However, we also need to become more aware not just of what we learn but of how we learn. We can begin this by becoming aware of how we prefer to learn. We will look at this later in the module when we ask you to consider your preferred approach to learning.

Learning as skill development

Learning can be improved through the development of skills and new approaches. Whilst we may have a preferred approach to learning, we can still improve our learning skills so that we can learn effectively in a variety of ways. Examples of learning skills include:

- reading

- note taking

- communicating your ideas

- evaluating information.

Further study will help you to use more effectively those skills in which you already feel confident and to develop those in which you feel less confident.

One particular approach to learning we will introduce you to is reflection. This simply means looking back over your own experience and trying to make sense of what has happened. The purpose of this is to enable you to draw lessons from that experience, which you use to help you manage your work or other aspects of your life in the present and the future.

Activity 3 Recognising the three characteristics of learning

Allow about 40 minutes

Think about some learning you have done recently, perhaps about new skills, tools or ideas. Take a few minutes to make some notes about this learning and to see if any of it relates to the three different characteristics of learning described above.

For example, perhaps you have recently done some skill development through a training course, or you may have learned something through experience. Maybe you have built on prior knowledge and have taken a step further in your learning journey. Any of these might apply.

Provide your answer...

View discussion - Activity 3 Recognising the three characteristics of learning

Your learning journey

We want you to recognise the progress you have already made in your journey prior to this course through the skills you have accumulated in your working life and the learning experiences you have had.

This course offers you an opportunity to assess that progress, confirm or re-establish your direction and re-equip yourself with new knowledge and skills for the next stage of the journey – much as the mountaineer did in his more perilous journey. However, just as he adopted a process of adjusting and repeating as he moved from one landmark to another, you may find that you repeat the process of learning from reflection on experience, new ideas and action as you move from topic to topic. This is called an ‘iterative’ approach, which encourages you to view your learning (and your practice) as developing with each iteration.

4 Experience, practice and reflection

A crucial setting for your learning in this course will be the workplace (in the broad sense referred to earlier). You may benefit from taking a fresh look at your workplace to see if you can incorporate some of the ideas in this course.

An important word throughout this course is ‘practice’. This is a bit of a catch-all word. By it, we mean to draw your attention to the way you work. Our focus here is to take the process of learning to improve your practice and to change it from a mundane idea that ‘practice makes perfect’ into an arena of life that deserves thought, reflection and action.

We want to help you take control of your working and professional practice, to ask informed questions about what is (or is not) good practice, and to use this as a basis for developing your learning, reflecting skills and creativity.

To summarise then, this course's model of work-based learning is illustrated in Figure 4 and contains the following features:

- Learning is an ongoing process and a journey rather than a one-off experience.

- Learning is iterative rather than straightforward or linear.

- Learning comes from a mixture of experience, new ideas and action.

Reflection on all three elements is vital to developing your learning, which in turn develops your work practice.

Figure 4 Model of work-based learning

View description - Figure 4 Model of work-based learning

The importance of relationships in work-based learning

Much of what we have said about learning seems to indicate that it is a solitary activity, but in our view this couldn’t be further from the truth. Learning is often a social activity.

In all aspects of our model of learning – your past and current experiences, your absorption of new ideas, and the actions you take to develop your practice – other people are involved. Identifying your key relationships – with your colleagues, your staff and/or your boss, your friends and your family – and the impacts and changes your learning will have on them are vital parts of your learning.

Activity 4 Identifying your key relationships

Allow about 40 minutes

Make a note of individuals in your working life (in the broad sense that we have already defined it) and your life outside work who may be affected by changes you might make in your working life. Make a second list of those who might support you in your learning.

Provide your answer...

5 Finding a mentor

It can be very helpful to find a mentor who will support you in your workplace learning. A mentor is someone who can help you to think about problems you may be facing or new ideas or ways of working you want to try out. He or she will usually help by listening to your thoughts and ideas and asking questions to help you to think more clearly about them.

Your mentor may be someone you work with who is not directly connected to your studies but who has more experience relevant to your workplace than you. This might be a colleague, although usually not your line manager (unless your employer requires it or you work in a particularly learning-focused organisation). If you are not in paid employment you might prefer to choose a mentor who is close to your work context but who may also not be in paid employment. The key is to find someone who can help you to develop your skills and who can give you a new and different perspective on your learning.

You could look for a mentor who is:

- easy to approach

- experienced in the sort of work and learning that you wish to do

- able to direct you to other helpful people and has good contacts

- interested in the learning that you are doing

- able to meet with you two or three times during your module

- willing to talk and listen to you.

Of course, you are unlikely to find anyone who matches this list perfectly and sometimes your choice can be very restricted, but the next task will help you to start thinking about who you might approach.

Activity 5 Identifying a mentor

Allow about 40 minutes

Use Table 1 below to think about who might be a helpful mentor. (You can download a Word version here.)

Identify three people who you think might make a good mentor. Score each possible mentor out of ten for each quality. You can compare possible mentors by the score you give them for each quality as well as their overall score.

Table 1 Chart to compare possible mentors

Name

(1)

(2)

(3)

Experienced and knowledgeable about my ‘work’ situation

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Experienced and knowledgeable about learning and the academic world

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Easy to approach and supportive

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Trustworthy and able to keep confidences

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Interested in what I am doing and learning

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Good at encouraging and motivating

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Enough available time to be helpful to me

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Total:

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

Provide your answer...

View discussion - Activity 5 Identifying a mentor

Conclusion

You have learned about different work settings and the broader understanding of work used in the OU module this course was adapted from. We expect that most of the learning will relate to job settings, but this need not necessarily be the case. This course should have helped to identify the learning that you want to do and where you want to do it.

References

Touching the Void, film, directed by Kevin Macdonald. UK: FilmFour/Darlow Smithson, 2003

Watson, A.J. (1995) Sociology, Work and Industry (3rd edn), London, Routledge.

Acknowledgements

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Cover image Christian Schnettelker in Flickr made available under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Licence.

Illustrations

Figure 1: Left image: Image of a business woman. ©iStockphoto.com/Pali Rao.

Figure 1: Middle image: Coach with diverse young team of soccer players.

Figure 1: Right image: Man watching his son on a bicycle. © iStockphoto.com/Catherine Yeulet.

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Solutions

Activity 1 Your ‘work’ experiences

Discussion

We all have different experiences of work. Here are three examples:

Sam is on the go as soon as he gets up in the morning. He starts the day by setting out breakfast for the family and making a pot of coffee for himself and his partner, Gill, who is already up and taking calls about her working day – she is a community health visitor. Then Sam gets the packed lunches ready for his three children: 3-year-old Lyddie; and the twins, Jake and Michael, who are 12.

When everyone is washed and dressed and has eaten breakfast, he checks the twins have everything for school while washing the breakfast dishes. After Gill and the boys leave, he drives Lyddie to her nursery in his van and drops her off there. He then goes off on his window-cleaning round for the day until it’s time to pick up Lyddie again at 5pm.

Jackie gets home from the office and makes a quick snack for herself. Wednesday evenings are always a rush. While eating she organises the music sheets for that evening’s band practice and checks her notes from last week.

When she gets there, she spends the next two-and-a-half hours conducting practice while playing her steel drum. Afterwards she makes sure everyone knows the arrangements for their carnival performance in three week’s time. Then it’s off home to study her OU module for an hour or so before sleepily getting into bed.

Ama sits on the train on the way home from her latest job interview with a notebook on her lap and some internet printouts of football training routines. It has been a busy week; she has been doing some temping during the days and filling out application forms in the evenings, as well as attending three interviews. But now it is Friday and she has to think about what to work on with her son Luke’s football team, which she coaches.

She looks at her notes from the last two matches to see what she thinks they should work on and plans out the two-hour session. She gets a text on her mobile phone. It’s the manager of next week’s opponents just checking the kick-off time. She texts her reply quickly, when the phone rings. This time it is the club secretary, Barney. He reminds her that she needs to get her match report form from last week to him by tomorrow. Looks like another busy Saturday.

These examples are all meant to illustrate how what is called ‘non-work’ can actually involve quite a lot of effort, commitment and planning – just as much, in fact, as what we may consider to be our work.

Back to - Activity 1 Your ‘work’ experiences

Activity 2 Seeing work as a transformation model

Discussion

Drawing diagrams like the transformation process model can be useful in a variety of ways. It is important to start simply, which is why we asked you to identify a small job rather than your whole work role. However, you can always come back to the diagram, add to it, change it or even start again. It is not meant to be a piece of artwork, just a way of clarifying your thinking about a subject.

Did you learn anything new about the job you described in the diagram or the skills you bring to it? What did it tell you about how you organise yourself for the task or how it might be done better next time? How about any common problems you encounter?

There are opportunities for learning in any work – this includes recognising the previous learning you have done to reach your current skill level. Whether we realise it or not, we can learn something from whatever we do. This module will help you identify the learning opportunities from your work activities. As the module progresses, we will encourage you to seek new opportunities and to develop your learning from them to a level appropriate for OU study.

Back to - Activity 2 Seeing work as a transformation model

Activity 3 Recognising the three characteristics of learning

Discussion

One of the authors of this material reflected on the idea of learning as a journey, which could include aspects of process, experience and skill development:

Recently I watched a film called Touching the Void, which dramatised the true story of a mountaineer who had fallen and was left injured and stranded halfway down the mountain he had just climbed.

As the story unfolded I became fascinated by his determination to survive and how he tackled the seemingly impossible obstacles in his path back to his base camp. First he visualised his route down the mountain in his own mind, in terms of the different terrain he would have to cross – snowfield, glacier and boulders. He then sighted a path through the terrain that he would aim to follow. Finally, he broke down his journey into smaller tasks by identifying a particular landmark feature, which he felt he could reach and, despite his badly broken leg, he set himself a time to reach.

From time to time he would stop to rest, assess his progress and adjust his direction. As he moved from one terrain to another, he adjusted his equipment, improvising what he needed and discarding what he didn’t. Four days after starting out he reached base camp and survived. Incredibly, he returned to climbing afterwards!

Of course, while getting a university-level qualification may be very important to you, study is nowhere near as frightening a journey as the mountaineer’s. Nevertheless there may be several things about it that seem daunting to you. Questions like ‘How difficult is university study and am I up to it?’, ‘How long will it take me to get my qualification?’ and ‘How do I get started?’ may be troubling you. One of aims of this course is to show you that, in fact, university study is really only a stage in a much longer journey of learning we all undertake throughout our lives, most of which doesn’t get recognised in a qualification.

Back to - Activity 3 Recognising the three characteristics of learning

Activity 5 Identifying a mentor

Discussion

In completing the mentoring chart in Table 1, does anyone look like an obvious choice for your mentor? It may be a good idea to keep a couple of people in mind in case your first choice isn’t able to give you the necessary time.

Back to - Activity 5 Identifying a mentor

Figure 2 The basic transformation model

Description

Description

This figure illustrates a basic transformational model. The figure describes three elements of the model from left to right. On the left is the word ‘Inputs’, which has an arrow leading to a box in the centre, which is labelled ‘Transformation process’. From this box is an arrow leading to the right to the third element of the model: the word ‘Outputs’.

End description

Back to - Figure 2 The basic transformation model

Figure 3 An example transformation model

Description

Description

This figure uses the making of a sandwich as an example of a transformational model. It is made up of three elements leading from left to right.

On the left are three captions: a) ‘Time, effort and skills of the sandwich maker’; b) Equipment: a knife and a chopping board; and c) Ingredients: sliced brown bread, butter, cheese and salad’.

Three arrows lead from these captions to the right toward a box located in the centre of the figure. This box is labelled ‘Transformation process: making the sandwich’. There are four smaller boxes within the box, labelled from top to bottom: Spread butter, Grate/slice cheese, Prepare salad, Assemble and present sandwich.

An arrow leads from the centre box to the right side of the figure to a caption that reads: A cheese salad sandwich on brown bread.

End description

Back to - Figure 3 An example transformation model

Figure 4 Model of work-based learning

Description

Description

This figure describes the cyclical process of work-based learning and is made up primarily of two identical circular elements, each labelled ‘Reflection’– one on the left and one on the right of the figure.

The ‘Reflection’ circles are made up of lines that are actually arrows, which connect a series of three equidistant boxes.

At the top of each ‘Reflection’ circle is a box labelled ‘Experience’. An arrow follows down to the right to a box titled ‘New Ideas’.

An arrow then follows to the left from the ‘New Ideas’ box to a box titled ‘Action’, which then connects up with an arrow to the ‘Experience’ box.

There are three other elements in the figure, which are located along the top. Arrows labelled ‘Practice and learning’ start at the left of the figure and lead to the first circle’s ‘Experience’ box. Then a second ‘Practice and learning’ arrow leads from the first circle to the second circle on the right. A third ‘Practice and learning’ arrow leads from the ‘Experience’ box of the second circle toward the left.

End description

Back to - Figure 4 Model of work-based learning