Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemManagers perceptions of workplace learning( 1999)This thesis sets outs the post-industrial organisation as the learning context in which the manager manages. By highlighting the set of skills that is required of the post-industrial manager it then examines how the manager learns these in the course of daily work. This was achieved by conducting interviews with a limited range of managers who are employed by the same retailing company but work across two store locations. What is apparent is that the successful manager needs to be able to respond to the emotionality of the workplace by having well honed 'people' skills of which communicability is uppermost. It was found that the 'people' skills were not only the hardest to learn but also contributed to the definition of the successful manager. The thesis also establishes that managers learn to manage in and through the workplace experiences of managing thereby supporting the contention that learning is fundamentally a socialisation process which occurs within a specific context and, within that, the most meaningful individual learning is, indeed, experiential. Learning to manage is very much about dealing with 'people' issues and, in this respect, the experiences of trial and error, then reflection, are the manager's teacher.
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ItemLearning organisations and their educational impact in a corporate environment( 1995)This thesis is a study of learning organisations and their educational impact in a corporate environment. It provides an overview of the theory of organisational learning, and of learning organisations and describes several models of learning organisations. The important principles of holism and explicitness are established. Examples of learning organisation practices in overseas enterprises are compared with two case studies of Australian organisations which are aspiring learning organisations. These practices are then critically reviewed leading to the development of a new model for learning organisations, based upon 'empowered leadership', which explains holism and explicitness in detail. It concludes by addressing the issue of what learning organisations provide educationally, using the emerging prominence of 'life-long learning' as a focus.
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ItemA Review of the changes necessary to ensure the successful implementation and maintenance of a competency based training and assessment program into the Australian Customs Service( 1995)This review examines the changes necessary to to ensure the successful implementation of competency based training and assessment into the Australian Customs Service as recommended by the "Review of the Australian Customs Service and Australian Customs Service - Report of the Consultancy for a Human Resource Development Plan" completed in November 1993.
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ItemThe evaluation of training( 1990)The focus of this study is on program evaluation as it applies to training and development initiatives in a large Australian organisation. The purpose of the study was to investigate an evaluation methodology that could be built in to a training program to provide information about the program's effectiveness and its impact on the target population in order to make decisions about program improvement, expansion, or termination. The trends in program evaluation that were applied in this area included contributions from the work of Michael Scriven who proposed a needs based evaluation as opposed to goals based evaluation, Bob Brinkerhoff who proposed a six stage model based on the Action Research process, and Michael Patton who focused attention on the information needs of program stakeholders, amongst others. Development of an evaluation process and methodology based on the Action Research process was achieved through research into three separate training and development programs implemented in the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd over a four year period.
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ItemConfucian confusion: a western analysis of the efficacy of contemporary workplace training methods in a multicultural environment( 1999)This research investigated the extent to which experiential training techniques are appropriate for use with multicultural groups by testing an assumption that a dissonance exists between the perception of training efficacy assumed by "Western" adult education methods, and the concomitant perceptions of training participants of Asian/Confucian background. Data relating to the research question was collected through a process of interpersonal interviews with adult educators working in Victoria and from focus groups involving people of Confucian background who have participated in workplace based training. The responses of the two groups were compared and contrasted. The research found that significant difference of perception exists between the two groups. The research identifies opportunities to render training programs more culturally inclusive through adaptations to program structure, processes, attention to learning styles, the level of interpersonal interactivity and the training environment. The research proposes that we are often unaware that our accepted notions and most ethically based intentions are often blinkered by our subconscious cultural socialisation. The implications of these findings are significant for those who have the responsibility to design, implement and coordinate workplace education and training. The research concludes with suggestions for changes in practice and recommendations for future research.