Combining formal, non-formal and informal learning for workforce skill development

Cross-skilling and multi-skilling

Job redesign resulting in the ‘creation of environments which allow for substantial horizontal, cross-boundary activity, dialogue and problem-solving’ is crucial to workforce development (Fuller & Unwin 2004, p.136). It is based on a ‘broader multi-dimensional view of expertise’ which does not locate knowledge and skill solely in the hands of experts but promotes a view of learning based on the sharing of information between different functions and levels. Fuller & Unwin’s model is a more broad-based approach to skill development which also provides us with examples of how to go about upgrading skills through cross-skilling and multi-skilling.

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  A Swedish steel trading company with some 80 employees invested in management development and customer service training for its employees. To extend the specialist product knowledge of sales staff the company decided to rearrange the way work was organised. Sales staff were now expected not only to sell a few specialist products but sell all lines of company products. To enable them to learn all the features of the new products their jobs were redesigned, and work stations rearranged in circles to enable easy sharing of information between employees. Interviews with these staff found that although they had initially been a bit anxious about losing their expert status they had extended their knowledge and speciality through collaborative problem-solving.
  

There is also a downside to job redesign strategies especially if they result in less rather than more learning. Bernhardt (1999) examines how the introduction of just-in-time concepts for production and recording in the retail industry (enabled by the automation of machinery and advances in information technology) has simultaneously expanded the complexity of jobs of employees charged with development of these processes, and decreased the complexity of jobs for those who are in the front-line of providing customer services; that is, sales assistants in no-frills retail outlets and fast food stores. However, she acknowledges that not all retail sales jobs have suffered in a similar way. Job redesign has actually expanded the complexity of jobs for sales assistants in up-market fashion stores. Here the introduction of new and immediate information transmission processes are used to individualise services for high paying customers, in terms of letting them know when suitable products have arrived.

Job rotation

Job rotation is used for exposing new employees to the various branches of the organisation. It is especially valued in small companies who need to make sure that employees can provide the range of services required (Mawer & Jackson 2005). Although also used with regular employees, such approaches are especially engineered in programs which are aimed at recruiting and retaining talented graduates. For example, many organisations that establish graduate programs want to vary experience and intensify the graduate’s understanding of the different aspects and work processes of the organisation. Typically they will recruit graduates and rotate them (say for periods of six-months or more) through the different branches. When they are in these branches they are expected to integrate into the branch by assuming the specific work roles undertaken by other members of the branch. Once their rotation periods are complete graduates will have extended their understanding of the different organisational processes and take up more permanent positions in selected branches <http://www.ausaid.gov.au/recruit/graduate.cfm>.

Diversifying career pathways

In many organisations employees who want, and are selected for, advancement move into generalist senior management positions. In big bureaucracies career public servants may move into top positions whether or not they have had extended experience in the particular department that is involved. In such departments one will see managers move from departments dealing with the health of the nation to departments dealing with correctional services or education.

Callan (2004) reports on how the 3M company has diversified career pathways to provide equal advancement opportunities for those who want to remain in technical positions and those who want to move into more generalist management positions.

Using new technologies in compliance and workplace training

The introduction of advanced technologies and science including information and communications technologies, just-in-time technology, bio-technologies, medical imaging and other scanning technologies has affected the way work gets done in a majority of new and traditional industries (table 1). Advances in information and communication technologies has also expanded the sharing of information within organisations and externally, and has promoted the use of e-business as a way for governments and corporations to interact with customers.

These advances have increased the need for workers, especially those whose everyday work requires high-level interaction with these technologies, to keep abreast of changes, and to add to and update their pool of skills and knowledge. Especially important is ‘continual retraining in new technology and related products’ and skills in ‘developing online relationships with customers and other businesses’ (Department of Education, Science and Training 2006). Increasingly these technologies are also being used for learning in all its forms and especially in e-learning programs.

Table 1 Technological changes in different industry sectors

Agrifood	Inventory and stock control, online distribution of products, online betting in the racing industry, website advertising
Community services and health	E-business services, for example, via Healthconnect
Construction and property	Changes to materials (concrete, metal precasting, alternative wood products), management methods (subcontracting, prefabrication and project management tools), innovations (robotics, computer aided design and electronically linked international project teams)
Electro-technology and energy utilities	Increased demand for entertainment products and energy. Immediate transmission of information via Smart Billing Processes
Infrastructure	Increased use of advanced computer graphics and computerised programs for administering personnel functions and contracts
Innovation and business	Digital technologies, online transactions, e-business
Manufacturing	New inventory control systems, quality control systems, computer aided design, ongoing automation
Resources	Increased automation of handling and processing, new exploration and drilling technologies and changed work practices
Services	Global communication networks and supply chains, online ordering and purchasing of goods and services (including flights, tours and accommodation), scanning technologies, just-in-time transmission of information on stocks and cash flows
Transport	E-business applications being used across commercial transactions, business and supply chain management and in service delivery

Source: Department of Education, Science and Training (2006).