Using informal learning for business decision making and knowledge management

Abstract

The process of making decisions in businesses requires, amongst other things, the efficient management of information related to employees competencies. However it is not sufficient to deal with competencies acquired in institutional contexts, as employees also achieve competencies through informal learning activities outside the organizations. If an organization is to make well informed decisions, it must therefore gather information about the external activities of its employees which contribute to their competence development. This paper proposes a methodology to facilitate the identification and recognition of an employee's informal learning instances, supported by a technological framework. To validate the methodology, a pan-European project has implemented it and a panel of experts has evaluated how it works. The main findings from this study suggest that although it is possible to make decisions on the basis of informal learning instances, both the methodology and tools used should be flexible enough to satisfy the needs of the organization.