ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION PROJECT

Enterprise Integration Project

Enterprise Integration Project

Introduction

Employees learn continually within organizations. They usually do so unconsciously, informally and incidentally during their work (Marsick and Watkins, 1990; Wenger, 1998). Sometimes this “everyday learning” is made more conscious and efficient, for example, during courses and training. However, it is difficult to approach learning in the workplace informally and more systematically at the same time, particularly if the aim is to connect it with formal and course-based learning. What opportunities do employees have to make their everyday learning more systematic, without necessarily formalizing it? Would organizing such learning programs as group projects offer them fruitful prospects?

The aim of this article is to contribute towards a “methodology” with which group learning projects can be set up and carried out. The starting point of that methodology will be that a wide diversity of learning projects can be created. The basic reasoning underlying the methodology is as follows: employees will (at particular times) wish to learn more systematically and intensively, with others, as part of their everyday learning. One option, then, is to set up a joint venture with others in order to create a learning project. Such projects would mark a continuation of the “normal” approach of learning during everyday work, while they would also create their own dynamics, resulting from the common efforts of the participants in the learning project.

It is intended in this article, first, to explain the concept of the “learning project”, emphasizing the specific characteristics that distinguish learning projects from other projects. Following that, three phases in learning projects will be described:

(1) the orientation phase;

(2) the learning phase; and

(3) the continuation phase.

Since there can be various kinds of learning project, four “ideal” model learning projects will be distinguished. Finally, a methodology for the creation of learning projects will be outlined.

Project and learning project: backgrounds and description of the concepts

Systematizing learning in a project makes sense for two reasons. First, the project is an organizational form that is suitable for tasks that cannot easily be implemented within the standing organization. Systematizing learning in a project stimulates participants to discover the unique nature of learning and to realize it requires a unique approach. Working in projects offers the necessary points of departure. The second reason is that organizing projects is, to an important extent, a human endeavor. That also applies, perhaps even more so, with respect to learning programs. Whereas, previously, individuals were able to create something on their own (by making choices), nowadays mutual interdependence and interconnectedness have made it necessary for people to go through that process together. Third, projects allow for working in a systematic fashion, while enabling people to develop their own qualities. However, the way in which projects are deployed in practice by their leaders, clients, teams, and managers can be problematic as well. This section reviews the key elements of projects and then goes on to examine learning projects.

Organizing projects: between routine and improvisation

Work can be approached in diverse manners, the two extremes being working according to a ...