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Intergenerational Learning

A Reciprocal Knowledge Development Process that Challenges the Language of Learning

Nottingham University Business School, UK

This article challenges the normative vocabulary of organizational learning that emphasizes the unilateral transfer of knowledge from experts to less experienced personnel for effective organizational learning. It draws on research into learning in the UK television industry. Concepts such as `expert', `wisdom', and `knowledge worker' imply that experienced workers are more knowledgeable and, thus, more valuable to learning than the novice. However, this assumption may be fundamentally flawed. In practice, such language and its associated power structures may impede upward and horizontal learning to the detriment of organizational learning. Giving primacy to the expert ignores the rapidly shifting definition of who the knowledge-rich are in times of discontinuous change; deters reciprocal intergenerational learning between those who have different hierarchical positions and experience levels associated with varying levels of knowledgeability; and excludes certain categories of workers from the organizational learning process. This article suggests that the egalitarian approach to organizational learning advocated by some theorists requires the development of a more inclusive learning vocabulary.

Key Words: expert • intergenerational learning • knowledge worker • learning language • organizational learning • wisdom

Management Learning, Vol. 34, No. 2, 181-200 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/1350507603034002002


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