How Collaboration And Social Learning In The Workplace Improve Employee Performance
Human beings have been collaborating since eons to solve problems and share experiences. Probably, the first-ever collaboration was when cavemen shared their insights on fire-making through various paintings, which was passed down through generations. Before the era of printing, people collaborated and “remembered” the content that was taught and passed it down to their children.Collaboration Is An Old Story
But the question is “Does collaboration between individuals aid learning, or is it only a means of sharing information and experiences?”.Researchers in the last century have tried to understand learning processes in social situations through various studies. Most notably, followers of Vygotsky’s sociocultural psychology have tried to understand the role of social situations, symbols, ideas, and shared meanings in aiding the learning process.What Do Researchers Say?
There have been many other researchers who have talked about this in length.Hutchins says:“The emphasis on finding and describing ‘knowledge structures’ that are somewhere ‘inside’ the individual encourages us to overlook the fact that human cognition is always situated in a complex sociocultural world and cannot be unaffected by it.”
Collaborative Learning
These theories lead us to state that learning happens through collaboration between individuals who share their experiences and knowledge for common good.The salient points of collaborative learning are:- Participation
- Socialization (social learning in the workplace)
- Discussion
- Reflection
- Collaboration for self-development
Need For Collaboration In The Workplace
Collaboration and social learning in the workplace are emphasized today greatly, as work itself has become quite complex and team-based. In today’s world, the structure, content, and process of work have changed.People need to have good social skills to get information, as work has become more time-pressured. People are also depending more on smartphones or mobile phones for information and learning new things.Social Learning
Organizations are trying to create conditions in which employees learn through relationships with coworkers. This relationship for sharing experiences and learning is also known as informal/social learning in the workplace. Through the learning relationships, employees solve problems together, share insights, and learn from mistakes.Limitations Of Traditional Training Methods
Traditional training methods are useful in disseminating procedural and policy changes. They are useful agents of communicating the change to the employees. They act as corrective measures and are an excellent way to bring many people from diverse backgrounds together in one place. In that sense, they act as a platform for greater sharing of knowledge and expertise.The limitation of traditional learning methods is that they don’t solve problems of here and now. An employee may be facing some issue at their work. It could be related to some technology or some work practice. It has been observed that employees tend to ask their colleagues for help rather than look up manuals. In a collaborative atmosphere or in a workplace, knowledge is disseminated through informal social networks in the workplace, enabling social learning.Tools For Collaboration In The Workplace
Given that people in organizations are collaborating on diverse projects, there is a great need to use the right tools at the right time to enable social learning at work.The tools that can be used for collaboration at work can be aggregated based on the time and place of collaboration.The list of tools is given below:Same Time/Same Place
- Face to face interactions
- Decision rooms
- Single display groupware
- Shared table
- Wall displays
Same Time/Different Place
- Remote interactions
- Video conferencing
- Instant messaging
- Chats
- Virtual worlds
- Shared screens
- Multi-user editors
Different Time/Same Place
- Continuous task
- Team rooms
- Large public display
- Project Management
Different Time/Different Place
- Communication and coordination
- Email, bulletin boards, blogs
- Asynchronous conferencing
- Group calendars
- Workflow
- Version control
- Wikis