I've worked with a lot of people who wanted to be told what to do. I don't believe they saw their (workplace) learning as deeply personal. Their motivation would have had to come from within and I could never reach them. So competencies it was. Burp. Excuse me.

I think this is true for a number of people I worked with in a couple of corporate environments, and certainly true for a number of people in more blue-collar settings.

Many guys (and they were all guys) in my generation agreed to the Motown tradeoff: I’ll punch in and I’ll do my job, and when I clock out, I’m on my own.

Whatever the shape of the new economy, that was an exchange that both worker and employer in theory understood.

In white-collar settings, I’ve often seen a great desire on the part of some upper management to tell people how to think, as well as what to produce. Gilbert wrote about the two sides of performance (behavior and accomplishment), and the pendulum swings back and forth. Nothing about having a C in your title immunizes you against faddism.

All that said, I agree with you that organizations often don’t have a way (and, I suspect, often don’t have a will) to perceive, let alone value, the learning that the individual does outside of formal, go-on-the-record stuff. I tend to think that the only value to CEUs was to satisfy some outside demand (e.g., the company says, get X amount of training).

They’re sure easy to count, though.

I think this is true for a number of people I worked with in a couple of corporate environments, and certainly true for a number of people in more blue-collar settings.

Many guys (and they were all guys) in my generation agreed to the Motown tradeoff: I’ll punch in and I’ll do my job, and when I clock out, I’m on my own.

Whatever the shape of the new economy, that was an exchange that both worker and employer in theory understood.

In white-collar settings, I’ve often seen a great desire on the part of some upper management to tell people how to think, as well as what to produce. Gilbert wrote about the two sides of performance (behavior and accomplishment), and the pendulum swings back and forth. Nothing about having a C in your title immunizes you against faddism.

All that said, I agree with you that organizations often don’t have a way (and, I suspect, often don’t have a will) to perceive, let alone value, the learning that the individual does outside of formal, go-on-the-record stuff. I tend to think that the only value to CEUs was to satisfy some outside demand (e.g., the company says, get X amount of training).

They’re sure easy to count, though.

I’ve worked with a lot of people who wanted to be told what to do. I don’t believe they saw their (workplace) learning as deeply personal. Their motivation would have had to come from within and I could never reach them. So competencies it was. Burp. Excuse me.

The question is: does management, properly so called, extend into something as deeply personal as your learning, your character.

Well, you saw the presentation at the conference, the one preceded by the WalMart cheer. Some obviously think that it does.

The question is: does management, properly so called, extend into something as deeply personal as your learning, your character.

Well, you saw the presentation at the conference, the one preceded by the WalMart cheer. Some obviously think that it does.