Abstract
A key priority for research on professional development is elaborating how employees become and remain high-performing workers who are able to effectively respond to the changing requirements of their work. This chapter focuses on how workers develop such high performance at work. It is proposed that current accounts of professional expertise development lack a consideration of the variety and breadth of work-relevant experiences necessary to generate expertise, including employees who deliberately contribute to that development. Although deliberate practice as originally conceptualised by Ericsson et al. (1993) may not be readably identifiable in work contexts, certainly analogous processes and other agentic efforts shape the quality of workplace learning. It is illuminated how employees can deliberately influence their expertise development by seeking additional work experiences and proactively securing information and feedback.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anderson, J. R. (1982). Acquisition of cognitive skill. Psychological Review, 89(4), 369–406.
Ashford, S. J., & Cummings, L. L. (1983). Feedback as an individual resource: Personal strategies of creating information. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 32(3), 370–398.
Ashford, S. J., & Cummings, L. L. (1985). Proactive feedback seeking: The instrumental use of the information environment. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 58(1), 67–79.
Ashford, S. J., & Tsui, A. S. (1991). Self-regulation for managerial effectiveness: The role of active feedback seeking. Academy of Management Journal, 34(2), 251–280.
Barney, J. B., & Wright, P. M. (1998). On becoming a strategic part: The role of human resources in gaining competitive advantage. Human Resource Management, 37(1), 31–46.
Benner, P. (2004). Using the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition to describe and interpret skill acquisition and clinical judgement in nursing practice and education. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 24(3), 188–199.
Bereiter, C., & Scardamalia, M. (1993). Surpassing ourselves – An inquiry into the nature and implications of expertise. Chicago: Open Court.
Berg, J. M., Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2010). Perceiving and responding to challenges in job crafting at different ranks: When proactivity requires adaptivity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(2/3), 158–186.
Berings, M. G. M. C., Gelissen, J. P. T. M., & Poell, R. F. (2005). What and how do nurses learn on the job? The development of a classification. Paper presented at the 4th International Conference on Researching Work and Learning, Sydney, Australia.
Berings, M. G. M. C., Gelissen, J. P. T. M., & Poell, R. F. (2007). What and how do nurses learn on the job? Similarities and differences among nurses in on-the-job learning. In S. Sambrook & J. Stewart (Eds.), Human resource development in the public sector: The case of health and social care (pp. 253–271). London: Routledge.
Berings, M. G. M. C., Poell, R. F., Simons, P. R.-J., & Van Veldhoven, M. J. P. M. (2007). The development and validation of the on-the-job learning styles questionnaire for the nursing profession. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 58(5), 480–492.
Billett, S. (1995). Structuring knowledge through authentic activities (Unpublished PhD thesis). Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
Billett, S. (2001a). Knowing in practice: Re-conceptualising vocational expertise. Learning and Instruction, 11(6), 431–452.
Billett, S. (2001b). Learning through work: Workplace affordance and individual engagement. Journal of Workplace Learning, 13(5), 209–214.
Billett, S. (2004). Workplace participatory practices. Conceptualising workplaces as leaning environments. Journal of Workplace Learning, 16(6), 312–324.
Billett, S. (2006). Relational interdependence between social and individual agency in work and working life. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 13(1), 53–69.
Boshuizen, H. P. A. (2004). Does practice make perfect? In H. P. A. Boshuizen, R. Bromme, & H. Gruber (Eds.), Professional learning: Gaps and transitions on the way from novice to expert (pp. 73–95). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
Boshuizen, H. P. A., & Schmidt, H. G. (1992). On the role of biomedical knowledge in clinical reasoning by experts, intermediates and novices. Cognitive Science, 16(2), 153–184.
Bryson, J., Pajo, K., Ward, R., & Mallon, M. (2006). Learning at work: Organisational affordances and individual engagement. Journal of Workplace Learning, 18(5), 279–297.
Dall’Alba, G., & Sandberg, J. (2006). Unveiling professional development: A critical review of stage models. Review of Educational Research, 76(3), 383–412.
DeCharms, R. (1968). Personal causation: The internal affective determinants of behavior. New York: Academic.
Deci, E. L. (1980). The psychology of self-determination. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath (Lexington Books).
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behaviour. New York: Plenum Press.
Dikkers, J. S. E., Jansen, P. G. W., De Lange, A. H., Vinkenburg, C. J., & Kooij, D. (2010). Proactivity, job characteristics, and engagement: A longitudinal study. Career Development International, 15(1), 59–77.
Dreyfus, H. L., & Dreyfus, S. E. (1988). Mind over machine. The power of human intuition and expertise in the era of the computer. New York: The Free Press.
Dreyfus, H. L., & Dreyfus, S. E. (2005). Peripheral vision: Expertise in real world contexts. Organizations Studies, 26(5), 779–792.
Dunn, T. G., & Shriner, C. (1999). Deliberate practice in teaching: What teachers do for self-improvement. Teaching and Teacher Education, 15(6), 631–651.
Eby, L. T., Butts, M., & Lockwood, A. (2003). Predictors of success in the era of the boundaryless career. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(6), 689–708.
Ericsson, K. A. (2006a). The influence of experience and deliberate practice on the development of superior expert performance. In K. A. Ericsson, N. Charness, P. J. Feltovich, & R. R. Hoffman (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (pp. 685–705). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Ericsson, K. A. (2006b). An introduction to the Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance: Its development, organization, and content. In K. A. Ericsson, N. Charness, P. J. Feltovich, & R. R. Hoffman (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (pp. 3–19). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363–406.
Eteläpelto, A., Vähäsantanen, K., Hökkä, P., & Paloniemi, S. (2013). What is agency? Conceptualizing professional agency at work. Educational Research Review, 10, 45–65.
Fried, Y., Grant, A. M., Levi, A. S., Hadani, M., & Slowik, L. H. (2007). Job design in temporal context: A career dynamics perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 927(February), 911–927.
Gherardi, S., Nicolini, D., & Odella, F. (1998). Toward a social understanding of how people learn in organizations. The notion of situated curriculum. Management Learning, 29(3), 273–297.
Green, F. (2007). Demanding work. The paradox of job quality in the affluent economy. Oxford, UK: Princeton University Press.
Greeno, J. G. (1994). Gibson’s affordances. Psychological Review, 101(2), 336–342.
Gruber, H. (1999). Erfahrung als Grundlage kompetenten Handelns [Experience as basis for competent action]. Bern, Switzerland: Hans Huber.
Gustavsson, M. (2007). The potential for learning in industrial work. Journal of Workplace Learning, 19(7), 453–463.
Harteis, C., & Goller, M. (2014). New skills for new jobs: Work agency as a necessary condition for successful lifelong learning. In T. Halttunen, M. Koivisto, & S. Billett (Eds.), Promoting, assessing, recognizing and certifying lifelong learning: International perspectives and practices (pp. 37–56). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Holland, D., Lachicotte, W., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (2003). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Høyrup, S. (2004). Reflection as a core process in organisational learning. Journal of Workplace Learning, 8(8), 442–454.
Ilgen, D. R., Fisher, C. D., & Taylor, M. S. (1979). Consequences of individual feedback on behavior in organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 64(4), 349–371.
Jensen, K. (2007). The desire to learn: An analysis of knowledge-seeking practices among professionals. Oxford Review of Education, 33(4), 489–503.
Kahn, R. L., Wolfe, D. M., Quinn, R. P., Snoek, J. D., & Rosenthal, R. A. (1964). Organizational stress: Studies in role conflict and ambiguity (Vol. 1). New York: Wiley.
Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations. New York: Wiley.
Kolodner, J. L. (1983). Towards an understanding of the role of experience in the evaluation from novice to expert. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 19(5), 497–518.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Morrison, E. W. (1993a). Newcomer information seeking: Exploring types, modes, sources, and outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 36(3), 557–589.
Morrison, E. W. (1993b). Longitudinal study of the effects of information seeking on newcomer socialization. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(2), 173–183.
Ng, T. W. H., Eby, L. T., Sorensen, K. L., & Feldman, D. C. (2005). Predictors of objective and subjective career success: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 58(2), 367–408.
OECD. (2012a). OECD employment outlook 2012. Paris: OECD.
OECD. (2012b). Education at a glance 2012: OECD indicators. Paris: OECD.
Reis, H. T., Sheldon, K. M., Gable, S. L., Roscoe, J., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). Daily well-being: The role of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26(4), 419–435.
Renn, R. W., & Fedor, D. B. (2001). Development and field test of a feedback seeking, self-efficacy, and goal setting model of work performance. Journal of Management, 27(5), 563–583.
Rigney, D. (2010). The Matthew effect: how advantage begets further advantage. New York: Columbia University Press.
Ropo, E. (2004). Teaching expertise. In H. P. A. Boshuizen, R. Bromme, & H. Gruber (Eds.), Professional learning: Gaps and transitions on the way from novice to expert (pp. 159–179). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.
Slotnick, H. B. (1999). How doctors learn: Physicians’ self-directed learning episodes. Academic Medicine, 74(10), 1106–1117.
Sonnentag, S. (1995). Excellent software professionals: Experience, work activities, and perception by peers. Behaviour & Information Technology, 14(5), 289–299.
Sonnentag, S., & Kleine, B. M. (2000). Deliberate practice at work: A study with insurance agents. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 73(1), 87–102.
Strasser, J., & Gruber, H. (2004). The role of experience in professional training and development of psychological counsellors. In H. P. A. Boshuizen, R. Bromme, & H. Gruber (Eds.), Professional learning: Gaps and transitions on the way from novice to expert (pp. 11–27). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
Tanggaard, L. (2006). Situating gendered learning in the workplace. Journal of Workplace Learning, 18(4), 220–234.
Van de Wiel, M. W. J. (1997). Knowledge encapsulation. Studies on the development of medical expertise (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Van de Wiel, M. W. J., Szegedi, K. H. P., & Weggeman, M. C. D. P. (2004). Professional learning: Deliberate attempts at developing expertise. In H. P. A. Boshuizen, R. Bromme, & H. Gruber (Eds.), Professional learning: Gaps and transitions on the way from novice to expert (Vol. 2, pp. 181–206). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
Van de Wiel, M. W. J., & Van den Bossche, P. (2013). Deliberate practice in medicine: The motivation to engage in work-related learning and its contribution to expertise. Vocations and Learning, 6(1), 135–158.
Van de Wiel, M. W. J., Van den Bossche, P., Janssen, S., & Jossberger, H. (2011). Exploring deliberate practice in medicine: How do physicians learn in the workplace? Advances in Health Sciences Education, 16(1), 81–95.
Van den Berg, P. T. (1998). Competencies for work domains in business computer science. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 7(4), 517–531.
Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2001). Crafting a job: Revisioning employees as active crafters of their work. Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 179–201.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Goller, M., Billett, S. (2014). Agentic Behaviour at Work: Crafting Learning Experiences. In: Harteis, C., Rausch, A., Seifried, J. (eds) Discourses on Professional Learning. Professional and Practice-based Learning, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7012-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7012-6_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7011-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7012-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)