Get set! e-Ready, ... e-Learn! The e-Readiness of Warehouse Workers

Modern organizations use technology to expand across traditional business zones and boundaries to survive the global commercial village. While IT systems allow organizations to maintain a competitive edge, South African unskilled labour performing warehouse operations are frequently retrained to keep abreast with Information Technology. Organizations require training solutions less costly than standard classroom training, and many companies look towards e-learning as an alternative training solution. We questioned whether warehouse workers representative of many developing African communities demonstrate the cultural habits, skills, aptitude and motivation for complex learning strategies such as e-learning. While exploring the e-readiness of warehouse workers, we compared Reeves’ e-readiness indexes to the rise and fall of a barometer. During a three-phased qualitative study, twenty e-readiness conceptual codes emerged. We found that warehouse workers that regularly encounter computer technology do not suffer technophobia. Encounters with computers positively affect their training preferences and heighten their receptiveness for e-learning. The culture organization holds the key to the e-readiness of the warehouse workers via access, finances and time allocated for training. The viability of e-learning depends on the organization’s e-maturity and guidance to transform the warehouse workers into self-driven trainees.