Using informal learning for business decision making and knowledge management ¬リニ

a r t i c l e i n f o The process of making decisions in business requires, among other things, the efficient management of information to do with employee competencies. Dealing solely with competencies that employees learn in institutional contexts, however, is insufficient, as employees also acquire competencies through informal learning activities outside the organization. If an organization is to make well-informed decisions, the entity must gather information about the external activities of its employees that contribute to their competency development. This paper proposes a methodology to facilitate the identification and recognition of an employee's informal learning instances, which receives support from a technological framework. To validate the methodology, a pan-European project implements the framework, and a panel of experts evaluates its modus operandi. The main findings from this study suggest that, although making decisions on the basis of instances of informal learning is possible, both the methodology and the tools behind the gathering of this information should be flexible enough to satisfy the needs of the organization. Information is an essential element in the decision-making processes, and, from a theoretical point of view, the more useful the available information is, the easier decision making becomes. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), which are now commonplace in everyday activities, can generate a vast amount of information. Only a part of this information, however, is truly meaningful and useful within organizations. Data mining or information visualization techniques may solve the problem of accessing valuable data, but the application of such techniques in every possible context verges on impossible. Making business decisions on the basis of employees' informal learning activities is an especially complex case. This complexity arises from the need for not only a technological effort to gather the informal learning activities, but also a discussion between the process stakeholders – employees and decision makers – about how to evaluate and take into account the informal learning evidence. Informal learning is a longstanding mode of developing personal efficacy, because individuals – as social animals – learn in different contexts, including their interactions with other people, their experiences, and so forth. Informal learning is far from being a new concept. During the is again becoming the center of discussion for several reasons. First, the Bologna process recognizes informal learning (European Union, 1999) as a basic element in lifelong learning. Second, a necessity to apply learning from observation and experience exists (Attwell, …