Implementation, Challenges, and Future Plans of Social Learning in the Workplace

Hyunkyung Lee Yonsei University Korea (South) welt1.hklee@gmail.com Curtis Bonk Indiana University USA cjbonk@indiana.edu

Abstract: This study examined the implementation, challenges, and future plans of social learning in the workplace through perspectives of workers in various organizations. To investigate workers perspectives, an online survey was conducted. A total of 696 corporate people participated in the survey. Based on the survey results, it is clear that most organizations are using or planning to use social learning for the purpose of sharing knowledge and experiences with colleagues. Moreover, the result presents main activities and tools for social learning, and summarizes challenges and future plans for social learning. This study implies that due to the increase of interest in social learning among organizations, social learning is becoming more widely used in the workplace.

Introduction
During past decade, there has been tremendous impact of Web 2.0 for learning. Anyone can create their information and knowledge online in Web 2.0 environments. Jue, Marr, & Kassotakis (2010, p.5) argue that the Web 2.0 is a special kind of social technology, which is a communication platform that makes connections possible. Others add that Web 2.0 technologies are social media when they enable people to interact and communicate with others with similar interests (Safko & Brake, 2009). As social media has become more popular as an activity on the Web, the interest in the use of social media has increased widely. In general, social media refers to activities, practices, and behaviors among communities of people who share information, knowledge, and opinions online using conversational media (Safko & Brake, 2009). Many people are using social network sites such as Facebook and MySpace to connect, share, collaborate, or build relationships. Individuals can easily create and share their ideas and information in the form of words, videos, and audios on the Web. The representative examples of social media are discussion forums, blogs, wikis, and podcasts (Jue et al., 2010). In short, anyone can publish and access information, and collaborate through various types of social media. The popularity of social media has quickly impacted day-to-day work activities. Social software includes blogs and wikis wherein new information repositories can be created and shared by employees at work. Employees use these social media tools for providing, searching, gathering, and sharing new corporate information (DiMicco et al., 2008). In addition, companies use various social media for creating new business opportunities with external partners and customers (Jue et al., 2010). Thus, the benefits of social media for companies include functions of both internal and external social media. In addition, employees in many organizations have operated from multiple countries, and so they have become familiar with working with colleagues from around the world. In this perspective, they are also becoming accustomed to using social media for working together in different countries. These social media play a key role as valuable and meaningful communication methods for collaborating effectively and efficiently among organizations across countries and regions of the world. Organizations recognizing the value of knowledge sharing, teamwork, informal learning, and joint problem solving are investing in social media technology for collaboration. This recognition has led to phenomenal use of social learning in the workplace during the past decade. Social learning can help groups work more effectively and share knowledge as practitioners. It is time for organizations to find unique ways to enable practitioners to generate and share knowledge within their social networks (Jarche, 2010). Since workers

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learn best through sharing experience and ideas among colleagues (Orr, 1990), social learning is essential for creating meaning with others in organizations. In order to investigate how organizations implement social learning in practice, this study examines current situations using social learning in the actual workplace through perspectives of workers. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to explore implementation, challenges, and future plans for social learning in the workplace.

The Study
Even though the interest in social learning has been increasing, there is scant research regarding actual implementation of social learning in the workplace. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the implementation of social learning in the workplace through investigating the following: (1) whether organizations use social learning; (2) why they use or do not use social learning; (3) what social learning activities and tools they are using (4) what difficulties are encountered when using social learning in the workplace; and (5) what future plans are in store for social learning. To investigate the implementation of social learning in the workplace, a survey was conducted over a period of two weeks in January 2010. The survey tool called SurveyGizmo was used and a total of 696 people participated in the survey. Participants of this survey included workers in various areas such as education, finance, and healthcare. The survey questions included both closed- and open-ended items. The survey began with a yes or no question about using social learning in organizations. Respondents who answered yes further answered the question about the reasons they use social learning. On the other hand, respondents who answered no answered the question about the reasons they do not use social learning. In addition, respondents who answered yes continued to answer the remaining questions related to the types of social learning activities and tools they were using, the challenges they faced when using social learning, and their future plans for social learning.

Findings
Demographics In order to examine the demographic distribution of participants in the survey, there were four required questions; (1) country; (2) organizations industry; (3) organizations size; and (4) job title. Based on the result of the answers to the first question, Is your organization currently using or planning to use any Social Learning at any time in the future?, two groups were classified. The first group was made up of respondents who answered NO and the second group was those who answered YES. Hereafter, these groups are referred to as Group NO and Group YES respectively. The characteristics of Group NO were as follows: (1) country - United States (79%), Australia (4%), United Kingdom of Great Britain (4%), Canada (3%), and others (10%); (2) organizations industry finance/banking/insurance (18%), education (16%), government/military (11%), healthcare/medical (10%), business (6%) and others (39%); (3) organizations size - the number of employees 500-9,999 (43%), 10,000 + (32%), and less than 500 (25%); and (4) job title - learning manager (29%), instructional designer (23%), business role (9%), human resources (7%), IT/technology role (7%), and others (25%). The characteristics of Group YES were as follows: (1) country - United States (77%), Canada (5%), Australia (2%), India (2%), and others (14%); (2) organizations industry - education (19%), finance/banking/insurance (16%), consulting (9%), healthcare/medical (8%), manufacturing (7%), government/military (6%), and others (35%); (3) organizations size - the number of employees 10,000 + (42%), 500-9,999 (32%), and less than 500 (26%); and (4) job title - learning manager (34%), instructional designer (22%), business role (9%), human resources (2%), and others (33%). The characteristics of both groups were mostly similar, but the differences between Group NO and Group YES appeared in the areas of the organizations industry and size. In other words, the organizations industry of Group NO was first finance, and then education. On the other hand, Group YES represented education, and then finance. In addition, the organizations size of Group YES was larger than Group NO. .In summary, Group YES included larger organizations in the education field, while Group NO was smaller and more often from the finance industry. Implementation of Social Learning Of the 696 participants, 76% responded that their organizations are currently using or planning to use social learning in the future, while 24% responded that they do not use social learning in their organizations (see Figure 1).

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Figure 1: Is your organization currently using or planning to use any Social Learning at any time in the future? For the respondents in Group NO, the next question inquired about the reasons why their organizations have never used or are not using social learning. Figure 2 displays the distribution of why organizations have never used or are not using social learning. Among the reasons given as to why organizations have never used or are not using social learning, 40% mentioned that their organizations have not been interested in social learning. At the same time, 36% considered the need for more proof of social learnings effectiveness. This response might imply that social learning in organizations is still in an experimental stage for it to be used widely. The other main reasons were issues of compliance, legal, privacy, security or other restraints (31%), and incompatibility with organizational culture (29%). Some other responses mentioned by 16% of the respondents included: (1) company is very traditional and conservative; (2) do not know how to implement such strategies; (3) lack of technical support; (4) social learning is not considered as part of the organizational responsibility.

Figure 2: What is the reason(s) why your organization has never used or is not using Social Learning? [Select all that apply] On the other hand, Figure 3 shows the reasons why Group YESs organizations are using or planning to use social learning. The biggest reason organizations are using or planning to use social learning was to provide opportunities to share knowledge and experiences of colleagues (91%). This result acknowledges that most respondents consider the purpose of social learning as sharing knowledge and experiences with colleagues. Other answers were to motivate learners in the learning process (49%), to accelerate time to competence (46%), to keep up with the social learning trend (41%), and to decrease formal learning (35%). There were some other interesting responses for using social learning technology such as: (1) to build stronger relationships, sharing, project management and problem solving across multiple manufacturing and office sites; (2) to capture and share collaborative informal learning that occurs outside of formal learning venues; (3) to capture and share

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on-the-job learning in real time (or as closely as possible to real time); (4) to enhance communication between departments and reduce duplication of efforts as a result; (5) to save money and speed up learning; (6) to share the knowledge of our most senior employees before they retire. Clearly, there were many perceived benefits for social learning in the workplace.

Figure 3: Why is your organization using or planning to use Social Learning? [Select all that apply] Activities and Tools for Social Learning To investigate specific implementation of social learning in organizations, two additional questions about activities and tools for social learning were posed to Group YES. First, regarding activities of social learning in the workplace (See Figure 4), the highest ranking of 79% was the activities using collaborative documents (wikis, blogs) for learning. Also, activities such as internal social networks and media for learning (68%), and discussion boards for learning (62%) were presented. As the results show, activities for external social networks and media for learning (39%) were utilized less than internal activities for social learning. Therefore, this result shows that most organizations are using social learning for more internal purposes within organizations rather than for external purposes. Other responses presented classroom-based collaboration or group projects (46%) and projects with multiple learners (38%).

Figure 4: What types of Social Learning activities does your organization offer? [Select all that apply]

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Regarding tools used for social learning in the workplace, Figure 5 displays the distribution of what tools are used for social learning in organizations. The responses were as follows: (1) blogs/microblogs like Twitter (64%); (2) wikis (61%); (3) video conferencing tools (56%); (4) discussion boards (54%); (5) social networks like Facebook (51%), and (6) virtual worlds (14%). The result shows that most organizations are using various tools for social learning except for virtual worlds. In addition, other tools for social learning included: (1) 2D collaboration tools such as Cisco WebEx, (2) Google apps including specific sites for classes with forums, and (3) instant messaging.

Figure 5: What tools are you using for Social Learning in your organization? [Select all that apply] Challenges and Future Plans for Social Learning In addition to the questions about the activities and tools for social learning, two more questions were asked related to the challenges and future plans for social learning. Each response was analyzed and then classified into five main issues. Table 1 displays the challenges faced when using social learning in organizations. Main Content multi-generation, generation gaps and age differences in acceptance, senior Generation management and sponsorship lack of technology support, security access firewalls, funding for additional Technology technologies lack of awareness, familiarity, technology skills and knowledge of learners, Learner control of the content Culture resistance to change, weak learning culture Effectiveness measuring the effectiveness of social learning, results of social learning Table 1: What challenges do you continue to face when using social learning in your organization? As Table 1 shows, the five issues were related to (1) generation, (2) technology, (3) learner, (4) culture, and (5) effectiveness. Regarding the generation issue, respondents considered generation gaps and age differences in the acceptance of social learning in the workforce environment of multi-generational employees. Also, when using social learning, the lack of technology support was mentioned; especially support for senior level users to access social learning easily. This technology issue can be related to learner issue in that the use of social learning relies on learners skills and knowledge of technology for social learning. In addition, some organizations tend to resist changes of their organizational culture into new environments. As a result, social learning itself could be one of the many challenges to be readily accepted. The remaining social issue concerned ways to measure the effectiveness of social learning. Since most organizations critically consider the results and effectiveness of learning in general, measuring the effectiveness of social learning was another challenging issue when using social learning. Issue

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Finally, in investigating future plans for social learning in organizations, respondents were asked the question What are your organizations future plans for social learning?. Each answer was analyzed and summarized into these nine plans as follows: (1) continuing to explore, expand and use social learning; (2) creating topic-based knowledge sharing portals; (3) not just for marketing but learning; (4) incorporating social learning into learning strategies and trainings; (5) using tools such as Sharepoint and Yammer to facilitate more internal social learning; (6) tracking, reporting and measuring social learning effectively; (7) developing communities of practice; (8) creating more job aids and performance support; and (9) using more in-coaching and on-the-job training. Clearly, there are myriad issues as well as possibilities for social learning in the workplace.

Conclusions
Learning is often an individual activity. However, individual learning with in organizations is not meaningful unless it is shared with others. Most organizational work is not done by one person; instead, it requires an expansive team of experts and heavy doses of collaboration and interaction. Thus, learning in the workplace can be fully utilized through social networks (Jarche, 2010). In recent years, research on social media has explored the requirements and associated benefits of social learning in organizations. Social media has found a niche in supporting the integration and adoption of corporate cultures and values. As this occurs, organizations increase and improve the value of their knowledge by formal social media strategies (Jue, Marr, & Kassotakis, 2010). Therefore, this study examined the implementation, challenges, and future plans of social learning in organizations through the perspectives in various organizations. Many organizations are currently interested in many ways to take advantage of social learning for employee recruitment, retention, learning, and productivity. As shown in the present research, most participants perceived the reasons organizations are using or planning to use social learning are to provide opportunities to share knowledge and experiences with colleagues. On the other hand, some organizations that have never used or are not using social learning are not interested in social learning, or require more proof of social learnings effectiveness. Even though some organizations are reluctant to change their existing culture into one that embraces the use of social learning, to survive in this highly competitive world they must provide opportunities that support the social learning of their employees. This survival relies on the effectiveness of these social learning activities using tools such as collaborating documents using wikis and blogs or learning through internal social networks. Some of the common tools for social learning include blogs, wikis, video conferencing, social networks, and discussion boards. However, these challenges must be addressed in order to fully utilize social learning: generational differences in acceptance of social learning, technology support and skills, and measuring the effectiveness of social learning. In many companies, their future plans for social learning include continuing to explore and expand social learning, facilitate more internal social learning, and create more performance support. This study shows the significance of social learning in organizations through workers perspectives. Future research needs to further investigate the implications of social learning in the workplace. It might focus on issues such as how to effectively develop social learning in organizations. At the same time, others might study how to incorporate social learning into instructional design or key components of corporate training courses as well as informal learning for effective learning in the workplace. What is clear is that social learning will pay an increasingly important role in the workplace during the coming decade.

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