Learning within project practice: Cognitive styles exposed

Abstract

This paper contributes to understanding the dynamics of practically supporting situated learning within a project management practice. The case study findings presented and explored in this paper suggest that the ‘cognitive styles’ of project participants (amongst other sociological elements) significantly impact situated learning activity within a project team. As is argued in this paper, through undertaking a process of public exposition and communal reflection on participants’ ‘cognitive styles’, ‘cognitive styles’ become a socially oriented learning issue for project teams to better understand and manage. In doing so, project participants’ aid their situated learning processes and help develop their skills in ‘learning how to learn’.