Remaking and Transforming Cultural Practices: Exploring the Co-occurrence of Work, Learning, Innovation

Abstract

The occupations enacted in workplaces are the epitome of cultural practices as they have arisen through the need to address specific kinds of human needs and requirements as shaped by historical, cultural and situational factors. Yet, changes to these practices and their evolution and transformation (i.e. innovations) have arisen through work activities and workers’ actions. This has been described as the centuries-long tradition of innovation by workers that remains relevant today and across a diverse range of occupations. Only recently have innovations become associated with labs and development units. Prior to that and still today, most occupational and workplace innovations are likely the product of workers’ innovation and learning. Far from all workplace innovations are or necessarily de novo (i.e. novel) or technology-initiated. Many are about adapting what is already known to emerging needs and workplace requirements, including accounting for workplace-specific factors. De novo innovations need adapting to specific work situations, emphasizing the situated nature of innovation, rather than them just being imported and unproblematically implemented. The prospects for workers’ employability and workplace viability are, therefore, richly intertwined. Aligning workplace innovations and workers’ learning is essential for both effective and adaptive workplaces and workers’ occupational development. Importantly, those innovations and that development can co-occur. Yet, this co-occurrence needs to be understood and embraced to enhance achieving these dual outcomes. Drawing on an investigation of innovation in small to medium-sized businesses, it is proposed here is that in these workplaces, ultimately, it is localized processes of worker engagement and workplace support that permit workers to initiate, secure and sustain both learning and innovations. This study provides examples of how the cultural practices that comprise occupations are remade and transformed through the co-occurrence of workers learning and innovation in and through work.