Informal Learning in the workplace is a more significant, effective Essay

Informal Learning in the workplace is a more significant, effective and superior form of learning to formal classroom-based learning. Critically discuss this statement - Essay Example Moreover, organizations tend to engage in a variety of activities thereby requiring extra skills among the human resources. Some of the skills may be acquired in the workplace other than incurring additional costs for formal training. For example, problem solving and effective communication are skills that can be acquired in the workplace through informal learning. This paper presents a critique of the statement that informal learning in the workplace is a more significant, effective and superior form of learning to formal classroom-based learning. It focuses the underlying principles of this kind of learning in organizations in relation to the likelihood of accomplishing productivity and competitiveness. It highlights the strengths that give it an upper hand over formal learning in classrooms and the benefits that organizations derive from the adoption of informal learning in the workplace. Nevertheless, there are a few negative aspects of this type of workplace learning. These features that make some organizations to prefer the formal classroom based learning have been discussed. Informal learning is an arrangement whereby skills are acquired without any programmed curriculum. The learner pursues knowledge without a prearranged procedure and can virtually acquire information from any source. The employees in the workplace acquire new knowledge through interacting with others, handling equipment and brainstorming with team mates in establishing solutions to emerging problems in the workplace. As Cross (2007) observes, knowledge acquired when a person knows what he/she desires to accomplish a particular goal leads to efficiency than the skills acquired through a set of courses that are mandatory for learners to undertake for them to be qualified. Most of the skills acquired through informal learning are through unexpected encounters in the workplace. The employers do not control what is to be learnt. Work