LIFELONG LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS, BEFORE AND AFTER THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC - A multiple case study on large enterprises in the manufacturing industry

Abstract

Given the current challenges companies have in remaining relevant in a dynamic and challenging market environment, a more serious attention should be addressed to the concept of continuous learning in the training of employees. In addition, the current pandemic opened up new scenarios for training practices, which might be completely re-adapted for the upcoming years. Considering these phenomena, it is interesting to find out what are the training practices through which enterprises are trying to deliver long term development of employees but also to what extent these practices were affected by the current Covid-19 pandemic and eventually adapted. This will be achieved by interviewing professionals in corporate training. As a matter of fact, the aim is to get insights about how the sampled organizations are currently dealing with lifelong learning in training, but also how they are planning to reorganize themselves after the current pandemic. Going in detail, the research studies the approach of five large enterprises operating in the manufacturing industry with the purpose of finding similarities and differences in terms of practices, attitudes and beliefs in the field of continuous education. Furthermore the research aims to analyze the impact the pandemic had on the training and development activities and what are believed to be the future trends on the field. The sampled companies are chosen due to their size and consequent effort in promoting continuous education as declared learning organizations. Indeed, larger-in-size companies tend to have more structured Training and Development departments, therefore there is a high chance they might be involved in continuous education activities. In conclusion, the research is conducted with the support of First to Know Scandinavia AB, a consultancy company specialized in sustainability and innovation. Among the key findings are a higher dependence on technologies linked to the transition to digital learning platforms, blended approaches between digital and in-presence training and the need of a more customized, bite-sized and just-in-time approach to learning and development.