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Awareness of the mechanisms underlying training and development (T&D) programmes is crucial in creating sustainable learning conditions in organisations. The organisational and psychosocial aspects of the work environment in Swedish elderly care is the focus of this longitudinal study, and the relation between process and results of a T&D programme is investigated. A mixed-methods design enabled exploration of the content of the quality improvement efforts, followed by an examination of how aspects of the work environment are influenced. The perceived learning climate, workload and resource adequacy are shown to be influenced differently by different contents. Insights into the complexity surrounding T&D programmes are then offered. It is concluded that even if a seemingly sound method of quality improvement is implemented, this is not enough to guarantee success. Also, it is apparent that changes may sometimes be at the expense of employees' work environment, which may hamper continuous learning.

Substantial changes in public elderly care in Sweden have been resulting in a standing need of updating staff competence to match the new demands and maintain quality. Since the ability to learn is of importance when confronting changing conditions, organizations in general, as well as the authorities responsible for elderly care, invest large amounts of resources in learning in the workplace. However, the success of such investments depends on the interactions among numerous individual and organizational factors.

This thesis has aimed at increasing our understanding of the process and consequences of the learning intervention Steps for Skills in the context of elderly care, by addressing three specific research aims. The first aim focused on the psychosocial environment as a precondition for learning. The perceived learning climate was addressed in Study 1, and correlations were found between leaders’ and employees’ perceived learning climate and, to some extent, between employees’ perceived learning climate and work group skills.

The second aim focused on the consequences of the intervention for employees in terms of their psychosocial environment and the building of new infrastructures for learning. Changes in perceived learning climate and their relation to the transfer of knowledge were addressed in Study 2. It was found that the intervention had influenced the perceived learning climate differently for different groups. In addition, the use of the new knowledge depended on the learning climate. The consequences for employees were also addressed in Study 3 by examining the relation between process and outcome. Results showed that although the same method was used, the content of the improvement work differed, influencing employees’ perceptions of the learning climate, resource adequacy and workload differently.

The third research aim focused on the consequences of the intervention for elderly by addressing elderly care quality, conceived as autonomy-support. The results from Study 4 identified too many constraining interactions for elderly care to be described as an autonomy-supportive. It is concluded that general quality improvement work does not guarantee increased autonomy-support. All in all, these results show that context and process matter, and also provide information concerning quality improvement through learning interventions.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the learning climate in elderly care, its potential improvements after the “Steps for skills”, and its influence on knowledge from formal training. The assumptions were: the different activities of the Steps for skills should enhance the perceived learning climate; differences in working conditions in home help and residential homes should influence the perceived learning climate and its improvements; and changes in the perception of the learning climate should bring changes in the perceived usefulness of new knowledge.

Design/methodology/approach – The study is a case study carried out in the public elderly care in Sweden, and used a repeated measurements design. A total of 270 nursing assistants answered a questionnaire at Time I, and 174 at Time II.

Findings – Results show no improvements of the learning climate for the full sample. When contrasting the learning climate in home help services and in residential homes significant differences are found, and also a tendency for their learning climate to change in opposite directions. The perception of the learning climate seems to influence the perceived usefulness of new knowledge.

Research limitations/implications – The sample was from one single organization.

Practical implications – Developmental interventions should take in to consideration that context matters, and that the perceived learning climate influences the use of new knowledge.

Originality/value – In this study, a 15-items learning climate scale (LCS) is presented. Another contribution is identifying working condition failure as a potential explanation to why interventions usually do not result in expected changes.

Aim:  In the present study the learning climate in elderly care in an average sized Swedish municipality, before and after the intervention, is investigated. The intervention was part of the programme “Steps for skill” and the basic idea was to build new infrastructures for learning and development in elderly care. As a result of “Steps for skill” taken into account different organizational levels but considering home help services and residential homes as one context, the specific research questions were: Are there differences between the two types of elderly care as well as between managers and employees’ in their experience of the learning climate? How do the learning climate and its variables effects work outcomes? What is the outcome of the intervention?

Method: Prior to, and one year after the development intervention, surveys were distributed to 29 workplaces and answered by 270 care assistants and 29 managers working in working in elderly care. The sample consisted mainly of females (91%), the average age was 43 years, and 13% had a university degree.  

Results: Preliminary results show that there is a difference between two types of elderly care. When it comes to learning climate the groups working in home help service have a lower estimation than the groups working in residential homes, and a higher level of perceived stress. Regarding the outcome of the intervention, the learning climate became significantly better only at the home help services.  

Conclusions: To work in home help services seems to have a negative influence on the learning climate, which is not surprising considering the lack of opportunities to discuss everyday work activities and specific problems when they occur. Although the home help services have specific working conditions that are not in line with the suggested key factors in workplace learning, they improved after the intervention.

Choosing one context over another may influence both research results an implications. In the present study the learning climate in elderly care in an   average sized Swedish municipality, before and after the intervention, is   investigated. The intervention was part of the programme “Steps for skill” and   the basic idea was to build new infrastructures for learning and development   in elderly care. 

As a result of “Steps for skill” taken into account different   organizational levels but considering home help services and residential homes   as one context, the specific research questions were: Are there differences   between the two types of elderly care as well as between managers and   employees’ in their experience of the learning climate? How do the learning   climate and its variables   effects work outcomes? What is the outcome of the intervention?  

Prior to, and   one year after the development intervention, surveys were distributed to 29 workplaces and   answered by 270 care   assistants and 29 managers working in working in elderly care. The sample   consisted mainly of females (91%), the average age was 43 years, and 13% had   a university degree.  

Preliminary results show that there is a difference between two types   of elderly care. When it comes to learning climate the groups working in home   help service have a lower estimation than the groups working in residential   homes, and a higher level of perceived stress. Regarding the outcome of the   intervention, the learning climate became significantly better only at the   home help services.  

To work in home help   services seems to have a negative influence on the learning climate, which is   not surprising considering the lack of opportunities to discuss everyday work   activities and specific problems when they occur. Although the home help   services have specific working conditions that are not in line with the   suggested key factors in workplace learning, they improved after the   intervention.  

Choosing one   context over another may influence both research results an implications.

Purpose – The overall aim of the present study was to investigate the learning climate and work group skills perceived by managers and their subordinates in the municipal elderly care, prior to a development project. The specific research questions were: Are managers' and their subordinates' perceptions of the learning climate related? and Does the manager's assessment of the work group skills correlate with the work group's perception of the learning climate?

Design/methodology/approach – A total of 12 managers and 130 of their subordinates were selected, and answered a questionnaire. The subordinates belonged to work groups with five to 19 care assistants working in elderly care. The majority of the participants were women (92 per cent). The mean age was 43 years old, range 20-63.

Findings – Results suggest that the perception of the learning climate has a correspondence between the organisational levels (managers and their subordinates) and that there is a correspondence between managers' ratings of work group skills, in particular skills for effectively managing change, and the work groups' perception of their learning climate, in particular decision autonomy and developmental and collaborative potentials.

Research implications/limitations – The manager sample was small and from one single organisation.

Practical implications – The relations between the learning climate and the assssment of staff skills are important to the actions taken in order to facilitate workplace learning and development.

Originality/value – This study contrasted the managers' assessment of skills with their work groups' perceptions of learning climate, which is quite unusual in learning climate studies.

The learning environment in Swedish public elderly care has typically been described as resting on experience-based learning and characterized by a low level of formal education among the employees. The increasing number of elderly and the future needs for skilled workers in elderly care has been addressed in several investigations made by local and regional authorities. In the present study we want to highlight the workplace learning climate in home help service and residential care in elderly care in an average sized Swedish municipality, before and after an intervention. The intervention was a part of the programme “Steps for skill” initiated by the former Swedish government in 2005 and its basic idea was to build new infrastructures for learning and development in elderly care. The project focused on three main areas:  Individual education programmes and development of carrier steps; the “Break-through” method[1]to improve learning and skill development in workgroups and additional education to all leaders. Besides, a knowledge base including experiences from the workgroups for future use is going to be constructed.

Within this frame we will focus on the learning climate in home help services and residential homes. The specific research questions are: Are there differences between home help services and residential homes in their experience of the learning climate and what is the outcome of the intervention when it comes to the experiences of the learning climate? Why may the experience of the learning climate differ between HHS an RH and how can such difference be understood? A total of 35 workplaces participated. Each workplace included two groups answering the “learning climate” questionnaire, those who were actively working with the “Break-through” method (n=150) and those who were not (n=200).

Preliminary results show that there is a significant difference between the two types of elderly care when it comes to the total score on learning climate; the groups working in home help service have a lower estimation than the groups working in residential homes. Among the subscales it was decision autonomy, collaborative potential and innovative climate that showed significant differences. To work in home help services among other things seems to have a negative influence on the learning climate, which is not surprising considering the lack of opportunities to discuss everyday work activities and specific problems when they occur. The home help service has specific working conditions that are not in line with the suggested key factors in workplace learning. Therefore, new forms of workplace learning and knowledge transfer should be tailored to fit this kind of work. However, at this moment the second wave of data has not been completed and therefore we cannot address the questions about the outcome of the intervention yet.

[1]Langley, Nolan, Nolan, Norman, Provost (1996) The improvement guide: A practical approach to enhancing organizational performance.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

For people to be intrinsically motivated in contrast to doing something because it leads to a separable outcome, they have to experience their behavior as self-determined. It requires either inner resources or contextual supports for autonomy, that is, the extent to which people feel supported in their ability to function autonomously, make choices and decisions. The more one internalizes the reasons for an action, the more one’s extrinsically motivated actions become self-determined. Since individual autonomy is embedded in relationships and circumstances and contexts can yield autonomous regulation, when autonomy-supportive, awareness about the conditions that nurture regulation and internalization can contribute to optimize people's quality of life. Thus the present interview study aims to examine elderly care as an autonomy-supportive environment from the perspectives of professionals and elderly, and also whether an intervention aimed to improve elderly care quality enhances autonomy-support. Nine elderly care recipients and their contact persons participated at Time I and 7 contact persons at Time II. The results suggest that elderly care (in this study) is not an autonomy-supportive environment due to too many constraining interactions. Moreover, quality improvement work does not automatically increases autonomy-support. However, autonomy and elderly care may not need to be a paradoxical conjunction if autonomy and independence are seen as separate goals of elderly care.

Despite the popularity of Quality Improvement Collaboratives, the evidence of their positive impact is limited. However, awareness of the mechanisms underlying such interventional efforts, as well as of their outcomes, is crucial for HRD professionals. Thus, the general purpose of this study was to examine the relation between process and outcome by addressing two specific aims. The first aim was to explore the content of the quality improvement work and, the second aim was to examine how the content chosen influences employees’ psychosocial work environment. A mixed-methods design was used in this study, including observations and written documentation of the quality improvement work and questionnaires, distributed on two occasions, to136 nursing assistants. Results showed that (1) the content of the quality improvement work differed both in nature and flexibility, even though the same method was used, (2) the perceived learning climate, workload, and resource adequacy were influenced differently by the different contents chosen. This study offers insights into understanding the complexity around such interventions – which might be powerful in some situations and less appropriate in others. Choosing the right method and assuring that the method is implemented is not enough to guarantee the success of the quality improvement work. It is of vital importance that employees have achievable targets in relation to the resources available. Quality improvement should not be achieved at the expense of employees’ psychosocial work environment; otherwise, the improvement process may become counterproductive.