Personal Quarterly 3/2021

7 03 / 21 PERSONALquarterly performances, thinking and acting that cannot be understood solely by a consideration of one or the other perspective. Hence, from the work I do it is not possible to simply view the process of organising work having workers fulfil work-related roles and achieve organisational goals without consideration of the relations between the person and the workplace. PERSONALquarterly: You did conduct a lot of research on what in HRM is referred to as knowledge transfer but, again, you do not use this term very often. Stephen Billett: My practical investigations and theorising lead me to conclude that what is referred to as the transfer of know- ledge, is no different than problem-solving or learning. I can identify no differences amongst the process labelled ‘near transfer’, ‘routine problem-solving’ and ‘reinforcement and re- finement of learning’, and similarly among those labelled also ‘far transfer’, ‘non-routine problem-solving’ and ‘new learning’. I have elaborated this in earlier publications (Billett, 2013) and a forthcoming contribution to a book on transfer. Concepts such as the adaptability of what individuals know, can do, and value seem more helpful and encompassing concepts than ‘transfer’, which implies the direct application of knowledge, rather it needing to be adapted to other circumstances and new tasks. Hence, I do not use the word ‘transfer’ in making the asso- ciations as above. A principal concern is that the transfer of knowledge is often seen as being purely a cognitive phenome- non that fails to take into account the personal processes of thinking and acting, on the one hand, and on the other hand what constitutes the requirements and practices to which indi- viduals’ knowledge is applied. That is, adapting what we know, can do and value is enacted through a process of construction by individuals as they engage in particular circumstances and in response to specific problems whose genesis and resolutions are founded in those circumstances. So, it is a person-depen- dant process that is also shaped by the requirements of the situations they encounter. What is an elegant solution in one work setting, might be quite inappropriate in another. Hence, whilst viewing the adaptability of knowledge as being central to effective and productive occupational practices and work- place requirements, particularly in an era of constant change, I see the processes of adaptable thinking and acting embracing these concepts. PERSONALquarterly: Hence, if learning in the workplace occurs within socio-cultural contexts as a very natural process, can it be ‚managed‘ at all? Stephen Billett: Learning occurs all the time as we think and act, and that arising through our time in the workplace is certainly no different. However, it is the particular kinds of activities and interactions that shape the experiences that individuals are af- forded. Consequently, the kinds of activities they can engage in PROF. DR. STEPHEN BILLETT Professor of Adult and Vocational Education in the School of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia E-Mail: s.billett@griffith.edu.au Website: https://experts.griffith.edu.au/19067-stephen- billett Stephen Bil lett is a National Teaching Fellow and Australian Re- search Council Future Fellow, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, a Fulbright scholar, who holds an honorary doctorate (honoris causa) from the University of Jyvaskala, Fin- land. In addition, to his Honorary Research Fellowship at Oxford, he holds visiting professorships at the University of Stavanger and, Gold Coast University Hospital. He currently leads research projects in Australia, Singapore, Norway and the Middle East. After a career in garment manufacturing, he has worked as a vocational educator, educational administrator, teacher educa- tor, professional development practitioner and policy devel- oper in the Australian vocational education system and as a teacher and researcher at Griffith University. Since 1992, he has researched learning through and for work and has published widely in fields of learning of occupations, workplace lear- ning, work and conceptual accounts of learning for vocational purposes.