Learning is an important part of work. This is especially true for knowledge work. The core activity of knowledge work is problem-solving under utilization of domain expertise. Domain expertise is likely to outdate quickly, unless learning is applied. The professional has a variety of options for organizing the learning process. Beyond organizational training offerings, the professional can learn on his or her own. The thesis has the goal of answering the following guiding question: How do professionals in organizations learn in the work process? This leads to three subgoals: 1) Theoretical research related to professional learning and organizational support, 2) Conducting empirical research with a focus on learning needs and learning in the work process, 3) Transfer of the results into the organizational domain. The research has been performed with the following constraints. Focus is the learning process at work. The investigation only considers experienced professionals in the software industry. Experience means that someone has more than five years of on-the-job expertise and has been promoted to a senior-level position. The workers considered include topic experts as well as managers. To investigate the work, a qualitative study is conducted in a software company. The study includes 50 participants. The study has a mixed-method design, integrating different data collection strategies, and combining qualitative and quantitative inductive methods in the data analysis. The study was performed over a period of one year and collected 800 hours of participant observation data in six countries. The results show, that learning is an inseparable part of the work process. A number of similarities and differences are identified, based on the job type and work location for the investigated professionals.    «

Learning is an important part of work. This is especially true for knowledge work. The core activity of knowledge work is problem-solving under utilization of domain expertise. Domain expertise is likely to outdate quickly, unless learning is applied. The professional has a variety of options for organizing the learning process. Beyond organizational training offerings, the professional can learn on his or her own. The thesis has the goal of answering the following guiding question: How do profe...    »