Trading Off Learning and Performance: Exploration and Exploitation at Work
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-24-2018
Publication Title
Human Resource Management Review
DOI
10.1016/j.hrmr.2018.06.001
ISSN
1053-4822
Abstract
Employees are increasingly given control over how they learn, and their choices for training are diverse and varied, yet employees must balance competing demands. On one hand, they are expected to be increasingly efficient in their current job duties – on the other hand, they are expected to develop new skills and competencies that enable them to adapt and respond to changing job demands. Drawing from the organizational learning literature, we propose a model of worker and work characteristics that inform choices between two mindsets related to learning at work. The first mindset is exploration, or the pursuit of learning outside one’s current knowledge domain; the second mindset is exploitation, the refinement/deepening of one’s existing knowledge stock focusing on the task at hand. We further propose that these strategic choices, or trade-offs, influence employee learning and performance in unique ways, with different implications for both routine and adaptive performance. Finally, we incorporate the notions of feedback loops and risk assessments that influence ongoing decisions between exploration and exploitation mindsets. Recommendations for future research and extensions of the theoretical model are also proposed.
Recommended Citation
Greco, Lindsey M., Steven Charlier, Kenneth G. Brown.
2018.
"Trading Off Learning and Performance: Exploration and Exploitation at Work."
Human Resource Management Review, 29 (2): 179-195: Elsevier.
doi: 10.1016/j.hrmr.2018.06.001 source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053482218303292?via%3Dihub#!
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/management-facpubs/118
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