Recognition of knowledge and skills at work: in whose interests?

Abstract

PurposeWork‐place learning takes place in many settings and in different ways, resulting in knowledge and skills of different kinds. The recognition process in the work place is however often implicit and seldom discussed in terms of recognition of prior learning (RPL). The aim of this paper is to give examples of how the knowledge/skills of employees get recognition in the workplace and to discuss what the consequences of such recognition processes might be.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on a study in two companies and two municipalities, where 21 interviews were conducted with human resource managers, team leaders and union representatives. The research questions concerned the ways skills were recognised among employees and how the logics of these actions could be understood.FindingsThe findings show that both companies and municipalities have their own ways of assessing knowledge/skills, mostly out of a production logic of what is needed at the workplace. However, certain skills are also made “unvisualised” for the employee. This employer‐controlled recognition logic is important to understand when RPL models are brought to the work place in order to obtain win‐win situations for both employers and employees.Practical implicationsIt seems important to identify an already existing system for assessment of knowledge/skills at the workplace when bringing RPL processes to the workplace.Originality/valueThe approach to understand assessment processes in these companies and municipalities from an RPL perspective has not been widely covered before.