Advancing training and transfer research through the application of nonlinear dynamics

ABSTRACT

The study of training transfer as something that occurs over time with its own underlying process has been very limited in the training literature to date. This paper argues that we can better understand how transfer unfolds over time, and why it unfolds in any particular way, by considering important theoretical and mathematical concepts from nonlinear dynamics. We draw on nonlinear concepts, such as attractors, to describe how and when training interventions are likely to succeed and how subsequent transfer may unfold in relation to those concepts. We then explicate how taking a dynamic view of transfer forces us to change how our field currently studies transfer methodologically, and then give an extended example of how such an advancement may provide for richer theories regarding the process of transfer by focusing on the effects of supervisor support over time. We close with some practical recommendations informed by our view.     

The Digital Divide and Managing Workforce Diversity: A Commentary

Aux Etats-Unis, les minorités sont nettement en-dessous de la moyenne nationale dans l'occupation des emplois relevant des technologies de l'information et autres industries high-tech . D'un point de vue plus global, l'embauche de gens de couleur provenant d'Afrique, du Pakistan, d'Inde ou du Bengladesh pose également problème au Royaume Uni et dans les autres pays de l'union européenne. En clair, il faut inverser ces patriques. Les auteurs examinent ces faits et d'autres données de partage numérique dans une perspective de diversitéélargie de la main-d'œuvre et proposent un modèle de croissance lente destinéà centrer l'attention du lecteur sur les moyens de traiter les inégalités dans la hiérarchic des technologies de l'information.
In the US, minorities lag far behind the national average in holding jobs in the information technology and other high-tech industries. On a broader global perspective, employment of persons of color of African, Pakistani, West Indian, and Bangladeshi origin in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the European Union countries is also problematic. Clearly, these trends need to be reversed. The authors examine these and other digital divide issues from a global workforce diversity perspective and propose a trickle-up model to focus the reader's attention on ways to address inequities in the information technology value chain.