Keynote Speaker Professor Jörgen Sandberg

One of the keynote speakers at Adult Learning Symposium 2012 is Professor Jörgen Sandberg, Chair of Management and Organisation at the University of Queensland's Business School. Professor Sandberg's current research includes challenging conventionally understood conceptions of competency.

Rather than define competence as a descriptor or attribute of a job profile or as an outcome of a programme of study, Sandberg argues that it is best understood through worker perceptions of workplace practice and their contribution to enhancing workplace performance. His research suggests that self-assessed performance, though varied within and between work groups, nevertheless represents a more authentic way of capturing efficiencies in work output. 

In research published in a recent Harvard Business Review article he concludes that 'corporations need to shift the focus of their recruitment and training programs from flawed attribute checklists toward identifying and, if necessary, changing people's understanding of what jobs entail.'

Professor Sandberg's ideas are located clearly within two of ALS2012's three themes: 'Enabling learning in the workplace', and 'Innovating practices'. If you would like to hear Professor Sandberg speak, I invite you to take advantage of the ALS2012 Early Bird Special, available on this website. In the meantime, please post a comment on his ideas.