Abstract:

The problem:
The expansion of learning to adulthood is a striking phenomenon of the past decades, both in the lives of individuals and in workplaces, as well as in the world of education. A significant part of adult learning manifests itself as an economic need. The activities of economic organizations, their technological and knowledge content, and organizational culture are the factors that primarily determine the learning (and training) and development processes of a given organization.
In our research, we examined an international company operating with several profiles. The diverse portfolio of the Dutch-Hungarian-founded DBH Group proved to be suitable for conducting our research.

The purpose of the research:
The research examined the process of workplace learning from the perspective of the applied technology demand, technical content, professional activities, and organizational culture. During the research, we examined the learning needs, the form of their acquisition, the access to new knowledge, the integration of the new knowledge into the organization, and the contribution to the professional activities of the organization.

The subject of the research:
The investigation focused on the four divisions operating in the DBH Group: IT-engineering, project management, financial consulting, and tourism.

Research method:
For the proper analysis of the examined topic, we chose a qualitative method and used interviews. We conducted a total of 12 interviews. The interviews were conducted with the involvement of managers, senior and junior professionals working in each division.

The result of the research:
The professional activities of the exam enterprises basically determined the necessary knowledge and their composition. Although the forms of acquiring the necessary knowledge are similar between the individual organizational units examined, the structural and cognitive ability needs of the knowledge and the level of knowledge show significant differences.
Basically, it can be said that the secret of business success comes from the knowledge of the employees and its continuous development. In the cases, where tools, machines, and the physical infrastructure alone represent profit production, learning and the continuous development of the workforce play a smaller role than in knowledge-intensive sectors.
On the other hand, the more knowledge-intensive a sector and its professional activities are, the closer it is to global knowledge and knowledge that can be obtained at a global level. Locally embedded activities, on the other hand, are connected to the local market process, both from the point of view of work organization and organizational culture, and the acquisition of knowledge accumulated there, at the local level, gains priority.

Keywords:

Organizational learning, workplace learning, adult learning.