The development of coworker relationships that support or inhibit continuous learning

Previous studies have indicated that coworker relationships can be critical resources for employees' continuous learning, which is essential for effective performance. However, not all coworker relationships are equally supportive of continuous learning. It may be possible to create conditions that encourage employees to form more supportive relationships if the factors that influence such relationships are understood. Accordingly, the present study was undertaken to investigate how coworker relationships that support continuous learning and coworker relationships that undermine or inhibit learning develop in a workplace, and how characteristics of employees, their coworkers, and their work environments affect relationship development.; In the present study, data were collected from staff attorneys and other professional, managerial, administrative, and clerical employees of a state Attorney General. Sixty employees returned written questionnaires regarding their work and learning environments and coworker relationships. Twelve employees who indicated that they had experienced significantly learning-supportive and/or unsupportive coworker relationships were interviewed.; The study results suggest the following: (1) Supportive relationships form a network, not a pyramid. (2) The growth of supportive relationships is bounded by situational variables that make some types of employees more or less appealing and available as supportive coworkers. (3) Supportive coworkers across different settings use common behaviors but have different personalities. (4) Supportive relationships result from three sets of behaviors, of which help-giving may be the least critical. Striving to learn and improve may be the most critical. (5) Organizational climate forms the organizing circumstance for self-directed activity related to supportive relationships. (6) Information flows are critical features of an organizational climate for learning-supportive relationships. (7) Organizational climate affects not only how much is learned through coworker relationships, but also what is learned--and what is not. Higher level learning tasks may be neglected if the organizational climate favors immediate production over learning.; The study results suggest that networks of informal learning relationships can be important for continuous learning and improvement in organizations. A mode of learning through such networks warrants further attention and advocacy from scholars and practitioners within the disciplines of adult education and human resource development.