In the autumn of 2024, I earned my PhD in Education towards work and working life. My dissertation, titled Learning Managerial Work: First-line Managers’ Learning in Everyday Work within Swedish Elderly Care, focuses on how first-line managers learn in their everyday work in the context of elderly care. Central research questions addressed in the thesis include how learning happens and what conditions shape their managerial practices in everyday work.
The study showed that managers' learning happened within a flow of varied tasks and interactions, largely characterized by unpredictability and changing circumstances. This required managers to continuously learn how to handle new situations and develop their managerial practices. The managers learned to manage work situations by maintaining or modifying existing practices, or by inventing new ones. Furthermore, their learning was shaped by several conditions, particularly prior work experience, workplace relationships, and organizational structures. Gender-stereotypical expectations related to the managerial role, as well as the female-dominated context of elderly care, also influenced the conditions for workplace learning.
