Job assignments play a large role in development of
managerial skills. Job assignments that push an individual
out of his/her comfortable area of expertise may involve
roles that are not well defined, and usually some elements
that are new to the person. These kinds of assignments
place people in a challenging situation of problems to
solve, dilemmas to resolve, obstacles to overcome, and
choices to make under conditions of risk and uncertainty
(Ohlott 1998). On-the-job learning is most likely to occur
when managers are faced with challenging job situations as
mentioned earlier (Berlew and Hall 1966; Bray and Howard
1983; Davies and Easterby-Smith 1984; Kelleher et al.
1986; Margerison and Kakabadse 1984; McCall et al.
1988; Wick 1989; McCauley et al. 1994). Thus, certain
qualities of a job (challenge, uncertainty, etc.) seem likely
to have a substantial relationship with the continuous
learning skill demands of those in the job