gap separates these bodies of knowledge. Organizations rarely diagnose readiness factors before designing learning interventions, defaulting instead to uniform training programs that ignore variation in worker profiles, treat demographic proxies like age as resistance predictors, and overlook supervisors’ pivotal role in shaping learning climates. MacMahon et al. (2024) captured this misalignment as the “streetlamp effect”—organizations search for answers in formal training because it is visible and measurable, while the contextual factors that determine learning effectiveness go unrecognized. Within just transition frameworks, Standing’s (1997) concept of “skill reproduction security”—the opportunity to gain and retain skills through employment training—remains underdeveloped in both research and practice, as De Ruyter and Bentley (2024) emphasize. The present study operationalizes this concept by developing an integrated methodology where cultural diagnosis precedes and directly informs adaptive learning system design. Rather than treating workforce preparation as a byproduct of technology implementation, this approach positions human factors integration at the earliest design stage—addressing a gap that recent Mining 4.0 reviews have explicitly identified (Lund et al., 2024). The context of the studied division, where experienced workers face simultaneous organizational disruption and technological modernization, provides an empirical testing ground for this diagnostic-before-design approach. 2. OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE This study addresses the integration gap between organizational change diagnosis and adaptive learning design by pursuing three objectives. First, to conduct comprehensive cultural diagnosis of a fire refining workforce (n=60) preparing for ARF technology implementation, using a validated productivity model that captures psychological dimensions beyond technical competency. Second, to translate diagnostic findings into adaptive learning system architecture, demonstrating how empirical workforce profiles can inform differentiated instructional design rather than uniform training approaches. Third, to challenge assumptions that demographic characteristics—particularly age—determine change readiness, redirecting organizational attention toward modifiable contextual factors such as supervisory relationships and commitment quality. These objectives directly engage the Congress theme of delivering minerals through trust, transformation, and technology. The study addresses the Transformation dimension by developing a diagnostic-before-design methodology that transforms how organizations prepare workforces for technological transitions—from assumption-based uniform programs to evidence-based differentiated interventions. It contributes to Trust by demonstrating empirically that supervisory relationships—the organizational embodiment of trust—explain more variance in change readiness than any demographic variable, positioning trust-building as a measurable lever rather than an aspirational goal. And it operationalizes Technology adoption not as a technical implementation challenge but as a human system requiring cultural calibration, where adaptive learning algorithms respond to individual worker profiles rather than treating the workforce as homogeneous. The scope encompasses workforce preparation for technological transition in copper fire refining operations at a single division of a state-owned mining company, combining quantitative 218
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