Modelling The role of Human Resource Management in the Innovation Chain

Standard learning tools may fall short of achieving desired organisational outcomes. Defective learning means staff learning and competencies may be compromised, hence important organisational activities such as innovation. The primary role of Human Resources Management (HRM) in innovative organisations is to create a climate for innovation. This means HRM and the innovation leaders should be aware of any deficiencies in the learning processes. This is necessary because learning and creativity are essential foundations for innovation. The paper highlights the role of HRM in modern organisations, and that innovation activities are part of the evolutionary chain. The innovation chain begins with transformation into knowledge based, then into a learning organisation and finally into innovative enterprises. The paper also shows that during this evolutionary process, both HRM and transformational leaders have significant and critical roles to ensure that their organisations proceed with innovation by avoiding or addressing two types of organisational defects; namely learning defects (Learning Gaps) and also innovation defects (Innovation Gaps). In addition, the paper highlights the relationship between learning gaps and innovation gaps. Furthermore, the paper also shows that both learning and innovation gaps are also related to knowledge gaps. The learning gaps are shown to comprise of five types of gaps, namely: problem solving gaps, experimentation gaps, learning from past experience gaps, learning from others' experiences gaps, and transferring knowledge gaps. Similarly, innovation gaps are shown to be one or all of the three types of innovation gaps, namely: product innovation gaps, process innovation gaps and organisational innovation gaps. Further work is required to analyse the importance of each type of gap on organisational performance and the process of innovation. The role of an innovation leader is shown to be overlapping with HRM's role in areas such as coaching, motivating and rewarding

Applying self-organised learning to develop critical thinkers for learning organisation: a conversational action research report.

The information explosion characteristic of a knowledge-based economy is fuelled by rapid technological changes. As technology continues to permeate our lives, there will be fresh demands upon the conduct of learning and teaching to ensure that learners are equipped with new economy skills and dispositions for creating significant and relevant meaning out of the large chunks of transmitted data. In the spirit of building learning organisations, this paper proposes that a two-pronged strategy of promoting self-organised learning (SoL) amongst educators and students be adopted. As an enabling framework based on social constructivism, the model of SoL, originally developed by Harri-Augstein & Thomas, is described and applied to an educational setting. For educators engaged in action research, SoL is suited as an approach for managing and reflecting upon change. The use of two such thinking tools, the Personal Learning Contract and the Purpose-Strategy-Outcome-Review (PSOR) reflective learning scaffolds are considered. For students who are now expected to learn independently in situations requiring problem-solving skills, much akin to real life contexts, this article also considers the application of Learning Plans as a conversational tool for personal project management. The authors conclude that SoL promotes skilful critical thinking through a systems thinking process of continuous reflective learning. It is proposed that these are essential qualities for citizens working in a technological age. Case study samples of the thinking tools used in this action research project are included as appendices and evaluated in this article

Sustaining communities by learning from integrated assessments of place

Communities of place exist at many scales: from global village through nations, catchments, and local governments to millions of properties at the level of households and workplaces. Interventions from beyond their boundaries ensure institutional arrangements for their governance are complex. Political and bureaucratic actors network across all decision-making levels. The actors and their roles change frequently. Even so, connecting two activities can begin the process of engaging stakeholders in sustaining a community of place. First, stakeholders need to assess community conditions relative to a sustainability target. Second, stakeholders have to learn from, and respond to, the information contained in the assessment. In 2005, the authors joined with the Campaspe Shire Council in piloting a practice connecting the two activities. Trends of growth, steady state, or decline, in indicators of the Shire’s human, built, and natural capital stocks were estimated by pooling local and external knowledge. Results were presented as a balance sheet. Senior management then drafted some thirty response-statements by interpreting the accounts. A stakeholder forum used decision-support software to structure relationships between the response-statements. Conducting a SWOT analysis during the forum provided further insights into place-based learning for sustaining communities, and for building capacities to do so. Three key learnings: (1) Understanding their operational impacts within their community of place is the most useful context within which organisations can engage in sustainability learning; (2) the capital approach to measuring sustainable development simplifies learning; and (3) qualitative local knowledge is a significant element in sustainability assessment and accounting

Reflexivity and flexibility: Complementary routes to innovation?

Flexibility and reflexivity are essential processes for organisational innovation. The aim of the paper is to investigate their concurrent and interactive contribution in enhancing two innovation outcomes (the organisational openness towards innovation and the actual innovation adoption). Participants were 357 Italian employees. Results of a hierarchical regression model showed the role of both factors in fostering the two innovation outcomes under study. In addition, results showed the complementary interaction of reflexivity and flexibility, outlining two possible routes to innovation. Specifically, reflexivity appears to be a generative learning process capable of encouraging innovation in low-flexibility conditions, whereas flexibility tends to encourage innovation in low-reflexivity conditions. The findings provide empirical support of their roles as complementary resources for innovation, which has been under-examined in the literature

‘Useful, usable and used’: Sustaining an Australian model of cross-faculty service learning by concentrating on shared value creation

In recent decades, partnerships between community-based organisations and universities through service-learning programs have proliferated, reflected in an equally energetic growth in the research literature on process, evaluation, benefits and lessons learned. As an example of student experiential education through community engagement, service learning’s potential to contribute to students, community partners and the university is well recognised, although the research has tended to focus on benefits to students rather than the value in engagement for the community sector. UTS Shopfront Community Program is a cross-university initiative that has successfully facilitated curricular service learning in multiple disciplines for 20 years at an Australian university, leading to the completion of more than 1000 community projects. In examining this program, this article aims to describe both a sustainable, generative partnership model for creating shared value and, through analysis of 10 years of evaluation data, define what value is created for community partners and students through this project work. Key components in enabling a shared-value approach include: community-initiated projects based on need; a dedicated cross-university program and an assigned project coordinator; the engagement of faculty expertise through students with developed skills in appropriately structured courses; and community ownership of outcomes. Ongoing challenges include: scoping ‘student-ready’ briefs; managing risk, commitment and workload; designing coursework structures to deliver shared value; and achieving the ‘Holy Grail’ of transdisciplinarity