Towards the learning manager: an empirical investigation of managerial learning in the context of changing organisations

Learning society, learning organisations, all of these are tools to improve competitiveness - says the study‘s author. The work emphasises the explorations of internation between the individual and the organisation, and in particular the impact of organisations and social context on the readiness of individuals to learn. The author seems to reveal a close relationship in this respect: the learning needs of the individuals are in alignment with the organisation's needs

A study of interrelationships : the way individual managers learn and adapt and the contribution of training towards this process

An enduring challenge for organisation theory and research has been the difficulty of explaining the paradoxical nature of organisations and finding ways of articulating and representing their ambiguous nature as complex social systems. There is a significant and growing need to find ways of unravelling the complex patterns of interactions between organisational sub-systems. The study of interrelationships is concerned with the way different organisational sub-systems are in dialogue with one another, how they inform and are informed and the way they affect and are affected from their interaction. The main research question governing this study is how individual managers leam and adapt in the context of change and the perceived contribution of training and development activities to these processes. The current study has sought to examine this question by exploring the interrelationships between change, learning, training, self and career development using the individual as the unit of analysis. The study has adopted an exploratory orientation and an in- depth approach to track down the interrelationships between the chosen processes. A longitudinal approach has formed part of the research methodology as was the use of case- studies as the main research method for contextualising the analysis of the findings. The thesis presents findings from three organisations in one sector (retail banking) which are discussed in the light of the organisation and industry specific characteristics. The individual manager within each bank remains the unit of analysis, however, emphasis is placed on the interaction of individual and organisational factors to explain why relationships between processes exist, what is the value and significance attached by the individual manager to these relationships and what are the conditions which influence the nature of the interrelationships emerging from the study. The findings of the present study show that individuals' perceptions of the nature and strength of the dual and triangular interconnections between processes are shaped by the organisational context. Moreover, the findings show how the product of the interaction between individual and organisational factors create conditions which shape the interrelationships between processes. The findings of the present study challenge some of the basic assumptions and hypotheses which have guided our understanding of the interconnections between processes so far. The focus of the current study on the individual’s perspective provides valuable insights into the difficulty of reconciling individual and organisational needs by providing a more holistic picture of the multiple factors which affect the interaction between processes. One of the most significant assumptions being challenged by the findings of the present study is the perceived linearity of the interconnection between processes. The thesis presents a map of the dynamic interaction between processes and illustrates the multifaceted and multidimensional nature of processes by uncovering additional dimensions and facets which have not previously been considered. The thesis proposes syschetic analysis as a new perspective and approach to exploring the non-linear interaction and potential integration between human and organisational systems

In Professions We Trust: fostering virtuous practitioners in teaching, law and medicine

The professions of law, medicine and teaching provide a vital link between public service and the wider common good. Yet this understanding of their purpose has already broken or is close to breaking. Despite the heroic efforts of many practitioners, the professions are losing their civic moorings and too often have come to be seen as self-serving interest groups. Moreover, even the conception of professionalism founded on the performance of duties has been eroded, with transactional activity and the meeting of imposed targets coming to characterise practice. The resultant loss of trust has been detrimental to both practitioners and users of services. In Professions We Trust: Fostering virtuous practitioners in teaching, law and medicine the argument is made that members of the professions need to serve the common good in order to return law, medicine, and teaching to their proper status as vocations. This entails not just asking practitioners to reassert their sense of professional purpose that is no longer enough. What they must do is make their own values manifest and get the public to validate and see them as what they indeed want from professionals. Creating this new relational good between professions and those who call upon them is the precondition of any progress at all. Private virtues are no longer enough, what is needed is the establishment once more of the public virtues that the professions uphold and the shaping and endorsement of these by the general public

The experience of learning in space and time

Elena P. Antonacopoulou is Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the University of Liverpool Management School where she leads GNOSIS, a research initiative advancing collaborative research in management and organization studies. Her principal research interests include change, learning and knowledge practices in organizations, and the development of new methodologies for studying social complexity. She has successfully secured government and corporate funding that supported a series of international research projects on organizational learning, social practice and dynamic capabilities.</jats:p

Project Management as a Dynamic Collaborative Social Practice—Collaborative Innovation Revisited

This report presents the findings of a two-and-a-half year research project designed to address a critical priority in project management practice—how to cope with the simultaneity of multiple forms of complexity. The report marks the next chapter in project management research and practice by developing what will be referred to as the Practicing School in project managing

Staff Induction Practices and Organizational Socialization: A Review and Extension of the Debate

Structured abstract Purpose: Socialization is one of the fundamental processes that define how collectivities emerge. Socialization underpins the social structures that shape not only how social actors interact in community but also the boundaries of action and the rules of engagement. In the context of organizations, socialization is a process that significantly shapes organization in the way core practices shape how things are done and why they are done in particular ways. This emphasis on consistency within and between practices is seen to be greatly facilitated by specific practices like staff induction. This paper reviews the current conceptual and empirical research on staff induction as a process of organizational socialization and outlines some of the areas for future research particularly if a social practice perspective is adopted. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents a systematic review of the relevant literature on organizational socialization and staff induction and outlines themes to which the debate can usefully be extended. Findings: In this paper we focus on how staff induction practices provide us valuable insights about how social agents (especially newcomers) get socialized in organizations. Research limitations/implications for research, practice and/or society: This paper provides a foundation for the various staff induction practices that other papers in this issue will be presenting. By outlining the current debate and insights from previous empirical research on staff induction, our objective is to extend the debate by outlining some new avenues for research that papers in the special issue both respond to and further explicate. Originality/value: This paper explores staff induction and organizational socialization as a practice that can provide new insights into the dynamics of social interaction within organizations. Paper type: Conceptual pape

Practising Entrepreneuring as Emplacement: The Impact of Sensation and Anticipation in Entrepreneurial Action

We extend the Entrepreneurship as Practice debate by making the case for the lived experience of entrepreneuring, i.e. when entrepreneurship is practised as part of the everyday, seizing moments that define action as entrepreneurial. We focus not only on the enactment and embodiment of entrepreneurial practices but also their emplacement. Emplacement goes beyond context, process and practice in entrepreneuring, to account for ways entrepreneurial practices are formed, performed and transformed when grounded in the sensations. Such sensuousness, gives in turn practical support to entrepreneurial action in the anticipation that defines what is deemed a suitable response given the eco-system being co-created. This focus on emplacement extends our analysis and treatment of social practices as recursive and presents more clearly the impact of practising as a leap of faith integral to the emerging novelty that characterises entrepreneuring moment by moment. This perspective offers new theoretical and methodological avenues for advancing future entrepreneurship research and demonstrates how entrepreneuring is integral to other practices such as strategizing, project managing and leading. A new emplacement framework and illustrative case examples of entrepreneuring plant the seeds for a new chapter in the Entrepreneurship as Practice debate

The Challenge of Delivering Impact: Making Waves Through the ODC Debate

This article articulates the nature of the challenge of the academic–practitioner “divide” as one of delivering impact. While measurable impact of research on organizational practice is a key indicator of the value of academic work, the authors explore possibilities of sustainable impact by exploiting and maintaining similarities and differences that characterize academic and organizational practice. Drawing on a metaphor of making waves, they suggest that possibilities of academic impact emerge from day-to-day engagements between scholars and organizational practitioners whose efficacy depends on the creation of shared understandings and personal relationships. This also emphasizes the maintenance of differences in perspective, which alert managers and researchers alike to different aspects that lay hitherto concealed in everyday practice. The authors draw insights from organizational development and change research to distil lessons about ways in which collaborative research practice could make waves that energize responses that extend both theory and practice