Learning Conditions in the Context of R&D and Development Projects: Empirical Evidence from a Research Centre

Today's changing environment is bringing about a major transformation of the way organizations operate. Most of the discussion about such evolving environment focuses on the necessity for organizations to continuously renew their stock of knowledge and competencies. This renewal takes place through a learning process by which knowledge is acquired and transferred throughout the organization. In practice, some authors have proposed that development projects can act as catalysts on the way firms learn and accrue know-how. While these projects lead to new products, they also allow for a transformation of the organization in which they take place. This study builds on previous research and proposes an empirical exploration of how, in practice, project management can support organizational learning through development projects. Data used for this research contains information on 139 R&D projects undertaken in a large corporation located in Quebec. L'environnement actuel impose une importante transformation des organisations. Ces changements sont principalement guidés par la nécessité d'accroître le niveau de compétences et de savoir-faire, tant au niveau individuel qu'au niveau collectif. Ce renouvellement constant du potentiel organisationnel s'opère par la voie d'un processus d'apprentissage qui touche tous les niveaux de l'organisation. En pratique, cet apprentissage est facilité par la réalisation de projets de développement. Ce type de projets, selon plusieurs auteurs, agit comme catalyseur et permet d'accroître plus rapidement la capacité des firmes d'apprendre. Par le fait même, ces projets induisent des changements importants dans les façons de faire des organisations. La présente recherche s'inscrit dans ce courant actuel qui vise à mieux comprendre le processus d'apprentissage organisationnel par la voie de réalisation de projets de développement (produits/procédés). Cette étude exploratoire s'appuie sur des données portant sur 139 projets réalisés dans une organisation québécoise dédiée à la R&D et au développement de produits.Organizational learning, project management, product development, research and development, Apprentissage organisationnel, gestion de projets, développement de produits, recherche et développement

Moe Reinblatt : L'artiste et son oeuvre, 1939-1979 = Moe Reinblatt : The Artist and His Work, 1939-1979

Sicotte traces Reinblatt's career as a painter within Montreal's Jewish community. Biographical notes. 79 bibl. ref

Promises and lures of open creative space for innovative teams

Like activity-based workspaces, innovative spaces are deemed to be efficient and flexible, but they are most often called upon to support collaborative and creative team work instead of individual whom sometime will work in a team. Our research objective is to further explore the links between the project team and its space to identify advantages as well as drawbacks and to determine if the company benefits from the adoption of open creative space with diverse collaborative areas. A case study of one world class company with several teams and diverse spaces is in progress. Our results suggest that communication and coordination are well served by open creative spaces without negative impact on employees autonomy but intimacy is jeopardized which, paired with background noise that never stop, can lead to stress at work. This research shows that several elements of open spaces are felt in the same way by a team or by department employees. But a team requires proximity that is essential to the exchange of information and coordination among the members while the lateral and hierarchical relationships are slightly redefined. Building managers needs to understand the percieved message that the individual receives from his organization through the design and allocation of spaces devoted to him and his team: freedom of action, empowerment to innovate or alienation to an environment that he does not control and which reduces him to a means of production until he leaves exhausted? The relationships between the feeling evoked by ambient conditions and their impacts on the individual, his tasks, his colleagues and his team is stronger than we could think. The temperature, the lighting as well as the variety of meeting rooms and their equipment’s form a complex whole of which we do not yet know all the impacts on the worker and the teams. Indeed, the diversity of spaces and their equipment fits perfectly into the teams' activities, resulting in a positive synergy in terms of coordination, communication and creativity. Creative spaces deserve their name when it comes to teamwork