Purpose: The purpose of this article is to show how a model for sustainable learning has been formed in the meetings between practitioners and researchers. Design/methodology/approach: With the point of departure in an interactive research approach, the authors have worked with learning and common knowledge development. Empirical data were collected from nine learning seminars, which were carried out within the framework of an EU project. Findings: It is shown by means of empirical examples from an ongoing EU project how the pedagogic method of learning seminars came to be a mediating tool for reciprocal learning between researchers, project leaders and project participants. Originality/value: The learning seminars constituted an important part of a reflexive learning process where the learning consists of both practicable and theoretically anchored knowledge. Together with the project participants, the authors developed a model for sustainable learning. This model consists of a reflection model, which rests on four fundamental conditions; pedagogic leadership, the learning group, problem areas/situation and time aspects. This article fills a significant knowledge gap in terms of the development of learning within organizations.

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to show how a model for sustainable learning has been formed in the meetings between practitioners and researchers.

Design/methodology/approach – With the point of departure in an interactive research approach, the authors have worked with learning and common knowledge development. Empirical data were collected from nine learning seminars, which were carried out within the framework of an EU project.

Findings – It is shown by means of empirical examples from an ongoing EU project how the pedagogic method of learning seminars came to be a mediating tool for reciprocal learning between researchers, project leaders and project participants.

Originality/value – The learning seminars constituted an important part of a reflexive learning process where the learning consists of both practicable and theoretically anchored knowledge. Together with the project participants, the authors developed a model for sustainable learning. This model consists of a reflection model, which rests on four fundamental conditions; pedagogic leadership, the learning group, problem areas/situation and time aspects. This article fills a significant knowledge gap in terms of the development of learning within organizations.

Purpose – Sexual health is insufficiently addressed in health care and higher education, which can lead tolower quality of life and negative health outcomes. To improve the situation, it is necessary to address both theneeds of patients and professionals and collaboratively engage in finding sustainable solutions. The purpose ofthis paper is to explore the feasibility and value of large-scale digital coproduction in higher education.

Design/methodology/approach – A study of a project that developed seven interprofessional, digital master-level courses covering different topics related to sexual health. The project was performed through digital coproduction in higher education, with over 100 persons with various backgrounds working together online in designing content and novel digital learning activities.

Findings – Large-scale digital coproduction in higher education is feasible and valuable, but the process demands sensitive leadership, understanding of coproduction processes and willingness to learn from each other. To meet the demands from practice it is important to understand the complexity, ever-changing and unpredictable working life changes which, in turn, demands engagement in continuous learning, training activities and the need for formal education.

Originality/value – The study provides learning of the feasibility of the value of large-scale digital coproduction in higher education, which is a novel way of working in higher education.

Purpose

This paper aims to explore whether the principles behind improvement methods and the underlying learning orientations of ambidexterity have the potential to support the managing of ideas for implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

By combining improvement methods and ambidexterity, this study presents a pragmatic framework for innovative working with a scientific underpinning linked to organizational learning.

Findings

The descriptive stages in the plan-do-check-act method for improvement are instructive in their focus on progress and helpful in untangling the more explanatory nature of ambidexterity to frame innovative working.

Research limitations/implications

Although the framework's usefulness for innovative working is subject to future studies, the implementation, validation and results of the framework in pilot research may contribute to the body of knowledge.

Practical implications

The proposed framework can be used in teaching the key role of strategic leadership to explore and exploit over time. The framework has the potential to guide innovative working in practice by making better use of the employees' tacit knowledge in such a way that they are empowered to explore new ways of defining problems and searching for solutions to improve organizational performance. The results of the implementation will impact the employees' quality of life.

Originality/value

This study advances the current understanding of how the seemingly contradictory activities of exploration and exploitation can model an integrative learning approach.

Purpose - This paper aims to explore whether the principles behind improvement methods and the underlying learning orientations of ambidexterity have the potential to support the managing of ideas for implementation.

Design/methodology/approach - By combining improvement methods and ambidexterity, this study presents a pragmatic framework for innovative working with a scientific underpinning linked to organizational learning.

Findings - The descriptive stages in the plan-do-check-act method for improvement are instructive in their focus on progress and helpful in untangling the more explanatory nature of ambidexterity to frame innovative working.

Research limitations/implications - Although the framework's usefulness for innovative working is subject to future studies, the implementation, validation and results of the framework in pilot research may contribute to the body of knowledge.

Practical implications - The proposed framework can be used in teaching the key role of strategic leadership to explore and exploit over time. The framework has the potential to guide innovative working in practice by making better use of the employees' tacit knowledge in such a way that they are empowered to explore new ways of defining problems and searching for solutions to improve organizational performance. The results of the implementation will impact the employees' quality of life.

Originality/value - This study advances the current understanding of how the seemingly contradictory activities of exploration and exploitation can model an integrative learning approach.

Purpose: The generation of resources is a central issue for the sustainability of companies. The purpose of this paper is to deal with two research questions: "Is decentralized generation of resources a possible way to reach sustainability in modern work life?" and "What prerequisites must be formed by organizations and managers to reach decentralized generation of resources?" Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical basis for this discussion is the complex adaptive systems theory. Three requirements for sustainable decentralized resource production are deduced: worker's autonomy, worker's integration in the organization, and demands on increased fitness. The empirical basis for answering these questions is the study of four different pharmacy-districts, each with a different organizational solution. Three sources of data are used: interviews with the four pharmacy-district managers; a questionnaire to all employees, and the balance scorecard of the company. Findings: Two of the districts may have reached an unbalance on the system level between autonomy and integration. The other two districts have similar scores of medium for both autonomy and feeling of integration. One of the balanced districts has also a manager focusing bottom-up change processes. This district has both the strongest resource generation and a leading position in increasing efficiency and customer satisfaction and, thus, sustainability. Originality/value: A simple model is formulated based on complex systems theory and tested in real life: decentralized resource generation is one way of obtaining sustainability; co-existence of both autonomy and integration of employees, combined with a leadership of transformative character, all encourage this. The paper may inspire researchers, managers, consultants and workers to use this new perspective on organizations and sustainability

Purpose – This paper aims to focus on academic library managers’ learning practices in the context of cooperative work supported by computational artefacts. Academic library managers’ everyday work is mainly cooperative. Their cooperation is supported predominantly by computational artefacts. Learning how to use the computational artefacts efficiently and effectively involves understanding the changes in everyday work that affect managers and, therefore, it requires deep understanding of their cooperative work practices.

Design/methodology/approach – Focused ethnography was conducted through participant observations, interviews and document analysis. Ten managers from a university library in Sweden participated in the research. A thematic method was used to analyse the empirical material. Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) and work-integrated learning was used as the conceptual lens.

Findings – Five learning practices were identified: collaboration, communication, coordination, decision-making processes and computational artefacts’ use. The findings show that learning is embedded in managers’cooperative work practices, which do not necessarily include sufficient training time. Furthermore, learning was intertwined with cooperating and was situational. Managers learned by reflecting together on their own experiences and through joint cooperation and information sharing while using the computational artefacts.

Originality/value – The main contribution lies in providing insights into how academic library managers learn and cooperate in their everyday work, emphasizing the role of computational artefacts, the importance of the work context and the collective nature of learning. It also highlights the need for continual workplace learning in contemporary knowledge work environments. Thus, the research generates contributions to the informatics field by extending the understanding of managers’ work-integrated learning in their everyday cooperative work practices supported by computational artefacts’ use. It also contributes to the intersection of CSCW and work-integrated learning.

Purpose: Theories of organizational learning and sustainability must be able to respond to contemporary social issues and accommodate, in some way, the multiplicity of perspectives that are present in society on these topics. One way of developing multi-perspectival capacities in the scientific understandings is through the building of metatheory. Nowhere is this task more urgently needed than in the study of organisational sustainability. To be sustainable, organisations must not only meet economic, environmental, social and governance requirements but also learn to embody them in their practices and values even during times of turbulence and extraordinary upheaval. The purpose of this paper is to propose a metatheoretical approach to organizational sustainability that can accommodate this plurality.

Design/methodology/approach: Three important metatheoretical lenses - the developmental, internal-external and learning lenses - are presented which have particular relevance to turbulent organizational environments and the transformational imperatives that arise from them. These lenses are then used individually and in combination to discuss several paradoxes related to learning and sustainability issues.

Findings: The growth, learning and sustainability paradoxes present a number of challenges to organisational learning capacities that can be usefully discussed within a metatheoretical context. The set of metatheoretical lenses identified here provide some new avenues for achieving authentic sustainability.

Practical implications: There are two important implications of metatheoretical discussion. The first is the opening up of new directions for middle-range theory. The second is the capacity of metatheory to critically examine extant theories and research paradigms. Several issues are raised in this paper concerning the evaluation of current theories of organisational learning and sustainability.

Originality/value: The metatheoretical approach to learning and sustainability proposed here resolves some fundamental paradoxes facing organisations and it opens up new ways of conceptualising the radical transformations required to meet the sustainability challenges that are being faced in the twenty-first century.

Purpose: This study aims to empirically investigate the role of learning for suppliers of individualized customizations from a communication perspective.

Design/methodology/approach: Five companies providing individualized customizations are investigated through an in-depth qualitative approach. The empirical material is based on data from five presentations in one workshop and seven interviews.

Findings: Four important categories of communication processes between suppliers and customers that stimulate learning were identified: the identification and confirmation of existing knowledge, the identification of knowledge gaps and the creation of new knowledge, the definition of relations and procedures and evaluation and learning.

Practical implications: These findings can help suppliers of individualized customizations become aware of the important role of organizational learning in their day-to-day operations and the value of improving as a learning organization.

Originality/value: This cross-disciplinary study brings together organizational learning and customization research. It is a study that focuses on communication in customization tasks as a base for learning. 

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to describe ambidextrous learning in organizations within the customer order-based context (COBC), here based on a dynamic view of work processes. The study focuses on how organizations can learn while working with customer orders, considering learning in organizations as both a process and an outcome.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual article focuses on learning in the COBC, where the individual customer requirements represent a key input into the organization’s work processes, thus limiting the possibilities to plan and standardize. The COBC brings about challenges and potentials for learning in organizations where task variety and complexity are high and in which the contradictory interplay between efficiency and responsiveness is apparent not only at a strategic level but also at an operative level in the customer order fulfillment processes. Depending on the variations in tasks and parallel complex work processes between different units in the organization, the ambidextrous learning dynamic can appear in the COBC.

Findings

Five propositions were made from the analysis: Proposition 1: Learning in the COBC can occur both in real-time but also in retrospect and with sporadic and recurrent interventions. Proposition 2: Learning in the COBC can occur for, as well as from, customer order processes. Proposition 3: Learning in the COBC varies and will depend on the delivery strategy. Proposition 4: Learning can be stimulated by the variation in priorities among customer orders in the COBC because the work characteristics for the back office and front office differ between customer order fulfillment processes. Proposition 5: Learning in the COBC can occur both within the back office and front office but also between these organizational units. The paper discusses the importance of building learning infrastructure in COBC and how that can be supported by a suggested learning office.

Originality/value

The present study demonstrates the importance of functions being able to act both as back office and front office in relation to delivery strategy. It also shows the ambidextrous learning process for the sake of improving both the internal efficiency and external effectiveness across the organization.

Purpose – Technological advancements and global societal changes reshapes manufacturing industry emphasizing needs for competence development of industrial professionals. The purpose of this paper is tostudy how organizational learning supports the development of academic structures, creating agile and sustainable formal educational models meeting novel competence needs.

Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative case study, part of a longitudinal research study,focuses on internal academic processes supporting a new formal educational model. Qualitative datawas collected through five focus groups, incorporating 32 informants from different HEI function categories.

Findings – Changing traditional academic structures requires joint engagement between all HEI functions,emphasizing organizational learning with subprocesses of searching, creating, sustaining and exchangingknowledge in a learning loop. Results show a consensus among the different HEI functions regarding thevalue of the HEI’s coproduction with society; however, bureaucracy and academic structure hinder flexibility.Cross-functional teams building a “chain-of-trust” throughout the HEI coupled with full management supportshow opportunities to progress into a learning organization.

Practical implications – Organizational learning within HEIs requires trustful and open communication,multifunction knowledge exchange, holistic views of processes and system thinking, achieved through crossfunctional teams and continuous improvement through learning loops.

Social implications – Industry-academic collaboration on formal education for lifelong learning needs to become both agile and resilience to meet technological advancement and sustainability.

Originality/value – Novel technology, digitalization and sustainability gain ground and require thatsociety and organizations, including academia, change and learn. This means that academia is meeting new challenges and needs to develop internal processes.

Purpose

This paper aims to enrich the scholarly discourse on learning within small social entrepreneurial organisations by examining how leadership can facilitate conditions conducive to collective learning during crises.

Design/methodology/approach

A longitudinal single-case study was conducted on a social entrepreneurial organisation in Sweden, operating within the integration field. The study involved comprehensive interviews and observations. Using a longitudinal approach facilitated an in-depth analysis of the organisation’s development over time.

Findings

The findings underscore that shifts in leadership can significantly influence collective learning. Specifically, the results suggest that establishing trust between the CEO and team members is a pivotal factor in cultivating conditions for collective learning and fostering the related processes, which persisted even during the pandemic. This trust catalysed inclusive and interactive actions that encouraged team members’ participation in day-to-day decision-making and strategic planning. Consequently, the organisation successfully leveraged its diverse knowledge resources, promoting knowledge sharing and experience exchange, crucial components of successful collective learning.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper advocates for a departure from conventional leadership perspectives, proposing that a focus on team–leader relationships – a form of leadership in practice – can offer valuable insights into cultivating collective learning. This approach underscores the significance of collaboration and engagement among team members in promoting collective learning and accentuates the role of leadership in creating these conditions.

Practical implications

The examples provided on structuring, organising and leading virtual meetings could offer valuable insights for leaders. With the increasing adoption of hybrid workplaces combining remote and office environments, communication challenges within teams may arise. Therefore, these examples can aid leaders in formulating effective communication strategies that bridge the gap between remote and in-person team members, ensuring that everyone stays informed and engaged.

Originality/value

This study seized a unique opportunity to explore how leadership can create favourable conditions for collective learning during crises by collecting data both before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Purpose – The purpose of this two-part study is to systematically review, analyze and critically synthesize the current state of empirical research on knowledge loss induced by organizational member turnover (KLT).

Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review was conducted based on 91 empiricalstudies on KLT.

Findings – Part I of the study contributes to the advancement of KLT scholarship by mapping key developments in empirical research on KLT (publication trends, methodological and theoretical foci, heterogeneity of geographical, industrial and organizational contexts); encapsulating KLT antecedents associated with both voluntary and involuntary turnover; and revealing a broad scope of KLT effects at organizational and unit level.

Research limitations/implications – This study has limitations related to inclusion/exclusion criteriaused for creating the review sample and the “Antecedents–Phenomenon–Outcomes” logic used to synthesize the findings.

Originality/value – Part I of the study offers a systematic synthesis of KLT empirical research with respect to KLT antecedents, outcomes and factors affecting them.

Purpose – The purpose of this two-part study is to systematically review, analyze and critically synthesize the current state of empirical research on knowledge loss induced by organizational member turnover (KLT).

Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on using a systematic literature review methodology reported in Part I.

Findings – Part II of this study contributes to the advancement of KLT scholarship by offering: an integrative narrative of KLT coping and preventive mechanisms as well as factors affecting them; an organizing framework of KLT empirical literature; and suggestions for future research, which are discussed with respect to the content, based on the proposed framework and by extending contextual dimensions of “who”, “where” and “when”, as well as use of theories and methods.

Research limitations/implications – This study has limitations related to inclusion/exclusion criteria used for creating the review sample and the “Antecedents–Phenomenon–Outcomes” logic used to synthesize the findings.

Originality/value – Part II of this study offers a systematic synthesis of KLT empirical research with respect to KLT coping and preventive mechanisms and a discussion of opportunities for future research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how organizational members became storywriters of an important process of organizational change. Writing became a practice designed to create a space, a time and a methodology with which to author the process of change and create a learning context. The written stories produced both the subjectivity of practical authors and reflexively created the con/text for their reproduction.

Design/methodology/approach – A storywriting workshop inspired by a processual and participatory practice-based approach to learning and knowing was held in a research organization undergoing privatization. For six months, 31 organizational members, divided into two groups, participated in writing one story per week for six weeks. The written story had to refer to a fact that had occurred in the previous week, thus prompting reflection on the ongoing organizational life and giving a situated meaning to the change process.

Findings – Storywriting is first and foremost a social practice of wayfinding, that is of knowing as one goes. Writing proved to be an effective practice that involved the authors, their narratives and the audiences in a shared experience where all these practice elements became connected and through their connection acquired agency.

Originality/value – Narrative knowledge has been studied mainly in storytelling, while storywriting by organizational members has received less attention. This paper explores storywriting both as a situated, relational and material practice and as the process that produces narratives which can be considered for their content and their style.

Purpose –

The purpose of this study is to review literature on the relationship between leadership and workplace learning, to critically analyze and discuss findings and to suggest future research paths based on the synthesis.

Design/methodology/approach –

This study applied a refined literature review process leading to a selection of 40 articles, which originated from 14 internationally acclaimed journals.

Findings –

When explaining leadership influence regarding individual and team learning, the concepts of role modeling behavior, relational support and negotiation of meaning is significant. If leaders provide support, show exemplary behavior and negotiate individual arrangements with employees, workplace learning development is positively affected.

Research limitations/implications –

Future studies should focus on empirical cases further illustrating how the leader–employee relationship is formed in practice, to further understand differences in leadership influence on employee workplace learning.

Practical implications –

The gathered knowledge implicates that carefully designed leadership training programs and personalized work arrangements between leader and employees are beneficial for leader’s ability to influence employee workplace learning.

Originality/value –

The reviewed studies were solely published in top management journals, which resulted in an original literature selection. This study also discusses implicit or articulated assumptions about the view of learning in the selected studies, offering additional understanding about the underlying learning views in leadership–workplace learning research.

Purpose

This article explores how the gendering of the learning environment acts to shape the design and outcome of workplace learning. The primary intention is to reflect on the idea of gender-equal organizations as a prerequisite for workplace learning.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of literature relating to gender and workplace learning was conducted with the relation between gender-(un)equal organizations and the design and outcome of workplace learning as the focus of the analysis. This was followed by an analysis of the characteristics of an organization that promote both adoptive and developmental workplace learning.

Findings

The literature shows how the gendering of the learning environment acts to shape workplace learning, often by preventing development learning and limiting adoptive learning to already privileged groups. To facilitate development workplace learning requires that organizations are guided by nuanced knowledge of work organization and strategically employ workplace learning to challenge existing power relations; that they are not characterised by gender segregation and that the presence and protection of gendered practices and identities do not dominate learning activities.

Practical implications

Stressing gender-equal organizations as a prerequisite for learning requires stakeholders to integrate a gender perspective in the design of workplace learning.

Originality/value

This article contributes to the literature considering workplace learning by highlighting how gender-equal organizations constitutes a prerequisite for workplace learning as well as in defining a few basic characteristics of such organizations.

Purpose In accordance with Latour, this paper aims to respond to the call for a "down-to-earth" post-learning organization approach to sustainability, which is critical of Senge's conception of learning organization (LO). Design/methodology/approach "Gaia storytelling" is used to define a LO that is "down to earth." Findings Gaia is understood through the notion of a critical zone, which foregrounds the local and differentiated terrestrial conditions in which life on Earth is embedded. Practical implications Gaia storytelling implies perceiving LO as a network of storytelling practices enacted and told by unique creative citizens. Such an organization sustains and grows through several entangled storytelling cycles that allow Gaia to shape learning. Social implications The article distinguishes five different storytelling cycles as a way to explore how the Gaia theater cycle connects to other cycles. The four other cycles are called Gaia thinking, explorative, creative and Gaia truth-telling. Originality/value A Gaian LO is a new beginning for LO.

Purpose: Relationship learning is a topic of considerable importance for industrial networks, yet a lack of empirical research on the impact of relationship governance structures on relationship learning remains. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of relationship governance structures on learning in partnerships. Design/methodology/approach: This paper contributes to the closure of the research gap by examining sample data drawn from 42 interviews on the subject of 199 customer-supplier relationships within the Finnish metal and electronics industries. As a method, the paper applies cluster analysis and analysis of variance mean-comparison. Findings: The results of this paper show that balanced hybrid governance structures explain learning in partnerships, which suggests that certain combinations of relationship governance mechanisms (price, hierarchical, and social mechanism) produce the best learning outcomes in partnerships. Results suggest that managers should use hybrid relationship governance structures when governing their supplier partnerships. Research limitations/implications: The paper has some limitations such as limited sample size, cross-sectional data, and difficulties due to measuring social phenomenon such as learning. Owing to the interview method being applied, research is bound to apply a sample data drawn from companies that operate in the west coast in Finland. These limitations need to be considered when applying the results. Practical implications: The results encourage managers to use different governance mechanisms simultaneously when managing their company's supply chain partnerships. The result emphasizes the role of active relationship management. Originality/value: The paper is one of the first to empirically show that relationship learning is best facilitated by using various relationship governance mechanisms simultaneously. Trust needs to be complemented by hierarchical and possibly by price mechanism

Purpose: Organizations will be key to realizing the “transformative change for humanity” now being called for. However, the complexity calls for new ways of facilitating change and organizational learning; it also calls for moving beyond sustainability to develop practices that restore and regenerate the world in which we live. Above all, it calls for the development of new frameworks, practices, mindset and capabilities to hold space for and facilitate such transformation, to dance with the “Logic of Life.” The purpose of this study is to contribute to advancing the current leading frameworks and practices of facilitating learning and development towards the enabling of regenerative transformative change in organizations and society. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on an exploratory qualitative analysis of a facilitation prototype that expands the current framework and practice of Appreciative Inquiry Summits toward regeneration. Findings: This study presents four paradoxes of regenerative facilitation to guide the dance for life in complex ecosystems. It also identifies that the dance needs to be widened, towards inviting more frequently the ends of the four paradoxes noted as regenerative, negative emotions, inner and more-than-human. Originality/value: This study explores the intersection of practices and frameworks for facilitating complexity with principles from regenerative leadership and complexity theory, potentially making an important contribution to the urgent and widespread need to facilitate a regenerative transformative change for humanity, society and our organizations. 

Purpose – This paper aims to further our understanding of policy–practice gaps in organizations from an organizational learning perspective. The authors conceptualize and analyze policy–practice gaps in terms of what they label the dual challenge of organizational learning, i.e. the organizational tasks of both adapting ongoing practices to prescribed policy demands and adapting the policy itself to the needs of practice. Specifically, the authors address how this dual challenge can be understood in terms of organizational learning and how an organization can be managed to successfully resolve the dual learning challenge and, thereby, bridge policy–practice gaps in organizations. 

Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on existing literature to explore the gap between policy and practice. Through a synthesis of theories and an illustrative practical example, this paper highlights key conceptual underpinnings. 

Findings – In the analysis of the dual challenge of organizational learning, this study provides a conceptual framework that emphasizes the important role of tensions and contradictions between policy and practice and their role as drivers of organizational learning. To bridge policy–practice gaps in organizations, this paper proposes five key principles that aim to resolve the dual challenge and accommodate both deployment and discovery in organizations. 

Research limitations/implications – Because this is a conceptual study, empirical research is called for to explore further and test the findings and conclusions of the study. Several avenues of possible future research are proposed. 

Originality/value – This paper primarily contributes by introducing and elaborating on a conceptual framework that offers novel perspectives on the dual challenges of facilitating both discovery and deployment processes within organizations. 

The purpose if this paper is to further clarify a conceptual understanding of pedagogic challenges in the learning organization and to propose a model for pedagogic interventions to facilitate organizational learning and managing tacit knowledge. The "organization pedagogic" approach includes analysis of, and interventions in, learning processes in local school organizations' quality development. The empirical study focuses particularly on identified contradictions and challenges regarding organizational learning. Through a multi-case study design, 39 in-depth interviews with head teachers and teachers were carried out. A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted. Observed obstacles regarding collective learning processes in the local school organizations mirrored underlying contradictions. These contradictions manifest as dilemmas concerning inconsistent and implicit quality analyses and assessments, as conflicting views regarding collaboration and interpretations of teachers' role, and as paradoxical views on managing processes regarding quality work. A conclusion is that dilemmas and paradoxes, more than conflicting views, are difficult to conceptualize and make explicit to create shared knowledge. This means that contradictions remain as underlying tensions in the organization and decrease the potential of both team learning and organizational learning. Therefore, a pedagogic intervention loop model is suggested, aiming at facilitating ongoing collective learning processes and managing tacit knowledge.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to empirically validate the positive effect of learning on organizational resilience and, within this relationship, understand the role of unlearning in the COVID-19 crisis context and progress the current knowledge about these concepts. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses online survey data from German and Austrian organizations' employees to test hypotheses derived from frameworks by Duchek (2019), Stephenson (2010) and Fiol and O'Connor (2017). The used questionnaire is built out of three pre-tested questionnaires to increase reliability. Conceptually, this paper takes a capability approach and a process perspective. Findings - The results support the positive effect of organizational learning on resilience, while rejecting the hypothesized moderating effect of unlearning on this relationship. Organizational learning showed to have a particularly strong positive effect on the adaptive capacity of resilience, compared to organizational resilience overall. Practical implications - To build a learning capability for organizational resilience, managers should foster an open system culture in their organization, which aims to be generally open to learn and adapt to be able to withstand adversity. During an organizational crisis, managers have the chance to rebuild organizational structures for better information flow, e.g. implementing formal knowledge management structures. Originality/value - To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to empirically test the causal connection between organizational learning and resilience in the Central European context during the COVID-19 crisis. The inclusion of unlearning enriches the discourse about its conceptualizations and fosters future research.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of complex adaptive systems (CAS) from the perspective of managing organizations, to describe and explore the management principles in a case study of an organization with unconventional ways of management and to present a tentative model for managing organizations as CAS - system management. There is a need for the development of knowledge, metaphors and language for management of the new forms of organizing, for example, value networks, which are evolving as a response to the increased demand for efficiency, flexibility and innovation. Design/methodology/approach - The frame of reference is based on a literature review of the area of CAS and an inductive and interactive approach is used to identify the management principles in the case study. Findings - A classification of the components of a CAS is suggested and described as properties of, and approaches for, managing CAS. The identified management principles in the case study are: a clearly formulated mission, delegation of responsibility and authority, diversity and competition, and follow-up and feedback. As a result of analyzing the frame of reference and the case study, a tentative, conceptual model for managing organizations as CAS - system management - is presented including; metaphor, components and approaches. Originality/value - The case study contributes to the empirical body of knowledge of organizing and management. The tentative model is a contribution to the ongoing discussion about managing organizations as CAS.

The purpose of this special section is to highlight the challenges organizations face with the reality of the intergenerational diversity. These challenges affect critically all the aspects of learning and corporate memory in organizations. Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual approach is adopted to examine the existing literature concerning the intergenerational diversity and its implications on learning and organizational memory for organizations. Findings: An analysis of intergenerational memory is proposed to open a discussion about the managerial and organizational consequences of the integration of diverse generations. With this important change, several questions are addressed about the brain drain risk, knowledge transfer from a generation to another, as well as knowledge creation, knowledge storage and capitalization. Originality/value: A selection of four articles is proposed to illustrate then this broad thematic.

Purpose: This study aims to better understand entrepreneurial learning in the context of venture acceleration programs.

Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative research strategy was used based on multiple in-depth interviews with 21 lead entrepreneurs complemented with participatory observations and secondary sources. The data were inductively analysed following the Gioia methodology (Gioia et al., 2012).

Findings: The authors build on experiential learning theory to generate a process-focussed model exploring the learning dynamics that venture acceleration programs can facilitate. In this model, the authors identify three catalysts that trigger processes of experiential learning and two contingencies that alleviate the effects of the catalysts on learning outcomes. The findings suggest that the potential of venture acceleration programs to be effective learning environments pends on the presence and quality of these catalysts and contingencies.

Originality/value: The findings provide novel insights on how venture acceleration programs trigger entrepreneurial learning, thereby offering a deeper understanding of the learning dynamics in this setting. 

© 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

Purpose: This study aims to better understand entrepreneurial learning in the context of venture acceleration programs. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative research strategy was used based on multiple in-depth interviews with 21 lead entrepreneurs complemented with participatory observations and secondary sources. The data were inductively analysed following the Gioia methodology (Gioia et al., 2012). Findings: The authors build on experiential learning theory to generate a process-focussed model exploring the learning dynamics that venture acceleration programs can facilitate. In this model, the authors identify three catalysts that trigger processes of experiential learning and two contingencies that alleviate the effects of the catalysts on learning outcomes. The findings suggest that the potential of venture acceleration programs to be effective learning environments pends on the presence and quality of these catalysts and contingencies. Originality/value: The findings provide novel insights on how venture acceleration programs trigger entrepreneurial learning, thereby offering a deeper understanding of the learning dynamics in this setting. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Purpose:

This study aims to explore the management learning during a long-term crisis like a pandemic. The paper addresses both what health-care managers have learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the management learning is characterized.

Design/methodology/approach:

The paper is based on a qualitative case study carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic at two different public hospitals in Sweden. The study, conducted with semi-structured interviews, applies a combination of within-case analysis and cross-case comparison. The data were analyzed using thematic deductive analysis with the themes, i.e. sensemaking, decision-making and meaning-making.

Findings:

The COVID-19 pandemic was characterized by uncertainty and a need for continuous learning among the managers at the case hospitals. The learning process that arose was circular in nature, wherein trust played a crucial role in facilitating the flow of information and enabling the managers to get a good sense of the situation. This, in turn, allowed the managers to make decisions meaningful for the organization, which improved the trust for the managers. This circular process was iterated with higher frequency than usual and was a prerequisite for the managers’ learning. The practical implications are that a combined management with hierarchical and distributed management that uses the normal decision routes seems to be the most successful management method in a prolonged crisis as a pandemic.

Practical implications:

The gained knowledge can benefit hospital organizations, be used in crisis education and to develop regional contingency plans for pandemics.

Originality/value:

This study has explored learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and found a circular process, “the management learning wheel,” which supports management learning in prolonged crises. © 2024, Ritva Rosenbäck and Ann Svensson.

Purpose - With the rise of the gig economy, management positions are increasingly staffed with flexible labor, so-called interim managers. They plunge into organizations for a limited period, operating in a liminal position as partly insider, partly outsider. Although several contributions to their client organizations are acknowledged, it is unknown how the interim manager’s knowledge from previous assignments is made useful in the new context under these particular working conditions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of how the interim manager’s knowledge is transferred to the client organization while operating from a liminal position.

Design/methodology/approach - This paper presents an interview-based multiple case study of six interim assignments where knowledge transfer is considered a social and context-dependent process.

Findings - The findings unveil the multifaceted nature of the liminal position, which consists of task orientation, time limitation, political detachment and cultural distance. These facets contribute to knowledge transfer in terms of new shared understandings and joint interests, which in turn might create new practices that augment continuous knowledge-sharing patterns.

Originality/value - The results contribute to the research on flexible work arrangements by shedding light on how the liminal position, predominantly depicted as an obstacle for the individual, might facilitate knowledge transfer. Through the process of knowledge generation, it is shown how a short-term engagement might enable the organization to increase its knowledge over time.

Purpose - Interim managers (IMs) are consultants who take on managerial positions during limited periods to perform changes, handle crises or cover vacancies. The increasing use of these short-term outsiders shapes new conditions for organizational learning in contemporary work life. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to research-based knowledge and theoretical understanding of the relationship between interim management and organizational learning.

Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents a literature review on interim management published within the years 2000-2020 and analyzes it through the lens of organizational learning.

Findings - An interim management assignment is characterized by a period of uncertainty, a limited time frame, knowledge from the outside and rather invisible outcomes. The concepts of shared mental models, dialogue, knowledge creation and organizational culture shed light on possibilities and constraints for organizational learning in these arrangements. The findings highlight the IM's position as central for transforming the organizational culture, put a question mark for the establishment of the IM's knowledge, show the need for defining outcomes in terms of learning processes and indicate tensions between opportunities for dialogue and the exercise of power.

Originality/value - The study provides a new conceptual understanding of interim management, laying the foundation for empirical studies on this topic from an organizational learning perspective.

Purpose – The strategic learning perspective has attracted increased interest among strategic management scholars, yet the operationalisation of this concept is still in its infancy. The aim of this study is to develop a multidimensional understanding of the strategic learning process and to build an instrument to measure this concept.Design/methodology/approach – The article confirms the validity of the developed measurement instrument with expert evaluations and quantitative data from the analysis of 206 Finnish software companies. Structural equation modelling was the primary statistical technique used.Findings – The results of the validation study suggest that strategic learning is a multidimensional construct that is manifested through the sub-processes of strategic knowledge creation, distribution, interpretation, and implementation. The results demonstrate that the reliability and validity of the developed measurement model is satisfactory, thus enabling its use in further studies.Research limitations/implications – Although the validation study and the use of a panel of expert judges present substantial support for the developed construct, future research is necessary to continue to examine and refine the measure in other industries and cultural contexts.Practical implications – Executives and practitioners can use the developed tool to identify potential areas for improvement and thus bring focus to organisational development efforts to enhance collective strategic learning.Originality/value – This study contributes to strategic management research by developing and validating a measurement method for the concept of strategic learning. To date, the empirical research of strategic learning has been mainly limited to descriptive case studies, and the literature lacks a comprehensive measurement tool.

The theories of Senge and Argyris and Schon were used in analysing an attempt to develop a learning organization in a Swedish manufacturer of tools. The research was a case study, using different sources of evidence for validating results. The organizational learning theory used puts emphasis on the individual in the flow-group. Barriers to learning have been found because an individual's mental models and metaphors are not consistent with management's. When, as in the studied case, the ideology of organizational learning is not followed by values and norms for behaviour supporting the new ideology then barriers to learning occur. Barriers to learning have been traced to dilemmas caused by the individual and the flow-group, the organizational structure and managerial actions

Purpose

This study aims to explore barriers and facilitators for knowledge transfer and learning processes by examining a cross-departmental collaborative project in the municipal organization. It is based on a R&D collaboration between University West and a Swedish municipality.

Design/methodology/approach

To explore the barriers and facilitators, the data collection was made through observation of the project implementation process, as well as 20 interviews with public servants and external actors. To conduct a systematic qualitative-oriented content analysis, the article constructs and applies a theoretical analytical framework consisting of different factors influencing knowledge transfer and learning processes within a municipal organizational setting.

Findings

This study explores the facilitators and barriers to knowledge transfer and learning processes, specifically focusing on strategic communication, individual roles, common goals, time pressure, group learning, trust and relationships and absorptive capability. Lack of communication affected the group learning process, while the close relation between time pressure, group learning and trust in colleagues is also pointed out as crucial areas. Trust developed through dialogue efforts helped overcome project fatigue. Coaching with a human rights-based approach improved organizational absorptive capabilities.

Originality/value

The study gives important insights into organizational learning within a municipality in Sweden for the successful implementation of collaborative projects. Knowledge must be transferred for the organization to learn to develop and tackle future challenges and its complex responsibilities. The theoretical analytical framework provided in this article has proven to be effective and is therefore transferable to other organizations in both the public and private sectors.

Purpose: The objective of this paper is to introduce and describe a conceptual framework of corporate and business ethics across organizations in terms of ethical structures, ethical processes and ethical performance. Design/methodology/approach: A framework is outlined and positioned incorporating an ethical frame of reference in the field of organizational chain management.

Findings: A number of areas and sub-areas of corporate and business ethics are framed in the context across organizations. Research limitations/implications: The introduced framework should be seen as a seed for further development and refinement. It provides opportunities for further research of ethical concerns across organizations.

Practical implications: Organizations may benefit from the findings and insights presented and they may be used to enhance their ability to manage, monitor and evaluate ethical business practices across organizations.

Social implications: Changing societal and market patterns may enforce organizations to address ethical concerns across organizations. A myopic approach restricted to the judicial system may become insufficient and unsatisfactory from the perspective of other stakeholders of the organization.

Originality/value: The framework makes a contribution bringing in ethical concerns across organizations, providing a basis for their ethical values and culture, as well as asymmetric relationships in terms of power and dependence. The authors believe that a true learning organization needs to realise the importance of an extended view of its endeavors of corporate and business ethics in terms of ethical structures, ethical processes and ethical performance across organizations.

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Purpose

This study aims to understand how practitioners use their insights in software development models to share experiences within and between organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a qualitative study of practitioners in software development projects, in large-, medium- or small-size businesses. It analyzes interview material in three-step iterations to understand reflexive practice when using software development models.

Findings

The study shows how work processes are based on team members’ experiences and common views. This study highlights the challenges of organizational learning in system development projects. Current practice is unreflective, habitual and lacks systematic ways to address recurring problems and share information within and between organizations. Learning is episodic and sporadic. Knowledge from previous experience is individual not organizational.

Originality/value

Software development teams and organizations tend to learn about, and adopt, software development models episodically. This research expands understanding of how organizational learning takes place within and between organizations with practitioners who participate in teams. Learnings show the potential for further research to determine how new curriculums might be formed for teaching software development model improvements.

This is a comment for all those writers who claim that organizations cannot learn. The author consistently rejects this notion. Rather the author contends that organizations can learn, in at least two different ways. The author reviews some of the common arguments against organizational learning, and tries to answer the opponents. The main argument against the critics is that they are too busy to look for evidence that organizations are not like individuals and that organizations therefore cannot learn. Instead, the author argues that it is a question of level of analysis. The author also suggests that theories as well as knowledge in general are metaphoric, implying that organizations as such of course are able to learn. The organizational learning perspectives can, of course, be used by employers and managers in order to avoid efforts that help the individuals to learn. But they can also be appropriate perspectives of learning that help in avoiding large investments on organizational learning efforts that might be unnecessary.

This conceptual paper looks at and discusses differences between the concepts of organizational learning and (the) learning organization. Since there still seems to be confusion regarding the meaning of the two concepts, aims to clarify the two main existing distinctions, that organizational learning is existing processes while learning organization is an ideal form of organization. Also distinguishes between a traditional and a social perspective of organizational learning, which the existing distinctions have not ‚ at least not explicitly. Thus, distinctions are made between three concepts. In addition to the improvement of the existing distinctions, suggests two complementary ones ‚ entities of learning and knowledge location. These two distinctions might make it easier to distinguish also between the two perspectives of organizational learning.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss both possibilities and problems with Senge’s (1990) many faces in The Fifth Discipline, i.e. the fact that different authors refer to different excerpts from his book as his version of the learning organization. Design/methodology/approach - The paper shows that the authors’ understandings of Senge, in which a literature review resulted, are seen in the light of theories of travelling of management ideas, particularly the "translation model". Findings - The paper finds that both possibilities and problems with Senge’s many faces were found. A fatal problem is that the many faces jeopardize the confidence in the concept and eventually its existence. But the strong connections to Senge’s book, that the authors have, reduces the problems, and Senge’s many faces might not cause that much trouble after all. Research limitations/implications - The paper shows that anyone who wishes to can, for different reasons, refer to Senge, and his version of the learning organization, and thereby gain legitimacy. One does not have to be very accurate; as it seems, almost anything goes. Practical implications - In the paper the "translation model" is divided into two sub-models, which probably will sharpen future translation research. Originality/value - The paper is a study in which it is shown how authors understand other authors. This is an example that is rarely seen. Both possibilities and problems are discussed with vagueness to Senge’s many faces. This is not very common. A special case of the translation model is developed (the "smorgasbord model"), better suited to deal with the type of idea that focuses on copying of excerpts from a specific book than the traditional translation model (the "whispering game model").

This article presents an integrated model of the learning organization. It is based on empirical research of the learning organization literature, as well as on practitioners' understandings of the concept where learning organizations were often described in terms of four distinct individual aspects, no more and no less. This article argues these aspects cannot be treated as separate, and that the four aspects have to be combined in order to create a true learning organization. The four aspects are: learning at work; organizational learning; developing a learning climate; and creating learning structures. The article suggests that only those organizations that have implemented all of the aspects should be called ‚"learning organizations", and those organizations that have implemented only one aspect should be called "partial learning organizations"