Building belief in organizational learning: the role of organizational learning efficacy

There appears to be a missing dimension in OL literature to embrace the collective experience of emotion, both within groups and communities and also across the organization as a whole. The concept of OL efficacy- as a stimulus offering energy and direction for learning - remains unexplored. This research involved engaging with a company we have called ‘Electroco’ in depth to create a rich and nuanced representation of OL and members’ perceptions of OL over an extended time-frame (five years). We drew upon grounded theory research methodology (Locke, 2001), to elicit feedback from the organization, which was then used to inform future research plans and/ or refine emerging ideas. The concept of OL efficacy gradually emerged as a factor to be considered when exploring the relationship between individual learning and OL. . Bearing in mind Bandura’s (1982) conceptualization of self-efficacy (linked with mastery, modelling, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal), we developed a coding strategy encompassing these four factors as conceptualized at the organizational level. We added a fifth factor: ‘control of OL.’ We focused on feelings across the organization and the extent of consensus or otherwise around these five attributes. The construct has potential significance for how people are managed in many ways. Not only is OL efficacy is difficult for competitors to copy (arising as it does from the collective experience of working within a specific context); the self-efficacy concept suggests that success can be engineered with ‘small wins’ to reinforce mastery perceptions. Leaders can signal the importance of interaction with the external context, and encourage reflection on the strategies adopted by competitors or benchmark organizations (modelling). The theory also underlines the key role managers may play in persuading others about their organization’s propensity to learn (by focusing on success stories, for example). Research is set to continue within other sectors, including the high-performance financial service sector as well as the health-care technology sector.

What can situated learning theory tell us about leading to develop organizational learning capabilities for entrepreneurial performance? lessons from a knowledge-intensive small firm

Although the role of strategic leadership in developing organizational learning capabilities has been examined to a certain extent, the specific behaviors and mechanisms through which these capabilities are developed have not been adequately understood. Paucity of research in this direction is even more conspicuous in a small firm/entrepreneurship context, which has been linked to innovation, economic growth, and employment generation. Reporting on an ethnographic study of a knowledge-intensive, growth-oriented small firm, this article addresses this gap in the literature by integrating strategic leadership and organizational learning theory in an entrepreneurship context. In this undertaking, situated learning theory is used as the major analytical lens, to shed light on how strategic leadership can build organizational learning capabilities that underpin entrepreneurial performance in small firms. Finally, implications for situated learning theory as an organizational learning perspective and leadership practice in an entrepreneurship context are submitted. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

More than a cognitive experience:unfamiliarity, invalidation, and emotion in organizational learning

Literature on organizational learning (OL) lacks an integrative framework that captures the emotions involved as OL proceeds. Drawing on personal construct theory, we suggest that organizations learn where their members reconstrue meaning around questions of strategic significance for the organization. In this 5-year study of an electronics company, we explore the way in which emotions change as members perceive progress or a lack of progress around strategic themes. Our framework also takes into account whether OL involves experiences that are familiar or unfamiliar and the implications for emotions. We detected similar patterns of emotion arising over time for three different themes in our data, thereby adding to OL perspectives that are predominantly cognitive in orientation. © The Author(s) 2013.

Organizational learning and emotion:constructing collective meaning in support of strategic themes

Missing in the organizational learning literature is an integrative framework that reflects the emotional as well as the cognitive dynamics involved. Here, we take a step in this direction by focusing in depth over time (five years) on a selected organization which manufactures electronic equipment for the office industry. Drawing on personal construct theory, we define organizational learning as the collective re-construal of meaning in the direction of strategically significant themes. We suggest that emotions arise as members reflect on progress or lack of progress in achieving organizational learning. Our evidence suggests that invalidation - where organizational learning fails to correspond with expectations - gives rise to anxiety and frustration, while validation - where organizational learning is aligned with or exceeds expectations - evokes comfort or excitement. Our work aims to capture the key emotions involved as organizational learning proceeds. © The Author(s) 2012.

Strategies for sustaining manufacturing competitiveness:case studies of Australian firms

This study investigates the strategies adopted by Australian manufacturing firms to sustain their local production and competitiveness, including during the period of the recent global financial crisis. Six Australian manufacturing organisations in different sectors were selected and analysed using the market-based and resource-based views, and components of the DRAMA framework. The findings highlight several factors and company efforts to sustain manufacturing operations. These organisations pursued a range of manufacturing strategies to enable distinctive offerings in the marketplace and used various ways to differentiate themselves. This was possible through the portfolio of capabilities that determine their continued production and business performance over the period. This study provides important lessons for managers in manufacturing organisations and demonstrates how differing capabilities and strategies of firms can impact the competitiveness of local production, not only in times of economic crisis but also in the long run to sustainable competitiveness in the future.

Management of universities in a period of rapid change: comparative case studies

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Pilot case studies to assess the effectiveness of the DTI marketing consultancy initiative

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Performance management in the United States and France:four case studies in the retail and airline industries

The profusion of performance measurement models suggested by Management Accounting literature in the 1990’s is one illustration of the substantial changes in Management Accounting teaching materials since the publication of “Relevance Lost” in 1987. At the same time, in the general context of increasing competition and globalisation it is widely thought that national cultural differences are tending to disappear, meaning that management techniques used in large companies, including performance measurement and management instruments (PMS), tend to be the same, irrespective of the company nationality or location. North American management practice is traditionally described as a contractually based model, mainly focused on financial performance information and measures (FPMs), more shareholder-focused than French companies. Within France, literature historically defined performance as being broadly multidimensional, driven by the idea that there are no universal rules of management and that efficient management takes into account local culture and traditions. As opposed to their North American brethren, French companies are pressured more by the financial institutions that fund them rather than by capital markets. Therefore, they pay greater attention to the long-term because they are not subject to quarterly capital market objectives. Hence, management in France should rely more on long-term qualitative information, less financial, and more multidimensional data to assess performance than their North American counterparts. The objective of this research is to investigate whether large French and US companies’ practices have changed in the way the textbooks have changed with regards to performance measurement and management, or whether cultural differences are still driving differences in performance measurement and management between them. The research findings support the idea that large US and French companies share the same PMS features, influenced by ‘universal’ PM models.

Strategic sourcing supplier selection misalignment with critical success factors:findings from multiple case studies in Germany and the United Kingdom

Strategic sourcing plays an important role in organisations' performance. Strategic sourcing has been researched extensively using empirical studies as well as review work, such as strategic sourcing importance, issues and challenges, processes, source selection criteria and framework. However, there is no research on critical success factors for strategic sourcing specific to industry and country. This research aims to qualitatively evaluate and understand the current role of strategic sourcing, the critical success factors for business performance and its relationship with strategic sourcing, and strategic supplier evaluation criteria from multiple stakeholders' perspectives specific to industry and country. This research studies twenty organisations from Germany and the United Kingdom (UK) covering two industry sectors - electronics manufacturing and construction. We consider five organisations from each industry sector and each country. The findings from twenty case studies reveal comparative analysis of strategic sourcing practices of two countries and two industries.

Medical students' personal experience of high-stakes failure:case studies using interpretative phenomenological analysis

Abstract (provisional): Background Failing a high-stakes assessment at medical school is a major event for those who go through the experience. Students who fail at medical school may be more likely to struggle in professional practice, therefore helping individuals overcome problems and respond appropriately is important. There is little understanding about what factors influence how individuals experience failure or make sense of the failing experience in remediation. The aim of this study was to investigate the complexity surrounding the failure experience from the student’s perspective using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Methods The accounts of 3 medical students who had failed final re-sit exams, were subjected to in-depth analysis using IPA methodology. IPA was used to analyse each transcript case-by-case allowing the researcher to make sense of the participant’s subjective world. The analysis process allowed the complexity surrounding the failure to be highlighted, alongside a narrative describing how students made sense of the experience. Results The circumstances surrounding students as they approached assessment and experienced failure at finals were a complex interaction between academic problems, personal problems (specifically finance and relationships), strained relationships with friends, family or faculty, and various mental health problems. Each student experienced multi-dimensional issues, each with their own individual combination of problems, but experienced remediation as a one-dimensional intervention with focus only on improving performance in written exams. What these students needed to be included was help with clinical skills, plus social and emotional support. Fear of termination of the their course was a barrier to open communication with staff. Conclusions These students’ experience of failure was complex. The experience of remediation is influenced by the way in which students make sense of failing. Generic remediation programmes may fail to meet the needs of students for whom personal, social and mental health issues are a part of the picture.

Educating for sustainability in language degrees:a tale of 2 case-studies

Purpose According to the 2014 joint report drafted by the Quality Assurance Agency and Higher Education Academy (QAA/HEA), universities have a key role to play in the development of sustainability literate graduates who can contribute to an environmentally responsible society. In this paper, the authors aim to assess language students’ understanding of sustainable development (SD) issues. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 surveys two cohorts of final year language students about to enter the graduate job market, and Study 2 surveys first year language students before and after the inclusion of SD content in one of their modules. The questions to the students are provided along with qualitative and quantitative results. Findings Results suggest that only 48% of language graduates are currently aware that they will need to take account of the environmental impact of their work as professional practitioners, and 52% do not consider it appropriate to learn about SD during their degree. However, results also suggest that incorporating SD early on in the language curriculum could contribute positively to the development of sustainability literate graduates. Originality/value While many language departments are aware of the importance of integrating sustainability into their curricula, and while employers are increasingly demanding sustainability literate graduates, there is little evidence that language students leave university with a real understanding of sustainability issues. This paper presents evidence of the current situation as well as a novel way to integrate sustainability into the language curriculum in order to remedy the situation.

Strategies for sustaining manufacturing competitiveness:comparative case studies in Australia and Sweden

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to report an investigation of local sustainable production in Australia and Sweden aimed at exploring the factors contributing to survival and competitiveness of manufacturing companies. Design/methodology/approach - In Australia, six companies were studied in 2010, with comparisons being made with three of them from earlier projects. In Sweden, eight manufacturing companies were studied on two occasions 30 years apart, in 1980 and 2010. To provide a valid comparative perspective a common format for data collection and analysis was used. Findings - There has been a shift in the nature of competition in both Sweden and Australia due to an increasing complexity of the global business environment as well as changes in technology and customer expectations. Despite the differences in country context, the findings suggest that all the manufacturing companies have a good awareness of the elements of the market environment and the relationships with their competitive strategy. However, in general, the Swedish companies have more experience of managing the risks and benefits from operating in the international environment. Research limitations/implications - The results of the research are based on a relatively small sample of case companies in a limited number of industrial sectors. There are methodology implications for future research in the area. Practical implications - The research results have practical implications for the manufacturing industry, especially for companies operating in a competitive international environment. Originality/value - The paper is based on original case research and comparative analysis of data from different geographical contexts. It contributes to both theory and management practice about the strategic resources, decision choices, competitive environments and firm values needed to address external market demands as well as in building internal capabilities.

Researching language teacher cognition and practice:international case studies

This book presents a novel approach to discussing how to research language teacher cognition and practice. An introductory chapter by theeditors and an overview of the research field by Simon Borg precede eigh case studies written by new researchers, each of which focuses on one approach to collecting data. These approaches range from questionnaires and focus groups to think aloud, stimulated recall, and oral reflective journals. Each case study is commented on by a leading expert in the field - JD Brown, Martin Bygate, Donald Freeman, Alan Maley, Jerry Gebhard, Thoma Farrell, Susan Gass, and Jill Burton. Readers are encouraged to enter th conversation by reflecting on a set of questions and tasks in each chapter.

Two case studies on generating administrative process applications with AdminDSL

Some organizations end up reimplementing the same class of business process over and over: an "administrative process", which consists of managing a form through several states and involving various roles in the organization. This results in wasted time that could be dedicated to better understanding the process or dealing with the fine details that are specific to the process. Existing virtual office solutions require specific training and infrastructure andmay result in vendor lock-in. In this paper, we propose using a high-level domain-specific language (AdminDSL) to describe the administrative process and a separate code generator targeting a standard web framework. We have implemented the approach using Xtext, EGL and the Django web framework, and we illustrate it through two case studies: a synthetic examination process which illustrates the architecture of the generated code, and a real-world workplace survey process that identified several future avenues for improvement.