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Developing Organizational Memory through Learning Histories
Abstract
Discusses how a learning history can improve organizational performance by bringing to a situation more than a list of "best practices" but the thinking, experimentation, and arguments of those who have encountered the same situation. The authors discuss the 6-stage process they created for developing an organizational memory that builds on an organization's actual learning and transformation experiences. Stages include planning, reflective interviews, distillation, writing, validation, and dissemination. Also discussed are the 3 imperatives of organizational self-knowledge, the research, mythic, and pragmatic imperatives. Themes from learning histories and illustrative examples are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... According to Huber (1991)'s theory, the fourth and last step entails memorizing information or knowledge acquired. To this purpose, organizational memory is made strong and flexible enough so that knowledge can be used whenever required, at any point in time in the future and be practiced as learning within the organization (Nonaka, 1995;Roth and Kleiner, 1998). ...
... Decision factors represent the essence of learning developed in any organization. The role of a learning organization pertains to creating an environment that fosters the mechanism of learning within the organization, allowing it to store information or knowledge acquired and use it for longer periods of time (Roth and Kleiner, 1998). Organizational learning could be defined as a phenomenon or an activity that evolves and facilitates learning in any organization. ...
... However, an LO is an entity that makes efforts to converge the process of learning into its own system, to let it be repetitively practiced and continuously improved (Huber, 1991;Slater and Narver, 1995;Ö rtenblad, 2001). LOs aim to create an environment or instill a climate that fosters this mechanism of learning within the organization, where information or knowledge acquired can be stored and used for long periods (Roth and Kleiner, 1998). The existence of a learning environment or climate is a distinctive feature of learning organizations. ...
Purpose
In this paper, using the antecedents, decisions and outcomes (ADO) framework, the factors/key performance indicators (KPIs) most relevant for creating or building a learning organization (LO) are identified. This study aims to contribute to the field of knowledge management (KM) in terms of introducing KPIs to foster a business organization with a continuous learning process, mechanisms of knowledge creation and memorization.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 57 papers were selected for this systematic literature review (SLR) from Web of Science and Scopus covering the period 1985–2019.
Findings
The 12 most relevant KPIs are identified based on the literature survey conducted in the field of LO.
Research limitations/implications
The managerial implications of this review paper will be an added advantage to the modern business organization worldwide that have adopted KM practices to foster knowledge management with information technology (IT) infrastructure. As IT infrastructure focuses on knowledge acquisition, dissemination and storage but the KPIs revealed through this review will help in transforming stored information as learning for the organization to improve its overall performance.
Originality/value
This review synthesizes prior studies and provides directions for future research.
... In a knowledge economy where an organization's pace of learning must equal or exceed the pace of change in its external environment (Drucker, 1999), collective reflection has become an indispensable organizational learning lever (Argyris and Schön, 1996). However, it is difficult to devote time to collective reflection given the intensity of daily organizational life (Cotter, 2014;Roth and Kleiner, 1998). ...
... The LH methodology was developed in 1994 at the MIT Center for Organizational Learning (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Although this approach was originally designed to promote the transfer of learning between an organization's projects (Roth and Kleiner, 1998) and to help create learning organizations (Senge, 2006), it is increasingly used to support change initiatives . LH allows stakeholders to learn from past experiences and engage in dialogue about actions to take, by providing a narrative that reflects the actors' journey (Gearty and Coghlan, 2018). ...
... LH allows stakeholders to learn from past experiences and engage in dialogue about actions to take, by providing a narrative that reflects the actors' journey (Gearty and Coghlan, 2018). A unique feature of the approach is that this narrative takes the form of a two-column document inspired by van Maanen's (1988) ethnographic tool called the jointly told tale (Bradbury and Mainemelis, 2001;Roth and Kleiner, 1998). The right-hand column contains excerpts from individual interviews in which participants share their perceptions, thoughts, concerns, attitudes, and questions about the change taking place in the organization. ...
Organization members often complain about insufficient time to reflect collectively as they grapple with constant significant changes. The Learning History methodology can support this collective reflection. Given the scant empirical studies of this action research approach, the present paper fills this gap by giving an overview of this methodology and by presenting a qualitative study that answers the following research question: How does the Learning History methodology contribute to collective reflection among organization members during major organizational change? To answer this question, an empirical research project was led within five healthcare organizations in Canada during their implementation of the Planetree person-centered approach to management, care, and services. The data set includes 150 semi-structured interviews, 20 focus groups and 10 feedback meetings involving organization members representing all hierarchical levels in the five participating institutions. The results highlight the five types of contributions of the Learning History methodology to collective reflection within the five institutions that participated in the study: 1) a process of expression, dialogue, and reflection among organization members; 2) a portrait of the change underway; 3) a support tool for the change process; 4) a vector for mobilizing stakeholders; and 5) a source of organizational learning. The results also show how organization members’ collective reflection is built through the various stages of the Learning History methodology. By demonstrating that this collective reflection leads to true organizational learning, the findings position the Learning History as a research-action method useful both from a research standpoint and as an organizational development tool. In the conclusion, lessons learned using the LH approach are shared from a researcher’s perspective. This paper should interest researchers and practitioners who seek research methodologies that can offer an infrastructure for collective reflection to support organizational change and learning.
... La méthodologie du parcours collectif d'apprentissage organisationnel (PCAO), ou learning history, a été développée en 1994 au Center for Organizational Learning du Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Bien que cette approche ait été conçue à l'origine pour favoriser le transfert des apprentissages entre les projets d'une organisation (Roth & Kleiner, 1998) et pour contribuer à créer des organisations apprenantes (Senge, 1991), elle est de plus en plus utilisée pour soutenir les initiatives de changement . ...
... Le PCAO permet aux parties prenantes de tirer des leçons de leurs expériences passées et d'engager un dialogue sur les actions à entreprendre, en leur offrant un récit qui reflète leur parcours (Gearty & Coghlan, 2018). Caractéristique unique de l'approche, ce récit prend la forme d'un document PCAO en deux colonnes, inspiré par l'outil ethnographique de van Maanen (1988) appelé jointly-told tale (Bradbury & Mainemelis, 2001;Roth & Kleiner, 1998). La colonne de droite contient des extraits d'entrevues individuelles avec les participants décrivant leurs perceptions, leurs réflexions, leurs préoccupations, leurs attitudes et leurs interrogations à l'égard du changement en cours dans l'organisation. ...
... La colonne de droite contient des extraits d'entrevues individuelles avec les participants décrivant leurs perceptions, leurs réflexions, leurs préoccupations, leurs attitudes et leurs interrogations à l'égard du changement en cours dans l'organisation. Quant à la colonne de gauche, elle contient les commentaires analytiques proposés par l'équipe de collaborateurs internes et externes (qui jouent conjointement le rôle d'historiens de l'apprentissage), ainsi que des questions destinées à susciter une réflexion collective (Roth & Kleiner, 1998). Ces analyses sont associées aux commentaires des participants. ...
... We used the learning history method as the base for the further development of a design research method to support designers in gaining an understanding of a complex context. We based our work on the learning history method, as proposed by Roth and Kleiner (1998), and followed a design (research) process that consisted of six steps (see Table 1). The first three steps would traditionally be termed the design research phase. ...
... Designers can use the gathering of the noticeable results and Table 1. Different design steps in the presented study, based on the learning history method (Roth and Kleiner 1998). Steps 1-3 concern the design research phase, steps 4-6 the conceptualisation phase. ...
... Both patient journey mapping and work modelling are methods based on data collected through observation and, if possible, interviewing. As said, in this current study, we explored the use and added value of the learning history method (Roth and Kleiner 1998). ...
Designing for teamwork in healthcare requires a thorough understanding of the working context and routines of the different user groups involved. This paper presents a design project in the context of child oncology in which we demonstrate the use of a newly developed ethnographic method for design research called the learning history method. The results of this design research project demonstrate that the method provides the designer with a clear path to gather in-depth insights into the needs and wishes of different users and their interactions, while maintaining flexibility in execution. Moreover, the results also show that the proposed tangible outcomes of each design research step focuses high-quality feedback loops between the designer and the different users.
... A LH is future oriented; it should result in clues that can direct actions to improve the current praxis in highly complex and dynamic settings (Bradbury & Mainemelis, 2001). The learning historian must construct the LH within the tension of three perspectives (Amidon, 2008;Kleiner & Roth, 1996;Roth & Kleiner, 1998): ...
... This study followed the stages for a LH as proposed by Kleiner and Roth (Kleiner & Roth, 1996;Roth & Kleiner, 1998). First of all, a learning team (LT) was formed to carry out the LH. ...
Interest in student engagement has increased over the past decade, which has resulted in increased knowledge about this concept and about the aspects that facilitate engagement. However, as yet, only
a few studies have focused on engagement from the perspective of the teacher. In this study, we capture the experiences of teachers who were explicitly working with their teams on fostering student engagement. We used the learning history method to capture those experiences and at the same time to stimulate learning within the participating teams. A learning history includes the voices of the different participants involved in order to stimulate reflection and learning. Three teams of teachers participated in the writing of this
learning history. Several teachers (n = 10), students (n = 10), and managers (n = 5) from or related to the teams were interviewed. The learning history shows that, on the one hand, teachers emphasized positive relationships and structure in relation to student engagement, yet, on the other hand, students continued to provide examples of negative relationships and mentioned a lack of structure, although they also mentioned improvements. Furthermore, the learning history showed that teachers in all teams reflected on their experiences and learned from the activities employed to foster student engagement, which included taking a more positive approach, conversations about a skills form, and being more consequent. These results taken
together indicate that it is possible for teachers to do a better job of engaging their students and that their repertoire can be expanded to include more engagement-related actions. Finally, the learning history produced offers insight into the difficulties experienced by the teams. An important limitation mentioned by all teams was that teachers found it difficult to address each other’s behavior when someone did not act as agreed upon.
... As a research methodology, which draws upon oral history, learning histories record the stories of those involved in a particular process. Roth and Kleiner (2000) argue that learning histories enable a deeper reflection within organizations upon experiences. As a result, a learning histories approach goes beyond presenting reports on 'best practice'. ...
... Bradbury (2001) argues that the emergence of the learning histories approach was "influenced by the emerging practice of organizational dialogue, whose aim is to promote participants ability to inquire into the values and assumptions from which they are operating". Roth and Kleiner (2000) describe learning histories as 'a document that tells an organization its own story' (p. 123). ...
This article provides insights into the evaluation of a government-funded action for climate change program. The UK-based program aimed to reduce CO2 emissions and encourage behavioral change through community-led environmental projects. It, thus, employed six community development facilitators, with expertise in environmental issues. These facilitators supported and learnt from 18 community groups over an 18-month period. The paper explores the narratives of the six professional facilitators. These facilitators discuss their experiences of supporting community groups. They also explain their contribution to the wider evaluation of the community-led projects. This paper reflects on the facilitator experience of the program’s outcome-led evaluation process. In turn, it also explores how the groups they supported experienced the process. The facilitator’s narratives reveal that often community-group objectives did not align with predefined outcomes established through theory of change or logic model methodologies, which had been devised in attempt to align to program funder aims. Assisting community action emerges in this inquiry as a stochastic art that requires funder and facilitator willingness to experiment and openness to the possibilities of learning from failure. Drawing on in-depth accounts, the article illustrates that a reflexive, interpretive evaluation approach can enhance learning opportunities and provides funders with more trustworthy representations of community-led initiatives. Yet, it also addresses why such an approach remains marginal within policy circles.
... For larger scale events, such as a well-known author speaking, warrant an "Event Report," which includes time-line, kudos/praise, complaints, set-up details and any pictures. If there is no debriefing, the Planning and Partnership Coordinator obtains information for a report via structured questions in emails, documents reviews and retains these records in learning history files (Roth and Kleiner, 1998). In addition to post- [From semi-structured interview questionnaire: after Gil retirement, "we hosted another kid-based community art projects"] 3 ...
... Processes cover tangible assets and intangible assets, as well as the sharing of tacit knowledge. The learning histories that promote organizational memory (Roth and Kleiner, 1998) also seem to lead to process/procedural changes and innovations at ImaginOn. Knowledge sharing within joint-use facilities can become systematic because of regular post-project reviews and lessons-learned discussions by the partner organizations meeting together. ...
Purpose
This paper aims to describe how knowledge management (KM) in planning can support the sustainability of innovation in a hybrid, joint-use facility. The case study research studies ImaginOn, a 15 year-old children’s library and theater for young people in Charlotte, NC.
Design/methodology/approach
This research used KM model analysis of qualitative data about tacit-explicit knowledge, intellectual capital (IC) and cognitive modes of collaboration. Both historic documents and primary data (from field study observations, interviews and a questionnaire) were analyzed for informal KM practices. Semi-structured and unstructured interview questions about innovation were used.
Findings
This study found evidence of tacit knowledge sharing, the growth of IC and the operationalization of collaboration to promote innovation. Although traditional KM terms were not used by staff, an integrated model framework demonstrates how KM practices promote innovation in planning joint-use facilities.
Practical implications
Although a study of a diverse cultural collaboration rather than two libraries, the KM practices that supported innovation and collaboration in this hybrid, joint-use facility might be applied to libraries. Future KM model research on joint-use organizations could investigate merged businesses, government programs and non-profits.
Social implications
The library and theater institutions in ImaginOn impact the lives of children and parents in meaningful ways that support community understanding, art, diversity and social interaction.
Originality/value
Research on joint-use libraries began in the 1960s. This case study provides unique model analysis of KM practices in a hybrid, joint-use facility (a library and theater). The innovative success and sustainability of ImaginOn illustrates the application of KM for strategic planning and aligning IC and business assets.
... Another central topic in the literature is information reuse, referring to capturing, packing, disseminating, and reusing knowledge (Brown and Duguid 2000). Capturing and packing knowledge involve codifying expertise and ensuring that knowledge is filtered, polished, structured, formatted, indexed and packaged for later reuse (Roth and Kleiner 1988). Dissemination of knowledge can be done following a passive approach (e.g., publish a newsletter) and an active approach (e.g., convening a meeting) (Dixon 2000). ...
... Supporting a data-driven knowledge system implies taking into account issues related to maintenance and classification of records (Hinrichs et al. 2005;Lutters and Ackerman 2002). Furthermore, supporting reuse of knowledge requires taking into account processes of capturing and packing knowledge, which involve codifying expertise and ensuring that knowledge is polished, structured, formatted and indexed for later reuse (Roth and Kleiner 1988). Similarly, applying knowledge requires various processes of de-contextualization and re-contextualization (Markus 2001). ...
This paper investigates the collaborative practices and computational artifacts that welfare workers use in a public welfare agency. Specifically, the paper focuses on caseworkers’ knowledge practices related to assessing unemployed citizens and identifying ‘perfect’ pathways. I draw upon an ongoing ethnographic study, carried out in one of the largest municipal jobcentres in Denmark. Findings from this research point out that existing computational artifacts support compliance with welfare policy, while limited support is provided to caseworkers in helping citizens obtain an employment. The contribution of the paper is three-folded: 1) identifying fundamental characteristics of the caseworkers’ knowledge work entailed in assessing unemployed citizens and identifying appropriate pathways, 2) examining the conditions surrounding these knowledge practices, and 3) discussing implications for the design of computational artifacts that better support local knowledge practices. While maintaining support to policy compliance, I argue that computational artifacts can also support ‘data-driven knowledge’, meaning the creation of knowledge that is based on data collected from the wide range of cases of unemployed.
... To enable us to experience the stakeholders' perspective first hand, we chose to base our study on an adaptation of the learning history method [17], which is a research and analysis process originally developed for organisations to outline learning opportunities based on past events [18]. In this process, members of the organisation collaborate with the researchers to identify 'noticeable results' (e.g. a monetary loss) that are related to opportunities for improvement. ...
... The researchers then conduct interviews with the various stakeholders involved in each event, thus gathering a variety of perspectives. In these open conversations participants reflect on their experiences, often making new connections through which tacit knowledge surfaces [17]. The method finally entails the collection of the various perspectives in a document called a 'Jointly Told Tale', which, for each event, combines both the stakeholders' perspectives and the researcher's interpretation. ...
BACKGROUND
Supporting teamwork in healthcare is a way to foster both the quality and safety of care, and better working conditions for all the team members. Although increasing attention is paid to this topic on a general level, there is less knowledge about its unfolding in orthopaedic units and its translation to interventions.OBJECTIVE
To identify concrete opportunities for teamwork intervention through a design thinking approach by analysing the teamwork dynamics of an orthopaedic team.METHODS
An adaptation of the learning history method, comprising shadowing, observations and interviews involving 26 orthopaedic team members at a top clinical teaching hospital in the Netherlands, was applied. A thematic analysis was conducted to derive themes that describe team dynamics and to subsequently extrapolate opportunities for intervention.RESULTSWe identified five themes and translated them into four design opportunities for intervention, namely: a) Improve daily rounds by reducing cognitive overload and promoting confidence; b) Improve collaboration by building empathy; c) Connect the patient with the professional team; and d) Support changes by fostering learning. Suggestions for concrete actions are presented for each opportunity.CONCLUSIONS
Opportunities to improve teamwork among healthcare professionals, specifically those in orthopaedics, revolve around the creation of common knowledge, the fostering of mutual understanding, and the design of tools and activities that support these processes.
... Roth and Kleiner [25] specifically mentioned storytelling as a much richer way to refer to the chronological chain of events that a project represents. According to Esser [26], arguably storytelling is one of the few possible ways tacit knowledge can be shared and project teams already do it informally. ...
Research projects are essential tools for creating knowledge and fueling societal developments. Consequently, research efforts are consistent with requirements from accepted scientific methods as they are exhaustively recorded and stored. Traditional approaches are equally effective in helping assess the robustness of research methods. However, approaches to recording research projects leave behind a wealth of tacit knowledge and contextual information. Tacit knowledge and contextual information are essential to enable the development of individual researchers and research teams, which in turn have the potential to increase productivity, effectiveness and impact of future research. Found within the project management literature is the idea of utilizing storytelling to record projects' lessons learned. This paper's main research question is “how would a storytelling framework for capturing and sharing knowledge and contextual information improve organizational memory and the management of research projects?” The framework will be piloted at Canadian, Finnish, and Japanese universities. The effectiveness of the framework will be assessed by comparing it with established procedures to record research projects. In terms of organization, this paper will include a review of the literature, a description of the logic and application of the framework, findings from pilot studies, next steps, and opportunities for future research.
... This can be for a variety of reasons, some of which are discussed in Williams (2003b), but a key reason is that these methods are not designed to take into account complexity and do not attempt to model or explain causality [e.g. Roth and Kleiner's (1998) 'Learning histories' record but do not analyse]. The standard methods simply do not provide the facility to understand what happened and thus to learn lessons. ...
Over the years there has been a shift in emphasis in research into project management, from focusing on the management of the individual project, to focusing on creating an environment in which projects can
thrive. In the 1970s, the focus of project management research was on developing tools and techniques, particularly critical path analysis, but also earned value analysis. In the 1980s, the focus was on success
factors on projects. Before you can choose appropriate tools to manage the project, you need to know what factors will influence success. In the 1990s, the focus switched to success criteria. Before you can chose appropriate success factors, and hence appropriate tools, you need to know how the project will be judged successful at the end, and have the entire team, indeed all the stakeholders, focusing on the same end objectives, both project outcomes and business benefits. This research led to a measured improvement in project performance, with success rates doubling for one third of projects to two thirds of projects, (and failure rates halving from two thirds to one third). Clearly the research of the last three decades of the 20th century made an important contribution to project performance, but it was not enough, it was not the whole story. Another part of the story is the context in which the project takes place. Senior management in the parent organization must ensure that they create an environment in which projects can thrive. They must govern the set of relationships between the management of projects taking place in the organization, the organization itself, themselves as client, and other stakeholders to ensure that projects can successfully deliver business benefit and help achieve corporate strategy. Project governance, governing that set of relationships, is not
just the role of projects management; their role is primarily to successfully deliver project outputs. Senior management must create and govern the supportive project environment. Part of that environment is the management of knowledge. Many project-based organizations from both the high-tech and engineering
industries recognize that their ability to deliver projects successfully gives them a competitive advantage. So being able to manage project management knowledge, to be able to remember how to deliver projects
successfully and to improve that knowledge, is key to the organization’s success. But in project-based organizations, knowledge management is problematic, with new knowledge created on temporary
projects and used on other projects. In the functional organization there is a classic three-step process of knowledge management: variation, selection, retention. New ideas are created in the function, successful
ideas are chosen for reuse, and the knowledge stored within the function where it can be reused. In project-based organizations, new ideas are created on temporary projects, but the project cannot select and retain new ideas. Further, wherever those new ideas are stored, they are not immediately available to new projects. The project-based organization needs to think about how it is going to select new knowledge, where it is going to store it, and it needs to create a fourth step of knowledge management, distribution of knowledge to
new projects. A book on knowledge management within project-based organizations is therefore a welcome addition to the literature. The book contains chapters by many recognized experts from the project
management literature. It builds on a special issue of The International Journal of Project Management (Volume 21, Number 3, April 2003), which was edited by Peter Love. The book contains some revised
papers, but also many new chapters by significant contributors to the field. It contains many important topics, such as the sharing of knowledge across boundaries, the creation of a learning environment in
project-based firms, and learning from project failure. The book will be a valued addition to my library.Professor J Turner
... Project Review Schinder and Eppler (2003) Postcontrol or Post-Project Review Schinder and Eppler (2003) After Action Review Schinder and Eppler (2003) Post-Project Appraisal (two years after project completion) Gulliver (1987) Journaling Loo (2002) Learning Histories Roth and Kleiner (1998) Micro article Willke (1998) Project history day Collier, DeMarco and Fearey (1996) Appreciative (Andriole, 2010). Additionally, Glória Júnior, Oliveira and Chaves (2014) introduce a proposal for using web 2.0 technologies in agile methodologies such as SCRUM. ...
The web 2.0 is transforming the project management in organizations by improving communication and collaboration. The new generation of web-based collaborative tools provides much better experience than the traditional software package allowing document sharing, integrated task tracking, enforcing team processes and agile planning. Despite of the indubitable benefits brought by web 2.0, the use of these technologies to promote knowledge management remains unexplored. For many project managers to obtain and integrate information from different tools of previous similar projects in global organizations remains a challenge. This theoretical paper presents a proposal that suggests an innovation in the knowledge management area applying web 2.0 technologies. The main goal is to provide an integrated vision of a set of technologies that could be used by organizations in order to promote better management of lessons learned. The proposal includes the lessons learned processes (e.g. capture, share and dissemination), the process-based (e.g. project review and after action review) and documentation-based (e.g. micro article and learning histories) methods. Results show how web 2.0 technologies can help project managers and team project to cope with the main lessons learned processes and methods to learn from experience. Moreover, recommendations are made for the effective use of web 2.0 components promoting innovation and supporting lessons learned management in projects.Keywords: Project management; Lessons learned processes; lessons learned methods; project learning; web 2.0 technologies; innovation.
... It allowed the designer to check theory of social-and group dynamics with working practice in paediatric oncology and the other way around, enabling him to spot differences and similitudes and defining the problem area of the design project. The HESD-model proposes to use the learning history method as a tool for executing the field research (Roth and Kleiner, 1998). Learning histories form an approach foster collective learning (Roth and Kleiner, 2000, p.xiv) and is based on an ethnographic form of storytelling; the jointly told tales ( Van Maanen, 1988). ...
Designers are increasingly asked to create solutions for complex problems in for example healthcare. To serve the design of these complex systems, there is a need for new, design methods. While current design methods allow design for multiple users, they often restrict flexibility of adding new solutions to the final product service system (PSS). This paper presents the Healthcare Service Design Model (HESD-model), which was used as a method to design a PSS that supports teamwork and parental involvement in the context of child oncology. This method was developed by the authors, while carrying out a design project within the context of paediatric oncology. The design project concerned the design of a support system that improved the non-technical skills of different actors present in the hospital. A critical reflection of the model and the evaluation of the design outcomes of the model showed that the method allowed taking into account the viewpoints of multiple users as well as the addition of new solutions to the system, leading to valuable results for multiple users.
... As she moves from facilitating dialogues with participants, to writing and crafting a history to engaging and strategizing with organizational insiders on propagating the learning, the role of the historian is part political, part documenter and part animateur. Roth and Kleiner (1998) signal that it is a cycling between the research, mythic and pragmatic imperatives that keeps the historian honest and Gearty et al. (2015) expand on the practices of 'reflexivity' necessary to ensure such honesty. Throughout a learning history then the historian finds herself in scenarios replete with the opportunity for rigorous first-person questioning and inquirywhether it is on a matter of practice (Bwhat choices am I making during this interview^), ethics (Bwhose voice or story may be distorted or absent by this history making?^) or personal self-discovery (Bwhy am I so impacted by this person's story and not that one?^). ...
Learning history is a well delineated action research process consisting of consecutive stages of inquiry where groups and individuals engage in learning and reflecting on their past shared, but often multiple, experiences as these are recorded in a ‘learning history’. Learning history has much in common with other forms of action research in that it configures first-, second- and third-person processes of inquiry in a particular way and enacts research qualities of rigour, relevance and reflexivity. Yet these and other links have as yet been tacit and under articulated - resulting in learning history often conceived as a distinctive linear method with the practice of learning history likewise confined. This reflective article opens out and makes explicit the inherent first- second- and third- person dynamics of learning history. These dynamics are explored from the point of view of different actors – the historian, the participant and the reader - in a learning history process and connections to a general empirical method are made. Finally questions of quality in a learning history are discussed. The aim of this article is to establish firmer methodological foundations for the learning history approach and to provide practical insight into how action researchers might engage more readily in learning history work.
... The first phase of the participatory resilience assessment involved narrative interviews, guided by participatory timelines, with 11 out of LFDG's 16 members. A narrative approach provides insight into participants' lived experiences of transformation (Hards 2012) and accesses tacit experiences of social learning and experimentation that build capacity for transformation (Roth and Kleiner 1998). The interviews enabled us to analyze components of conversions of farmland from conventional to organic status for transformation in farmer understanding and practice and to explain how these transformations relate to key social-ecological system scalar processes. ...
Transformation creates space to consider the profound changes necessary for society to pursue just and sustainable social-ecological systems. Transformation involves profound and complex change, yet there are few empirical studies that analyze transformation across multiple spheres of a social-ecological system. This article aims to address this gap by applying a resilience lens to analyze transformation as a component of UK farmers’ conversions of farmland from conventional to organic status. Transformation is identified as profound shifts in farmer understanding and management of soil fertility. The analysis finds that these transformations involve interplay between changes and scalar processes across political, practical, and personal spheres of transformation. Changes in the political sphere contradictorily drive, enable, and constrain transformation across political, practical, and personal spheres. We conclude that the empirical resilience analysis of transformation across spheres of a social-ecological system generates insights into the critical processes and changes necessary for society to pursue sustainable futures.
... Ideally, eventually participants of future projects can 'undergo a little bit of a learning experience' (Roth & Kleiner, 1995, p.3) from reflecting the learning history to the corresponding allegory and playing the allocation game. The allegorical reflection of a certain situation or challenge can 'tell an organization its own story' and anticipate alternative futures, for the benefit of more integral decision making (Inayatullah, 2006;Roth & Kleiner, 1998). ...
William Shakespeare's works can be employed to articulate values worthy of pursuit and reflect learning histories, thus facilitating organizational learning for sustainable futures. The authors argue that Shakespeare's allegories allude to recognizable representations of everyday life, and are built on a ‘plan’ that can be employed to perceive a patterned mirroring between the allegory and the learning history of a sustainability challenge. This mirroring exercise procreates the articulation of organizational challenges, an understanding of roles and motives of actors involved, the notion of plural perspectives and their dynamic correlation over time, and the anticipation of sustainability narratives for organizational learning. The ‘plan’ on which Shakespeare's plays are based is an immanent cyclical pattern of affirmative and adversative value orientations, whose disintegration engenders unsustainable tendencies, which finds support in recent sustainability theory. Analysis of the nature and effect of these combined value orientations becomes an instrument to recognize values worthy of pursuit and implement these in the learning process. This article demonstrates how to identify such value patterns in The Tempest and how to build on these patterns in a recent learning history of the renovation process of a monumental bridge in the City of Amsterdam.
... To test the hypotheses, a questionnaire was developed based on previous research from several disciplines including (1) new product development (e.g., Nijssen, Arbouw and Commandeur, 1995;Bacon, Beckman, Mowery and Wilson, 1994;Chiessa, Coughland and Voss, 1996), (2) marketing (e.g., Day, 1994;Moorman, 1995), (3) knowledge management (e.g., Davenport and Prussak 1998;Lynn, 1998;Roth and Kleiner, 1998) and (4) psychology (e.g., Larson and LaFasto, 1989;O'Leary-Kelly, Martocchio and Frink, 1994). Vision clarity, vision support and team communication were measured with six items, one item and four items respectively. ...
... With the format finally in place, it now began to function quite differently, namely as an organizational principle for disclosing the lessons that NIDO staff had learned to outsiders. These lessons were supposed to be narrated as 'learning histories,' a format for recording a series of events as well as the reflections on these events by those involved, as developed by Roth and Kleiner (1998). NIDO's director had picked up on that idea while discussing sustainable development governance schemes in the United States. ...
... The selection of quotes and interpretations made were validated during the final thematic analysis of the data, in which the researcher combines it with the viewpoints of the interviewees (Roth and Kleiner, 1998). For each theme a title has been generated and a short description of each theme was written that is representative for the story behind the theme. ...
Despite the abundance of literature suggesting that parents play an important role in supporting students’ academic success, vocational education and training teachers receive no training or preparation for involving parents. Using learning history method, we qualitatively investigated teachers’ attempts to stimulate parental involvement from multiple perspectives and analyzed professional learning within the organization. The goals of this study were to examine (1) the effects brought by the intervention program on teachers, and (2) factors that affected the effectiveness of the intervention. Results are discussed with special attention to the connection between teacher beliefs and practices and possibilities for future research.
... Organizations that subscribe to certain attributes and characteristics of organizational learning are called LOs (Garvin, 1993;Marsick, 1994, Marquardt, 2002). Basically, the concept of LO has been advocated as conscious organizational development strategies to acquire competitiveness and superior performance in a highly dynamic environment (Stata, 1989;Senge, 1990), with the assumption that the traditional organizational management and structures are no longer effective in coping with the demands for change and performance (DiBella, 1998;Roth and Kleiner, 1998). LO is relevant to organizations that aspire to increase their chances for survival and strengthen their market positions (Schein, 1993;Hitt, 1995). ...
A review of the available literature revealed a positive relationship between learning organization (LO) elements and business organization's performance. However, to date very few studies, if any, have attempted to examine how this LO's elements can be exploited namely on non-profit organizations (NPO's). This study thus examines the relationships between the LO elements with performance of non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Singapore. The required information was obtained from 70 NPOs through the use of a survey questionnaire. The regression analysis results revealed that individual learning practices, organizational learning practices and team problem-solving have strong positive relationships with NPO's performance. Conclusions of the study and future research are also discussed.
... De keuze voor praktijkverhalen is ingegeven door het wetenschappelijk inzicht dat de politie een persistent story telling culture is (Pragt, 2013;Van Hulst, 2013;Sackmans, 2001;Nap, 2012;Alvesson, 2011;Brown, 2005;Roth & Kleiner, 1998). De politiecultuur is sterk actie-en handelingsgericht. ...
... However, the notion of a learning organization has been familiar to business organizations for decades (Roth & Kleiner, 1998). Some evidence shows that organizations that apply the learning organization concept such as Corning, General Electric, Honda, British Petroleum, and Xerox, can keep moving ahead of change (Nonaka, 1991; Garvin, 1993). ...
Since 1995 there have been conferences, workshops and reports under the ETHICOMP umbrella. All have been organised by the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility of De Montfort University in the UK in collaboration with other universities around the world. The ETHICOMP Working Conference 2007 is a new venture designed to promote ICT ethics and social impact activity in academia within regions of the world where currently such activity is relatively limited. It is fitting that the first one will be held at Yunnan University in China. These proceedings represent a unique collection of diverse ideas and issues. It is hoped this will inspire further academic dialogue and cooperation as we strive to understand and benefit from the advancing and converging ICT.
... Diaries are one way for busy DHMTs to record their journey through these learning cycles in order to quickly identify ways to improve their performance. Other ways of recording that have been used in published AR studies are learning diaries (Reason & Bradbury, 2001) and learning histories (Roth & Kleiner, 1998). ...
Action research (AR) can be an effective form of ‘on the job’ training. However, it is critical that AR cycles can be appropriately recorded in order to contribute to reflection and learning. One form of recording is for coresearchers to keep a diary. We found no previous literature describing the use of diaries in AR in sub-Saharan Africa. We therefore use this paper to reflect on how diaries were used by district health management teams in the PERFORM project. We share five lessons from our experience. First, it is important to foster ownership of the diary by the people who are responsible for filling it in. Second, the purpose of keeping a diary needs to be clear and shared between researchers and practitioners from the very beginning. Third, diaries should be allowed to evolve. Fourth, it is a challenge for busy practitioners to record the reflection and learning processes that they go through. Last, diaries on their own are not sufficient to capture reflection and learning. In conclusion, there is no best way for practitioners to keep a diary; rather the focus should be on ensuring that an AR recording process (whether diary or otherwise) is locally owned and complements the specific practice setting.
... Activities: Knowledge package activities include Authoring knowledge content, codifying knowledge into "knowledge objects" by adding context, developing local knowledge into "boundary objects" by deleting context, filtering and pruning content, and developing classification schemes (68). ...
Background: Higher education institutions include experts who are knowledgeable. Knowledge management facilitates institutions to enhance the capacity to collect information and knowledge and apply it to problem-solving and decision making. Through the review of related studies, we observed that there are multiple concepts and terms in the field of knowledge management. Thus, the complexity and variety of these concepts and definitions must be clarified. Considering the importance of clarifying these concepts for utilization by users, this study aimed to examine the concepts related to this filed. Methods: The methodology used in this study was based on the Carnwell and Daly's critical review method. An extensive search was carried out on various databases and libraries. A critical and profound review was carried out on selected articles. Many wandering concepts were found. Identified concepts were classified into seven categories based on conceptual proximity. Existing definitions and evidence in relation to extracted concepts were criticized and synthesized. The definitional attributes for them were identified and a conceptual identity card was provided for each of the concepts. Results: Thirty-seven concepts with the most relevance to the field of knowledge management were extracted. There was no clear boundary among them, and they wandered. To avoid more confusion, concepts were classified according to semantic relation. Eight categories were created; each category consisted of a mother concept and several other concepts with similarity and proximity to the meaning of the original concept. Their attributes have been identified, and finally, each of them was presented in the form of a conceptual identity card. Conclusion: Through critically reviewing the literature in this field, we were able to identify the concepts and realize their attributes. In this way, we came to a new interpretation of the concepts. At the end of the study, we concluded that some of the concepts have not been properly defined and are not properly located in the knowledge management field; also their application is uncertain.
... Activities: Knowledge package activities include Authoring knowledge content, codifying knowledge into "knowledge objects" by adding context, developing local knowledge into "boundary objects" by deleting context, filtering and pruning content, and developing classification schemes (68). ...
... As mentioned by Roth and Kleiner (1998), "Good intentions are not enough to guarantee improvements -commitment, support and skill are all essential. Furthermore, a clear and shared understanding of the organisation's objectives is important if organisations are to learn collectively and thereby reap the significant benefits associated with collaborative reflection" (p.58). ...
... As mentioned by Roth and Kleiner [pp. 58,12], "Good intentions are not enough to guarantee improvements-commitment, support and skill are all essential. Furthermore, a clear and shared understanding of the organization's objectives is important if organizations are to learn collectively and thereby reap the significant benefits associated with collaborative reflection". ...
(English) The Portuguese Project Management Association—APOGEP planned to assess the project management community toward identifying an average profile. Based on an inquiry to the community, we’ve obtained 534 valid answers, on a global sample of 734 responses. The topics addressed in the inquiry were mainly focused on the project managers’ background, the sector, the organizational dimension and project categories, the average wage, and the characterization of the professional certifications. The primary results point to the following Portuguese Project Management profile: Male; age between 36 and 45; living and working in the big Lisbon; with a full-time activity in organizations with more than 250 employees; with 15 years of working experience; working in the IT and construction sectors; with a minimum academic curriculum of a 5 years Bachelor degree; with an average salary between 20 K and 40 K/year. The study proved the contribution of the professional certification to the career’s development and to the average salary increase.
Every project is temporary and unique in nature. However, knowledge and lessons learned in projects may be used in other projects to improve the project management services. A learned lesson comes from past and current projects, captured through well-defined organizational processes. It aims to capture an essence of an experience which may be utilized to modify the project processes, or the situations for which that lesson applies. Although lessons learned is used in many industries and is an essential part of Project Management Body of Knowledge, no effective process has been defined to capture, validate, and reuse projects' lessons learned. A three stage system was developed and used to setup, generate and apply projects' lessons learned, with a sample case and related description and guidelines.
The conceptual mastery of the work process and its improvement in the pulp and paper industry has been studied in several mills. Development programs based on systematic analysis and modeling of the work-process have been used to improve the work process and the workers' conceptual mastery of it. The participants in the programs have made dozens or even hundreds of concrete proposals to improve the actual work processes and their conceptual mastery of the work process has increased. The results also suggest that conceptual mastery of the work process can be a source of positive well-being. This connection can happen during the development process showing that knowledge of the work process is really valued in the organization.
RESUMEN En este trabajo el objetivo que se persigue es la construcción de un modelo conceptual de aprendizaje organizativo. La motivación principal ha sido la necesidad de entender el papel que desempeñan los modelos mentales en el aprendizaje que se produce, tanto en el ámbito individual como organizativo, ya que la mayoría de marcos teóricos existentes en la literatura especializada que han tratado de explicar este fenómeno lo han ignorado. El modelo propuesto en este sentido mejora la comprensión existente de los procesos de aprendizaje desde un enfoque cognoscitivo: en primer lugar, ofreciendo una visión integrada sobre las conexiones existentes entre el aprendizaje individual y organizativo. En segundo lugar, identificando una serie de impulsores a inhibidores en el proceso de transferencia de aprendizaje. Palabras Clave: Aprendizaje Organizativo, Modelo Conceptual, Modelo Mental ABSTRACT The objective of this research is the construction of a conceptual model of organisational learning. Given that the majority of the existing theoretical frameworks in the specialised literature, that have tried to explain the phenomenon of organisational learning, have ignored the influence of mental models, the principal motivation of this investigation has been the need to understand how learning occurs as a result of such mental models, both in the individual and in the organisation. From this point of view, the proposed model improves the current understanding of the learning processes: (1) offering an integrated vision of the existing connections between individual and organisational learning; and (2) identifying a series of factors that encourage or inhibit the process of knowledge transfer. Keywords: Organisational Learning, Conceptual Model, Mental Models
A project may be defined as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. It can be as simple as the plan for an off-site retreat or as complex as the development and production of a space shuttle. In the project method, instead of grouping people in the traditional functional units based on means (work processes, knowledge, or skills), they are grouped in cross-functional units based on ends (product or customer).
Information Technologies 2.0 (IT 2.0) is transforming the project management by improving communication and collaboration. It provides better experience than the traditional software package allowing document sharing, integrated task tracking, enforcing team processes and agile planning. Despite the benefits brought by IT 2.0, their use to promote lessons learned (LL) remains unexplored. For many project managers to obtain and integrate information from different tools of previous similar projects remains a challenge. This chapter emphasizes the need of combining traditional LL processes and methods with IT 2.0. It describes the IT 2.0 uses and how these technologies can support LL processes and methods in project settings. It delivers a proposal focusing on both IT 2.0-centered LL processes and an updating of traditional LL methods with IT 2.0. This proposal aims to help project managers to improve the management of LL and, as a result, the project learning.
There is an increasing recognition that the competitive advantage of firms depends on their ability to create, transfer, utilize, develop and protect the Organizational knowledge assets. Therefore, the projects context should be wisely used for properly foster the learning collection through the lessons learned gathered during project life cycle. However, organizations do not seem to learn from their mistakes, rarely exploring the reasons for their projects’ success or failure, and very rarely applying those lessons learned to the business management. In fact, there is little or no point in learning unless management adapts its behavior accordingly. Usually top management does not give sufficient resources for activities such as reflecting and learning. This research is focused on assessing the organizational environment in order to properly explore the factors and dependencies amongst the social demographic variables. The questions addressed intent to highlight the key determinants that might foresee a proper learning and knowledge management environment.
Through the voices of experienced practitioners on the ground, this publication presents a number of practical examples of how DFID is implementing sustainable development in practice. Our intention is that the insights gained from reading these stories will be used to help inform strategic decisions as well as improve or adapt specific areas of practice on the ground.
À partir d’une analyse rétrospective de leurs pratiques de recherche en entreprise, les auteures montrent que le processus même d’une recherche peut avoir un impact sur les organisations. Elles ont identifié plusieurs types d’effets dans l’entreprise participant à la recherche : le développement de la mémoire organisationnelle, la transformation des représentations, la coproduction de connaissance, l’incitation à la réflexivité. Les conditions nécessaires à la production de ces effets ont été mises en lumière.
The project management area uses several techniques and tools to identify, select, monitor and manage the projects portfolio of the organizations. However, these techniques still present problems and difficulties which, sometimes, inhibit their use. Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is considered a problem of considerable difficulty and complexity, which requires its constant monitoring by the organization, according to the strategic guidelines chosen. Thus, this paper presents an innovative approach for selecting the portfolio of projects by using DEA, and the development of a set of generic indicators, to support the decision makers in considering multiple projects. Each decision maker can use all or some of the indicators proposed, thus each one's knowledge, sensitivity and intuition are taken into account, namely for indicators such as risk perception, level of innovation, market clock speed, project's complexity.
Introduction: Innovation networks would cause organizational memory strengthening. So need for utilization, efficient approaches and strategies to create networks are essential. The main purpose of this research was to study the relationship between Jahrom University of medical sciences nurse's innovation networks and organizational memory.
Methods: This research was a descriptive-correlative study that was carried out on nurses at Jahrom University of Medical Science during year 2016. Overall, 201 nurses were selected by stratified random sampling method and using Krejcie & Morgan table. The tools were Hekmatniya & Mohammadi innovation networks and Annette organizational memory questionnaires. Data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software, repeated measures analysis of variance test, standard T- test, Pearson correlation-coefficients and linear regression.
Results: Amongst Jahrom University of Medical Sciences nurse's innovation networks maximum average belonged to technology-based network and minimum belonged to application-based network. All of the nurse's organizational memory dimensions were higher than the minimum level, but lower than desirable level. Only job awareness was at a desirable level. There was a positive and significant relationship between nurse's innovation networks and organizational memory, and innovation networks were a positive and significant predictor of organizational memory.
Conclusions: Nurses' knowledge is essential for strengthening the innovation of network creation. Therefore, existing knowledge in the organization should be converted to organizational memory and be the basis for knowledge transfer and learning to others.
How can we gauge the successes and failures of collective learning? How can the rest of the organization benefit from the experience? Learning histories surface the thinking, experiments, and arguments of actors who engaged in organizational change.
This paper discusses the early stages of a healthcare participatory design project, where historically recorded `hard' data was used to engage participants in organizational reflection about related (but unrecorded) `soft' data. This uncovered the interconnected history of the organization and allowed participants to collaboratively identify and prioritize design opportunities that could be taken up in subsequent phases of the healthcare design. We share our method for presenting the available recorded data in the form of `data timelines' to start and structure collaborative reflection. We then present the outcomes of our use of this method in the context of the wider healthcare service design project and reflect on the qualities and practicalities of the approach within participatory design.
We consider action research as a form of deliberative policy analysis. This analysis explores a “reconstruction clinic” in which stakeholders and public officials engaged memories, hopes and obligations as they sought to resolve controversies over details of policy implementation. We ask how institutional design shaped participants’ reflective and deliberative progress. Reflection in action can prompt not only changes in cognitive frames, but new behavioural capacities for action. Deliberative practices can shape new relationships between parties through the work of apology, recognition, appreciation, and emergent collaboration.
Technology and industry growth urge organizations to enhance their knowledge level and creation of new knowledge is highly valued in learning organizations (LO). It is inevitable that knowledge is a critical part in the OL context. This chapter discusses the importance of knowledge creation in an LO and the relevant issues of organizational knowledge, such as knowledge process, learning policy and learning technologies.
Organizational learning (OL) is an expansive and diverse field with influences that involves sociology, psychology, philosophy, business management, and many others disciplines. While there is no one definition to this concept, the concept of organizational learning is commonly described a process of developing, retaining, and transferring knowledge within an organization. This chapter provides an overview on the various notions of organizational learning, from the different theoretical perspectives. The association of OL and knowledge management (KM) is also discussed.
Information Technologies 2.0 (IT 2.0) is transforming the project management by improving communication and collaboration. It provides better experience than the traditional software package allowing document sharing, integrated task tracking, enforcing team processes and agile planning. Despite the benefits brought by IT 2.0, their use to promote lessons learned (LL) remains unexplored. For many project managers to obtain and integrate information from different tools of previous similar projects remains a challenge. This chapter emphasizes the need of combining traditional LL processes and methods with IT 2.0. It describes the IT 2.0 uses and how these technologies can support LL processes and methods in project settings. It delivers a proposal focusing on both IT 2.0-centered LL processes and an updating of traditional LL methods with IT 2.0. This proposal aims to help project managers to improve the management of LL and, as a result, the project learning. Full Text Preview Using Information Technology 2.0 In Projects The uses of IT 2.0 include supporting knowledge management, collaboration and communication, training, and innovation (Andriole, 2010). IT 2.0 have also the potential to complement, enhance, and add new collaborative dimensions to the processes of storing, capturing, sharing, disseminating and applying LL. Further, these technologies afford the advantage of reducing the technical skill required to use their features, allowing users to focus on the exchange of LL and collaborative tasks themselves without the distraction of a complex technological environment. The main IT 2.0 to be applied to PM and LL include wikis, blogs and microblogs, which are described in the following. Continue Reading
Responsible innovation has emerged as a field of research dedicated to introduce sensitivity to societal values in innovation processes. However, much of the academic literature on RI deals with single technologies instead of technological systems and is future-orientated without explicitly using specialised knowledge of past developments. In this paper, we present a problem-focused approach to RI that aims to support researchers and stakeholders in developing potential solutions from a perspective of systemic awareness and historical sensitivity. We then describe the application of this approach in an 18 months long interdisciplinary research project on plastics. We show that the approach has generated new and unexpected research projects, formed new inter-and transdisciplinary collaborations, and has impacted some participants' understanding of the systems in which their work is embedded. We conclude that with appropriate willingness to engage by individual researchers, our approach is able to, firstly, influence highly experienced researchers to engage more responsibly with their work, and secondly, to make research projects responsive by including societal concerns and their historical emergence from the start.
Learning and Change Learning and OD Fundamental Assumptions of Learning Systems Summary
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