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Evaluating the possibilities and actualities of the learning process: How a school pilot wellbeing programme worked as an organisational learning process intervention
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to reflect on the opportunities and challenges of the learning process in practice and explores the case of a local authority school Pilot Wellbeing Programme (PWP) intervention. The aim of the PWP was to create the best workplace conditions and circumstances for people to flourish and mature, both individually and collectively. Findings show that the socio-physical environment plays a significant and leading role in supporting this work, as does the consistent modelling of higher level behaviours including integrity, respect and acceptance by intervention managers and school leadership teams. It was also important that the change processes were continually tailored and nuanced to meet the evolving needs of the staff and organisation throughout the intervention. Emphasis was also placed on encouraging individual involvement and commitment by implementing inclusive measures that fostered trust and openness.
Design/methodology/approach
The intervention worked to the organisational learning process model.
Findings
Headteachers (HT) are still playing a key role as caregivers to their staff. Wellbeing is something people in school generally expect to be “done” to them. Personal accountability for one’s own health and wellbeing is still a growth area in schools. Any change processes implemented to support this process need to be continually tailored and respectfully nuanced to meet the evolving needs of the staff and organisation throughout the intervention. Accruing quantitative evidence to support the effects of wellbeing work in schools is painstaking and challenging.
Practical implications
HT have traditionally taken the role of school staff “caregiver”, overseeing staff wellbeing often to the detriment of their own wellbeing. This situation is becoming unsustainable as HT’ capacity for this kind of work is diminishing. School staff need to accept an increasing role in the maintenance of their own personal–professional wellbeing.
Social implications
School staff who do not mind their own wellbeing act as a poor model to their pupils who may ultimately emulate their behaviour. Additionally, as staff sickness absence due either directly or indirectly to stress becomes a growing issue in schools, educational standards will be increasingly difficult to attain and maintain. Wellbeing mechanisms need to be put in place now to stem this possibility.
Originality/value
The intervention is unique in as much as it took a deliberately holistic approach to school staff wellbeing by including all school staff in the change programme. Previous similar programmes have targeted professional staff only, excluding non-teaching classroom staff and school support and maintenance staff.
... The third and final category of main effects was an improved schoolwide climate through fostering inclusive, positive learning environments (e.g., Anderson & Sice, 2016;Asada et al., 2021;Dix et al., 2019;McInnes et al., 2020). Included sources found that universal mental health supports could encourage, among both school staff and students, improved collaboration and the diminution of barriers to productive exchanges (e.g., Anderson & Sice, 2016;Skuskovnika et al., 2014), promote the advancement of policies and practices that prioritize student mental health (e.g., Dix et al., 2019), and create the conditions to foster more positive relationships and learning outcomes (McInnes et al., 2020). ...
... The third and final category of main effects was an improved schoolwide climate through fostering inclusive, positive learning environments (e.g., Anderson & Sice, 2016;Asada et al., 2021;Dix et al., 2019;McInnes et al., 2020). Included sources found that universal mental health supports could encourage, among both school staff and students, improved collaboration and the diminution of barriers to productive exchanges (e.g., Anderson & Sice, 2016;Skuskovnika et al., 2014), promote the advancement of policies and practices that prioritize student mental health (e.g., Dix et al., 2019), and create the conditions to foster more positive relationships and learning outcomes (McInnes et al., 2020). ...
... Another common side effect was for school staff to voice frustrations about or exhibit resistance to mental health supports, particularly when there existed conflicting views on the importance of mental health to academic goals or when teachers felt constrained due to various contextual circumstances (e.g., Anderson & Sice, 2016;Anwar-McHenry et al., 2016;Asada et al., 2021;McLoughlin et al., 2020;Punukollu et al., 2020;Weiss et al., 2021). The potential for mental health supports to engender mixed attitudes from school staff was perhaps best represented in Weiss et al.'s (2021) evaluation of an initiative that aimed to shift acute mental health supports from hospital settings to community settings, involving 92 New York City middle and high schools: "Teachers valued their educator roles and responsibilities and recognized that they, and their schools, are assessed by regulators and parents on specific academic indicators. ...
A challenge with universal school-based mental health supports is the limited understanding of potential unintended or unanticipated outcomes. In this review, we examined 47 academic and gray literature sources to address the question, “What are the side effects of universal school-based mental health supports?” We discuss how universal supports can positively impact student mental health, enhance school staff’s knowledge and attitudes in addressing mental health topics, and contribute to an improved school climate. However, universal supports can also lead to school staff feeling the strain of resource and time pressures from integrating mental health programming into demanding schedules, voicing frustrations about or exhibiting resistance to mental health supports, and encountering varied, unpredictable outcomes for different student populations across system contexts.
... On the one hand, cultural readiness toward innovation will increase the school's organisational learning capacity by creating school-based learning communities for both teaching and nonteaching staff (Anderson & Sice, 2016). On the other hand, forming learning organisations is an innovative management approach to enhance school governance effectiveness, impacts, and culture (Barnard, 2020). ...
The chaotic situation of today’s VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) and TUNA (Turbulent, Uncertain, Novel, Ambiguous) world is bringing more and more active and passive reforms, including positive and negative aspects, that reform business models. Educational institutions are not exceptional. Regarding the nature of educational institutions’ operation in today’s rapidly changing context, school leaders also need to raise concerns similar to those of business managers from other industries: “How do their institutions continuously renovate to adapt to tomorrow’s world?” Thus, based on organisational learning theories, this project aims to establish a framework to evaluate educational leadership’s influence on the organisational knowledge circulation effectiveness within the K-12 education context. The study combines a structured literature review, bibliometrics analysis, and high-order structural equation model analysis on the survey for teachers among Vietnamese public and private K-12 schools. First, this project proposed and validated a toolset to measure educational leadership as a combination of principalship and teacher leadership. Second, it revealed new insights about the impacts of educational leadership, knowledge circulation, and school culture on teachers’ job satisfaction. The project also offers insights into teachers’ professional development activities across various school types and grade levels in Vietnam, which contribute to further continuous renovation of Vietnamese K-12 schools, and diversify the corpus of educational leadership studies. This project’s results extended the applications of organisational learning theories in K-12 education, as well as can be adopted to establish further knowledge management frameworks in other settings such as higher education or vocational education.
... A small number of studies indicate that negative attitudes to health and wellbeing interventions can be overcome (e.g.,Anderson & Sice, 2016;, and our cases also indicate negative attitudes can be consciously addressed and potentially overcome.Both the quotes below relate to changing workplace cultures that became more receptive toThe general conclusions from and a review of job redesign interventions(Roodbari et al, in press) is that positive predispositions towards specific health and wellbeing practices assist with implementation. Notwithstanding, our case evidence and Daniels et al. indicate negative dispositions can be overcome, that attitudes can become more positive and our case data indicate key actors can recognise the need to address negative attitudes and deploy strategies to achieve this (chapters ...
In this groundbreaking interdisciplinary work, the authors focus on organizational analysis to understand workplace wellbeing, deviating from previous research that mostly looks at the individual worker or intervention. In addressing the question of why workplace health and wellbeing practices initiatives fall short of delivering sustained improvements in worker wellbeing, this book moves beyond localized explanations of the failure of specific interventions. Instead, it creates theoretical frameworks that explain how wellbeing at work can be improved and sustained. The authors use evidence from systematic and comprehensive surveys of the literature as well as new empirical research, and present an explanatory framework of the processes through which organizations change to implement and accommodate workplace health and wellbeing practices. Learning, adaptation and continuation explain successful implementation of workplace health and wellbeing practices, while Gestalting, fracturing and grafting explain how organizations resolve or negotiate conflict between health and wellbeing practices and existing organizational procedures, systems and practices. In addition, the authors reflect on the implications for research of reframing the unit of analysis as the organization and how studies on workplace wellbeing practices can provide a conceptual platform for thinking about the way organizations can create social value in a broader sense.
This book, authored by experts in their field, is a great resource for academics and professionals of organizational studies and of worker wellbeing across the social sciences, behavioural sciences, business and management courses, wellbeing research, and labour studies.
To download this book : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-00665-4
... It reflects the need for better emotional and personal skills and competencies among the school teachers for effective functioning at work. Several studies have correlated psychological well-being and teacher resilience with other psychological constructs like job satisfaction, work effectiveness (Day and Kington, 2008), work engagement (Parker and Martin, 2009), organisational learning process (Anderson and Sice, 2016), mindfulness-based training (Mahfouz, 2018), and many more. Based on the broaden-and-built theory, an emotionally intelligent teacher is bound to show higher resilience which signifies the ability one possesses to overcome challenges in life as a part of the developmental process and enhances one's strengths and consequently improves well-being (Archana et al., 2017). ...
Purpose
The substance of the present study lies in analysing the extent to which intrinsic factors like emotional intelligence and resilient character traits impact the psychological well-being of school teachers. It prominences the mediating role of resilient character traits in the relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological well-being of teachers.
Design/methodology/approach
This cross-sectional survey study recruits a sample of 200 school teachers across the state of Haryana, India, with the help of a convenience sampling technique.
Findings
The findings from parallel multiple mediation indicate perseverance as a significant mediator and predictor of psychological well-being among factors of resilient traits, and self-reliance emerges as an inconsistent, yet significant mediator in the relationship between emotional intelligence and well-being of teachers. The direct effect of emotional intelligence on psychological well-being also emerged as statistically significant. Additionally, the female school teachers show higher emotional intelligence and resilience as compared to the male school teachers.
Practical implications
The research is not an unmitigated work in the exploration of a causal relationship between the study variables. However, the study draws practical suggestions for improving the perseverant and emotionally intelligent behaviour of teachers for better emotional and psychological adjustment at work. It acknowledges the role of school administration and education policymakers in furthering the betterment of teachers' psychological state for improved performance and effectiveness. Also, teamwork, stress reduction and leadership building appeared to be helpful contributors to enhance the perseverance and emotional intelligence among teachers.
Originality/value
Studies in the field of school administration rarely address the psychological well-being of school teachers as their concern. This study accentuates the impact of intrinsic antecedents of psychological well-being, which is neither well conceptualised in Indian studies nor is causally related to any psychological constructs. Therefore, it remarkably contributes to the literature in the field of educational management and leadership, providing an insight into the psyche of teachers from “the Orient”.
Objective: Schools are important settings for health promotion. In schools, children and adolescents can be reached regardless of their social background, which represents a unique opportunity for promoting health. Several studies have demonstrated the importance of school leadership in initiating and sustaining health promotion; however, efforts to systematically review the influence of school leadership on school health promotion are still lacking. Hence, this paper analyses empirical studies published in scientific journals on school leadership and health promotion in schools.
Design: Systematic literature review.
Method: Informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines, a review was conducted using two main databases: Web of Science and Scopus, which retrieved 51 eligible articles.
Results: The review of these articles resulted in the identification of seven main themes-school leaders' health; attitudes, knowledge and behaviour; accountability; support from school leaders; shared leadership approaches; capacity building and parent engagement.
Conclusion: This systematic literature review expands the literature by highlighting the school leadership factors that promote school health promotion in Oceania, Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia continents. Future systematic literature reviews could explore studies and different aspects of health promotion by teachers, especially in the Asian context.
In this chapter, we examine in detail the role of different actors in the implementation of health and wellbeing practices and introduce a new concept, that of the delivery context, which relates to how a programme of workplace health and wellbeing initiatives are co-ordinated. We examine the structures and co-ordinating functions of the delivery context, and also the political, cultural and symbolic aspects of the delivery context that influences actors’ behaviours and logics.
Rationale
Workplace health and wellbeing practices (WHWPs) often fail to improve psychological health or wellbeing because of implementation failure. Thus, implementation should be evaluated to improve the effectiveness of WHWPs.
Objective
We conducted a systematic review to identify critical success factors for WHWP implementation and gaps in the evidence. Doing so provides a platform for future theoretical development.
Methods
We reviewed 74 separate studies that assessed the implementation of WHWPs and their effects on psychological health or psychological wellbeing. Most studies were from advanced industrial Western democracies (71). Intervention types included primary (e.g., work redesign, 37 studies and health behavior change, 8 studies), secondary (e.g., mindfulness training, 11 studies), tertiary (e.g., focused on rehabilitation, 9 studies), and multifocal (e.g., including components of primary and secondary, 9 studies).
Results
Tangible changes preceded improvements in health and wellbeing, indicating intervention success cannot be attributed to non-specific factors. Some interventions had beneficial effects through mechanisms not planned as part of the intervention. Three factors were associated with successful WHWP implementation: continuation, learning, and effective governance.
Conclusions
The review indicates future research could focus on how organizations manage conflict between WHWP implementation and existing organizational processes, and the dynamic nature of organizational contexts that affect and are affected by WHWP implementation. This systematic review is registered [reference withheld to protect anonymity].
This chapter presents a conceptual refiguration of action-research based on a "sociorationalist" view of science. The position that is developed can be summarized as follows: For action-research to reach its potential as a vehicle for social innovation it needs to begin advancing theoretical knowledge of consequence; that good theory may be one of the best means human beings have for affecting change in a postindustrial world; that the discipline's steadfast commitment to a problem-solving view of the world acts as a primary constraint on its imagination and contribution to knowledge; that appreciative inquiry represents a viable complement to conventional forms of action-research; and finally, that through our assumptions and choice of method we largely create the world we later discover.
What is a Socratic dialogue? A Socratic dialogue (further 'SD') is the most popular form of the Socratic method. In this method, participants try to investigate in a more or less structured way the truth and the value of their opinions in attempting to respond to a self-chosen question. The material of the investigation is their own experience, either an experience here and now or a memorable event from the past. The conversation is meant to be a dialogue, rather than a formal debate or informal discussion The participants try to understand each other and engage in a common enterprise. This doesn't necessarily mean that participants have to find a consensus about the answer to the question in order to have a successful dialogue. An awareness of the complexity of the investigation is often much more satisfactory than a constructed consensus. The attempt to think carefully, slowly and in depth distinguishes itself from other forms of conversation like debates, brainstorming sessions or creative thinking sessions. Where does the Socratic dialogue come from? Of course, the dialogue refers to Socrates, Plato's teacher. About 2500 years ago, he is reported to have undertaken t rhetorical investigations with his pupils in a very particular manner. One of t his approaches to searching for the truth of his pupils' claims was to confront them with the difference between their words and their deeds, so that they became less sure of their motives, intentions and beliefs. . The 'shame' (elenchus) that arose as a result of this confrontation was, according to Plato, a necessary step towards a further and more thorough investigation of one's own opinions. And a life not devoted to investigation, according to Socrates, was not worth living. In the1920s, Leonard Nelson, a German philosopher (1882-1927), adapted the Socratic method to educational settings and promoted it as an important means to renew education and politics. He was convinced it would serve to create more reflective and critical citizens. Following the think ing of Kant and Fries, Nelson believed that participants in a group could together investigate critically their own beliefs and opinions by 'retracing' the judgements that are implicit in our effort to give meaning to our experiences.
This publication contains reprint articles for which IEEE does not hold copyright. You may purchase this article from the Ask*IEEE Document Delivery Service at http://www.ieee.org/services/askieee/.
Person perception includes three sequential processes: categorization (what is the actor doing?), characterization (what trait does the action imply?), and correction (what situational constraints may have caused the action?). We argue that correction is less automatic (i.e., more easily disrupted) than either categorization or characterization. In Experiment 1, subjects observed a target behave anxiously in an anxiety-provoking situation. In Experiment 2, subjects listened to a target read a political speech that he had been constrained to write. In both experiments, control subjects used information about situational constraints when drawing inferences about the target, but cognitively busy subjects (who performed an additional cognitive task during encoding) did not. The results (a) suggest that person perception is a combination of lower and higher order processes that differ in their susceptibility to disruption and (b) highlight the fundamental differences between active and passive perceivers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The theory of autopoiesis, that is systems that are self-producing or selfconstrucing, was originally developed to explain the particular nature of living as opposed to non-living entities. It was subsequently enlarged to encompass cognition and language leading to what is known as second-order cybernetics. However, as with earlier biological theories, many authors have tried to extend the domain of the theory to encompass social systems, the most notable being Luhmann. The purpose of this article is to consider critically the extent to which the theory of autopoiesis, as originally defined. can be applied to social systems - that is, whether social systems are autopoietic. And, if it cannot, whether some weaker version might be appropriate.
Human Systems Management is an important work that integrates knowledge, management and systems into a unified world of thinking and action in business, decision-making and economics. It presents a modern synthesis of the fields of knowledge management, systems science and human organization. A biological rather than mechanistic perspective pervades the text. New and original ideas and approaches are presented with the simplicity and clarity typical of the well-known author. © 2005 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved.
There is a large body of literature by the Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, referred to as Autopoietic Theory. This theory describes the dynamics of living systems; dealing with cognition as a biological phenomenon. The theory, however, has found far wider application than may be suggested from its biological roots, to generate implications for epistemology, i.e. enactive view of cognition, communication and social systems theory. This paper presents key insights and explores their implication to understanding leadership capability from the perspective of an enactive view of cognition. Autopoiesis suggests that the quality of human experience, is determined by the interplay between the internal dynamics (biological processes) and the environment (social and other) of an active situated human agent, and thus offers an alternative perspective to interpreting and developing leadership capability. What is required is to foster an environment where awareness is actively developed, fragmentation of experience is avoided and language is used to promote creativity. A mini case study of the hearing aid manufacturer, Oticon A/S, is used for illustration.
There is a large body of literature by the Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, usually referred to as Autopoietic Theory. This theory describes the dynamics of living systems; dealing with cognition as a biological phenomenon. The theory, however, has found far wider application than may be suggested from its biological roots. This is because the theory builds from its cognitive base to generate implications for epistemology, communication and social systems theory. Since, in essence, there is no discontinuity between what is social and what is human, from the perspective of their biological roots. This paper presents some of the key elements of autopoietic theory and explores their application to organisations and their management. The topics considered are: i) the epistemological qualities of our knowledge and its relevance in understanding organisation; ii) human enterprises as autonomous selforganising systems; iii) the meaning of communication and the role of language in organisations. The paper also describes a new approach to organisational inquiry. This brings together, in a co-determinate fashion, a pragmatic attitude to human experience and language, and the value of theoretical insight.
Many of today’s books on the tools and techniques of leadership and management provide descriptions of long lists for use in decision-making, leading, coaching and project management. This book takes a completely different approach. It contests the claims that the tools and techniques are based on evidence and explains why human activities of leading and managing are simply not amenable to scientific proof and consequently, why long-term futures of organizations are unpredictable. The book undertakes a critical exploration of just what these tools and techniques are about; showing that while they may lead to competent performance they cannot go further to expert performance because expertise involves going beyond rules and procedures. Ralph Stacey investigates the many questions that are thrown up as a result of this new approach. Questions such as: • How do we apply this new way of thinking? • What are the practical tools and techniques it gives us? • What is the role of leaders in an unpredictable world? • How does complexity affect the way organizations are structured and function?
Because competitive advantage accrues to those enterprises that effectively manage their ‘knowledge’, researchers are seeking a viable organizational epistemology. This paper addresses one epistemological challenge - the slippery but critical notion of ‘context’ - by presenting and substantiating four claims. First, as ‘that which imparts meaning’, context is inherently important to epistemological enquiry generally and enterprise knowledge processes specifically. Second, context is a key issue in three areas of current enterprise (re-) engineering and ‘organizational learning’ research: (a) systemic theories; (b) knowledge acquisition tools; and (c) conversation management. Third, a systemic perspective requires redefining context as a process (contexture) embedded in a system's intrinsic operational ‘situatedness’. Finally, this shift of perspective can be practically implemented through innovative enterprise knowledge acquisition procedures. One such innovative procedure (nichepicking) is illustrated by a case study.
Purpose
To outline a philosophical system of inquiry that may be used as a frame‐of‐reference for modelling social systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on insights from cognitive science, autopoiesis, management cybernetics and non‐linear dynamics.
Findings
The outcome of this paper is an outline of a frame‐of‐reference to be used as a starting point (or a frame of orientation) for any problem solving/modelling intent or act. The framework highlights the importance of epistemological reflection and the need to avoid any separation of the process of knowing from that of modelling. It also emphasises the importance of inquiry into the assumptions that underpin the methods, tools and techniques that we employ, and into the tacit beliefs of the human actors who use them.
Research limitations/implications
The presented frame‐of‐reference should be regarded as an evolving system of inquiry, one that seeks to incorporate contemporary human insight.
Practical implications
Exactly, how the frame‐of‐reference presented in this paper should be exploited within an organisational or educational context, is a question to which there is no single “correct” answer. What is primarily important, however, is that it should be used to raise the profile of, and disseminate the benefits that accrue from, inquiry which goes beyond the simple application of tools and methods.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a new framework‐of‐reference for modelling social systems that draws on insights from cognitive science, autopoiesis, management cybernetics and non‐linear dynamics.
Distributed leadership: democracy or delivery?
Understanding humans and organisations: philosophical implications of autopoiesis
Research In Organizational Change and Development
- D L Cooperrider
- S Srivastva
Human-Centeredness: A Paradigm Shift Invoked by the Emerging Cyberspaces Keynote address prepared for a symposium on Connected Intelligence: Human Beings in Information Systems at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie
- K Krippendorff