Thesis advisor: Rebecca Lownhaupt / This qualitative case study examined the role of the principal in organizational learning in one small, urban school district. The study focused on ways in which building leaders acquired, interpreted, and distributed information in schools, and how these practices were monitored. Findings from analysis of principal interviews and document review showed that monthly meetings with the superintendent served as the primary source of information gathered by principals, while meetings with their peers provided a vehicle for interpreting information shared. Within their buildings, principals used various building-level meetings, written communication, and the teacher evaluation processes as vehicles for information distribution to staff. Meetings and observation of practice were utilized to monitor efficacy of their distribution practices. Findings suggested that principals did not identify themselves as the primary keepers or distributors of information as it pertained to teaching and learning. Using a distributed approach, they instead relied on district directors and instructional coaches for that aspect of the work. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

This dissertation has posed and answered the question whether strategic conversation can be used as a tool for facilitating learning and change in organisations, within the context of the public sector. The study provided answers to the following sub-questions through the literature review:- * What is ‘strategy’ and what does it entail? * What are ‘strategic conversations’ and what do they entail? * What is ‘organisation learning’? * What is ‘organisational change’? * What factors create an environment conducive to the facilitation of learning in organisations by means of strategic conversation? * What factors create an environment conducive to the facilitation of change in organisations by means of strategic conversation? After the above questions had been answered, an interactive data collection and analysis was conducted. This process culminated in the findings of the study which made it possible to draw specific conclusions. The main conclusion of the study was that strategic conversation is a tool that can be used to facilitate learning and change in the Legislature as an example of a public sector organisation. The study concluded by highlighting key recommendations. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

This thesis explores the contemporary position of the university by examining specific elements within the current knowledge discourse. In presenting a view of the Knowledge Management (KM) movement within the discipline of Management Science this thesis supports the claims that the emerging form of knowledge within the contemporary knowledge discourse is one that relates to or is embedded within performative criteria. This draws on the work of Jean-Francois Lyotard and other ‘postmodern’ thinkers to help explain why we appear to be facing a crucial paradox, i.e. a context where multiplicity and diversity appears to be paramount and yet knowledge itself is conforming to a more stable and less volatile form. This principal paradox is explained with the use of a model of the current knowledge discourse. The contemporary position is presented as one of ‘residual reflection’, where the contestation within the discourse results in a multiplicity of knowledge claims. Inevitably the existing structure of legitimacy within the discourse assists in the validation of knowledge claims within this fluid contested environment where there has not emerged a consensus through which legitimacy can be appropriately assigned. The current knowledge discourse appears to lie within this period of residual reflection and the manifestation of this is outlined in relation to the university. In particular, the university aligns itself with the commodification of knowledge and adopts an uncritical stance in relation to the imposition of market forces within Higher Education. This supports the legitimisation of learning that is external to the university and validates such phenomena as Lifelong Learning, Experiential Learning and other forms of work-based learning. Although not entirely critical of these forms of learning, this thesis presents a cautionary view of these developments. Specifically, the discipline of education in considering the position of the university within the postmodern, often calls for it to adopt or take up the critical position, to critically engage with the trends that appear to be emerging. However, where the university can be seen to be contributing to its own loss of legitimacy there is a danger that the opportunity for the university to undertake this necessary critical engagement is itself being undermined. The university is potentially losing its opportunity to engage within the knowledge discourse in an effective way. In many respects it is contributing to its own loss of legitimacy and in doing so opens up the discourse to other elements which themselves seek legitimacy. In its open acceptance of the benefits to be gained from the uncritical acceptance of the commodification of knowledge the university is doing more than allowing different views to be aired and considered. The university is, in fact, appearing to commercially succeed at the expense of its own position within the knowledge discourse. This thesis does not attempt to support the existence of the university as an institution. In presenting the deteriorating position of the university there is accepted only a greater degree of contestation within the knowledge discourse. The need to reconcile this contestation is necessary but the outcome or the means of reconciliation are not considered here. However, the opportunity for the university to play a part in this reconciliation is not fully appreciated currently, specifically within the academic community. The many claims that the university is in crisis and facing ruin are countered by the presentation of a genuine need, essentially the need to critically engage with the dynamism being experienced within the knowledge discourse. There is assumed to be an opportunity here for the university, but this opportunity is itself being lost and the position of the university, at a time when it appears to be at its most successful, is being undermined. Importantly its own actions are contributing to its inevitable loss of legitimacy and in turn its right or opportunity to position itself as the critical arbiter within the knowledge discourse.

After the devastating forest fire in the Swedish region of Västmanland in 2014, numerous investigations and evaluations suggested measures to improve the Swedish crisis management and preparedness. Yet, after a new wave of severe forest fires in 2018, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) concluded that the lessons from 2014 had not been sufficiently implemented, since several issues reoccurred. The research area of obstacles to crisis-induced learning among public organizations is rather young, and any widely acknowledged theories are still lacking. This case study focuses on the crisis-induced learning process within MSB after the 2014 forest fire. Three hypotheses are derived from previous literature and modified to the case, and tested through a process-tracing plausibility probe according to an abductive approach. The analyzed material consists of documentation from the learning process in combination with semi-structured informant interviews with current and previous members of staff. The analysis confirms that the crisis documentation was insufficient which in most cases affected the learning process negatively. It further identifies an aspect of accessibility to this obstacle which should be considered in future research. As expected, the crisis learning was mainly based on the single-loop approach, although a few indications of a deeper organizational adjustment occurred. No significant indications of conflicting opinions within MSB were found in the documents, although some informants described how incompatible opinions had emerged. In most cases they impeded the process, as expected. However, in one case the conflicting interests were perceived to improve the learning outcome. This finding suggests that conflicting opinions, in comparison to previous claims, do not necessarily prevent learning. The relation between conflicting opinions and crisis learning must thereby be further explored. Additional indications of possible obstacles were that the process depended on individuals, the institutional memory was insufficient, the learning process differed between departments, and that lacking resources prevented the implementation of measures. The study ends by suggesting learning improvements and discussing the new insights for the hypotheses which can be used in future research.

Knowledge is a necessary and critically important factor in generating growth and increased prosperity. The extent to which such effects are materialized depends however on its diffusion and how it transcends into innovation, entrepreneurship and growing firms. This doctoral thesis consists of four papers that examine how labor mobility and innovation strategies influence the performance at the firm level with respect to new ventures, firm level growth and innovativeness.   The first paper provides empirical support of the validity of the knowledge-based spillover theory of entrepreneurship by employing a detailed database. The results indicate that both inter-regional labor inflows and intra-regional labor mobility exert a strong positive effect on entrepreneurship, while inter-regional outflows negatively affect entrepreneurial entry.   The second paper examines the influence of the labor mobility of knowledge workers on innovation at the firm level. New evidence are provided that reveals a positive and significant impact of labor mobility on firms’ innovations measured as patent applications.   In the third paper the influence of labor mobility between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and other firms on innovation is investigated. Looking at firms having different owner structures, empirical evidence are provided that particularly domestically owned MNEs generate strong knowledge spillovers to non-MNEs that translates into innovations.   The fourth paper examines the relationship between innovation and firm growth. We implement a classification of innovations based on whether they are explorative or exploitative. The more radical explorative innovations are shown to have a persistent growth effect in the long term, while exploitative innovation increases the labor demand predominantly in the short term. / <p>QC 20160401</p>

Public sector organizations are in need of new approaches to development and innovation. There is a need to develop a capability to better understand priorities, needs and wishes of public sector service users and become more proactive, in order to meet the demands on keeping costs down and quality high. Design is increasingly put forward as a potential answer to this need and there are many initiatives taken across the world to encourage the use of a design approach to development and innovation within public sector. In relation to this trend there is a need to improve the understanding of how public sector organizations develop ability to exploit design; how they develop design capability. This is the focus of this thesis, which through an exploratory study has observed the two initiatives aiming to introduce design and develop design capability within healthcare and social service organizations. One main contribution of this work is an understanding of the design capability concept based on a structured review of the use of the design capability concept in the literature. The concept has previously been used in relation to different aspects of designs in organizations. Another important contribution is the development of an understanding for how design capability is developed based on interpretations founded in the organizational learning perspective of absorptive capacity. The study has identified how different antecedents to development of design capability have influenced this development in the two cases. The findings have identified aspects that both support and impede the development of design capability which are important to acknowledge and address when aiming to develop design capability within a public sector organization. In both cases, the set up of the knowledge transferring efforts focus mainly on developing awareness of design. Similar patterns are seen in other prior and parallel initiatives. The findings however suggest that it is also important to ensure that the organization have access to design competence and that structures like routines, processes and culture support and enable the use of design practice, in order to make design a natural part of the continuous development work.

Purpose – The purpose of this thesis is to explore the capability of Swedish regional public transport authorities (RPTAs) to organize public transport so that it stimulates the intended value creation process needed to increase users’ positive experience. Design/methodology/approach – This thesis utilizes an interpretative research approach. Two empirical studies, resulting in two papers have been used in this thesis. Study I consists of a quantitative Kano questionnaire with 930 respondents. Study II comprises a qualitative study with 11 semi-structured interviews. Both studies have been equally necessary to the results of this thesis. Findings – Public transport is one of the few public services with a mandate to attract users, and therefore, this thesis suggests that Swedish public transport organizations must understand how various services in multiple dimensions affect users’ preferences for public transport. With this understanding, public transport organizations can effectively and efficiently allocate resources and increase the appeal of future public transport. Such a focus demands a deep organizational knowledge and understanding of customer needs and detailed awareness of how the achievement of various requirements affects customers. This thesis shows that organizational structures are based on political comprises rather then the needs to solve coordination challenges and facilitate customers’ value creation. It is further argued that the organizational structures and personal or impersonal information processing mechanisms in Swedish public transport influence the search for information and subsequent organizational learning influencing the RPTAs’ capabilities to include and understand public transport users’ needs. This thesis offers insight into how public organizations, such as Swedish public transport authorities, can make decisions in structural design to learn from customer perceptions and adapt organizational policy accordingly.  In addition, I argue that RPTAs must employ both exploitative and exploratory learning to improve their capabilities and increase their efficiency and effectiveness. This thesis also provides a model to describe these relationships. Originality/value – Unlike previous studies, this thesis shows how organizational structures are decided based on political compromises rather than the need for coordination. This thesis offers insight into how public organizations, such as Swedish public transport authorities, can make decisions in structural design to learn from customer perceptions and adapt organizational policy accordingly. / Public transport is one of the few public services with a mandate to attract users, and therefore, this thesis suggests that Swedish public transport organizations must understand how various services in multiple dimensions affect users’ preferences for public transport. With this understanding, public transport organizations can effectively and efficiently allocate resources and increase the appeal of future public transport. Such an approach requires not only a deep organizational knowledge of customer needs, but also a detailed knowledge of how the achievement of the various demands affects users and their value creation. This thesis further shows that organizational structures are based on political comprises rather then the needs to solve coordination challenges and facilitate customers’ value creation. It is here argued that the organizational structures and personal or impersonal information processing mechanisms in Swedish public transport influence the search for information and subsequent organizational learning influencing the RPTAs’ capabilities to include and understand public transport users’ needs. This thesis offers insight into how public organizations, such as Swedish public transport authorities, can make decisions in structural design to learn from customer perceptions and adapt organizational policy accordingly.

Abstract THE IMPACT OF ENABLING SCHOOL STRUCTURES ON THE DEGREE OF INTERNAL SCHOOL CHANGE AS MEASURED BY THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES By Joseph D. Tylus, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Major Director: Dr. William C. Bosher Distinguished Professor, G. Wilder School of Policy Adjunct Professor, VCU School of Education This non-experimental, correlational study looked at the relationship between bureaucratic structures in middle and high schools in bringing about change in individual teacher classroom instructional practices through the centralized directive of membership in a professional learning community. Using a continuum of bureaucratic structure, from enabling to hindering, designed by Hoy and Sweetland (2001), each teacher identified the type of bureaucratic structure they believed they operated within. The teacher participants responded to a questionnaire on how involved they were and to what degree they participated with colleagues in a professional learning community during the current school year. Further, they were asked how membership in a professional learning community influenced, if at all, their instructional practices. A regression analysis showed a statistically significant relationship between enabling bureaucratic structure and a higher degree of teacher personal professional growth. A regression analysis also demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between enabling bureaucratic structure and change in instructional practices in the classroom associated with membership in a professional learning community. However, while the analyses found statistical significance, the actual effect size was low, challenging the level of practical significance of the model. One interaction of interest related to teachers who teach courses where there is a state mandated end-of-course test that impacts the school’s adequate yearly progress (AYP) rating. Teachers in this group reported the highest level of change in their classroom instructional practices through membership in a professional learning community when they perceived a more enabling bureaucratic structure for the school in which they worked. Hopefully these results will help encourage future work that pertains to which bureaucratic structures are most effective in producing change in the classroom through the use of professional learning communities. The dissertation was created using Microsoft Word 2003.

D.Com. / Innovation mostly happens tacitly. Organisations do not usually explicate innovative thinking and behaviour in business processes and models. The thesis stresses the importance of seeing learning and innovation as dynamically linked processes consisting of different episodes. Innovators and innovation managers should be able to identify the unintended and intended messages in the different episodes of the learning and innovation process and decide upon the usefulness by further eliciting, sharing and shaping tacit knowing and being for innovation...

Background: Today’s global social and environmental issues are impacting the way of doing business around the world with an increased pressure on organizations to implement sustainability practices in a more strategic manner. Many organizations lack the practical knowledge to integrate sustainability efficiently. Scholars argue for the importance of organizational learning for the transition towards sustainable corporations. While the problem is evident across industries, dealing with the problem effectively is particularly important within the property sector since property development is a fundamental part of building a sustainable society, hence crucial for Sweden’s achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Purpose: To analyze the management of organizational learning for the integration of corporate sustainability in organizations within the Swedish property sector. Method: By using a qualitative research methodology with a single-case study of a Swedish property management firm, in-depth empirics could be collected from semi-structured interviews conducted with members of the organization from various departments and positions, and across regions. An abductive approach was applied where we used and extended previous theory before presenting a final model where theory and findings were aligned. Conclusion: Our model showed how organizational learning can be managed for the integration of corporate sustainability across different levels of an organization – individual and group, organizational, and societal where various practices where identified on each level – see Figure 7. / Bakgrund: Företag runt om i världen står inför en utmaning att implementera hållbarhetsfrågor på ett mer strategiskt sätt för att hantera de globala sociala och miljömässiga aspekterna inom hållbarhet. Många organisationer saknar den praktiska kunskapen att integrera hållbarhet effektivt. Enligt forskning är organisatoriskt lärande viktigt för övergången till mer hållbara företag. Även om problemet är tydligt inom alla industrier, så är det speciellt viktigt för företag inom fastighetsbranschen att integrera hållbarhet då fastighetsutveckling är en grundpelare för att bygga ett hållbart samhälle. Följaktligen innebär detta att fastighetsbranschens hållbarhetsarbete är kritisk för Sveriges möjlighet att uppnå de 17 globala målen och utförandet av Handlingsplan Agenda 2030. Syfte: Att analysera hur organisatoriskt lärande kan hanteras för att integrera hållbarhet i organisationer inom den svenska fastighetsbranschen. Metod: Genom att använda oss av en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med en fallstudie av ett svenskt fastighetsbolag samlades djupgående empiri in från semi-strukturerade intervjuer som hölls med medlemmar ur organisationen från olika avdelningar, roller och regioner. Med ett abduktivt tillvägagångssätt till forskningsarbetet använde och utvecklade vi tidigare teori innan vi presenterade en slutlig modell där teori och empiri sammanställdes. Slutsats: Vår modell visar hur organisatoriskt lärande kan hanteras över olika organisatoriska nivåer av ett företag – individ och grupp, organisation, och samhälle – för att integrera hållbarhet genom olika tillämpningar, se figur 7.