Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Environmental and Life Science, Dept. of Graduate School of the Environment, 2008. / Bibliography: p. 370-395. / Part 1: Introduction and contextual influences ; chapter 1: Getting a sense of the research terrain ; chapter 2: Shaping contextual influences -- Part 2: Theoretical foundations of the study ; chapter 3: Understanding organisational change ; chapter 4: Exploring organisational learning and sustainability as social learning processes -- Part 3: Methodology and research processes ; chapter 5: Critical action research methodology ; chapter 6: Research design and processes -- Part 4: Contextual issues and social learning outcomes ; chapter 7: Critical organisational analysis of the NMK ; chapter 8: Deliberating and exploring possibilities for change -- Part 5: Discussion of findings ; chapter 9: Ontological, epistemological and pedagogical implications of the study ; chapter 10: Reflections, contributions and recommendations -- References. / The main goal of this study was to deepen an understanding of exploring organisational learning and sustainability using critical action research methodology in a Kenyan context. The research process invloved a group of 23 middle level management emplyees of the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) in identifying and acting on sustainability issues. This group was designed and cultivated as a community of practice for organisational learning purposes. The basic premise underlying the study is that exploring agential, structural and cultural interactions (morphogenetic relationships) through educational interventions (communicative interactions) in a community of practice can deepen context specific understanding of organisational learning and sustainability. I developed this argument by drawing on a complex philosophical framework that brought together assumptions from Archerian social realism, Deweyan pragmatism and critical theory. The framework underpinned three distinct and yet related theoretical perspectives - the Archerian morphogenetic approach. Habermasian critical theory and Lave and Wenger's communities of practice. The Archerian morphogenetic approach and Habermasian critical theory respectively provided ontological and epistemological perspectives for the study. Lave and Wenger's communities of practice approach provided both a unit of analysis (the NMK community) and a social theory of learning to complement the Archerian and Habermasian theoretical perspectives. -- I generated data within a 14-month period between March 2005 and March 2007 in three distinct but integrally intertwined broad action research cycles of inquiry. During the first cycle, the research group identified contextual issues related to organisational learning and sustainability. In the second cycle the group investigated the issues deeper and deliberated possibilities for social change and the emergence of sustainability. The final cycle delineated social learning outcomes from the study and explored ways of institutionalising social change processes. Throughout these cycles, I explored ways of knowing the social reality of enabling organisational learning and sustainability. The cycles were integral to communicative interactions, which I implemented as educational interventions for developing agency in the NMK community of practice. Data analysis was undertaken within cyclical processes of entering and managing data, manual coding and developing categories, identifying themes, presenting results and validating findings. -- Undertaking a collaborative critical organisational analysis of the NMK revealed various contextual factors that both constrained and enabled participant learning capabilities and reflexivity to address sustainability issues. These factors manifested as contextually mediated issues of communication and information flows, decision making and leadership (governance), staff motivation and development, financial management and identity and role of the NMK. The research process promoted collective social action and innovation, forstered critical reflections and reflexivity, enhanced democratic deliberations and strengthened systemic thinking capabilities in the NMK community of practice. This study contributes to the body of literature on environmental education in its employment of a coherent and complex philosophical and thoretical framework for exploring organisational learning and sustainability. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xvi, 419 p. ill. (some col.)

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / In the fast-changing environment of today, organisations have a tendency to change their strategy to be able to adapt to changing circumstances. It has become increasingly important for organisations to remain competitive in the marketplace. The management of organisations is therefore showing more interest in concepts such as organisational learning and innovation. These concepts are seen as contributing factors to the success of the organisation. History has proven, however, that this is not always true. The infrequent success of applying these concepts has resulted in the approach towards organisational learning and innovation concepts being vague. This study aimed to examine the conceptual ambiguity in order to arrive at a better understanding. The problem statement is examined in some detail in Chapter One of this study. The second and third chapters aim to investigate the concepts of organisational learning and innovation separately. To understand the concept of organisational learning better, other related concepts such as organisation, individual learning, knowledge, knowledge management and change management were studied. The focus, however, remained on organisational learning. To elaborate on the concept of organisational learning, the organisational learning cycle was of specific importance together with the characteristics of organisational learning. Aspects that are seen as restrictions to organisational learning were studied and consequently strong theoretical arguments could be provided regarding organisational learning. Aspects that were prominent were the notion that the presence of certain attributes can influence organisational learning, of which organisational structure and organisational culture stand out. There were also certain stumbling blocks that might prevent organisational learning, and individual learning was identified as essential for organisational learning. In Chapter Three a similar approach was followed regarding the concept of innovation. The characteristics of the individual are as important for the sake of innovation as the individual’s tolerance of change. The concepts of change management and structure of the organisation are important to allow for innovation to take place. These concepts were studied separately and in Chapter Four the aim was to compare the two concepts to determine any possible similarities and differences. By doing this, points of correlation as well as possible relations in terms of a systems approach were identified. In this chapter the attributes that support the concepts were listed along with aspects that are seen as stumbling blocks. In Chapter Five the most important aspects relating to organisational learning and innovation are summarised. The one prominent aspect is the impact that the structure of an organisation has on the success of both organisational learning and innovation. The structure of an organisation, however, is based on the strategy of the organisation. The last contributing aspect that needs to be mentioned is the culture of the organisation. The study has indicated clear similarities as well as relations between the concepts, but as with any learning process there are always questions and therefore the study points towards further research. The research can be extended to determine the impact of the shortage of time on organisational learning and/or innovation processes in terms of knowledge management.

Bakgrund: Managementkonsultbranschen har de senaste 40 åren växt kraftigt och managementkonsultens roll i organisationer tar allt större plats. Det har genererat mycket forskning kring inköp av managementkonsulter, men forskning kring utvärderingens plats i organisationers konsultanvändning är fortfarande bristande. Utvärderingar av komplexa tjänster har tidigare setts som formella processer, men det finns indikationer på att den informella utvärderingen tar mer plats i organisationer än någonsin. Idag är marknader och industrier kompetensbaserade, varpå det bör finnas intresse inom organisationer att ständigt sträva mot förbättrad prestation. Organisationer bör fokusera på kontinuerligt lärande i organisationens alla delar, vilket kanske kan stimuleras av konsultanvändning, genom utvärdering. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om hur organisationer utvärderar managementkonsultens arbete och på vilket sätt utvärderingen bidrar till det organisatoriska lärandet. Metod: Studien baseras på tre fallföretag som använder managementkonsulter i sin dagliga verksamhet. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär, där data är samlad genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med inköpare och projektledare. Slutsats: Studien påvisar tre typer av utvärdering som inkluderas i organisationers konsultanvändning, den informella utvärderingen, den individuella utvärderingen samt den projektbaserade utvärderingen. Studien är bland de första av sitt slag som konstaterar den informella utvärderingens förekomst i organisationer. Vidare kan det konstateras att utvärderingen direkt kan gynna organisationers lärande, främst då information kodas och sprids i interna nätverk genom individuell utvärdering. Det kan även konstateras att lean har en negativ inverkan på lärandet genom utvärdering, då organisationer som är lean ofta väljer att inte spara utvärderingsrelaterad information. / Background: The use of Management Consultants has increased during the past 40 years and is now more common in organisations. This has resulted in much research regarding the purchasing processes of Management Consultants, but less regarding how organsiations evaluate these services. Evaluation of complex services has previously been categorised as a formal process, but today, there are indications that informal evaluations are more and more common. Moreover, industries today are highly influenced by the possession of knowledge, why organisations should find interest in continuously improved performance. Organisations should therefore focus on general continuous learning, which could be stimulated by evaluations through the use of Management Consultants. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to contribute with knowledge regarding how organisations evaluate the work of management consultants and how the evaluation can contribute to organisational learning. Methodology: This study concerns three cases, three organisations that include management consultants in their daily operations. This is a qualitative study, where data was collected through semi-structured interviews with both procurement managers and project managers. Conclusions: This study argues for three evaluation strategies, included in organisational use of Management Consultants, the informal evaluation, the individual evaluation and the project-based evaluation. The study is among the first to state the presence of informal evaluations in organisations. Moreover, the study argues that evaluations can favour organisational learning, principally when information from individual evaluations are crystalised and spread through organisation’s internal networks. It can be further noted that lean production can influence learning through evaluations on a negative note, since organisations who use lean often choose not to save information related to evaluations.

New Product Development is vital to the performance of high-tech firms given the rapid change in technology and markets that they face. Drawing on the ambidexterity literature this study focuses on how firms can employ Ambidextrous Market Learning (AML), that is, the use of exploratory and exploitative market learning strategies simultaneously, to develop successful innovative products. Despite the exponential growth of studies focusing on ambidexterity, the literature portrays the ambidexterity concept as a present or absent like phenomena. However, in the current study, AML is conceptualised as a continuum of market knowledge that acts as a key source essential in creating customer value in the form of new products. Whilst research into ambidexterity contains abundant evidence of the positive effects of ambidexterity on firm performance, yet there is little discussion in the literature on the effects of AML on product advantage and the role of product innovativeness. A conceptual model comprising the relationship between AML, product advantage and product innovativeness is developed and empirically tested using 178 UK-based high-tech firms. The findings indicate that AML firms tend to develop products that have high product advantage. The study further focuses on how product innovativeness and product advantage constructs interact to create new product financial performance. Findings also suggest that marketing and technological discontinuity (product innovativeness from the firm s perspective) respectively has a negative and a positive moderating impact on product advantage. In addition, modelling product innovativeness from the customers perspective (customer discontinuity) in the same model sheds new light on the relationship between product advantage, product innovativeness and product performance. By further examining the moderating effects of marketing and technological discontinuity on the link between AML and product advantage, the analyses reveals the different scenarios in which the benefits of AML firms may outweigh its implementation cost.

Dans l’opinion courante, la sanction est souvent assimilée à sa fonction répressive. Mais sanctionner, c’est aussi amender le fautif, et déduire des implications concrètes aux différentes formes d'engagement, dont les règles. Ces finalités, peu explorées par la littérature gestionnaire, sont pourtant plus en phase avec les préoccupations actuelles. Susciter l’amendement du fautif est une réponse aux difficultés de mobilisation et d'engagement des individus. Déduire des réalités opérationnelles des différentes formes d'engagement est essentiel aux efficacités collectives. On réalise alors que la sanction peut être l'occasion de progrès, en particulier quand la déviance devient un processus (Reynaud, l 997, p. 36). C'est cependant à la condition que les entreprises apprennent à sanctionner, non pour contraindre, mais pour restituer les coopérations. La sanction ne peut plus être réduite à une demande de soumission, elle doit devenir le lieu d'un apprentissage. C'est ce que suggèrent les apports des Théories de la Régulation Sociale (TRS) et des Apprentissages Organisationnels (TAO). Les liens qu'atteste la TRS entre conflit, négociation et règles engagent à renouveler les modalités de sanctionner pour des mesures programmatiques assorties de pratiques probatoires. Quant aux obstacles aux apprentissages organisationnels démontrés par la T.A.O, ils conduisent à envisager la sanction comme un projet, construit à partir des données de l'enquête disciplinaire, des aveux du fautif et des dires des managers. / The common understanding of a sanction is frequently associated with its repressive function. To sanction, however, is also to reform the offender and undermined the real implications of various types of commitment including rules. Yet these ultimate aims, rarely exploited by managerial theory, are more relevant to present-day concerns. Arousing the desire to reform the offender provides a solution to the difficulty individuals experience in taking action and engaging. It is essential for the sake of collective efficiency to draw conclusions from the operational realities of different types of commitment. In doing so, it becomes evident that a sanction can be the opportunity for progress, particularly when deviance becomes a process (Reynaud. 1997. P. 36). It is dependent, nevertheless, on companies learning to sanction, not as a constraint, but as a means of encouraging greater cooperation. A sanction can no longer be considered merely a demand for obedience, it must become a base for learning. The Social Regulation Theories (TRS) and Organisational learning Processes (TAO) make such a case. The links between conflict, negotiation and rules borne out by the TRS encourage the renewal of sanctioning methods in favour of programmed measures in conjunction with probationary practices. As for the barriers to organisational learning processes proven by the TAO, they lead co envisaging a sanction as a project that is built on the results of a disciplinary enquiry, admissions of the offender and managers' statement.

Cette recherche explore les dynamiques et les impacts des transferts de concepts de développement urbain durable (DUD) de l’Europe vers la Chine. Ce sujet a suscité de plus en plus d’intérêt, suite à l’apparition de partenariats internationaux pour le développement d’éco-villes et de méthodes pour améliorer la qualité de vie des villes existantes. Cette étude explore en particulier une initiative de coopération internationale qui a concerné la ville de Yangzhou dans les années 2000. Cette initiative visait à promouvoir le transfert du concept de « rénovation urbaine douce », développé à Berlin au début des années 1980, afin d’encourager la conservation des quartiers traditionnels de Yangzhou. Partant des questions de recherche vouées à savoir si un modèle développé dans un contexte spécifique peut être mis en œuvre dans un autre, et la contribution de la coopération internationale dans ce processus, cette étude analyse le transfert de la rénovation urbaine douce à Yangzhou. Elle utilise un cadre de recherche qui met l’accent à la fois sur les résultats du transfert et sur le processus qui a amené à ces résultats. En se basant sur l’analyse de documents officiels, sur l’examen de la littérature et sur plusieurs entretiens, cette étude révèle que la coopération internationale peut contribuer de manière importante aux transferts de modèles de DUD. Elle révèle également que le succès de ces initiatives dépend beaucoup des capacités locales à importer les modèles étrangers. En particulier, elle montre que à Yangzhou ces capacités sont limitées. Ces limites sont surtout attribuées à la volonté politique des principaux décideurs locaux et à la structure institutionnelle du gouvernement local, qui fait prévaloir l’informalité et les décisions hiérarchiques sur l’application des règles formelles. / This research explores the dynamics and impacts of transfers of concepts of sustainable urban development (SUD) from Europe to China. This topic is of great interest since in recent years international partnerships for the development of eco-cities and of methods to improve the liveability of the existing cities flourished in this country. This study focuses in particular on an initiative of international cooperation concerning the city of Yangzhou in the early 2000s. This initiative aimed at promoting the transfer of the concept of “Careful Urban Renewal”, developed in Berlin in the early 1980s, to foster the sustainable conservation of the traditional quarters of Yangzhou. This study digs into the process of transfer and learning in Yangzhou to question whether a model established in a specific locality can be applied in another, and what is the contribution of international cooperation. It uses a research framework that focuses both on the outcomes of transfer and on its process. Relying on official documents analysis, on literature review and on semi-structured interviews, this study reveals that projects of international cooperation can make an important contribution to the transfer of models of SUD. It also reveals that the success of these initiatives depends very much on the capacities of the borrowing society to import and adapt foreign models. The case study of Yangzhou in particular reveals that this city has limited capacities to pursue the process of learning launched by the international collaboration. These limited capacities are ascribable, above all, to the political willingness of the city’s top decision-makers and to the institutional structure of the local government, making informal rules and hierarchical decisions prevail over the application of formal rules.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This research aims to identify and characterize the main evolution of Management Organizations according to the Gaucho Program of Quality and Productivity, Level II - Towards Excellence, developing an examination of the main learning practices used in recognized organizations which have the Quality Award RS. This issue has an extreme importance to the award granting, which assures a good performance and maintain the survival of the business. As regards the research method, this study can be characterized as descriptive, predominantly qualitatively. Its approach was based on a study case, whose unit of analysis was considered from the universe of winner companies of the Trophy Gold Award Quality of RS. As a basis of research, the theme organizational learning in literature and its applying on Criteria for Excellence in the National Quality Awards were discussed together with the Gaucho program of Quality and Productivity. The implementation of this study has been performed through the adoption of a conceptual model for verification of organizational learning developed by Guaragna (2004). In consequence, the Report of Management was analyzed and the coordinators of the Management System of two companies, recognized by submitting processes cross outlined in a structure, were interviewed. This approach allows the occurrence of practices of organizational learning that are on course in the follow organizations: Centro Tecnológico de Mecatrônica SENAI and Medianeira Transportes Ltda. Based on the study, it is supposed that the learning can be understood as a process with specific characteristics, in which leaders have a key function in its achievement, occurring by meetings of critical analysis, preparation or revision of the Strategic Planning and benchmarking with companies in the same segment. Finally, it is suggested that further researches should be developed in order to verify the effectiveness of the practice of organizational learning and the competitive gap created to the organizations by the Quality Award RS in its different modalities. / A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo principal identificar e caracterizar a evolução da Gestão de Organizações de acordo com o Programa Gaúcho da Qualidade e Produtividade, Nível II - Rumo a Excelência, por meio do exame das principais práticas de aprendizagem utilizadas nas organizações reconhecidas com Prêmio Qualidade RS, visto ser esse tema fundamental à concessão da referida premiação, à sobrevivência e ao desempenho empresarial. Quanto ao método de pesquisa, este estudo pode ser caracterizado como descritivo, predominantemente qualitativo, a sua abordagem baseou-se em um estudo de caso, cuja unidade de análise considerada foi extraída do universo de empresas ganhadoras do Troféu Ouro do Prêmio Qualidade RS. Como forma de pesquisa, buscou-se identificar o tema aprendizado organizacional na literatura e sua abordagem nos Critérios de Excelência do Prêmio Nacional da Qualidade, concomitantemente ao Programa Gaúcho da Qualidade e Produtividade. A execução deste estudo deu-se por meio da adoção de um modelo conceitual para verificação do aprendizado organizacional desenvolvido por Guaragna (2004) e, mediante análise do Relatório de Gestão e entrevista com os coordenadores do Sistema de Gestão de duas empresas reconhecidas por apresentarem processos delineados e uma estrutura interfuncional, que possibilita a ocorrência de práticas de aprendizagem organizacional que estejam em decurso nas organizações: Centro Tecnológico de Mecatrônica SENAI e Medianeira Transportes Ltda. Com base no estudo, sugere-se que o aprendizado possa ser entendido como um processo com características específicas, nos quais as lideranças têm papel fundamental na sua implementação, ocorrendo por meio de reuniões de análise crítica, elaboração ou revisão do Planejamento Estratégico e, benchmarking com empresas do mesmo segmento. Por fim, sugere-se que pesquisas futuras sejam realizadas com o intuito de verificar a eficácia das práticas de aprendizagem organizacional, bem como o diferencial competitivo gerado às organizações, pelo Prêmio Qualidade RS nas suas diferentes modalidades.

Magister Educationis - MEd / The focus of the study is the teacher in the under-resourced schools in the townships of the Western Cape. The purpose is to discover how teachers learn to cope under adverse working conditions. In a systematic way, we try to uncover what workplace stress is, how it is defined and manifests itself. It also deals with the specific reasons why teachers in South Africa, and especially in poorer schools on the Cape Flats, suffer such heavy stress. A convenient way to examine issues of stress was to approach it from different angles or levels: the classroom level, the staff/relationship level, the organizational level and the Departmental (Governmental) level. At these levels the causes, manifestations and solutions to workplace stress were researched. A qualitative study was done to ascertain first hand from the experiences of affected teachers themselves, how they learnt to cope, how this learning came about and what the specific methods or strategies are which they employ to deal effectively with stress. The study concludes with a general summary of the most salient coping strategies that seem to work for most teachers. Recommendations to address stress at the four levels mentioned are finally made. / South Africa

Questo lavoro di tesi illustra un progetto di ricerca volto ad esplorare i processi di creazione della conoscenza, dell’apprendimento e del cambiamento organizzativo in un’azienda for profit appartenente al settore automotive. L’attenzione iniziale della committenza era focalizzata sulla possibilità di migliorare la soddisfazione dei dipendenti, ma un’analisi approfondita di questa richiesta ha permesso di progettare un intervento che contribuisse in maniera significativa alla ricerca applicata ai topic di interesse organizzativo sopra menzionati. Il primo studio illustra un’analisi estensiva dei processi di cambiamento organizzativo in questa azienda. Viene progettato e implementato un intervento di tipo formativo e partecipativo mutuando dalla letteratura i concetti di authorship e di expansive learning. Grazie all’utilizzo di metodologie qualitative, il top management e i dipendenti vengono attivamente coinvolti nell’intervento che esita nell’individuazione di un obiettivo comune a tutta l’azienda: identificare un nuovo metodo di management. Il secondo studio è invece volto a descrivere come si instauri una relazione di fiducia tra il dottorando e i partecipanti alla ricerca (la popolazione aziendale in questo caso) e come questa possa facilitare la co- produzione di conoscenza organizzativa. Viene utilizzato l’approccio autoetnografico come cornice metodologica e vengono descritte cinque vignette autoetnografiche. / This PhD thesis illustrates a research project aimed at exploring the multifaceted process of organisational knowledge creation, organisational learning and organisational change in a for- profit automotive corporation. The initial focus of the top management was on increasing the employee satisfaction, but a deep analysis of this request allowed us to design a project aimed at giving a wider contribution to the topics of organizational knowledge, learning and change. This first study illustrates a comprehensive analysis of organisational change in an intervention carried out in this company. A participatory and formative intervention is designed, based on the notion of authorship and expansive learning. Using participative qualitative methods, the top management and all the employees are actively involved in a process that leads to shape a shared object and a common goal: to devise a new management method for the company. The specific purpose of the second study is to describe how the process of the establishment of a trust and legitimacy relationship between the PhD student and the participants in the research happens and how it facilitates the co- production of knowledge in the organisation. The autoethnographic approach is used as methodological framework and five autoethnographic vignettes are presented.

Research on organisational learning (OL) was mainly positioned within the psychological and sociological domains. Past and extant research on OL focused on the behavioural, cognitive and intuitive perspectives in addition to a growing track of research grounded on social theory. So far, a countless number of research studies attempted to address inter-organisational learning (IOL) from various perspectives. However, the lack of understanding of how IOL occurs in networks can be observed due to the social tensions that are created at the inter-organisational level such as free-riding and knowledge leakage. This thesis, therefore, aims to draw theoretical explanations of IOL and how it occurs in learning networks, taking into consideration similarities and contradictions amongst a network’s participating organisations. Towards this end, the thesis employs two theoretical lenses, namely structure-agency and social exchange theories to draw conclusions that provide fresh explanations of how networks are helpful in fostering or hindering learning activities in addition to how reciprocity as an efficacy device mediates IOL dynamics. Positioned within a qualitative vein, the thesis employs an interpretive perspective to collect and analyse empirical evidence. The qualitative data were developed through a mixture of participant observations, semi-structured interviews and casual conversations with network administrators and participants. The data were analysed using thematic analysis which generated codes, following which conclusions were drawn. The main contributions of this article are (1) unfolding the network as agency which provides a fresh understanding of how the agential role of networks mediates IOL and (2) drawing a framework of dimensions of reciprocal exchanges that explains how IOL occurs in networks. The first conclusion of this thesis explained how the agential role is socially constructed and how the interpretive device facilitated this construction. The second conclusion of this thesis explained how reciprocal exchanges mediate IOL and provide a framework that suggested IOL can be better understood through temporal, spatial, directional and symmetrical perspectives.