Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to link two modes of governance (transactional and transformational) to organizational learning by examining the example of academic teaching. Consequently, the "transformational" strategies of best practices that have been used by German universities to achieve teaching excellence are interpreted as…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to further clarify a conceptual understanding of pedagogic challenges in the learning organization and to propose a model for pedagogic interventions to facilitate organizational learning and managing tacit knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: The "organization pedagogic" approach includes…

Purpose: This paper aims to propose a framework which connects perspectives on knowledge and learning to various approaches of social networks studies. The purpose is twofold: providing input for the discourse in organizational studies about the way different views on knowledge and networks drive design choices and activities of researchers,…

Purpose: This paper aims to examine factors which influence how tacit knowledge is built and applied by client-facing consultants. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative methods (interviews, thematic analysis) were used to gather and analyse data from 15 consultants in an agricultural extension context. Findings: Twenty-six factors about how…

Purpose: Research on antecedents of organizational learning generally ignores the fact that organizational learning is at least a two-dimensional construct and that its dimensions may be conflicting. This research often fails to investigate the simultaneous effects of antecedents on these dimensions. To address this gap in the literature, this…

Purpose: The concept of a mental model has been described by theorists from diverse disciplines. The purpose of this paper is to offer a robust definition of an individual mental model for use in organisational management. Design/methodology/approach: The approach adopted involves an interdisciplinary literature review of disciplines, including…

Purpose: Sustainability is, in itself, the idea of a harmonic answer to the dual nature of the most pressing problem for global society. Most of the problems dealing with sustainability concern its dual and contradictory nature. That paradoxical reality is in no way a unique feature of sustainability; its universal pervasiveness is demonstrated by…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to show how a model for sustainable learning has been formed in the meetings between practitioners and researchers. Design/methodology/approach: With the point of departure in an interactive research approach, the authors have worked with learning and common knowledge development. Empirical data were…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model that uses dialectical inquiry (DI) to create cognitive conflict in strategic decision-makers for the purpose of improving strategic decisions. Activation of the dialectical learning process using DI requires strategic decision-makers to integrate conflicting information causing…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to debate how companies may better become a sustainable learning organization by offering the most used and insightful concepts of sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: Through literature review, learning organization and sustainability perspectives are explored and compared. Findings: Learning…

Purpose: Marks and Spencer's Plan A environmental strategy is an ambitious one which addresses economic, social and environmental considerations. As part of this process it recently used a sustainable learning store strategy to develop, capture and disseminate learning before, during and after construction so that learning could be transferred to…

Purpose: This article aims to present a unique systematic and validated method for creating a linkage between past experiences and management of future occurrences in an organization. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on actual data accumulated in a series of projects performed in a major medical center. Qualitative and quantitative…

Purpose: The topic of organizational learning is populated with many theories and models; many relate to the enduring organizational learning framework consisting of knowledge acquisition, knowledge dissemination, and knowledge use. However, most of the research either emphasizes structural knowledge acquisition and dissemination as a composite…

Purpose: The primary purposes of the current paper are to: provide theoretically clear concepts of the learning organization (LO) and organizational learning (OL) process; and empirically test the relationships among research constructs--environmental aspects of the LO and three types of OL processes at the levels of individual, group/team, and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how interruptions in organizational learning effect institutional absorptive capacity and contribute to organizational inertia. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory model is presented as a heuristic to describe how interruptions in organizational learning affect absorptive capacity.…