Evaluation of an innovative approach to organizational change using managers as instructors included a survey of 266 of the managers. Factor analysis of their responses showed that support for the innovation was contingent upon their belief that it was consistent with their role, that their power will be enhanced, and that the time required is…

Barriers to creating learning organizations include inability to change mental models, learned helplessness, truncated learning, individualism, culture of disrespect and fear, entrenched bureaucracy, part-time/temporary workforce, and diversity issues. Nevertheless, the learning organization is a sustainable vision for human resource development.…

Organizations learn when they embed new practices and values and make real changes. Organizational learning must address group tendencies toward helplessness and conformity. Individuals still bear responsibility for monitoring what is learned. (SK)

Disillusionment with professional/scientific knowledge and trust in practitioner knowledge have led to renewed interest in action technologies. Action research, action learning, participatory research, popular education, and collaborative inquiry can bridge the gap between theory and practice. (SK)

This book offers advice to facilitators and change agents who wish to build systems-level learning to create knowledge that can be used to gain a competitive advantage. Chapter 1 describes forces driving companies to build, sustain, and effectively use systems-level learning and presents and links a working definition of the learning organization…

This book describes a learning organization and reports on experiments carried out at four levels--individual, team, organizational, and societal--illustrating the action imperatives for creating a learning organization. Part 1 (chapters 1-3) explores the shifts that are leading companies to become learning organizations. It offers a framework for…

The concept of the free agent learner, which has roots in self-directed and informal learning theory, has recently emerged as a factor important to attracting, developing, and keeping knowledge workers. The literature on free agent learning holds important lessons for today's free agent learners, human resource developers, and work organizations.…