This article discusses what kinds of organisational and change processes take place when shifting to customer-oriented service concept, here called "third generation services". Our interest lies in the learning process that produces the development of services in cities and regions in new ways and how to develop services in practice so…

This empirical research was conducted to investigate the role of transformational leadership, organizational culture and organizational learning in improving the performance of Iranian agricultural faculties and leading them to become learning organizations. The research population consisted of all faculty members of public agricultural faculties…

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.…

The purpose of this article is to present a specific approach to the practice of action research "in complex organisations". Clearly, there are many approaches to the challenge of doing action research in organisations; approaches that are, and also must be, quite context dependent and specific. But my purpose is neither to give an…

Organizational learning is a complex phenomenon, the collective nature of which makes it difficult to study and examine. Organizational stories are cultural forms that facilitate the sensemaking processes and capabilities of the individuals and teams that form the collective organization. This paper utilizes literature to suggest possible impacts…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show that changes in social systems do not occur randomly. They are consistent with what has gone on before, with the history and identity of the system. As long as the organizing principles of a dominant culture remain unchallenged, behavior of all the social-units originating from this culture will remain…

Discusses changes in organizational training systems in light of new ideas about organizational development and learning. Topics include the difference between training and learning, old assumptions about the functions of training, how training can be detrimental to organizational development, how to initiate change, and expanding training…

The impact of crises on organizations has been stronger than ever. This article explores the role of organizational learning in crisis management, an area that has received little attention from HRD community. Recognizing the dynamics and interconnectedness of crisis management, organizational learning, and organizational change, the article…

In exploring intricate relationships among environmental factors, internal school conditions and contextual variables that facilitate organisational learning, 90% of staff in six Western Australian secondary schools provided data for this exploratory study. Findings from the study not only shed light on the decade-old debate about the basic…

Postmodern organizations are driven by a new set of expectations. Organizational development increasingly involves interventions based on human resource development and learning organizations. Line managers are expected to be change agents who are aware of the external environment and know how to realign internal characteristics to adjust to…

Purpose: In this paper it is held that a transformational learning organisation could be clearly distinguished from non-learning organisations. This paper seeks to establish whether or not this is actually the case. Design/methodology/approach: Case studies were developed for two organisations considering themselves to be learning organisations…

Purpose: To develop a theoretical model for strategic change that links learning in an organization to the strategic process. Design/methodology/approach: The model was developed from a review of literature covering a range of areas including: management, strategic planning, psychology of learning and organizational learning. The process of…

Purpose: Introduces the primary concepts behind the practice of action inquiry. Then, examines what current literature suggests about components of the performance appraisal process and identifies areas where applying action inquiry concepts can add a new dimension to our current understanding. Design/methodology/approach: Applies action inquiry,…

In project training methods for managers, the training project is crucial, but it is merely a means to an end, the key element being the learning arenas for management processes. A British consultant describes these processes as consultancy, organizational change, and interpersonal. (MF)

The authors state that organizational development (OD) consultants are reluctant to rely upon instruments because this would diminish their sense of usefulness. They discuss 15 OD issues and conclude that OD instruments must be based on sound principles of behavior and sequenced in a planned way in order to implement organizational change and…