This qualitative case study focuses on the concept of systems thinking, which is a component of Peter Senge's theory on learning organizations. Systems thinking is a concept and tool that assists organizations in understanding the growing complexities in their organization and in the world. The purpose of this case study is to gain a better…

The contemporary university has its place amid a world in total motion. The issue arises, then, as to what it is it to try to shape a university in the context of a world that lacks stability. The thesis argued here is twofold: (1) that the university should take seriously its entwinement with the world; indeed, with large eco-systems of the…

Decades of research on workplace learning has reinforced that professionals learn through work; however, organisational learning practices have often not shifted to recognise or facilitate this learning. This article presents findings from an interview-based study of professionals in Australia that investigated their experiences of work and…

Purpose: This paper aims to demonstrate how the Nordic model, featuring highly regulated trade union-employer collaboration, has enabled the building of learning organizations through a co-generative learning model involving both practitioners and action researchers. Design/methodology/approach: A literature search on the Nordic sociotechnical…

Workplace inclusion is a hot topic, defined as an organizational environment where everyone can reach his or her full potential. Much has been written over the last decade or so and themes of various annual conferences across the country have emphasized the need for socially conscious museums. Creating inclusive work environments and work…

This article was written in response to the editor's invitation to provide an alternative perspective to Zarestky and Cole's article in this same issue. While appreciating the perspective provided, I question the assumption that SOAR (strengths, opportunities, aspirations, results) as an approach to strategic planning will strengthen organization…

Systems, structures, and practices perpetuate disparities because they reinforce barriers that sort and separate students based on assumed success or failure. When students are disadvantaged in this way, the implicit message is that their learning doesn't matter. The counterpoint to these discriminatory systems is an asset-based approach, which is…

W. Edwards Deming has suggested 96% of organization performance is a function of the organization's structure. He contends only about 4% of an organization's performance is attributable to the people. This is a fundamental difference as most school leaders work with the basic assumption that 80% of a school's performance is related to staff and…

Support for producing systematic reviews about health systems is less well developed than for those about clinical practice. From interviewing policy makers and systematic reviewers we identified institutional mechanisms which bring systematic reviews and policy priorities closer by harnessing organisational and individual motivations, emphasising…

The importance of public education has never been greater as we enter the dawn of a new millennium. Innumerable efforts have been focused on improving public education, but the unfortunate result has been an array of fractured, piecemeal efforts. What is needed is a systemic approach to go from "tweaking" to "transforming"…

In 2006, Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky had been suffering from many of the same challenges facing metro regions across the country. Despite significant investments in education from the public and private sectors, outcomes were alarming: Kindergarten readiness was below fifty percent, and nearly half of the students in the Cincinnati Public…

The manner by which organizations value their workforce has been shown to impact learning within organizations (Confessore, 1997; Marsick & Watkins, 2010; Weldy & Gillis, 2003). Leadership is faced with a multitude of options to facilitate learning (Cho, 2002; Confessore & Kops, 1998), and employee learning has been linked to…

Efforts to improve human and organizational performance are often courageous adventures full of unexpected twists and turns and frequently leading to unexpected destinations. From mentoring and succession planning to e-learning and beyond, the activities that can be leveraged to improve performance are vast. Comparing, contrasting, selecting, and…

There is growing use of business intelligence (BI) for better management decisions in industry. However, empirical studies on BI are still scarce in academic research. This research investigates BI from an organizational agility perspective. Organizational agility is the ability to sense and respond to market opportunities and threats with speed,…

Based on the large number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United States, their increasing interest in enterprise-wide software systems and their impact on the US economy, it is important to understand the determinants that can facilitate the successful implementation and assimilation of such technology into these firms' daily…