Both the learning organization literature and the self-managed work team literature have alluded to the potential links between teamwork and learning. However, as yet the link between these two concepts remains undeveloped. This study uses a survey of a random sample of 200 Australian organizations to empirically examine the relationships between…

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,…

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore employee perceptions of the development of a learning culture in a medium-sized manufacturing company that was aspiring to become a learning organization. Design/methodology/approach: The research comprised an extended interview with the company's Organizational Development Manager, a validated…

While research has focused on the effects of diversity on individual and group level outcomes, there has been little inquiry concerning the organizational level. Cox (1994) states that the most frequently asked question by executives regarding workforce diversity involves how it affects the performance of organizations. In order to manage the…

As a follow-up to an earlier effort to distinguish schools by stages of development along the context of organizational learning (OL), this paper further targets the OL processes and outcomes to generate a more dynamic and functional framework for sustaining and refining the earlier version of the typology. It is hoped that through such a…

The transition from a planned centralist economy to a market economy over the last decade of the 20th century has presented Russian universities with many profound challenges. These challenges require universities to review and consider their organisational culture and deserve careful study. This paper describes the changes that have taken place…

If a school's goal is to improve the quality of the educational environment that it provides for its students--one that encourages creative thinking and problem solving, cooperative learning, and higher levels of thinking--then a principal must create the same type of atmosphere for those individuals most directly responsible for the success of…

Faculty and administrators rarely assume their positions knowing how to manage conflict. Yet managers spend between 20 to 50 percent of their workday engaged in conflicts. Conflict is an overlooked area in the professional development of faculty and administrators. Senior level administrators such as deans and department heads and faculty…

This document provides a literature review and a list of suggested reading in support of "Approaches for Sustaining and Building Management and Leadership Capacity in Vocational Education and Training Providers" (ED499670), which examines the existing and potential strategies for sustaining and building greater levels of management and…

This paper reports on a study that took place in a faculty of humanities and social sciences at a UK university. The institution had recently undergone a radical restructure and the vision for the future presented by the new senior management team highlighted internationalization as one of four major areas for growth. The internationalization…

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) practitioners could benefit from recent innovations in the field of organizational development, particularly those of Peter Senge, that outline how institutions can become "learning organizations," which are responsive to change to meet the needs of their members. These techniques could be used to help…

Action research was used to study the effectiveness of Learning Organisation and Adaptive Enterprise theories for promoting organisation-wide learning and creating a more effective early childhood education organisation. This article describes the leadership steps taken to achieve shared vision via meaningful dialogue between board, management and…

One institution's attempts to implement an ambitious wholly online learning policy is examined in the Australian higher education setting. The conditions that led to a diversity of models of wholly online unit development are considered, along with teachers' design intents in establishing their online teaching and learning environments. The…

In this chapter the authors examine how the social group identities of faculty members are reflected in their pedagogical encounters and practices. More particularly, they consider how faculty members with different social group identities deal with two issues commonly faced by all faculty: questions about their subject matter expertise and…

Long-term influences of educational development initiatives for novice faculty members are seldom studied in a systematic way. In this exploratory study the long-term individual and institutional impact of a novice faculty training programme at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) was evaluated, using a written survey with open questions. The…