Editorial

Citation

Gimson, A. (2012), "Editorial", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 26 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2012.08126aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Development and Learning in Organizations, Volume 26, Issue 1

Welcome to the first issue of the journal in 2012.

We often take time to reflect at the beginning of a New Year and Joan Marques’ Viewpoint invites us to ponder on the relevance of Buddha’s age-old teachings for the organizations of today. Far-fetched and fanciful? I don’t think so. For example, social networks enable people to share thoughts instantly with multiple others all over the globe. In this context Buddha’s words

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.

are all the more relevant.

We move on to a case study from Joseph Santora, James Sarros and Mark Esposito highlighting the problems that can occur when the leader of a non-profit organization will not truly let his successor take over. They clearly identify the problems that this caused and highlight how important succession planning is, particularly for the smaller organization.

One of the building blocks for effective succession planning is an effective performance management process and you might find it useful to compare your organization’s process against the recommendations in our next two articles.

First, Paul Davies saves us an enormous amount of reading by providing a succinct review of over 300 articles published between 1980 and 2010. He draws out the seven most common pitfalls and proposes an equivalent number of development solutions to deal with them.

Second, we have a model, shared by Milton Mayfield and Jacqueline Mayfield, of an holistic and open-loop feedback system that aims to ensure performance management is tied in to organizational learning. The diagram of a strategic performance feedback framework is particularly useful.

Whether you are involved in providing or procuring executive education programmes from the academic world, Mark Haskins’ article outlining thirteen characteristics of an effective instructor is well worth exploring. My personal favourite is number 12 – so often missing when someone takes an “expert” role.

In the first of our review articles, we hear about two organizations which established their own corporate universities in 2003. “Learning on a corporate scale: company universities adapt to demands of the workplace” looks at developments in Lafarge (a French cement, aggregates, concrete and gypsum company) and Ilim Pulp (exporting pulp and paper products and based in St Petersburg).

“Don’t panic! Coping with stressed-out learners” describes some recent research into the tactics deployed by trainers when faced with learners whose anxiety levels might be inhibiting their learning. Again, we are offered a useful checklist of seven things that seem to work well and seven things that might contribute to learning failure.

The demise of Ghana Airways (GA) enabled other smaller airlines to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of the ex-GA employees they then recruited. From interviews with both ex-employees and new employers, “Turning business failure to success“ highlights just how much can be learned by examining the failures of other businesses.

Some organizations argue that if they invest too much in developing a worker’s skill and capabilities, their increased “employability” will mean they will move on to a different organization more rapidly. However, research within the education sector of Costa Rica, outlined in “Why learning doesn’t mean leaving”, seems to tell a different story.

Finally, a request. The story that we want to tell in our special issue for 2012 is about what is happening in the world of organizational development and how it is being applied in all types of businesses. If you feel you have something to contribute, or you know of someone doing interesting work in this field, please get in touch.

Wishing you a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Anne GimsonStrategic Developments International, UK. E-mail:anne@stratdevint.com