Editorial

Citation

Gimson, A. (2012), "Editorial", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 26 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2012.08126baa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Development and Learning in Organizations, Volume 26, Issue 2

How do we ensure people are truly engaged and energized in their learning, roles and responsibilities? In this issue we have some innovative ideas from around the globe.

Our viewpoint, from David Finlay Robinson, tackles the low levels of motivation in many organizations and proposes that a frame of “Mutual Common Interest”, coupled with greater development opportunities for all first line staff, would go a long way to reengage the workforce.

Robert Ankli and Ralph Palliam also explore motivation, but through a different lens – that of self-determination theory. This theory propounds three universal psychological needs – autonomy, competence and relatedness – and holds that intrinsic motivation results in more resourceful and innovative individuals. This must cause us to question the often heavy-handed use of extrinsic methods of motivation seen in most organizations.

So, what does a leader need to do to elicit an individual’s intrinsic motivation? Some intriguing suggestions can be found in the article by Milton Mayfield and Jacqueline Mayfield on “Logoleadership”. Would your leaders be spending their time differently if a crucial part of their role was to help each team member to find their inner purpose and meaning through their work? And, if they did, would it result in higher performance? The early evidence is that it would.

Finding a balance between autonomy and the need for control is also a constant challenge in the rapidly evolving world of social learning. Many employers are grappling with how to deal with the informal networking and learning that is enabled through social media. Paul Sparta sets out some guidelines to help you pick your way through this potential minefield and I am sure you will find his checklist (divided into issues of adoption, governance and execution) of practical use.

Incidentally, the need for robust governance (for your whole L&D offering) is picked up in our Leading Edge interview this issue where we hear from Charles Jennings, ex chief learning officer for Reuters.

Our last authored piece, from Colm Fearon and colleagues, looks at how a UK university has set its strategy for blended and student-centered learning. His four-quadrant summary of the key issues is especially helpful.

We return to the pros and cons of social learning and other web-based development tools in our first review article “Ways of learning – break new ground”. Secondly, in “Use it or lose it” we are offered ways in which communities of practice can more easily make their collective knowledge explicit through knowledge engineering and ICT. Thirdly, “El Al soars from crisis to success” offers a case study of how top management utilized organizational learning mechanisms to introduce a new corporate brand and turn the business around.

Finally, do take a look at our book review this month. The description of each chapter gives an excellent summary of A New Culture of Learning – Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. I hope it will encourage you to read the book itself – particularly if, like me, you think we need more “playtime” in organizational life!

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