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1 – 10 of over 5000Valerie I. Sessa, Manuel London, Christopher Pingor, Beyza Gullu and Juhi Patel
The aim of this study is to analyze a framework of team learning that includes three learning processes (adaptive, generative, and transformative), factors that stimulate these…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to analyze a framework of team learning that includes three learning processes (adaptive, generative, and transformative), factors that stimulate these processes, and consequences of them. The variables provided a field study of the model.
Design/methodology/approach
In the field study, 69 project teams of 3 to 11 students and their instructors responded to surveys.
Findings
Positive learning stimuli were related to adaptive and generative learning processes, while negative stimuli were related to transformative learning processes. Learning processes were related to individual student learning outcomes. In addition, adaptive and generative learning processes were positively related to team and instructor ratings of outcome quality, while transformative learning was negatively related to team ratings of outcome quality.
Research limitations/implications
The results were subject to the following limitations: cross‐sectional design, mostly self‐report measures, and the lack of control endemic to field research. As such, this study is viewed as an initial test of the team‐learning model in a field setting. Additional research, including longitudinal designs and experimental designs, are called for.
Practical implications
This study adds to the growing literature on group learning. Educators and managers need to be aware that there are different kinds of learning processes in which groups can engage and that these are stimulated to occur differently and have a different impact on outcomes.
Originality/value
Team learning is rarely assessed directly as a construct in its own right and there is a lack of empirical support delineating causes and consequences of team learning. This field study is a first step in this direction.
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Minda Morren López and Lori Czop Assaf
In this qualitative study, we explore 31 preservice teachers’ generative trajectories including how they built on instructional practices learned in the service-learning project…
Abstract
In this qualitative study, we explore 31 preservice teachers’ generative trajectories including how they built on instructional practices learned in the service-learning project, the university methods course, and the field-based experience. We addressed the question: In what ways does participating in a semester-long field-based university course combined with a service-learning program shape preservice teachers’ views about effective literacy practices for emergent bilinguals? We identified four themes in our analysis: importance of choice in literacy pedagogy; learning from and with our students; freedom to apply course methods and ideas; and growing confidence and align them with Ball’s (2009) generative change model and the four processes of change – metacognitive awareness, ideological becoming, internalization, and efficacy.
We found the preservice teachers’ ability to develop an awareness of diversity grew from their work with students both in their field-block experience and writing club. These opportunities provided them with a layering of learning – from course readings, collaborating with teachers, to problem solving and creating lessons that specifically met their students’ needs. By moving in and out of different contexts, preservice teachers developed generative knowledge about ways to support writing for emergent bilinguals. Likewise, they became keenly aware of their own experiences and beliefs. Implications include the importance of providing a variety of opportunities for preservice teachers to work directly with students. This should be accompanied by written and verbal discussions to examine and critique their experiences and ideologies in relation to students’ language and literacy needs.
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Valerie I. Sessa, Manuel London and Marlee Wanamaker
Extending a model of how teams learn, this paper aims to present a model of multiteam system (MTS) learning, comparing similarities and differences between how MTSs learn and how…
Abstract
Purpose
Extending a model of how teams learn, this paper aims to present a model of multiteam system (MTS) learning, comparing similarities and differences between how MTSs learn and how component teams learn. The paper describes the value of adaptive, generative and transformative learning for increasing MTS development over time.
Design/methodology/approach
The model proposes that environmental demands trigger adaptive, generative and transformative MTS learning, which is further increased by the MTS’s readiness to learn. Learning can happen during performance episodes and during hiatus periods between performance episodes.
Findings
Learning triggers coupled with readiness to learn and the cycle and phase of MTS process influence the learning process (adaptive, generative or transformative), which in turn influences the learning outcomes.
Research/limitations implications
The study offers a number of research propositions with the idea that the model and propositions will stimulate research in this area.
Practical implications
This model allows MTS and component team leaders and facilitators to recognize that MTS learning is a process that is needed to help component teams work together and help the MTS as a whole perform in current and future situations, thereby improving MTS effectiveness.
Originality/value
Little attention has been given to the notion that MTSs learn and develop. This manuscript is the first to emphasize that MTSs learn and identify processes that can improve learning. Adaptive, generative and transformative processes describe how MTSs learn and produce changes in MTS structure and actions.
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It is proposed that to reach a state of generative learning, an organization requires a “generative learning manager”: a person who understands the importance of development and…
Abstract
It is proposed that to reach a state of generative learning, an organization requires a “generative learning manager”: a person who understands the importance of development and directing of knowledge. The purpose of this study was, therefore, both to explain mechanisms like knowledge distribution, goal setting and symbolic convergence from a cognitive psychological perspective on organizations, as well as to reach conclusions on a hypothetical model for the function of generative learning management. The study was accomplished by a theoretical analysis. The results suggest that a goal setting manager – who has the ability to help the organization communicate more as a network, where procedural and declarative knowledge, as well as multi‐intelligent aspects of knowledge can move in a more widely distributed procedural fashion between co‐workers – has the potential to become a generative learning manager.
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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…
Abstract
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 systems tradition led to a further search based on the snowball method. This paper reveals how the unique features of the Nordic model for work life through union–management relations constitute a formal system for building learning organizations.
Findings
This paper acknowledges the difference in power that exists between the social parties within the Nordic model. However, the practice is not due solely to the political structure in which trade unions, employers’ associations and the state form a tripartite collaboration, and thus, create a framework for workplace collaboration. This tripartite collaboration has enabled the development of an organizational practice by action researchers, union representatives and companies over several decades.
Originality/value
Limited literature has explicitly linked the formal structures of the Nordic model of work life and the effort to develop learning organizations. This paper addresses criticism that the research field has not fully considered power issues when developing a learning organization. It demonstrates how the Nordic model as a formal structure creates a system of democratic norms and rules that facilitates a safe arena for employees to invest their effort in co-generating a learning organization.
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Valerie I. Sessa, Jessica L. Francavilla, Manuel London and Marlee Wanamaker
Multi-team systems (MTSs) are expected to respond effectively to complex challenges while remaining responsive and adaptable and preserving inter-team linking mechanisms. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Multi-team systems (MTSs) are expected to respond effectively to complex challenges while remaining responsive and adaptable and preserving inter-team linking mechanisms. The leadership team of an MTS is expected to configure and reconfigure component teams to meet the unique needs of each situation and perform. How do they learn to do this? This paper, using a recent MTS learning theory as a basis, aims to begin to understand how MTSs learn and stimulate ideas for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use two case studies to address research questions. The first case was a snapshot in time, while the second case occurred over several months. Interviews, documents and participant observation were the data sources.
Findings
As suggested by theory, findings support the idea that learning triggers, the timing of the triggers and readiness to learn (RtL) affect the type of learning process that emerges. The cases showed examples of adaptive and generative team learning. Strong and clear triggers, occurring during performance episodes, led to adaptive learning. When RtL was high and triggers occurred during hiatus periods, the associated learning process was generative.
Originality/value
Using an available theoretical model and case studies, the research describes how MTS readiness to learn and triggers for learning affect MTS learning processes and how learning outcomes became codified in the knowledge base or structure of the MTS. This provides a framework for subsequent qualitative and quantitative research.
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Manuel London and Valerie I. Sessa
Students of organizations are beginning to recognize the importance of continuous learning in organizations, but to date the concept is not well understood, particularly in terms…
Abstract
Students of organizations are beginning to recognize the importance of continuous learning in organizations, but to date the concept is not well understood, particularly in terms of how the learning of individuals is related to the learning that takes place in groups, which is related to the learning that occurs in organizations (and all other combinations). To further our understanding, we offer the idea of continuous learning in organizations from a living system's perspective. We view individuals, groups, and organizations as living systems nested in a hierarchy. We propose that living systems can learn in three ways: they can adapt, they can generate, and they can transform. Learning triggers from the environment spark learning, and this relationship is moderated by the system's readiness to learn. Readiness to learn is a function of the permeability of the system's boundaries, the system's stage of development, and the system's meta-systems perspective. Additional research questions are presented to explore learning flow between levels and to determine how the match between one system's pressure for change and another system's readiness to learn affects the emergence of adaptive, generative, and transformative learning. In addition, research questions are offered as a means to test these ideas and build grounded theory. Finally, using this model, the chapter presents three case studies and suggests diagnostic questions to analyze and facilitate continuous learning from a multi-level perspective.
Valerie I. Sessa and Manuel London
In this response to Day and Tate (this volume) and Markham, Groesbeck, and Swan (this volume), we clarify the concept of continuous learning from a living system's perspective and…
Abstract
In this response to Day and Tate (this volume) and Markham, Groesbeck, and Swan (this volume), we clarify the concept of continuous learning from a living system's perspective and address the evolution of adaptive, generative, and transformative learning. Further, we assert that a system's drive for homeostasis is actually a fluid, continuous learning process that may vary in the rate and direction of change. Environmental triggers, readiness for learning, and feedback provide leverage points for change and learning within and across individual, group, and organizational systems. Future research is needed to identify and study the effects of these leverage points on systems’ adaptive, generative, and transformative learning.
Mousumi Bose, Lilly Ye and Yiming Zhuang
Today's marketing is dominated by decision-making based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. This study focuses on one semi- and unsupervised machine learning…
Abstract
Today's marketing is dominated by decision-making based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. This study focuses on one semi- and unsupervised machine learning technique, generative adversarial networks (GANs). GANs are a type of deep learning architecture capable of generating new data similar to the training data that were used to train it, and thus, it is designed to learn a generative model that can produce new samples. GANs have been used in multiple marketing areas, especially in creating images and video and providing customized consumer contents. Through providing a holistic picture of GANs, including its advantage, disadvantage, ethical considerations, and its current application, the study attempts to provide business some strategical orientations, including formulating strong marketing positioning, creating consumer lifetime values, and delivering desired marketing tactics in product, promotion, pricing, and distribution channel. Through using GANs, marketers will create unique experiences for consumers, build strategic focus, and gain competitive advantages. This study is an original endeavor in discussing GANs in marketing, offering fresh insights in this research topic.
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Harriette Bettis-Outland, Roberto Mora Cortez and Wesley J. Johnston
This paper aims to evaluate the behavior of micro and macro business networks in a trade show context. The following questions are addressed: How do business networks impact…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the behavior of micro and macro business networks in a trade show context. The following questions are addressed: How do business networks impact organizational learning at trade shows? Can relational ties between networks influence organizational learning? Does trust play a role between different network types and organizational learning?
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical framework for this research is based on the broad spectrum of social exchange theory (Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005; Foa and Foa, 1974, 1980; Kelley and Thibault, 1978; Kelley, 1997). Social exchange theory has several different interpretations; one common view of this theory involves a series of interactions that result in obligations for the participating members (Emerson, 1976; Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005). This model extends the Levin and Cross (2004) model presented in their article, “strength of weak ties you can trust: the mediating role of trust in effective knowledge transfer”.
Findings
This paper is a review and synthesis of trade show, trust, organizational learning and business network literature. This conceptual paper concludes with eight propositions, which delve into connections between micro and macro networks, strong and weak ties in these networks and the effect on organizational learning. Trust is the mediating variable between networks and organizational learning. High levels of trust could change the learning approach (adaptive, generative or transformative) of the different networks.
Research limitations/implications
The propositions integrate extant research on trade shows and will guide future research regarding the relationship between types of business networks, trust and organizational learning.
Practical implications
This conceptual paper looks at trade shows from a network perspective; specifically, how do trade show networks impact organizational learning. Trade show participation results in different approaches to organizational learning, which can be modified based on the level of trust that exists between network members. Trade show participation enables both adaptive and generative learning. However, atypical interactions between business networks occasionally produce transformative learning.
Originality/value
This conceptual paper offers an innovative approach to trade show research by analyzing the relationship between trade shows and organizational learning from a network perspective, using trust as the mediating variable.
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