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This book focuses on the concept and role of relational practices as a way to understand, conceive, and study processes of organization, and subscribes to a processual view of organization that, since Weick's seminal book The Social Psychology of Organizing, has turned the study of organizations into one of organizing. More than 30 years later, the field of organizing has increasingly expanded Weick's interpretive framework of sense making, resulting in a rich palette of conceptual frameworks that vary between such diverse processual approaches as complexity theory, phenomenology, narration, dramaturgy, ethnomethodology, discourse (analysis), practice, actor-network theory, and radical process theory (Steyaert, 2007). These various theoretical approaches draw upon and give expression to a relational turn that has transformed conceptual thinking in philosophy, literature, and social sciences, and that increasingly inscribes the study of organization within an ontology of becoming.

Relational space refers to the state and configuration of interpersonal connections within a social system and to the conditions that facilitate these connections. Where connections are strong or of high quality (Dutton & Heaphy, 2003), the relational space is vibrant and full of life. When the number of connections is numerous, and where their configuration is extensive and expansive, the relational space is robust and resilient (Baker, Cross, & Wooten, 2003). Generative capacity is increased by the extent to which people connect to think expansively through dialogue in vibrant, healthful relational spaces.

The purpose of this paper is to build a conceptual framework for understanding how in‐depth joint supply chain learning can be successfully developed. This kind of learning is becoming increasingly important in highly turbulent and uncertain economic environments of new and growing interdependencies and complexities.

Using a “synthesizing” or “bricolage” approach, key insights, now dispersed over a variety of literatures and disciplines, are integrated to develop the framework.

The leading facilitative actor's orientations, competencies and behavior play a significant role in enhancing the relationships between the supply chain actors shaping in‐depth joint learning. Starting with establishing interaction boundary conditions by the leading actor, this process is likely to lead to system‐level generative outcomes. These outcomes, in turn, serve the process cycle of in‐depth joint learning as inputs for the relationship building process among all the actors.

By centering on the actual shaping of in‐depth joint learning, and the concrete enactment of roles by protagonists enhancing this process, the paper has opened the black box. Future research should refine the framework.

Apart from giving insight into the repertoire of relational competencies and behaviors needed to enhance the relationship building process conducive to in‐depth joint learning, the paper addresses how these skills can be developed in practice and education.

The paper identifies several implications for research, practice, and education. Instead of focusing predominantly on the content, procedure, levers, or outcomes of learning, the relational construction of the learning process itself is clarified.