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1 – 10 of over 2000
Article
Publication date: 2 February 2015

Richard Mesch and Stacie Comolli

The purpose of this paper is to define a new methodology for designing corporate learning for a global audience and to provide a case study of that methodology in action. The…

607

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to define a new methodology for designing corporate learning for a global audience and to provide a case study of that methodology in action. The Global Learning Archetypes approach adapts well-established cultural preference models and combines them with insightful learning models. The result is three primary Global Learning Archetypes and six secondary archetypes that allow training to be designed once and used around the world.

Design/methodology/approach

The Global Learning Archetype approach was created by evaluating well-established global cultural preferences models, integrating them with a proprietary learning criteria model, and developing a model for rapidly and cost-effectively creating learning for multiple geographies. Additionally, a case study illustrates both the challenges and successes when implementing this model in a large global corporation.

Findings

Most organizations create global learning either by creating content in their “home” location and then adapting it for other locations, or by distributing a single version of content and trusting local facilitators to provide context for it. The first method is expensive and time-consuming; the second method is risky and unreliable. The Global Archetype method provides for creating learning interactions that are appropriate for multiple geographies in a single effort.

Practical implications

Most large organizations are global, and smaller organizations increasingly have a global footprint. According to Fortune Magazine, the Fortune Global 500 are headquartered in 37 different countries and do business in over 150 different countries. An Institute for the Future/Intuit study notes that by 2018, half of all US small businesses will be involved in international trade. CSA Research observes that businesses spend about US$31 billion a year on localization. A method for providing global learning in both an impactful and cost-effective way is clearly necessary.

Originality/value

The Global Learning Archetypes method is comparatively new, but it draws from well-established and well-vetted content on worldwide cultural preferences and on effective learning criteria. As such, it is a valuable synthesis of the proven and the innovative. Far more than a conceptual model, the Global Archetypes have been used by some of the largest organizations in the world; a case study of one such implementation is provided in this paper.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 47 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2015

Po-Yen Lee, Chaang-Yung Kung and Chun-Sheng Joseph Li

The purpose of this paper is to provide a more robust understanding of the development of dynamic capabilities (DCs) in service multi-units with different cultural distances (CD…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a more robust understanding of the development of dynamic capabilities (DCs) in service multi-units with different cultural distances (CD) (high (HCD) and low (LCD)) through the routines of embedded social capital (structural and relational) and knowledge archetype (exploitative and exploratory) learning.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used survey questionnaires and structural equation modeling to discriminate the relationships among variables.

Findings

The authors found that structurally embedded social capital has a positive influence on exploratory knowledge learning in HCD service multi-units; relationally embedded social capital has a positive influence on knowledge archetype (exploitative vs exploratory) learning in both HCD and LCD service multi-units; and knowledge archetype learning has a positive influence on the development of DCs in both HCD and LCD service multi-units.

Research limitations/implications

The results identify the central role of social capital (structurally and relationally embedded) in enabling knowledge archetype learning and the development of DCs in service multi-units. In addition, this study provides a description and comparison of how structurally and relationally embedded social capital are key antecedents in knowledge archetype learning and the development of DCs in the context of service multi-units with different HCD and LCD.

Originality/value

The results provide a practical trajectory for the development of DCs in multi-units of multinational corporations in the service industry with different HCD and LCD.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 115 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 May 2016

Po-Yen Lee, Meng-Ling Wu, Cheng-Chung Kuo and Chun-Sheng Joseph Li

The purpose of this paper is to provide a more robust understanding of how to deploy multiunit organizations’ dynamic capabilities (DCs) by examining the roles of embedded social…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a more robust understanding of how to deploy multiunit organizations’ dynamic capabilities (DCs) by examining the roles of embedded social (structural and relational) capital and knowledge archetype (exploitative and exploratory) learning.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses 315 multiunit samples and structural equation modeling to determine the relationships among the variables.

Findings

The analysis reveals that, while embedded structural social capital exerts a positive influence on exploratory knowledge learning in multiunit organizations, embedded relational social capital exerts a positive influence on knowledge archetype (exploitative and exploratory) learning. Knowledge archetype (exploitative and exploratory) learning also positively influences DC deployment in multiunit organizations.

Research limitations/implications

Few DCs studies have empirically examined the roles of embedded social (structural and relational) capital and knowledge archetype (exploitative and exploratory) learning in multiunit organizations. The results of this study address the failure of past theoretical perspectives on DCs to fully specify and verify the links between the roles of embedded social (structural and relational) capital and knowledge archetype (exploitative and exploratory) learning.

Originality/value

This paper offers one practical trajectory for DC deployment in modern multiunit organizations and offers two contributions to the theoretical perspectives on DCs. First, it identifies the critical role of embedded social capital in enabling knowledge archetype learning and DC deployment, which had never been fully specified or verified in the DCs literature. Second, it identifies the importance of DCs’ deployment trajectory in multiunit organizations’ routine processes.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 54 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 April 2017

Bernard L. Simonin

This paper aims to encourage greater clarity and stimulate further interest in thorough empirical research in the area of learning levels. The broader motivation here is to urge…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to encourage greater clarity and stimulate further interest in thorough empirical research in the area of learning levels. The broader motivation here is to urge researchers to not only theorize but also undertake elaborate and much needed empirical work.

Design/methodology/approach

Part I of the study rests on a reflection and review of the literature concerned with “N-loop learning”, that is, the different hierarchical levels and stages of organizational learning.

Findings

The study provides some views and classification schemes on how to reconcile and think about different levels of learning. Some learning archetypes are identified that guide further reflection and elaboration on learning stages and hierarchies.

Originality/value

“N-loop learning” is introduced to encapsulate and systematize a vast array of views, models and levels of organizational learning. From zero learning and single-loop learning to quadruple-loop learning, a series of learning archetypes are presented. The case for a proper and clear nomenclature of learning levels is singled out. Finally, a strong case for empirical testing in this area is advocated.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 24 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 May 2011

Arthur M. Harkins and John W. Moravec

This essay aims to focus on the development and application of knowledge within competitive national and global contexts. Systems thinking concepts are used to define and further

1038

Abstract

Purpose

This essay aims to focus on the development and application of knowledge within competitive national and global contexts. Systems thinking concepts are used to define and further explore three plausible pathways for future knowledge development and application.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach is anticipatory, utilizing a dynamic knowledge development and application framework based on three futures‐relevant systems paradigms: mechanical (conservatively repetitive), evolutionary (self‐organizing), and teleogenic (purposively creative).

Findings

The article projects three heuristic MET archetypes depicting logical paths of knowledge development and application from now to 2025.

Originality/value

The MET framework provides a systems‐language descriptive means for understanding and engaging in an expanding ecology of educational and new knowledge development options.

Details

On the Horizon, vol. 19 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1074-8121

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1996

Mark Addleson

Argues that there are two strands in the organizational learning (OL) literature marked by incompatible world views. The dominant substance is modernist while the spirit is…

1073

Abstract

Argues that there are two strands in the organizational learning (OL) literature marked by incompatible world views. The dominant substance is modernist while the spirit is interpretive. The focus on systems, in the form of learning loops and systems archetypes, identifies an acceptance of the tenets of modernism. The spirit offers an innovative view of management and contradicts the modernist substance. Drawing on contemporary hermeneutics, the spirit leads to a different conception of the organization, the role of management, and OL. Organizations comprise communities with different interests and understandings. Both organizational problems and solutions reflect people’s understanding. Co‐operation involves establishing mutual interests and is achieved through discourse that builds communities of understanding. Concludes that an important role of managers is to facilitate discourse, and organizational learning occurs in communities of discourse.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2003

Peter Yih‐Tong Sun and John L. Scott

In a rapidly changing business environment, the need to constantly adapt is deemed essential to maintain competitive advantage. This requires an optimum balance of quantitative…

3269

Abstract

In a rapidly changing business environment, the need to constantly adapt is deemed essential to maintain competitive advantage. This requires an optimum balance of quantitative and qualitative measures to monitor progress and performance. This paper provides a framework of thought process that will guide practitioners in developing better qualitative measures and seeks to answer three essential questions: thought process 1 – what is the nature of reality? Provides the answer to the question, can the phenomenon be realistically measured? Thought process 2 – what are the processes used for constructing the measure? Provides answer to the question, are the processes appropriate and sufficiently influential? Thought process 3 – what usefulness and power does this measure provide? Provides answer to the question, is it powerful in a practical environment? The framework was applied to measurement in learning organization contexts and ten models were reviewed. Conclusions cover deficiencies in the models and suggestions on how they might be improved.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 10 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Content available

Abstract

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 24 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Article
Publication date: 14 March 2008

Alan Gillies and Mahendran Maliapen

Internationally, change in healthcare is often a result of a knee jerk reaction to high‐profile adverse events. Alternatively, change is driven by a reductionist set of targets…

1625

Abstract

Purpose

Internationally, change in healthcare is often a result of a knee jerk reaction to high‐profile adverse events. Alternatively, change is driven by a reductionist set of targets and indicators, which do not reflect the complexity of hospitals. This paper posits that hospitals would benefit from promoting organisational learning, and that system archetypes offer a mechanism for achieving this. It seeks to examine the application of healthcare system archetypes in an Australian hospital.

Design/methodology/approach

Archetypes do not describe any one problem specifically. They describe families of problems generically. Their value comes from the insights they offer into the dynamic interaction of complex systems. As part of a suite of tools, they are extremely valuable in developing broad understandings about the hospital and its environment.

Findings

Diagnostically, archetypes helped the hospital managers recognize patterns of behaviour that are already present in their organizations. They served as the means for gaining insight into the underlying systems structures from which the archetypal behaviour emerges. The application of system archetypes to the strategic analysis of the hospital case reveals that it is possible to identify loop holes in management's strategic thinking processes and it is possible to defy these fallacies during policy implementation as illustrated by the results of the archetype simulation model. In this study, hospital executives found that policy modification helped to avoid such pitfalls and avoid potentially cost prohibitive learning had these policies been implemented in practice.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates how system archetypes were deployed within a hospital to improve organizational learning, and provides an approach that may be deployed in other large complex health care organisations.

Details

Journal of Modelling in Management, vol. 3 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5664

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 November 2015

Virupaxi Bagodi and Biswajit Mahanty

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the short comings in decision-making in a complex system. An approach to coping with a complex decision-making task is to identify…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the short comings in decision-making in a complex system. An approach to coping with a complex decision-making task is to identify generic structures known as systems archetypes in a given decision situation. In the “shifting the burden” archetype, decision-makers fail to identify the fundamental solution early and are subjected to accumulated side effects as they resort to quick remedial solutions.

Design/methodology/approach

A system dynamics-based game has been built to highlight the pitfalls of “shifting the burden” systems archetype for a decision-making situation in the Indian two-wheeler industry. Participants of the game make strategic decisions for a company and receive feedback of their decisions and corresponding actions after every plan period.

Findings

The decision-makers who adopt short-term measures to alleviate the company’s problems, invariably fail in their endeavour. Success comes to those who realize the importance of having a long-term perspective in the form of pursuing fundamental solutions.

Practical implications

What could be a possible way of avoiding the pitfalls? The decision-makers should be aware of the pitfalls beforehand and identify the same – a decision support system possibly can aid them in this regard.

Originality/value

The complexity of the system increases as the business grows. The managers need to adopt systems thinking and embrace a long-term perspective. Decision support systems integrating models of systems archetypes provide an environment to simulate various decision situations and see the effects beforehand.

Details

Journal of Modelling in Management, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5664

Keywords

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