The influence of Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline on an academic career: a research journey into the learning organization and some personal reflections

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 513-520
Author(s):  
Swee Chua Goh
Keyword(s):  
Learning Organization ◽  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Personal Reflection ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Peter Senge ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Personal Reflections

Purpose In this paper, the author explores his research journey into the learning organization and its impact on his academic career. This paper describes how Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization (1990) was the spark that led to the author’s focus on empirical research in the field. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides author’s personal reflections on how this decision put him on a path to a variety of serendipitous experiences, exciting research areas and also enabled him to engage in productive collaborative research with many of his colleagues. Findings The findings conclude with a discussion on what the author see as new challenges and perspectives for advancing research into the learning organization. Originality/value This paper provides a unique perspective on how The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge has influenced an academic career. It presents a personal reflection of a research journey into the learning organization that spans over 30 years.

Viewing learning organizations through an ethical lens: interview with Robin Snell

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 441-453
Author(s):  
Jacky Hong
Keyword(s):  
Career Development ◽  
Learning Organization ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Employee Development ◽  
Personal Reflection ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Thought Leader

Purpose This paper aims to identify the ethical foundations and principles underpinning the learning organization (LO) concept. Design/methodology/approach By interviewing one thought leader in the field, Professor Robin Snell, this paper traces how his early days in academia shaped the development of an ethics-driven research agenda on LO. Findings An ethical perspective advocates the importance of establishing a covenant or constitutional foundation of rights that would enable and empower organizational members at all levels to enact the processes of LOs, thus signifying the importance of employee development and a more sustainable approach for developing LO. Originality/value A personal reflection of Robin Snell on his own academic career development and research trajectory offers some insights into how an ethical perspective of LO evolved and flourished as a field of study.

Trends in hospitality management research: a personal reflection

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Hospitality Management ◽  
Personal Reflection ◽  
Management Research ◽  
Personal View ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Software Packages ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
New Challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a personal view of changes and trends in hospitality research since the formation of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Research, and the context of those changes. Design/methodology/approach – A micro-auto-ethnographic approach is used based on observation and experiences of the author as an editor of a journal since 1993. Findings – As with other forms of research, hospitality research has become commodified by universities, has been much influenced by changes in greater availability of analytical software packages, and been much influenced by new challenges in the industry, notably globalisation and the rise of Asia. Originality/value – The paper provides a list of current issues for research within a context of changing demands being made on academic researchers.

scholarly journals Management and business history – a reflexive research agenda for the 2020s

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Daniel Tennent
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Business History ◽  
Personal Reflection ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management History ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
New Research ◽  
Disciplinary Area

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect back over his career as a management and business historian so far as to consider opportunities for the future of management and business history as a disciplinary area. Design/methodology/approach The paper consists of two segments – the first half is an auto-ethnographic personal reflection looking at the author’s research journey and how the discipline as experienced by the author has evolved over that time. The second half is a prescriptive look forward to consider how we should leverage the strengths as historians to progress the discipline forward. Findings The paper demonstrates opportunities for management and business history to encompass new agendas including the expansion of the topic into teaching, the possibility for the advancement of empirical contributions and opportunities for findings in new research areas, including the global south and public and project management history. Originality/value The paper demonstrates that historians should be more confident in the disciplinary capabilities, particularly their understandings of historic context, continuity, change and chronologies when making empirical and theoretical contributions.

Taking the learning organization mainstream and beyond the organizational level

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Reese
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Learning Organization ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Personal Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Peter Senge ◽  
Personal Mastery ◽  
Five Disciplines

Purpose This paper aims to provide an overview of the development of learning organization concepts from the perspective of Dr Peter Senge and presents an interesting evolution of his systems oriented view of the learning organization field over three decades. Design/methodology/approach Through a conversation with a thought leading scholar, Dr Peter Senge, this paper discusses several topics pertaining to the evolution of the learning organization through a systems approach and provides his perspectives on the development of his theories. Findings Dr Senge explains his origination of the learning organization from three distinctly different theoretical tracks. However, more important than the theory, he illuminates how the theories embedded within The Fifth Discipline actually originated from action research and have continued to evolve. Of particular interest, his sites personal mastery as the most often cited of the five disciplines and offers readers explanations as to why the personal change dimensions are so important, and so often neglected. He clearly describes what it takes to make genuine progress in becoming a learning organization. Originality/value The discussion with Dr Senge reveals his perspective on the evolution of the learning organization debate from his personal perspective. He provides insights that lead the reader to understand “what is a learning organization” and “what does it mean”.

Learning organization thought leaders interview series

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon R. Reese ◽  
Yusuf Sidani
Keyword(s):  
Learning Organization ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Conceptual Development ◽  
Original Publication ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Peter Senge ◽  
Development And Evolution ◽  
Organization Evolution ◽  
Thought Leaders

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the learnings from prior interviews with thought leaders in learning organization conceptual development. Prior interviews with Karen Watkins, Victoria Marsick, Michael Marquardt, Bob Garratt and Peter Senge are included in the summary, which is an interim step as The Learning Organization continues to explore the learning organization history and evolution. Design/methodology/approach The paper summarizes prior interviews to uncover commonalities and differences in the development and evolution of the learning organization concepts as described by thought leaders. Findings Both commonalities and differences exist in definition, development of theory and resilience since original publication. Common threads in concept develop appear across the authors mainly in influences by Revans, Argyris and Schön. Differences also exist in how each author developed learning organization constructs. Originality/value The synthesis reveals that although the learning organization may have differing definitions, there are commonalities that tie some concepts together. Additional interviews will be continued in the exploration of the learning organization evolution.

Reading the past to imagine the future

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-366
Author(s):  
Silvia Gherardi
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Personal Reflection ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ten years of the journal through a personal reflection. Design/methodology/approach – A review of the articles published in the last ten years. Findings – I argue that what has distinguished QROM in these ten years are two distinctive features: reflexivity on practices of qualitative research, and openness to the application of qualitative methods to unusual research topics. Originality/value – The main limit of the paper resides in the subjectivity of the person who has read the articles. Other readers may have different opinions and may have chosen different criteria.

Barriers to Arab female academics’ career development

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 1058-1080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waed Ensour ◽  
Hadeel Al Maaitah ◽  
Radwan Kharabsheh
Keyword(s):  
Career Development ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hrm Practices

Purpose Arab female academics struggle to advance within their universities in both academic and managerial ranks. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the factors hindering Arab women’s academic career development through studying the case of Jordanian academic women. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered through document analysis (Jordan constitution, Jordanian Labour Law and its amendments, higher education and scientific research law, Jordanian universities’ law and universities’ HR policies and regulations), interviews with 20 female academics and a focus group with 13 female academics (members of the Association of Jordanian Female Academics). Findings The results indicate female academics as tokens facing many interconnected and interrelated barriers embodied in cultural, social, economic and legal factors. The findings support the general argument proposed in human resource management (HRM) literature regarding the influence of culture on HRM practices and also propose that the influence of culture extends to having an impact on HR policies’ formulation as well as the formal legal system. Originality/value The influence of culture on women’s career development and various HR practices is well established in HR literature. But the findings of this study present a further pressure of culture. HR policies and other regulations were found to be formulated in the crucible of national culture. Legalizing discriminatory issues deepens the stereotypical pictures of women, emphasizing the domestic role of women and making it harder to break the glass ceiling and old-boy network.

scholarly journals Invisible students: institutional invisibility and access to education for undocumented children

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Meloni ◽  
Cécile Rousseau ◽  
Alexandra Ricard-Guay ◽  
Jill Hanley
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Community Partnership ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Community Stakeholders ◽  
Policies And Practices

Purpose In Canada, undocumented children are “institutionally invisible” – their access to education to be found in unwritten and discretionary practices. Drawing on the experience of a three-year university-community partnership among researchers, institutional and community stakeholders, the purpose of this paper is to examine how undocumented children are constructed as excluded from school. Design/methodology/approach The establishment of this collaborative research space, helped to critically understand how this exclusion was maintained, and highlighted contradictory interpretations of policies and practices. Findings Proposing the analytical framework of “institutional invisibility”, the authors argue that issues of access and entitlement for undocumented children have to be often understood within unwritten and ambiguous policies and practices that make the lives of young people invisible to the institutional entities with which they interact. Originality/value The notion of institutional invisibility allows the authors to integrate the missing link between questions of access and deservingness. The paper also reflects on the role of action research in both documenting dynamics and pathways of institutional invisibility, as well as in initiating social change – as both horizontal, and vertical mobilisation.

Web-based tools for collaborative research

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 8-19
Author(s):  
Stacy Brody
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Research Collaboration ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Collaborative Tools ◽  
Start Ups ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to profile various types of Web-based tools to facilitate research collaboration within and across institutions. Design/methodology/approach Various Web-based tools were tested by the author. Additionally, tutorial videos and guides were reviewed. Findings There are various free and low-cost tools available to assist in the collaborative research process, and librarians are well-positioned to facilitate their usage. Practical implications Librarians and researchers will learn about various types of tools available at free or at low cost to fulfill needs of the collaborative research process. Social implications As the tools highlighted are either free or of low cost, they are also valuable to start-ups and can be recommended for entrepreneurs. Originality/value As the realm of Web-based collaborative tools continues to evolve, the options must be continually revisited and reviewed for currency.

scholarly journals Down to earth: Gaia storytelling and the learning organization

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Mølbjerg Jørgensen ◽  
Anete Mikkala Camille Strand ◽  
Julia Hayden ◽  
Mogens Sparre ◽  
Jens Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Learning Organization ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Critical Zone ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Beginning ◽  
Shape Learning ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose In accordance with Latour, this paper aims to respond to the call for a “down-to-earth” post-learning organization approach to sustainability, which is critical of Senge’s conception of learning organization (LO). Design/methodology/approach “Gaia storytelling” is used to define a LO that is “down to earth.” Findings Gaia is understood through the notion of a critical zone, which foregrounds the local and differentiated terrestrial conditions in which life on Earth is embedded. Practical implications Gaia storytelling implies perceiving LO as a network of storytelling practices enacted and told by unique creative citizens. Such an organization sustains and grows through several entangled storytelling cycles that allow Gaia to shape learning. Social implications The article distinguishes five different storytelling cycles as a way to explore how the Gaia theater cycle connects to other cycles. The four other cycles are called Gaia thinking, explorative, creative and Gaia truth-telling. Originality/value A Gaian LO is a new beginning for LO.

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