Understanding and Creating Whole Organizational Change Through Learning Theory

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9890483
AutoresChris Hendry (City University Business School, Frobisher Crescent, Barbican Centre, London EC2Y 8HB., autor de correspondencia)
Año1996
Volumen49
Número5
Páginas621-641
Fecha de publicación1996-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHuman Relations (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0018-7267 • E-ISSN: 1741-282X
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/001872679604900505
OpenAlexW2116506228
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas26
Referencias citadas34

The management of change has become characterized by an atheoretical pragmatism, overfocused on the political aspects of the change process. Emerging interest in the learning organization provides an occasion to remedy this, by developing a theory of change which is more congruent with the requirement to build learning capacity within organizations. The result should be to place learning theory more centrally within the theory of planned organizational change. This should also reinvigorate action research by defining a wider range of learning technologies and perspectives. The argument is developed by first reviewing theories of learning employed in organizational change. The notion of communities-of-practice is then developed as a core concept to highlight the paradoxical processes of inertia and change centered on groups. A series of examples is then drawn from a recent action research project in order to illustrate the possibilities for applying learning theory. Finally, a research agenda is set out for exploring the role of communities-of-practice, with some preliminary observations from a study of small-medium enterprises

Action (physics · Action learning · Argument (complex analysis · Cooperative learning · Economics · Epistemology · Knowledge management · Learning theory · Management · Organization development · Organizational change · Organizational learning · Organizational theory · Pedagogy · Planned change · Political science · Pragmatism · Process (computing · Public relations · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · Teaching method · Theory of change · Complex Systems and Decision Making · Computer Science · Innovation and Knowledge Management · Organizational Learning and Leadership