Management Learning

This Chapter develops a bibliographic analysis that associates teaching methodologies with cognitive skills to create a structural map of teaching activities that guide the learning process in classroom, basing
on student characteristics. Specifically in higher education, the academic formation within the major universities in the entire world goes through a particular problem: lack of effectiveness in the teachinglearning process. This Chapter starts from the premise that the learning management should be used as a strategy for planning the teaching-learning process. A specific theoretically grounded analysis is
used to understood a series of learning activities appropriate to cognitive skills, so authors propose a functionalist model of teaching and learning that seeks greater usefulness in the transfer of knowledge in classroom. Thus, the Chapter covers issues such as: experiential learning for teaching questions, Kolb’s theory of experiential learning, teaching-learning process, and applications of learning management.

In this article we consider the nature and implications of barriers to collaborative process learning that may occur in regional clusters. Our approach is rooted in research in interorganizational collaboration and focuses on interview-based research in photonics clusters in: Scotland and the West Midlands in the United Kingdom; Berlin-Brandenburg in Germany; and Arizona in the United States of America. From this research we develop characterizations of the barriers to collaborative process learning in clusters at three levels of analysis—the macro, micro and meso levels. We also develop an integrated conceptualization of these barriers, which reveals a difficult tension between ‘authority’ and ‘anomie’. This tension has implications for the management of process learning, but also connects with recent debate about whether learning is most helpfully understood as an individual or collective process.

This paper reports the results of an empirical study into the orientations towards conflict and preferred conflict management styles of Chinese managers in Hong Kong. The differences in styles between Chinese and Western managers are then traced back to aspects of Chinese culture and traditional values. The difficulties caused by these contrasting styles, both for the transfer of western managerial practices and for the operation of multi-ethnic organisations in Hong Kong, are noted. Similarly, the effects of these cultural values on the preferred Chinese learning styles are also discussed. Finally, the problems of attempting to develop the acquisition of contingent conflict handling skills by Chinese managers in Hong Kong are addressed and two central problems of attitude change and learning style identified.

The entire person, group or even organization can become involved in the learning process. The importance of emotional factors both for individual and for organizational learning can hardly be over-estimated (). Some learning can involve painful or disturbing experiences, leading to feelings of failure and disappointment. Other learning experiences can entail feelings of discovery, optimism and exhilaration. The interface between emotion and learning is a complex and uneven one. Positive emotions, such as hope, elation and self-confidence, can enhance learning. Negative emotions such as fear, anxiety and anger, can stand in the way of learning. Equally, however, positive emotions can stand in the way of learning, just as negative emotions, in the right circumstances, can enhance it. The situation is further complicated by the fact that emotions are themselves products of learning in two very real senses. On the one hand, we learn emotions and emotional displays appropriate to different social and organizational situations; on the other, we learn to read our emotions and the emotions of others, to channel them, contain them and control them.

dilemmas entailed by the practicalities of the research design and process (e.g. how to agree and manage a project plan with one's supervisor; how to cope with potentially unethical practices involving research participants in organizational settings). Furthermore, despite the limitations identified above, Brewerton and Millward's approach can be congenial to the established researcher as well. In this sense, the peculiarity of their analysis lies in the fact that it offers an opportunity not only for reflecting on one's own research strategies or exercising one's critical ability, but also for thinking afresh about some specific activities and phases in the conduct of the research process (like, for example, using the internet as a resource during preliminary explorations or managing the logistics of an increasingly widely appreciated technique such as the focus group). These are among the main reasons why we may well conclude that, taken as a whole, the book under review can be differentiated from the mainstream of already existing texts on organizational research methods.

The Dutch government has played a significant role in the dissemination of management knowledge to the Dutch business community and as such in the professionalization of management since the mid-1940s. After the Second World War, the Dutch government initiated and stimulated the development of an institutionalized network to transfer management knowledge. In the 1980s, however, the government's position changed dramatically. Its directive role as stimulator and distributor of knowledge diminished and was taken over by actors such as consulting agencies, gurus and commercial publishers. As well as decreasing its role as distributor, the government also changed its own position. Governmental bodies themselves increasingly began to use management knowledge and in doing so became one of the largest consumers in the Netherlands. Key Words: COP; dissemination process; field; institutional dynamics; management knowledge; role of the government During the 20th century, management emerged as a separate and distinct occupation, and managers became one of the most powerful groups in society. Positioned between capital and labour, managers increasingly gained influence in the making of important decisions at different levels in society. Over time, management began to define itself as a group with its own skills and domain of knowledge. In fact, the history of management can be described in terms of a professionalization process, although not very successful when compared to other professions.

This Impact Report identifies and summarises the diverse impacts, resulting from the £500m of UK funding of Science and Technology in 2013, using numerous quantitative metrics and short case study extracts.  It shows how the varied impacts of a national science and technology organization and its many funded programmes can be annually identified, captured, tracked, and summarised in a public document.

The report was produced for, and by, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) -  the UK Research Council responsible for funding: (1) all UK astronomy, particle and nuclear physics research, (2) related UK science and technology facilities (e.g. as Harwell and Daresbury), (3) the UK contribution to international science (e.g. CERN, international telescopes and space missions), (4) innovation and business spin-off programmes, and (5) UK public engagement activities.

The Report was co-researched and co-authored by the STFC Impact Team, including myself while Impact Evaluation Manager in 2013, with Dr. Claire Dougan-McCallie (lead author/Head of Impact) and Jenny Beard, with additional input from senior managers, and many data and case study contributions from other key managers across STFC.

Varied key impacts are identified and reported including:

• Research amongst the best (by citation impact) in astronomy, nuclear and particle physics.
• Supported research of 226 Principal Investigators in 70 universities, led to 1,100 peer-reviewed papers in 2012.
• Facilities (the Diamond Light Source, ISIS and CLF) were used in 2012/13 by over 4,200 unique users , in over 2,400 experiments, producing over 1,000 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

• Technology from CERN benefited the UK economy by over £100 billion every year.
• Funding the development of the UK’s space, internet and computer animation industries, returned over £500 billion to the UK economy per annum.
• Funded Innovation Campuses hosted over 230 enterprises and supported over 5,000 jobs.
• UK industry won £43 million in contracts from the international subscriptions funded, and had accumulated a total of £150 million since 2005.

• Funded research inspired future generations to study STEM subjects, attracting 90% of UK undergraduates to study physics, funded 782 PhD students  and 16,800 student training days.
• Between 2009 to 2012 public engagement programmes engaged people on 58 million occasions, with 2 million people engaged in face-to-face activities in 2013 alone.

Team leaders who facilitate knowledge sharing and engender trust contribute to team effectiveness. While the separate effects of leadership, trust and knowledge sharing on team performance are well documented, few scholars have investigated the specific links between these factors. This study examines the relationship between the leader as the knowledge builder, trust in the leader and in the team, knowledge sharing and team performance. Surveys were collected from 34 engineering project teams (n=166 team members, 30 team leaders) and 18 managers in a large automotive organization. The results indicate that by building the team's expertise, leaders enhance team members' willingness to rely on and disclose information in the team, which in turn increases team knowledge sharing. Team knowledge sharing significantly predicted leaders' and managers' ratings of team performance. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

The quality of teaching technique employed by the teacher basically influence student's interest and learning outcome. In recent times, it has become obvious that the conventional learning pattern can no longer meet the need of digital millennials nor prepare them for the future. This has necessitated the transition from traditional (teacher-centred) approach to inquiry-based (student-centred) approach in order to improve students' skills and enhance productivity in learning. The present study critically examines the potentials of mobile technologies in enhancing the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning approach. The findings show that mobile technologies have the potential to enhance the success of inquiry-based learning method. Indeed, the inquiry process can be more effective if the "Inquirers" can maximize the potential benefits offered by mobile technologies. The study indicates that many students are closely attached to their mobile gadgets such as smartphones, tablets, notebooks and other PDAs, and can easily manipulate it for inquiries, discoveries and innovations. Also, mobile devices often come with fascinating features, apps and functions that motivate learners to connect to the internet, think critically, and to actively engage in authentic and creative learning inquiries, collaborations and discussions. With the aid of mobile devices, students can conduct inquiries (ask questions) via phone calls; text messaging, chat, and e-mails both within and outside the classroom. From the study, it can be inferred that, the use of mobile devices enhance inquiry-based learning; promotes student's inquiry and entrepreneurial spirit, and positive attitude towards learning. Also, mobile devices can inspire students to learn more comprehensively and effectively, International Journal of Education (IJE) Vol. 2, No. 01, October 2019 2 thereby increasing their proficiencies, and preparation for changes; challenges, and a knowledge-based society. Thus, the study concludes that the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning approach in the 21 st century can largely be enhanced by mobile technologies.

Based on intensive fi eldwork of a single cohort of MBA students at a highprofi le university, this article examines how international groups of students work together in learning groups. In particular, the article identifi es some of the factors that account for why some groups generate synergies for students, whereas others lapse into dysfunctional group relations. The importance of language diffi culties, leadership, freeriders and the presence of 'diffi cult individuals' are assessed. The authors conclude that the ability of learning groups in transcending cultural and other diffi culties depends crucially on their ability to enable all their members to discover a voice that is both heard and respected within the group. When groups fail in this respect, intense voice anxieties lead to the questioning of the legitimacy of the educational programme as a whole, the participants, the knowledge being generated and even the institution.

Draws together theorizing in learning, organization and management studies in order to consider the nature of the problems by which the practice of knowledge management is animated. Though in places propositional, the points being made remain deliberately suggestive insofar as they invoke a wide-ranging past to consider what might be probable futures. The conclusion invokes a return to the past, in suggesting that the potential for knowledge management lies with its returning to a time when theorizing was grounded in what we now choose to ignore, namely managers' experiences and practices as they use their imagination in wealth-creating activity.

Since the global financial crisis, the economics profession has been more publicly visible—and more criticized—than at any other time in its history. Commentaries on the failure of mainstream economics to predict the crisis are ubiquitous, and some critics even place blame for the disaster on the application of misguided economic theories. These reactions have helped turn a spotlight on the role economists play in guiding public policy, and have revealed the underlying power of economic experts over the social and political life of nations. The subject of The Econocracy is a growing tension between economists and society at large that is caused by this power.

The aim of this article is to explore how the practice of critical reflection within an informal management learning process can be facilitated through the application of reflective processes and tools.  A distinction is drawn between reflection as a form of individual development (of, say, the reflective practitioner), and critical reflection as a route to collective action and a component of organisational learning and change.  Critical reflection, however, is not a process that comes naturally to many managers and may have to be learned or facilitated, often through informal learning processes such as coaching, mentoring and action learning. The aim of this paper is to discuss some of the tools available to informal learning facilitators, in helping a client towards a more critically reflective understanding of their situation and organisation.  These include processes such as storytelling, and reflective and reflexive conversations, and the use of tools such as reflective metaphors, critical incident analysis, reflective journals, repertory grids and concept mapping.  Such tools provide an aid to critical reflection, the process that mediates between experience, knowledge and action.

This research, conducted by the author when a Senior Researcher at Newcastle University, UK, was funded by a UK governance organisation to help them assess, integrate and improve their understanding of the governed population.

ABSTRACT: Governance organisations have been urged to develop more holistic evidence-based approaches with partners to better deal with issues affecting the governed population. This presupposes an understanding of the population, yet there has been little research work addressing how governance organisations come to understand their governed population, nor how this understanding can be improved upon within such organisations.

This case study examined in-depth how understanding of a governed population was developed within one UK local governance organisation and it explored how such understanding might be developed and improved through more holistic and evidence-based organisational learning within the organisation and its governance partnerships.

The research methodology involved placement within the governance organisation, participant observations on several projects and innovative initiatives, observations within, across, and outside the organisation, and also interviews with varied key stakeholders.

The study examined:

- stakeholder engagement and networks
- current and varied understandings of the population
- mechanisms actually used for developing understandings
- the influence of context on organisational learning

and analysed these to arrive at a recommendations to improve organisational understanding of the governed population.

In the case studied, significant strengths were found: including innovative past learning trials for development, extensive ongoing networking activities, and many varied and accumulating quantitative datasets available across partnerships.

However, entrenched organisational approaches and practices constrained the development of holistic evidence-based understanding, for instance: the absence of systematic maintained collective learning processes; weak recording and forgetting of understandings; methodological exclusion of stakeholders from the development of understanding; the relative neglect of qualitative data, explanations, investigations, interpretations, and reflexivity; and also implicit organisational acceptance of such limitations and low aspirations.

Nonetheless, untapped opportunities existed to enable change including: latent practitioner knowledge and innovative management champions, the desire for improvement and raised aspirations within learning networks, and the development potential of alterative learning approaches.

It was concluded that more holistic evidence-based understanding was possible, but required new learning approaches beyond those then in use in both local government or academia.   

Recommendations are made to utilise and develop improved organisational learning approaches trialed and reported in the case study.

It is argued that the case study findings, conclusions, and recommendations may be applicable to other similar local governance organisations and partnerships that seek to better understand local populations, services and interventions.

The work was also submitted for, and awarded, an MPhil (at Newcastle University, supervised by Prof. Patsy Healy)

Coaching has enjoyed substantial commercial growth, but empirical support for its effectiveness is limited. Nowhere is this more so than in the matching process between coach and coachee. This study describes the results from a coaching programme in which coachees were asked to reflect on and justify their choice of coach. Initial, qualitative results suggested that female coachees favoured the choice of female coaches, partly as a role model of business success. Male coachees tended to justify the selection of a female coach as more approachable for the discussion of sensitive, personal issues. A minority of male respondents also displayed sexist attitudes in their comments on the selection process. Subsequent quantitative analysis of the data, however, revealed no bias towards the choice of either female or male coaches. While the results show no statistical significance in gender choices, for a minority of coachees, gender is a rather surprising factor in the selection process.

Empirical research has already postulated the link between learning routines and the creation of competencies, but it is less clear how competencies influence organisational performance. This paper is an empirical investigation determining the relationship between the creation of competencies and the quality of learning. The purpose of the paper is to not only build on prior research that has validated the usefulness of linking levels of learning with the evidence of competencies, but also to illustrate how the creation of competencies is a socially constructed phenomenon. Thus, the paper has a strong theoretical disposition examining the existing literature as well as building on it. Socially constructed routines of themselves have little inimitable advantage to firms unless the routines are underpinned and harnessed by unique learning systems. The paper explores these concepts by showing how the creation of competencies depend on, and are predisposed to, the quality of learning interaction, the routines that are patterned from these, and the capacity of the organisation to turn the new socially constructed routines into superior performance. The paper is expected to make a major contribution to the strategic management literature by showing what types of competencies are more likely to lead to superior firm performance, and how competencies are linked to learning.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to provide a greater understanding of the role of team learning by examining the link between team centrality and organisational learning. Design/methodology/approach -This paper is a conceptual paper that examines a range of literature related to team learning. It is the first paper in a series of three. The final paper examines the propositions developed in this and a subsequent paper by exploring team learning in over 30 large companies across a range of industries. Team processes are all but defined by pre-existing organisational processes. At one extreme, they are directive and driven. At another, they are dynamic and fluid and underlie a degree of self-managed activity. Team processes accordingly are potentially dynamic or rather basic depending on the level of structured or unstructured activity. The paper suggests that potentially dynamic teams are those that display superior learning routines that are embodied within each team's processes. This paper contends that team learning is a centrally located variable within organisational learning processes. Findings -To date, team characteristics, team building, and team structures have been the focus of much research, but team learning routines have been underplayed in the team's literature. Teams are central in the organisational learning process. Practical implications -This paper establishes the theoretical underpinning for a final paper that will make significant recommendations. There are practical implications, however, of various links across the themes, particularly the centrality of the team in the learning process. Originality/value -This paper is a highly valuable due to very little research being completed to date on this topic.

In a contemporary business environment where change is often regarded as continuous, the ability of people or organizations to be able to successfully adapt and respond to change is key. Change often involves not only the learning of new behaviours, ideas or practices, but also giving up, or abandoning some established ones. Despite both these elements generally being important to change, academic focus on processes of abandoning or giving up established knowledge and practices i.e. unlearning, is lacking. This conceptual paper draws on a range of literature to suggest that the process of individual unlearning may have particular features. The review defines the concept of unlearning, differentiates between two different types of individual unlearning, and suggests that each type of individual unlearning may have its own distinctive features and dynamics. The paper builds from this insight through developing a typology, which distinguishes between four types of individual unlearning. The paper concludes with an agenda for future empirical research to examine and validate the concepts presented.

As a learning theory, the continuous improvement (CI) discourse has benefited countless manufacturing enterprises to improve and adapt their methods of production. As one of the pillars of total quality management, it has generally included a range of dynamic concepts from high involvement teamwork and production enablers, to other social and technical capabilities such as innovation techniques. Such methodologies have been promoted in the literature as potential manifestos that can transform existing capabilities from simple representations of capability, to dynamically integrated ones (often labelled`f ull CI capacity''). The latter term in particular deserves more attention in the literature. Since CI techniques cannot be separated from organisational learning methodologies, it follows that CI methods should underpin holistic learning. This paper explores whether CI methodologies have advanced far enough to be considered as integrated and holistic in their own right. If not, it follows that new theories, challenges and discourses should be considered for exploration in the CI literature.

The adoption of new management ideas and practices has become an important and substantial area of study and debate within organizational studies, often under the label of management fads. However, there has been little critical reflection on the range of theoretical approaches used and their problems and possibilities. Moreover, while there has been some overlap with broader issues of management knowledge and learning, debates and literatures remain largely distinct. By way of an overview and as a way of furthering the existing multi-disciplinarity of debates on learning, this article selectively constructs and assesses six broad perspectives on the adoption of management ideas. Rational views are initially contrasted with various psychodynamic, dramaturgical, political, cultural and institutional approaches. However, it is argued that existing perspectives and classifications tend to be dualistic and either idealize or marginalize managerial rationality. This leads to empirical neglect and the possibility for approaches where rational management is acknowledged as necessarily bounded and emotional.

Based on data gathered from an autoethnographic account and in-depth qualitative interviews with Italian expatriates, this paper explores the importance of pre-departure linguistic and cultural training for expatriates working in China, with a particular focus on the emotional aspects of movement. According to the latest Global Relocation Trends surveys, China is ranked second only to the USA as the top international destination. However, it also tops the ranking in terms of expatriate assignment failure as it is regarded as the country in which expatriates find it most difficult to adapt (GMAC, 2010, 2011). It is here argued that linguistic competences together with cultural understanding are crucial determinants of a positive expatriate experience in terms of general adjustment, social adjustment and work adjustment. Notably in respect of emotional experience, training can ameliorate emotional dissonance as well as being a precursor for a more general sense of expatriate emotional wellbeing.

The paper reports on both methodological and substantive findings. It presents a method for generating simplified representations for regional urban populations, their geographical sub-populations and communities. the method generates greatly simplified high-resolution socio-economic profiles of populated geographical areas from complex large census data sets.

In this short article, I argue that popular business discourse on the role of management consultancy in the promotion and translation of management ideas is often critical, informed by more or less implicit ethical and political concerns with employee security, equity, openness and the transparency and legitimacy of responsibility. These concerns are, in part, 'sayable' because their object is seen as a scapegoat for management.

This article examines the active client of management consultancy as a key agent in managing and mediating knowledge flows across organisational boundaries. From a qualitative study of a particular case of active clients -internal consultants managing their external counterparts -three boundary-spanning roles are identified. Active clients can act as a 'gatekeeper', 'broker' and 'partner' with respect to both consultants and the knowledge they bring. These roles are shown to vary according to a client's expertise, formal project responsibilities and personal reputation, as well as the different phases of consulting projects. They not only elucidate an otherwise neglected or static dimension of management consultancy -client activity -but highlight the dynamic and essentially political character of serving as knowledge barriers and/or bridges in the intermediation and co-production of management knowledge across organisational boundaries.

This research was funded by, and implemented within, a UK national research organisation, while the author was the KE and Impact Evaluation Manager responsible for assessing impact on a £15m UK government-funded research programme.

This work was also submitted as the authors MBA dissertation which was accepted and awarded in 2009.

ABSTRACT: A methodology and methods ‘toolbox’ is proposed for conducting impact research and assessment from within research programmes. The emphasis is upon how to clarify and assess the wider impacts from the early stages onwards.

The approach explicitly acknowledges, and attempts to address, the known issues and challenges of impact assessment while drawing upon the resources and opportunities available to research managers and researchers within such programmes.

The study has two triangulating foundations. Firstly, it examines the academic literature to help identify and design the pilot methodology and methods. Secondly it trials these in a real programme to both test and improve them.

The study was conducted over one year within one leading UK research organisation, where two research programmes (and around 60 research projects of £15m total value) were being assessed for their impacts. The study draws upon actual impact management experience and reflection, prospective (ex ante) and retrospective (ex post) assessments, participatory contributions from leading researchers undergoing assessment, and consultation with external users. The findings of this study outline the pilot and its first iteration. Recommendations are made for improvement to the methodology and methods.

A subsequent follow-on bid to UK government incorporating the impacts identified from implementing this methodology, successfully led to a further £15m of government funding.

It is expected the pilot methodology and methods will be applicable to other organisations, conducting and funding such research programmes, required to research and assess the wider research impacts.

Although primary focus of implemetation trials was upon research in physical sciences, technology, high-tech engineering, computing/IT, and environment, the wider literature study, the methodology design and justification, the methods proposed and used, and the resulting general recommendations and lessons are expected to apply more broadly to many other research areas, where the impact is to be found more widely in the society, economy, government or public sector or within organizations, policies, professions or the public.

Interest in this work is expected from research programme managers, impact managers and assessors, management consultants advising in this area, and government funding managers, all seeking to embed a developing approach to understand, capture, and enhance wider impact.

A number of critics have analysed management guru 'texts' and their analysis suggests that we have much to fear from them. This article, by contrast, explores a customer service intervention in a UK bank that drew on 'some' of the ideas of the management guru, Stephen Covey. The article highlights that guru texts do not translate from the page to practice in an unproblematic way. This is because they must be interpreted and are filtered through existing social contexts. Second, the ideas are often flawed and third, they meet with resistance. The central argument is that management gurus are less powerful than many critics assume because neither gurus nor managers are able to control how their ideas are consumed.

Multiple contexts shape team activities and how they learn, and group learning is a dynamic construct that reflects a repertoire of potential behaviour. The purpose of this developmental paper is to examine how better learning behaviours in semi-autonomous teams improves the level of team adaptability and performance. The discussion suggests that learning behaviour enables the team to better respond to critical uncertain contexts which in turn improves team adaptability. The overriding theme of the paper is that better team adaptability leads to higher team performance; learning behaviour provides the means by which teams and their members are more adaptable in responding to different contexts. The paper develops a number of hypotheses. The need to understand the link between multiple uncertainty contexts, team adaptability and team learning is important in improving team performance indicating a significant research gap.

In this article, we argue that management and business undergraduate students who are engaged in learning about leadership occupy a liminal space or state of between-ness. Drawing on anthropological conceptualisations of liminality in which those undergoing liminal rituals must grapple with symbolic monsters, we point to the experience of doubt and uncertainty as 'monsters' with which students must come to terms. We link this to scholarship that characterises dealing with uncertainty as a central element of leadership practice. Drawing on notions of 'threshold concepts', we suggest that students experience the monster of doubt as they progress in their learning experience and that there are a number of potential ways students might 'think like a leadership scholar'. We set out some opportunities for leadership educators to engage students with threshold concepts as they seek to become familiar with 'doubt' as central to the study and practice of leadership. Applying a liminality framework to the understanding of threshold concepts helps identify threshold concepts as crucial to learning, infused with cultural assumptions and situated within an understanding of the student experience.

Within organizations there is reciprocal interplay between identity construction and learning. Processes of learning are enabled and constrained by identity practices; concomitantly, the possibilities for learning are shaped by the identity positions available to individuals. There is a dynamic between the impositions of organizations and people’s freedom to shape their identities and learning plays a crucial role in this. Our purpose in this special issue is to contribute to the understanding of the intersection of identity work and learning as a response to experiences of being different. Experiences of difference include moving into a new role, encountering a disjuncture with others while in a role or a difference in broader life which is reacted to as if it were a problem in an organizational setting. Being different produces a variety of challenges and the papers in this special issue trace how people cope with vulnerabilities, develop resilience and often collaborate in their ...

In the continuous expedition towards improving effectiveness in the workplace  to levels of pareto-optimality, Peter Senge in his famous book - The Fifth Discipline, outlines some of the basic practices and guides towards attaining such height. This paper marries Senge's research with the concepts of Employee Effectiveness to outline factors that can be become ingrained in any organization to help make it become a Learning Organization . As the whole is known to be greater than the sum of its parts, it all  begins with the stride towards individual effectiveness of the employees and then a successful attempt towards team building and synergy.

La evolución económica y social en nuestros tiempos, a inicios del siglo xxi, se ve marcada en gran medida por la globalización y la intensificación de la competencia internacional. Se va marcando con cada vez mayor claridad una distribución del trabajo que favorece a los países altamente desarrollados en tecnología y que perjudica a los países que se han especializado en la producción de bienes y servicios con poca transformación tecnológica o valor agregado. En esta carrera las empresas más ambiciosas procuran asegurar que su personal disponga de las competencias que les permita contribuir a la empresa de manera eficaz y eficiente. Para ellos se selecciona al personal más competente y se le entrena permanentemente para asegurar que la ventaja basada en el capital humano se mantiene a lo largo del tiempo. Para muchos gerentes, particularmente muchos ejecutivos de recursos humanos, todo lo que se requiere para tener éxito en esta corriente es tener una buena estrategia y atraer al personal más calificado, monitorear su desempeño y ofrecerle una buena capacitación que lo mantenga actualizado. Realmente es ingenuo creer que las competencias adquiridas en una educación tradicional y en la experiencia pasada serán suficientes para tener éxito en un entorno que se va haciendo cada vez más politizado y hegemónico. Mientras tanto la globalización lleva gradualmente a la monopolización de la economía (fusiones) y al desarrollo de nuevos imperios o al refortalecimiento de los antiguos (Potencias europeas, Japón, etc.). Resulta ingenuo porque hay condicionamientos políticos, ideológicos y militares involucrados en el desarrollo de los negocios; más allá del manejo administrativo. En este artículo nos concentraremos en proponer una alternativa a la capacitación que podría favorecer el desarrollo de las empresas de manera que amplíen sus perspectivas. Se promete prepararlas para transformaciones que irán luego más allá del manejo puramente administrativo. Exploraremos oportunidades de aprendizaje que nos

Purpose of this paper -The aim of this paper is to extend the focus of much literature on training and feedback as means for developing people's self-efficacy. To generate a better understanding of people's self-management at work, this article advances a person-centered perspective of self-efficacy formation and examines the ways by which people think about self-efficacy at work.

Research design has a notable impact on the nature of management and organizational research, and there have been numerous mentions, largely anecdotal, of differences in research design between journals published in the UK and USA. This article describes a systematic study of these supposed differences through content-analysis of 295 articles about organizational learning published in eight leading British- and US-based journals over the past 20 years. The results demonstrate substantial differences in data sources, data collection, and the scale of investigations. We discuss their impact on gaps in the study o f organizational learning and o f fer our own thoughts on possible solutions (as well as challenges) for bridging these gaps.

This chapter is based on a series of experiential workshops and exercises to help leaders and followers to be more mindful about their leading and following styles, and the impact that has on their followers or leaders. This approach has emanated from the authors’ experience as academics, practitioners, and dancers. It focuses on management learning in a holistic way, and as such differs from management training that tends to focus on skills in a rationalist, often utilitarian way, providing “toolkits” to achieve simple cause-and-effect chains. This workshop has the potential to be enlightening and empowering, both for leaders and followers. It helps people to understand better the “lead” and “follow” roles and their mutual dependence, as well as to understand the implications of different leadership styles. The workshops are based on the view that leader-follower-ship is seen as relational, mutually constructed, and mutually enabling, rather than hierarchical and based on power and authority.

Learning About Managing the Business in the Hospitality Industry

Li Li, David E. Gray, Andrew John Lockwood, Dimitrios Buhalis, 2013, Learning About Managing the Business in the Hospitality Industry, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Vol. 24(4), Pages 525-559

This research examines the learning experiences of general managers (GMs) in the hospitality industry, a sector much neglected in terms of research into management learning and human resource development. Our research focused on four large hospitality organizations (two hotels and two contract catering companies) and adopted an approach that integrates multiple data collection strategies in supporting our qualitative case studies. Data were collected by using document analysis plus detailed, qualitative interviews with 21 general managers, of whom 7 were subsequently observed at work and observation notes generated. Data analysis revealed that the participants learned to manage the business primarily through experience, a process consisting of four key stages: Being Challenged, Information Searching, Information Transformation, and Testing. Refl ective thinking plays a central role in their learning, taking the form of “actions” involving association, integration and validation, and of “products” involving content, process and context refl ections. We argue that the way hospitality managers learn, while sharing the learning approaches taken by other professionals, differs in that these managers’ learning is more highly contextualized.

Key Words: experiential learning, management learning and development, problem-solving, reflection

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hrdq.21171/pdf