Management Learning current issue

Erratum

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:42:03 PDT

On Building Bridges, Facilitating Dialogue, and Delineating Priorities: A Tribute to Mark Easterby-Smith and his Contribution to Organizational Learning

Vera, D. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:42:05 PDT

We honor Mark Easterby-Smith for three fundamental contributions to the organizational learning (OL) discipline. First, Mark Easterby-Smith’s entrepreneurial spirit and intellectual curiosity have led him to evolve dynamically as the field has evolved. From his roots in management education and development, Mark’s work has connected the four areas of organizational learning, the learning organization, knowledge management, and dynamic capabilities. Second, consistent with his criticism that the OL field has been dominated by quantitative methods and positivist approaches, Mark has pursued qualitative work and generated rich case data and novel theories. Finally, in a discipline in which diverse terms and definitions abound and interconnections among these terms are frequently absent, Mark Easterby-Smith has taken the role of an organizer, an integrator, and a builder. He has facilitated dialogue in a very inclusive fashion. Indeed, the way in which Mark Easterby-Smith has evolved and supported the community may be his greatest contribution.

Learning to be a Qualitative Management Researcher

Cassell, C., Bishop, V., Symon, G., Johnson, P., Buehring, A. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:42:39 PDT

Conducting management research underpins management learning and education—therefore how the management researcher or practitioner learns research skills is an important issue to be addressed. This paper focuses upon the skills, knowledge and practices required to conduct qualitative management research, and the learning processes that go into their development. A total of 45 in-depth interviews were conducted with key stakeholders in the field. From an analysis of the interview data, the types of skills and knowledge required for the production of good qualitative research were identified, and the learning processes and practices associated with those skills were critiqued. It is argued that the processes by which we learn to do qualitative research, and become effective qualitative researchers, involve both the learning of appropriate skills and knowledge and their use and conceptualization through three types of research practice: reflection, reflexivity and phronesis. The implications of the analysis for management learning are presented.

Practice? It's a Matter of Taste!

Gherardi, S. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:43:28 PDT

This article aims to enhance our understanding of how practice is socially sustained, learnt and constantly refined by arguing that practice is much more than a set of activities—it involves, beside instrumental and ethical judgements, taste and appraisal. Taste is a sense of what is aesthetically fitting within a community of practitioners—a preference for ‘the way we do things together’. Taste is based on subjective attachment to the object of practice and is learnt and taught as part of becoming a practitioner; it is performed as a collective, situated activity within a practice. The elaboration of taste and the refining of practice within a community involves taste-making, which is based on ‘sensible knowledge’ and the continual negotiation of aesthetic categories. The article examines how in a variety of practices, taste-making occurs through three processes: sharing a vocabulary for appraisal; crafting identities within epistemic communities; and refining performances.

Islands of Practice: Conflict and a Lack of 'Community' in Situated Learning

Macpherson, A., Clark, B. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:46:45 PDT

We examine how, in a utility company, existing practices and performance systems limited the scope of situated learning. We contribute to the understanding of situated learning by exploring how conflict, systems and artefacts also shape the trajectory of situated learning rather than just a sense of identity or meaningful participation. Systems and artefacts mediate interactions in organizations and potentially contribute to boundaries between teams, resulting in ‘islands of practice’ and stark variations in performance. This case study broadens our understanding of situated learning in organizations by challenging the relevance of ‘community’ in contemporary organizations where conflict and transience may be prevalent. We argue that practices and objects/artefacts are a fruitful way of researching organizational learning; situated learning in organizations is likely to be continually emerging against a constant battle to stabilize an appropriate set of practices that support the aims of management.

The Silent and the Silenced in Organizational Knowing and Learning

Blackman, D., Sadler-Smith, E. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:35:30 PDT

Research on silence within organizations and learning is sparse. This article is concerned with exploring the concept of silence in organizational settings, delineating its various forms (silent and silenced) and critically examining the relevance of these various manifestations for management and organizational learning. Following a brief review of the concept of the Polanyian notion of tacitness and how it relates to our conceptualization of silence, we offer a taxonomy of silence comprised of several ways of knowing (tacit, intuitive, insightful and pre-conscious) and voice (repressed, withheld and suppressed). The theoretical and practical implications of the taxonomy for management education, training and development are discussed.

Political Leadership, Bureaucracies and Business Schools: A Comfortable Union?

Clarke, M., Butcher, D. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:35:30 PDT

One of the central issues in reconciling pluralistic and bureaucratic forms of organizing lies in the absence of a coherent model of leadership. The intention here is to stimulate debate about the notion of political leadership as a contribution to this analysis. This approach to political leadership prioritizes the explicit acknowledgement of power relations as being central to the reconciliation of diverse interests, and to the building of moral communities in organizational settings. In developing this idea we explore the organizational context for the emergence of political leadership and consider its distinguishing features with reference to both theory and practice. Consideration is given to its utility in building moral organizational communities and how this approach to conceptualizing leadership might be furthered through business school education.

'Good Night and Good Luck'

Elkjaer, B., Vince, R. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:35:30 PDT

Review: The Feminine in Management Consulting: Power, Emotions and Values in Consulting Interactions SHEILA MARSH. New York: Palgrave, 2009. 318 pp. ISBN 9780230207165

Muhr, S. L. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:35:30 PDT

Review: Unmanaging: Opening up the Organization to its Own Unspoken Knowledge THEODORE TAPTIKLIS. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008. 237 pp

Pritchard, J. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:35:30 PDT

Review: Organizing Words: A Critical Thesaurus for Social and Organization Studies YIANNIS GABRIEL. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. 368 pp. ISBN 9780199213221 (hbk); ISBN 9780199213214 (pbk)

Bristow, A. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:35:30 PDT

Review: Foucault and Lifelong Learning: Governing the Subject ANDREAS FEJES AND KATHERINE NICOLL (eds). London and New York: Routledge, 2008. 218 pp. {pound} 22.99 (pbk). ISBN 9780415424028 (hbk); ISBN 9780415424035 (pbk); ISBN 9780203933411 (ebk)

Fougere, M. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:35:30 PDT

Review: Gender and Diversity in Management CAROLINE GATRELL AND ELAINE SWAN. London: Sage, 2008. 107 pp. {pound}14.99 (pbk). ISBN 9781412928243

Ford, J. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:35:30 PDT

Review: The Black Box of Journal Editorship Still Needs Opening: Opening the Black Box of Editorship YEHUNDA BARUCH, ALISON KONRAD, HERMAN AGUINIS, AND WILLIAM STARBUCK. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. 296 pp. {pound}55.00 (hbk). ISBN 9780230013605

Prichard, C. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:35:30 PDT