Human Interactions, Processes and Contexts: Reflections on the Past and Envisioning the Future

Citation

David McGuire (2015), "Human Interactions, Processes and Contexts: Reflections on the Past and Envisioning the Future", European Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 39 No. 6, pp. 565-567. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-07-2015-0053

Introduction

This book represents a collection of critical contributions that have furthered our understanding of human and organisational development over the past three decades. Drawn from the work of internationally renowned scholars, the book opens a dialogue on the state of knowledge, research and practice in relation to how individuals behave and interact in organisational settings. Thought-provoking in nature, the book takes the reader on a journey, looking at the challenges faced by this set of scholars in gaining acceptance for their ideas and also providing a retrospective by these same authors in analysing and examining the heretofore impact of their work.

The book is divided into 12 chapters, structured within three key sections. The book commences with an opening preface by Margaret Delaney Gorman, who looks at the significance and impact of the doctoral programme in human and organisational development at Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University. It recounts the tradition within the programme of inviting inspiring scholars to engage with students in real-time, face-to-face collaborative conversations about their research and the process of building ideas and insights into organisational dilemmas. Part 1, titled “Knowledge Creation and Meaning”, contains four chapters. First, David Schwandt and Marshall Sashkin discuss the co-evolving nature of human and organisational theory, showing how surges of rational and normative control coincide with periods of economic expansion and contraction. The second chapter by Anne Sigismund Huff reproduces her 1999 Academy of Management Presidential address where she critiques mode 1 and mode 2 forms of knowledge production and advocates a mode 1.5 form of knowledge production, which, she argues, will enable business schools to remain relevant, focused and added value. The third chapter in the section is written by Karl Weick, who looks at sense making through revisiting the deaths of 13 men in the Mann Gulch fire disaster. Retelling the events surrounding the disaster and decisions taken by those involved allows Weick to draw valuable insights into sense making and team dynamics in a dynamic changing environment characterised by high risk and the disintegration of role structures. The final chapter of the section, authored by Victoria Marsick, emphasises the importance of critical reflectivity and the need to foster organisational conditions that empower learning and dialogue. She also questions the prevailing norms and systems of working.

Part 2, titled “Leadership and Complexity”, contains two chapters. Mary Uhl-Bien, Russ Marion and Bill McKelvey draw on complexity science to advance an argument that frames leadership as a complex interactive dynamic though which adaptive outcomes (learning, innovation and adaptability) emerge. They argue that leadership in a knowledge era needs to recognise that organisations constitute complex adaptive systems, wherein leadership is embedded as an interplay of numerous interacting forces. This contribution is followed by a stimulating piece by Bill McKelvey, who examines the success of Jack Welch and maintains that Welch was adept at applying the 12 disciplines of complexity science to produce incredible value and wealth for General Electric.

Part 3 is titled “Dynamics of Organizations” and contains four chapters. Chapter 7 by Jerry Harvey discusses the Abilene Paradox and recounts the famous family road trip from Coleman Texas to Abilene for dinner, which gave rise to the concept. It identifies six symptoms of the Abilene paradox and makes recommendations for coping with the paradox. Chapter 8, by Mary Jo Hatch, reviews the cultural dynamics model and argues that culture is manifested, realised, symbolised and interpreted in a dynamic way. In Chapter 9, Michael Jocobides and Sidney Winter examine how organisations differ in terms of capability and look at the concept of capability within the context of transaction cost economics. The final chapter in the section, written by Walter Powell and Jeannette Colyvas, examines the micro foundations of institutional theory, paying particular attention to the rise of academic entrepreneurship in US universities.

The final part is titled “Moving to the Future” and contains two chapters. W. Warner Burke produced a thought-provoking polemic on organisational development and change, paying particular attention to the zeigarnik effect (the tendency to remember those tasks that are incomplete). Finally, Scully-Russ, Marquardt and Casey summarise some of the key lessons across the 11 contributions contained in the book and advance some key propositions for advancing research and practice in relation to human interactions, processes and contexts.

Media abstract

This book provides an important retrospective on 25 years of research in the field of human and organisational learning. Containing a series of 11 thought-provoking contributions with leading experts in the field, this book charts our understanding of evolving perspectives in organisational change, leadership, organisational culture and individual and organisational learning. Each of the chapters begins with a prologue, where the author reflects upon their contribution, the impact it has made upon the field and how it has shaped research and practice. These personalised prologues give the reader a valuable insight into the genesis of great research ideas. For instance, Jerry Harvey describes in vivid detail the car journey to Abilene, giving rise to the Abilene paradox and looks at correspondence and reaction to the concept he articulated. The book contains a great variety of perspectives on human and organisational learning, and while written at an advanced level, the contributions are worthy of study and reflection. A truly valuable book that will be of great interest to academics and researchers.

Evaluation

Human Interactions, Processes and Contexts. Reflections on the Past, Envisioning the Future takes the reader on a journey through a series of ground-breaking contributions in the field of individual and organisational learning over the past 25 years. Written to celebrate the anniversary of the Executive Leadership Program, the book is a fitting tribute and collection of thought-provoking insights, debates and conversations about the organisational constructs of leadership, change, culture and learning. This book is best classified as a reader – bringing together different authors in each chapter to introduce, discuss and reflect upon particular theories and concepts. What makes this reader distinctive, however, is that great emphasis is placed on helping the audience understand the context within which the particular academic contribution was derived and how the substance of the contribution has changed and evolved over time.

An advanced tome, written in particular for a specialist audience, this book will appeal to Master, PhD and post-doctoral students as well as faculty and full-time researchers. In many instances, this book may be considered an important reference text – appropriate for specialist knowledge on a particular subject. Each of the authors very much adopts an evidence-based approach, and as a result, there is substantive reference to research texts and journal articles in the book to support the contentions being made. While the writing styles of the contributing authors may vary, the research credentials are remarkably similar. All are leading, well-known and well-established figures in the field of individual and organisational learning – with some authors having held such lofty positions as President of the Academy of Management.

Overall, I see the purpose of this book as threefold: it helps us recollect key contributions to the field of individual and organisational learning, it helps us remember important research lessons that remain both relevant and useful and it helps us reflect upon the evolution of the discipline and discern its future direction. In doing this, the book’s editors perform a useful service in helping us recall the past in order to help shape the future.

In the author’s own words

It is as if organization development (OD), and now in some circles, for example, Academy of Management, referred to as organization development and change (ODC), practitioners believe that the bulk of the creative work for the field has been done. Arguably, there has been little or no new social technology since appreciative inquiry (Cooperrider and Srivastva, 1987). Some would contend that the large group intervention (Bunker and Alban 1997) represents new social technology, and in some represents that is a reasonable argument, yet what is new is an expansion and improvement of a former creation – Beckhard’s (1967) confrontation meeting. It is as if the mission of early OD has been largely achieved. Whether stated in these specific terms of not, the mission of OD has been to loosen tight, bureaucratic organizations.

Chapter 11: A Perspective on the Field of Organization Development and Change: The Zeigarnik Effect by W. Warner Burke, p. 446.

About the reviewer

Dr David McGuire is Reader in Human Resource Development at Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. David McGuire can be contacted at: d.mcguire@napier.ac.uk