Henry W. Lane and David G. Burgoyne
Since 1983, the School of Business Administration, the University of Western Ontario, has been offering an annual two‐week management development programme in Kenya. The programme…
Abstract
Since 1983, the School of Business Administration, the University of Western Ontario, has been offering an annual two‐week management development programme in Kenya. The programme is described — how it began, why it was done, details of the classes and course contents. The problem of management transferrability is discussed, followed by what has been learned from the experience.
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This paper proposes a framework for understanding the concept of a learning organization from a normative perspective. A questionnaire was developed to operationally measure the…
Abstract
This paper proposes a framework for understanding the concept of a learning organization from a normative perspective. A questionnaire was developed to operationally measure the described management practice attributes of a learning organization. Using a sample of four organizations and 612 subjects, support was found for three a priori predictive hypotheses derived from a conceptual framework. Implications of the results and further empirical research are discussed, especially for linking learning organization attributes to performance using larger samples and multiple measures.
The most significant event for the School has been the announcement of the creation of the National Centre for Management Research and Development. The Centre is due to open in…
Abstract
The most significant event for the School has been the announcement of the creation of the National Centre for Management Research and Development. The Centre is due to open in 1986 and will provide research facilities for up to 20 major projects designed to improve the competitiveness of Canadian business practices.
The purpose of this study is to propose a model of knowledge legitimation in organizational learning focusing on the relationship between power politics and legitimacy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to propose a model of knowledge legitimation in organizational learning focusing on the relationship between power politics and legitimacy.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts the approach of a conceptual discussion.
Findings
This study developed an organizational learning model that explains how actors exercise their power and how knowledge is legitimated through politics. The author identified various factors that shape the politics; these factors trigger, enhance, facilitate and inhibit power exercise. This study also identified which type of power (influence, force, domination and discipline) leads to which type of legitimacy (pragmatic, moral and cognitive). Furthermore, this study found that power politics and organizational learning are interrelated; actors’ powers bestow legitimacy on knowledge, and knowledge enhances the power of related actors.
Originality/value
This study identified the set of factors that shape actors’ power exercise in organizational learning as well as their associated mechanism and illustrated how they lead to knowledge legitimation. The author also revealed the relationships between actors’ power and legitimacy of knowledge. Finally, this study elaborated on the findings of prior studies concerning politics of organizational learning.
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Today we are all for Action Learning — just as we are all against Sin. But what is it? What are its dimensions? To what extent has it developed particular and validated…
Abstract
Today we are all for Action Learning — just as we are all against Sin. But what is it? What are its dimensions? To what extent has it developed particular and validated techniques? None of these questions is easy to answer and it is therefore illuminating to be taken behind the scenes of the GEC Action Learning experiment in a book published a short while ago entitled ‘More than Management Development’ The book describes the first British version of the exchange model developed by Professor Revans at Brussels, described in his own book ‘Developing Effective Managers’.
Views about the nature and purpose of evaluation have developed quite dramatically over the last two decades. Unfortunately many peoples' expectations about what evaluation should…
Abstract
Views about the nature and purpose of evaluation have developed quite dramatically over the last two decades. Unfortunately many peoples' expectations about what evaluation should be doing have not kept pace with these developments. In addition there has been a large amount of work carried out on the evaluation of general educational and social programmes, and much of this is both parallel to, and complimentary to, the evaluation of management training. This paper reviews recent trends in both fields using ideas from educational evaluation to clarify some of the problems encountered repeatedly in training evaluation and to suggest what might be more realistic expectations of evaluative activities.
At the present time when all kinds of adulterants are being employed by many bakers in the manufacture of bread, and the food rations, and bread rations in particular, are…
Abstract
At the present time when all kinds of adulterants are being employed by many bakers in the manufacture of bread, and the food rations, and bread rations in particular, are considerably reduced, it is of the utmost importance that the public should take what steps they can to obtain a bread which contains a relatively high percentage of assimilable proteins. Many of the “ war breads ” which have been manufactured of late cannot be characterised as satisfactory and desirable products especially in view of the cases of acute indigestion which have been directly attributed to the use of such bread. One of the “ Die Hard ” fallacies, which continues to be promulgated by some members of the Scientific and Medical professions with obstinate regularity, is that the protein content of a food is an absolute indication as to its nutritive value. Nothing could be much more misleading or erroneous. It is quite possible for a food to contain a high percentage of substances described as proteins and yet to possess very little or no nutritive value for the average person inasmuch as many of the substances described as proteins may be entirely indigestible or nearly so. The nutritive value of any food to any given person is largely dependent upon the idiosyncrasies of the person, the amount of available protein present in the food, and certain other factors.