Fareeda Khodabocus, Goonesh Kumar Bahadur and Sheeba Armoogum
This chapter provides the multifaceted ways of how the institution has been supporting teaching and learning (T&L) with the use of technology and how it is equipping the younger…
Abstract
This chapter provides the multifaceted ways of how the institution has been supporting teaching and learning (T&L) with the use of technology and how it is equipping the younger generation with the skills required to face a changing job market. The prevailing status of use of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4th IR) in T&L was evaluated through: (i) outcomes of a survey approved by the institution undertaken with academics and students for its external audit in 2018; (ii) the continuous support being provided by the Center for Lifelong Learning for fully online programs through the Moodle Platform; and (iii) use of Google Classroom, smartphones, and tablets in faculty-based teaching by the information and communication technologies (ICT) department. This study aimed to identify gaps with a view to enhance the quality of blended/online learning. Findings of the survey reveal that 59.2% of academics who responded were satisfied with the applications of ICT in their teaching, with 42% indicating that there is a need for improvement. Similarly, 55.1% of students who responded indicated that they were satisfied with the use of technology in the classroom. The case studies support the surveys and provide indications of ongoing advancement in the use of ICT following the external audit. The advent of the pandemic has further accelerated our plans in the digital transformation process, leaving us with no choice but to innovate with the use of ICT in the classroom.
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This paper aims to locate its appreciation of the life and work of Arie de Geus within the context of developments in approaches to management practice, education and learning…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to locate its appreciation of the life and work of Arie de Geus within the context of developments in approaches to management practice, education and learning since the Second World War. It emphasizes the important influence of top management-led applications of social science (Beckhard) and the impact of crises upon planning and the generation of memories of the future for effective organizational learning. The paper also describes the roles of learning from experience and of reflective practice in shaping de Geus’ contribution.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach traces the development of de Geus' career and thinking from Shell cost accountant, to top line manager in three continents, to Head of Shell Group Planning, to prize winning author, to global adviser to the World bank, etc., and as an inspirational speaker as champion of the learning organization.
Findings
The paper acknowledges Arie de Geus as coining the phrase “The Learning Organization” together with his role in the foundation and development of the Society for Organizational Learning (SOL) and as an international champion of young people's learning through the processes of the Finnish Team Academy model.
Social implications
Arie de Geus was an exemplar of reflective practice and applied learning. As such, his contribution might be considered as that of a sage rather than as a guru.
Originality/value
The paper endeavours to emphasize the importance of the role of both the internal and external contexts for effective organizational learning, suggesting that the contribution of Arie de Geus to the field exemplifies this importance.
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Paul Tosey and Graham Robinson
The term “transformation” is much used in the practice and literature of management and organizations. We are curious as to why there has been little challenge to or questioning…
Abstract
The term “transformation” is much used in the practice and literature of management and organizations. We are curious as to why there has been little challenge to or questioning of usage of the term. In this paper we identify a number of dimensions on which usage of ‘transformation’ appears to vary. This results in a tentative classification into a matrix of four types. While these clusters overlap they imply a variety of agendas, expectations and modes of working, with widely differing implications for those involved in associated change processes. The aim of the article is to stimulate debate about the idea of transformation, not to attempt to define what transformation “is”. Thus we treat this variety of usage as interesting and potentially significant, not as a problem or as an inadequacy of terminology that has to be resolved.
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The purpose of this paper is to place the idea of the learning organization in a historical, multidisciplinary context with the aim of identifying obstacles and opportunities for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to place the idea of the learning organization in a historical, multidisciplinary context with the aim of identifying obstacles and opportunities for its greater realization in practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Marking the 30th anniversary of publication of Peter Senge's “The Fifth Discipline”, the paper reflects on approaches to the study and analysis of organizations over the past century from German sociology, human relations, organization development, the learning organization to responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Findings
It is suggested that distributed leadership is critical to the realization of organizational learning and its absence is a major inhibitor of such learning. Following Argyris, it is argued that high levels of skill (personal mastery) may, in some circumstances, provide a barrier to organizational learning in the face of contextual uncertainty and change.
Research limitations/implications
While no specific areas of research are proposed, questions are raised which may only be answered in the wake of appropriate (interdisciplinary) research.
Practical implications
The reflective nature of the paper suggests that significant reform is required in the legislation that encourages short-term thinking on the part of institutional investors to the detriment of strategic thinking and long-term planning.
Social implications
The Covid-19 pandemic seems to have provided an opportunity to redress a perceived imbalance between traditional organizational thinking and opportunities demonstrated by effective community action, for reappraisal of organizations as communities of people as well as being formalized structures, systems and processes.
Originality/value
This paper seeks to synthesize diverse theories of organization with the aim of stimulating further innovation in approaches to organizational learning.
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Graham Robinson and Chris Hurley
Describes a process of management learning and development involving over 100 senior public sector managers in the States of Guernsey and covering a period of six years. Details…
Abstract
Describes a process of management learning and development involving over 100 senior public sector managers in the States of Guernsey and covering a period of six years. Details the programme’s content and action learning approach which had much in common with many other management development processes. However, highlights the fact that it involved the whole spectrum of public sector activity (from policy making, service purchasing and service providing to utilities trading) and that more than 20 chief executives and their senior management teams participated in the process, which makes it somewhat unusual. Reports that, in the wake of the programme, a fundamental shift in the “doing of management” would appear to have taken place, involving a willingness to share resources, to break out of silos and to experiment across previously well‐defended boundaries; and notes that it has also generated a healthy appetite for further learning.
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Outlines some of the questions raised during the course of a qualitative research inquiry into the personal consequences of organisational change for directors who are “drivers”…
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Outlines some of the questions raised during the course of a qualitative research inquiry into the personal consequences of organisational change for directors who are “drivers” of such change. Links these questions to more general issues and trends in the organisation of work (Handy) and for human resource management priorities (Ulrich). Questions the interpretation of these trends in relation to the role of the developer, arguing that effective development involving a third party developer is always dependent on genuine partnership working. Such a way of working is particularly challenging or even threatening to developers, frequently tempting them into hiding themselves behind fashionable theories, tools and techniques, rather than risking their own learning and development while facilitating that of others. Suggests ten keys to unlocking the development potential in oneself and others and that the application of these keys can be a painful process.
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Social inclusion incorporates attitudes, expectations and perceptions about what it means to belong to a group. Belonging is embedded in personal beliefs and social structures…
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Social inclusion incorporates attitudes, expectations and perceptions about what it means to belong to a group. Belonging is embedded in personal beliefs and social structures that set forth criteria that determine how individuals and groups are accorded value and esteem. This chapter explores the constructs of social inclusion, exclusion and belonging with regard to persons in general and more specifically children with disability. It examines the importance of belonging and social inclusion to academic and psychosocial well-being and the effects of stigmatization and exclusion on self-perception, agency and voice. The chapter concludes with a number of evidence-based strategies for creating classrooms, schools and communities in which all are valued, welcomed and belong.
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Constantin Bratianu, Alexeis Garcia-Perez, Francesca Dal Mas and Denise Bedford