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Manufacturing companies increasingly have to deal with uncertainty and complexity without being sufficiently prepared for it. High-reliability organizations (HROs) successfully deal with dynamic and unknown situations. The authors ask the question whether learning concepts of HROs can be a role model for manufacturing companies and if their learning principles can be successfully applied there. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors’ research is based on high-reliability theory and former qualitative empirical studies on learning and development of mission-based HRO. The authors compare their learning practice with learning and development demands of the own empirical cases studies of three manufacturing firms.

Learning concepts in the manufacturing firms are disconnected from their practical demands. In HRO in contrast, learning and development follows a distinct choreography, with a focus on collective reflection. Manufacturing firms can learn from HROs about learning principles especially with respect to collective reflection-on-action in order to develop situational awareness. However, the HROs’ learning should not be seen as a strict role model as their work organization differs significantly from that of manufacturing firms.

The research is based on in-depth case analyses (e.g. interviews and observation). The outcomes are case specific and focus on manufacturing firms. Hence, only patterns or principles can be generalized. To gain a more complete picture, the authors suggest further case analyses in different industries.

Manufacturing firms can benefit from learning principles of HROs, like combining formal and informal learning and collective reflection on practice.

The paper connects previous research on HRO with original empirical research on manufacturing firms. Through the matching of data, the authors contribute to the discussion on whether the concept of HROs can be seen as a role model for learning and development in manufacturing firms.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how communication and cooperation in inter‐organizational networks may bring about organizational learning. A case study of 13 inter‐organizational school networks in Germany is carried out for this purpose.

Results of a quantitative survey assessing the performance of the 13 networks are presented. A subsequent qualitative survey of two highly innovative networks takes into account the learning effects in school practice. The analysis is predicated on an activity theoretic view on learning and development.

Two levels of consideration are distinguished: the learning platform where representatives of the schools regularly meet and the operational work at the schools. The perception of how the representatives in the network learned how the colleagues at the schools who are not directly involved learned and how the school as a whole learned is appreciated differently. Outcomes vary from “exchange of new ideas” to “implementation of school development.”

The paper is based on empirical research carried out at one point in time. A longitudinal study of inter‐organizational network performance could shed more light on the dynamic validity of the model.

Understanding networks allow to appreciate their outcomes. The outcomes of this paper provide guides on how to design more effective learning networks.

The conceptual model distinguishes between two network levels, its interrelated learning effects and the different stages of learning and development. Learning networks can be assessed due to the learning categories, and success factors can be identified.

The article seeks to conceptualize learning in practice from a theories of practice view. This paradigmatic shift allows one to overcome problem areas related to traditional conceptions of learning such as the difficulty of knowledge transfer, and related to many situated learning models that neglect the aspect of reification of practice. Therefore the approach being presented in the following study considers learning and development as an interrelation of practicing and reflecting.

A case study of learning and development in production at a pharmaceutical company shows how these theoretical aspects can be applied in the working context of a complex organization. Results of the application are evaluated through several qualitative research methods.

The case study suggests that learning through corporate practicing in a process simulation which takes place in the original working context leads to intensive reflection between participants. The reflection brings about change in understandings and can finally lead to development in the organization.

Since the process simulation has been in use for several years now, the paper gives an example how learning and reflecting are brought about through corporate practicing in a context close to operational reality.

The article provides a different perspective on learning in practice. Learning, as practicing and reflecting, is seen not only as an individual process but also as a prerequisite for organizational development. The paper provides, besides the theoretic conceptualization, the example of a successful implementation in process industry.