Institutional and personal reflexivity in processes of organisational learning
by Tobias Hallensleben; Matthias Wörlen; Manfred Moldaschl
International Journal of Work Innovation (IJWI), Vol. 1, No. 2, 2015

Abstract: The discourses in the fields of strategic management and organisational learning broadly refer to the idea of dynamic capabilities or meta-competences of complete firms to cope successfully with all kinds of dynamic environments and rapidly changing requirements. They are suffering from severe problems in operationalising such necessary complex and diffuse constructs. It is not much better with respect to individual or personal competences. While 'intelligence', 'knowledge' and traits had lost attractiveness as predictive factors for personal performance, a skill- or competence-turn took place in research and practice. Most of the offered competence models are far-off theory, offering lists of numerous individual capabilities and countless indicators, often tautological by just duplicating functions in terms of competence (e.g., 'leadership competence'). In this paper, we apply a new conception to study organisational and individual learning as well as their results, focusing on reflexivity. This conception tries to understand the co-evolution of organisational and individual practices, epistemic styles and capabilities, and how that contributes to change. We demonstrate the application of this approach by case studies, in knowledge-intensive entities of high-tech companies. Our findings indicate particularly how complex interaction between management techniques, contextual conditions and sense-making is, so that measures aimed at promoting innovation may even have adverse effects.

Online publication date: Sun, 16-Aug-2015

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Work Innovation (IJWI):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com