Towards Network Perspective of Intra-Organizational Learning: Bridging the Gap between Acquisition and Participation Perspective
InSITE 2007
• Volume 7
• 2007
Organizational learning is a scientific field of growing importance. It has developed from classic and foundational works to the two disparate perspectives today: the acquisition and the participation perspective. The first understands knowledge as a substance, mind as a container, and learning as a transfer of a substance from one mind to another. The second perspective focuses on communities of practice and observes no teaching but rather goal-directed practical learning. We argue that both are incomplete and that there is a need for overarching perspective that would build upon multiple-theoretical and multi-level framework of social network theories. Beside connecting acquisition and participation perspective it addresses organizational learning as a multiplex and dynamic process at individual, group, intra-organizational, as well as relational level of research. This contribution proposes network perspective to intra-organizational learning and develops seven descriptive claims to be tested using real-life case studies of social networks within organizations. Both exploratory and confirmatory social network techniques are to be applied.
organizational learning, acquisition perspective, participation perspective, network perspective, social network analysis, descriptive claims.
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