1 storyline management learning and transfer:- course evaluation as a technical rational approach. does action learning transfer better? is there a critical theory of management development? poor quality of early data. using metaphor to enrich data. focus on qualitative research design considering ethnography as an alternative to positivism. consider a focus on interpretation and meaning rather than an experiential study in search of principles.

2 emerging issues around organization learning and learning design:- consider organization learning frames influenced by expectation, process review, facilitation and application. being mindful of the bureaucratic context of the case. saying something about: teams, interpersonal skills, group maturity, facilitation styles, self- disclosure, feedback, group roles. raises two questions: - do process review skills enhance self awareness and contribute to organization learning? - does collaborative team building contribute to organization learning? case studies can encourage a ritual reaction to re-design learning experience by:- neutralizing organization position power, sharing post-programme experiences, personal development in emotionally safe zones, ensuring better practice adopted, confirm post programme network. awareness of self and working with others together with issues of post experience course design could impact OL. storyline

3 a different kind of knowing:- rejection of modernism and positivism. acceptance of multiperspectives, local history and an absence of generalizations. a postmodern label that identifies the disparate nature of learning. researcher and facilitator – a common goal or conflict of interest? researchers’ ‘rite of passage’. storyline

4 some initial questions how could management learning bridge the gap between knowing and doing? how could learning be transferred to the wider organization setting? whether to adopt an empirical evaluation study measuring learning impact? whether to adopt a non-positivist design focusing on interpretation and meaning?

5 some assumptions that have become challenges training is more practical than education. more management training the better training needs analysis should be the basis for course design. training transfer is easy training is developmental. experiential training is best. (Burgoyne & Reynolds ’97)

6 research questions – general (looking for behavioural skills rather than cause and effect) what are the things course members experience that make the programme what it is ? how can individual learning be captured and articulated? what are the strengths and weaknesses of the programme in terms of the impact upon organization learning?

7 research questions – more specific in what ways does an action learning management development programmed contribute to a better understanding of the processes relating to the delivery of enhanced individual and organization capabilities? what is the value of the group project in terms of process, content, recommendations and applications as learning opportunities for individuals and their departments? what is the value of investigating the role of team building and group facilitation skills in the study of learning transfer?

8 some private concerns does validity equal truth or verisimilitude? who is the person collecting the evidence drawing inferences and reaching conclusions? how can personal experience illuminate culture and how can autoethnography connect self and culture and the research process? how can I present myself in this research and be seen to be part of it?

9 another view of positivism science is based upon taken for granted assumptions and context, knowledge is not so much objective as shared. science is a socially embedded activity. science is influenced by cultural contexts. creative theories are imagined visions and such visions are culturally determined. invoking impartiality and objectivity positivism absents itself from arenas of ills produced by bureaucracy, authoritarianism and inequality.

10 Bihar 96 involving marginalized groups increasing reader space to interpret Bakhtin 81 Foucault 70 Derrida 78,81 connecting author, text and reader Lyotard 84 no master narratives Rorty 82 facts and vocabulary connected facts and values have no distinction Kuhn 62 building block science lacked foundation progression to qualitative research

11 references Kuhn 62 – The structure of scientific revolutions Rorty 82 – Consequences of pragmatism: Essays Lyotard 84 – The postmodern condition Derrida 78,81 – Writing and difference Foucault 70 – The order of things: An archaeology of the human science Bakhtin 81 – The dialogic imagination Bihar 96 – The vulnerable observer: Anthropology that breaks your heart

12 emerging research strategies evaluation study group dynamics study autoethnographic action learning team work process review facilitation application use of metaphor practitioner’s view individual learning group composition early data autobiography practitioner performer bureaucratic context researcher facilitation metaphors organization learning case studies post modern era

13 the shift to indeterminism from positivistic certainty to pragmatic doubt and groundlessness from metanarrative to human experience and local history from one best / right way to the rights of others from a single perspective to multiple perspectives from a found reality to an integrated, negotiated and created reality existence is culturally determined based upon localized circumstances about which no generalizations can be made

14 teams interpersonal skills group maturity facilitation styles self disclosure feed back group roles organization learning question – do process skills enhance self- awareness and as a consequence assist organization learning ? question – does collaborative team building contribute to organization learning ? emerging issues

15 re-design post –experience learning nullify position power to allow for more radical and innovative processes to take effect share post-experience activities in a more formal way to legitimize impact establish emotionally safe development arenas nominate message carriers to encourage best practice confirm networking activities involving participants

16 autobiography as practitioner and performer as part of the research data shift of values as focus moves from rational evaluation to seeking self-awareness, meaning and emancipation my research persona influencing a research process seeking candour in others has encouraged candour in self. researcher’s ‘rite of passage’

17 A Different Kind of Knowing Some emerging issues concerning the design of learning Dr Christopher Dixon FBEPS, UBD