Institutional and Personal Reflexivity in Processes of Organizational Learning

Hallensleben, Tobias, Wörlen, Matthias

Institutional and Personal Reflexivity in Processes of Organizational Learning

Hallensleben, Tobias, Wörlen, Matthias: Institutional and Personal Reflexivity in Processes of Organizational Learning, International Journal of Work Innovation, 2014 (online) (unter Begutachtung).

Originalarbeiten in wissenschaftlichen Fachzeitschriften mit Review-Verfahren

The discourse in the field of strategic management broadly refers to the idea of dynamic capabilities which is less about explaining institutional learning (adaptability, creativeness) and non-learning (inertia, resistance), but rather about producing management knowledge for innovation processes. A similar situation can be stated at the personal level: Although human resources and competence de-velopment has been subject of research for decades, there are diffusing attempts at defining and op-erationalizing competence constructs. Most of them are far-off theory, focussed on applicable knowledge and disinterested in explanations. Others tend to be tautological, in the sense of duplicating functions in terms of competence (e.g. leadership competence). In this paper we apply a new approach for research into organizational learning, focusing on reflexivity as a feature of institutional settings and socially embedded individual capabilities. Analyzing the coevolution of epistemic styles, problem solving activities, and organizational structures, we show how more or less reflexivity might enhance or decrease the conditions for change. The data consist of observations, document analysis, and semi-structured expert interviews with promoters and implementers of potential reflexive practices in knowledge intensive entities of high-tech companies. Our findings indicate particularly how complex interaction between management techniques, contextual conditions and sensemaking is, so that measures aimed at promoting innovation can even have contrary effects.

(im Begutachtungsverfahren)

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