Purpose: This paper aims to explore the types of learning engendered by internal mobility (IM) by referring to the principles elaborated by Bateson (1972). Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative methodology is followed with interviews among 50 professionals working at four large French firms. Findings: A system of classification for IM is…

Purpose: Research suggests that teaming routines facilitate learning in teams. This paper identifies and details how specific teaming routines, implemented in a virtual team, support its continual learning. The study's focus was to generate authentic and descriptive accounts of the interviewees' experiences with virtual teaming routines.…

Purpose: This study aims to present improvisation training and experimentation as an alternative method to deal with unexpected events in which structured processes do not seem to work. Design/Methodology/Approach: Based on the literature of sensemaking and improvisation, the study designs a framework and process model of experimental learning…

Purpose: This paper aims to develop a better understanding of intergenerational knowledge transfer (IKT) practices by adopting a context-related and comparative perspective. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative case study design involving 83 interviews and non-participative observation in German and Quebec organizations has been chosen.…

Purpose: This paper aims to describe and analyze organizational learning processes and power dynamics during the adoption and use of an information system (IS) at a Brazilian public organization. Design/methodology/approach: A case study was chosen as the research method. Data were gathered from documents and interviews with key informants.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how the countervailing processes for enhancing academic excellence based on professional norms are balanced out with the market-oriented processes of standardisation and performance management in a university. Further, the authors aim to explore how and if organisational learning occurs in…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that organisational sustainability is not a continuation of the status quo but, seen from a complexity theory perspective, is a continuous dynamic process of co-evolution with a changing environment. It is underpinned by learning, and it creates new structures and ways of working to adjust and…

Purpose: This study aims to explore knowledge management (KM) practice in the "back office" of two English football clubs. Design/methodology/approach: The paper takes the form of a comparative case study of two medium-sized businesses using multi-method data including unstructured interviews, structured questionnaires and document…

Purpose: Relationship learning is a topic of considerable importance for industrial networks, yet a lack of empirical research on the impact of relationship governance structures on relationship learning remains. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of relationship governance structures on learning in partnerships.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether small and medium-sized family businesses in Ireland have the potential to be classified as learning organizations. Design/methodology/approach: The research methodology adopted for this study is that of multiple-case studies. In this research, personal interviews were selected as the…

Purpose: This paper addresses the importance of a more proactive role of organizational learning (OL) facilitators, learning motivation reinforcer, through a two-part longitudinal study in a case company. The first part of this study aims to investigate and analyze some unexpected challenges in the project action learning-driven (PAL) OL…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore consultants' experiences of communities of practice (CoPs) in one of the world's largest information technology companies against organisational strategies. The research focus concerns experiences of formal top-down and underground CoPs. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is an exploratory case study.…

Purpose: This paper aims to explain and analyze community-based corporate knowledge sharing and organizational learning, the actual use of communities in Hewlett Packard (HP) Consulting and Integration (CI) and their role in leveraging and exploiting existing and creating new knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents an…

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to present the empirical findings from a case study in knowledge sharing with the aim of understanding knowledge sharing in a strategic context through a socio-technical approach. Design/methodology/approach: Knowledge sharing facilitators and barriers were examined in a UK owned multinational engineering…

Purpose: To critique individual learning experiences in organization, explore the role people play in inhibiting learning in organization and explore theories of individual learning as "theories in use", drawing on a metaphor of steps and dance. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a subjective qualitative approach engaging in…