Organizational Learning and Performance The Science and Practice of Building a Learning Culture

by Smerek, Ryan

• ISBN13: 9780190648374
• ISBN10: 0190648376
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2017-12-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In Organizational Learning and Performance: The Science and Practice of Building a Learning Culture, Ryan Smerek combines organizational examples with insights from research, to provide readers with a unique and distinctive lens to improve personal and organizational performance.

The first section of the book provides an overview of what it means to learn as an individual and how individuals vary in their openness to learn. Drawing from cognitive and personality psychology, thinking dispositions such as a growth mindset, curiosity, and intellectual humility are explored and how they help foster learning in organizations.

In the second section, Smerek describes the principles of a learning culture, providing a look into the world's largest hedge fund, a renowned food company, a highly-regarded children's hospital, and a preeminent innovation and design firm. Through these examples, readers will come to understand the social norms that increase learning. These include a commitment to transparency of thinking and the pursuit of truth, "Big Picture thinking," a willingness to learn from failure, and the social norms needed to foster innovation and creativity.

Throughout the book, Smerek draws from compelling examples of organizations and research in the social sciences to demonstrate what it means to build a learning culture -- and how it can improve personal and organizational performance.

Author Biography

Ryan E. Smerek is an Assistant Professor and Assistant Director of Academic Affairs in the Master's of Science in Learning and Organizational Change program at Northwestern University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in higher education and organizational behavior and management. His dissertation on the simultaneous "being and learning" of new college and university presidents won the Best Dissertation Award from the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan. He also received an Ed.M. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Dartmouth College in economics. He has researched and published in the areas of learning and new executives, decision-making, job satisfaction, and organizational culture. He has worked at Dove Consulting in Boston, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and Denison Consulting - a culture and leadership assessment firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Organizational Learning and Performance

Section I: Learning as an Individual

Chapter 2: Three Metaphors of Learning as an Individual

Chapter 3: Thinking Dispositions that Foster Learning

Section II: Building a Learning Culture

Chapter 4: Transparency and Pursuing Truth

Chapter 5: Big Picture Thinking and Learning

Chapter 6: Learning from Failure

Chapter 7: Learning and Innovation

Chapter 8: Leadership and Building a Learning Culture

Appendix: Learning Culture Survey