Papers by Victoria J Marsick
This examination of factors that affect group learning is a first step toward developing a pedago... more This examination of factors that affect group learning is a first step toward developing a pedagogy of group learning, in contrast to individual learning.
Strategic Learning in a Knowledge Economy, 2000
The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 1997
Organizational literature heralds the value of team learning but does not provide a research-base... more Organizational literature heralds the value of team learning but does not provide a research-based description of it. This article describes a model of team learning that was derived empirically from case studies in two companies, one with a cross section of employees in a petrochemical company and the second in a data-processing unit that had been reorganized into self-managed teams in a manufacturing company. The authors draw conclusions about changes in learning processes, conditions, and perceptions of time and explore research implications regarding human dynamics.
Advances in Developing Human Resources, Mar 15, 2013
The Problem Watkins and Marsick (1993) recommend that interventions be sculpted to meet unique or... more The Problem Watkins and Marsick (1993) recommend that interventions be sculpted to meet unique organizational contexts and conditions. They provide examples, but do not show how interventions can be designed based on the dimensions of the learning organization questionnaire (DLOQ). The Solution The Government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) used the DLOQ to guide development of a policy-oriented Learning Organization Initiative (LOI) to increase employee skills and capabilities in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). Research was prompted by awareness of gaps in resource use and of differences in how employees prefer to learn in SMEs in comparison to large companies. This article shows how the DLOQ guided work with multiple stakeholders to create a customizable set of interventions for SMEs. The Stakeholders Scholar practitioners and policy specialists may be interested in ways that policy was crafted to suit the unique learning preferences of SMEs when developing solutions that support within-firm, across-firm, and national human resource development.
InTech eBooks, Mar 2, 2012
New Research on Knowledge Management Applications and Lesson Learned 172 yet there are important ... more New Research on Knowledge Management Applications and Lesson Learned 172 yet there are important links between them. Conversation, social interaction and collaboration, relationships, and work-based learning practices form the heart of informal workplace learning. These practices are also key to conceptualizations of knowledge creation and sharing that emphasize its social dimensions and a constructivist view of what knowing means. 2.1 Social dimensions of knowledge management O'Toole (2011) points to two main approaches to knowledge management, one that emphasizes "semantic knowledge retention in the form of databases" and a second that "emphasizes knowledge management as a social communication process" (p. 26). This depiction parallels the frequently cited classification of knowledge as explicit or tacit, although as many authors have also noted, both types of knowledge can sometimes co-exist in any given circumstance. Explicit knowledge is more easily captured and shared via IT databases and communication systems, whereas tacit knowledge is often not fully conscious or understood, and is shared through conversation, storytelling, nonverbal communication, and art or drama or other aesthetic experiences. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) built their understanding of knowledge creation on the importance of converting tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge as a means of creating new knowledge in the workplace. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) purported that "tacit knowledge is deeply rooted in an individual's action and experience, as well as in the ideals, values, or emotions he or she embraces" (p. 8). They recognized two dimensions of tacit knowledge, the first being technical knowledge or "know-how" specific to a particular craft, and a cognitive dimension consisting of "schemata, mental models, beliefs, and perceptions so ingrained that we take them for granted) (p. 8). Van Krogh et al. (2000), building on these ideas, emphasized the difference between managing knowledge and knowledge enabling. The latter "depends on an enabling context" which they further define as "a shared space that fosters emerging relationships" that resembles "the Japanese idea of ba (or 'place')" which "is connected to …two points: knowledge is dynamic, relational, and based on human action; it depends on the situation and people involved rather than on absolute truth or hard facts" (p. 7). In doing so, they take a constructivist view of knowledge creation, that is, that people make their own meanings in interaction with one another in context. Constructivism is "postmodern" in that its adherents do not believe in an objective truth that is separate from the people who create it. Knowledge, therefore, is constructed and interpreted individually based on a person's history and experience, but knowledge can be shared because social realities often overlap and interact. Cianciolo, Matthew, Sternberg, and Wagner (2006) describe tacit knowledge as "an adaptive intellectual resource stemming from the active interaction between individuals and their dynamic environment" (p. 617). A trusting environment is essential for this to happen. Building on Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), Van Krogh et al. (2000) identify five key steps for knowledge creation: sharing tacit knowledge, creating a concept, justifying a concept, building a prototype, and cross-leveling knowledge (p. 9). They note that "managing conversations" is one of only two links that are common to all five steps. "Effective conversations," they continue, "allow for higher creativity; stimulate the sharing of tacit knowledge, concept creation, and justification; are essential for developing a powerful prototype; and lubricate the flow of knowledge across various organizational levels" (Ibid). Conversations take place in relationships and social interaction. Context-in particular a www.intechopen.com Informal Learning and Complex Problem Solving of Radiologic Technologists Transitioning to the Workplace 173 supportive caring ba, conducive to trust-affects this kind of knowledge creation and sharing. In organizations, context is influenced by group and organizational structures, practices, climate and culture. 2.2 Informal learning Similar ideas-constructivism, tacit knowing, meaning making through interaction with others, and the critical importance of context to learning that is highly situated-likewise permeate research and practice focused on informal learning. Informal learning is often defined in contrast to formal learning. It is organic, and typically motivated, directed and sustained by one's own intentions and interests. An online survey by The American Society for Training & Development and the Institute for Corporate Productivity of 1,104 human resources and learning professionals-managers, directors, vice presidents, or C-level officers in large enterprises operating in multiple nations defined informal learning: "as a learning activity that is not easily recognizable as formal training and performance support. Generally speaking, it takes place without a conventional instructor and is employeecontrolled in terms of breadth, depth, and timing. It tends to be individualized, limited in scope, and utilized in small chunks" (Paradise, 2008, p. 53). In 1990, drawing on work by John Dewey, Marsick and Watkins (1990) defined informal and incidental learning by contrasting it with formal instruction. Informal learning is intentional, although often highly tacit. Sometimes it is incidental, that is, an accidental byproduct of another activity. Incidental learning is not intentional, although the originating activity may be. It can be noted or not, recognized in the moment or not, processed through subsequent reflection, or often through less conscious processes involved in adaptive socialization. Conditions that might delimit such learning include ability to reframe one's understanding of a situation, as well as capacity for seeing a situation in complex or nuanced ways. Informal learning is enhanced when people are, and encouraged to be, creative in their thinking and approaches to challenges they face; when they proactively pursue interests and solutions to problems; and when they are able to step back and look at "why" things are as they are and how they can be differently understood. Marsick and Watkins (1990) proposed an enriched problem-solving model of informal learning that was heavily influenced by Argyris and Schon's (1974) double-loop learning, that is, learning that examines underlying assumptions, values and beliefs that influence meaning making. Marsick and Watkins' (1990) model started with deep probing of the situation in order to frame one's understanding of the challenge or problem, followed by identification and consideration of a range of alternatives. Learning typically occurs informally in these early phases, often in experimenting with solutions. A learning review follows action to learn from both intended and unintended consequences, and to plan for a new cycle of framing, experimentation with solutions and learning from results. This early model emphasized the individual as learner. Marsick and Watkins, in collaboration with Cseh (Cseh et al., 1999), revisited this model based on a study of managers in Eastern Europe that revealed the central role of context to what and how managers learned. Marsick et al. (2009) further revised and expanded their model based on examination of newer scholarship: on implicit and tacit learning theory, emotions and intuition, collaboration and social learning, and the dominant role of context in informal learning. They concluded that while the outlines of their earlier understanding hold, individuals cannot learn without a rich, social climate and that they do so intuitively as well as rationally or consciously:
Human Resource Planning, Jun 1, 2003
... in similar situations about their common problems. At Fokker Aircraft, the network emerged as... more ... in similar situations about their common problems. At Fokker Aircraft, the network emerged as central to the design for innovation and learning. ... [refine search]. Search in: Books, Journals, Magazines. Newspapers, Encyclopedia, Research Topics. ...
Berrett-Koehler eBooks, 1999
This book contains a number of descriptions of informal learning in different work settings. The ... more This book contains a number of descriptions of informal learning in different work settings. The chapters focus on case studies that are descriptive and qualitative in nature, based on observation and interviews. Individual learning is looked at in successively broader contexts ...
Journal of Management Development, Apr 1, 1990
A comprehensive perspective on experience‐based learning – action learning – is provided. Recent ... more A comprehensive perspective on experience‐based learning – action learning – is provided. Recent research into action learning is noted and the difficulties of introducing this method into the United States are discussed.
Teachers College Record, Dec 1, 1988
Adult learning has not previously been examined from a sociological perspec-tive and this book is... more Adult learning has not previously been examined from a sociological perspec-tive and this book is a logical progression from the author's previous works Adult Education: Theory and Practice and The Sociology of Adult and Continuing Edu-cation. The author takes a completely ...
Indian Journal of Adult Education, 1970
Reflective Practice, Sep 24, 2020
The stories in this article opened the 2018 International Transformative Learning (TL) Conference... more The stories in this article opened the 2018 International Transformative Learning (TL) Conference. Mezirow founded this conference to grow living theory, but over time, paradoxically, allegiance to his framing of TL can be seen as limiting growth. The Conference designers invited participation from new geographical, cultural, social and political perspectives to bring forward unheard voices to create bridges among differences. Framed by the imaginal and holistic approaches to TL, this article shares the personal stories of transformation narrated by five panelists and the 'wicked' questions these stories evoked. The authors reflect on the humanizing, heart-ful space that sharing stories created, which reminded those present of shared community. TL is about change in the individual, as theory seeks to explain; yet it is also about embedded social, cultural norms and assumptions that shape and sustain systems. The authors conclude by reflecting on the humanizing potential of narrative, as well as the theorizing about the interdependence between individual and systemic transformation.
Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2010
Moving to healthy, open organizations has been a fundamental aim of organization development (OD)... more Moving to healthy, open organizations has been a fundamental aim of organization development (OD) since Kurt Lewin’s (1951) early work contrasting authoritarian and democratic groups. Later, Rensis Likert’s System 4 framework (1967) offered a set of dimensions or organizational capacities that enable the organization to learn from its environment, people and markets. Recent focus on creating learning organizations led to the evolution of a number of interventions that help organizations embed these critical capacities. Perhaps no other intervention has the potential of action learning to build capacities at the individual, group and organizational levels.
Human Resource Development International, Mar 1, 2007
Leaders and employees of today's organizations typically assume increasing responsibility for the... more Leaders and employees of today's organizations typically assume increasing responsibility for their own and their organization's learning. Much of that learning is informal or incidental. This article reviews theory and research to update that model and identify future research challenges. Through this review, groundwork will be laid for developing a revised model for understanding and leveraging such learning.
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Papers by Victoria J Marsick