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“Getting there is not a very neat circle or process”: An illustrative view of complexity within a knowledge management learning community.

Title:

“Getting there is not a very neat circle or process”: An illustrative view of complexity within a knowledge management learning community.

Reilly, Rosemary C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7274-4488 and Mcbrearty, Madeleine (2010) “Getting there is not a very neat circle or process”: An illustrative view of complexity within a knowledge management learning community. In: Tait, Andrew and Richardson, Kurt, (eds.) Complexity and knowledge management- Understanding the role of knowledge in the management of social networks. Managing Organizational Complexity, 4 . Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, NC, pp. 237-265. ISBN 1607523566

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Abstract

This chapter bridges the thinking and practice of organizational learning, knowledge management and complexity theory by using a case study of a learning system. It describes a learning community as a complex knowledge management system and the impact of dynamic self-assessment as an intervention in order to illuminate its own complexity. A knowledge management learning community of novice human systems interveners utilized the principles of dynamic self-assessment to chart the evolution of the system, using the five characteristics of a learning organization as the self-assessment dimensions. Data was collected through observations and interviews with members of the cohort at the end of year one and the end of year two. Using a case illustration, complex interactive and adaptive processes and emergent possibilities come alive and reveal this system's unique socio-historical trajectory. Self-assessment allowed the community to intentionally tinker with its functioning, and to purposefully create open spaces of possibility.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Applied Human Sciences
Item Type:Book Section
Refereed:Yes
Authors:Reilly, Rosemary C. and Mcbrearty, Madeleine
Editors:Tait, Andrew and Richardson, Kurt
Series Name:Managing Organizational Complexity
Date:2010
Funders:
  • Faculty Research Development Program of Concordia University
Keywords:knowledge management, learning communities, complexity theory, dynamic self-assessment, workplace learning
ID Code:984771
Deposited By: Rosemary Reilly
Deposited On:17 Dec 2018 20:18
Last Modified:17 Dec 2018 20:18

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