Creating learning organizations in higher education: applying a systems perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer an application of a system model for Senge's five disciplines in higher education (HE) institutions.Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilizes a conceptual framework for the analysis of antecedents and outcomes of Senge's five disciplines, focusing on specific factors unique to the HE sector.Findings – The explication of the model manifests its relevance and applicability for the HE sector: it represent how universities operate as learning organizations and posits the anticipated interactions among specific constructs associated with Senge's five disciplines within the HE sector.Practical implications – The paper manifests a causal model that links variables in the learning organization, a perspective that would be instrumental for HE institutions to achieve competitive advantage.Originality/value – The paper provides added value both for academics and executives interested in the analysis of the complexity of Senge's five disciplines for HE institutions.

[1]  J. Stewart,et al.  Towards Universities as Learning Organisations. , 1998 .

[2]  David F. Treagust,et al.  Validity and use of an instrument for assessing classroom psychosocial environment in higher education , 1986 .

[3]  S. Manfredi,et al.  Action research to develop work‐life balance in a UK university , 2006 .

[4]  H. O'Neil,et al.  The Relation Between Soldier Motivation, Leadership, and Small Unit Performance , 2012 .

[5]  H. V. Emmerik,et al.  Social embeddedness and job performance of tenured and non-tenured professionals , 2004 .

[6]  Frank Betts,et al.  How Systems Thinking Applies to Education. , 1992 .

[7]  Vittal S. Anantatmula,et al.  Knowledge sharing in large IT organizations: a case study , 2007 .

[8]  Lynne Caley,et al.  Corporate Learning: Rhetoric and Reality , 1998 .

[9]  S. Woodfield,et al.  The composition, challenges and changes in the top team structures of UK higher education institutions , 2008 .

[10]  Masaaki Ogasawara.  Strategic planning of the graduate and undergraduate education in a research university in Japan , 2002 .

[11]  Celia Moore,et al.  A review and critique of research on training and organizational-level outcomes. , 2007 .

[12]  Franklin P. Schargel,et al.  Twins in trouble (II): Systems thinking in healthcare and education , 2006 .

[13]  Philip Kotler,et al.  Strategic Planning for Higher Education , 1981 .

[14]  Lynn L.K. Lim,et al.  Examining the linkages between team learning behaviors and team performance , 2003 .

[15]  J. McCormick,et al.  A cross‐cultural analysis of the effectiveness of the Learning Organization model in school contexts , 2004 .

[16]  Tony Conway,et al.  Strategic Planning in Higher Education , 1994 .

[17]  Bela H. Banathy,et al.  Systems thinking in higher education: learning comes to focus , 1999 .

[18]  P. Pintrich,et al.  Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applications , 1995 .

[19]  P. Palmer,et al.  Good Talk about Good Teaching , 1993 .

[20]  J. Slocum,et al.  Designing organizations for competitive advantage: The power of unlearning and learning , 1999 .

[21]  Joanna Allan.  Learning outcomes in higher education , 1996 .

[22]  Robert Eaker,et al.  Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement , 1998 .

[23]  P. Altbach,et al.  From Dependence to Autonomy , 1989 .

[24]  Yeo-Jin Kang,et al.  The Impact of Knowledge Sharing on Work Performance: An Empirical Analysis of the Public Employees' Perceptions in South Korea , 2008 .

[25]  A. Cohen.  Multiple Commitments in the Workplace: An Integrative Approach , 2003 .

[26]  Xu Xiaozhou.  The role of the university in lifelong learning: perspectives from the People's Republic of China , 2001 .

[27]  Bernard T. Harrison,et al.  Leading People: Learning from People, Lessons from Education Professionals , 1998 .

[28]  Nadine A. Gudz,et al.  Implementing the sustainable development policy at the University of British Columbia , 2004 .

[29]  D. Dill,et al.  Academic accountability and university adaptation: The architecture of an academic learning organization , 1999 .

[30]  J. Dearlove.  A Continuing Role For Academics: The Governance of UK Universities in the Post–Dearing Era , 2002 .

[31]  David A. Karp,et al.  The college classroom: Some observations on the meanings of student participation. , 1976 .

[32]  D. Hosni,et al.  Higher education in developing countries: peril and promise: The Task Force on Higher Education and Society. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2000, 135 pp. Price: $20.00 (paper) , 2004 .

[33]  Mustafa Özbilgin,et al.  The gendered nature of career development of university professors: the case of Turkey , 2004 .

[34]  S. Woodfield,et al.  Top Team Structures in UK Higher Education Institutions: Composition, Challenges, and Changes , 2007 .

[35]  R. Middlehurst.  New Realities for Leadership and Governance in Higher Education? , 1999 .

[36]  C. Hughes,et al.  The Academic Career Handbook , 1998 .

[37]  P. Clark.  EVALUATING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM TRAINING INSTITUTE IN GERIATRICS: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING TEAMWORK THEORY AND PRACTICE , 2002 .

[38]  S. Marginson.  Globalisation, the "Idea of a University" and its Ethical Regimes , 2007 .

[39]  Why Become a learning Organization? , 2001 .

[40]  Brian Pusser,et al.  Public Purpose and Private Enterprise The Contemporary Organization of Postsecondary Education , 2001 .

[41]  B. Means.  Technology and education reform : the reality behind the promise , 1994 .

[42]  Kala S. Retna.  The relevance of ‘personal mastery’ to leadership: the case of school principals in Singapore , 2011 .

[43]  P. Schaik,et al.  Mental Models and Lifelong Learning , 1998 .

[44]  J. Ivancevich,et al.  Education as a moderator of goal setting effectiveness , 1977 .

[45]  Stuart C. Carr,et al.  From global careers to talent flow: Reinterpreting ‘brain drain’ , 2005 .

[46]  A. Yee.  From Dependence to Autonomy: The Development of Asian Universities , 1991 .

[47]  G. Haydon.  Teaching About Values: A New Approach , 1996 .

[48]  Lewis A. Bizo,et al.  Team-skills training enhances collaborative learning , 2006 .

[49]  P. Taylor,et al.  Making Sense of Academic Life: Academics, Universities, and Change , 1999 .

[50]  Y. Baruch,et al.  Communalities and Distinctions in the Measurement of Organizational Performance and Effectiveness Across For-Profit and Nonprofit Sectors , 2006 .

[51]  The Effect of Institutional Culture on Change Strategies in Higher Education , 2002 .

[52]  L. Sackney,et al.  Canadian perspectives on beginning principals: their role in building capacity for learning communities , 2006 .

[53]  Stephen Petrina,et al.  Multidisciplinary Technology Education , 1998 .

[54]  Alan B. Henkin,et al.  Teacher team commitment, teamwork and trust: exploring associations , 2005 .

[55]  Carole Roberts,et al.  Developing a Supportive Environment for Teaching and Learning: A case study in a pre‐1992 UK university , 2007 .

[56]  Petros Pashiardis,et al.  Strategic planning and education: the case of Cyprus , 2002 .

[57]  R. Phelps,et al.  Staff development for online delivery: a collaborative, team based action learning model , 2000 .

[58]  Ann I. Morey.  Globalization and the Emergence of For-Profit Higher Education , 2004 .

[59]  Glenys Patterson.  The learning university , 1999 .

[60]  John P. Manzer,et al.  "Teach Us to Learn": Multivariate Analysis of Perception of Success in Team Learning , 2005 .

[61]  A. Kolsaker,et al.  Academic professionalism in the managerialist era: a study of English universities , 2008 .

[62]  Phillip L. Ackerman,et al.  Individual differences in work motivation: Further explorations of a trait framework. , 2000 .

[63]  David A. Garvin,et al.  Learning in Action: A Guide to Putting the Learning Organization to Work , 2000 .

[64]  Peter Galbraith,et al.  Systems thinking: a missing component in higher educational planning? , 1999 .

[65]  Shelley Paewai,et al.  Academic Staff Workloads and Job Satisfaction: Expectations and values in academe , 2006 .

[66]  D. Hall,et al.  The academic career: A model for future careers in other sectors? , 2004 .

[67]  David L. Olson,et al.  Integrating systems thinking into IS education , 2006 .

[68]  Sue Beverton,et al.  Top-Down Management: An Effective Tool in Higher Education?. , 2007 .

[69]  B. Askling,et al.  Institutional Leadership and Leeway – Important Elements in a National System of Quality Assurance and Accreditation: Experiences from a Pilot Study , 2004 .

[70]  P. Senge.  The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization , 2014 .

[71]  A. Neumann,et al.  Redesigning Collegiate Leadership: Teams and Teamwork in Higher Education , 1993 .

[72]  P. Knight.  Professional Obsolescence and Continuing Professional Development in Higher Education. , 1998 .

[73]  Yehuda Baruch,et al.  Creating learning organizations: a systems perspective , 2010 .

[74]  Timothy Reynolds,et al.  Learning from Organizations: Mobilizing and Sustaining Teacher Change , 2006 .

[75]  Gustavo Stubrich.  The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization , 1993 .

[76]  Jerry D. Bamburg,et al.  Can Schools Become Learning Organizations , 1992 .

[77]  P. Jay Kiedrowski,et al.  Quantitative assessment of a Senge learning organization intervention , 2006 .

[78]  Yehuda Baruch,et al.  Managing Careers: theory and practice , 2004 .

[79]  Yehuda Baruch,et al.  Generalist and specialist graduate business degrees: Tangible and intangible value , 2005 .

[80]  The Four Cultures of the Academy. , 1994 .

[81]  Evelyne F. Vallières,et al.  The Academic Motivation Scale: A Measure of Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Amotivation in Education , 1992 .

[82]  Angel Cabrera,et al.  Determinants of individual engagement in knowledge sharing , 2006 .

[83]  Leading people, learning from people , 1998 .

[84]  J. Hage,et al.  Theories of organizations , 1980 .

[85]  J. O'neil,et al.  On Schools as Learning Organizations: A Conversation with Peter Senge. , 1995 .

[86]  Maria C. Osteraker.  Measuring motivation in a learning organization , 1999 .

[87]  R. Hiemstra.  Toward Building More Effective Learning Environments. , 1991 .

[88]  E. A. Locke,et al.  A theory of goal setting & task performance , 1990 .

[89]  D. J. Belsheim.  Environmental Determinants for Organizing Continuing Professional Education , 1988 .

[90]  P. Eckel,et al.  The Effect of Institutional Culture on Change Strategies in Higher Education , 2002 .

[91]  Tony Wright.  Systems Thinking and Systems Practice: Working in the Fifth Dimension , 1999 .

[92]  John M. Bryson,et al.  INTEGRATING MODES OF SYSTEMS THINKING INTO PUBLIC STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT EDUCATION AND PRACTICE: THE TPI APPROACH. , 2006 .

[93]  Susan Brown Feichtner,et al.  Why Some Groups Fail: a Survey of Students' Experiences with Learning Groups , 1984 .

[94]  I. Stengers,et al.  Discipline et interdiscipline : la philosophe de « l’écologie des pratiques » interrogée , 2000 .

[95]  Mantz Yorke,et al.  The professional learning of teachers in higher education , 2006 .

[96]  S. Woodfield,et al.  'Teamwork' or 'Working as a Team'? The Theory and Practice of Top Team Working in UK Higher Education , 2008 .

[97]  David W. Johnson,et al.  Active Learning: Cooperation in the College Classroom , 2006 .

[98]  C. Cook,et al.  Management and Organizational Behavior , 1994 .

[99]  Charles M. Reigeluth,et al.  A study of organizational learning at smalltown hospital , 2005 .

[100]  Jon R. Katzenbach,et al.  Teams at the Top , 1997 .

[101]  Barbara J. Millis,et al.  Cooperative Learning for Higher Education Faculty , 1997 .

[102]  Donna Rogers,et al.  A paradigm shift: Technology integration for higher education in the new millennium , 2000 .

[103]  W. Nord,et al.  Implementing Routine and Radical Inno-vation , 1986 .

[104]  Cecil G. Miskel.  The Motivation of Educators to Work , 1973 .

[105]  E. Deci.  Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Effects of Extrinsic Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation , 1975 .

[106]  Sandra Rollings-Magnusson,et al.  Legislation and Lifelong Learning in Canada: Inconsistencies in Implementation , 2001 .

[107]  F. Tschan,et al.  Getting groups to develop good strategies: Effects of reflexivity interventions on team process, team performance, and shared mental models , 2007 .

[108]  Becky Smith.  The University as a learning organization : developing a conceptual model , 2003 .

[109]  Roger Hiemstra,et al.  Aspects of effective learning environments , 1991 .

[110]  Y. Baruch,et al.  The impact of an MBA on graduate careers , 2000 .

[111]  E. A. Locke,et al.  Goal Setting: A Motivational Technique That Works! , 1984 .

[112]  Barbara J. Millis,et al.  Cooperative Learning for Higher Education Faculty. Series on Higher Education. , 1997 .

[113]  Eliot Freidson,et al.  Professionalism Reborn: Theory, Prophecy and Policy , 1994 .

[114]  A. Maslow.  Motivation and Personality , 1954 .

[115]  Judith S. White,et al.  Can universities become true learning organizations , 2005 .