Learning In Action

Learning in Action

Most managers today understand the value of building a learning organization. Their goal is to leverage knowledge and make it a key corporate asset, yet they remain uncertain about how best to get started. What they lack are guidelines and tools that transform abstract theory—the learning organization as an ideal—into hands-on implementation. For the first time in Learning in Action, David Garvin helps managers make the leap from theory to proven practice. Garvin argues that at the heart of organizational learning lies a set of processes that can be designed, deployed, and led. He starts by describing the basic steps in every learning process—acquiring, interpreting, and applying knowledge—then examines the critical challenges facing managers at each of these stages and the various ways the challenges can be met. Drawing on decades of scholarship and a wealth of examples from a wide range of fields, Garvin next introduces three modes of learning—intelligence gathering, experience, and experimentation—and shows how each mode is most effectively deployed. These approaches are brought to life in complete, richly detailed case studies of learning in action at organizations such as Xerox, L. L. Bean, the U. S. Army, and GE. The book concludes with a discussion of the leadership role that senior executives must play to make learning a day-to-day reality in their organizations.

Self Managed Learning in Action

Over the last two decades the importance of Self Managed Learning (SML) has become increasingly recognized. This book shows how it has revolutionized learning in organizations such as Ericsson, PPP Healthcare and Sainsbury’s, and how it has contributed to wider organizational change. The book consists of four Parts. Part I places SML against the backdrop of changing global trends and the organizational responses to them. It examines how these have led to the need for people to be more self managing and provides an overview of an SML programme. Part II shows SML programmes in action by presenting case studies from nine very different organizations which have used this approach. Part III looks at SML methods in more depth by concentrating on strategic learning contracts, learning groups and how SML can be supported. Finally, Part IV concludes and looks to the future. Rigorously researched, Self Managed Learning in Action demonstrates that this important approach can be used in a wide variety of contexts and cultures, in the private sector and in the public sector, and for a wide range of staff.

Machine Learning in Action: Stroke Diagnosis and Outcome Prediction