Toward Learning and Knowledge Creation: Operationalising the Social Learning Cycle

Abstract

This paper addresses organisational learning, knowledge creation, and dissemination through knowledge creation teams. It operationalises the Social Learning Cycle (SLC) advanced by Boisot (1995) to facilitate the construct's theoretical extensions and managerial applications. A new SLC coding system and methodology for measuring team learning are presented and a hypothesis is developed and tested through empirical investigations of thirteen university teams. Findings suggest that team learning exhibits recurring, synchronised characteristics instead of sequential stages. Team learning quality is enhanced when team members (1) raise inquiries that result from research or investigations of problems previously identified and (2) ask questions or make remarks that involve anticipation, preparation and planning for future events. Management should create an environment for teams to experience problem solving and encourage a knowledge diffusion culture that promotes organisational learning and knowledge generation through teams. Knowledge creation is a social process involving human agency within a social context (Elkjaer, 2003; Rogers, 1995). According to West and Anderson (1996), teams are crucial for enabling knowledge creation. Some researchers argue that teams are the most crucial unit through which organisations learn and disseminate knowledge (Anderson and West, 1998; Lawson et al., 2009; Pitsis et al., 2003). For example, extant knowledge-based research relies heavily on geographically dispersed team members (Cramton, 2001; Hart and Mcleod, 2003; O'Leary and Mortensen, 2010). However, the entry and exit of team members mean that projects take longer to complete, making the understanding of team learning evolution more complex and significant. Networked and team-based organisational structures in global industries such as transportation, healthcare, sports, software, apparel and energy (Agrawal et al., 2011; Andrew and Jacobs, 2011; Berwick, 2003; Egner, 2009; Pitsis et al., 2003) emphasise the need for learning across teams over long periods of time, beyond traditional organisational boundaries. Despite a shift to teams as the primary unit for knowledge creation, rewards, and advancement, existing research has not adequately explored indicators that reflect the various stages in which teams learn. As empirical research demonstrates links between team learning and organisational effectiveness (Belasen, 2000; Mehra et al., 2006; Pearce and Sims, 2002), more research is needed to address boundaries and methods in team learning (Lyles and Easterby-Smith, 2003). Ancona and Caldwell (1992) suggest that clearly identified boundaries and stages are necessary for proper boundary-spanning activities to enhance knowledge diffusion within and across team boundaries. These perspectives call for better understanding of team learning characteristics, cycles and patterns that are still under-explored. The purpose of this study is to test and verify conditions that support team learning and knowledge creation in work teams. Boisot (1995) and Boisot and Child (1999) suggest a Social Learning Cycle theory that merits studying team learning; it has been adopted for studying team learning in the computing and banking industries (Casillas-Santillan, 2005; Stamoulis et al., 2002). However, no empirical work tests the validity and robustness of the theory. The objective of this paper is to advance a more complete conceptualisation of team learning by adopting Boisot's Social Learning Cycle (SLC) through the use of mixed methods of theoretical reviews, non-participant observations, semi-structured interviews and team-reported questionnaires.