On Building Bridges,Facilitating Dialogue,and Delineating Priorities: A Tribute to Mark Easterby-Smith and his Contribution to Organizational Learning

Abstract

We honor Mark Easterby-Smith for three fundamental contributions to the organizational learning (OL) discipline. First, Mark Easterby-Smith’s entrepreneurial spirit and intellectual curiosity have led him to evolve dynamically as the field has evolved. From his roots in management education and development, Mark’s work has connected the four areas of organizational learning, the learning organization, knowledge management, and dynamic capabilities. Second, consistent with his criticism that the OL field has been dominated by quantitative methods and positivist approaches, Mark has pursued qualitative work and generated rich case data and novel theories. Finally, in a discipline in which diverse terms and definitions abound and interconnections among these terms are frequently absent, Mark Easterby-Smith has taken the role of an organizer, an integrator, and a builder. He has facilitated dialogue in a very inclusive fashion. Indeed, the way in which Mark Easterby-Smith has evolved and supported the community may be his greatest contribution.