Making Sense of Community in the Theorizing of Organizational Learning

• In Event: Rethinking Schools in a (Post-?)Pandemic World: Innovative Conceptualizations of Schools as Organizations

Abstract

Current conceptualizations of organizational learning focus on process (steps) and structures (tools, resources, organizational supports). All acknowledge a social element, usually framed as bringing people together to communicate through/within formal structures. Much of this scholarship notes that school culture mediates organizational learning and conceptualizes culture as the context in which organizational learning occurs (Fullan, 2016; Schechter, 2021). Some scholars have endeavored to identify specific aspects of culture important for organizational learning including trust and respect among educators (Seashore Louis and Lee, 2016). Despite a growing body of literature lifting the importance of relationships for learning and change in schools (e.g., Bridwell-Mitchell, 2015; Moolenaar et al., 2010; Woulfin and Rigby, 2017) the role of relationships in organizational learning is undertheorized.

In this paper we foreground the importance of social relationships in organizational learning by examining the ways that sense of community (McMillan and Chavis, 1986) contributes to how organizational learning is enacted. We propose that a more deeply relational perspective provides researchers with ways to explore how various components of school culture, such as trust, belonging, care, and shared values, interact to set the conditions for organizational learning and change. A more thorough understanding of the role of relationality in organizational learning:
• Fosters a richer understanding of why some teachers go above and beyond to seek out opportunities
• Helps to explain why some changes stay bounded within departments and substructures
• Provides insights into routines characterized by “contrived collegiality” vs. authentic engagement
• Serves to explain and identify conditions that encourage organizational learning outside the boundaries of formal organizational structures

Authors

• Jennifer Karnopp, San Diego State University
  Presenting Author

• Jeff Walls, Washington State University
  Presenting Author