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Bridging hand and heart to stimulate learning in the organization: A holistic approach to learning

June Tolsby (PhD student in the Department of Business Studies, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark. E‐mail: jt@business.aau.dk)

Development and Learning in Organizations

ISSN: 1477-7282

Article publication date: 1 April 2005

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Abstract

Purpose

This article exemplifies the importance of view learning within organizations, from a more holistic perspective where both the affectionate, cognitive and social side of learning is integrated. Lack of attention towards these aspects will cause the learning process to take place outside the context and without the employees it was meant to fertilize.

Design /methodology/approach

This article presents a drawing by a project manager taken from a study of product development processes. His drawing illustrates how his ”hand” and his ”heart” guided his interactions with persons in his organization. This decided what problems would involve what people and who learned what under what conditions.

Findings

Both managers and employees need to understand how the structural and affective aspects of a work process are coupled, if they want to build a sound learning organization that stimulates knowledge generation and employee engagement. Lack of attention towards these aspects will cause the learning process to take place outside the context and without the employees it was meant to fertilize. Further research is needed to identify why affectionate and structural decisions influence learning in organizations, how it happens and what consequences it has. A good starting point could be to ask employees to visualise from what perspective(s) they view their organizations and their own role(s) within them.

Originality/value

Helps both managers and employees to understand how the structural and affective aspects of a work process are coupled in order to create a sound learning organization.

Keywords

Citation

Tolsby, J. (2005), "Bridging hand and heart to stimulate learning in the organization: A holistic approach to learning", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 8-10. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777280510580663

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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