Editorial

Citation

Gimson, A. (2007), "Editorial", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 21 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2007.08121eaa.001

Editorial

This issue of the Journal continues with an international flavour with pieces from Greece, Canada, Australia and the USA. The first three articles cover different angles on organizational change. We begin with Clinton Longenecker and Melissa Rieman’s article calling for leaders involved in change initiatives to take regular “reality checks” and offering eight habits that leaders must practice to develop their abilities in creating changes that stick. Dennis Self asks us to consider creating a readiness for change in organizations, rather than focusing on people’s perceived resistance to organizational change. He makes an important point, often missed by change leaders, that the perspectives of those who will be affected by the change must be at worst understood and at best directly addressed. The third piece on change from Joseph Santora and James Sarros takes a far more personal view, providing a fascinating overview of how one leader changed their behavior when faced with a serious life crisis – and how the change was reversed when the imminent threat was over.

Michael Bokeno poses some illuminating challenges to conventional mentoring programs. He proposes that a more emergent and dialogic approach to the relationship can enable both mentor and protégé to each develop their learning capacity in a deeper and holistic way.

The final authored piece by Efthymios Valkanos and Iosif Fragoulis gives a practical overview of the various methods of experiential learning and how they can be used. They make a solid case for the need to keep learning experiences as close as possible to participants’ real work, interests and learning preferences.

The review articles begin with a piece on the benefits and challenges of work-based learning – “Learning at work through the 3Ps”. Via the use of a case study from Northumbria University, UK, they highlight the need for individualized learning and learner support and also address the often tricky issue of academic assessment. “Game on as trainers make learning fun” provides an interesting reflection on how technology from the younger generation’s world of computer gaming is influencing how training is offered in corporations. (We will be developing the theme of technology and learning in a future issue of this Journal.) The next piece offers an introduction to “social identity theory” (the relations between the individuals and groups within which individuals work and learn) and provides some thought-provoking challenges as to how aware trainers are to these frames of reference. Our fourth piece, “Are your executives committed to achieving your learning goals?” makes a research-based connection between the commitment levels of senior executives and resultant levels of organizational learning.

Finally, the Viewpoint article for this edition tackles the often thorny issue of evaluation of learning and development activities. Some myths about Kirkpatrick’s “levels” and ROI are debunked and a compelling case is made for offering development over time – with real evidence of pay-off required from participants at an end-point.

Anne GimsonStrategic Developments International Limited. E-mail: anne@stratdevint.com