Master Colloquium Koen Wissink (EST) Effective Interactions in Learning Communities; The Role of Relations-Oriented Behaviour and Learning

Speaker  

:

Koen Wissink

Title

:

Effective Interactions in Learning Communities; The Role of Relations-Oriented Behaviour and Learning

Abstract

:

The rapid pace of technological innovations in the energy sector poses a challenge for installation companies to keep their employees’ knowledge and skills up-to-date in order to keep up with the innovations and deliver a certain level of quality to their customers. Learning communities (LCs) have been proposed as an effective method to help installation workers and companies keep pace with this innovation. A crucial element in LCs and potential driver to pro-actively deal with the challenges in the installation sector, is how the members of the LC learn together. Such learning is also seen as the primary indicator of an effective learning community. Therefore, this study focuses on learning behaviour in the learning community. In an effective LC it the aim is to accelerate knowledge sharing in the technology sector. Relations-oriented behaviour is identified as a key factor in promoting team learning and knowledge sharing in the LC (Edmondson, Dillon, & Roloff, 2007). However, we currently do not know much about the learning processes and drivers of these processes in the context of LCs. The study seeks to answer the research question: What are the effects of relations-oriented behaviour on team learning behaviour in LCs, and how does this change over time?

To examine how relation-oriented and team learning behaviour manifests in the LC, it is crucial to see what exactly happens in the LC. Therefore, the study employed an exploratory case study approach to observe and systematically code interactions within two LCs of Dutch installation companies over ten weeks. The results of this study indicate that relations-oriented behaviour does not influence team learning behaviour in the LC, but that it changes over time in one LC. Both relations-oriented behaviour and team learning behaviour did increase over time in one of the LCs. This might be mainly due to the topic of the LC. The study recommends using a larger sample size in future research and building on these results to gain a fine-grained understanding of how relations-oriented behaviour influences team learning behaviour in LCs.

Keywords: Relation-oriented behaviour, team learning, learning communities, energy transition

Date

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June 15, 2023

Time

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14:00 hrs.

Building/Room

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Ravelijn 2501

Graduation     Committee    

:

dr. Marcella Hoogeboom

dr. Maaike Endedijk