From its earliest formulations, 'systems thinking' has been at the heart of the learning organization, and it provided the inspiration for Senge's widely influential and idealised image of a future ...characterised by new possibilities for organizational change and human agency. But Senge's vision of learning organizations was always characterized by a practice problematic: he did not define the social practices of learning that would realise the utopian ideals of the learning organization. Change as systems and change as practices, systems theory and practice remain profoundly incompatible. Growing awareness of this issue has led to increasing doubts about the future of the learning organization, and there are mounting calls for new starting points or the final abandonment of the whole concept. Yet despite this sense of disillusionment, there have been few critical appraisals of Senge's legacy from a practice theory perspective that seeks to unravel the links between practice and learning, agency and change. Here, it is argued that Senge's work can be re-conceptualised as a partial fusion of 'systems thinking' and learning theories that leads to a concept of organizational learning as a process of system-based organizational change. However, the concept is critically flawed in two major respects. First, as a systems or structural model, it is theoretically flawed, because it cannot theorise the organizing practices by which learning and change occurs in organizations. Second, it is substantively flawed as a practice for increasing the dispersal of human agency, power, knowledge and autonomy within the workplace. It is concluded that Senge's concept of the learning organization now faces its final abandonment as a theoretical and practical guide to organizational change.
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the views of employees from a local government organization in Brazil regarding the status of “sustainability learning” in their workplace. Sustainability learning ...refers to knowledge produced to address environmental risks.
Design/methodology/approach
Case study design highlighting the personal experience of participants in relation to sustainability learning. Data collected through seven face-to-face, semi-structured interviews during a six-week fieldwork. Purposive sampling was used, and recruitment was carried out through the snow balling method. Deductive and inductive logic were used in data analysis.
Findings
Sustainability-focused learning only took place informally in the organization studied. The organization did not have formal systems to embed sustainability learning in its rules, processes and practices. It was also found that organizational politics acted as an impediment to sustainability learning, as people in power often blocked support for sustainability related initiatives.
Research limitations/implications
Data would have been richer if more than one case study was developed, as this would have enabled inter-organizational comparisons and richer analysis.
Practical implications
This research is useful for practitioners, as it contributes to a better understanding of desirable sustainability learning practices and processes, and challenges that prevent it from occurring effectively in organizations.
Social implications
This research contributes to a better understanding of sustainability learning in an “emerging economy” such as Brazil. The implementation of sustainability learning practices in emerging economies poses particular challenges given their emphasis on economic growth. Understanding these challenges can enable managers working with sustainability to formulate better strategies to ensure a smoother transition to a sustainable future.
Originality/value
The originality of this research is twofold: first, it examines sustainability learning in the specific context of a government institution in an emerging economy; second, it draws attention to organizational politics as a major impediment to the systematic implementation of sustainability learning practices.
Frontline nurse manager responsibilities are extensive. Nurse managers are torn between the demands of clinical nurses, physicians, patients, and administration, which require a blend of clinical ...skill, leadership ability, and managerial knowledge. Nurse manager competence and retention can be improved by creating structured leadership development programs that better prepare nurses to lead in today's complex healthcare environment. Many hospitals have poorly designed nurse manager orientation and professional development programs, or none at all. Nurse managers who've been in their position 5 years or less have turnover rates as high as 50%. It's estimated that in the next few years, 75% of nurse manager positions will be vacant. These statistics create an urgent need for developing current and future nurse leaders at every level. The first step in preparing future nurse managers begins with an organizational commitment to nurture and develop the next generation of leaders.
Poorly designed healthcare systems increase costs and preventable medical errors. To address these issues, systems-based practice (SBP) education provides future physicians with the tools to identify ...systemic errors and implement quality improvement (QI) initiatives to enhance the delivery of cost-effective, safe and multi-disciplinary care. Although SBP education is being implemented in residency programs and is mandated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) as one of its core competencies, it has largely not been integrated into undergraduate medical education. We propose that Medical Student-Faculty Collaborative Clinics (MSFCCs) may be the ideal environment in which to train medical students in SBPs and QI initiatives, as they allow students to play pivotal roles in project development, administration, and management. Here we describe a process of experiential learning that was developed within a newly established MSFCC, which challenged students to identify inefficiencies, implement interventions, and track the results. After identifying bottlenecks in clinic operations, our students designed a patient visit tracker tool to monitor clinic flow and implemented solutions to decrease patient visit times. Our model allowed students to drive their own active learning in a practical clinical setting, providing early and unique training in crucial QI skills.
Abstract
Purpose
The implementation of a reformed curriculum for undergraduate medical education with a problem-oriented focus and more bedside teaching in small groups increases the academic ...teaching workload. The aim of this study was to investigate whether this increase in teaching duties is associated with an increase in report turnaround times of radiologists or increased unplanned absence during term times compared with term breaks (lecture-free periods) and over the whole period under investigation.
Materials and Methods
The database of all radiological examinations performed at a large German university hospital was retrospectively analyzed for a two-year period from the winter term 2011/12 to the summer term 2013. A total of 192 984 radiological examinations performed during this period were included in an analysis of reporting times (i. e., time from end of examination to completion of report) during term times versus term breaks. Reporting times were analyzed for all radiological examinations and for intensive care unit (ICU) patients. In addition, radiologists’ schedules were analyzed in terms of teaching duties, unplanned absence, vacation days, and days away from work for education and training.
Results
During the period under investigation, the teaching load increased from overall 1.75 hours/day in the winter term 2011/12 to 6.49 hours/day in the summer term 2013 and in the term break from overall 0.10 hours/day in the winter term 2011/12 to 0.71 hours/day in the summer term 2013. Reporting time increased during this period (p < 0.05) but remained shorter during term times than during term breaks. The difference between term and term break for ICU patients was not significant. There was no increase in unplanned absences during term times.
Conclusion
Overall, radiologists’ reporting times increased during the period when the reformed curriculum for undergraduate medical education was implemented. As this was observed both during term and during term breaks, increased teaching duties alone cannot serve as a sole causal explanation.
Key Points:
Digital high-quantitative parameters can be used to evaluate workflow in radiology.
Reporting time can be a criterion for efficient staffing.
The acquisition and evaluation of parameters such as reporting times could lead to a more efficient resource allocation by providing hints of changed framework conditions and changing working intensities and/or capicity reserves – which may not be immediately apparent.
During the period under investigation with the implementation of a teaching-intensive reformed curriculum for undergraduate medical education there was an increase in reporting time, which was not significant in intense care units.
Since during the period under investigation the increase in reporting times can be stated both during term time and in the lecture free period, the implementation of the reformed curriculum for undergraduate medical education alone cannot serve as a sole causal explanation.
Citation Format
Albrecht L, Maurer MH, Seithe T et al. Development of the Report Turnaround Times in a University Department of Radiology during Implementation of a Reformed Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Education. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2018; 190: 259 – 264
Integrating pharmacology education into a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum has proven challenging for many medical schools, including the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine ...(Penn State COM). In response to pharmacology content gaps in its PBL-intensive curriculum, Penn State COM in 2003 hired a director of medical pharmacology instruction to oversee efforts to improve the structure of pharmacology education in the absence of a stand-alone course. In this article, the authors describe the ongoing development of the virtual pharmacology curriculum, which weaves pharmacology instruction through the entire medical school curriculum with particular emphasis on the organ-based second year. Pharmacology is taught in a spiraling manner designed to add to and build upon students' knowledge and competency. Key aspects of the virtual curriculum (as of 2011) include clearly stated and behaviorally oriented pharmacology learning objectives, pharmacology study guides that correspond to each PBL case, pharmacology review sessions that feature discussions of United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE)-type questions, and pharmacology questions for each PBL case on course examinations to increase student accountability. The authors report a trend toward improved USMLE Step 1 scores since these initiatives were introduced. Furthermore, graduates' ratings of their pharmacology education have improved on the Medical School Graduation Questionnaire. The authors suggest that the initiatives they describe for enhancing pharmacology medical education are relevant to other medical schools that are also seeking ways to better integrate pharmacology into PBL-based curricula.
Although there is substantial research on various elements of knowledge management in organizations, there is a gap in our understanding of how event organizations transfer knowledge. We address this ...gap using qualitative interview data and show in our results that knowledge transfer
processes can be categorized into three distinct phases: 1) preevent, 2) event operations, and 3) postevent. Event managers and staff mostly transfer explicit knowledge preevent; yet, tacit knowledge is transferred during the event operations. However, tacit
knowledge is rarely converted into explicit knowledge in the postevent phase, and organizational memory is largely underutilized. Practical implications are deduced, suggesting for event organizations to adopt a more strategic approach to knowledge transfer. We suggest that event management
then operates more effectively in this fast-paced and knowledge-intensive business environment, and better integrates heterogeneous event staff, including both paid employees and event volunteers.
For an organization to develop, to improve, and to innovate in this information age, it requires a management system that will maximize use of human potential that it has at its disposal and it ...develops by establishing a culture of learning and of continuous progress. The article offers a specific outlook on how to analyze, measure, and evaluate level of implementation of the learning organization theory as an approach to managing organizations at higher education institutions in the EU, including Slovakia, versus the private sector. It includes results from our research, which we conducted between the years 2011 and 2013. To evaluate results of our research, we used adequate mathematical and statistical methods. Methods of analysis and synthesis as well as a comparison method were used to interpret results from the research and to form conclusions based on which we have formulated theoretical and practical contributions. In the article we outlined possibilities for further development of the studied topic; we offer suggestions and recommendations for organizations that aim to implement the learning organization philosophy in practice.
Knowledge Management (KM) helps organizations adapt, survive, and compete in a discontinuous and ever-changing business environment. Essentially, this involves a set of organizational processes which ...harness the data and information processing capacity of information technologies, and the creative and innovative capacity of human beings. Communities of practice (CoP) are the social tools to connect, engage, and share knowledge in organizations. The research reported here aims to examine the critical factors for successful implementation of CoPs. Based on a survey of 223 respondents who have participated in successful organizational initiatives related to KM and CoPs, this study uses a regression model to analyze the findings. The results identify four essential factors which lead to an effective CoP implementation—providing proper community support, people factors, alignment of the KM initiative with the business strategy, and key KM processes. The results strongly support the appropriateness of the research model in identifying the success factors. Finally, this study discusses the implications of these findings and offers directions for future research.
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