Abstract
While the idea of organizational culture and organizational learning have emerged and developed over the past decades, views of leadership have changed significantly as well. In addition to the already complex connection between these ideas, they have all been influenced by emerging technologies. This chapter will investigate and provide examples of these individual ideas, their intersections and the impact of technology on their past and future.
TopIntroduction
Learning and leadership are often considered to be individual activities, however when one considers the development of organizational learning and the learning organization, leadership plays a key role. Traditional theories of management evolved into theories of leadership and to discussions about the similarities and differences of the two. Numerous inventories were developed to assess learning styles and leadership styles and suggest ways of utilizing this new self-knowledge to enhance learning and leading. This chapter will include an investigation of the impact of technology on learning and leadership within organizations. Basic communication and information technologies as well as today’s Web 2.0 technologies’ will be addressed at both the theoretical and practical level.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Culture: The shared attitudes, beliefs, practices and values that characterize a group.
Double Loop Learning: The learning process that requires a step beyond single loop learning. It requires that the cause of the problem be discovered as well.
Leadership: The quality displayed by anyone who facilitates progress toward some desired outcome within an organization or group.
Organizational learning: A systemic approach to learning within an organization.
Web 2.0: The second generation of the internet particicularly known for its enhanced social networking features.
Single Loop Learning: The learning process that focuses on the learning associated the solution of a problem.
Learning Organization: “A learning organization is a place where employees excel at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge. There are three building blocks of such institutions: (1) a supportive learning environment, (2) concrete learning processes and practices, and (3) leadership behavior that reinforces learning” (Garvin, Edmondson, & Gino2008, p. 110).