Change Management, Interventions and Learning
The group studies co-operative, expansive learning and change processes in work organizations, and ways of supporting this kind of learning through interventions.
Co-operative expansive learning differs both from the spontaneous learning and adaptation that takes continuously place at work as well as from the learning in training. It is based on systematic analysis of work processes and changes in the work activity as well as modeling and experimenting new forms of work. The group's special interest lies in the processes of remediation, that is, the creation and implementation of new conceptual and practical tools in both the productive activities proper and production related collaborative learning processes. In studying these processes the group applies the methodology of Developmental Work Research and especially the Change Laboratory Method.
The research focus of the group leads it to a position between a number of scientific discussions, especially the ones concerning innovation processes and product development in organizations, implementation of new technology, knowledge management, organizational learning and knowledge creation as well as the study of intervention methods for organizational transformation.
The research divides in three partly overlapping areas:
1) Developing tools for knowledge management and expansive organizational learning
2) Analyzing the dynamics of expansive learning processes in Change Laboratory interventions and developing further this intervention methodology
3) Realizing the potential for expansion in the implementation of new technology
During its work the group has trained a great number of internal developers in various organizations to apply the Change Laboratory Method. The new major research and development project of the group will be the development of a new kind of network of collaboration and collaborative development of the change laboratory methodology between these local developers and to study the process of interorganizational, collaborative learning.
The research is carried out mostly as the dissertation studies of the members of the group. Because the research concerns interventions in organizational transformations, the progress and study possibilities depend also to a great extent on the developments in the partner organizations in which the interventions are carried out.
Members of the group
Heli Ahonen
Kirsi Kallio
Seppo Kantola
Kimmo Keskitalo
Kati Korento
Kirsi Koistinen
Marita Korhonen
Ulla-Maaria Mutanen
Juha Pihlaja
Anu Peltola
Ritva Poikela
Marika Schaupp
Arja Suntio
Jaakko Virkkunen (head of the group)
Hilkka Ylisassi
Attached Documents
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